Friday, October 9, 2009

Why I won't let you profile your friends and family

When I assign profiles, I'm not looking for an "affectionate memoir." 

This from the Globe on a new biography of Barney Frank, by one of his friends:


The Frank story is well-known among Boston pols and Greater Boston readers: how a boy from Bayonne, N.J., goes to Harvard, graduates, and is eventually drawn into the circles of the remarkable men of his era - Michael J. Harrington, the liberal congressman from Beverly; Michael S. Dukakis, the three-term governor; Kevin H. White, the mayor Frank supported and then spurned. Then, of course, there was Frank’s announcement of his homosexuality, the scandal of the prostitution ring run from his home, his role in the Bill Clinton impeachment, and the recent economic implosion.

Even so, between hard covers this is a good tale, though in Weisberg’s telling it is far too long (500 pages) and far too cozy. Weisberg worked for Frank and remains his friend, and in too many passages this volume takes on the tone of an affectionate memoir rather than a steely-eyed biography.

And

Brookline Booksmith has a good gift idea for little Red sox fans.

Kevin Youkilis of the Boston Red Sox is teaming up with Curious George and the folks at Houghton Mifflin to help out local charities that through his Hits For Kids initiative, which teams up with existing community-based children’s charities and medical research efforts which currently lack sufficient funding. This year Hits For Kids will give over 100,000 books to Boston Public School Libraries! Most of them will probably already have a copy of Curious George At The Baseball Game, but they won't have one that's signed by Kevin! We've got a big stack of this great Curious George adventure, all autographed by one of our favorite Red Sox sluggers!

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