Book Review: Twilight of the Superheroes

Twilight of the Superheroes by Deborah Eisenberg

This is the first book I've read that references 9/11 in such a way that it is an element in every story. Each of these stories explore the way the events unsettled people, made already unsettled people worse, and how the subsequent wars didn't help. This isn't to say that the book leans on the events or that the storytelling only succeeds in this context. These stories, long though they are, succeed in their own right.

With the use of sometimes superfluous language derived from dramatic events or characters on the edge of sanity, Eisenberg crafts stories that are thoroughly modern. We are given modern situations and modern approaches to them, without relying on gimmicky or thoroughly comic storytelling. It is almost as if Eisenberg is giving us guidelines on how to write in these new and unsettled times.

PBS on The American Novel

PBS is airing a show next week on the American novel, and it looks pretty good. I like the look of the site, at least.

Book Abuser and Plagarist

Remember this story I pointed you to from the NYTBR about a guy who likes to treat his books poorly? Well, it turns out the guy allegedly "borrowed" some of the material from a book written a decade ago.

Editor and Publisher: 'NY Times' Regrets Publishing Book Essay

But the most "striking resemblance" occurs in the opening lines of each essay, the editors' note revealed. Here is how it describes the problem.*

Schott's begins: "I have to admit I was flattered when, returning to my hotel room on the shores of Lake Como, a beautiful Italian chambermaid took my hand. . . . Escorting me to the edge of the crisply made bed, the chambermaid pointed to a book on my bedside table. 'Does this belong to you?' she asked. I looked down to see a dog-eared copy of Evelyn Waugh's 'Vile Bodies' open spread-eagle, its cracked spine facing out. 'Yes,' I replied. 'Sir, that is no way to treat a book!' she declared, stalking out of the room."

Fadiman's essay begins: "When I was 11 and my brother was 13, our parents took us to Europe. At the Hôtel d'Angleterre in Copenhagen, as he had done virtually every night of his literate life, Kim left a book facedown on the bedside table. The next afternoon, he returned to find the book closed, a piece of paper inserted to mark the page, and the following note, signed by the chambermaid, resting on its cover: "Sir, you must never do that to a book."

And, yes, NYTBR regrets the error and "would not have published" the essay if they knew about the other book. Too bad the readers of the NYTBR are more well-read than its editors.

Oprah's new pick: 'The Road'

Oprah picks Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road'

NEW YORK - Before Wednesday, few could have imagined the names "
Oprah Winfrey" and "Cormac McCarthy" appearing in the same sentence.

McCarthy, one of the country's most revered and press-shy authors — a man only slightly more accessible than J.D. Salinger — will give his first ever television interview, lured by the long arm of Winfrey, publishing's biggest hit-maker and a media superstar.

I have to say that I'm more than a little surprised by this. It's so ... dark. And he's really going to do her show.

It is good news for an author who deserves some attention and respect. I'm actually reading 'Blood Meridian' right now. And it's no lighter than 'The Road or 'Suttree' so far.

Revolutionary Road coming to the screen

I'm always a little wary about books I really love being made into film. And starring these two? We'll see.

Titanic stars reunite to cross Revolutionary Road News Guardian Unlimited Books: "According to the Daily Variety, DiCaprio and Winslet, who earned respective Oscar nominations this year in Blood Diamond and Little Children, will star in the Revolutionary Road, based on Richard Yates's 1961 book about postwar disillusionment."

via Bookninja

Rejection Collection: Denver Quarterly

They're relentless, these guys. The sad fact is that there are only a few stories still floating around out there. I'd better ready a new batch.

So, yes, no love from even a local journal, Denver Quarterly, who have rejected my story, "A White Farmhouse."

Now, we always new this, didn't we?

Study finds one-third in D.C. illiterate - Yahoo! News: "WASHINGTON - About one-third of the people living in the national's capital are functionally illiterate, compared with about one-fifth nationally, according to a report on the District of Columbia. "

Tom Tancredo Wants Alberto Gonzales Deported - Wonkette

Even though, the facts of all of this on the US Attorneys' firings are pretty disgusting, Wonkette always finds the angle. This time, it's my congressman again.

Tom Tancredo Wants Alberto Gonzales Deported - Wonkette

On Subject Matter

My reading choices are often (more often than I'd like to admit) driven by a book's subject matter. I've not read or put aside many probably high-quality books simply because I'm not interested in reading about the subject. War, slavery, and other other such things are not things I care to read about for the length of a novel. I tend to prefer a more personal, psychological fiction set in more common circumstances. But I've recently learned a lesson.

I have just finished reading Toni Morrison's Beloved. This book has been on my to-be-read list for ages but has continually been put aside. I should note that I was debating reading Catch-22 at the same time, but I put it aside for this book. I suppose I shouldn't have been shocked that Beloved was such an amazing book. A Nobel and a Pulitzer should stand for something. I just didn't expect to be so compelled to read, to be so interested in the story, the human drama, that the subject matter, or the setting really, was only secondary.

