New NYRB

The September 27th issue of the New York Review of Books is now online, and has some interesting articles, including a piece by Christian Caryl on Vladimir Sorokin’s Ice.

Over at the Literary Saloon they point out that this issue—the “Fall Books Preview”—is surprisingly lacking in fiction coverage.

But we couldn’t help but notice that the fiction coverage is . . . limited. Three titles — one of which is a New York Review Books title (Sorokin’s Ice), and another of which is . . . the latest Harry Potter. Meanwhile, four films are discussed (including a Harry Potter . . .).

The lack of fiction coverage doesn’t stop there though. Actually, looks like The New Republic is featuring even less than that:

• In the current issue: four reviews, with the review of two Loeb Classics volume of Hesiod about as close to fiction as it gets

• The 27 August issue, which admirably reviews the recent complete Zbigniew Herbert collection, as well as . . . Tina Brown’s The Diana Chronicles, but no fiction

• The 6 August issue: four reviews, no fiction

• The 23 July issue: four reviews, no fiction

Just what book culture needs—another review of The Diana Chronicles.