Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s affecting collection of stories centers on characters who find themselves caught between Nigeria and the United States.
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New York Times
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Books of The Times: Out of Africa, Into a Strange America
2 Jul 2009 | 2:26 pm -
This Thriller’s Cold War Is Racial
2 Jul 2009 | 11:38 amAttica Locke’s first novel, “Black Water Rising,” revolves around the racial paranoia of Houston in the early 1980s. -
James Frey and Co-Writer Sell Series to HarperCollins
2 Jul 2009 | 8:44 amThe first book is about a group of alien teenagers who hide on earth after their planet is attacked by hostile invaders. -
TBR: Inside the List
2 Jul 2009 | 12:14 amNorman Ollestad’s “Crazy for the Storm,” No. 10 on the hardcover nonfiction list this week, gives new meaning to adventure travel. -
Books of The Times: Just South of Canada, Hard Times and Worry
1 Jul 2009 | 10:17 pmJim Lynch’s promising second novel explores the cross-currents of border life where Washington State meets Canada.
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Publisher's Weekly Latest News
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Sentinel Kills Sanford Book
2 Jul 2009 | 10:50 amSouth Carolina governor Mark Sanford, whose extramarital affair, after becoming front page news, has threatened his political career (and his marriage), has also now lost his book deal. -
Weisbach Staffs Up New Agency
2 Jul 2009 | 7:42 amRob Weisbach has added three employees to his recently launched agency, Rob Weisbach Creative Management. Erin L. Cox, David Groff, and Jake Bauman have joined the fold of Weisbach's firm. -
Hachette Backs Use of Text-To-Speech
2 Jul 2009 | 7:18 amHachette issued a statement this morning saying that as long as its authors don't object it has no problem with devices adding text-to-speech functionality. The only exceptions would be for books that fall under its audio program or in special circumstances, like memoir, where the author's voice is crucial to the work. -
The PW Morning Report: Thursday, July 2, 2009
2 Jul 2009 | 5:52 amA daily roundup of book and publishing news from across the Web: Frey’s YA Series to HC; The Translation Database; Palin Memoir to Be Published in ‘Regular’ and ‘Christian’; Baseball Books. -
JudyDoyle to Retire from Curbstone Press
1 Jul 2009 | 4:03 pmJudy Doyle who cofounded Curbstone Press with her late husband Sandy, is retiring from the press. The Curbstone board is working on a plan for the future direction of the distinguished publisher.
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NPR
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Red, White And True: The Great American Biography
2 Jul 2009 | 11:51 amCountry legend Johnny Cash, bon vivant George Plimpton and consummate entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. don't have much in common. But their lives have much to tell us about what it means to be a great American.» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us -
In Imagined Future, Elder Care Comes At A Price
2 Jul 2009 | 10:58 amIn a society driven toward endless economic progress, what's the value of those who can't or won't contribute? Ninni Holmqvist's thought-provoking, compulsively readable The Unit provides a dark vision of one possible answer.» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us -
Chat While Reading: The Future Of Books?
2 Jul 2009 | 8:52 amBookGlutton.com, a new interactive site, allows readers to chat while reading. Could this mark the beginning of a change in how we read books?» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us -
'Family': Fundamentalism, Friends In High Places
1 Jul 2009 | 12:26 pmIn the book The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, author Jeff Sharlet examines the power wielded by the secret Christian group known as The Family or The Fellowship.» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us -
A Nuanced Novel Of Race In The Deep South
1 Jul 2009 | 12:00 pmAuthor Kathryn Stockett explores racial tensions in the Deep South from three different perspectives in her novel The Help. Karen Grigsby Bates says if you read one book this summer, this should be it.» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
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The New York Review of Books
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Advice to the Prince
16 Jul 2009 | 10:00 amBy David Bromwich Power Rules: How Common Sense Can Rescue American Foreign Policy by Leslie H. Gelb Barack Obama: "A New Beginning" 'Force projection' in the Middle East is the largest legacy Barack Obama inherits from the administration of George W. Bush; and the main question asked about Obama in his first months in office has been how far he intends to continue Bush's policy. The answer in December 2008 seemed to be an expansion of the war in Afghanistan and a careful withdrawal from Iraq, with no clear signal on Iran, Israel, and Palestine. All this changed with Obama's speech in Cairo… -
Land Divers
16 Jul 2009 | 10:00 amBy Claire Messud The burglar stood at the bedroom window and watched them drive the Mini into the garage. They'd had the car windows open and Noddy and Cissy had been singing, very loudly, the calypso carol the lower school choir would perform at the Christmas concert: 'See him a-lying on a bed of straw, drafty stable with an open door...' -
Venice: The Masters in Boston
16 Jul 2009 | 10:00 amBy Andrew Butterfield Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, March 15–August 16, 2009, and the Louvre, Paris, September 14, 2009–January 4, 2010 On view now at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is the first group show ever organized in America about Venetian painting of the late sixteenth century. Moderate in scale, the exhibition does not attempt a comprehensive survey of the period. Rather, it pre-sents only the three most important Venetian painters of the time--Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese--and it focuses on a… -
The World Finance Crisis & the American Mission
16 Jul 2009 | 10:00 amBy Robert Skidelsky Fixing Global Finance by Martin Wolf By common consent, we have been living through the greatest economic downturn since World War II. It originated, as we all know, in a collapse of the banking system, and the first attempts to understand the resulting economic crisis focused on the reasons for bank failures. The banks, it was said, had failed to 'manage' the new 'risks' posed by financial innovation. Alan Greenspan's statement that the cause of the crisis was the 'underpricing of risk worldwide' was the most succinct expression of this view. Particular attention was paid… -
Holocaust: The Ignored Reality
16 Jul 2009 | 10:00 amBy Timothy Snyder
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Salon
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The secret lives of nannies
1 Jul 2009 | 3:07 amThe author of "Just Like Family" talks about what it's really like to be paid to love someone else's child -
Who's to blame for the housing crash?
1 Jul 2009 | 3:07 amAlyssa Katz, author of "Our Lot," discusses the good intentions and mass delusion that led to the real estate boom -
Must Read: "How to Sell"
1 Jul 2009 | 3:07 amDiamonds are a boy's best friend in this crackling novel of scams, sex and druggy escapades in the jewel trade. -
Hey, authors, don't tweet in anger!
1 Jul 2009 | 3:07 amAlice Hoffman continues the literary tradition of lashing out at critics, Twitter style. Who's sorry now? -
Excuse me, do you speak Klingon?
1 Jul 2009 | 3:07 amA delightful journey through the realm of invented languages and its cast of dreamers, weirdos and obsessives.
