My blogs

Blogs I follow

Gender	Male
Industry	Publishing
Occupation	Translator/PhD student
Location	Baltimore, MD, United States
Introduction	I'm an ex-translator doing a PhD in English at Johns Hopkins University. I'm taking this foray into blogging to be a book reviewer of sorts, mostly of books more than twice reviewed. I will try to have a commitment to frankness: if I make head nor tail of a book, I will just confess it. I don’t envy magazine reviewers, who must manage without this way out. They can’t head-nor-tail away as book succeeds puzzling book: they are supposed to tell readers why they should or shouldn’t spend their money. But the sad truth — at least in my case — is that reading a labyrinthine novel over a week of rushed meals is less conducive to enlightenment than to cerebral indigestion. There are, of course, those crutches any reader of reviews is familiar with: “‘Topsy-Turvy Man,’ by Woe, is a disturbing analysis of the human condition, and what with the quest for meaning in a meaningless world.” We read this same stuff about nine tenths of the novels out there, and at the end of it we can't tell what “Topsy-Turvy Man” is about to begin with. I prefer to stick to my head-nor-tail formula, which at least will afford my readers the solace of company or the gratifying awareness of having superior wits.
Interests	Ink on paper.