Happy Blogversary, with many more to come. As a reader as well as a writer, it is always a joy to find new-to-me books through thoughtful reviews. Cheers to you, Lillian.
Congrats on a year of the LilRB! As a recent subscriber, I truly love the specificity and humour of your reviews. Looking forward to more sci-fi and more Jewish content.
My bias is to take this moment to recommend Mordecai Richler, maybe in particular Barney's Version, if you haven't read him at all. Richler is sort of like if Roth was happily married for 40+ years to a beautiful gentile--sort of against Roth's whole deal, but, he has a similar obsession with place (Montreal) and a comparable voice.
Thanks so much for this comment, Laurel! I’m intrigued by Richler. Haven’t heard of him but I visited Montreal last year and LOVED it. I was surprised at the extent to which Jewish culture was incorporated into mainstream Montrealer culture— especially in terms of the food. I’m now a Montreal bagel partisan. Smoked meat > pastrami. Def want to go back and make a proper pilgrimage to Leonard Cohen’s grave.
Richler has a library named after him just around the corner from the famed bagel spots in Mile End! If you ever go back, imo the superior smoked meat is at Lester’s in Outremont.
Congrats and thanks for the shout out. Still the best named Substack I read. I don’t know if I’ll ever get into the Great American Novel etc. but I like being in conversation with someone who knows about such things and who also knows about like Robert Silverberg.
Tastes Like War sounds really good. I have largely unrealized special interests in Korea and schizophrenia and would like to read a review of that.
1) The Lillian Review of Books is a good title. Memorable, sticky.
2) When someone asked Negro League baseball player Buck O'Neill if he regretted playing before Jackie Robinson broke the color line, he smiled and said, "I'm right on time." This Substack, in this form, and your novel - you're not late to the party, you're right on time.
3) Explore other genres, but not because you think you should. Always follow your curiosity. Read things that cause fireworks to go off in your brain, ignore the rest.
I look forward to every post. Even if I'm not interested in the book or the genre, I love the lively prose and quirky POV. Keep going!! ("Stay hungry, stay foolish" - Steve Jobs)
Happy anniversary, Lillian! Your newsletter is great and you’re a valuable voice in the book world. Here’s to many more years of LilRB!
Thank you! 🥹
Happy Blogversary, with many more to come. As a reader as well as a writer, it is always a joy to find new-to-me books through thoughtful reviews. Cheers to you, Lillian.
Congrats on a year of the LilRB! As a recent subscriber, I truly love the specificity and humour of your reviews. Looking forward to more sci-fi and more Jewish content.
My bias is to take this moment to recommend Mordecai Richler, maybe in particular Barney's Version, if you haven't read him at all. Richler is sort of like if Roth was happily married for 40+ years to a beautiful gentile--sort of against Roth's whole deal, but, he has a similar obsession with place (Montreal) and a comparable voice.
Thanks so much for this comment, Laurel! I’m intrigued by Richler. Haven’t heard of him but I visited Montreal last year and LOVED it. I was surprised at the extent to which Jewish culture was incorporated into mainstream Montrealer culture— especially in terms of the food. I’m now a Montreal bagel partisan. Smoked meat > pastrami. Def want to go back and make a proper pilgrimage to Leonard Cohen’s grave.
Richler has a library named after him just around the corner from the famed bagel spots in Mile End! If you ever go back, imo the superior smoked meat is at Lester’s in Outremont.
Congrats and thanks for the shout out. Still the best named Substack I read. I don’t know if I’ll ever get into the Great American Novel etc. but I like being in conversation with someone who knows about such things and who also knows about like Robert Silverberg.
Tastes Like War sounds really good. I have largely unrealized special interests in Korea and schizophrenia and would like to read a review of that.
In any event, looking forward to more LilRB.
1) The Lillian Review of Books is a good title. Memorable, sticky.
2) When someone asked Negro League baseball player Buck O'Neill if he regretted playing before Jackie Robinson broke the color line, he smiled and said, "I'm right on time." This Substack, in this form, and your novel - you're not late to the party, you're right on time.
3) Explore other genres, but not because you think you should. Always follow your curiosity. Read things that cause fireworks to go off in your brain, ignore the rest.
I look forward to every post. Even if I'm not interested in the book or the genre, I love the lively prose and quirky POV. Keep going!! ("Stay hungry, stay foolish" - Steve Jobs)
Thank you! I’ll keep the name for now 😅
Congrats! One year is a huge accomplishment. Keep up the great work!
Congrats! You're doing it right
🙇🏻♀️