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book-blog.com
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Craig, Daniel Edward: Murder at Graverly Manor
2 Jul 2009 | 10:21 amMidnight Ink © 2009, 368 pagesMurder at Graverly Manor is the third book in Daniel Edward Craig's 5-Star Mystery series, featuring hotelier Trevor Lambert. Trevor, between jobs and back in his hometown of Vancouver, Canada, comes across a Victorian mansion turned bed and breakfast with a for sale sign in its yard. Intent on buying the creepy house, Trevor agrees to the bizarre demand of its current proprietress, Lady Graverly, that he live and work at the inn for a month while she decides if he's worthy of the property. It's not a thoroughly pleasant prospect: the allegedly haunted manor is… -
McCall Smith, Alexander: The Miracle at Speedy Motors
27 Jun 2009 | 10:59 amAnchor Books © 2008, 240 pagesIn this ninth installment in Alexander McCall Smith's Botswana series Mma Precious Ramotswe again confronts a series of small problems that come to her attention at the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Most disturbing is her receipt of a threatening letter, which refers indelicately to her traditional build and to the over-large glasses of her associate, Mma Grace Makutsi. Mma Ramotswe is also tasked with locating any surviving family of a woman who believes herself to have been adopted, an assignment that turns out to be less straightforward than one would… -
Luxenberg, Steve: Annie's Ghosts
18 Jun 2009 | 11:38 amHyperion © 2009, 401 pagesSteve Luxenberg's mother had always said--had indeed made a point of proclaiming--that she was an only child. So Luxenberg was surprised to discover toward the end of his mother's life that she had in fact had a younger sister, Annie, who grew up with her in their childhood home in Detroit. Annie was disabled--mentally impaired and perhaps mentally ill, and born with a bad leg that was subsequently amputated. She was institutionalized in 1940 at the age of 21, when Luxenberg's mother was 23. She would remain institutionalized for more than 30 years, until her death… -
Shors, John: Beside a Burning Sea
11 Jun 2009 | 7:05 amNAL Trade © 2008, 448 pagesAfter the hosptal ship Benevolence is sunk by a torpedo in the South Pacific, nine survivors struggle toward a nearby island. Once they reach land their immediate survival is assured: the island turns out to be an uninhabited paradise with ample food and fresh water, and enough medical supplies from the sunken ship wash ashore to meet their needs. The problem is that the island's strategic location makes it ripe for occupation. The survivors therefore must prepare for the eventuality of a landing by Japanese forces. As they confront the difficulties of living on… -
Grey, Christopher: Leonardo's Shadow
7 Jun 2009 | 8:38 amSimon Pulse © 2006, 391 pagesGiacomo has been a servant in the house of Leonardo da Vinci for some eight years, since the great artist saved the boy's life after he fell from a cathedral roof. Giacomo doesn't remember his life before the fall, and as the years in Leonardo's service pass, despite his affection for and loyalty to his master, he becomes increasingly interested in finding his parents. While he's concerned with this personal drama, Giacomo also tries to keep creditors off Leonardo's back. Da Vinci, long planning his great painting, The Last Supper, is under pressure from the Duke…
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Chronicle Books Blog
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Volunteering Is Cool, Really Cool
2 Jul 2009 | 12:54 pmWhen Michelle Obama gets behind something, it changes everything. As the keynote speaker at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service, she brought a whole new energy to the volunteer movement. Obama began by addressing the 4,000 community organizers, non-profit workers, and volunteers in the room: “You are my people,” she said. She acknowledged that her listeners had probably heard the question, “So working in the community is nice and all, but when are you going to get a real job?” But she’s not the only one getting behind volunteering and service… -
From the Chronicle KitchenThe ¡Salpicón! Cookbook
1 Jul 2009 | 1:34 pmEnter to win a copy of The ¡Salpicón! Cookbook when you tell us about your favorite Mexican spice/seasoning and what makes it so delicioso. Mexican-Style Gazpacho with Spicy Cucumber Sorbet Gazpacho Mexicano con Nieve de Pepino y Serrano Gazpacho is, of course, a Spanish dish, and it can be quite mild. I much prefer it a la mexicana, with the added zip of poblano chile. Wait until local tomatoes are in season before making this salad—it just isn’t worth it with bland supermarket tomatoes that are shipped in from who-knows-where. And please remember that gazpacho should always be served… -
Comic-Con Spotlight
30 Jun 2009 | 5:42 pmThis will be Chronicle’s 6th year at Comic-Con. We have expanded our booth and will have an impressive roster of authors/artists available for signings. Yet, I wanted to spotlight one of the “smaller” products that won’t have a signing, but will no doubt appeal to fellow Comic-Con’ers. The Art of Star Wars Comics is a collection of 100 covers from Star Wars comics in postcard form, presented in a cool collectible box. From the 70s up to present day, the collection spans the history of Star Wars comics and features some iconic imagery. The Star Wars Tales with Darth Vader pondering… -
From the Design Desk: Our Office, Virtual Visit
29 Jun 2009 | 3:24 pmOver the last four weeks, Design Desk featured a series of New York creative studios and the very talented people who work in them. At each visit, we couldn’t help wishing we, too, had our own letterpress, silk-screening table, and Boston Terrier. But looking around our own little design corner of the office, and out the window to the baseball stadium, and feeling the sunlight beaming in, well, it became clear that we do indeed have some studio perks to enjoy. For one, our production room has a cutting table large enough for eight, a bulk paper cutter, binding equipment, a drill (I think… -
Greetings from the Ocean’s Sweaty Face and much more…
26 Jun 2009 | 2:03 pmShowcasing the inventive spirit of McSweeney’s publishing, Chronicle Books recently released a box of 100 postcards that are idiosyncratically categorized into five tabbed sections: Across the Miles I Love You So; I Can’t Stop Thinking About Us; Care/Concern; More than Words; and Friendship. As many of you know, McSweeney’s was founded in 1998 as a San Francisco-based literary journal edited by Dave Eggers, and has since evolved into a celebrated and award-winning independent publishing company. McSweeney’s is known for attracting a wide range of writers, artists and…
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Inkwell Bookstore Blog
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Detective Comics' Delectable Covers
2 Jul 2009 | 10:56 amThe covers to Detective Comics #854-857. All art by J.H. Williams III -
Palin Plays To Fan Base's Faith-Based Fetishes, Tweaks Autobiography
2 Jul 2009 | 8:04 amYou can accuse Sarah Palin of a lot of things (like...say...this, this, this, this and this), but Alaska's holier-than-thou homegirl is definitely not clueless as to her fan base's faith-based fetishes. That's why, in a stroke of brilliance I'm leery to label 'inspired,' she's releasing two separate versions of her upcoming memoir -- the regular one, published by HarperCollins, and a special, 'Now with 20% more God' edition being released by Christian publisher, Zondervan.Via here & here. -
A Random Selection of Book News & Links
2 Jul 2009 | 6:07 amThey were the best of lines, they were the worst of lines. The Guardian UK picks the best and worst opening sentences.Oprah, indie, indie, Oprah. The Galleycat's got good news for publishing's red-headed stepchildren: Indie books top Oprah's Summer Reading List.Since I was a slacker and skipped this week's Monday Menagerie, allow me point you in the direction of Super Punch's super cool Philip K. Dick gallery. (It has Lego spinners!)How well do you know your polish born, British educated novelists? How about your So-Cal reality stars turned ghost-written memoirists? The Daily Beast has paired… -
