I feel dirty- June 28, 2005 I just finished True Story: Murder, Memoir and Mea Culpa. It gives me the shivers. And I just realized something as I typed in the title. Maybe I don't hate it anymore. Because the first two words are aggressively ironic, though I'm not sure they were intended that way. (The author opens by imploring us of the opposite.) So much of it was maddeningly boring, but I have to admit it had a powerful payoff. The climax was unexpected (I won't spoil with any specifics), and more revolting than I...http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/books/2005/06/28.html#a1637 Girls For Breakfast- June 17, 2005 I think you're going to like this. It's the first novel from the one (other heeheehee) great writer from my MA program. It&146;s angry and ballistic and ridiculously funny, but man&151;it will break your heart. Nick Park is Korean Americans and hates himself and his parents for it, but hasn't quite has figured that out yet. Delacorte is really behind this&151;lead YA title for summer, I think. It&146;s a coming of age story, so they slotted it YA, hoping for crossover, positioning Dave as sort..http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/books/2005/06/17.html#a1631 Writer heaven- June 17, 2005 Suddenly it's bookwars at my world. The good kind. In the middle of five books at once. Three of my friends released books within two weeks. Never even had two within two years, before. And then there's that True Story book by my old NYT Magazine hero that I can't put down. And I someone got me to pick up Rimbaud, finally, "A Season in Hell," and this Jean Genet book was waiting for me at the bookstore, which I had ordered months ago and never remembered, and they're incredible. Reading a...http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/books/2005/06/17.html#a1630 The Fundamentalist-Evangelical Split- June 15, 2005 No, I'm not talking about some big flare-up this week or this month. The original schism between the two. If you've always wondered what the two terms mean, Beliefnet is featuring an excerpt from Wendy Murray Zoba's book on Evangelical Christians that lays out the split. Great little informative read, and gives you a taste of what you'll find in her book. Prolly not the most fascinating subject matter for people outside that particular fold, but gives you an idea of her style.http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/books/2005/06/15.html#a1626 The journalist, my hero and the murderer- June 15, 2005 I had to stop reading the cover story Salon just posted after the first page. Nothing lacking in the material, or Andrew O'Hehir's treatment of it, quite the reverse. It's past 11, so the bookstores here are closed, but first thing in the morning, I'm hopping on my bike to snag a copy of Michael Finkel's book True Story. The subhead of the Salon story capsulizes it expertly: A disgraced New York Times reporter learns his identity has been stolen by an all-American hunk who killed his wife.http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/books/2005/06/15.html#a1625 One step up from prostitute- June 14, 2005 Just read the Booklist review of Wendy Murray Zoba's new book (released today), The Beliefnet Guide to Evangelical Christianity. Check out this opening: Citing a 2003 poll, Zoba reports common knowledge: "Americans generally" dislike evangelicals "more than any other social sector, except for prostitutes." Wow. It's amazing how many people think the evangelicals have taken over the country, when they're actually getting trampled into the dirt. And if you spend any time at all with them, you...http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/books/2005/06/14.html#a1621 Evangelical christianity--she wrote the book on it- June 14, 2005 I have three friends with new books out. This has never happened before. David Plotz, my editor at Slate, has a big new book from Random House, The Genius Factory. More on that soon, as well as on David Yoo's Girls for Breakfast. But Wendy Murray Zoba, a friend and collegue I got to know covering Columbine was asked by Beliefnet and Doubleday to write The Beliefnet Guide to Evangelical Christianity. The two are teaming up for a series of books on the various world religions, and at...http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/books/2005/06/13.html#a1617 |