Collected Miscellany

Interesting review over at Books and Culture. Elissa Elliot reviews the recently released memoir of Sean Wilsey – an editor at large for McSweeney’s quarterly. Her conclusion is that “Wilsey’s book has all the elements of a good memoir.” She goes on to define what she means:

A good memoir is filled with wit, humor, and wisdom. A good memoir is honest-searingly so-and redemptive. A good memoir is not an easy weekend read; it causes considerable discomfort-that you, too, have done all these things, or might have, in similar circumstances; that you, too, have hurt people this badly. A good memoir says, “Here’s the scumbag I was, but by the grace of God, look what happened!” The proof lies in the final, conciliatory pages, which say, I am what I am because of these people, my family. Thank you.

Two questions for the audience:
1) Do you even read memoirs? Or would just as soon not see another memoir/autobiography published?
2) Is Elliot’s description of a good memoir accurate? Is that what you look for?

I saw this on Sherry’s blog tonight, and I joined in, answering for Brandywine Books where asked. It’s a demographic survey of bloggers with some relational technology questions.

MJ Rose’s The Halo Effect is now available in paperback. As MJ points out on her blog Buzz, Balls, & Hype, the book is $6.99, a reasonable price by any standard. She would like all of you to buy her book, so get out there and grab a copy.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova has been a big hit for Little, Brown and a source of nagging guilt for your reporter. I received this hefty tome from Time Warner Books, but I’m not a big vampire guy and Vlad the Impaler would be more interesting if he were, say, Speaker of the House. Nevertheless, my cultural shortcomings are vividly displayed by my inability to crack this book open. I feel the same way about David Sedaris and Hillary Clinton.

Lost in the summertime shuffle is Thirty Three Swoons by Martha Cooley. This is a doppelganger novel divided between Greenwich Village in the Seventies and St. Petersburg shortly before the Bolshevik Revolution. Maybe the Lit Blog Co-op will nominate Martha Cooley next time around. She deserves some ink, some audience share.

I’m an avid reader of Tod Goldberg and his blog…Tod Goldberg. Tod teaches creative writing at UCLA and he never fails to expand my vocabulary along with my horizons. His brother, Lee, also runs a good blog about the travails of television writing ( Monk, Murder, She Wrote.) Stop by.

Maybe Buffy spoiled me for vampires. The theory weakens as I realize I’ve rarely watched the show. Didn’t Vlad play for the Lakers?

I have a lot of “irons in the fire” these days (I am not really sure why I choose these silly cliches to denote my business, but oh well) so I thought I would share a couple of links for your Monday reading pleasure.

– Interesting book roundtable on over at Redstate. Three of the editors discuss How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilizationby Thomas Woods. Although they in some ways share Wood’s persepctive on the lack of historical knowledge regarding the Catholic Church and its impact on Western History, they are dissappointed by the author’s lack of clear argument and his sloppy historiogrpahy. Here is Josh Trevino:

“How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization,” by Thomas Woods, PhD, is a book masquerading as a necessary corrective that reveals itself as an inadequate one; and a serious work of history marred by some deeply unserious historiography. The author’s stated intent is to counter much of the calumny which has befallen the institution of Catholicism in the modern era — specifically the calumny that it is and has always been an anti-modernist, anti-science, anti-humanist force — and in this, his approach makes the fatal errors of answering the critics on their own terms, and adopting Catholic historical prejudice to a degree that weakens his broader argument.

– Speaking of history, over at National Review Online Michael Ledeen reviews a book I was tempted by at the bookstore this weekend: The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, The First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805 by Richard Zacks. Ledeen thinks Zacks got the story right:

The Pirate Coast is the truly cinematic story of the American response to the trafficking of American and European slaves by the Bey, or Pasha, or Bashaw (the Arabs don’t pronounce the letter “P” so “Pasha” became “Bashaw”) of Tripoli in the early 19th century. Even those who fancy themselves well educated in such matters will, I fear, be astonished at how much has been Hollywoodized and even falsified in the popular press and the children’s texts. The real tale is at once more entertaining, more believable, and far more instructive than the mythology most of us have been fed. Just for starters, you will no doubt be surprised to learn that the first Marines – a mere eight of them – to see foreign combat did not actually make it to “the shores of Tripoli,” but fought their way across the Libyan desert to a less celebrated location, and then were forced to leave the matter in the hands of our diplomats.

More literary links, commentary, and reviews to follow as I get up to speed.

I hate to mark my return to these pages on a down note, but I came upon the NYT’s review of the Washingtonienne and almost slipped a disc racing to the keyboard before my reaction became muted by the weekend’s latest Tom Cruise flummox and Pedro’s clear command of the House that Ruth Built Only to be Moved by George. Moving makes me cranky. Jason Giambi does do. Let’s get it all out there before someone else publishes a novel as insipid as The Washingtonienne. I fear the waiting time will be short.

Alexandra Jacobs writes for the New York Observer. I like her. I like NYO. Ms. Jacobs is an intelligent woman living in the Big Apple where sophistication drips like fluid from an overworked air-conditioner. Maybe it’s the heat or maybe Ms. Jacobs wrote her review with one eye on the Yes Network. Let me quote from her review: “It’s amusing to see Washington fixed by such a vodka-gimlet eye; we can all recognize the kind of government geek who refuses to remove his security badge; ‘how canine’ sniffs Jackie, or posts photos of himself taken with famous politicians on a “Me Wall.”

The vodka gimlet line was good, but that was the reviewer’s, not the author’s. She’s Jessica Cutler, the once and future blogger now turned moron novelist. Perhaps a big gold badge should be afixed to the book’s dust jacket, Warning: This book contains material written by a quasi-famous person. There is a risk of brain damage if opened. While the risk may be slight, permanent cultural damage is assured.

Another training wheels novelist is launched. There is a reference in the review to Scarlett O’Hara. It appears in close proximity to the part where the author’s alter ego is thrilled to receive four hundred dollars as an apre-sex gratuity. Apparently that’s an hourly rate. Hell, plumbers make better money than that and have the courtesy to not write ‘novels’ about it.

There’s always been a cottage industry in books like this. Unfortunately the cottage is getting full, crowding out worthwhile novels with stuff like this. Okay, rant over. I need a Vodka gimlet, a copy of Gone With the Wind and a brand new Me Wall.

I am back in O-hi-o but I am taking some time off to spend with my wife and daughter (I missed my first Father’s Day as a father). Little Rock went well (I even managed to look around the William J Clinton Center without incident) but I am tired mentally and physically. Reviews to come. Don’t forget about the Short Story Contest.