American Book Review receives national attention
Publisher excited, disappointed with attention on good-bad book list
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Jeffrey Di Leo
Discussing books can make for good conversation. Discussing bad books can make for an even better one.
The American Book Review has got everyone talking about bad books with its recent Top 40 Bad Books issue. With 40 contributors delving into just what makes a bad book and naming examples, the issue has garnered national attention and was featured in the Los Angeles Times book blog "Jacket Copy." The blog was also re-posted on The Huffington Post.
American Book Review publisher and editor, Jeffrey Di Leo said he was both excited and disappointed with the attention the organization, which is based at the University of Houston-Victoria, is getting.
"I'm disappointed because we put out the American Book Review six times a year that focus on compelling, serious issues, but the only issues that get picked up by the national media are the ones with lists," Di Leo said, adding the New York Times wrote about their "100 Best Lines From Novels" issue. "I'm excited though that it's eliciting a very healthy conversation on good books and bad books and a more critical readership hopefully comes from this."
While most of the attention has been focused on some of the contributors targeting certain books as bad, such as "The Great Gatsby," the idea behind the issue was to examine in-depth what it means to say a book is bad, Di Leo added.
"There is a knee-jerk reaction when someone gives you a title of book, either 'oh, that's a good book' or 'oh, that one's bad.' We wanted to pick apart that reaction to books and examine what constitutes a bad book. What does it mean to say a book is bad?" he said. "We have 40 reflections that look at the notion of bad books."
In November 2006, the award-winning American Book Review moved to Victoria under Di Leo's leadership from its home at Illinois State University. It is published six times a year internationally and specializes in reviews of frequently neglected published works of fiction from small presses, Di Leo said.
