Treehouse

compiled by Rachel Bondurant

Ian Crouch with The New Yorker wrote a great piece for the Page Turner blog this week about corporate sponsorship bleeding into traditional state matters. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace – am I incredibly uncool for not just calling him DFW? – serves as the backdrop (and sort-of catalyst) for the discussion. It seems uncanny timing given the current uproar over the Ralph Lauren uniforms for the Olympic opening ceremonies.

I hate book trailers (generally, they’re really terrible), and I got to wondering if I was the only one. It turns out I’m not: Nina Metz thinks they’re “schlocky, boring, lackluster, unimaginative,” too. (Warning: You may have to register with The Chicago Tribune to read this article, but the upside is it’s free to do so.) If you aren’t up for that, Galley Cat knows a guy who doesn’t care for book trailers either. In the name of fairness, here’s someone who thinks they’re worthwhile.

Cynthia Crossen (Dear Book Lover) offers some ideas for what constitutes bad writing at The Wall Street Journal. Admittedly, the concept is so subjective that I can’t agree with everything she says, but she makes some good points. Indeed, we all know bad writing when we see it.

Finally, if ever there was a reason to visit a small town in Texas, y’all, this would be it.