Quick Links

• Patrick Reardon looks at 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die for the Chicago Tribune, and decides he wants to add his own favorites. Check out his eclectic list at the end of the piece. (thanks Steve)
• Maud mentioned off-hand that she abandons 95% of the books she starts before page 50. Sandra posted that this was "quite a failure rate," and Maud responds in the comments that in this case she was "pining for a very specific kind of manic reading experience that happens for me maybe ten times a year now rather than every few days, as it did when I was a child."
• Dogbert writes a book: "It's part fake autobiography and part plagiarism" (via H2O)
• Pinky is about to start an MFA program at Pitt. The reading list looks excellent.
• Harper Lee will have an item in O of all places. According to the AP story, "a letter for Oprah Winfrey's magazine on how she became a reader as a child in a rural, Depression-era Alabama town." It's for the July "special summer reading issue."

- C. Max Magee @ 7:51 AM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

Goodbye to Chicago, Hiatus at The Millions

After nearly two years in Chicago, we're picking up and moving again. For the rest of the summer, we'll be in temporary digs in Maryland until we find ourselves a place in our as yet undetermined final destination. Packing is going much better this time around. We didn't wait until two days before to get started; there's no storage unit involved; we're not getting married in a month; and we don't have to go halfsies on a rental truck. We're also driving a fraction of the distance, a measly 696 miles according to Google Maps, though I'll be behind the wheel of the rental truck this time around as we watch Chicago get smaller in the rearview mirror.

Ah, Chicago, I don't think we ever fell in love with it the way did LA, but it served as an excellent weigh point on our long journey from the West coast back to the East, where we both grew up. I will miss a few things, though. Chicago has a magnificent skyline that I never tired of looking at. Along the same lines, Lake Shore Drive is an incredible road, flanked on each side by Chicago's two great wonders, its architecture and Lake Michigan. I'll also miss the weather here. After four years of no weather in LA, the weather here was a great entertainment, from blizzards to thunderstorms. I did a lot of walking in Chicago (at times in the weather conditions just mentioned), and I'll miss that too, along with my rides on Chicago's rickety "L," which is both charming and frustrating in its rickety unreliability, but it's certainly the only public transit system I've ever seen that offers such a great view.

Sure there was some bad stuff about the place. After getting used to freewheeling, progressive LA, Chicago, big city though it is, felt a little slow and, dare I say it, unenlightened. At the same time, since I was immersed in a rigorous graduate program, and Mrs. Millions was working hard to pay the bills (thank you!), I will leave here knowing that I never appreciated the place as much as I could have.

But, alas, it's time to move on. Accordingly, there won't be much posting here for the next couple of weeks. In fact, it's possible that the site will go completely dark until July, but do not be alarmed. I'll be back soon enough.

Housekeeping Note: To those who send me catalogs/books/other random stuff, my Chicago address is no longer valid, so please don't use it any more. Since I'm going to be at a temporary address for a bit, I don't have a new address to share, but as soon as I get one, I'll put a note here, and I'll let people know by email. Thanks!

- C. Max Magee @ 9:04 PM ~ comments: 3 ~ Links to this post

 

Article in Poets & Writers

I have a short article in the latest issue of Poets & Writers.

The piece grew out of a post here on the blog a while back about LibraryThing, the Web-based book cataloging community. For the record, I haven't yet put all of my books into LibraryThing, though I probably will at some point. I've been putting it off because I know that once I get started I won't be able to stop and, well, I just don't have the free time at the moment.

- C. Max Magee @ 5:55 PM ~ comments: 1 ~ Links to this post

 

Revisiting Yesterday's People by Andrew Saikali

This is what happens when I don't take notes. Two months ago, I sat down to read Yesterday's People, a collection of eight short stories by Goran Simic. Born in Bosnia, Simic was already a noted author and poet when he immigrated to Canada ten years ago. I decided to write about these spare, haunting and haunted stories, many of them about life in Sarajevo in the mid 90s. But for reasons that now completely mystify me, I wasn't making notes, which would have been fine had I begun writing this immediately. Two months and three or four novels later, I began to write and I hit a brick wall.

