Collected Miscellany

Book titles are tricky things. Editors and publishers want to sell books; grab the potential buyer’s attention. Authors and readers prefer a title that accurately reflects the content of the book. Perhaps, I am in danger of over-generalization, but this strikes me as the usual state of affairs. Why do I bring this up? I have once again encountered a book whose title is a less than perfect description of the content of the book (see here for another example).

Brian Anderson’s South Park Conservatives is less an exploration of the conservatism of fans of the popular Comedy Central show than a look at the ways in which an ossified and politically correct elite has turned off large segments of the population. Given the media’s tendency to call anyone who isn’t fully comfortable with the left’s entire (multicultural, politically correct, secular, and largely socialist) program a conservative, I guess it isn’t surprising that we can have “South Park Conservatives.” But for those looking for a deeper analysis of how this anti-liberalism equals conservatism, or how young people today are conservative in different ways than previous generations, Anderson raises more questions than answers.

No, what Anderson really explores is the changing media and political landscape that has developed as modern liberalism has hardened into a shallow, stuffy, and easily offended caricature of itself. The mainstream media, having been captured by this ossified liberalism, has seen its power and influence wan as alternatives have sprung up and grabbed market share. Those swarming to these alternative mediums, however, are hard to coral into any intellectually coherent box, hence the struggle with “South Park Conservatism.”

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Charles Ardai the publisher at Hard Case Crime emailed to straighten me out on the Edgars. Domenick Stansbury won. Little Girl Lost was nominated but didn’t win. Sorry for the flub.

Brenda Coulter has a response to Otto Penzler on her blog. You may recall that Otto chastised women writers this past week. Otto was subsequently compared to a grade school teacher of dubious note in the comments section of this very blog. Useful stuff, Otto. Don’t allow common sense or basic regard for others to interfere with your thought processes.

Harper Collins has a bunch of new mysteries out under the Morrow, Dark Alley and Regan Books imprints. I’m looking forward to reviewing Michelle Martinez, Bill Lashner and Jess Walter just to name a few. Next Friday is the target date for reviewing gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson. In previous posts I’ve misspelled her name. This is the new journalism?

Martha O’Connor’s novel The Bitch Posse is due to be released in May. I think this is her debut novel. With all these corrections self-doubt is seeping through the pores. No word from Oprah yet on the future of her book club. And we’re two weeks and one day from the Lit Blog Co-op’s first selection. Stay tuned.

The Friday review coincides with the morning after for mystery writers, the lingering smoke in the air, the thoughts of Otto Penzler, and a quick look at the Edgar winners. Donna Moore, a writer from Scotland, captured the Nevermore prize again this year offered by Partners & Crime bookstore in Greenwich Village. Your reporter was among the vanquished, so it’s bittersweet to report Donna’s triumph. Congratulations Donna.

Otto Penzler bashed women writers and cozy mysteries in particular. Hey Otto my sister writes cozies. Penzler has an imprint arrangement with Houghton-Mifflin.

TJ Parker won for California Girl beating out Laura Lippman and Rhys Bowen, among others, for the hardback Edgar. No surprise there. Don Lee, the Ploughshares editor, won best first novel for Country of Origin. And Little Girl Lost by Richard Aleas took a prize as well. That’s a good read reviewed here last autumn.

This week’s Friday review includes Ken Bruen and Alice Hoffman’s The Ice Queen. The Killing of the Tinkers is the second of Bruen’s Jack Taylor series set in Galway. You may recall that I said his novel The Magdalen Martyrs was the best book I’ve read this year. The Killing of the Tinkers preceded that one. Why do I feel as though I’m explaining Australian rules football?

I wasn’t as taken by this one. While many of the same elements are on display, most notably wit and timing, Ken Bruen chases his story too hard and catches up with it too late. Someone is killing tinkers, gypsies, and Jack Taylor is hired to look into it. Almost immediately we delve into Jack’s incredible love life. He’s taken a wife but left her in London. When she flies into Galway Jack is less than attentive. She leaves. In her place we have Keegan, an English cop and soul mate for Jack. Through Keegan Jack meets a girl named Laura who falls in love with him immediately.

Keegan is a terrific character. When he is on the page Jack Taylor shrinks back. I think Ken Bruen was holding a mirror up for his main character to study. Despite their physical differences the two men share a need to be cops. Keegan’s hold on his job is tenuous, and Jack grasps the vulnerability Keegan feels all too well. Like many of the novel’s good moments it ends abruptly. This isn’t a byproduct of style; the story feels rushed, almost incidental to the greater drama of Jack’s struggle with booze, coke, and speed. The ending was predictable, falling flat because the story never gelled.

