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Volume I, Issue 36
February 9 - February 16, 1998
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In Person 
Martin Amis read from his new novel, "Night Train," and ended up rendering the book obsolete. [2]
Barbara Strickland
The Message of Dreams
An interview with Violet Crown winner Lisa Sandlin, author of the collection of short fiction, "Message to the Nurse of Dreams." [3]
Barbara Strickland
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Broken Promise 
With "Paradise," Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison isn't out to please the crowd. [4]
Matthew DeBord
Status Quo Ante 
Lorraine Lach's first novel, "Flowers for Mei-ling," explores the problem of personal power among women under capitalist and communist dominion. [5]
Amy C. Murphy
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Spinster Doofus
It's true what her critics have been saying: "Babe" feminist Katie Roiphe, a Princeton-educated writer, is an idiot. [6]
Stacey Richter
Story of Our Lives
Taylor Branch's "Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years" is as emotional chronicle of the nation in turmoil. [7]
James Surowiecki
Nothing but Mystery 
Greil Marcus' "Invisible Republic: Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes" says a lot, but still can't capture Dylan's genius. [8]
Steven Robert Allen
Now What? 
Love to read? Need some clever ideas? Our library of resources and staff picks are guaranteed to turn on plenty of mental light bulbs via your electrified eye sockets. [11]
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n my great fame, I've learned that the worst thing about being
a literary celebrity is trying to keep up with everyone's high
expectations. Upon the release of my first book, "Confessions
of a Worm," critics sent me flowers (which I ate) and sales
went through the roof. I mean that literally -- the salespeople
had to have a new roof put in. But when my second book, "Wormy
Ways: How I Met My Other End," came out, the backlash was
unbearable. I don't even have a back, but it was rough nonetheless.
People said my book was "self-indulgent" and that it
seemed like I'd been "spending too much time in the mulch."
I tell you, nothing hurts more than an angry fanbase.
That's why I feel for Martin Amis. The poor chap's been getting
a really bad rap for his crime novel "Night Train,"
an experiment that apparently doesn't pan out. Give the guy a
break: one can't write "London Fields" every day, you
know. Likewise, Toni Morrison, a Nobel Prize winner, has received
mostly lukewarm reviews of her new novel "Paradise."
I, for one, was pleased to finally read a solidly positive review
of the work.
Even the young Kate Roiphe, whose "The Morning After"
seemed to signal the arrival of a new breed of feminist, is getting
hit. A critic who read her latest work, "Last Night in Paradise:
Sex and Morals at the Century's End," sums it up by calling
Roiphe an idiot. Ouch. Note to first-time fiction writer Lorraine
Lachs: enjoy the glory your novel "Flowers for Mei-Ling"
is generating while it lasts. Readers are fickle.
Ya gotta keep your head, fame or no fame. So it's nice to know
that Barbara Strickland, whose short fiction anthology made her
interviewer cry, is setting a good example. The key to Strickland's
success? Self-honesty. Plus, she knows the difference between
yearning and desire. If only I understood that, I might not be
so worried about my upcoming book, "Wiggling My Way Into
Your Heart." Buy it, please?
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Tales of Two Cities 
Reviews of books on love, life, and the invention of the Ferris Wheel. [9]
Lisa C. Hickman, Leonard Gill and Susan Ellis
Speed Reader
"Paradise" by Toni Morrison; "Special Cases" by Rosamund Purcell; "The Writer's Life" by Carol Edgarian; "Last Night in Paradise: Sex and Morals at the End of the Century" by Katie Rolphe. [10]
Jessica English, Julie Birnbaum, Stephen Ausherman, Todd Gibson
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