While I remembered the images and the tone of the stories, damned if I could remember any names, or specific details. And the images that I did remember were beginning to blend into each other. I was in a haze. I had been immersed in that world. And then I was out. I had shifted through time and space into other worlds. I was in Jonathan Lethem's Brooklyn, then in Stephen Clarke's contemporary Paris, and most memorably I was amongst Balzac's characters in 1800s Loire Valley, as drunk on his words as I would be if I'd been one of his wine growers in the French countryside. The images of the Bosnian war had been overshadowed. I could never do them justice.

So I began to re-read. I cracked open Simic's collection and dove back in, revisiting the characters, and the horrors of war, and the resourcefulness and resilience of spirit that had moved me the first time.

I revisited Nina. We were back in Sarajevo, during the war. A gothic wild west of thievery and morgues, where "we were all slowly going mad." Nina and our narrator shared a past, and our narrator now spots her amongst the people lining up for water, "a shadow of what she used to be."

In "Minefield," volunteer soldiers protect a ravine. Their initial Rambo bravado is shattered when one of them blows himself up with a grenade. They grow up fast. They begin doing deals with the other side: "as time passed and our ammunition dwindled, we shot less and swore more." It's trench warfare except the two sides volley benign insults and supplies. And then grim reality throws them a curve.

In "The Story Of Sinan" we see the early days of the war when "we thought it all a brief private nightmare that the world had nothing to do with." We meet Sinan whose daily routine has been inconvenienced by the war. To him, it's an annoyance. He's a gambler and carouser who lives by his wits. (He tells women, when he's through with them, that his wife has been released unexpectedly from prison though she was supposed to have served five more years for murdering his ex-mistress). Then another curve, this time a sudden and unexpected act of kindness and selflessness.

And as I re-read Yesterday's People I noticed something that I hadn't really picked up on the first time. I noticed that the stories are not just about Bosnians - then. They're also about Canadians - now. In every story, a character either escapes to Canada or someone linked to him does. Sometimes the stories are actually written from the point of view of someone here, now, flashing back to his life there, then. There are photos throughout the stories, snapshots of the narrator's past. The stories are about memory, about trying to remember and trying to forget. They're about one's tenuous link to one's history. They're war stories that don't end in the trenches or in the long line-ups for water. They don't end when the shooting stops. They're brought up to date through the memory of the narrator. They're immigrant stories.

- C. Max Magee @ 9:34 PM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

A Handful of Links

• "Though statements have been issued over the years, no one has ever provided full disclosure of the alleged 1974 government experiment called OPERATION EMU (Experimental Mitigated Universe) during which an entire Hollywood film crew, contracted by the government, disappeared in a remote section of Nevada." Is this Web site a mysterious government coverup of the ravings of a lunatic? Neither. It's the marketing campaign of a writer shopping his manuscript. (thanks, R.J.)
• The University of Nebraska Press has a blog. They've been plugging away at the blog since January, but I hadn't seen it until today, when I got an email about it.
• New issues of The Virginia Quarterly Review and Narrative Magazine are out.

- C. Max Magee @ 8:55 PM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

An Ugly Book-Burning Incident in Chicago

In his column in the Chicago Tribune today, Eric Zorn describes a particularly ugly incident that occurred at a library not far from where I live. Somebody set fire to a number of books at the John Merlo branch of the Chicago Public Library. Making matters worse, it appears as though the arsonist targeted the gay and lesbian books section of the library, which itself is located in a neighborhood with a large gay population. From Zorn's column:

Staffers detected the fire quickly and used an extinguisher to put it out before anyone was hurt. The library remained open, and if you visit there today, the only reminders of the incident are gaps on several shelves where destroyed books used to sit.

But the location makes it a bigger event. For both symbolic and safety reasons, the idea of arson in the stacks, no matter how relatively unsuccessful, is chilling. Public libraries are not only embodiments of liberty but, with all that paper, prospective tinderboxes.

