The Salon.Com Reader's Guide to Contemporary Authors

Rating:
Summary: Reading For Fun Instead Of Duty
Review: What impresses me about this book is that the critics involved write about what pleases them instead of what they think is the *correct* thing to read. Kurt Vonnegut, who has taken it on the chin from many reviewers lately, gets a warm appreciation from Dave Eggers. And Bret Easton Ellis gets a non-poisonous review (not that I like Ellis all that much, but it's nice to see a dissent from the conventional wisdom for a change.) A few writers get dissed: Michael Crichton is quickly chopped into hamburger, and Edwidge Danticat and Alice Walker are surprisingly (but accurately) dismissed as non-entities. Saul Bellow gets a mixed review. My favorite old white guy, Philip Roth, gets a positive write-up and I learned about possible new authors to read like Geoff Nicholson. One limitation: the exclusion of translated works leaves out a master like Milan Kundera. And any collection that includes the hack John Grisham and leaves out the wonderful Scott Turow needs a reality check. (The "See Also" paragraphs that follow each main review help make up for some of the most obvious exclusions.) Well worth your time.

Rating:
Summary: Be a Finicky-Reader
Review: When I go to a bookstore, I would buy a Hemingway or a Pulitzer Prize winner, because I'm afraid of spending money and wasting time on a ...new author I know nothing about. If you're like me, and want to learn more about modern writers, get this book. I admit, some critiques are dry and verbose, but there is no book like it. There is a list of works by each author, with the important works in bold, and the best (in the critic’s opinion) work highlighted. I know this might seem like brainwashing, but in an age of information overload, we have to depend on expert opinions. One gripe, some ... authors (Anne Rice and Amy Tan) are included, and some important ones (Gish Jen and Tim Sandlin) are left out. Furthermore, the critic directs the readers to similar authors for each entry. But I wish there’s also a “if you hate this author, don’t read the following people” list.