A friend of mine who writes middle-grade novels told me recently that historical fiction for kids is selling well these days. (I guess we’ve all had enough of the current reality.) Linda Joan Smith’s debut novel, THE PEACH THIEF, fits right into that. I wrote about it, glowingly, for the New York Times Book Review:… Continue reading »
Archives for Lit Crit
Dying of Exposure
In 2003, I wrote a spirited–some would say snarky–op-ed for the Washington Post. Headlined “It’s a Little Too cozy in the Blogosphere,” it called out what I saw as excessive chumminess and logrolling in the then-new literary blogosphere. I took some heat from members of said blogosphere, some of whom forgave me and went on… Continue reading »
Thanks for the Memoirs
Journalists are handed a lot of evidence that the world at large doesn’t think much of our trade. No-one seems to appreciate how selflessly we serve the greater good, what keen-eyed observers and trenchant analysts we are. So there we are, feeling all righteous and aggrieved, and then the news cycle coughs up a reminder… Continue reading »
Remembering Danilo Kiš
Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the untimely death of the Yugoslav writer Danilo KiÅ¡ (A Tomb for Boris Davidovich, Encyclopedia of the Dead). My friend Rich Byrne pays tribute to KiÅ¡’ “painfully comic vision of human beings careening through a universe of injustice and accident,” and talks about how his work affected the Yugoslav/Serbian… Continue reading »
Howard’s Rules of Reviewing (Wallet-Size)
An abridged version for those who don’t want to wade through the chatty one below: 1. Read the book. All of it. 2. Be honest. Say what you think and why. 3. Do not hide behind vagueness and cliche. 4. Resist the temptation to be mean just because you can. 5. Remember that the author… Continue reading »
