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Volume I, Issue 43
March 30 - April 6, 1998
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The Originator, Not the Imitator 
An interview with author Anna Quindlen. [2]
Marion Winik

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The Wicked Art 
Peter Carey's "Jack Maggs." [3]
Steven Robert Allen

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Jam Session 
Self-important and shallow, "Rolling Stone" magazine has redefined politics for a generation of morons. [4]
James DiGiovanna
Aches and Pains 
Linda Simon's new bio of William James is a portrait of a neurotic. [5]
Scott Stossel
Side Effects 
Drugs intended to cure us can sometimes kill; the Civil War's enduring hold on the South. [6]
Debbie Gilbert and John Branston

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Laws of Gravity 
Poet J.D. McClatchy's "The Ten Commandments" follows Moses up the mountain. [7]
Graham Christian
Now What? 
Love to read? Need some clever ideas? Our library of resources and staff picks are guaranteed to turn on plenty of mental light bulbs via your electrified eye sockets. [9]

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nna Quindlen, Anna Quindlen, Anna Quindlen. Remember that name.
Because lately people have taken to describing female
authors based on how they compare to her: "She's like Anna
Quindlen on L.S.D.," or "She's like a
Jewish Anna Quindlen," or maybe, "Her prose reads like
something Anna Quindlen would write after a light workout at the gym."
If you read this article, you'll see what I
mean. Of course, you should also read it because Quindlen is an
accomplished journalist, essayist and novelist who has mucho insight
into writing.
Peter Carey also has many writing insights, and he even works
them into his novels. Weird, I know. His latest, "Jack Maggs," tells
a Dickensian tale that doubles as a critique of fiction writing.
I know what you're thinking: how can Carey simultaneously criticize
fiction writing while writing a work of fiction? That's a question
well-answered by this review.
Elsewhere in Books you'll find the skinny on several fat non-fiction
books. Among them is one about William James's various neuroses,
and one about the hidden dangers in household drugs
(see "Project Censored" in the News section for a related
story). But my favorite is James DiGiovanna's acerbic critique
of a book about "Rolling Stone" magazine covers, a publication he slams for its political self-importance and rock-n-roll
shallowness.
Personally, I gave up on "Rolling Stone" around the time they came out with their Perception / Reality advertising campaign. Because the
way I saw it, how could a magazine that pandered to smug, self-righteous
yuppies be any better than a magazine that pandered to hairy, ineffectual
hippies? Either way, that's some depressing reading.

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Speed Reader 
"KISS" by Sylvie Simmons; "Led Zeppelin" by Tony Horkins; "Bob Marley" by Scotty Bennett; "The Clash" by Paul Du Noyer. [8]
Michael Henningsen
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