The blog of The Top Ten author J. Peder Zane.


Happy Birthday Critical Mass
Monday, April 30, 2007

The National Book Critics Circle continues its Campaign to Save Book Reviewing by featuring an interview with Top Ten contributor Roxana Robinson and a link to a terrific editorial on the subject by another Top Tenner Michael Connelly. Another list maker, G.D. Gearino, offers some smart insight into the matter at his website (which has a super cool homepage).

The NBCC's mighty blog, Critical Mass, that is the hub of this heroic effort is celebrating its first anniversary today. Like the parent organization, Critical Mass, is an all-volunteer labor of love. NBCC President John Freeman and fellow board members, especially Rebecca Skloot and Jane Ciabattari, devote countless hours to maintaining America's best litblog.

Their efforts reflect how the efforts of a few people can make a big difference. Imagine what a difference all of us can make. That is why it is essential that each of us do what we can to support book reviews.

To wit: John brings me the happy news that about 4,100 people (and counting!)have signed the NBCC petition against the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's decision to do away with its book review editor. Signers include many distinguished writers and Top Ten contributors (see asterisk). Won't you join them here.

* Andrew Hudgins
* Erin McGraw
* Melissa Bank
* Kathryn Harrison
* Louis D. Rubin Jr.
* Edwidge Danticat
* Bobbie Ann Mason
* David Mitchell
* David Lodge
* Richard Powers
* Lee K. Abbott
* Meg Wolitzer
* David Anthony Durham
* George Saunders
* Reynolds Price
* Michael Connelly
* George Pelecanos
* Ian Rankin
* Adam Haslett
* Allan Gurganus
* Clyde Edgerton
* Philip Caputo
* Roxana Robinson
* Fracine Prose
* Peter Cameron
* A.M. Homes
* Donald Harington
* Madison Smartt Bell
* Heidi Julavits
* James Lee Burke
* Karen Joy Fowler
Harlan Ellison
Norman Rush
Richard Ford
Anne Applebaum
Michael Lowenthal
Kim Addonzio
Chris Abani
Judith Freeman
Ngugi wa Thiongo
Clay Risen
Ben Fountain
Ken Foster
Erik Reese
Hester Kaplan
Audrey Niffenberger
Gish Jen
Adam Braver
Don Lee
George Garrett
Julia Glass
Anne Fadiman
Kevin Young
Gary Shteyngart
Karin Slaughter
Ali Smith
Fay Weldon
Ariel Dorfman
Tracy Kidder
Larry Dark
Craig Unger
Whitney Terrell
Maureen Corrigan
Chimamanda Adichie
Allan Kornblum
Emily Barton
Hisham Matar
Michael Upchurch
Sean Wilsey
Lorraine Adams
Kenneth W. Davis
Karen Spears Zacharias
Debra Spark
Silas House
Meghan O’Rourke
Judith Thurman
Lisa Alther
Peter Kurth
Joshua Ferris
John Wray
Carolyn See
Joseph Skibell
Robert Crais
Lynn Tillmann
Joan Acocella,
Tina McElroy Ansa
Benjamin Kunkel
Michael Parker
Tom Barbash
Kelly Link
Victoria Glendenning
Christine Schutt
Aaron Hamburger
Victor LaValle
Chris Offut
Hettie Jonies
Marina Warner
Alan Shapiro
Helen Schulman
Diana Abu-Jabar
Jill McCorkle
Jim Shepherd
Hannah Tinti
Chris Bohjalian
Darin Strauss
Mark Winegardner
Alaa Al Aswany
Adam Shatz
Martha Southgate
Alix Ohlin
Denis Lehane
Todd Gitlin
Julie Phillips
Troy Jollimore
Robert Draper
Craig Nova
Rick Perlstein
Roland Merullo
Shari Goldhagen
H.W.Brands
John Dufresne
Ron Rash
Melissa Fay Greene

Posted by J. Peder Zane at 1:23 PM 2 comments  

Newspaper book reviews
Friday, April 27, 2007

I grew increasingly alarmed during my three years service on the board of the National Book Critics Circle by the reduction of newspaper book sections across the country. So I proposed a campaign in which we would raise awareness about this issue and make the case for why our work matters.

Unfortunately, my notion became a necessity almost immediately after I left the board in March, as book reviews around the country suffered a series of cuts. NBCC board member Art Winslow chronicles this bloodbath in a recent column.

Under the leadership of John Freeman and Jane Ciabattari, the NBCC has launched an impressive campaign to document this troubling trend and to fight it at its website. Writers such as Nadine Gordimer, George Saunders and Rick Moody have joined book review editors - e.g. Marie Arana (Washington Post) Bob Hoover (Pittsburgh Post gazette) - and others (i.e. Catherine Brady, president of AWP, the Association of Writers and Writing Programs) to argue for the necessity of books coverage to a healthy culture.

This is a lot to read. I'll return with my thoughts on the subject next week.

Posted by J. Peder Zane at 8:01 AM 0 comments  

Top Ten on the Air
Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Tom Perrotta and Gail Godwin were gracious enough to join me this morning on Minnesota Public Radio. Host Kerri Miller did a great job — and hats off to producer Chris Dall who prepared the broadcast. Have a listen.

Here are their lists:

GAIL GODWIN
1. The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
2. Emma by Jane Austen
3. The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad
4. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
5. Middlemarch by George Eliot
6. The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
7. The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen
8. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
9. Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinesen
10. Atonement by Ian McEwan

Gail Godwin’s novels include "The Odd Woman," "A Mother and Two Daughters," "The Good Husband," and "Queen of the Underworld."

TOM PERROTTA
1. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
2. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
3. Père Goriot by Honoré de Balzac
4. Howards End by E. M. Forster
5. The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford
6. My Ántonia by Willa Cather
7. Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
8. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
9. Rabbit Angstrom by John Updike
10. Where I’m Calling From by Raymond Carver
Tom Perrotta is the author of five works of fiction, including the novels "Election," "Joe College," and "Little Children."

Posted by J. Peder Zane at 10:07 AM 2 comments  

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