Plus: The year's best illustrated children's books
| Bernard Gotfryd, via Library of Congress |
Dear fellow readers, I absolutely love this whip-smart essay by Jane Kamensky on the legacy of "Fear of Flying" — "a book so sexually frank that you may have found it hidden in your mother's underwear drawer" — though I may have blanched a little when I came to this passage about its critical reception: "A whiff of misogyny hangs over the book's many reviews written by men, most pointedly in the British press. A young Martin Amis damned the book as mere autobiography and declared, 'I neither know nor care whether all the horrible and embarrassing things in this book have actually happened to Miss Jong.'" Those lines sent me scurrying to our own archives, where I discovered our reviewer — yes, a man — had enjoyed the novel's bawdiness but been unable to get past what he called "the whining" in it. Whining. Sheesh. I've just unearthed my own copy of "Fear of Flying," which may well be the one I found in my mom's closet (not her underwear drawer) all those years ago, and I'm going to reread it this weekend. If you. have time, tell us what you're reading! (We may publish your response on our Letters page, or feature it in an upcoming newsletter.) You can email us at books@nytimes.com. We read every letter sent. Tina Jordan Deputy Editor, The New York Times Book Review @TinaJordanNYT Continue reading the main storyLike this email? Sign-up here or forward it to your friends. Have a suggestion or two on how we can improve it? Let us know at newsletters@nytimes.com. Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. Continue reading the main storyGain unlimited access to The Times — with just one subscription. Independent reporting. Recipes. Games. Product reviews. Personalized sports journalism. Enjoy it all with an introductory offer. | | THIS WEEK IN THE BOOK REVIEW | | | | Continue reading the main storyBEST SELLERSContinue reading the main story |
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