The Catch-Phrases Comics Created
1 Jul 2009 | 8:58 amNeatorama has posted a list of common phrases that were coined in comics. To find out which strips spawned 'security blanket,' 'We have met the enemy and he is us,' and 'the heebie-jeebies,' click here. -
Book News, In Brief
1 Jul 2009 | 6:22 amThe Guardian UK has a pop-ed piece on the next generation of history writers, those baby-faced biographers who claim, "The greatest of all crimes is dullness," and, "the secret to making history compelling is to pick quirky subjects." If you just felt a pang of distress, it's official: You're old.Boston.com has streaming video of the Espresso Book Machine in action. The footage, used to promote the mechanical monolith housed at Manchester Center, VT's The Northshire Bookstore, is cool and all, but someone's gotta streamline that thing toute de suite. It's about as sexy as a 1970's xerox…
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Powell's Books: Overview
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Daily Dose for Thu, Jul 2: Silver Phoenix: Beyond the Kingdom of Xia
2 Jul 2009 | 1:00 amSilver Phoenix: Beyond the Kingdom of Xia by Cindy Pon Reviewed by Cassie from Hillsboro, Oregon. -
Review-a-Day for Thu, Jul 2: Trouble
2 Jul 2009 | 1:00 amTrouble by Kate Christensen, a review from The Oregonian by Katherine Dunn. -
Daily Dose for Wed, Jul 1: Take a Walk: 100+ Walks Through Natural Places in the Puget Sound Region
1 Jul 2009 | 1:00 amTake a Walk: 100+ Walks Through Natural Places in the Puget Sound Region by Sue Muller Hacking Reviewed by Andrew from Kirkland, Washington. -
Review-a-Day for Wed, Jul 1: A Short History of Women
1 Jul 2009 | 1:00 amA Short History of Women by Kate Walbert, a review from Bookforum by Rebecca Donner. -
PowellsBooks.news Jul 1 2009
1 Jul 2009 | 1:00 amWe couldn't make it to the beach for the first full week of summer, so we decided to bring the beach to us! Our interview with Luis Alberto Urrea was not conducted while body-surfing in the ocean, but you can pretend it was. Signed first editions of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie probably shouldn't go in the water, but we're certain original essays from Bethany Moreton (To Serve God and Wal-Mart) and Fran Slayton (When the Whistle Blows) will float nicely. We built sand castles with Q&A contributors Colum McCann (Let the Great World Spin), Adam Schell (Tomato Rhapsody), and Janna…
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800 CEO Read Blog
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The Heart of Marketing: Book Review
1 Jul 2009 | 9:46 amI just finished reading the book The Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back by Judith Sherven, PhD & Jim Sniechowski, PhD. and I just thought it was what marketing books have needed for a long time…. a breath of fresh air. Many companies in today’s business world have lost sight of what is most important to their customers and for their company internally and that is feeling the pulse of a heart beat. Actually caring about people, yes, people and not ideas, not money, not computers, etc. People. It’s a simple task but one that has been… -
I Hate People!
30 Jun 2009 | 10:10 amMarc Hershon and Jonathan Littman have been hard at work promoting their new book, I HATE PEOPLE!, Kick Loose from the Overbearing and Underhanded Jerks at Work and Get What You Want Out of Your Job. You may recognize Jonathan Littman for co-authoring a few 8CR favorites, The Art of Innovation, which is featured in the 100 Best, and The Ten Faces of Innovation which we’ve written about periodically over the years. The Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek have both run reviews of the book, so feel free to check them out when you have a minute. As a special offer, I will send a free copy… -
Harvard Business Review Is Bringing It
26 Jun 2009 | 7:59 amRecent travels has allowed me to catch up on some magazine reading and my biggest surprise was continuing evolution of Harvard Business Review under Adi Ignatius. Take the articles by Niall Ferguson and Dan Ariely in the July/August edition. These two authors certainly have higher institution credientals to belong on the pages of HBR with Ferguson at Harvard and Ariely at MIT. And their research certainly fits the profile of the magazine. But it’s the style and composition that is so refreshing. While the audience is clearly business executives, the pieces read like articles you would… -
The Brand Bubble in strategy + business
24 Jun 2009 | 11:10 amWe were big fans of last year’s The Brand Bubble: The Looming Crisis in Brand Value and How to Avoid It, by John Gerzema and Ed Lebar—so much so that it took home the 800-CEO-READ Business Book Award in the Advertising & Marketing category. We also published a manifesto from Mr. Gerzema over at ChangeThis about How Business Speculation in the Consumer Marketplace Threatens Our Economy. Well, the issue has certainly not resolved itself, and John and Ed are still sounding the alarm—most recently in the latest issue of strategy + business with an article simply titled The… -
Penguin Launches New Online Promotion Tools
23 Jun 2009 | 9:15 amLast week, Penguin launched a set of micro-sites for their newly published books. Called From the Publisher’s Office, the initiative uses text excerpts, audio interviews and video clips to promote upcoming titles. Our friends at Portfolio are specifically involved with one of the microsites called Penguin Business Thought Leaders. They will be interviewing authors from across the Penguin imprints and featuring a variety of books. Their first episode features retail consultant George Whalin (Retail Superstars), a reading from Small Giants, and TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky (Revolution in A…
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Charles Petzold
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1859 Books: George Meredith’s “The Ordeal of Richard Feverel”
20 Jun 2009 | 5:00 am"If we can take any date as Year One of what we call the modern world, that date is 1859." — Mervyn Jones, The Amazing Victorian: A Life of George Meredith (1999), p. 84 "As far as English fiction is concerned, ... there can be no doubt that the modern novel began with the publication of The Ordeal of Richard Feverel in 1859." — J. B. Priestley, George Meredith (1926), p. 164. The Victorian era in England is often portrayed as a rather prudish time, but that impression is based mostly on their literature, which often refers to sexual matters obliquely, if at all. Some of this… -
To Hobart Book Village (and Beyond)
17 Jun 2009 | 4:02 pmDeirdre and I are spending the summer at our little house in the Catskills, and it's mostly quite pleasant except for the stuff we take for granted in New York City, like plenty of bookstores and even a place (J&R) that still sells classical CDs. In Sullivan County, there's only one store that sells new books (Hamish & Henry, which has become the center of the Sullivan County literary establishment) and — as far as we know — only one store that sells used books (a literacy center in Monticello). But just over the northern county line is Delaware County, and there the… -
1859 Science: John Tyndall and the Greenhouse Effect
10 Jun 2009 | 2:57 amOn June 10, 1859 — 150 years ago today — British scientist John Tyndall gave a presentation before the Royal Institution describing how carbon dioxide and water vapor trap heat in the earth's atmosphere. I'll turn the telling of the rest of the story over to Stephanie Pain in a recent issue of New Scientist magazine: The man who discovered greenhouse gases -
Flax Seed Bread
