Intellectual Curiosities and Provocations

February 2006

Reviewing the Review: February 5 2006

News
Lucy Ellmann's appraisal of Kathryn Davis's new novel The Thin Place is the kind of dramatic writing I like to see in the New York Times Book Review. The drama does not originate with the book Ellmann is reviewing, but rather with Ellmann's intensely mixed feelings about this book. She bitterly mocks Davis's pretensions to purplish prose, quoting a cosmological passage and asking if Davis had just smoked her first joint, and referring to the "sucking sounds" emanating from florid descriptions of "pink bogs of rosemark, gaping mouths of sun-dew".

This article is part of the Reviewing the New York Times Book Review series. The next post in the series is Reviewing the Review: February 12 2006. The previous post in the series is Reviewing the Review: January 29 2006.

Dark Day for Curious George

Kid Lit,
News
Alan J. Shalleck, one of the collaborators for the Curious George childrens' book series, was found dead Tuesday morning. You can check the link for the grim details, but it's not clear whether the death (under seemingly suspicious circumstances) is related to the writer's celebrity or the upcoming release of the animated movie based on the Curious George books. In any case, we're very sorry to hear of this loss.

Way Overdue

News
This week Philip Akbar Shabazz was sentenced to a three year prison term for having 402 overdue items from the Baltimore County Public library system. He's suspected of checking out the items, then selling them and was convicted on charges of theft. The list of overdue items included nine copies of Bad Girlz and seven copies of Gangsta, which sounds pretty much like my reading list.

Reviewing the Review: February 12 2006

A certain hush falls over a city after a big snowstorm. That's what it's like today in New York. It's the kind of day when you want a really good New York Times Book Review to read ... and as past experience shows that's usually about a 50-50 bet. Luckily, they come through today.

This article is part of the Reviewing the New York Times Book Review series. The next post in the series is Reviewing the Review: February 19 2006. The previous post in the series is Reviewing the Review: February 5 2006.

American Life in Poetry: Geology

Poetry
U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser is writing a series of columns that highlights poetry and its importance in everyday life. From time to time we'll share the reprinted columns here, and provide you a chance to add your comments. The latest offering from Colorado poet Bob King examines the geology of love.

This article is part of the American Life In Poetry series. The next post in the series is American Life in Poetry: Tangerine. The previous post in the series is American Life in Poetry: December Notes.

Jamelah Reads the Classics: Heart of Darkness

Africa,
Classics,
Reviews
Despite official protest from one of my LitKicks compadres about having Heart of Darkness in my queue of classics, I've gone ahead and read it anyway. Because that's what I do. And now that I've read it, I'm not really sure what the deal is with this book.

This article is part of the Jamelah Reads The Classics series. The next post in the series is Jamelah Reads the Classics: Chick Lit Edition. The previous post in the series is Jamelah Reads the Classics: Anna Karenina.

Street Smarts

Reviews,
Transgressive
When I review self-published or small press books, I always try them not only on literary merits but also on street smarts. Does the book have what it takes to get noticed out there in this big lonely world? Is the design appealing and powerful? Does the back cover text offer me a compelling reason to want to read the book? Does the author have a good website?

I'm not going to champion a book that doesn't know how to champion itself. And you all know how I feel about spelling errors. (Don't even. Just don't.)

The Motorcycle Diaries

Film,
Politics
I just came back from Cuba, where I saw Che Guevera's face plastered everywhere, even in the most unlikely places: in the middle of the countryside with nothing around for miles, a piece of cardboard, or planks, anywhere that could be drawn or painted on, basically. All I knew about him is that he was a revered man, so you can imagine my thrill after stumbling onto the new biographical film Motorcycle Diaries by chance last night.

Reviewing the Review: February 19 2006

Existential
I'm always up for a good philosophical smackdown, and when I saw that New Republic editor Leon Wieseltier was challenging atheistic philosopher Daniel Dennett in today's New York Times Book Review I knew some good punches would get thrown.

This article is part of the Reviewing the New York Times Book Review series. The next post in the series is Reviewing the Review: February 26 2006. The previous post in the series is Reviewing the Review: February 12 2006.

Unearthing O’Hara: In Search Of Pal Joey

Comedy,
Film,
Jazz Age,
Music
For decades, I've been wanting to read John O'Hara's original "Pal Joey" series from the New Yorker in the late 30's. These short humor pieces by the celebrated novelist became the basis for a classic jazz-age Rodgers and Hart Broadway musical, Pal Joey, which opened in 1940 with a then-unknown Gene Kelly in the title role. It wasn't a huge hit, perhaps because its storyline was too gritty. Joey is a charming but selfish young singer and nightclub habitue, intensely ambitious but unable to hold onto a dollar or resist a pretty face.

It’s All About The N’s

Beat Generation,
News,
Politics,
Postmodernism
1. Whoa. Enigmatic novelist Don DeLillo has written the screenplay for a movie that's opening on March 10, Game Six, which apparently involves Michael Keaton, Robert Downey, Jr. and the most exciting baseball game of all time, 1986's sixth World Series game between the New York Mets and the Boston Red Sox. This is big news in and of itself -- DeLillo is always worth paying attention to -- but is especially so because of the subject matter.

Reviewing the Review: February 26 2006

Fiction,
Postmodernism
The New York Times Book Review totally calls postmodern whiz-kid William Vollmann on his bluff today, assigning somebody who actually understands science to review his new impressionistic book about Copernicus and heliocentrism, Uncentering The Earth. The critic in the Times corner is Dava Sobel, who wrote a well-recieved book about the relationship between Galileo and his daughter, then followed it up with The Planets, a substantial but popular study of astronomy.

This article is part of the Reviewing the New York Times Book Review series. The next post in the series is Reviewing the Review: March 5 2006. The previous post in the series is Reviewing the Review: February 19 2006.

Exit, Pursued By Bear

 
Grizzly Man, a film by Werner Herzog
 

Grizzly Man, a documentary film by Werner Herzog, is an astounding and unsettling study of humanity and nature. It was pasted together from videotape left behind by Timothy Treadwell, a somewhat goofy and hippy-dippy outdoorsman who spent thirteen summers in a row communing with grizzly bears in Alaska.

American,
Ecology,
Film,
Nature,
Transcendentalism

Grizzly Man, a new documentary film by Werner Herzog, is an astounding study of humanity and nature. It was pasted together from videotape left behind by Timothy Treadwell, a somewhat goofy and hippy-dippy outdoorsman who spent thirteen summers in a row communing with grizzly bears in Alaska.