weekend linkdump!

[glass_icarus]

Pre-Montreal tab-clearing! Have a good weekend, lovelies; I'll see you on the other side. &hearts

+ This list of the 15 most overrated contemporary American writers makes me wonder just what Anis Shivani's definition of "contemporary" is. (My list would include Dan Brown and Stephenie Meyer, just sayin'...) Still, the snark was enjoyable to read!

+ Mao's Last Dancer looks shiny.

+ Shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather, Devil Wears Prada fic by woldy! UNF.

+ Troy Polamalu's hair is insured for a million bucks. Why do I suspect that this is less whimsical than it first appears?

+ MC Jin's rapping in Cantonese these days. (Interesting commentary on bilingualism!)

+ This Tina & Mike still via angry asian man is HOT, y'all. People who are still watching Glee, promise to let me know if I should poke my head in just to watch that scene? ;)

+ Rambutans in Puerto Rico! ... I have still never tasted a rambutan. ;____; Someday I can has??

Comments

[zahrawithaz.livejournal.com]

Can I just say that that list of the 15 most overrated US writers made my day? (Especially the part about Junot Diaz.)

I see your point about contemporary--Amy Tan?--but a lot of what he has to say, at least with the fiction writers, is dead-on accurate. Even when he goes too far (I like Michiko K, but he's right about her limitations and tics), he's picking up on real attributes of their writing. The only one I think he got utterly wrong was Michael Cunningham, who does know Woolf better than Shivani and has her same experimental bent--witness his foray into sci-fi.

I don't know the poets as well, but I'd be hard-pressed to come up with a better summary of Billy Collins than the Seinfeld of poetry. Never were snark and schaenfreude so fun!

[lady_ganesh]

I loved that list too! (I really enjoyed The Joy Luck Club but I only wanted to read that book once.)

[glass_icarus]

Heh, I think my confusion was more over genre than anything else. (Amy Tan is apparently still writing, but since I was alienated by the Joy Luck Club, I didn't bother to read anything else of hers. ;P) But yes, I do think that his comments on their writing styles/habits are on point, even in the cases where I disagree.