2 Jun 2009 | 6:25 amOut of all the modern appliances whose existence would be impossible without embedded processors, my favorite is undoubtedly the bread machine: Put in the ingredients (water, flour, yeast, etc), close the hatch, press the button, and in 3 to 4 hours (depending on the model) a piping hot loaf of bread can be removed and consumed. We still use our bread machine every Sunday for making the dough for our vegetarian pizza that I wrote about almost nine years ago (except that the toppings now include a vegetarian chorizo, and even sometimes a non-vegetarian pheasant sausage that we get at the Union… -
1859 Journalism: Harriet Martineau’s “Female Industry”
30 May 2009 | 7:46 amIf you've spent any time in Victorian England, you've undoubtedly run into Harriet Martineau. She's one of those persons who shows up everywhere there seems to be something important happening. There she is in the summer of 1830 at the dinner party where John Stuart Mill meets Mrs. Harriet Taylor. Two years later she can be spotted at Charles Babbage's home for a demonstration of a working component of his unfinished Calculating Engine. "All were eager to go to his glorious soirées;" she later wrote in her autobiography, "and I always thought he appeared to great advantage as a host. His…
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The Book Design Review
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Ox-Tales Elements Series
30 Jun 2009 | 7:38 pmDesign by Jonathan GrayRob Around Books beat me to it by a few hours while I was waiting for the designer's name from Profile Books, but since I already had it queued up, check out the design for this four-book collection of original stories meant to raise money for Oxfam. Rob's got the details, over at his post. -
I Am Not Sidney Poitier
30 Jun 2009 | 4:19 amDesign by Kapo Ng@A-Men ProjectBuy this book from Amazon.comI love this cover for Percival Everett's I Am Not Sidney Poitier, about a man named Not Sidney Poitier (really) who is adopted by Ted Turner (yes, that one). There's much more to the story; Time Out NY's interview with Everett is a good place to start.In less-skilled hands this could have gone wrong, with too much emphasis placed on the "Not Sidney" (I'm thinking about the usual suspects, like strikeout text or obscured faces). A book that deals with race and perception has to have characters who are out in the world; what better way… -
Burn This Book
25 Jun 2009 | 8:24 amDesigner credit to comeBuy this book from Amazon.comFellow book design bloggers Ben and Eric over at The Book Cover Archive blog posted the cover for the new paperback edition of The Ballad of Abu Ghraib earlier today, and I'm glad they did, as it gives us the opportunity (on two blogs) to discuss covers like the one you see below, the subtitle of which is "PEN Writers Speak Out on the Power of the Word."Of The Ballad of Abu Ghraib, Ben or Eric (sign your posts, fellas! :-)) writes "I find it timeless and wonderful, with a gravity rarely seen on the shelf...Solid, well balanced, impactful."… -
A Deadly Collaboration
23 Jun 2009 | 10:01 pmI've long been a fan of Gregg Kulick's quirky, funny covers and collage illustrations for Michael Largo's death-obsessed books.Kulick recently designed This Will Kill You; different authors, similar aesthetic, same great result (actually, this might be my favorite of them all): -
Her Fearful Symmetry
23 Jun 2009 | 4:22 amSimon & Schuster tweeted yesterday that the cover for Audrey Niffenegger's second novel Her Fearful Symmetry is final; sorry but I couldn't find a larger image other than this one, from the S&S site. The book is set in and around Highgate Cemetery and there's a ghost or two, so this skyward view from a creepy place works real nicely, I think.I couldn't help but think almost immediately of Jen Wang's design for In The Woods; anyone know if she's involved with the Niffenegger book?
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The Millions
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The Millions Top Ten: June 2009
2 Jul 2009 | 7:12 amWe spend plenty of time here on The Millions telling all of you what we've been reading, but we are also quite interested in hearing about what you've been reading. By looking at our Amazon stats, we can see what books Millions readers have been buying, and we decided it would be fun to use those stats to find out what books have been most popular with our readers in recent months. Below you'll find our Millions Top Ten list for June, the list is also in our sidebar.ThisMonthLastMonth TitleOn List1.1.Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming… -
Most Anticipated: Rounding Out 2009, An Epic Year for Books
1 Jul 2009 | 3:18 amAt the beginning of the year, we noted that "2009 may be a great year for books." With the publishing schedule for the remainder of the year filled out, calling 2009 a great year for readers is now a certainty. If anything, 2009 is backloaded, with new titles coming in the second half of the year from legends like Thomas Pynchon and Philip Roth and fan favorites like Lorrie Moore and Jonathan Lethem. A peek into 2010, meanwhile, reveals more literary excitement on tap, with new titles on the way from Jonathan Franzen, Joshua Ferris, and others. Below you'll find, in chronological order, the… -
Curiosities: SF Tour
28 Jun 2009 | 7:09 pmHistory's 10 best prison breaks.A Paid Content column argues that the true genius of the Kindle is that it breaks the trend toward multi-tasking......But there is still a huge amount of confusion surrounding the Kindle's DRM policies.AbeBooks aggregates some summer reading lists.VQR compiles a brief reading list for those following the post-election protests in Iran.Bay Area readers: Conversational Reading is taking a page from The Millions playbook and hosting a San Francisco indie bookstore walking tour. Sounds fun! -
The Millions Interview: Matthew Vollmer and Nic Brown (Part II)
25 Jun 2009 | 3:46 amFuture Missionaries of America by Matthew Vollmer and Floodmarkers by Nic Brown are short story collections from debut writers with enormous gifts. Their work is beautiful, funny, and delightfully weird. Matthew and Nic were my classmates at Iowa, where they proved to be not only talented writers, but also sharp and passionate readers. Since they're pals, I thought it would be fun if Matthew and Nic interviewed each other about their books. It's a real thrill for me to see their stories in print, and to have them on The Millions.In this second installment, Nic interviews Matthew about Future… -
The Millions Interview: Matthew Vollmer and Nic Brown (Part I)
24 Jun 2009 | 3:13 amFuture Missionaries of America by Matthew Vollmer and Floodmarkers by Nic Brown are short story collections from debut writers with enormous gifts. Their work is beautiful, funny, and delightfully weird. Matthew and Nic were my classmates at Iowa, where they proved to be not only talented writers, but also sharp and passionate readers. Since they're pals, I thought it would be fun if Matthew and Nic interviewed each other about their books. It's a real thrill for me to see their stories in print, and to have them on The Millions.In this first installment, Matthew talks to Nic about his book.
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The Book Publicity Blog
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Promoting author events on calendar / listings sites
1 Jul 2009 | 6:33 amSince we know readers head to Google to check up on their favorite authors, it’s now pretty much de rigeur to post information about an author’s speaking engagements online. Authors should add this information to their websites and / or social networking profiles / fan pages (and some authors with a lot of followers find it effective to Tweet about their appearances). Also, make sure to submit information about events to various online calendar / events sites. Earlier this week, BookTour, the website that lists author events, announced a new partnership with Amazon wherein… -
When is the best time to run a book review?
