“Ms. Cline, who was 27 when the novel came out, was celebrated as a major new talent. But for the last two years, her success has been overshadowed, in private, by legal threats levied against her by a former boyfriend.” Emma Cline, bestselling author of The Girls, and her ex-boyfriend, Chaz Reetz-Laiolo, have filed public lawsuits against each other including allegations of plagiarism, physical abuse, and intimidation, according to the New York Times. From our archives: staff writer Michael Bourne‘s review of Cline’s debut novel.
She Said, He Said
Poet Plunder
Poor Robert Frost can’t catch a break. Last month, we wrote about the Kansas man who stole a bronze bust of the poet. Now, a Vermont man has been charged with stealing Frost’s personal letters and Christmas cards that were left in a desk donated to the non-profit where he worked. He also sold them for $25,000 but only has to pay an $100 fine.
●
●
Saving Bookstores
Recommended Reading: On the “small, but noticeable, sustained, and continuous” resurgence of indie bookstores.
●
●
One comment:
Add Your Comment: Cancel reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Legs All the Way to the Sofa
“It is hard to see why anyone would abandon the generous Pearce Sectional Sofa, so we must assume that whomever was under that cozy throw was taken by force. More signs of abduction: reading glasses left atop a rare antique encyclopedia, a half-finished glass of wine, and a decorative conch shell that has tumbled to the floor, not to mention the wide-open French doors.” Pottery Barn catalogue descriptions written by an aspiring crime novelist.
●
●
Books for Problematic Times
Read and submit a “book for problematic times,” a blogger’s response to Newsweek’s uninspired 50 Books for Our Times.
The Golden Age of Women Essayists
The essay is more popular than ever. At Salon, Michele Filgate talks to Leslie Jamison (author of The Empathy Exams, here’s our review) and Roxane Gay (author of the forthcoming Bad Feminist) about the power of the genre. Gay believes our interest in essays is because of a “cultural preoccupation with the exposure of the self.” They also discuss if we’re in a golden age of women essayists. “Sometimes when men write about private feeling, it’s seen as exploratory or daring, and when women write about private feeling it’s seen as limited or in the vein of a kind of circumscribed emotional writing,” Jamison says.
He said, she said…these situations often are a waste in courts especially when it is a couple who once loved. It can be costly and often one is on a mission of revenge at any price. It is worse when children are involved as in a divorce. I also know that it often comes down with who believes whom and psychopaths (they are born one in 100 people..a problem in the brain where an area is too small, the amygdala, and you have one on each side and they are not properly connected to the frontal lobe command center. So these people do not feel the pain that their actions cause. That is why they are able to carry out horrible things and don’t feel remorse. Science has come a long way…yet people often twist this knowledge to their own purposes to say oh this person is a psychopath…now…if that is true then they were that all their lives…so they should have a “history”. Not all dangerous people have this history. The literature about borderlines (borderline personality disorder) says these people are not born this way but “made” through traumatic experiences at a young age. So how a court room battle is often played out is how attorneys paint the image of the two at battle…they do horrible things in the name of “justice” but that is their sworn duty. I have seen many tricks used and most people are, unfortunately, susceptible to crafty attorneys. So be careful and choose your courtroom battles…they can consume you…not just your adversary.