Slog - Comments on Book Reviewers— Who Needs ’Em? http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em Posted by Sage Van Wing There's a great hubbub going on in the book world these days over the recent firing of Teresa Weaver, the erstwhile book editor at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The decision comes as mainstream papers all across the country are slashing book sections and printing reviews generated by wire services or one of the larger papers (only four stand alone Sunday book review sections are left). The National Book Critics Circle is circulating a petition to re-instate Weaver, and their blog has posted a stream of entreaties from mid-list authors in favor of the petition. The New... Copyright 2008 Thu, 10 May 2007 14:41:52 -0800 Sun, 20 May 2007 15:50:32 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by annie Addendum: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also fired their film critic.

]]> annie http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712311 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712311 Arts Thu, 10 May 2007 14:44:41 -0800 Comment by bing paul constant's reviews are consistently among the best in the stranger.

]]> bing http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712320 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712320 Arts Thu, 10 May 2007 14:58:52 -0800 Comment by christopher frizzelle I totally agree, bing. They're better than mine.

]]> christopher frizzelle http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712323 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712323 Arts Thu, 10 May 2007 15:04:41 -0800 Comment by snipey Only 47 Americans read a book last year? That is alarming.

]]> snipey http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712327 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712327 Arts Thu, 10 May 2007 15:07:35 -0800 Comment by Original Andrew snipey @ 4,

Alarming, yet totally believable.

]]> Original Andrew http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712334 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712334 Arts Thu, 10 May 2007 15:21:12 -0800 Comment by keshmeshi I read a lot of books, but almost never pay attention to book reviews. I don't trust critics enough to invest considerable time reading a recommended book that turns out to be shit.

]]> keshmeshi http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712336 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712336 Arts Thu, 10 May 2007 15:28:59 -0800 Comment by Judah I can’t get too upset about how few people read books. Most so-called literary fiction is complete crap. Particularly the *short* literary fiction. I mean, how many fucking stories do we need to publish about an aging professor who wants to pork one of his students? Or the family tensions of New England Jews? There are plenty of literary rock stars, but the whole medium is weighted down with nepotistic academics who’ve spawned a persistent and ubiquitous tradition of navel-gazing derivative shit. Nonfiction is where most of the really interesting stuff is happening these days, and that’s obviously going to be a much narrower market.

Paper’s just too expensive to support a genuinely experimental milieu like the pulps of yesteryear—kind of like the real estate market is massacring all the good experimental theatre.

]]> Judah http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712337 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712337 Arts Thu, 10 May 2007 15:31:52 -0800 Comment by gramma schola thank you for using the word "erstwhile" correctly. It REALLY bugs me when people think it's some vague synonym for "esteemed" or "earnest" and use it that way.

oh yeah, the rest of this post was good, too.

]]> gramma schola http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712370 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712370 Arts Thu, 10 May 2007 15:57:09 -0800 Comment by summertime Judah your awesome takes on things. I read your writings on your website and you have knack for being right on target with your viewpoints. I find it hard to disagree with anything you've said. yet. I like the piece on Heros and the writers for t.v. shows. I find that so right on the money.
Anyway As for books and fiction or nonfiction, I stopped reading them so much. I've been busy doing design and graphic illustration of stories into
vectored templates from my rough drafts. I got real deep in researching but thats about it. trying to get in some writers head what he was thinking after 1000s of pages of pros and cons is way to involoved for me these days.
Besides it is easier to surf facts and fiction these days with the Book called a computer. You find everything you want. Someones got to draw life. Not just read about it. I choose to draw. Am I bad for not reading books?

]]> summertime http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712410 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712410 Arts Thu, 10 May 2007 16:42:29 -0800 Comment by Judah Uh.

]]> Judah http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712466 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712466 Arts Thu, 10 May 2007 17:45:18 -0800 Comment by Chris Bradley My take is that the publishing industry sucks. I think that fiction writing needs the same sort of creative vibrancy that keeps music, theater and visual arts alive. What fiction writing needs is some sort of movement akin to hip-hop, with an local community emphasis and an outreach to match readers with books.

]]> Chris Bradley http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712489 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712489 Arts Thu, 10 May 2007 19:01:34 -0800 Comment by east coaster I haven't read a book in ages because I was too busy reading web material.

]]> east coaster http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712554 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c712554 Arts Thu, 10 May 2007 21:06:09 -0800 Comment by Ryno Right on, Judah. I think that you're right for the most part--most contemporary fiction is bullshit. Especially the young generation of rock star novelists. At the same time, the aging guard continues to shine. I hated Roth's Everyman, but much of what he's written in the last five years is spectacular. And Old Man McCarthy's The Road was stunning. I have my problems with Oprah, but her book club is a major contribution to keeping books alive.

On another note, does this notion of competing ideologies and isms and politics still describe most literary academics? I just graduated from college last year and can't recall anyone using the loaded term "feminist literature." I think most of the top-tier academics have moved on. It seems to me that those wallowing in these false characterizations are dead-end grad students still in the throes of postmodern theory.

Aren't Paglia et al. beating a horse that died years ago?

Or am I wrong?

]]> Ryno http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c713013 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c713013 Arts Fri, 11 May 2007 09:13:34 -0800 Comment by Ryno It just occurred to me that I'm wrong. During my oral exam I spent a good chunk of time trying to convince a very senior professor that I didn't think Leaves of Grass was an "abolitionist text."

]]> Ryno http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c713021 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c713021 Arts Fri, 11 May 2007 09:20:20 -0800 Comment by suzkb mafynhp euysqno rkgunzsl lvenr ufnmgqc dvwbus rohjbd tkdul

]]> suzkb mafynhp http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c720576 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c720576 Arts Sat, 19 May 2007 03:00:36 -0800 Comment by suzkb mafynhp euysqno rkgunzsl lvenr ufnmgqc dvwbus rohjbd tkdul

]]> suzkb mafynhp http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c720590 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c720590 Arts Sat, 19 May 2007 03:02:06 -0800 Comment by suzkb mafynhp euysqno rkgunzsl lvenr ufnmgqc dvwbus rohjbd tkdul

]]> suzkb mafynhp http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c720596 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c720596 Arts Sat, 19 May 2007 03:03:01 -0800 Comment by online student loans consolidate student can loans consolidate http://financehelp.hostuju.cz/student-loans >consolidate you student loans

]]> online student loans consolidate http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c721766 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c721766 Arts Sun, 20 May 2007 15:50:19 -0800 Comment by online student loans consolidate student can loans consolidate http://financehelp.hostuju.cz/student-loans >consolidate you student loans

]]> online student loans consolidate http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c721767 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/05/book_reviewers_who_needs_em#c721767 Arts Sun, 20 May 2007 15:50:32 -0800