More chilling still to many is that the unknown arsonist chose to set the fire in the heart of the Chicago area's largest unified collection of gay and lesbian-oriented books.

Zorn explores the topic further at his blog explaining why he decided to devote his column to what was, admittedly, a very minor fire, wondering "Do we not, in some ways, magnify the power of a hate crime when we publicize it?"

I'm glad he decided to write the column. Coming on the heels of a book-banning attempt in a nearby school district, it's been a rough couple of months for books in the Chicago area.

Update: It turns out it wasn't a hate crime. As Eric Zorn explains, they caught the culprit, a 21-year-old homeless woman who set the fire because "she was angry at library staff for being rude to her."

- C. Max Magee @ 5:50 PM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

The Most Anticipated Books of 2006 - Part 2

Back in January, I took a look at some of the "most anticipated" books of the year. Well, those books are old news now, but there are some great-looking books on the way. September and October in particular are looking pretty stacked. Please share any relevant links or books I may have missed.

July:

• Gallatin Canyon by Thomas McGuane (New Yorker interview)
• Talk Talk by T.C. Boyle (Boyle's blog)
• The Driftless Area by Tom Drury (Drury's story "Path Lights")
• The Black Book by Orhan Pamuk (a new translation, thanks Bud)
• America's Report Card by John McNally (Thanks Dan)
• The Judas Field by Howard Bahr (Thanks J.D.)

August:

• Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami (list of stories)
• Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell (Thanks Dan)
• Brief Encounters with Che Guevara by Ben Fountain (thanks Stephan)

September:

• Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood
• The Dissident by Nell Freudenberger (Her first novel; following up her collection, Lucky Girls)
• All Aunt Hagar's Children by Edward P. Jones (very excited about this one - the title story appeared in the New Yorker.)
• A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon (a first look at the book)
• The Road by Cormac Mccarthy (a first look)
• After This by Alice McDermott (PW Review [scroll down])
• Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (thanks Dan)
• Smonk by Tom Franklin (thanks Dan)
• Dead in Desemboque by Eddy Arellano (Thanks Laurie)

October:

• One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson (sequel to Case Histories)
• What is the What by Dave Eggers (based on a true story, excerpted in The Believer - Part 1, 2, 3)
• Lay of the Land by Richard Ford (The third Frank Bascombe novel - I wrote about it last year.)
• Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier (A big enough deal that the announcement of a publication date came as an Entertainment Weekly exclusive.)
• Restless by William Boyd (A World War II novel)
• The Uses of Enchantment by Heidi Julavits
• Golem Song by Marc Estrin (thanks Dan)
• The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke (Thanks Laurie)

November:

• The View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro (The title story was in the New Yorker)
• Soon the Rest Will Fall by Peter Plate (Thanks Laurie)
• The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross (Thanks Laurie)

December:

• Untitled Thomas Pynchon novel (as confirmed by Ed.)

January 2007:

• Zoli by Colum McCann
• Flora Segunda by Ysabeau Wilce (Thanks Laurie)

February 2007:

• Knots by Nuruddin Farah (based on "Farah's own recent efforts to reclaim his family's property in Mogadishu, and his experiences trying to negotiate peace among the city's warlords.")

May 2007:

• The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon (Posts about the book: 1, 2, 3, 4)

Addenda: Books suggested in the comments are being added above.

- C. Max Magee @ 8:20 AM ~ comments: 7 ~ Links to this post

 

Book to Movie News: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

Michael Chabon provides an update on the progress of a movie version of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay on his Web site. Somewhat cryptically, he writes "The fate of this project--whether it will move at last from the nebulousness of pre-pre-production into really-truly pre-production, with a budget and cast and everything, will be decided on or around 12 July 2006."

He adds that Natalie Portman "is a strong likelihood" to play Rosa, and then provides some quick answers to what will and will not make it into the big-screen version of the book: "Golem: yes. Antarctica: yes. Gay love story: yes. Ruins of World's Fair: no. Long Island: no. Orson Welles: no. Salvador Dali: yes. Loving reference to Betty and Veronica: no. Stan Lee: no."

