Pinky's Paperhaus

Braverman underappreciated (according to Kate)

So Kate Braverman sits down with the LA Times and tells the paper that she should be more famous here in her hometown. Martini Republic points out that she is pompous, irrational and could use some Lithium. Even the LA Times seems a bit shocked by what she was willing to say to a journalist; the subhead reads, "Kate Braverman resents her hometown's refusal to recognize her greatness. Really." Her statements include:

Palm Latitutes "is unknown for the masterpiece that it is."

"I'm not just another writer. I don't think people understand my relationship with this city, and they don't understand what I've achieved."

"I'm the best-kept secret in L.A."

"There is not another woman writer in Southern California who sits between Bellow and Conrad next to Hemingway and Kafka. I have the most literary stature, certainly, of any woman in Southern California."

If a biographer wrote this, I could perhaps choke it down. But to put yourself between Bellow and Conrad? She's back on the coke. Gotta be. Or maybe TEV is right and she's a savvy headline grabber.

The hardest working man in the book business

Jonathan Ames is everywhere this week; the LA Times openly loved his new book, I Love You More Than You Know, in a review that ran yesterday. And Powells does a Q&A with him, in which he plus the excellent litblogs of Maud Newton and Ed Champion. Last night he did a performance/reading at 826LA. He must be tired, but he's not dropping off the landscape yet; his podcast here is coming soon.

At LAist and Ames

I had a tough week over at LAist, where something I posted caused a riot of comments (many of which ran in the "you're an idiot" vein). See, we LAist contributors get an e-mail each time someone comments. So I'd open my inbox and see yet another stack of comments about "Is the San Fernando Valley Not Los Angeles?" and cringe before opening. Idiot, idiot, not idiot, idiot. Ugh. A local LA blogger accused me of "not getting" the complicated relationship between LA and the Valley, and he's dead wrong. But he doesn't have comments on his site, so I can't respond to the accusation. Well, I know why he doesn't have the comments function; nobody wants to see idiot, idiot, idiot...

Another post, about a long-ago LA murder got no response at all, even though it was pretty cool. At least lots of people have checked out the grisly 1929 murder scene photo that went with it.

But aside from all that, today I'll be talking to Jonathan Ames; he's in LA for a week or so. His Pasadena appearance was a lot like his appearance in San Francisco, with nervous asides about his material being inappropriate for kids (brought about here by Vroman's children's book section being near its reading area). Hopefully, kids will steer clear of us this afternoon.

The worldly Kellogg

My sister just spent several weeks in Vietnam. And Cambodia. In fact, my sister has gone lots of places -- luckily, she usually brings a camera. And she's just relaunched her photoblog.

In this picture, she's the blonde.

75 books: Namesake, Stumbling

The latest of my (still lagging) 75 books for 2006 were The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri and Stumbling and Raging: More Politcally Inspired Fiction, edited by Stephen Elliott.

#4: The Namesake is a novel that was totally addictive; it demanded that I come home and pick it up when I was trying to eat dinner with friends. At its best, it features Lahiri's beautiful, thoughtful and sad writing. But it isn't always at its best, perhaps because the story doesn't have the emotional power of some of her short stories. Her protagonist is cold and connects with few people in his world. For readers in our world, he's hard to connect with, too. But it was still a  fast, good read.

Lahiri is the youngest writer ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for literature, at age 32. I know she was 32 because we went to elementary school together. We grew up in the same small town in Rhode Island; her dad worked with my mom at the university library. We were in plays together, fifth grade together, Girl Scouts together. The Namesake draws on a New England childhood that often resembles our own. When the mother in The Namesake chose not to throw a birthday party for her son because the local kids claim to be allergic to milk, I cringed. I was allergic to milk. In the book, an Indian society evolves inside of the suburban society; in real life, I saw the moms in their saris, even in winter, shopping at the grocery store. Was there a world full of real curries and somosas right there in my town? I'm fascinated to think there was.

I have lots of questions to ask her about her beautiful writing, the big prize, and why Peter Ashley's dad makes an anachronistic appearance to deliver the protagonist. And I hope someday I get to ask them on Pinky's Paperhaus.

#5 Stumbling and Raging is a book of short stories inspired by, not about, politics. Editor Stephen Elliott will soon appear on Pinky's Paperhaus to talk about the book. Four Stanford students helped him put it together, and they had nice pickings. While there are a few stories I didn't love, it's a really strong collection. Marquee names include Dave Eggers, Aimee Bender, Sandra Cisneros, Neal Pollack and Chris Abani. but the less well-known writers, like Courtney Angela Brkic (that's not a typo) and Jeff Parker, hold their own. Funds raised by the book's sales will be given to progressive Congressional candidates; a good read in more ways than one.

Pity the fool

Jim did a pictorial roundup of last month's Vermin on the Mount. Note to self: tipping head down is bad.

I listen to NPR about 28 hours a day, but somehow I missed Xeni Jardin report on podcasts of books read by fans, like the excellent LibriVox.

I pity the fool who doesn't click on this.

Unusual bedfellows

Simon & Schuster launched a weekly podcast last fall. Typically they take 3 authors, throw parts of their audiobooks together, and voila! It's a smart repurposing of content. Although next week will be Steven King wall to wall.

But the first one I listened to was Sarah Vowell, Ellen DeGeneres and Lewis Black. One of these things is not like the others! Sarah Vowell is funny in all the ways Ellen is unfunny. Vowell is unexpected, wicked and painful all at once. Ellen is plodding, dull and cheesy. To be honest, I couldn't suffer through Ellen to get all the way to Lewis Black. And I love Lewis Black.

Ed points out that Jay McInerney and of course Cory Doctorow are also podcasting. I'd much rather subscribe to a single author I like than have a surprise DeGeneres plop down in the middle of a perfectly good podcast.

More fun in the new world

Tonight editor Stephen Elliott will be at Skylight with a handful of contributors to the new Stumbling and Raging: More Politcally Inspired Fiction: Neal Pollack, Aimee Bender, Chris Abani and Eric Orner. The collection is kind of massive, which means that more writers have got parts of their brains working on politics than I thought.

Over at LAist, last week we ran an interview with Janet Fitch, the author of White Oleander. She describes her upcoming book as "Fall of the House of Usher  set in 1981 punk rock LA," which is a mighty good elevator speech. Looking at it now, I see I let it go live without fixing some atrocious formatting. So I'm off for some blog repair.