How Do You Spell 'Sloppy'?

As though the last post wasn't a dismaying enough year-end reflection of our approach to reading and writing, here's another.

A visit to Crossword bookstore is generally annoying because of the thinness of the selection on offer. This afternoon's trip to their Juhu outlet, however, showed that the staff are sadly deficient in the arts of reading and 'riting, no matter how good they may be in 'rithmetic.

Here's proof:

Another One. Sigh.

The Mumbai edition of today's Times of India contains an article by one Ayan Roy in the international section professing to be a round-up of events in the world of books and publishing. After asserting, "Originality went for a toss as fakes abounded", Mr Roy gives us this paragraph:

In January, the Smoking Gun Web site revealed that Frey's best-selling memoir "A Million Little Pieces" contained about that many little lies. Frey admitted he had a small problem with his best-selling true-life story of addiction and recovery, which was the part about the "true". Oprah Winfrey, who had included the book in her book club pick, first stood by her pick, but then berated him on her TV show. Eight months later, publisher Random House reached an unprecedented legal settlement with disgruntled readers who claimed they had been defrauded by Frey's book. The book, for the record, remained on the best-seller lists.

Now, here's a paragraph from Teresa Weaver's December 28 report for The News Observer:

In January, after the Smoking Gun Web site revealed that Frey's best-selling memoir "A Million Little Pieces" contained about that many little lies, Winfrey first stood by her book club pick, but then changed her mind and berated him on her TV show. Eight months later, publisher Random House reached an unprecedented legal settlement with disgruntled readers who claimed they had been defrauded by Frey's book. The book, for the record, remained on the best-seller lists.

Heh-heh.

Back to Ayan Roy's piece. Here's another paragraph:

Then publisher Judith Regan lost her job over a scheme to offer "a truly fake true to life story". She announced the publication of a book called "If I Did It," purported to be Simpson's hypothetical version of how he would have killed his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman. When everybody on the planet recoiled in horror at the mere concept, Regan's boss, Rupert Murdoch, scuttled publication and ordered all 400,000 copies mulched. Within days, naturally, copies popped up on several online markets. They are still out there.

Now, here's Teresa Weaver:

In November, notorious (and hugely successful) publisher Judith Regan announced the publication of a book called "If I Did It," purported to be Simpson's hypothetical version of how he would have killed his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman. When everybody on the planet recoiled in horror at the mere concept, Regan's boss, Rupert Murdoch, scuttled publication and ordered all 400,000 copies mulched. Within days, naturally, copies popped up on several online markets. And within weeks, Regan was unceremoniously fired.

It ought to be mentioned that Mr Roy's piece includes several more names and incidents not found in Weaver's report. He does, however, write: "11-year-old Nancy li Fan made Christopher Paolini look like a doddering greybeard." That sounded familiar, so one checked it out. Sure enough, it's in a September 27 post by the Babu.

Note: The Times of India article wasn't available online at the time of this post. It can be viewed, however, on their e-paper. (Registration required.)

A Writer From The Country Next Door

In her appreciation of Alice Munro, Alison Lurie makes the relevant point that though Canada may be looked upon with condescension by the USA, it nevertheless has "the possession of many of the most brilliant and original writers in North America." Turning to Munro, she says that "delayed recognition" came her way because "her stories...avoid the subjects that today most often guarantee popular success in America: money, fame, power, and the exploitation of dramatic news events...Moreover, most of her characters are not rich and glamorous: they are ordinary working-class men and—especially—women, the sort of people that much popular fiction pretends do not exist."

A Bit More Than He Can Chew?

“It looks at the issue of religious fundamentalism and tries to understand how some of our greatest leaders - Ashoka, Akbar, Gandhi - tackled it, and how it is essential that we turn our backs on it before India’s unique brand of tolerance is damaged beyond repair.”

- David Davidar on his new book, The Solitude of Emperors.

Pursuing A Noble Calling

"[It] exists, in part, as a motivation for men to expend greater effort in their work, develop their capabilities further and climb higher on the ladder of success," said the founder-editor of the magazine which has survived for over half a century, and has carried interviews with and stories by Vladimir Nabokov, T. C. Boyle, Michael Chabon, Jorge Luis Borges, Joyce Carol Oates, Jonathan Safran Foer, Norman Mailer, John Updike and many more. Which magazine?

On The Net, No-one Knows You're A Rejected Cartoon

"It's Wednesday afternoon and David Remnick, the editor of the New Yorker, is picking cartoons." What happens next? Find out.

Thought For The Day

"I was born in the larva of the comfortable and complacent bourgeoisie, encapsulated in affection, and kept fat, saucy and contented. Thus I got through my nonage without acquiring an inferiority complex."

- H.L. Mencken who, 50 years after his death, remains the most widely quoted American writer.

Success D'Scandale 2006

From Kaavya Vishwanathan to James Frey to J.T. Leroy to Judith Regan, the New York Daily News offers a wrap-up of literary figures who hit the headlines for the wrong reasons in the last 12 months.

Yet More Recommendations

The Independent asks writers from Banville to Grayling.

And The Village Voice picks their 25 best.

Bad Art

"A really up-to-the-mark account of the contemporary fictional scene would have to start by acknowledging that we inhabit a literary landscape whose commercial and environmental backdrop is almost actively geared to the production of bad art. "

- D.J. Taylor critiques Richard Bradford's The Novel Now.

American Bloomsbury

Fuller, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne and Alcott utterly changed - and challenged - American letters, thought, religious fervor and social mores from 1840 through the 1860s, says Susan Cheever in her new book.