February 21, 2004

NYTBR -- A Dead Place for Fiction

Perhaps an inadvertent confession from Laura Miller? "The only thing more powerful than a worldwide conspiracy, it seems, is our desire to believe in one."

Incidentally, the NYTBR fiction coverage is still looking grim. Far too much non-fiction (and yet another review of the Biskind book). The most telling sign is that David Markson's Vanishing Point, which would seem to me one of the most ideal literary books for the Times to cover for a full-length review, has been ghettoized to the "And Bear in Mind" section.

Posted by DrMabuse at February 21, 2004 10:12 AM
Comments

Whereas I was happy b/c Stasio's column was back and there was that nice lengthy rave of Ian Rankin's new book. But the Biskind wasn't the only double; Kyle Smith and Kurt Wenzel's lad-lit books were paired yet again but by a different reviewer. Hello? It's one thing for Maslin to do a double review but then a duplicate of the same thing? Go figure.

Posted by: Sarah at February 21, 2004 10:57 AM

I agree. It's looking very Doestoevsky, good Kirk-bad Kirk at the Times these days.

Posted by: Ed at February 22, 2004 04:25 PM