29 Jun 2009 | 6:33 amA couple bloggers emailed this weekend letting me know about reviews for a book on which I’m working. Great news — except the book isn’t on sale for a month. Grrr. Then again, in book publicity (or any publicity, really) we’re always seeking to generate early buzz. And isn’t this early buzz? Hmmm. If you enjoy overanalyzing book publishing issues — as you well know I do — here are a few to consider. Once upon a time, before the Internet, publishers always wanted book reviews to run on or after the publication dates of books, since early… -
NPR Books Watch — 6/19-6/25
26 Jun 2009 | 6:22 amHere are the NPR interviews for this week. Anyone who emails me the imprints of all the books listed (or houses if no imprint is available) will win the NPR Books Grid for the prior week that includes, in addition to the information below, interviewer, pub date, imprint, genre, post-interview Amazon ranking, pre-interview ranking (if the book was mentioned on Shelf Awareness and I was able to look up the number before the interview), and interview hyperlink. *** TOTAL book stories for the week: 22 All Things Considered: 4 Diane Rehm: 3 Fresh Air: 3 Morning Edition: 3 NPR.org: 5 Talk of the… -
What kind of web presence is right for an author?
25 Jun 2009 | 6:41 amI was in a meeting yesterday when the issue of author websites arose. Of course, these days, “website,” actually means ”web presence,” because depending on the book and author, an author may opt for a website and / or a blog and / or a social networking profile. The point is, when a reader Googles a title or name, something in addition to a buy link needs to pop up. But as a book publicist, how do you know what’s best for an author? Realistically, most authors don’t have the time to manage a website anda blog and a social networking profile (not… -
Increase book coverage: small steps
24 Jun 2009 | 6:44 amAnyone and everyone in book publicity can tell you it’s hard to get coverage for books. At the same time, many journalists and bloggers will tell you that when they *do* want to cover a book, it’s impossible to get responses from publishing houses. Odd, that. Murphy’s Law states that not all books will receive lots of publicity (oh — that’s not Murphy’s Law? Well, you get my drift …) but here are a few mistakes we all make that can lead to those small delays that can become big delays that can become missed opportunities. Sort of like when…
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Book Launch Cafe
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Send Thanks to HBO for Rain of Gold Series - spread the word like hot salsa!
17 Jun 2009 | 5:16 pmRain of Gold Thirteen Senses: A Memoir Wild Steps of Heaven Crazy Loco Love Thanks to Facebook I recently learned of the announcement that HBO will be producing a ten hour mini-series (2010). I'm super elated about this! I am a huge fan of Villasenor's magical story telling. I also had the opportunity to meet him during his annual Thanksgiving Snow Goose festival on his Oceanside ranch in 2004. It was potluck and I brought lumpia (filipino eggroll) to share. It was gone in seconds! He's asking for your help here in his own words: We need your help to congratulate and thank… -
Amma on USA tour
17 Jun 2009 | 4:45 pmMessages from Amma: In the Language of the Heart Amma: Healing the Heart of the World Darshan: The Embrace (DVD)On Monday a friend and I drove to LA via scenic ocean drive Highway 1 during the sun rising. The drive itself was phenomenal. We made the easy 1.5 hr commute to receive darshan (blessing) from Amma, known as the hugging saint. She has inspired millions around the world with her humanitarian efforts, compassion as the only way to peace, education training and development, healthcare through schools of ayurveda and research centers funded by her non profit, and humanitarian aid world… -
A litte Book Launch Cafe update
17 Jun 2009 | 4:20 pmThe thing about reading is that sometimes you feel like you've traveled the world when you never left home. If this is the case, I've traveled the world in this first half of 2009. My reading has taken me to Ayurveda and the Slow Food movement. I'll share more in later posts on what led me here but I wanted to give you some updates on Book Launch Cafe. I recently made the decision to discontinue the book reviews and excerpts. Cecila Sepp is an awesome reviewer but I wanted more of a laser sharp focus on the books that continue to shape my life or books that are in alignment with… -
Book Giveaway goes to...
6 May 2009 | 9:12 amOur first giveaway for Sixtyfive Roses was last month and though not many biters I do have a winner, Leslie Westbrook! Thanks for my one and only participant and I'm ever so grateful to your sister story. -
NEW Book Review: Keeper of Light and Dust
6 May 2009 | 8:51 amCecilia Sepp has come out with her latest review, Keeper of Light and Dusk by Natasha Mostert published April 2009. Here's a glimpse.... This romance is as light and airy as its title, a predictable story that flirts with ancient mysticism and concepts of life, death, and energy. It does have an unusual setting, though: the world of fighting. Mia, our heroine, studies martial arts but does not enter the ring. Instead, she fights in the spiritual realm, protecting a small group of fighters with her personal energy. She is the descendant of a long line of “Keepers,” women who…
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ReadersRead.com Book Blog
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Judge Stops Publication of Catcher in the Rye Sequel
1 Jul 2009 | 7:00 pmA federal district court judge in Manhattan has ruled that a Swedish author may not publish a sequel to J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye in the United States. Salinger had sued to stop publication of the book on the grounds that it infringes on his copyright to the original novel. The author tried to argue it was a parody, but the judge wasn't buying it, saying that the sequel mirrors the original and lacks parody or critique that might be allowed under federal copyright law. U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts issued her written ruling in Manhattan after considering arguments in a lawsuit… -
John Edwards' Fall Guy Writing Tell All Memoir
30 Jun 2009 | 6:00 amDisgraced politician John Edwards is about to get hit with a tell all book by his former aide, Andrew Young. Young pretended to be the father of John Edwards' love child with Rielle Hunter, but now he's not covering for Edwards anymore. A man who was one of former Senator John Edwards's closest aides has a deal to write a book claiming that Mr. Edwards said he "would be taken care of for life" in return for falsely claiming he was the father of the baby carried by Mr. Edwards's mistress, Rielle Hunter. The aide, Andrew Young, sold his book proposal to St. Martin's Press for an undisclosed… -
Slumdog Millionaire Star Rubina Ali Writes Book
29 Jun 2009 | 8:00 pmPeople reports that Slumdog Millionaire star Rubina Ali has a book coming out that tells the story of her life so far. She's only nine but she has experienced two very different worlds: the slums of Mumbai and Hollywood. July 16 will find her book, Slumdog Dreaming, simulatenously released in the U.S. and U.K. Publisher Transworld, says, besides recounting Oscar night, Ali will tell her story of "playing marbles with her friends beside the sewers of Garib Nagar in Mumbai, to dancing along to the Bollywood films she and her family watch on their old television set. "Rubina brings alive a world… -
Will Zondervan Still Publish Kate Gosselin's Cookbook?
27 Jun 2009 | 4:00 pmKate Gosselin has a book scheduled for release in October called Love Is in the Mix: Making Meals into Memories. While the book is up for pre-order on Amazon.com it may not be published as scheduled now that the Gosselin's have filed for divorce. USA Today reports that Zondervan's CEO says they are going to work with Kate Gosselin to "reassess the schedule for her next book." Maureen "Moe" Girkins, CEO of Zondervan, said the company, a division of News Corp.'s HarperCollins publishing company, was going to "work with Kate to reassess the schedule for her next book." "We are saddened by this… -
Siobhan Dowd Awarded Posthumous Carnegie Medal
25 Jun 2009 | 7:00 pmSiobhan Dowd has posthumously won The Carnegie Medalm, the most prestigious prize in children's literature, for her book, Bog Child. Siobhan recently died after a battle with cancer. Bog Child, the story of a teenage boy who finds the body of a child in an Irish bog, was finished by Dowd in May 2007. She died of cancer that August at the age of 47, having only turned to writing in 2003. In just four short years, she penned four children's books: her first, A Swift Pure Cry, was also shortlisted for the Carnegie. "It's infuriating that she didn't start writing earlier, that she couldn't go on.
