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Freaky Friday LitNotes
May 4, 2007

There's been so much book news in the past week that it's starting to freak me out, a little. We're all so used to books being ignored! I thought I'd round up some of it here:

The Empire's former intel chief strikes back -- What, you expected a bedtime story from a man who was in charge of the CIA under Bush? George Tenet's tell-all memoirs, At the Center of the Storm, are -- surprise, surprise -- full of sound and fury...  I'll let you finish the quote. According to Wonkette, a lot of the characters involved share the same name.

Mrs. Chabon plotzes with pride -- And no, we don't mean the pigtailed Ms. Waldman. Michael Chabon says his mother was actually happy about the anti-Semitism charges swirling around his new novel, The Yiddish Policeman's Union. He explains that "My mother, when she saw this item in the Post, she was kvelling... " He went on to explain that it's a "badge of honor" to be condemned "by one's own people, when you're a Jew." No wonder I love Chabon so much. Here is a writer who truly reflects the artist's proverbial self-loathing.

It's Not the Beat, It's the Notion -- "It's not how big your book review is, but how intimately your readers embrace it." Big shout-out to my friend Ron Hogan (and his co-blogger Sarah Weinman) over at GalleyCat for putting this so succinctly. However, in deference to Michael Dirda's somewhat legitimate beefs about book reviews and blogs, let me remind us all once again: Everybody needs an editor. I think book reviews posted online might get more respect if they were not perceived as one person's unvetted screeds.

Posted by Bethanne Patrick on May 4, 2007 | Comments (2)