Thank goodness for Critical Mass ...

... the National Book Critics Circle's website. They've managed to type up all the names on the Los Angeles Times' not-so-shortlist for its book prizes AND Granta magazine's top 21 American novelists under 35 as well.

Interesting sideline, by the way, about the LATimes' presentation by publisher James O'Shea last night in New York: Mr. O'Shea addressed the rumors that the Times is going to cut its books coverage. The rumors are simply not true, he said, but in an expression of whole-hearted commitment familiar to those who've read my discussion of cuts in newspaper arts coverage and, in particular, the Dallas Morning News' handling of same, Mr. O'Shea didn't convince anyone in the room, it seems, that the Times wasn't going to fold its freestanding book section into its op-ed section.

That, at least, was the impression of the people who've e-mailed me this morning. And the impression of GalleyCat as well.

March 2, 2007 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

1 Comments

By Peter on March 3, 2007 6:02 PM

My long and largely dreary professional experience at the Philadelphia ******er has taught me to trust nothing that comes out of the mouth of an editor-in-chief and that publishers are worse.
If O'Shea truly were committed to preserving the book section, why would he feel the need to tell the world that he was so committed -- methinks the content provider doth protest too much, and all that.

Knowing nothing about Mr. O'Shea and little about his newspaper, I fully expect the book section to be folded into the op-ed or some other part of the paper -- accompanied, of course, by announcement to readers of the "new, easier to handle" book coverage.

After all, I am not just a blogger, but a member of a newspaper copy desk whose members have been assured that copy editors are "the backbone of this newspaper."

===================
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