Thursday Article: Take that, State of Wonder.

If you haven't seen it yet this year, you should know that The Morning News is once again running their annual Tournament of Books.

I enjoy the Tournament, and salute TMN for running it, but usually I just check in briefly to see which books are advancing (and who the big winner is). I rarely read all the reviews and commentary, just because they're usually reviewing literary fiction novels about which I've heard but which I also have very few intentions of reading.

That all changed today when I read Wil Wheaton's* judging of Ann Patchett's novel State of Wonder vs. Patrick DeWitt's The Sisters Brothers.

I gotta tell you: Wil Wheaton is my new crush. Not only did he NOT advance Patchett's novel (of which I was not a fan, you'll remember), this is just an excerpt of what he had to say about one of the main characters:

"Wow, the doctor we’ve been waiting all this time to meet is a giant asshole. That’s good, because what this story needs is less interesting plot and more unlikable characters."

HA! Awesome. Thumbs up to Wheaton for making the ballsy choice of dumping the critically acclaimed Patchett novel in favor of DeWitt's, and thumbs up for a hilarious review explaining, at great length, the rationale for the ballsy choice.

*Here's Wheaton's bio from the site: "Wil Wheaton is an actor (Eureka, Leverage, The Big Bang Theory), author (Just a Geek, The Happiest Days of our Lives), and blogger (Wil Wheaton dot Net: In Exile). He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Anne." Please note many people also know him for his acting role on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Comments

[pinkybooks]

Oooh. And Stand by Me. Love you even more, Wil Wheaton/Gordie Lachance/Lt. Wesley Crusher.

[Ruthiella]

Wil Wheaton continues to impress me with his off-beat humor and ability to spoof himself (I LOVE The Big Bang Theory, where he occasionally, á la Michael Patrick Harris in Harold and Kumar, plays himself). This is good, because when he played Wesley on STNG, I usually wanted his characther to beam down with a red-shirted, nameless crew member and be killed on the planet’s surface (No so much Mr. Wheaton's fault, but the fault of the producers and writers). I want to read both State of Wonder (I liked Bel Canto) and The Sisters Brothers.

[Citizen Reader]

Pinkybooks,
HOW could I forget Stand By Me? Great movie.

Ruthiella,
I actually never watched ST:TNG, but he keeps popping up in pop culture references with increasing regularity. I got a real charge out of his review, I'll admit. He's my new crush!
Good luck with SOW--I did not like the pace of Bel Canto either, too slow, so perhaps that will not bother you. Let me know what you think of SOW and The SB, if you read them both!

[Bybee]

I read Patchett's memoir Truth and Beauty and didn't really like it, so I never ventured into more of her stuff. But the Sisters Brothers! I love that book to death! I'm also starting to feel quite fond of Wil Wheaton.

[Unruly Reader]

OK, he nailed it. The Sisters Brothers is a fabulous book, and State of Wonder: not.

[Citizen Reader]

Bybee,
Well, because it was nonfiction (and I enjoyed Lucy Grealy's book "Autobiography of a Face," and her memoir was about her friendship with Grealy), Truth and Beauty is probably the only book of Ann Patchett's I didn't mind finishing. It's her very slowly paced fiction that leaves me "meh."

Yes, I think feeling fond of Wil Wheaton is a good way to go!

Unruly,
Amen. I've GOT to read The Sisters Brothers.