A fun article about the founder of Bookslut.com. (Chicago Tribune, reg. required.) Loved this:
When writing about critic and novelist Dale Peck, Crispin called his work, "Not even bad enough to be trashy. I tried to read "The Law of Enclosures" until I noticed I was using the cover to try to saw through my wrist."
and this:
In publishing circles, the term "book slut" has circulated for years, says Perreault. It is used interchangeably with the expression "book whore," meaning "one who covets or hordes books," he says, but there's a subtle difference.
"A book whore wants something in return," Perreault says. "A book slut just loves books."
I finished Brett Easton Ellis' The Rules of Attraction this week while waiting at Firestone to get my flat fixed. If the characters in this book were typical of Ivy League college students in the 80s, the leadership of this country is only going to get worse after Bush.
I thought it interesting that other readers
have complained about the film version dropping the affair between Paul Denton and Sean Bateman. But in the book all the references to it were from Paul's point of view, with absolutely nothing said on the subject by Sean. There's only one moment where the viewpoint of a third party (Lauren) implies that anything more serious than an unrequited crush happened between the two of them, and that instance is open to interpretation.
While Sean being in denial is perhaps more logical than Paul being delusional about having an affair, the latter is more in line with the book's motif of one-sided and imaginary relationships. Lauren invents a passionate love affair with Victor, who doesn't know who she is. Sean fixates on Lauren, imagining her to be this idealized girl that wooed him with mysterious love notes when she's largely indifferent. The actual author of the notes is obsessed with Sean to the point of killing herself over the lack of his attention, but they never really talked.
It's entirely possible, and perhaps thematically preferable, that anything more than a casual friendship between Sean and Paul was in the latter's head—just as the movie depicted
.
Erin! You read it all in one night! Wow.
I read it over about a month and a half. I really enjoyed it and want lots more. I kind of enjoyed taking it slow -- mostly because I didn't want it to end.
(I just re-read
Sorcery and Cecilia or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot
- there is just something about magic and the Regency period, I guess.)
I meant to italicize not spoiler font that!
Erin! You read it all in one night! Wow.
It's my only superpower...but damn, the costume ain't sexy!
Adding to recs:
Pentimento
Lillian Hellman
t cameo post
Everyone needs to go out and buy
Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress
by Susan Gilman. It is wonderful and funny and I am in love with it.
Charlotte Macleod, a.k.a. Ailsa Craig, writer of "cozy" mysteries (death, yes; blood, no), died in a nursing home at the age of 82.
[link]
I really quite liked these
Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn mysteries were about a couple from Boston's Beacon Hill area.
I am sad for her family, but it seems like she really enjoyed her writing and did get a nice long life.
I adored MacLeod's Peter Shandy mysteries. There's part of me that wishes I could have gone to Balaclava Agricultural College.
Huh. I had two waiters at a restaurant last night chat with me about a story that I don't remember from a Stephen King collection that I bought this year. Either it was completely unmemorable despite their enthusiasm, or "1408" freaked me out so much that I've blocked out the whole anthology. (In which case, gee thanks brain—the one story I do remember clearly is the creeptastic one.)
