Sept 15 - UVic Bookstore

I have to say that I'm excited to read bell hooks' new volume Belonging: A Culture of Place ($25.95), freshly picked up today. I need to get back to Scott Russell Sanders' Conservationist Manifesto first, through which I've been dragging my feet for some time now, but I think matching these two books will be really interesting (and hopefully invigorating as well!).

Edit: I've been moving casually through hooks' Belonging, and honestly, it's been a really long time since I've seen as slipshod an editing job as this. Routledge ("An imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business," as the copyright page sings) should be embarrassed by the quality of this text. Or maybe it's an antipatriarchy thing, but it doesn't feel like it. An extra comma to leave two in sequence, typos that a spellchecker won't catch, a misquotation from a psalm: none of this feels like bell hooks' fault, so until I learn otherwise, I'm blaming Routledge for busting up what would otherwise be a really thoughtful, rewarding read.

Comments

jo(e) said…
See, the problem with me reading your blog is that it always leads to me buying more books. (Off to order the bell hooks' book ...)
richard said…
I'd apologize, but gosh, doesn't the advance notice make it sound like just an amazing book?

And I know I owe you an email -- you're on my list, I promise....
richard said…
Did you buy Belonging yet, Jo(e)? Because I have to say, the editing and proofing is so weak that I'm almost considering blacklisting Routledge as a result. Great content, really great content, but some pages have three, four, five typos on them -- bell hooks is way too valuable for this.

Maybe I'm missing that it's an antipatriarchy thing, and maybe that's why there's no index, I dunno.

But honestly, page 49 misquotes Psalm 121; uses "or" for "our"; uses "retuned" for "returned" ("Seeking healing I have necessarily retuned to the Kentucky hills"); and adds a stray "the" ("Now past the age of the fifty..."). You be the judge.
fiona-h said…
anti-patriarchy? don't be so generous. sounds very distracting.
richard said…
I actually had to stop reading the book. It was driving me batty, and there's no way it's intentional. Stories repeat in this short book -- and some quotations aren't the same in two consecutive essays! Ie, "lift up mine eyes until the hills" AND "... unto the hills," in the same book. Grr.
jo(e) said…
Damn. My copy just arrived in the mail, and that kind of stuff DRIVES ME CRAZY. And I'll especially notice it now that you've pointed it out.
richard said…
Hey, I'm really sorry -- but you would have noticed it without me. It's actually kind of appalling, the editing of this volume. If I knew bell hooks personally, I'd send her a note of condolence.

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