Very enjoyable/jealousy-inducing read as Lorrie Moore’s turns of phrase perfectly describe everything situation she has to review. My favourite was her description of a high school reunion: a chance to share an itinerary of accomplishments and revisit inner teenagers. Also loved the chance meeting with the friend who was supposed to be writing a comedy but due to an unfortunate accident that befell her husband (chopped off three fingers in a saw accident) she started writing a tragedy instead and that turned out to be really funny.

3.5 stars

Anais Nin/Marilyn Monroe
Christmas for Everyone
Starr-Clinton-Lewinsky
JonBenet Ramsey
Titanic
Legal Aide: My First Job
Barack Obama
The Wire
Friday Night Lights
Lena Dunham
Homeland
Helen Gurley Brown
Thoughts on Hillary Clinton: December 2016

who else can bring together Homeland and Clarice Lispector? a master

I appreciated the Clinton piece and added a few books to my reading list, however, these pieces just feel dated. Of course I read the whole thing.

For someone who is really a Lorrie Moore fanboy, this felt a little meagre at the start. It sure doesn't rank among her best works. But it's still Moore, and damn it if she didn't have at least one fresh thing to say about everything she touches!

Two observations. First: it's interesting to see that most of the longer and more in-depth pieces in the book are pretty recent, which is also the time where Moore's fiction output has slowed down. She also became a more sprawling essayist in that time: in the early book reviews, she is being nice and sticking to a single point, but by the time she arrives at Titanic (the movie), her writing is much more free-form and you never quite know where she's going. I preferred those pieces. They seemed more suited to bookreading. Second: in the first half of the book, Moore mostly writes about novels, but in the second half, there's a wave of movies and television reviews. They are quite good, mostly. I wonder if that's a sign 'o the times or if Moore just wanted to zone out and watch Netfli like everyone else. She's earned it, of course, but still.

O: Moore is one of those reviewers who is more interested in associating on art then on really thoroughly judging it. There are no smackdowns here, which was half-surprising to me: she has been known for quite the pithy bitchslaps through the years. I wouldn't want to read a whole book of negative reviews by any author (maybe Roger Ebert), but she does come across as mildly toothless here & there. Moore the critic seems to cherish art more than she wants to correct it, which is fair, I think. Or maybe she has gotten a bit more mellow.

This is a collection of mostly reviews (books, television series, movies) and some essays that Moore wrote primarily for the New York Review of Books over twenty years. Her reviews are refreshing and even-handed, never becoming too academic or obscure in their references. However, because they were reviews written for a publication, they are also largely impersonal. While her always quick, intelligent wit is present, if you're wishing for essays or reviews about her favorite books or her primary influences as a writer, you won't find those here.

I love getting to read books that make me feel as if I'm getting smarter as I'm reading them and See What Can Be Done is absolutely one of those books. Lorrie Moore is best known for her short fiction but is also a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books, writing essays on literature, film, television and current events. Although I wasn't familiar with every topic that Moore was writing on, it was still a treat to read her thoughts as she has a wonderful way of talking about culture. It was a real pleasure to spend some time wandering around in her brain and I feel I now have plenty of new things to add to my read and watch list as a result of her reviews!

A wonderful book of essays, on a variety of topics and people. I often find essays a little hard to read or even boring, because they can be so dry....this is not that at all. The essays are alive, dynamic, and draw you in, plus there's something of a topic for everyone. It's a treasure.

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