We search for the best books of 2010. Maggie Galehouse, book editor for the Houston Chronicle; Laura Miller, senior writer at Salon.com; Paul Yamazaki, head buyer at San Francisco's City Lights Books.Of course, Franzen is on there. Check this list out, though. Download the podcast here (nothing revolutionary here; all very expected and unsurprising). See also: The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia
, A Visit from the Goon Squad
, Emerald City
To take this blog in a slightly esoteric direction (would I ever do that?), Jonathan Franzen's trip to the White House today prompted a friend to point out a bit of a blindspot in Franzen's new book, Freedom. I thought the book was as good as everyone says it is, but that its rare weak spots came when it was doctrinaire in its liberalism. His caricatured Irving Kristol character took some deserved flack. My friend emails that he was struck by the real-life echo in another scene, a political rant by one of the main characters, a little-known rocker named Richard Katz who has, in middle age, suddenly been embraced by the pop culture and is being interviewed by a young fan. The long interview in which former Velvet Underground Drummer Mo Tucker explained her appearance at Tea Party events was, my friend writes, "a carbon copy of a scene w/ the musician Richard Katz in Freedom."
Huge shock in the literary world: Jonathan Franzen’s “Freedom’’ — the most anticipated, most discussed, and most praised American novel of the year — is not nominated for a National Book Award. “Obviously, ‘Freedom’ is the big book of the year, but the question is what the National Book Awards are supposed to honor,’’ Harold Augenbraum, executive director of the National Book Foundation, told the Associated Press. “We tell the judges just to look at the books and that outside chatter is not important. We go with that every year.’’ Franzen’s previous novel, “The Corrections,’’ won the National Book Award for fiction in 2001.
I am not going to reveal anything about #1 bestseller (and Oprah choice) FREEDOM by Jonathan Franzen. Suffice it to say that the New York Times book review by Sam Tanenhaus called it "a classic of American fiction" and, honest to God, that praise was mild compared to most major reviews. Personally, I found the book to be the best fiction work I have read in decades and, not meaning to brag, I read a lot of fiction. The characters in the book will stay with me forever. At least, I hope so...Read the full TPMCafe story here. See also: The Corrections: A Novel
, How to Be Alone: Essays
, and this American Thinker post.
When Jonathan Franzen's Freedom was released last month, critics showered it with praise. NPR called it "surprisingly moving and even hopeful"; the New York Times said it's "an indelible portrait of our times"; New York Magazine declared it "a work of total genius." Oprah Winfrey selected it for her book club—despite her fraught past with Franzen.Oh, how they parry and joust, over a whole lot of nothing. It's a fine book, quit marketing already. Read The Atlantic hoopla here.
Oprah Winfrey chose Jonathan Franzen's new book "Freedom" for her book club on Friday, calling it a "masterpiece" nine years after she canceled his appearance on her show when he expressed ambivalence over her endorsement of one of his previous works. "I am...Of course she did. Of course SF Gate is covering this.
If you look at President Obama’s reading list over the years, it has a clear ideological tilt. He has read a host of books by such liberal authors as Thomas Friedman, but precious few books by conservative ones. Bush, on the other hand, often mixed liberal authors, including Kurlansky and even Camus, in with his Natan Sharansky (The Case for Democracy) and Eliot Cohen (Supreme Command). In this, Obama the reader is very much like Obama the politician. According to a story Rep. Eric Cantor (R., Va.) tells in the new book, Young Guns, Obama dismissed conservative ideas by telling Cantor that the election was over and “I won.” Perhaps Obama should reconsider this approach, if not in politics then at least when it comes to his library. Reading conservative authors is a low-cost way to demonstrate outreach to the other side of the aisle in our far-too polarized society. And who knows? It might even serve reading’s original purpose -- he might learn something.In the vein of combing through really great reviews and articles that are rich in cross references out to other great reads, this quick article hooks with all of the hoopla over Freedom. It's not about that, obviously. There are probably 6 good titles in that article, definitely worth reading.