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Eye on Books - Author Interviews
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Norman Ollestad - "Crazy for the Storm"
2 Jul 2009 | 3:32 pmEleven-year-old Norman Ollestad was on his way to pick up a trophy for winning a youth skiing championship on February 19, 1979. His father chartered a Cessna airplane to take him and Norman from L.A. to Big Bear City. With them were Norman's dad's girlfriend, and the pilot of the plane, four people in all -- and only one would live to see the end of the day. The plane wandered off course in a blinding blizzard and smashed into an 8,600-foot mountain. The pilot and Norman's father were killed instantly. Sandra, the girlfriend, was badly hurt but survived, for a while. But only 11-year-old… -
Dean Koontz - "Relentless"
24 Jun 2009 | 4:47 pmCubby Greenwich is a bestselling author. But he's also got a problem: a reviewer hates his new book. Now, to most authors that's not a problem, but in Cubby's case, he has to find out who this mysterious reviewer, Shearman Waxx, is. No one knows who he is. Cubby tracks him down, then wishes he hadn't, in the Dean Koontz book "Relentless." -
Michael Connelly - "The Scarecrow"
22 Jun 2009 | 3:08 pmVeteran newspaperman Jack McEvoy has lost his job at the L.A. Times, but still has one more story he has to finish, in Michael Connelly's thriller "The Scarecrow." Yes, it is a murder story, yes there is a dastardly villain, but the real scary part of the story -- well, one of the scary parts -- is Connelly's account of the death spiral of the American daily newspaper. -
Sebastian Barry - "The Secret Scripture"
13 Jun 2009 | 11:00 amTwo people's stories tell a single tale, in Irish playwright and novelist Sebastian Barry's book "The Secret Scripture." A 100-year-old mental patient named Roseanne McNulty has been penning her autobiography, while her psychiatrist, an enigmatic man named Dr. Grene, is keeping a journal of his own. Together their narratives form what Publishers Weekly called "both a sparkling literary puzzle and a stark cautionary tale of corrupted power." -
John Feinstein - "Are You Kidding Me?"
13 Jun 2009 | 10:39 amThe U.S. Open is always golf at its very best. The world's finest and most accomplished gather at some of America's most difficult courses, and the winner is usually at around even par. Sudden-death playoffs are rare -- there have been only three since the first U.S. Open in 1895. The last one was in 2008, when Tiger Woods battled Rocco Mediate through 90 holes of golf, including an 18-hole playoff round, before Woods emerged victorious on the sudden-death hole. Now that story is told through Mediate's eyes -- and the words of veteran sports writer John Feinstein -- in a book called "Are You…
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Boston Globe
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Small-town scourge
1 Jul 2009 | 8:51 amIn 1898, a Japanese chemist synthesized the substance methamphetamine. It gained popularity because ingesting it made people feel good. Other scientists refined the process so that mass production of the drug became practical. It seemed like an all-purpose drug, prescribed by physicians for conditions ranging from schizophrenia to the common cold. Researchers also understood, however, that what eventually became known ... -
Taking a cue from the Roman Empire
30 Jun 2009 | 9:24 amOur fascination with the Roman Empire lingers on, as if it were a great beach read we just can’t put down. This is only natural. There’s all that sex and gore, at least as imagined in pop depictions (the BBC’s “I, Claudius’’ in the 1970s and the BBC-HBO series “Rome’’ of late). On a more serious level, in our Christian-majority ... -
The new haiku?
29 Jun 2009 | 12:53 pmCAMBRIDGE - The class on writing Asian poetry that Professor David McCann teaches at Harvard includes units on Chinese quatrains, Korean sijo, and Japanese haiku, the last of which is so well-known that McCann’s students had haiku days in middle school. Why, McCann wondered, couldn’t the three-line Korean sijo that he loves enjoy the same widespread recognition as the three-line, ... -
David McCann wrote his first sijo on a restaurant napkin two years ago. Three of his poems:
29 Jun 2009 | 12:53 pmWinter's Eve There on the sidewalk she stood -
Questionable conduct
29 Jun 2009 | 9:14 amHere is our question for Robin Abrahams, a.k.a. “Miss Conduct’’: When you see someone texting while driving, is it OK to run them off the road? Bring your etiquette questions to Miss Conduct: Chicks for Lit where the columnist, writer, and comedian will talk about her book, “Mind Over Manners.’’ This benefit for ReadBoston includes a wine reception and dinner. ...
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The Book Deal: A Publishing Blog for Writers and Book People
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Choosing a freelance editor: What you need to know
2 Jul 2009 | 10:21 amIn the increasingly difficult competition to get published, writers know they must put their best foot forward by sending out only a professional, polished, and persuasive new proposal or manuscript to any prospective literary agent or publisher. Many authors have come to understand the value of objective help before taking the plunge, and I don’t mean from family, friends, or the local writing group. Such support is valuable to have close at hand, but even with the best of intentions, it’s not as useful as professional feedback and guidance. Full disclosure: I’m an Executive Editor… -
Writers: Why you need to join Publishers Marketplace
17 Jun 2009 | 8:37 pmIf you want to succeed as a writer you have to realize you’re in the book business, with all its strange ways of doing things. Publishing is still a relationship business and you need to know the players, the powers that be, who’s making what things happen. Publishers Marketplace draws back the curtains and reveals the nuts and bolts of daily life and how to gain entry. How to get in the game Years ago it was difficult if not impossible for aspiring or established authors to know what was going on behind the scenes in the book business. Who were the important agents and editors? What… -
Ask the editor: Do publishers have rules about POV?
