Author Archives: bookdwarf

Katha Pollitt Tells it Like it Is

I don’t talk directly about politics often. It’s not often that I read something that makes me want to mention it. I read this Katha Pollit article from The Nation and couldn’t help but yell ‘Sing it sister!’ in my mind (so as not to disturb my boss who sits a few feet away). My favorite part:

“Many of those who correctly anticipated catastrophe did so not by exercising judgment but by indulging in ideology,” Ignatieff writes. “They opposed the invasion because they believed the President was only after the oil or because they believed America is always and in every situation wrong.”

Excuse me while I set myself on fire. I remember the run-up to the invasion very well, and “It’s all about oil” and “America is always wrong” were hardly the major arguments on the table. Since Ignatieff must know this–surely he listened to Mark Danner and Robert Scheer when he teamed with Hitchens to debate them at UCLA–his calumny is not only self-serving, it’s disingenuous.

Matthew Sharpe at the LBC

Yes, Matthew Sharpe is on the LBC blog today. Now’s your chance to ask that burning question that you’ve had for ages.

Bloggers on the Radio

Max of the Millions was on the Weekend Edition this past Sunday recommending some excellent books:

Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
Pastoralia by George Saunders
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll by Alvaro Mutis

I’ve read three of the five recommended. I’ve never read any Doctorow and have been wanting to read the Mutis for a while. I even sat and read the first 40 pages at City Lights back in May, but for some reason put it back on the shelf. I can’t remember why I put it back. Seems so stupid to me now.

Jamestown Week

We’re kicking off Jamestown week at the LBC. I’m pretty excited, since I’m the one who nominated this book (this means my reading taste rules). I posted about reading this book back in March. I had said that it was one of the best books I’ve read this year—and it still is, months later. I’ve read a lot of books since then (look here), but not many books have Sharpe’s inventiveness and skill.

I’ve been trying to pinpoint what about this book I liked so much. I find it really hard to describe coherently what I enjoy when I read. It’s almost as if I lack the right language. There are many things to appreciate about this book—the language, the pathos, the various characters—but I suppose it all came down to it’s believability. Yes, everything felt real to me when I read this book. I know it’s a fantastical novel, but I could imagine it.
Antoher thing I respect about Sharpe is that he stuck with Soft Skull for Jamestown. Many authors, after some success with smaller publishers, jump ship to the larger houses. I understand their reasoning, but I appreciate loyaltly to a small, but great press. So Sharpe rates high in my book.

This week we’ll be hearing from various folks, including Richard Nash of Soft Skull and Matthew Sharpe himself. I hope people check in daily and are encouraged enough to go read this book.

In Which I Nag You About Rupert Thomson

Don’t forget the Rupert Thomson will be reading at the Harvard Book Store this Thursday, August 16th at 6:30pm.

Maud Newton will be interviewing him at McNally Robinson in NYC the next evening. I imagine the bloggers will be there in droves. I know at least one person who will be there.

Behold the Power of the Litblogs!

Another article in the litblogs are actually not evil category. We spread the word about books we like. How is that a bad thing?

Hitchens on Harry

Ed’s parody of Christopher Hitchen’s made me giggle. I read Hitchen’s review of the new Harry Potter last week and wondered if I were in bizarro world. It’s not that I can’t believe he’s read the books, but why would the NYT pick Christopher Hitchens, the man who wrote an entire book on how religion poisons everything, to review it (for the umpteenth time I might add)? Who knows?

Triangle Week Over at the LBC

This week, we’re appreciating Katherine Weber’s Triangle, a novel about the devastating Triangle shirtwaist factory fire, nominated by Levi at Litkicks. The author herself will be blogging sometime this week, so be sure to check back.

Mr. Bookdwarf Reads

Don’t judge Susan Gilman’s Hypocrite in a White Poufy Dress by its cover. Sure, the illustration is a little girl in a tutu and combat boots, and it screams “chick-lit.” The inside of the book, though, is smart and funny and has a universal appeal. Don’t judge it by the back of the book, either, which says Susan Jane Gilman is like a female David Sedaris.

Yes, there are romantic pitfalls and a supportive boyfriend she eventually marries, so it’s understandable that people would want to shelve it with vapid Bridget-Jones material. And any humorous autobiography of a neurotic kid with weird parents is bound to draw comparisons to Sedaris. But Gilman can stand on her own as an observer of life, as a humorist, and as a writer. I’d say it’s summer reading at its best: it’s sweet without being twee and smart without being ponderous.

Bookdwarf notes: I read this book too—it’s hilarious. I hate the description laugh out loud funny, but I did laugh. A lot. Out Loud.

This isn’t Really Book Related but…

I read this article in the NYT this morning and wondered what time warp I had entered. The entire article is about how women like to eat steak. It’s such a condescending, poorly written article, it made me want to stamp my feet, but my high heels prevented me:

But others, especially those who are thin, say ordering a salad displays an unappealing mousiness.

â€œIt seems wimpy, insipid, childish,â€ said Michelle Heller, 34, a copy editor at TV Guide. â€œI donâ€™t want to be considered vapid and uninteresting.â€

Honey, you work at TV Guide and were quoted in this article. You are vapid and uninteresting.