Aaron and I just had a conversation about having negative reviews for books in my store. Something like ‘Employee least favorites’ or ‘Non-recommends’.
“This is insipid advice for losers. Get it for your mother in law, she needs it.”
“If you really hate someone, give them this book. They will waste at least 10 hours reading this piece of crap. That’s 10 less hours they will be bothering you.”
There are a lot of books I can not recommend.

Not more than 5 minutes after I posted about Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, I came across this review in the Guardian. They say it all better than I can.

I picked up a copy of ZZ Packer’s Drinking Coffee Elsewhere before I left for Las Vegas. I have always associated her with the McSweeney’s crowd but I don’t know why. She has nothing to do with them. I find the McSweeney’s crowd pretentious most of the time, though it did not stop me from visiting the Pirate Store at 826 Valencia in San Francisco. Anyway, I started reading this book the other day and it is wonderful so far. I love the characters in the three stories i have read so far. I wish I knew what they were doing when the stories end. I wish each story were a long novel expanding each story so I could get to know the characters even better. In “Every Tongue Shall Confess” does Clareese accept Cleophus Sanders after he comes all the way to church to see her? Maybe that is ZZ Packer’s brilliance—leave the reader wanting more, imagining what might happen. All I know is I can’t wait to read more. Maybe she is working on a book right now.

You are a complete literary geek, from knowing the
classics (even the not-so-well-known classics
and tidbits about them) to knowing devices used
in writing, when someone has a question about
literature, they can bring it to you and rest
assured; you know the answers.

How much of a literary geek are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

And I am nerdy enough to have caught all the typos. Sigh.

I had a really good review going for The Stone Diaries, but of course, my computer chose to crash half way through. Well, I finally finished reading the book and I liked it, but I don’t think it was the best book ever. I found the main character Daisy Stone Goodwill interesting enough. The back of the book claimed that she “has struggled to understand her place in her own life” and she searches for herself in this fictional biography. But I sensed none of that. I enjoyed the passages in other people’s voices, such as her father lying on the grass as he dies. It was beautiful and touching. But when Daisy was dying, I did not feel so much. She seemed unhapppy and unsettled throughout most of her life, that I saw, But I did not see the search so much as I saw her settling. I expected something great when she got on the train to travel through Canada and ends up visiting her ‘Uncle’ Barker. Such buildup! But they marry and she settles into the wife routine. I thought the book beautifully written, but in the end, I do not think that Daisy will remain in my memory.

I have been reading since yesterday about the backlash Terry Teachout’s comments on linkage have caused. Some bloggers have taken exception to his schoolmaster tone (I am not sure if I agree or disagree with him, but his tone did put me off) and others agree with his statements. I am not going to add my 2 cents, mostly because I am new, but also because it doesn’t seem all that important to me. Besides the Literary Saloon at the Complete Review has a nice recap of it all here. What I am troubled about is something they say at the end of the recap about using links to Amazon.com pages instead of to “some actual information about the book”. And here is why I am troubled. As I may have mentioned before, I do work for a really great independent bookstore. But I have to say that our web site is not all that great. Sometimes there is very little information about the book at all beyond the price and ISBN. What sort of links should we be providing? When I decided to start a blog, I knew that there were already a great deal of sites out there about books, and I didn’t want to just be repeating what others are saying. I don’t think I have found a ‘voice’ yet either. I sort of just blog about whatever. But I do read a lot and would like to help others choose what they want to read next. If I can provide helpful and interesting information about a book, I will try. Amazon has a lot of information on its pages, plus they have a fabulous search engine. I am torn as to whom I should be linking to. I don’t know. If anyone has an opinion, please post it.

I loved David Mitchell’s Ghostwritten and Number9Dream. I just learned that hea has a new novel called Cloud Atlas coming out in England. It should be in the states sometime this summer maybe? Here is a great interview with him in the Guardian.

I really have no problem with Amazon. I do work at an independent bookstore and our sales may have fallen since the advent of online shopping. But I used to live in an area with no bookstore. When I was in college in Saratoga Springs, NY, the only bookstore in town closed my freshman year. The Saratoga Mall had a Waldenbooks, but come on, they suck. We used to go down to Albany and visit the Borders on Wolf Road. That was our salvation. Anyway, once Amazon opened, I used to use them all the time. Plus their search engine is fabulous. So I was amused to read this article that both Cup of Chica and Bookslut mention detailing how a glitch allowed the anonymous reviewers at Amazon to be revealed. Apparently, some others gave themselves 5 star reviews, which is not surprising really. But what I do find funny is the amount of high school shenanigans that exist in the book world.

One well-known writer admitted privately — and gleefully — to anonymously criticizing a more prominent novelist who he felt had unfairly reaped critical praise for years. She regularly posts responses, or at least he thinks it is her, but the elegant rebuttals of his reviews are also written from behind a pseudonym.

There are several other items like that in the article, with warring authors. Even Amazon’s Number 1 reviewer accuses the Number 2 reviewer of spreading rumors about her. Sigh. It seems that no one can behave like grownups anymore.

I recently read Project X by Jim Shepard and thought it an amazing novel. He also has a new collection of short stories available, called Love and Hydrogen. Maud Newton points out today that the Village Voice reviews his book here and Salon reviews it here. And several weeks ago, the NYT reviewed it here. I am putting all of these links here, because I want more people to read these books. I thought Project X was amazing. Shepard wrote the main character Edwin Hanratty with so much insight, but the character was not too overdeveloped either. He seemed just like a thirteen year old kid, a pretty unpopular one at that. Its easy to see why no one can figure out this kid, but at the same time, you find yourself seeing glimmers of a good and likeable person in there. The dialogue is sparse, but clear. There is a lot of space in his writing as well. Now I want to go read all of his other works.

I am ashamed to admit that I have never read AL Kennedy, but now I really feel the need. I came across this link via Maud, a daily read of mine. I don’t know about you, dear reader, but are you tired of hearing about boobs? The whole thing seemed overblown the minute it happened. So some kid might have caught a glimpse of a boob. So fucking what? Aren’t there more important things happening right now?