2013's Top Literary Feuds

The New Yorker is continuing their list of the best literary feuds for a second year running.  For those of us whose lives revolve around the book industry, this list is both useful and fun. Understanding the big controversies of the year helps you to get a quick snapshot of the entire industry.

Click here for the list and with great commentary.

My favorites?

In terms of useful and thought provoking, I am very interested in the whole Buzzfeed banning of negative reviews.  Their argument for the new policy makes sense, but it is troubling to me. I need fair critical reviews in order to be able to find the best match for my patrons. But the overwhelming amount of uncritical negative reviews--book or author bashing for no reason other than to be mean-- if just as useless as only reading positive reviews.

Just for pure fun though, you gotta love "Jonathan Franzen vs. The Modern World."  Man, I like his books, but boy is he a crab. Just the feud's title put a smile on my face.

Check it out for yourself.

I have an extended review queued up for tomorrow, and then I hope to get another one up Friday and at least 1 more over the weekend.