As part of an ongoing series, Critical Mass asks book critics to name five books that should be found in any reviewer’s library — Ruth Franklin of The New Republic posts her picks. (via Book Bench)
How to Be a Book Critic
Zombie Franchises
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More NYC books
If you haven’t gotten enough of literary New York quite yet, here’s what the Guardian (UK) thinks you should be reading about “the American dream concretised in a shimmering mirage, the burgeoning metropolis of hope built on foundations of money, drugs and exploitation.” Less judgmentally, Grantland’s Kevin Nguyen focuses on two new books set in Queens, recommending High As the Horses’ Bridles by The Millions’ own Scott Cheshire, which is no Brooklyn hipster novel: his opening scene (“among the finest published this year”) has a 12-year-old offering a prophecy of Armageddon.
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The Naipaul Test
V.S. Naipaul (seemingly a professional misogynist at times) rankled many by suggesting there are no women writers that can equal him and calling Jane Austen “sentimental.” Now the Guardian offers up a quiz that challenges readers to identify the gender of an author simply by reading a passage of his or her writing.
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A Sense of Danger
Recommended Listening: Renata Adler’s Longform podcast on writing routines and the need for acquiring a sense of danger.
Beware the Potterverse
In case you missed it: JK Rowling just released a new Harry Potter short story on her own promotional website. Before you get too excited: the New Republic is less than sanguine, calling it “a marketing scam.” (Code for: not very good writing?) Which is not going to keep me from reading it anyway. Readers with more restraint might note that “You don’t have to be a Barthesian grad student to chafe at Rowling’s impulse to clarify the words on the page.” (Pair with our discussion of fan fiction and the afterlife of literature.)
Qiu Miaojin and the Existential Wonder of the Immigrant Narrative
Ocean Vuong recommends Last Words from Montmarte by Qiu Miaojin, a series of letters that explores culture, language, and gender.
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Charles Yu on Switching Between TV and Novel Writing
Charles Yu discusses the novelistic techniques he employs in his television writing and, conversely, how his TV projects influence his fiction.
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