Meanwhile, IMDb as of this writing has very few details about the film. Just that Stephen Daldry, director of Billy Elliot and The Hours is set to helm and Scott Rudin is the producer. Rudin was also behind the excellent big-screen version of Chabon's novel Wonder Boys.

On a somewhat related note, Chabon's next novel, The Yiddish Policemen's Union is to come out in May of 2007.

- C. Max Magee @ 6:17 PM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

Jonathan Safran Foer answers reader questions, chats

Jonathan Safran Foer posted an excerpt from Extremely Loudand Incredibly Close at Gather.com (one of those social journalism sites), and readers left comments. A few days later he came back and answered some questions about the book. Writes Foer:

My parents have a photograph of me on their refrigerator. I'm about six years old, asleep on the sofa, wearing a plaid blazer, a blue sequined bowtie, and rings on each of my ten fingers. Apparently, the look was indicative of my sense of fashion for about a year. That photograph was one of my major sources of inspiration for Oskar.

Foer will also be doing a live "Ask the Author" session at Gather on June 23.

I'd never heard of Gather.com before I got an email about this from someone there. The site's a little too frenzied for me -- I'm having trouble figuring out what it's all about -- but the Foer thing looks pretty cool.

- C. Max Magee @ 6:05 PM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

Some Links

• Google put up a special Shakespeare page for easy access to all of his plays through Google Book Search. The Book Search blog has additional details.
• Latest literary trend story: senators writing books. "About 30 of the 100 currently serving U.S. senators have authored books at some point in their careers, and the number is growing."
• A literary trend story continues: Product placement in novels. Earlier instances include efforts from Ford and BMW.
• In the Guardian, "An American judge intervening in a long-simmering feud has ruled that the rights to John Steinbeck's most famous novels... should be seized from his publisher and handed to his descendants."
• And finally, there's Ed's Twenty-One More Reasons Why Litbloggers Are Evil & Unethical

- C. Max Magee @ 9:46 PM ~ comments: 1 ~ Links to this post

 

Summer Hours

I do this every summer don't I? If you haven't noticed, posting has become a bit sparse at The Millions, and I expect it to be more sparse as the summer wears on. We're leaving Chicago soon, and we'll be heading to temporary digs in Washington, DC, before finding a permanent place to live (the final destination is as yet undetermined though we've narrowed it down somewhat.) So, essentially, I'll have a lot of stuff going on and so blogging will take a back seat. And anyway, it being summer, I'd guess that most folks will be enjoying themselves outdoors and on the road rather than in front of the computer. So, look for just a couple of posts a week give or take until the fall months roll around, and maybe by then I'll be unveiling some changes at The Millions. Or perhaps it'll stay the same.

In the meantime, here's a small cache of links for your purusal.

• An old link, but new to me. Slate commisions pulp covers for classic novels. (via BoingBoing)
• The Book Critics Circle blog decries litbloggers linking to Amazon. (My response is in the comments.) The Literary Saloon weighs in as well. (via Scott)
• Alan Cheuse presents his "summer reads" at NPR and shares some background on the selections at the Happy Booker.

- C. Max Magee @ 5:33 PM ~ comments: 2 ~ Links to this post

 

War Issues

Some weeks my New Yorker shows up on Tuesday; other weeks it doesn't arrive until the weekend. This week it showed up late, and that's why I'm writing about it even as it's being removed from news stands to make way for next week's issue. But I was glad to finally get to it, especially after noting that it was the summer fiction issue. But it's not the typical summer fiction issue and certainly doesn't fit the accepted idea of "Summer Reading." This issue is about war, and I'm glad that the New Yorker decided to put together an issue like this, since it is shockingly easy - three years after we invaded Iraq - to forget that this country is at war right now. It's also fitting since we've been discussing war quite a bit at The Millions lately. Last month I reviewed An Army at Dawn by Rick Atkinson, which led readers to help me compile lists of World War 2 fiction and nonfiction. Vasily Grossman appeared on both lists, and his story "In Kislovodsk" (not available online) is in this New Yorker. Also contributing is Uwem Akpan with "My Parents' Bedroom." Akpan was in last year's debut fiction issue.

