“My dream when I was 14 was someday I could have a David Levine caricature of me in 'The New York Review of Books.'” BookDreamNew YorkSomedayReviewsCaricatures Author:Chris Hayes
“There's a certain kind of conversation you have from time to time at parties in New York about a new book. The word "banal" sometimes rears its by-now banal head; you say "underedited," I say "derivative." The conversation goes around and around various literary criticisms, and by the time it moves on one thing is clear: No one read the book; we just read the reviews.” KindBookSometimesMovingCertainPartyClearOne ThingNew YorkConversationCriticismVariousReviewsNew BooksLiterary CriticismDerivatives Author:Anna Quindlen
“The last publicized center of American writing was Manhattan. Its writers became known as the New York Intellectuals. With important connections to publishing, and universities, with access to the major book reviews, they were able to pose as the vanguard of American culture when they were so obsessed with the two Joes--McCarthy and Stalin--that they were to produce only two artists, Saul Bellow and Philip Roth, who left town.” WritingArtTwoImportantBookAbleLastsArtistCultureLiteraturePoliticsLeftKnownNew YorkProduceMajorsConnectionsTownsUniversityAccessObsessedReviewsPublishingAmerican CultureManhattanPhilipVanguardBook ReviewJoe Mccarthy Book:God made Alaska for the Indians: selected essays Source: God made Alaska for the Indians: selected essays
“When I write, I aim in my mind not toward New York but to a vague spot a little to the east of Kansas. I think of the books on library shelves, without their jackets, years old, and a countryish teen-aged boy finding them, and having them speak to him. The review, the stacks in Brentano's, are just hurdles to get over, to place the books on that shelf.” ThinkingWritingYearsMindLittlesBookSpeakBoysNew YorkFindingsAimLibraryEastSpotsReviewsVagueShelvesGet OverJacketsKansasHurdle Book:Picked-Up Pieces: Essays Source: Picked-Up Pieces: Essays
“As a journalist, I never critiqued anyone. I never review books. I've never felt qualified as a musician to say whether someone is a good musician or a bad musician. What happens with Black writers and Black artists is that if you're critiqued, for example, by a Black historian who wants to get his name on the cover of "The New York Times," and he says something, like, wacky, well, he'll get his name on the cover of "The New York Times" and he might get tenure, and your career suffers.” IfsWantWellsBookMightHappensArtistSufferingNamesFeltBlackCareersNew YorkExampleMusicianJournalistReviewsHistorianQualifiedNew York TimesTenureWacky Author:James McBride
“There have been two [career highlights]. Waking up in New York to hear I'd been nominated for Best Actor for a Tony Award on Broadway, for An Ideal Husband. The other one was waking up the morning after the opening night of A Man For All Seasons and reading the reviews.” MenHas BeensTwoNightReadingActorsCareersMorningNew YorkHusbandIdealsSeasonsWake UpOpeningAwardsReviewsWakingBroadwayHighlightsMorning AfterIdeal HusbandOpening Night Author:Martin Shaw
“The world is telling you through The New York Times and The New York Review of Books "You must shut up. You must never appear again. Because you are not relevant to us." So you have to fight their attempt to destroy you, fight to continue feeling.” WorldBookFeelingsFightingNew YorkReviewsRelevantShut UpNew York Times Author:James Purdy
“I started as an artist and I had a side job moving some heavy boxes for a publishing company. They had just gotten a Mac for their art department, the department that creates the book covers. I was kind of showing the art director a thing or two about how to use a Mac. And one day everyone went out to lunch and I jumped on the computer and designed a book jacket and slipped it in the pile to go to the review board in New York. They picked my jacket and when the art director got back to Boston, he wanted to know who designed it and I said, "Me." He was like, "The box guy?"” KnowsKindArtSaidTwoBookUseWantedJobsMovingArtistGuySidesCompanyNew YorkOne DayDirectorsComputerBoxesHeavyBoardsDepartmentReviewsLunchPublishingBostonJacketsMacsBook CoversArt Director Author:Biz Stone
“I was doing a play in New York, which we had done in New Haven, Connecticut. It was an American premiere of a play called The Changing Room written by a wonderful man named David Story. It was about a rugby team in the North of England. It got just screaming rave reviews. At that time, virtually every major critic went up to the Long Wharf Theater to see a new play like that.” MenLongDonePlayStoriesRoomsWonderfulWrittenTeamHavensNew YorkMajorsEnglandTheaterCriticsReviewsRugbyPremieresRaveConnecticutWonderful Man Author:Richard Masur
“I have one rave New York Times review framed next to a flop Los Angeles Times review. And it's for the same show. These people watched the same show. That's what happens. They love it, they hate it.” PeopleShowsHappensHateNextNew YorkLos AngelesReviewsNew York TimesFramedRave Author:Bruce Vilanch
“As I was coming up on the stage, there was one source that could make or break you, the New York Times. Inevitably there would be one actor singled out for a better review, or worse, than somebody else. The effect of that was cancerous, divisive.” Would BeActorsBreakEffectsStageNew YorkSourceReviewsBreak UpNew York TimesMake Or Break Author:Kevin Bacon
“I started work on my first French history book in 1969; on 'Socialism in Provence' in 1974; and on the essays in Marxism and the French Left in 1978. Conversely, my first non-academic publication, a review in the 'TLS', did not come until the late 1980s, and it was not until 1993 that I published my first piece in the 'New York Review.'” FirstsBookLeftPiecesNew YorkLateSocialismReviewsAcademicEssaysMarxismPublicationHistory BooksProvence Author:Tony Judt
“You should look up some of the reviews. The New York Times review is so over-the-top funny. It's hysterical. You should dig it out.” ShouldLooksNew YorkLook UpReviewsNew York TimesHystericalOver The Top Author:Judd Apatow