Books

Reading the Sunday reviews

Thomas Curwen in the L.A. Times Book Review and Thomas Mallon in the New York Times Book Review both weigh in on Joan Didion's dark take on a California spoiled, Where I Was From. It's the cover review with a color illustration in both sections -- side by side, I gotta go with the NYT on the illo. The LAT also reviews Governor Reagan by Lou Cannon and pans The Substance of Style by Virginia Postrel. Matt Miller's The Two Percent Solution busts onto the LAT Bestseller list at #5 -- Al Franken is still #1.

In the October issue of The Atlantic, besides the Benjamin Schwarz review of Didion's book mentioned here ten days ago -- he didn't care for it -- there is an enthused review of Jamesland, LA Weekly dining columnist Michelle Huneven's "irresistible second novel." L.A. author and performer Sandra Tsing Loh reviews a book on family life. And the issue carries a longer and more thoughtful review of Substance of Style than the LAT gave. The Atlantic site also has an interview with Postrel from August.


More by Kevin Roderick:
Standing up to Harvey Weinstein
The Media
LA Times gets a top editor with nothing but questions
LA Observed Notes: Harvey Weinstein stripped bare
LA Observed Notes: Photos of the homeless, photos that found homes
Recent Books stories on LA Observed:
Pop Sixties
LA Observed Notes: Bookstore stays open, NPR pact
Al Franken in Los Angeles many times over
His British invasion - and ours
Press freedom under Trump and the Festival of Books
Amy Dawes, 56, journalist and author
Richard Schickel, 84, film critic, director and author
The Lost Journalism of Ring Lardner: An Interview with Ron Rapoport


 

LA Observed on Twitter