People may see the kind of thing that Andrea Long Chu does going super-viral but if that is literally not your personality it is a big world out there with room for more openly enthusiastic takes
I am currently reading both "Abundance" and "Empire of AI" and planning LinkedIn reviews for both of them. Given the nature of that site those reviews don't have to be salacious and will probably both be quite positive but they will be seen as staking a claim to a specific political community.
(I put my name in to review fiction for this site but even I wouldn't read it)
"How can I not subscribe?" is such a perfectly ambiguous sentence. It either means, "I don't like this; how can I make sure I don't subscribe?" or, "I loved this; how can I keep from subscribing?"
At any rate, I write essays on literature, look at my Substack metrics more than I'd want to admit, and found this to be a great, nuanced essay.
I agree with much of this, especially the idea that critics have become incentivized to wrote negative critiques.
Having said that, maybe there's something to be said for those critics who are willing to speak out against otherwise popular, un-critiqueable authors and books, and that these pannings get so much love suggests that others have been harboring these feelings as well.
I suppose it's a fine line, then, between bravery and vanity.
Hey, that's me!
Please buckle down and read "Middlemarch". Possibly do it in your favorite reading place. You will not be sorry.
JAMES BORDEN I WILL REALLY TRY
Well written. An essay with guts. Truth in words. Thanks.
thank YOU
People may see the kind of thing that Andrea Long Chu does going super-viral but if that is literally not your personality it is a big world out there with room for more openly enthusiastic takes
This is brilliant and witty!
Thanks, Meredith!
I clicked the little heart button because you have, in fact, written something Good.
Thank you thank you!
I dont know exactly what this has to do with yugioh but I either agree or disagree
cuspy yummy
Cupsy*yummy
Honest and truthful assessment. Thanks for weighing in - I value your opinion
woah thanks
I am currently reading both "Abundance" and "Empire of AI" and planning LinkedIn reviews for both of them. Given the nature of that site those reviews don't have to be salacious and will probably both be quite positive but they will be seen as staking a claim to a specific political community.
(I put my name in to review fiction for this site but even I wouldn't read it)
using linkedin as a book review outlet is iconic
More of those than you would think especially if a connection wrote the book
My review, not the fiction
How can I not subscribe?
uhhh just don't press subscribe
Wait, why not…? What happens? Too late!
What I meant was, “I like this essay and look forward to the next.”
"How can I not subscribe?" is such a perfectly ambiguous sentence. It either means, "I don't like this; how can I make sure I don't subscribe?" or, "I loved this; how can I keep from subscribing?"
At any rate, I write essays on literature, look at my Substack metrics more than I'd want to admit, and found this to be a great, nuanced essay.
Thanks. Ironies proceed apace. So many book reviews disguised as literary criticism remind me of this poem by Stephen Crane:
In the Desert
In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, “Is it good, friend?”
“It is bitter—bitter,” he answered;
“But I like it
“Because it is bitter,
“And because it is my heart.”
So, the medium is the message?
I agree with much of this, especially the idea that critics have become incentivized to wrote negative critiques.
Having said that, maybe there's something to be said for those critics who are willing to speak out against otherwise popular, un-critiqueable authors and books, and that these pannings get so much love suggests that others have been harboring these feelings as well.
I suppose it's a fine line, then, between bravery and vanity.