What are your favorite pieces of writing thus far in 2012?

I can see how it could be interesting if you buy into Apple's persona.

I don't, so the piece becomes embarrassing quickly.

 

You knew Fiona Apple had cystic acne because of a gluten allergy? You knew there was no looping on the final track of the album (which, if you've heard the song, is rather impressive). You knew that stuff?

The story is unusually detailed and intimate. Too much so. I wouldn't select it among the best, but you can't say it doesn't know its subject or topic and doesn't kick the ball forward.

 

Let me clarify.

It didn't tell me anything INTERESTING I didn't already know.

 

Bylines are a funny thing.

My wife reads a *lot.* All sorts of stuff. She's an excellent writer herself and can be both lavish with praise and quick to drop the anvil on stuff she doesn't like.

The other day she was reading Smithsonian and totally ripping the lead Olympics story apart. She read me the lead and excerpts. She just hated it. Hated. Hated. Hated.

I sat down to eat and picked up the magazine, then look at the contributors' list. I saw a very familiar name and wondered . . .

I turned to the story she had been ranting about and there it was:

"By Frank Deford"

I told her he was considered one of the best sportswriters around.

She continued to read me excerpts she didn't like.

 

Deford may be the greatest living sports writer, but he also is a 73-year-old who hasn't produced many worthwhile stories in the past decade or so.

 

Fair enough. But you just narrowed your criticism significantly. It would depend on what you find interesting.

 

The Bobby Petrino thread on SportsJournalists.com

For those who weren't there: http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/89529/

 

Her acne isn't interesting. To anyone, I wouldn't think.

It didn't work for me. I specifically said that. Writing is so subjective that I can't being to claim to speak for anyone but myself.

 

Right, but in saying so, as someone who writes and knows good writing, you're also saying it doesn't work, period, on some level. This is a field you know well. Your opinion in this arena is not such a trifle that it only stands for personal taste.

 

No, I really think it does. I'm not a "writer" and never have been. I couldn't write a long-form article if you gave me a 10,000-word head start. I know what works for ME, but I would never ascribe that to others.

Writing, music ... there are just some things where objectivity doesn't work, and what's good for one is not good for another. Doesn't make one's opinion any stronger than any other's.

 

thanks for this thread.

about to get on a boat and be away from newspapers, magazines and anything else so I've been making PDFs and putting most of these stories, at least the ones I haven't already read, and loading them up on the kindle.

thanks again.