1st person narration of the “Mormon part’’ would work a lot better (perhaps to a 21st century reader like myself, in any event)...the villian, himself, would have been a perfect narrator for that portion of the story…
I am reading:
Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA by Tim Weiner- Still in the middle of the Nixon era with this...darn it, I want to finish this and some of the other unfinished books so I can get to a few of the biographies that I want to read esp. the Thelonious Monk.
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In case you hadn’t heard the news, The New York Times chief book critic, Michiko Kakutani, is retiring.
Michiko Kakutani, a Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic for The New York Times who rigorously assessed the works of emerging and established authors including Thomas Pynchon, David Foster Wallace, Toni Morrison and J. K. Rowling, has decided to step down as the publication’s chief book critic, The Times announced on Thursday.
Ms. Kakutani’s departure quickly rippled through journalism and literary circles. Expressions of admiration and appreciation from writers and readers alike mingled with the occasional sigh of relief from those whose work she had not viewed favorably — a verdict she never shied away from sharing with readers.
“A rave review from Michiko Kakutani has been the equivalent of a badge of honor — it’s the ultimate endorsement for a serious writer,” said Jonathan Karp, the publisher of Simon & Schuster. “She has been greatly respected and greatly feared.”
Finally, two Sundays ago at the British Breakfast thread, MichaelHolmans posted this link from the UK Independent about the apparent resurgence in crime novels in the age of Brexit and Trump.
The question is: could there be a connection? The worse the state of the world, the better the literature emerging out of our orgy of uncertainty and self-destruction? There is a case for saying that all great works reflect death, horror, murder, crime. Think War and Peace or Crime and Punishment. The Brothers Karamazov just naturally assumes that most sons will want to bump off their father. Turning it around, Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” is predicated on the belief that guys (and perhaps specifically Ted Hughes) have got it in for her.
1) I do tend to think that times of uncertainity tend to produce better literature overall.
2) Have you found yourself reading more crime novels/thrillers than usual lately?
3) Of course, Twitter and even some of the comment threads here at DK have had a tendency to bring out the amateur sleuths in amany of us trying to piece together the tantalizing clues of he latest breaking story from WaPo. Just gotta watch out for those red herrings.