The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
In the New Yorker...
Front-Ranger:
I like Salman Rushdie, Alice Munro, Stephen King, Jonathan Safren Foer, Jonathan Franzen, Jeffrey Eugenides, Dave Eggers, George Saunders, and Haruki Murakami. Those are all I can remember right now.
I never did enjoy Updike's work or any other writer who writes about the suburbs. Too close to home, I suppose.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on June 16, 2014, 11:26:23 am ---I always used to read John Updike (funny thing, though, I never read any of his novels)
--- End quote ---
Same here. I read a few of his novels and loved them. Never any of the Rabbit ones, though people always recommend them.
--- Quote ---I always read Joyce Carol Oates and Louise Erdrich.
--- End quote ---
Me too. I interviewed Louise Erdrich once (for the Toronoto Globe & Mail). But I always read her before that.
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on June 16, 2014, 12:04:48 pm ---I like Salman Rushdie, Alice Munro, Stephen King, Jonathan Safren Foer, Jonathan Franzen, Jeffrey Eugenides, Dave Eggers, George Saunders, and Haruki Murakami.
--- End quote ---
I would look at all of these, but the only ones I'd for sure read are King, Franzen and especially Saunders. Maybe Eggers.
I read something by Sam Shepard recently. It was only OK. Actually, I had two stories of his, but the other one was missing pages (it was from my ripped-out pile) so I couldn't finish it. I had stapled these along with a profile of Shepard by John Lahr. That was more interesting than the stories.
I would read Jennifer Egan. I read something in the NYer by her about a year ago that was a story composed entirely of tweets. In fact, she had first "published" it on Twitter. I know it sounds hokey, but it was actually quite good. The tweets all represented brief, individual communiques from some kind of spy on a dangerous mission, either making notes on the mission or communicating with her team, so the form worked quite well. The story was so good it moved me to read Egan's novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad, which I also really liked.
Sometimes i'll take a quick glance at a story to decide whether I want to read it. Frankly, I realize I'm looking for signs that the story will be easy to read: lots of dialogue, more short paragraphs than long dense ones, a recognizable setting and relatable voice and protagonist. I generally don't like stories in which the protagonist is referred to only by his (or sometimes her) last name.
Jeff Wrangler:
I am positively delighting in Janet Malcolm's June 23 article about the Argosy Bookshop. :D Run, don't walk to read this one. :D
Jeff Wrangler:
David Sedaris' June 30 article about his life with a FitBit makes me want one. :D
Jeff Wrangler:
So, at lunch today, I began to read the profile of director Richard Linklater (June 30), and I suddenly became acutely aware of what I think is a characteristic New Yorker sentence structure with regard to direct quotations, which is beginning to annoy me because of its repetitive use.
The structure goes something like this:
Name, long or longish modifiying clause, says.
Examples (italics added by me):
"... Quentin Tarrantino, who calls 'Dazed and Confused' his favorite film of the nineteen-nineties, says."
"... Ethan Hawke, who has appeared in eight of Linklater's films, says."
"... Jack Black, who starred in it, says." (OK, that's not a particularly long clause, but it follows the pattern.)
Actually, the pattern in complete form is:
Direct quotation, name, modifying clause beginning with "who," says.
If I were king of the universe, or editor of The New Yorker (they're the same thing, aren't they? ;D), I would at least vary that structure somewhat.
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