26 May 2009 | 9:10 amQ: I’ve heard that New York publishers will only accept books written from a third-person limited POV and no head hopping allowed. Does this mean I have to rewrite my manuscript to conform to these rules? A: No! Stop. Don’t succumb to this kind of advice. These rumors can start as the result of an editor or agent writing a rejection letter saying a particular book might be better if the author changed the POV (point of view.) The news starts traveling and takes on steam. But that’s only one editor’s opinion and it could be wrong. The great POV debate The truth is that there are… -
Author alert! What you don’t know about BookScan can hurt you
14 May 2009 | 11:01 pmAn author friend of mine couldn’t figure out why he was having so much trouble selling his new book. He had a respectable list of published books to his name, a regular schedule of speeches and workshops, and a solid platform in print and broadcast media. So on a hunch, I looked him up on Nielsen BookScan, an industry service for publishers that reports actual book sales by ISBN number at retailers across the country. There was the answer in black and white. The sales figures for his last book were dismal. He was shocked at the news, certain that the numbers were wrong. In fact, he was… -
Let’s hear it for neighborhood bookstores: Here’s mine
5 May 2009 | 9:00 pmWe all know it’s cheaper to buy books online or at the big box national discount chains. I could have saved $12.10 the other day if I had gone on Amazon or over to Barnes & Noble. But if we’re lucky enough to have a local bookstore nearby we ought to do what we can to help keep it alive, right? So I was happy to spend those extra bucks at Mrs. Dalloway’s Books, a special spot in my corner of town. A homegrown bookshop inspired by Virginia Woolf My little neighborhood in Berkeley is called the Elmwood. There are only about three blocks of shops, cafes and restaurants, and one old…
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PersonaNonData
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DA Australia Acquire Languages Direct
1 Jul 2009 | 7:55 amFrom their press release:DA Information Services (DA) today announced it has completed the acquisition of Languages Direct, the leading supplier of LOTE (Languages Other Than English) books and AV material to Libraries in Australasia. This acquisition will mean public, state and University libraries in Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia can now consolidate English Language and LOTE purchasing easily. As both companies are conveniently headquartered in Melbourne, integration has already commenced to incorporate Languages Direct as a division of DA Information Services. Languages Direct… -
FiledBy Announces Pre-Pub Website Features
1 Jul 2009 | 6:12 amFiledBy announced some new enhancements this morning:FiledBy (www.filedby.com) has added a new pre-publication website feature to its growing list of online marketing tools for authors. Writers publishing a new book now have a low cost, effective tool to pre-launch their book online. The new feature allows both first time and published authors to quickly and inexpensively build a pre-publication web presence on FiledBy. “Bookselling experts agree that authors should start promoting a new book well before it arrives in bookselling channels to build interest, community and sales,” said… -
Finding An Orphan
29 Jun 2009 | 10:46 pmBased on my personal experience working with small and medium sized publishers, it will be prove very difficult for anyone reaching out to the 'Orphan' group to encourage them to participate in the Google Book Settlement process.When I joined Bowker in 1999, we were still using the post office to mail our publisher check lists to over 55,000 small and independent publishers each year. These check-lists represented our primary communication with this group of publishers most of whom published less than 10 titles each (many only one). These publishers had one chance per year to correct any… -
OUP on Google Book Settlement
29 Jun 2009 | 5:01 amVia Evan Schnittman.There is a very long piece on the Google Settlement by OUP USA President Tim Barton in the Chronicle of Higher Education today...What once seemed at least debatable has now become irrefutable: If it's not online, it's invisible. While increasing numbers of long-out-of-date, public-domain books are now fully and freely available to anyone with a browser, the vast majority of the scholarship published in book form over the last 80 years is today largely overlooked by students, who limit their research to what can be discovered on the Internet. For most books published in the… -
Media Week 25: Chris Anderson, Readers Digest, Google Book Search,
28 Jun 2009 | 7:02 amSome of these were on noted Twitter (@personanondata). I find I am using delicious much less.Reader's Digest sold their library business to management (link):Gareth Stevens Inc., the publisher of library and classroom books founded in Milwaukee, is being sold by Reader's Digest Association Inc. to Gareth Stevens' chief Gary Spears and a business partner. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Gareth Stevens Inc., now based in Strongsville, Ohio, is being sold to Gareth Stevens Publishing LLP, a new entity led by Spears and Roger Rosen, owner and CEO of Rosen Publishing of New York City,…
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Ghost Word
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Great Summer books about the Bay Area
25 Jun 2009 | 6:23 pmIt’s five days into summer and already I am dreary of the fog/sun/fog routine. Somehow I can bear the gloom in the winter, but detest it between June and August. One reason is because it dampens my sense of expectation: I love waking up on a warm sunny day and feeling that almost anything can happen.I associate summer with long days full of reading, choosing any book I want, including light-hearted fare that generally doesn’t hold my interest. I suppose it’s just as easy to read when the sky is gray with fog as when it is blue with sun. So in the spirit of our… -
Dumpster Diving in Berkeley
20 Jun 2009 | 9:07 amWhere are the best dumpsters in Berkeley?According to Novella Carpenter, whose new memoir Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer, is getting rave reviews, the award goes hands down to Eccolo, the upscale restaurant on Fourth Street. Carpenter is in a position to know as she scavenged through East Bay dumpsters a few years ago to find food to feed her ravenous pigs. She recounted those adventures Thursday night at a Berkeley Arts and Letters lecture with author Michael Pollan.Carpenter, whose urban farm is on 28th and Martin Luther King streets in Oakland, at first fed her pigs fish guts… -
Andy Ross: How the former owner of Cody's has found a new life as a literary agent
17 Jun 2009 | 12:34 pmAndy Ross at Cody's Books in the 1970sAndy Ross is well-known in the publishing industry through his former ownership of Cody’s Books, one of the country’s most renowned independent bookstores. For 45 years, Cody’s flagship store on Telegraph Avenue hosted the world’s most accomplished writers and carried books written by well-known and obscure authors. It had a large selection of poetry, local history, literary fiction, history, and computer books. Its magazine section was enormous. When Ross shuttered Cody’s on Telegraph in 2006, book-lovers and publishing insiders shuddered; the… -
Great Summer Reads
15 Jun 2009 | 8:43 amSelecting books for a vacation is a very delicate thing. There’s the temptation to keep doing what has sent you on vacation, i.e. read all those dense, history books that are part of a job. There's also the opposite impulse, which is to chuck it all and delve into the frothy, fun books that help you escape.The tension between continuing and escaping work usually means a stuffed book bag, for the best part of vacation is refusing to make hard choices.I’ve been in the beautiful Carmel Valley for the last three days and besides two jaunts to spectacular Pt. Lobos to search for sea otters, I… -
Cocktails with (Ethan) Canin
3 Jun 2009 | 8:00 amIt might have been the margaritas, or the fact that Daniel Handler and Stephen Elliot were wandering around the room wearing t-shirts that read “Ethan Fukin Canin,” but Tuesday night’s benefit for Litquake was an evening of good cheer and fascinating discourse on literature.The $55 ticket price meant the room wasn’t too crowded. Spotted mingling at the Broadway Building in San Francisco, in addition to Ethan Canin: Po Bronson, Ethan Watters, Mary Roach, David Duncan Ewing, Phil Bronstein, Jack Boulware, Kathryn Ma, Katherine Neilan, Ellen Sussman, and filmmakers Dayna Goldfne and Dan…
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The Guardian (UK)
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James Frey targets a million little readers | Alison Flood
