Category: publishing

“Greene has always been a difficult writer for Americans to deal with, so frank was his contempt for American materialism and, especially, he noted, ‘American liberalism.’ Were Greene alive and writing today, it would be this liberal—not reactionary—spirit he would identify in the Bush administration’s crusading zeal, the endless terrifying unrealizable bromides on freedom, democracy, etc., that animated poor Alden Pyle in The Quiet American. Paul Wolfowitz would be the Pyle who survived, and made it to the top.”

Norman Mailer makes a guest appearance on the TV drama Gilmore Girls. A real live author on a TV series? But Dana Stevens writes that “literature has played a supporting role on the show since its inception. With its rapid-fire, hyper-caffeinated dialogue and who’s-got-a-crush-on-whom plotlines, Gilmore Girls could easily pass as another wholesome WB teen show à la Dawson’s Creek. But beneath its giggly female energy and family-friendly values lurks the most bookish series on network television.”

Thomas Benton is mad about books. “Anyone who collects old books knows that most of what we call “literature” is never read. Large collections of books are fetish objects rather than authentic scholarly resources. I’m like all those architecture students who feel compelled to buy a pair of expensive and uncomfortable Barcelona chairs. I have not yet given up on my professorial aspirations, and each new book is a small investment in that future, which, with any luck, could last another 40 years.”

Faced with a declining number of users at public libraries the UK government is drafting rules for libraries to beef up their collections. “The official standard will require libraries to buy 216 new items per thousand of the population they serve each year. The word item covers CDs, DVDs and other materials, but chiefly means books. The standards will also say that stock should be replaced when it is no more than 6.7 years old. There are no rules on these points at present, but many local library authorities are understood to be below the targets.”

This week is “Random Acts Of Poetry Week” in Canada. “From Newfoundland to British Columbia, published poets in 17 cities will be popping into parks, hair salons, cafés, supermarkets, libraries and wherever else tickles their fancy to delight randomly chosen strangers with bursts of poetry.”

Amazon’s profits triple in the third quarter, but on that news, the stock dives to its lowest price in a year. Why? It’s that old analyst expectations game…

Charles Hoffer writes that the field of American history is “two-faced – split between celebratory popularizers who often value rousing narrative over scholarly rigor and academic specialists whose jargon-riddled, often dour monographs ignore the ordinary reader. Meanwhile, Hoffer accuses the American Historical Association (AHA), where he has served as an adviser on plagiarism and a member of its professional standards division, of abdicating its responsibility to enforce basic scholarly principles in both realms.”

“What Canadian school will emerge as the most influential nursery of writers? The creative writing program at the University of British Columbia? They’ve been graduating young writers such as Kevin Chong, Eden Robinson and Madeleine Thien, all published by major houses in the last few years, to considerable critical acclaim. Or will it be the creative writing program at Humber College? The latter has moved into the spotlight this year — although not so much because of the success of its students as because of the success of its instructors.”

Last month, author Anne Rice took on the amateur critics who had been trashing her latest novel on Amazon.com, calling their negative comments “libel.” It was an unusual if not unprecedented move, and other authors are making it clear that Rice crossed an invisible line with her rant. “I’d be more worried if I impressed a moron than if I made one unhappy. And on Amazon… it’s usually clear within a sentence or two which side of the intelligence fence the commentators fall on.”

William Grimes has been named the New York Times’ new book critic. “Mr. Grimes, who stepped down as chief restaurant critic at the end of 2003, has spent most of this year writing reviews of consumer products and recounting his experiences under the heading “Just Browsing.”