But more broadly, the issue is a nice reminder that as life goes on here in the States, war rages on in Iraq. The New Yorker has done this most vividly by providing "Soldiers' Stories: Letters, e-mails, and journals from the Gulf." The magazine has also created an audio slide show for the online version of the piece:

This week, The New Yorker publishes a selection of letters, journal entries, and personal essays by soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines who served in the current war in Iraq. The writings are part of a project sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts called Operation Homecoming. An anthology of the work, edited by the historian Andrew Carroll, will be published this fall by Random House. Here, in an Audio Slide Show produced by Matt Dellinger, five of the servicemen read from their work, accompanied by their photographs.

- C. Max Magee @ 4:01 PM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

Puppies Sell

Nolo Press, which puts out "trustworthy and approachable legal guides," spent "two years and 'hundreds of thousands'" coming up with a redesign for its book covers, according to Publishers Weekly. What did Nolo come up with? Dogs. Chip Kidd, book designer extraordinaire, happened to be guest blogging at Powell's this week and registered his horror. (Thanks Laurie)

- C. Max Magee @ 3:49 PM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

Extras

• Zadie Smith's On Beauty takes home the Orange Prize.
• Map of the New Yorker caption contest winners. (via emdashes)
• Abebooks has put together some special pages celebrating its 10th anniversary. Check out Powers of 10 - which includes the list of most expensive books ever sold on the site - and the timeline, which shows what the site looked like at its humble beginnings. (thanks Laurie.)

- C. Max Magee @ 8:35 AM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

Books Since 1990 at the Quarterly Conversation

A new issue of Scott's excellent "Quarterly Conversation" is out. It contains a list of the "Books Since 1990," and I can vouch for Scott when he writes that he conceived the idea for the list well before the New York Times put out its similar list. In the introduction, Scott writes that he is making no claims that these books are the "best," which is so often the silly, attention-grabbing hook of such lists. Scott polled several literary types, and when he asked me to participate, he asked for the "best" books, but I think the point Scott is making is that throwing together a bunch of individuals' "best books" lists isn't how one determines which books are "The Best." Instead we learn which books are part of the shared consciousness of a group of readers, which I think is interesting as well. It's a tough line to toe, but I appreciate Scott's effort not to announce that the books in his list are "The Best."

Which isn't to say that I agree entirely with the books named on his list, which I think in some cases skews obscure or difficult for the sake of obscurity and difficulty. At the same time, I do appreciate knowing which books people think it is important to highlight, and am glad of the opportunity to be newly introduced to such books.

As one of the contributors, I thought I might present my selections for the list in case anyone is curious. A few initial caveats in addition to the points below. I fully admit that my picks are mainstream, but I tend to believe - with very rare and notable exceptions - that quality work tends to be recognized and rewarded in the marketplace and thus becomes by some measure "popular," and second I have not read all the books I nominated (though I'd like to), but drew from conversations with fellow readers and from my perception of which books are most important to the serious readers I know. Third, it's very, very likely that as I read more from the contemporary era, this list will change (and it is important when looking at such lists to remember that they are fluid). And finally, I readily recognize that my selections exhibit a woeful lack of diversity; however, this is not to say that I only read books by white men, it's just to say that white men happened to write eight of the ten books that I selected for this exercise. On to my selections along with the number of votes each book got:

• 2003, The Known World by Edward P. Jones (I'm shocked that I'm the only person who nominated this book. Of all the books that I've read from this era, I think this one is hands down the best and will go on to be a classic.) (1)
• 2001, The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (I believe the hype. I think this book is an important chronicle of contemporary American life.) (2)
• 1997, Underworld by Don DeLillo (5)
• 2002, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (2)
• 2002, Atonement by Ian McEwan (One of my favorite books ever.) (4)
• 1998, The Hours by Michael Cunningham (1)
• 2004, Gilead by Marilynn Robinson (2)
• 2000, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon (Proof that an entertaining read can and should be quality fiction.) (1)
• 1997, American Pastoral by Philip Roth (3)
• 1995, The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle (Of the three books by Boyle that stand out from the rest, Tortilla Curtain is the only one written after 1990. The other two books are World's End and Water Music.) (1)

- C. Max Magee @ 5:57 PM ~ comments: 4 ~ Links to this post

 

Miscellany

• Bat Segundo's BEA podcasts continue. Yours truly makes a brief appearance in the latest installment.
• Elizabeth Crane is discussing George Saunders' collection In Persuasion Nation at her blog this week.
• Meant to post this Friday, but luckily I think spelling bee-related links have an indefinite shelf life. Language Hat and his band of commenters provide indispensible commentary on the word that won the National Spelling Bee, "ursprache," and other Bee topics.

- C. Max Magee @ 5:40 PM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

The Corey Vilhauer Book of the Month Club: June 2006

Here in Sioux Falls, one of our local Lutheran private colleges puts on a library book sale. In name, it's a sale of epic proportions. In actuality, it's just a clever way for literary junkies and bibliophiles to stock up their collections and appear smarter than they are while the library clears out horribly outdated editions of unread literature.

And it works - I'll never read the Autobiography of Mark Twain, and I'll probably skip W. Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage, but I'll be damned if I'm leaving them off of my bookshelf. Think of how intelligent I'll look!

Admittedly, though, the books I buy and subsequently read tend to be all over the radar, and book sales of this sort truly fit my fancy. I mean, at fifty cents a book, you'd be surprised how willing you'd be to pick up some book that you may have heard of, or a book that you swear to have some vague recollection of a former college coffee buddy raving about - a willingness that wouldn't be as strong if it was spotted at Barnes and Noble for $13.99 plus tax.

So my book stacks grow. Some of the authors are well known. Others are barely recognizable. And in time, I've found that I rarely - no, I'd say never - seem to find a real stinker of a book. Some are disappointing, yes. But never bad. Maybe I'm just really lucky, or I'm smart enough to take suggestions from those who already like the same books I do. Or maybe I'm like a literary garbage disposal, grabbing everything I read and devouring it with the same gusto I would a handful of vegetable scraps.

So it came as quite a surprise when I finally picked up Atonement - Ian McEwan's tale of childhood misunderstanding and wartime barbarics - at the Augustana College Book Sale. Sure, I'd heard of him. Sure, I needed the book. I realized, rather shamefully, that I hadn't read anything by McEwan, one of the literary world's darlings, in my entire life. I didn't know what to expect - was he going to be wordy, an intelligent but inaccessible cacophony of allusions and pomp? Was he going to be so brilliant that I'd never look at literature the same way? Was he going to be just another English twit, barred from my life forever because of a critical over-acclaim? How could I continue to write a monthly book column (which I then condense into a smaller and more jovial version for this very website) and not have read McEwan?

Would they take away my library card?

Well, no. They wouldn't. But I figured I'd better read Atonement before it was too late. And here's the best part: he's actually good. Initially, I was simply pleased with what I was presented: a well worded, brilliantly researched account of high-class English life in the 1930s, followed by a gruesome account of retreat during World War II. Of course, it only got better as I fell further and further into its pages.

Atonement is set out as a narrative: Briony, a ten-year-old girl who is committed to a life of writing, her sister Cecilia, and the son of their family's hired help, Robbie, prepare for company. Over one day, Cecilia and Robbie rekindle a flame while Briony, without knowing, extinguishes it - possibly forever. From this day, we jump ahead to World War II and the British retreat from Dunkirk. Then, it's a jump forward to 1999 - nearly 70 years after the first fateful day.

