What the people paid to write are reading

The New York Times has a long piece asking well known authors about what they have been reading lately. Slow review season I guess. Gary Wills, author of a Pulitizer Prize winning book on Lincoln's speechwriting, deserves credit for describing another author thusly: "The master of Lincoln’s mastery over the word."

But then I got to Edwidge Danticat. Now Ms. Danticat may be the best author on Earth, an author who could lead me to openly weep in public places, but I will never, ever, know. You see, I have this friend who manages to tell his Edwidge Danticat story almost every time I see him. Apparently, said friend went to see Ms. Danticat speak. The author, who is Haitian, said that she was writing books for all the little Haitian girls who couldn't look up to an author like themselves. The first few times I heard this story, I thought how very nice. As the cascade of repitition continued I began to quite dislike hearing her name. At this point I have to avert my eyes at the bookstore. The only thing worse than being recommended the same book, over and over again, is being told the same story about an author, over and over again.