The Critical I: Six Questions for Carole Goldberg

AS PART of an ongoing series, the NBCC will be talking to book editors and critics around the country. We recently caught up with member Carole Goldberg before she left town for the weekend.

Q: How long have you been book editor at the Hartford Courant and which part of the paper did you come from?

A: I've been the books editor at The Courant since January 2002. Before that, I was an assistant city editor, responsible for the Neighborhoods Page, which ran features about city life in Hartford. But I also had been a frequent book reviewer for the paper since the mid-'80s.

Q: What have you reviewed lately that you have enjoyed?

A: There have been several this year that I have really enjoyed. Donald Antrim's The Afterlife is a brilliant memoir: exquisitely written and brave in what he is willing to reveal. I also was far more emotionally moved than I expected to be by The Book Thief, Markus Zusak's YA novel (which seems to me to be an unnecessary pigeonholing of the book) about Germany during World War II. Death...a sarcastic yet oddly gentle Death...is the narrator. And it's been years since I cried while reading a book, but that one got to me. I also just reviewed Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow, which I loved for its sassy voice. Kudos to the translator as well as the author.

Q: Where do you do most of your reading?

A: At home, in bed, till all hours of the night. Or at home, on the couch. Or at home, on the deck. Or at my place on Cape Cod, on the porch or at the beach. Never at the office during regular work hours, although if they gave me a couch, maybe I would.

Q: What do you find yourself editing out of reviews most often?

A: I like to leave the writer's voice alone, as much as possible. But some reviews need shortening, and one way to do that is to cut the overuse of adjectives, clauses that repeat what's already been said, author comments that telegraph the meaning of a quote in the process of settingup the quote....and sometimes, the too frequent repetition of the book's full title in the course of the review. If it's a long title, it can really eat up space unnecessarily.

Q: Do you get feedback on your pages?

A: Never as much as I would like, but yes. Often from fellow staffers here and also from readers of the paper. The best, of course, is from authors I have reviewed. Especially when they tell me I "got" the book.

Q: So what are you reading now?

A: I'm in-between books today, which is rare. Just finished Elisa Albert's sharp short story collection, How This Night Is Different, which really nails contemporary Jewish cultural life, and the aforementioned Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow. Will soon be reading Nora Ephron's lament for her neck, Anna Quindlen's new novel and one more book to be picked out this weekend. I'm on the countdown to a vacation, so get out of my way, I have reading to do!

**