Tuesday, August 22, 2006

NY/NZ's Continued Continuing Coverage of Marisha Pessl

A few items over at Gawker today noted yet another New York Times article on Marissha Pessl. On the strength of the photo accompanying Dinitia Smith's piece, Gawker editors deemed Pessl merely "book hot":














but upgraded her to "TV hot" after seeing the official Viking publicity shot, below:












I followed this recantation -- and related bitchy comments --with bated breath, thinking all the while:
1. Was I trying not to like Special Topics because she's, y'know, so gorgeous and young and everything? (Um, not the first time that occurred to me. Gee, I am a meanie sometimes. Another review of her book is up here.) Also,
2. You know what would be fun? A literary version of HotOrNot.com! Marisha Pessl, as it turns out, is not the only writer to suffer from photos of wildly varying levels of flattery on the webbynets.

Jonathan Franzen: Hot?



















Or not?






















Nicole Krauss: Hot?



















Or not?













Benjamin Kunkel: Hot?



















Or not?













David Foster Wallace: Hot?

















Or not?























A. M. Homes: Hot?



















Or not?









Related: Jhumpa Lahiri and Zadie Smith -- always, always hot. Dammit. (I am a meanie sometimes, X 2. Although, let the record show, I was tempted to include Stephanie Klein in this roundup and did not.)

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

ben kunks is totes hot in both pix.

Anonymous said...

this is all very confusing. how do i now know whose books to read? who can read AM Homes after this?!

Anonymous said...

Oh so kind
not to include Klein

Anonymous said...

Lighting and photoshop go a long way. Nice juxtapositions!

Anonymous said...

Looks like the lesson here is: black and white photographs, hot; color photos, not.

Anonymous said...

actually, kunkel's hot in both pictures.

the senior said...

Oddly enough, I thought the same thing about A.M. Homes when I saw her in-person..why didn't she look at all like her book jacket photo?!

pb said...

where's your "not" pic, Ruth? ;)

Ruth said...

Ha! One's coming soon, I promise.

Anonymous said...

You'd do well not to overlook the lovely Jennifer Vanderbes.

Anonymous said...

Right about Lahiri. Everyone wants to Jhumpa her bones.

Wide Lawns said...

From now on, all pictures of me must be taken in black and white only.

Stephanie Green said...

Always hot: Sebastian Junger, Elisabeth Robinson, Daniel Silva, Plum Sykes and does Anderson Cooper count? Yummmm.

Anonymous said...

Ooh, writers: Round up your hot/not hot photos and send them in? :-)

Anonymous said...

Kunkel, Krauss, and Freudenberger are hot from any angle, in any lighting.

Anonymous said...

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b44/DMcCabe/1007340331_l.jpg

Hmm..Think they look a like?..Yes?? No??

Anonymous said...

Another example. Patricia Cornwell -- definitely not the babe of the jacket photos, even after extensive work.

Anonymous said...

ben hot in both. yep.

Anonymous said...

Zadie Smith is the only one who doesn't, can't, take a bad picture from any angle in any color. Nell Freudenberger is a plain Jane without Ettlinger's help, and Jhumpa's got the snaggletooth going on (plus kinda heavy since she had the kidlets...sorry Jhumpa)