Thanks to all who sent in well-wishes--feeling much better this morning, but still more on the tortoise side rather than hare-like in terms of speed. Anyway:
What the hell got Caryn James so angry? So the National Book Award finalists are all women from New York and wrote, I dunno, spare, short books. What's the problem? Repeat after me: awards are a matter of taste, awards are a matter of taste....
Related, Ron Hogan's on a quest to interview each NBA finalist, as he talks to Christine Schutt, then catches up with Joan Silber & Lily Tuck.
As reported all over the trade publishing world, HarperCollins is reorganizing into two distinct halves: the business side will be Collins, while the trade side will be called HarperMorrow, headed up by publisher Michael Morrison.
Meet the crime writing Ellises, Ron and Kate--both live in Merseyside and both write vastly different types of books.
The Los Angeles Daily News interviews Kirk Russell, whose series featuring a DEA agent and game warden has been updated with a second installment, NIGHT GAME.
Bob Walch is one of the few dissenters about Alexander McCall Smith's new series, saying it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't very good either. Ouch. Granted, it is rather an acquired taste....
Speaking of McCall Smith, he's decided to use the money included with the Dagger in the Library Prize to set up a literary prize for emerging writers in Botswana. That does sound awfully cool.
Lesley Lokko's SUNDOWNERS is a "big doorstop of a book" and touted as the heir apparent to Jackie Collins. The Scotsman meets one of its own.
Who'd have thunk it? But the 20th edition of the Malta Book Fair has just begun, and it runs through the end of the weekend.
And finally, RIP Iris Chang, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. She leaves behind a two-year-old son.
Frankly,whilst reading 'The Sunday Philosophy Club', all I could think about was my near overwhleming desire to smother Isabel Dalhousie with a tea cozy after smacking her around a bit with a copy of Thus Spake Zarathrusta.
The writing was fine but that protag got under my skin like a bad fungus.
Bob might have a case of the envies.
Posted by: Jennifer Jordan | November 11, 2004 at 12:33 PM
The Iris Chang story breaks my heart. I'd like to know more. Specifically, I'd be curious to know if, as a writer, she had ambivalence about getting treatment for depression. It doesn't sound as if that were the problem, but it's always something I wonder about with a writer's suicide. Especially if the writer is a parent, which just blows my mind.
Posted by: Laura | November 11, 2004 at 12:47 PM
Re: Iris Chang
Unbelievable. As mentioned by her family in the article, she indeed seemed full of life.
Posted by: Naomi | November 11, 2004 at 01:35 PM
What struck me about the Caryn James article is she seems to have a hard time finding bad things to say about the books other than nitpicky quibbles with the structure. And why bother criticizing the choices if you aren't going to propose better ones? Other than a half-hearted Philip Roth endorsement, she doesn't give specific suggestions about other candidates.
I must confess that I am biased myself, having had Joan Silber as a professor. The Ron Hogan interview captured her personality really well. I haven't read the new book yet, but I've heard good things about it.
Posted by: Whitney | November 11, 2004 at 01:43 PM
Laura:
Check out the San Francisco Chronicle's story on Iris Chang's death (www.sfgate.com). I couldn't format the link properly, but you should be able to find the story easily.
She was doing very important work, and it's devastating to think that documenting the horrors of war may have contributed to her depression.
Posted by: Naomi | November 11, 2004 at 02:08 PM
I'm no fan of the Times' book coverage, but I have to say I appreciated Caryn James' review of the National Book Award finalists. Instead of focusing on the sales figures, as so many other pieces have done, she took a genuine critical position on the books and made a case for it. It does sound like all five nominees are from the same mold. You'll find a greater diversity of styles in the Edgar or Hugo short lists, for example, than you will here. Which renders the award beside the point.
Posted by: Vince | November 11, 2004 at 08:09 PM