Comments for ten minutes hate

Comment on Tough on clever, tough on the causes of clever by Joanne Greenway

Joanne Greenway — Thu, 31 May 2012 14:20:21 +0000

Thank you all! Look forward to reading more library tales soon.

Comment on Tough on clever, tough on the causes of clever by jessicakorteman

jessicakorteman — Wed, 30 May 2012 21:38:37 +0000

You took me back to my childhood. Great post!

Comment on Tough on clever, tough on the causes of clever by markwoff

markwoff — Wed, 30 May 2012 05:31:47 +0000

That Mark Twain detail is especially mournful.
Look out for a library-related piece I’ve been composing at lavish length… and will now expedite.

Comment on Tough on clever, tough on the causes of clever by Gary Regis

Gary Regis — Wed, 30 May 2012 02:44:39 +0000

Great blog, well written and very true,

Comment on Honest book reviews by markwoff

markwoff — Sun, 27 May 2012 20:04:32 +0000

“This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.” — Dorothy Parker
… which quote I was reminded of by gigoid http://gigoid.me/2012/05/27/oldnew-dogstricks/
I have actually done that with a book. It was ‘About a boy’, Nick Hornby, and I suffered about one chapter.

Comment on Honest book reviews by Joanne Greenway

Joanne Greenway — Sun, 27 May 2012 11:48:56 +0000

At the risk of sounding sycophantic I would agree with everything you’ve said. I also think that writing the kind of contextualised, reflective reviews you mention is an essential part of the writing process – if you can’t analyse others’ work and your response to it, how can you expect to do the same for your own writing?

Comment on Honest book reviews by Joanne Greenway

Joanne Greenway — Sun, 27 May 2012 11:45:53 +0000

True. I think Private Eye has a feature every summer where they mock writers puffing their friends’ latest releases in the newspapers’ Summer Reads columns. Difficult to risk a spat with a mate over perceived flaws, but then I also think/hope that an honest appraisal is worth more to a writer. Be kind to each other because you know what’s been gone through to get it on the page, but don’t turn away from pointing out something that didn’t come off if you have the opportunity to do so.

Comment on We won it 5 times… by Joanne Greenway

Joanne Greenway — Sun, 27 May 2012 11:30:08 +0000

Thank you Mammy. Can’t wait for number 6! x

Comment on Honest book reviews by Sean Lotman (@SeanLotman)

Sean Lotman (@SeanLotman) — Sun, 27 May 2012 11:19:53 +0000

A good book review is a work of art. It’s actually a very difficult process to summarize a book’s merits (or conversely its demerits). That’s why the reviews on amazon.com are often a waste of time. It’s incredible when you consider it. People will spend hours or days with a book only to say that they did or did not like it. It’s rare that they can justify their response beyond vague generalizations and it’s truly special when they can contextualize it within its relationship to a writer’s canon or its place in the halls of literature. But never mind. There are enough underpaid masochists who take the trouble to produce book reviews often more worthwhile than the books themselves. Give them some applause as such a performance is arguably an existential victory as well a job well done.

Comment on Honest book reviews by Our Man in Abiko

Our Man in Abiko — Sun, 27 May 2012 11:16:11 +0000

Honesty as a reader is straight-forward. When you are a writer too, selling your wares, it’s tough. Plus, the longer you are in the game, the more writing folk you actually know. Then, how can you hope to be impartial or at least not sycophantic, when you want nice reviews too or at least not to be smacked in the face by the slighted writer at parties?

Possible solutions:
1. Never be honest in reviews.
2. Be honest, but never go to literary cocktail parties
3. Never review friends’ books.
4. Always love everything by your friends.
5. When reviewing books, write about anything except the book.

Personally, I alternate between 2 and 5.

Carry on!