Next time, use a cricket bat

So, of course, the decision to not remove but rather destroy a highschool book that contains a poem about a kid killing a fish and then wandering the streets with a bread knife is awful and terrible and ignorant and infuriating. But how does the author, Ms. Duffy, decide to counterattack? By writing a poem about it. How very teenager. I understand this is her medium, but it’s not like poetry fans are the ones who hate this book. Idiots like Pat Schofield are the ones who asked for it to be removed and they’re far too stupid to see the error of their ways with more fruity poetry. Schofield said the new poem was “a bit weird”, and had the same opinion of the rest of Duffy’s work. This move by Duffy be a hit at the local wine and cheese parties in London, but it sure as hell doesn’t solve anything.

Via Booksquare, Soft Skull’s Richard Nash has a few things to say, but the most important part is that he was given some flack for not putting the title or author name on the cover of his book and instead just sticking with an image. Why would he be chided for this idea? Because, once again (and I know that sooner or later this topic is going to really be worn out if not already), publishers are terrified of thinking outside the bun. There was this other post on Bookslut about how many damn covers are “dramatic clouds”, and they’re right. Whoever designs book covers are either talentless hacks or great artists crippled by the 200-year old men that run these places. Record covers have had exceptional design for decades, but for some reason books refuse to catch up. Seriously, why is this?

That Joshua Henkin contest is coming up next week, dudes, but before that here is a post from Conversational Reading about novels about authors. It’s nice to see The Information on there because it’s great. Matrimony is one that didn’t make the list, but you’ll have a chance to get it next week if you read the first part of this paragraph.

At the NY Times, William Styron’s The Confessions of Nat Turner is looked at as well as the blowback collection called Ten Black Writers Respond. It’s a brief, but very interesting look at how slave narratives have been judged in certain eras, and how history has to be weighed and narrated in the spirit of the elusive truth. Also, do writers get their pictures taken with cigarettes anymore?

Matthew said that Metallica sucks, and while it’s hard to disagree with that in light of the last, oh, fifteen years, to deny that they’re still the band who wrote Fight Fire With Fire is heresy.

And finally, Junot Diaz reads a new story that is right here. Uh, that’s a real short thing to write for the “And finally” section, but why not? Maybe you’re relieved. You wanna listen to Master of Puppets? And while we’re on the subject, when I was in highschool I had a friend who was an obsessive Metallica fan, and sold coke, and so for my Junior Prom I bought a top hat and it looked stupid and didn’t fit my head very well (Though I did wear it to the library once) and my friend, his name was John, asked if he could have the top hat to wear while he sold drugs. He said he could finally look like the master of puppets, even though I still don’t really get how that made sense. I think he’s a psychiatrist now. Ha.

Posted Sun, 07 Sep 2008 16:12:43 and filed under Shane, Writing, Awards, Authors, Writers. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.