The Most Overrated Books of 2011 according to NY Daily News, and Steve Jobs is included?
Most Overrated Books
Rough Starts
We’ve talked about great opening lines before, but what about the rough starts? The American Scholar has listed the “Ten Worst Opening Lines” and believe it or not, they’re well worth reading.
●
●
A Disturbance in the Force of the Joyce Estate
Our own Mark O’Connell likens James Joyce’s grandson to a “highbrow Darth Vader.”
●
●
The Virtues of Boring
Mark O’Connell’s recent essay in these pages discussed how long, challenging novels can hold you captive (in both the good and bad senses of that phrase). Now, in the Times, Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott come to the defense of “the slow and the boring” in film, responding Dan Kois’s Times Magazine piece confessing he’s “suffering from a kind of culture fatigue and have less interest in eating my cultural vegetables.”
●
●
2 comments:
Add Your Comment: Cancel reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Like a Prayer
Thirty years after its initial publication, Don DeLillo’s White Noise is still every bit the hilarious, uncannily prescient classic that everyone believed it was. White nailed the whole “America poisoned by reality and the humming glow of computer screens” angle better than almost anyone. For more DeLillo, here’s what its like to re-read White Noise.
●
●
It’s Darcy, Isn’t It
Why do Americans love Jane Austen so much? The BBC (who else) takes a look at possible reasons.
●
●
The American Salander: Rooney Mara
At W, a first look at American actress Rooney Mara in character as Lisbeth Salander. The relatively unknown Mara, recently of David Fincher‘s The Social Network, has been cast as Salander to Daniel Craig‘s Mikael Blomkvist in Fincher’s American film version of Stieg Larsson‘s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. The obvious question: does Mara have the chops to outshine Noomi Rapace‘s Salander?
Write Fast
Tony Tulathimutte offers advice on lowering word count: Merge scenes, murder characters, quit writing altogether: “merge scenes, murder characters, ‘start as close to the end as possible’ (Kurt Vonnegut), quit writing altogether.” Pair with this Millions piece on writing slowly and by hand.
●
●
The list was quite interesting and I do agree with some of the picks (including Steve Jobs) but then Mr. Nazaryan had to go and put this statement at the end of the article: “If you disagree with the above, by all means tell me how/why I am wrong. Not that I ever am.” Call me over-sensitive but that statement sounds plain arrogant to me regardless of Mr. Nazaryan’s reputation. if you are going to invite people into a discussion on why they agree or disagree with you why put the additional disclaimer “Not that i ever am.” Seems like his made up his mind so what’s the point of us even discussing why we agree or disagree with him? Waste of time.
That line was a joke! Nazaryan has a sense of humor. Enjoy it!