I heard a Nation Public Radio interview with Claire-Louise Bennett. Bennett talked about Checkout 19 as a book about books. That motivated me to take Checkout 19 from my local public Library and read it. This is a sample of Bennett’s approach:
“I read Henry Miller for the first time in France, one evening while my friend was out with her boyfriend, and I hated it. I found its bombastically vulgar language unbearable, which made me feel disappointed in myself and I wondered if perhaps I’d happened upon on of his duds and if I tried another I would very likely enjoy it more and understand right away why people consider him to be such a brilliant writer. I still haven’t tried another so as far as I’m concerned Anais Ain is a much better writer than he is, not that they need to be compared of course, it just gets on my nerves that for expressing a comparable eschewal of sexual and artistic convention she is thought so little of and he so much.” (p. 116-117).
Sometimes, Bennett just lists titles without much analysis. Sometimes Bennett rambles on with her imagination and dreams as random titles tickle her consciousness. I was underwhelmed by Bennett’s performance. GRADE: C
Who do you have to pay to get your book plugged on NPR?
The interplay of booking on every network is shrouded in laziness at least as much as graft. But it helps if you send along an author photo featuring a pledge bookbag.
Todd, or like a T-shirt with Trump’s mugshot on it.
Dan, you just have to cozy up to your local NPR station and get interviewed. Then National NPR might pick it up.
I can believe it. Nin can be as dull as Miller.
I take it Bennett’s conversation was somewhat better, and certainly more concise, than the book?
Todd, Bennett’s conversation reeled me into reading her book.
Todd, I’m with you on both Nin and Miller.
No interest in this. Probably the best age for reading Miller or Nin is 8-9 when you’re still capable of feeling daring or shocked. After that you’re too old.
Michael, you’re right about the time-span for Non and Miller. Once you’re a teenager, they’re obsolete.
Can’t imagine why this was published.
Patti, some editor thought it would sell.
Not a fan of Miller either, but Nin is incomparably duller, so …
We need one of Deb’s insightful comments here.
Jeff, I was lured into reading Bennett’s CHECKOUT 19 because it was supposed to be a book about books. Sadly, the books Bennett deals with are not to my taste.
Jeff, I think Deb’s most insightful comment on this book lays in her not commenting about it. Deb’s silence can speak volumes.
Got it in one, Jerry! I truly had nothing to say because it seems George and everyone here has summed it up nicely: a dull book about a subject that should be interesting, but the writer can’t seem to make it so. For the umpternth time, I’ll recommend Jane Smiley’s 13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT THE NOVEL as a corrective.
I also think Smiley’s latest, THE QUESTIONS THAT MATTER MOST, a collection of essays about reading and writing, looks very interesting. And it’s currently only $2.99 in the kindle store!
I agree. I was very impressed with the Smiley book on the novel. I don’t think she loved THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV, which Michael Dirda is touting in the Washington Post.