I am not one to be turned off by unpleasant material (I tend to enjoy a little misery), but yet I shied away from particular books because I thought I wouldn't enjoy reading about the subject. I've learned now that if a book is good, the ancillary information, be it setting or the particular time period or whatever, is second to the actual story being told. A good book is a good book, no matter the subject matter.

Book Review: Beloved

Beloved by Toni Morrison

There were many reasons that led me to believe that I might not like this novel. It is easy to stand in opposition to anything so widely championed. And maybe I have some reluctance to read African-American literature because I think I won't relate. Never the less, the book had sat on my to-be-read list too long for me to continue to ignore. And I am glad that I finally read it.

The book truly is as magnificent, as well crafted as everyone says. But it's not just that. It's not just that you can tell the intelligence and care that were poured into the work, it's that the characters are compelling. While we may be considering circumstances that a person in my position may not comprehend, we are given them through the eyes of characters that are so well-rounded, so deep that we understand their plight.

Morrison captures the way her characters speak and think within the narration, but she doesn't let that limit the language and the style of her prose. At times the text falls into abstraction in ways that I find hard to appreciate, though it is apparent that it all serves a purpose. I may not rank this one at the top of my favorites list, though I will be recommending it to those who have not read it.

Winter's Bone up for LA Times Book Prize

Daniel Woodrell's fantastic Winter's Bone is nominated for the LA Times Book Prize along with David Mitchell's Black Swan Green. It's good to see again attention given to a small book like Woodrell's instead of the big books we would expect to get all the attention.

L.A. Times Book Prize nominees announced

Note: The article also has some good things to say about the future of the LA Times bookpages.

Rejection Collection - Hudson Review

Yes, another one arrived this week. The Hudson Review has rejected my story "Those Afternoons" with this excessively bland "form." It is almost refreshing that they don't feel it's necessary to offer any encouragement. They only regret the use of the "form." Then they go on to spend more words explaining the reading periods, with a special rule for subscribers. So kind.

Wouldn't it be nice?

Wouldn't it be nice if I were on vacation this week? Or if I was so consumed with working on my project, or even by the Libby trial or the latest dirt on Obama or even all the deconstruction of this week's episode of Lost, that I had a decent, fun reason for why I haven't had a thing to share this week? But no. It's that darned other life, working too much and coming home too tired to think about much.

There's another debate about MFA programs going around that I'd love to weigh in on, because I myself go from ambivalent to adamant.

I'd also like to rant a little about that Libby trial, but you probably know what I'd say.

The good news is that I am currently reading Toni Morrison's Beloved and I am quite surprised by it.

So, just a little catch-up blogging at the end of the week.

Treason. Blasphemy. Heresy.

Those with tender hearts, I advise you to not read this article: Confessions of a Book Abuser - New York Times. Unless you like the willful destruction of art... well, then go ahead and relish it.

As for me I was brought up to treat books with respect, no leaving a book spreadeagle on the edge of the couch, no dogearing. Even making annotations in book has been difficult for me. Through two degrees I found it hard to write in books unless it was an already beat-up copy I found used.

I don't think books should just be left on a shelf, obviously, but there's a difference between an obviously loved and well-read book and one that has simply been abused. The reason, Mr. Book Trasher, that we treat books with respect and not put them in the washing machine is that we want to keep the book around to refer to, to read again, to share. That's hard to do if the book is holding up a table leg.

But then again, do what you want with your James Patterson books.

Rejection Collection - Boulevard

They keep coming. This one also arrived this week from Boulevard for my story "Resting." It is getting a bit exhasting to keep receiving these. It would be okay if I was having in the smallest amount of success, but I'm not having any luck. Anyway, this rejection would win no awards for aesthetics or style.

Rejection Collection - Faultline

This one came this week from Faultline for my story "The Disguise." Maybe my submission was too wordy for them, because they don't waste a word in their rejection. "Thank you. We regret. Good luck." Alright then.

Sticks and stones

Calling someone a liar or articulate requires an apology, but apparently this is okay:

Think Progress » Coulter: I Would Talk About Edwards But “You Have To Go Into Rehab If You Use The Word ‘Faggot’”

Book Review: The View from Castle Rock

The View From Castle Rock by Alice Munro

While I'm not going to dismiss Munro's status as Canada's greatest-living-writer or Chekhov's heir or any of that, I don't think she deserves to have every little thing she writes published.


Much emphasis has been put on the fact that these are "stories." I understood that as being some way of differentiating them from being autobiography. Truthfully, they read like neither. They read like the stories you hear at a family reunion, or when your grandfather is on his third gin and tonic. They are interesting and often filled great detail, but often pointless.

I rank Munro up there among my favorite writers, but I was pretty disappointed by this. I wanted more. But that's what I get for having expectations.