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POPSGender in NY Times book reviews, Women's Review, Nov 2004 Not quite as cool as the Guerrilla Girls feminist activist movement in visual art, but still a pretty interesting set of statistics. The article doubts the NYTBR's editor's defense. I wonder if the numbers bear him out. "McGrath offered three explanations for the unbalanced ratio for book authors: that "more books are written by men than women"; that he chooses books for review based on whether they are "worthy of review"; and that he chooses for review books that are "of interest to our readers." We told McGrath we had tried in vain to determine whether more books by men than by women are published, and we asked him to tell us where he had found that documentation. He did not reply."
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POPSSalon: Indie book publishers going under, Jun 2007 Gloomy news for independent booksellers AND publishers. See this interview with <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/booksmags/chi-schiffrinbw30_chatjun30,1,4294746.story?coll=chi-leisurebooks-hed">Andre Schiffrin</a>, founder of the nonprofit The New Press.
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POPS3 Books on Male Sexuality... and Splooge --Chronicle, 9/07 Reviewer Camille Paglia has been called a "feminist that other feminists love to hate," a "post-feminist feminist," and one of the world's top 100 intellectuals. She describes three very different books on male sexuality, with thoughtful criticisms of each. I quoted from "Sperm Counts: Overcome by Man's Most Precious Fluid" by Lisa Jean Moore, simply because it's a funny passage. The other two books are Murat Aydemir's "Images of Bliss: Ejaculation, Masculinity, Meaning" and Angus McLaren's "Impotence: A Cultural History".
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POPSPatron Removes Kids' Sex Book From Library--PW, 9/07 Karkos could have challenged the book through a formal process within the library and its board--and thus allowed the community to participate in deciding the fate of the book. Instead, she took it into her own hands to decide for everyone what is moral and what books should be available. By holding every copy of the book, she prevents anyone else from reading it and forming their own opinions. Regardless of the content of the book, Karkos' actions fly in the face of civil society and its crucial community aspects.
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POPSChicago Sun: New focus on women authors Other major changes under Ms. Reed: "I do more graphic novel, food, and music books because I realize these appeal to different audiences. I also added poetry and politics to the types of books we review. I experimented with themed sections. My main thrust has been in highlighting local authors and mainstream authors who come to town. We do a lot more interviews with authors now and I encourage our reviewers to take an attitude. I want our section to be entertaining and engaging even if readers don't go out and buy all the books we review.... I encourage our reviewers to take strong points of views. We are a tabloid so we feel we're entitled to have some fun. I've insisted that reviewers' taglines be somewhat clever and funny. I've found that full-time freelancers often can't break out of the mold and the volleying of plot developments. I want my reviewers to write essays about books, not plot points."
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POPSPissing on Litblogs, NY Sun, Jun 2007 Adam Kirsch is an awfully bright guy, but sadly appears to know nothing about blogs. There are plenty of literary blogs (litblogs, Adam, it's an established term) on which lengthy, rigorous arguments are routinely carried out between scholars, readers, authors, and reviewers. In fact many litblogs are published and cited in print. Perhaps not in the NY Sun, but in other large, reputable papers.
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POPSSalon.com: Summer reads (overview) I usually like Salon.com's book lists. But why on earth have they jumped on the chick lit bandwagon? They say they're picking books that engage the brain, and don't leave you feeling "cheap and empty". How is "Slummy Mummy" ("a bumbling mommy flirting with adultery") better than, say, a well-plotted JD Robb romantic suspense with a kick-ass heroine?
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POPS"Girly" book covers discourage boys--Times, 9/07 The article highlights a couple of books with plots that should appeal to boys. It's a pity they're given bright pink covers. Surely that increases boys' resistance to reading, and especially their resistance to reading books with female protagonists. (For more on that, see: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1494932,00.html and: http://www.readforpleasure.com/2007/09/why-women-read-more-than-men-or-not.html
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POPSSalon.com: Summer Reads ("Chic" lit) What, Salon.com can't admit it reads "chick lit", so it renames the genre "chic lit"? Their recommendations are every bit as vapid as the rest of the genre. The most irritating thing is, there are plenty of great romances -- contemporary, humorous, fast-paced romances -- better than these offerings.
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POPSClaire Zulkey: Chick Lit is magazines & Sex and the City Claire Zulkey skewers chick lit for many of the qualities that I dislike about it. I was most struck by her comparison to magazines and Sex in the City. It seems to me that the most visible chick lit books are extended ads for, or paeans to, the air-brushed lifestyles purveyed by so many teen magazines.
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POPSWhen is a Review Not a Review? NY Observer 6/2007 Two interesting points here, on the purpose of reviews: 1. The National Book Critics Circle appears to think book reviews are a quid pro quo transaction between author and reviewer. This idea is nicely debunked by Adam Kirsch in the NY Sun (12 June 2007; see my clipmark). 2. Apparently reviews aren't intended to "review"; they're essays on the book, rather than thumbs up/down. I'll have to think about that; it's a broad statement, perhaps broader than originally intended?
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POPSWhat Book Are You? OK, so it may not be totally accurate. You get what you pay for. And it's fun reading the interpretations of the books' "personalities". Found by the Classical Bookworm: http://arb0rv1tae.typepad.com/bookworm/
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POPSBook Readers = Newspaper Readers, NY Sun, Jun 2007 Kirsch makes an interesting point: the book review section may not be in itself profitable for the newspaper, but surely the audience for the printed newspaper itself has a large overlap with those who read books. So the book section might keep readers loyal to the paper to a larger extent than the bean-counters realize.
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