• “Fumes made me go lowbrow, said writer.” (Via.)
• It’s already been widely linked to but as an Amazon review obsessive I’m obliged to point you toward Garth Risk Hallberg’s intelligent essay on the phenomenon. His thesis: that the top reviewers aren’t so much disinterested amateurs as they are “a curious hybrid: part customer, part employee.” (My favorite Amazon reviewer is G. Gibson of Rome, Italy. Misunderstood, maligned: I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about G. Gibson and eagerly await his definitive translation of The Aeneid, which will show all others as the grievous abominations they are.)
• A gallery of photos related to D.H. Lawrence and the Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial.
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
