It's My Life, And I'll Think What I Want

Remember when the New York Times doubled back and moved John Dean's review of The Politics of Truth, originally intended for the Sunday section, into the daily "Books of the Times" section to, some might speculate, balance out Michiko Kakutani's rush to judgment? Well, you might say it's happened again...mere days after Kakutani's roughing up of Bill Clinton's memoirs, the Times website has taken Larry McMurtry's NYTBR review and made it live, and let's just say he and Michiko don't see eye-to-eye on this one.

In recent days the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant have been raised as a stick to beat Clinton with, and why? Snobbery is why. Some people don't want slick Bill Clinton to have written a book that might be as good as dear, dying General Grant's. In their anxiety lest this somehow happen they have not accurately considered either book...There are plenty of stout sticks to beat Clinton with, but Grant's memoirs is not one of them.

McMurtry also suggests, "I happen to like long, smart, dense narratives and read My Life straight through, happily. I may not know Bill Clinton any better than I did when I started, but I know recent history better, which surely can't hurt." Of course, the fact that he had more than one night to do it before his press deadline may have lightened his mood somewhat.