National Book Awards - 2008

[Mark Kohut]

Yea...'slur' is the wrong word....I guess I was offended (like those Pulitzer judges of GR) by the way it was stated. Bad for a Pynchon reader.

The book is good,I think,(although I have only read into it and read about it)  and, full disclosure, I once met the author. 

A Chicago bookseller reports 'confidentially' as it spreads like an Obama rally, that Michelle Obama bought a copy last week, I've heard from a friend in Nashville who has heard it from Chicago...

Your ob that both the fiction and non-fiction winners were stories involving mixed races is fascinating. It's in the Zeitgeist.

--- On Fri, 11/21/08, rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: National Book Awards - 2008
> To: markekohut at yahoo.com
> Cc: "pynchon -l" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Date: Friday, November 21, 2008, 1:46 PM
> just my opinion homeboy, hardly think of it as a slur. more
> of an
> observation on my part
> 
> but i got back pain and the vicodin is helping but i'm
> sort of cranky anyway
> 
> guess I should mention that Shadow Country is all about
> mixed race America
> they do make a nice set now that I think about it.
> 
> rich
> On 11/20/08, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > Sir,
> >
> > Your slur is not funny, imho, if that was your intent.
> >
> > The National Book Award is for the judgment of the
> best books per categories
> > for the year. Timeliness has little to do with it.
> (See all the
> > more timely ephemera published this year).
> >
> > Have you read any of The Hemmingses of Montecillo?
> >
> > Curious to call a book about The Dark Side more timely
> than a book about
> > Thomas Jefferson and the mixed race bloodline that he
> fathered in this the
> > first year that an American of mixed race ever ran for
> President and
> > happened to win.
> >
> > When I heard, I hoped that timeliness was NOT the
> major reason it did win.
> >
> > But it is good history. And, overarchingly, shows that
> from the beginnings
> > of these United States, with one of its foundational
> intellectuals, was
> > "mixed' race at its core.
> >
> > Mark
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --- On Thu, 11/20/08, rich
> <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> From: rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com>
> >> Subject: Re: National Book Awards - 2008
> >> To: "Dave Monroe"
> <against.the.dave at gmail.com>
> >> Cc: pynchon-l at waste.org
> >> Date: Thursday, November 20, 2008, 3:43 PM
> >> Shadow Country is well deserving of the prize
> >>
> >> The Dark Side would've my pick for
> non-fiction--alot
> >> more timely than
> >> a book about whitey fucking his slaves
> >>
> >> On 11/20/08, Dave Monroe
> <against.the.dave at gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >> > http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2008.html
> >> >
> >> > http://www.nationalbook.org/
> >> >
> >> > Pardon if already posted, can't recall
> (not well)
> >> ...
> >> >
> >
> >
> >
> >