(since July 07)

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Jon Clinch

author profile

born

September 12, 1954

gender

male

place of birth

United States

website

http://www.ReadFinn.com

genre

Literature & Fiction

about this author

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A native of upstate New York and a graduate of Syracuse University, Jon Clinch has taught American Literature, been Creative Director for a Philadelphia ad agency, and run his own agency in the Philadelphia suburbs. His stories have appeared in John Gardner's MSS. magazine.

FINN, his first novel, has variously been described as "Ravishing" (ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY), "Revelatory" (THE WASHINGTON POST), "Convincingly nightmarish" (NEWSWEEK), and "A triumph of imagination and graceful writing" (USA TODAY). He and his wife have one daughter.

books by Jon Clinch

combine editions
avg rating: 3.80 | 414 ratings | 2 distinct works

	Finn: A Novel (Hardcover) by Jon Clinch (Goodreads author!) avg rating 3.77 — 385 ratings — published 2008 4 editions	my rating:
	Finn (paperback) by Jon Clinch (Goodreads author!) avg rating 5.00 — 1 ratings — published 2008	my rating:

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, perform a search.

Jon's writing

Finn (Literature & Fiction)

1 chapters — updated 07/07/2007 01:01PM

description: A Novel

Jon's recent updates (rss)

October 01

Jon read and liked jacky's review of Finn: A Novel:

"I really enjoyed this novel that gives Pap Finn's back story. It followed the details of the original text very well and explains all the items founds at and circumstances surrounding Pap's death. I was only let down once, and that was that there w...more "

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September 15

Jon joined the Authors Reading Authors and Words To Mouth groups.

September 10

New comment on emily's review of Twilight (Twilight Series, Book 1)

Jon wrote: "The candy corn analogy is fantastic. "

(see all 5 comments)

Jon read and liked emily's review of Twilight (Twilight Series, Book 1):

"my students love this crap.

it's like candy corn -- vaguely creepy-stuff themed, goes down easy, and makes you kind of queasy when you're done.

everyone is perfect and gorgeous (thoug...more my students love this crap.

it's like candy corn -- vaguely creepy-stuff themed, goes down easy, and makes you kind of queasy when you're done.

everyone is perfect and gorgeous (though don't worry! bella, the main character, falls down a lot, which totes makes her human and relatable!) the mr. rochester-for-preteens hero, edward, is striking and talented and composes classical music and has a ton of money and is really really in love with her and sparkles in the sunlight(!?) and has color-change eyes. dude, I think he's a my little pony.

and I could put up with this kind of business, because, well, it's for preteens and blah blah blah, but there's one major problem: it makes me want to shoot myself in the head. does stephanie meyer hate women? or does she hate herself? or does she have a terrifyingly appalling relationship? I can't tell. but the main characters have, essentially, four types of interaction:
1) bella says something, edward responds "you silly girl. just let me do all the thinking around here."
2) edward hints vaguely at the fact that she should be really, really scared of him.
3) bella says something, edward responds "you're so beautiful and wonderful and I can't stop thinking about you." (this is the "I didn't mean it baby, I won't hit you anymore" kind of interaction.)
4) edward says something, bella is thunderstruck by the fact that he's a my little pony and can't respond.

what's the problem? this: bella is so busy fawning that she doesn't have the chance, the time, or the inclination to define herself by anything other than her vampire sweetie. and this bothers the hell out of me. when I ask my students what they want to be when they grow up, and a significant portion of the girls tell me that their life's goal is to marry one (or, oddly, sometimes more) of the jonas brothers. and that's it. no career, no travel, nothing. we are clearly not doing a good job of convincing young girls that they need to start defining themselves by what they can do and what they can be, rather than just by what kind of man might want to look at them. and this kind of crap does not help the situation one bit.

(ps: want to make the book more fun? substitute the word "teeth" whenever stephanie meyer talks about edward's golden, topaz, amber, or onyx eyes. hilarious!)...less "

5 comments

September 07

Jon read and liked Spuddie's review of Finn:

"This is the story of Finn, the infamous Huckleberry’s father, as mean and despicable a fictional character (or a real one, come to that) as ever graced the pages of a book, I think. His character was eluded to occasionally during the telling of Mar...more "

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September 01

Jon took the never-ending book quiz.

questions answered:	29
correct:	26 (89.7%)
skipped:	10
best streak:	6
questions added:	0

beat his score »

August 14

Jon read and liked Gåry's review of Finn: A Novel:

"Finn is a beautiful work in an expanded universe (to steal a term more often used in certain other genres) originated by Mark Twain. I found Mr. Clinch's take on the Huckleberry Finn story to be rather inspired. His characterizations remind ...more "

8 comments

August 04

Jon made a comment in the group Books on the Nightstand—What are you currently reading? topic:

Jon wrote: "Just read David Benioff's CITY OF THIEVES. The best book I've read in a couple of years. It's what M...more "

see all 76 of Jon's books »

quotes by Jon Clinch

"Best opening quote:

"Under a low sun, pursued by fish and mounted by crows and veiled in a loud swarm of bluebottle flies, the body comes down the river like a deadfall stripped clean."

Finn, p. 1"
— Jon Clinch

1 person liked it

Jon's groups (recent posts)

Books on the Nightstand — 106 members — last activity 35 minutes ago
A group to discuss books and topics mentioned on Books on the Nightstand, a blog and podcast about books and reading.

Words To Mouth — 224 members — last activity 1 day ago, 05:56AM
This group is a place to correspond about the books & authors spotlighted on Words To Mouth...

Words To Mouth is an author interview talk show ...more

Authors Reading Authors — 82 members — last activity 10 days ago, 05:59AM
Authors-Reading-Authors are authors-helping-authors to succeed.

Reviews are extremely important to authors and getting reviews can be costly. Memb...more

Jon's friend comments

showing 1-3 of 3. (add a comment | view all)

from Jeannie

11 days ago, 04:01PM

Hi Jon and thanks for adding me as a friend.If you have time, I'd love for you to visit my web site, jeanniebarber.com. I'm a novice writer so feel free to make any kind of suggestions, ideas or thoughts to correct it. I’m co-authoring a novel with a friend I've of 30 years. While you're there, please sign the guestbook, too! There’s also a link to our book you can click on…clairkelley@synthasite.com. This site is brand new and in the editing stage as is our story. Please visit it as well. Blessings,
Jeannie

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from Darcy

07/29/2008 06:22AM

Thanks for the add!!

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from Jon

01/24/2008 03:38AM

No sweat.

And congratulations!

-- J

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