McEwan's novel isn't just a "symphonic novel of love and war, childhood and class, guilt and forgiveness," as the back cover so brightly puts it. It's a book that accurately recreates the mind of a child - Briony, in this case - and puts weight behind her thoughts and actions. The ideals of children are real, and Atonement illustrates this notion by showing us the consequences of an immature jealousy and unfounded protection. Through this, lives are forever changed because of Briony's unwavering account of a violent crime - the rape of her cousin by a stranger.

It's wonderfully constructed, and McEwan writes at a level that's detailed, yet not too much so. Some of the narratives seem superfluous, but upon finishing Atonement I realized how important each account was. Four different voices populate its pages, and each helps give a full panoramic picture of the story as it unfolds. The clever way it's spelled out is central to the book, and it forced me to look at each character differently as the same scene was described again and again.

Atonement shows how deeply an overactive imagination can quickly wreak havoc on those who are closest - how a misinterpreted event can lead to one person being thrown to the wolves, while another laments over a lost love. Themes run rampant throughout the book - too many to count, and much too much to write about in one column (if I could even pick them all out) - but even those who enjoy a good story, regardless of underlying themes and vague references, will enjoy McEwan's novel.

My favorite part, though, was the subtle little twist at the end - which I will hold back for those who have not read the book. It's clever, and while many considered it an easy out, I thought it was brilliant. Atonement deserves all the praise it received - I felt the entire gamut of emotions while pouring through each of the characters. I was angry, I was despondent, and I was bitterly jealous. All because McEwan made each character feel as if they were a part of my own family.

I scarcely think I need to ever visit the posh fields of England's upper class. I've lived it already - right there where the river flows gracefully though the fields and a horrible crime can cause children to lie, adults to glaze over with adoration and relief, and the law enforcement to barely bother to find the truth. As long as that little darling says it's true, it's going to be true. How horrible. Literarily, though; how wonderful.

Now, I wonder what W. Somerset Maugham would think of it all.

Oh, who am I kidding? I'll never know.

Corey Vilhauer - Black Marks on Wood Pulp
CVBoMC Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May

- C. Max Magee @ 8:15 AM ~ comments: 1 ~ Links to this post

 

A few links before heading out of town for the weekend

• JT Leroy, who has been revealed as a made-up persona created to sell books, is still being "spotted" in LA and maintaining a blog. Pinky has the details.
• In his Friday Column, Scott writes about literary fiction that is "much discussed" but doesn't sell many copies.
• Author (and blogger) Jenny Davidson has a new book coming out.
• And from the wonders of the world file: Something has caused the lake that sits atop Vanuatu's Aoba volcano to turn from blue to red. Scientists are perplexed.

- C. Max Magee @ 4:48 PM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

Fishing With Linkbait

Just as I (and several others) suspected! The New York Times piece on the best novels of the last 25 years was just a ploy to get mentioned on blogs. By way of proof, check out what I found in the traffic logs for The Millions today:

Time/Date: Thu_Jun__1_13:09:16_2006_DST
Visitor IP: nytgate05.nytimes.com
Referred by: www.technorati.com/search/www.nytimes.com/
2006/05/21/books/fiction-25-years.html

Seriously, I think it's great that folks at the Times read blogs, and I'm glad they care that bloggers read the Times, but it seems like a lot of trouble to go to just to get mentioned by us.

(For those of you unfamiliar with traffic logs, the above basically means that someone at the Times arrived at The Millions after checking Technorati to see which blogs referenced its 25 best books story.)

Update: Well, I figured out why the Times was wondering what I wrote about their list. They were putting together this page. So kudos to the Times for acknowledging that this list was the start of a conversation and not a decree and for being willing to host some of the resulting conversation on its site. I'd love to see more of this in the future.

- C. Max Magee @ 6:07 PM ~ comments: 3 ~ Links to this post

 

Television at the LBC

If you haven't already checked it out, there's a great discussion of the latest LBC pick, Television by Jean-Philippe Toussaint, going on at the LBC site. I added my two cents today with a post called The Slacker Hero.

- C. Max Magee @ 8:43 AM ~ comments: 1 ~ Links to this post