By the way, I decided to experiment with writing a really hot sex scene in one of my stories. And the book I used to inspire myself was, of all things, Milan Kundera’s IGNORANCE (which has no sex, ha ha ha!) But it worked! Go figure! I sent the story out and someone told me it was EXCELLENT! I’m going to keep reading Kundera! (After I read ON CHESIL BEACH, of course! I might be so inspired after reading the latter book that I’ll end up writing a really HOT novel! Stay tuned . . . )

It’s hard to fathom why the book is getting so much good press, beyond that McEwan is one of England’s most acclaimed writers (and the publishing industry tends to operate on the principle of “them that has, gets”). Would love to know what you think if you read it, because this one is really polarizing people.
Jan

So what’s wrong with “On Chesil Beach”? Haven’t read it, but I blogged about a review in The New York Times Book Review that compared Sabina Murray’s new novel to this one. OK, spill the beans, Jon, am dying to hear! (Ian McEwan read at Stanford — my neck of the woods — recently, and I missed his reading.)

I wanted to put a “worst read of my year” on my Kanlaon blog: Amy Chua’s WORLD OF FIRE. But it wasn’t a new book, and I didn’t want to call any more attention to it . . .

But I tend not to call attention to best-of-the-year lists, because they’re usually less credible than the “worst” lists. One reason for the lack of credibility is that many publications publish only “best” lists, partly because their advertisers want, in the jargon of the industry, “a positive environment” for their ads (though this isn’t usually a factor at respected newspapers like the New York Times and the Washington Post and is more likely to come into play at magazines). And I just hate to reward publications for caving in to pressures from advertisers. It seems to me that any magazine or newspaper that does a “best” list should also do “worst” list.

So that’s why I mentioned the Entertainment Weekly list and not some others. EW is one of the few magazines that still has the courage to do a “worst” list. And Jennifer Reese does a great job of making you see how awful some of these books are in a line or two.
Jan

So readers can lose track of how bad their books are getting until a list like EW’s appears. That’s one reason why I occasionally review novelists like Danielle Steel, whom critics typically ignore: Who’s going to keep these writers honest if no critics review them?

Amateurish: Glad you enjoy them. When I was a critic for a daily newspaper, people would sometimes say when I reviewed an awful book, “Why don’t you give the space to something good?” So I’m grateful for comments like yours. Thank you!
Jan