[contextly_auto_sidebar id="PVd8mrLaWjsXaMaGJ86HIjTmHjDjQjiA"] WHAT has art -- and the artist as its maker -- come to mean after postmodernism and four decades after Warhol's emergence? That's a question Sarah Thornton -- a very sharp British sociologist with an interest in visual art -- asks in her newish book 33 Artists in 3 Acts. I'm only partway through Thornton's book, which is full of … [Read more...]
Novelist Janet Fitch Joins Culture Crash at Skylight Books
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="F72Akus0FnI1F8UXy7215APyWoohS6MQ"] IT's been both gratifying and frustrating to have my book launch at the LA Central Library fill up so quickly. (Tickets went in a single day.) Now Los Angeles audiences have another chance to see me discuss the subjects I dig into on this blog and in my upcoming book -- at Skylight Books. And I'm glad to say that Janet Fitch, the … [Read more...]
Nicholas Carr’s “The Shallows”
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Iwl9o6IO0qS8QhMgMHnnfdwEgtpDwMBi"] ONE of the best books on life in the digital age -- and perhaps the one closest to my own point of view -- is Nicholas Carr's The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains. I like it for a host of reasons, among them Carr's elegant style, cool tone, and literary and humanistic sensibility. Among my favorite passages: When … [Read more...]
Is First-Person Narrative Killing Discourse?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="MSKRrA0yUeF2He6kLUhFxQKSROhnm7wv"] OVER the last two weeks I've been speaking about tradition with a number of accomplished women. My final installment includes a bit of a twist: The essayist Meghan Daum told me about a tradition she considers dangerous. Overuse of the "I" in storytelling is crowding out the larger world, she says. ...I feel like 70 percent of what … [Read more...]
CultureCrash at LA Central Library
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Se057gZ16VIuVDe1Pyi79u2wvvTjBc6g"] ON the night of my book's publication -- January 13 -- I will be part of the ALOUD series in downtown Los Angeles. This is one of the best literary series I know -- I've interviewed authors for it and watched from the audience -- so it's a real honor to launch my book there. With me will be the Silver Lake architect Barbara … [Read more...]
Don’t Forget Indies First and Small Business Saturday
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="7mL6F2lbAkJJdYtci9RNPwVHLSs7mqPA"] TODAY, of course, is the start of holiday-shopping season -- which sounds like a euphemism for something -- so I want to remind me readers how important it is to frequent independent, brick-and-mortar shops when you go looking for books and music especially. This year sees both the Indies First campaign -- which urges support of … [Read more...]
Are Books an “Essential Good”?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Gv49ZAYAnsBBRrMS1uvMyG3p21i1lrA2"] IN France, bookstores and literary culture thrive, in part because of laws privileging books and protecting their producers and disseminators. A recent discussion in the New York Times Book Review asked if we need a similar system here. The provocative critic Daniel Mendelsohn starts by talking about cultural differences between … [Read more...]
Amazon and Hachette Put Down Their Guns
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="cbGdJO2smCNX5vcUPc2VBnWMyTRPboTU"] WELL, it's not clear who cried uncle first, but this fight between the online realtor and the French publishing company -- whose authors were being punished by late delivery and discouraged sales -- seems to be resolved. Here's the lead from today's New York Times story: Amazon and Hachette announced Thursday morning that they … [Read more...]
Michael Lewis and the Wolves of Wall Street
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="E5qNaI36069IPjIw5lgPIe3Zh8gOxJpu"] FEW writers have penetrated the macho, risk-taking culture of finance like journalist Michael Lewis, who worked on Wall Street and in the City of London in the late '80s. His first book, the colorful, high-octane Liar's Poker, has just been reissued for its 25th anniversary, and it describes the birth of the sort of casino … [Read more...]
Paul Krugman on Amazon
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="EnEg7SR54tQeApaTB0TxyD3jWfVDaZ1e"] Is the online bookseller a monopoly? A monopsony? I'll leave the details to the economists, but will concur with the New York Times columnist -- and the recent New Republic story -- on the company's danger. The most succinct way to phrase it may be the way Paul Krugman opens today's column: "Amazon.com, the giant online retailer, … [Read more...]