betrayed by bookslut
I love the bookslut blog and get most of my new fiction recommendations there, so I was interested to see this month's issue had a feature on Middle Eastern books. Since I was disappointed by the Kite Runner, I was hoping they'd have some better suggestions. The fact that the Kite Runner was the first book pictured put me off a little, but I figured they had to mention it at least. I was expecting snarkiness, but instead got a glowing review! I haven't bothered reading the rest of the article, since I obviously can't trust the writer's taste. At least it wasn't written by either of the bloggers. Neither of them actually offered an opinion on the book that I can find, but that was where I found the link to the slate review I agreed with, and this sentiment from Michael Schaub is more suggestive of what I was expecting:
Starbucks plans to start selling books.
The final part of the strategy to move into the entertainment world is to put books on sale later this year, either through a partnership with an existing publishing house or by printing books itself.
Unless this means I can add hazelnut syrup to my copy of The Kite Runner, or whatever the fuck people are buying by the crate now, I remain unimpressed.
You'd think from my harping on the book, that I really hated it, but it wasn't dreadful, just mediocre.
posted by Lucy @ 3:22 PM
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comments
2 Comments:
ugh to kiterunner! I know of several really good books about the middle east, should you be interested. However, they are non-fiction. Snow (which bookslut mentions) is supposed to be good. He pissed Turkey off, so that's a plus. The bookseller or Kabul and the Storyteller's daugher are both supposed to be good, though I've not read either of them. For a devastatingly good book, read The price of honor by Jan Goodwin. Non fiction, but brilliant. I read sections over and over.
And, now I have to confess something: I kind of like that starbucks will sell books. Here is why: I often like their music selections so that makes me think they might find interesting, "under known" books by youngish writers.
(hides)
thanks for the recommendations! That's cool that starbucks has interesting music. I would've thought a big multinational would have more populist taste, but in any case, it was the snarkiness against the kite runner that I was appreciating, rather than against starbucks. Although, my snobbishness still tells me that if starbucks is popular enough to have one few hundred metres, it can't be good.
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