Constant Reader discussion

The banker who chairs the Booker Prize Committee took the occasion of the most recent award to criticize book reviewers for being too lenient with established writers and too critical of new writers. That led to this response on the Times Literary Supplement blog.

[http://timescolumns.typepad.com/stoth...]

I have become very interested in the blog phenomenon for what is shows about the difficulty of writing.

Some of the Time magazine columnists have a blog on the Time website, and it is obvious that their blog is just off the cuff remarks -- sort of like my remarks here. When they get around to writing their columns, their thoughts are given far more form even if they are the same thoughts.

Other blog writers, like the TLS editor above, take time to write carefully and with a great deal of wit. An alternate format is the Bookslut blog, which contains short comments and links to other sites with strange things like a You Tube interpretive dance to a TS Eliot reading "Prufrock".

There is so much to see at these places. My favorites are the blogs from the LA Times, the NY Times, and the aforementioned Bookslut. The NY Times also has a separate blog called "Reading Room" where a group of clever writers are currently reading War and Peace and having all sorts of wonderful insights, sort of the way the rest of you do here.

Has anyone else gotten involved in this part of the net? What are your favorites?

-- Jim

Hey, Jim. Since I have a blog on children's books, I read a whole lot of kid-lit sites; they're in a sidebar, "Read These" on the left-hand side of my blog, Chicken Spaghetti (http://www.chickenspaghetti.typepad.com).

Among the "grown-up" lit and culture blogs I like are Maud Newton, the Millions, Chekhov's Mistress, About Last Night (arts and books), and Quiet Bubble (arts and books). Also be sure to check out Critical Mass, the blog of the National Book Critics Circle. MediaBistro's GalleyCat can't be beat for publishing news. These are also linked under "Read These" at my site.

I like The New York Times' Paper Cuts, too. I enjoy La Bloga and Laila Lalami, though I don't read them as regularly the ones above. The Elegant Variation is another popular one. If you like mysteries, you might like Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind.

Arrrrgh. All I need is more ways to spend time on the computer!

R

I have Bookslut on my LiveJournal feed, so I read that daily. Other than that, not too much--last thing I need are more people telling me what books to read, y'all do quite nicely there! :)

-Rob

Jim,

The Guardian - http://www.guardian.co.uk/ - has both a good book section and some good blogs. I read a superb review with Anne Enright (the author of the Booker Prize winner and, yes, I had to go to the site to check her name because I couldn't remember it!). Guardian articles are known her for being well-written and also for lots of typographical errors - it's nickname is 'The Gruniad' - but these errors have decreased dramatically in recent times - prob computer spell-checks.

Oh, I love the book blogs, Jim. Unfortunately (and I mean it is truly unfortunate from my point of view), I spend probably too much time on the computer as it is. I've many other things going on, although none of them actually involve working...I've given that up for as long as I can...anyway, to get back to the point, I enjoy bookslut, the NY Times and the Guardian. I can't get involved myself, because of time constraints, but I do love to read them. So many, many, many things to read, and so very little time.

I'm having great fun checking out these book blogs and bookmarking the ones I like, Jim. I'm especially enjoying the group at the NYTimes (including Francine Prose) who are reading the new translation of War and Peace. They quoted this from Tolstoy in defense of the book after it was published:

“‘War and Peace’ is not a novel, still less an epic poem, still less a historical chronicle.” He then differentiates between the work of the historian and that of the artist and says historical accounts require heroes while for the artist “there cannot and should not be heroes, but there should be people.”

I'm a huge fan of Tolstoy's writing, particularly because all of his characters are truly people, no heroes, no villains. It was nice to see him quoted as saying that. And, the discussion, in general, is first rate.

Barb

Hey to Barb and Jim: I left a blog out the other day. It's called The Millions. Very, very interesting and quite different from many other blogs. You might like to check it out. Gail

I maintain a book blog here: http://www.pussreboots.pair.com

I will post links to my favorites soon. I need to go look them up.

I love The Millions blog. Unfortunately for my schedule, good blogs seem to have links to other good blogs. I liked the New Yorker one linked at the Millions and have bookmarked that as well.

Barb

Many thanks for the book blogs, Jim and others! I think the only thing I do more of, than spend time at the computer, is browse and buy books. It feels like reading them comes a distant third. But keep 'em coming. :) :)