The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman doesn’t tantalize the reader with possibilities. It falls flat immediately and gets worse. Maybe this kind of story is meant to be thought provoking. Being mugged at knifepoint is thought provoking too. Sometimes magical realism feels neither real nor magical. A woman incapable of love is struck by lightning. She takes a lover whose very touch causes intense pain. Love hurts. Lightning isn’t good for you. If you sense these things are true stop right there. For dissing my sister we’re going to send this book to Otto Penzler.

Not to leech from the misfortune of small amphibians, but this headline from MSN News caught my eye. “Exploding Toads Baffle German Scientists.” A thousand toads from Hamburg-Altona have exploded in recent weeks defying scientific explanation. The article pointed out that Altona is an upscale suburb of Hamburg. Presumably toads from lesser neighborhoods are not exploding or they are exploding but everyone understands why. A touch of weltschmerzen perhaps.

Since this is a literary blog let’s analyze the writing. The head line specifies German scientists, implying the bafflement is limited to that community. Reading between the lines it’s clear that French scientists, for instance, may or may not be baffled but haven’t received any phone calls from the Bundesrepublik. Are Danish scientists baffled? If a toad exploded in Copenhagen wouldn’t they call somebody?

How will exploding toads influence the zeitgeist? Won’t this prop up the postmodernist argument that all effort is futile? These toads came from a pond in a good neighborhood. Yet they continue to explode.

Can it happen here? Bad headline writing happens here all the time. Thus far no toads have exploded, although it did rain frogs toward the end of the movie Magnolia. The scientific community in Los Angeles seemed okay with that, something about jet streams and water spouts and mating rituals. If you know why toads explode, call a scientist in Germany. Vielen Dank.

As you might have noticed, things have been a little quiet around here of late. I have a lot of things going on and I am a little distracted/uninspired. To catch all of you up on my reading I thought I would give a few dis-jumbled thoughts collected in one place rather than pretend I am going to write more thorough reviews later.

– Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I was attracted to the Bloomsberg edition with its beautiful Mervyn Peak illustrations and its quality binding and sewn in book mark, but this classic children’s tale left me a bit underwhelmed. Oh sure, I giggled at a few spots but overall it just didn’t seem quite as funny or interesting as an adult. Maybe you had to be in the mood. Will Self raves about it in the introduction, but I suppose that is to be expected. Maybe Through the Looking Glass will be less ho-hum.

– The Red Badge of Courage. I had picked up a Barnes and Noble Collectors edition of Stephan Crane’s classic Civil War tale some time ago, but decided to pick it up as I was continuing my reading of “war novels.” {See here, here, and here for example} I found the story interesting but have been able to muster much deeper than that. Two things that caught my eye. One was how all of us must wonder about our courage under fire. Few of us are challenged by war or other extreme measures (excepting any soldiers that might be reading this) and so we all carry a certain level of doubt about ourselves. This is what haunts Henry Fleming (the main character in the story) as he prepares for battle: is he brave and valorous or a coward? Both, it turns out. Another issue caught my eye was how Crane captures the social dynamics of soldiers. Whether it is the hurry up and wait life in the military or the way the infantry interacts with their commanding officers, Crane’s depiction of the pre and post battle scenes seemed real. Amazing to think Crane, who was quite young and had never served in the military, could capture the interaction of soldiers and the chaos of battle.

– On Bullshit Harry G. Frankfurt. Phil made mention of Maud’s links concerning Professor Frankfurt/s work and offered: “I think we live in a vulgar time, and we will not step out of it through moral philosophy like this.” I would lean toward Phil on this one, but I really don’t know what to make of this slim reissued essay. Is it a tongue-in-cheek laugh at academia or a serious discussion of a real cultural problem? Both? I felt that it represented a philosopher having some fun with an interesting subject and then taking on a more serious issue at the end. I also agree that the Dan Neil review Maud linked to is unhelpful, not only because of its left wing animus, but because it just further proves that we are unable to agree definitively on what is BS.
More: Roger Kimball tries to make sense of it all in this Wall Street Journal article and Timothy Noah takes a look at the issue at Slate.

– Never fear, or fear depending on your perspective, I do have some stand alone book reviews in the pipeline. So stay tuned.

The links in this post remind me of the dangers of cynicism. Maud has an entry on a review of On Bullshit by Harry Frankfurt. It is easy to appear wise by saying that someone is spinning public persception of himself. It is easy to say that something true is obvious or that a disagreement is wildly ridiculous. And what does it do? The hard road is believing, loving, and reasoning. I think we live in a vulgar time, and we will not step out of it through moral philosophy like this.