Tim Parks writes at NYRB about the constraints that the marketplace puts on writers’ creativity. For more on publishing and the marketplace, check out our column on The Future of the Book.
Marketing Creativity
On Goodreads, On Good Criticism
“Goodreads lets me capture and disperse impressions that occur as I read. I tend to track the sounds I make when reading, the chortles, gasps, growls, and LOLs. I try to figure out why I might not have liked aspects of a book, looking under the hood in a workshoppy way…” Lee Klein offers a defense of Goodreads and good criticism over at Full Stop.
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Flexible Cinderella
On the persistent popularity and flexibility of Cinderella, from old folktales featuring talking gourds all the way to the upcoming Disney version, from NPR.
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Brooklyn Boys I
His new novel, Sunset Park, finds Paul Auster leaving behind the metafictional gamesmanship of his recent work for a look at our new Age of Austerity. This week, he talks to The L Magazine about the neighborhood from which it takes its title and inspiration…
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“The Soul of the Censor”
Recommended reading: Robert Darnton writes for The New York Review of Books blog about the history and politics of censorship.
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How to Be a Book Critic
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)