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Picks of the Week

  • Adam Thirlwell: Politics: A Novel (P.S.)

    Adam Thirlwell: Politics: A Novel (P.S.)
    One would think this book is about sex, And while it is, since the characters have so much about it, some of it is kinky, and threesomes play a big role in the narrative. mostly POLITICS is about everything else: the mechanics, the logistics, the emotional minefields, the awkward questions, the moral dilemmas, and, well, the politics of what it is to be with someone you love or someone you don't, and how an act that should be simple is anything but. Thirlwell was disgustingly young when he wrote this but he absolutely understands that to make this book work, there must be an underlying sweetness and sincerity to the entire story. Now I want to see what he's up to more recently. Amazon | Indiebound | B & N | Borders | Powell’s

  • Jennifer Mascia: Never Tell Our Business to Strangers: A Memoir

    Jennifer Mascia: Never Tell Our Business to Strangers: A Memoir
    Years ago I was blown away by Mascia's Modern Love piece describing her parents' secret past: her father was a mobbed-up convicted murderer, and her mother not only knew all about it, but aided and abetted her husband when life required being a fugitive, selling drugs, and living at great highs and crushing lows. Mascia's book tells a more whole story about her peripatetic life, and even with every new shocking revelation what remained consistent was how much she loved her parents, no matter how deep those lows went, and how much she misses them now that they are gone. Unconditional love never goes away, no matter if those who receive it deserve it. Indiebound | Amazon | Borders | B & N | Powell’s

  • Juli Zeh: In Free Fall

    Juli Zeh: In Free Fall
    Give me a novel of ideas and if the story is good and the characters are believable and entertain me, I am there. Give me a crime novel of ideas, where two physics professors, friends and rivals, opposites but startlingly similar, do emotional battle on an intellectual canvas, raise the stakes through betrayal, the possible kidnapping of a child, and embroil a romantic-leaning police detective in the complicated machinations of quantum theory, and holy hell, I think I have myself one of my favorite books of the year. Powell’s | Indiebound | Amazon | Borders | B & N

  • Simon Lelic: A Thousand Cuts

    Simon Lelic: A Thousand Cuts
    It appears to be a crime with an easy solution: a disgruntled schoolteacher shoots up his place of employment and kills several students in the process. But really, Lelic's novel is about the catastrophic consequences of bullying, and how this act is hardly limited to kids turning on other kids, but burrows deeply into adult relationships as well. He evokes empathy for the killer and sympathy for Lucia, the investigating officer who has to fight for every scrap of dignity as she pieces together the far more complex truth of what really happened at the school. Powell’s | Amazon | Borders | Indiebound | B & N

  • William Lindsay Gresham: Nightmare Alley

    William Lindsay Gresham: Nightmare Alley
    I cannot stop raving about this book to people. The circular narrative structure, the demented feel of a traveling carny troupe, and the extraordinary rise and precipitous fall of Stan Carlisle give off the persistent, raging feeling that hell is always with us, and success is basically a sucker's game. No matter what the biographical evidence on Gresham's state of mind leading up to and after the book's bestseller (and movie basis) status in 1946, I don't think we can really know what demons plagued him to produce this marvelous noir gem. B & N | Indiebound | Amazon | Borders | Powell’s

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August 08, 2005

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Comments

John Kenyon

A personal relationship shouldn't always be a deal breaker, but if it exists, it should always be made known. For newspaper reviews, those with a personal relatioship (one or two degrees, perhaps?) are probably best disqualified. But elsewhere, such as online or in a magazine piece where there is a bit more depth and a chance to more fully explore things, a review from a friend of the writer (or enemy, for that matter), if the relationship is out in the open, could be quite enlightening, bringing a perspective to the review otherwise unavailable.

Natsuo

As a reader of reviews, I sure would like to know if a review is biased or not. At the same time, I wouldn't belive a 100% objective reivew exists. Maybe this is why there is hardly anyone asking these questions? Maybe most of the people have already seen reviews as subjective opinions?

Jenny D

I think the question of propriety/appearances is an important one, but I also think this may be overly scrupulous. A personal relationship like the Wiggins-Irving thing should be signaled in the text of the review, either by the parenthetical "(full disclosure: ...)" thing, which is annoying stylistically but necessary; or, if the review is written in a more personal voice, in the form of an anecdote or a recollection or whatever that lays out the relevant connection. But these worlds really are small. I wouldn't review a good friend's book, but I'd review a book written by someone I'd met a few times or, say, gone to university with but didn't really hang out with there. In academic book reviewing, it is much more standard to review books of people you know quite well, without any official disclosure. The same questions of propriety arise, but on the whole, as long as you're not writing about someone who is either a teacher or a student of your own, or a very close friend/colleague, other kinds of connection wouldn't usually be an obstacle to assigning a review.

Mary

Yeah, in academia they often ask you to recommend people to review your stuff (proposals, books, etc.). In part that's because everything has gotten so specialized.

Sarah N

Hi Sarah W! off topic comment here; just thought you might be interested in this: http://writersblogalliance.com/ some sort of networking site for writers who blog (rather than a resource site for writers, or a community blog about writing, its just for writers who also blog, as opposed to the usual poltics and tech blog networks.)

MissSnark

The "aha, that explains it!" of personal connection first came to my attention when a medium size market daily paper's mystery reviewer seemed to REALLY love books from St Martins. He was published there. SMP does publish a lot of mysteries, but 2/3? Not hardly.

The now famous Jorie Graham incidents--selecting poetry contest winners who were not only known to her but romantically involved with her--another "this isn't kosher" revelation (thanks to a blogger by the way).

As blogging increases, and the number of places posting reviews increase, it's harder to avoid some contact but high on the list of people I don't reviewing MY client's works are the ex-spouses of their best friends. Not even if everyone says they're all friends.

I think Sarah's list should be two strikes you're out: you can review the book if you have one yes answer/connection, and it is disclosed, but anything more than that, no way.

Jon Jordan

If I had to stop reviewing people I know, I'd review three maybe four books a year.

I write honest reviews, if the book is good I say so, if I didn't like it, I don't review it.

Donna

As a reader, it doesn't bother me if reviews are subjective. And in a lot of cases I know that they are to some degree, because I am aware that the reviewer and reviewee are at least acquainted(there are limits of course - I don't think someone with particularly personal knowledge - a bitter ex-spouse of, or the mother of the author, etc etc should be given the task of reviewing books by that author (or if they do it should be disclosed in the review - and maybe the criteria for disclosure should be "I have seen this author in his/her underwear" :o) )).

There's always going to be some element of subjectivity in a review - it's a personal reaction to a book. The reviewer might have had a childhood altercation with a rabid squirrel and come off worst, and any scene in the book involving squirrels, no matter how small (the scene, not the squirrels), could colour the review.

I think most reviewers (and I say MOST) - whether amateur or professional - tend to review as honestly as they can and, well, if they don't, after being burned a couple of times then I just don't bother with their reviews any more. For me, reviews are generally a heads up about a book I may not have known aboout and anything that brings crime fiction to the notice of a wider readership is OK by me.

What was the question again?

Donna

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