2 Jul 2009 | 7:35 amControversial writer James Frey has been outed as the co-author of a hot new children's book, as yet unpublished. But why all the mystery?Not content with penning the third book of the Bible, James Frey, who wrote of his struggle with drug addiction in a controversial memoir, is turning to children's books. As ever with Frey, who was found to have fabricated parts of his autobiography, A Million Little Pieces, there are layers within layers to this latest book deal. Last week it emerged in the New York Times that a young adult novel was being hawked to publishers as a collaboration between a… -
The power of dictator-lit
2 Jul 2009 | 2:50 amTurkmenistan's Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov is only the latest despot to commandeer the printed pageAmong his many claims to fame, Saparmurat Niyazov, aka Turkmenbashi, the demented and now deceased dictator of Turkmenistan, was celebrated for his Ruhnama or "book of the soul", two volumes of disjointed historical, biographical and cod-philosophical ramblings which he forced his subjects to study at educational establishments and in the workplace. Ultimately this masterpiece/confection of platitudinous banalities was translated into 41 languages including Zulu, and even launched into space so… -
The eloquent speech of oral history
1 Jul 2009 | 8:50 amWhat George Ewart Evans recorded were not perfectly objective facts, but stories that people live byGeorge Ewart Evans was frustrated with his life. Having escaped an extremely harsh upbringing in south Wales and earning a Classics degree he served with the RAF during the war and returned to his young family in the English countryside to write novels. But the novels would not be written. Every time he produced a corpse of a book that no publisher would attempt to resuscitate. His son, Matthew, has quoted the following extract from his unpublished diary: "August 19. A bad day, in discussion… -
Linklog: Helen DeWitt vs editors, Jonathan Lethem's magic glasses – and more
1 Jul 2009 | 8:32 amHelen DeWitt, who endured editorial trench-warfare over her novel The Last Samurai (that's a two-year-old link, but you should read it if you haven't), is still frustrated by many editors' singular idea of the reader.• Persepolis repurposed.• Large organisation? Money lying around? Bored of poets in residence? It's time for a publisher in residence!• The only underpublicised fact about the Alice Hoffman Twitter critic-rage affair is hidden at the bottom of this Salon piece: it appears that Hoffman once inspired a bout of critic-rage herself – of a more physical form – after being… -
The best of the worst opening sentences
1 Jul 2009 | 5:46 amThe Bulwer-Lytton award offers a salutary display of how not to start a storyI don't know about you, but I actually want to read more than just the opening line of the winner of this year's Bulwer-Lytton award, given to the worst first sentence in an imaginary novel in honour of Edward "it was a dark and stormy night" Bulwer-Lytton."Folks," writes 55-year-old David McKenzie, a consultant and writer from Washington state, "say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor'east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly…
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Ready Steady Book
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Sad music
1 Jul 2009 | 6:50 amIndulging in listening to sad music is one of life's finer pleasures, I think. From Strauss's Four Last Songs, Schubert's Winterreise, Valentin Silvestrov's Silent Songs (the song based on Keats' La Belle Dame Sans Merci, sung in Russian, is -- almost literally -- to die for) through to David Sylvian's Let The Happiness In, the better (i.e. most melancholic) moments of This Mortal Coil, The For Carnation or Dakota Suite or parts of Jacaszek's Treny album, miserable music is a vital part of my armoury against the world. I'm always on the look out for me -- and this thread on violinist.com has… -
Michael Jackson
30 Jun 2009 | 1:07 amI'm certainly not the person to write anything insightful on Michael Jackson, but k-punk has stepped up to the plate: The death of this King - "my brother, the Legendary King Of Pop", as Jermaine Jackson described him in his press conference, as if giving Michael his formal title - recalls not the Diana carcrash, but the sad slump of Elvis from catatonic narcosis into the long good night. Perhaps it was only Elvis who managed to insinuate himself into practically every living human being's body and dreams to the same degree that Jackson did, at the microphysical level of enjoyment as well as… -
Publishing Laid Bare Conference
29 Jun 2009 | 1:29 amLast Thursday, I spoke at Legend Press's first Publishing Laid Bare Conference. Basically, I said, "the internet is good, bloggers are fab" -- so nothing particularly newsworthy there then! But thanks so much to the good folk at Legend Press for inviting me to speak and thanks to everyone for the warm reception I got from those in attendance on the day. -
Stuff and links
22 Jun 2009 | 7:47 amOh, when am I not busy! Anyway, today I seem even busier than ever... So, a few web goodies to tide y'all over: lots of Ezra Pound links from orbis quintus (I've always been an Eliot man rather than a Pound-head, but I'll be taking the Cantos away with me on my next trip to London so maybe that'll change soon...) did Joyce coin 'blog'? John Self on Zweig Stefan (as my bloglines feed has it!) John Berger archive at the British Library anyone else going to the TLS party on Thursday? email me if you are... -
David Lodge interview
19 Jun 2009 | 2:19 amI interview novelist, critic and Emeritus Professor of English Literature at Birmingham University, David Lodge, over on The Book Depository: Mark Thwaite: Is Deaf Sentence based on your own experiences David? David Lodge: The portrayal of the central character's deafness is closely based on my own experience, and it is exceedingly unlikely that I would have thought of writing a novel about this condition if it I hadn't I suffered from it myself. From my late forties I was afflicted with gradually worsening high-frequency deafness, the most common form of hearing impairment, which makes it…
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ABA Blogs
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A post in two parts
1 Jul 2009 | 1:16 pmI. E-Fairness No, taxes aren't fun. (And I say this as someone who has to pay non-resident taxes in New York, so I know whereof I speak.) I'm not just talking about the ones you pay annually (or quarterly, for all the self-employed), but the ones you pay without thinking about it, the ones that are just a line item on your bill. The question of e-fairness is back in the news this week as more states are getting ready to follow New York's lead and recognize affiliate marketers as physical presences for the purposes of tax law - specifically, sales tax. The Site That Shall Not Be Named and… -
Swooping in and catching up edition
26 Jun 2009 | 9:15 amI wanted to give you a meaty post this week, but an ongoing Excel project (at one point I had 22 different workbooks open) put a stop to that. So I was going to at least start with a clever introduction, but Roller decided to erase my text instead of saving it. Instead you get my apologies, promises to fill the next few weeks with my own thoughts on genre snobbery, kids and reading levels, and other pressing topics.For now, though, a pile of links:Still Life With Book Maven (get over the genre snobbery)One Literature Nut (more on snobbery)book-ivorous (and even more on the topic)… -
Flat Stanley rides again, and other news from the land of books
15 Jun 2009 | 8:56 amIf you need to be reminded why lit snobbery is bad: "Eventually, my daughter finally read something that didn't have Stephanie [sic] Meyer's name on the cover. And then something else. And it turned out that she'd fallen in love with reading, not just with Twilight and Edward and Bella and the whole gang that Meyer had created."See also: "I'm sure the one thing most readers will take from the responses is the same thing I have - that there is no way to standardize the books that will impact a young girl's life. We all value radically different books for radically different… -
Back from BEA edition
8 Jun 2009 | 9:22 amGroan. Shake head. Repeat: "Also, if a woman is reading a book by an author who is considered a "guy's writer"--like Cormac McCarthy--that's likely to get her a lot more attention than if she were deep into Pride and Prejudice." (thanks - if that's the right word - to our friends at Inkwell)A chain bookseller stands up for his role. (Keep reading for some insight into how customer types shape retail): "Sure, it’s a low paid job in the service sector. It’s a 'customer service' job, and hence doesn't get the same respect as someone who works with numbers and reports… -
Next stop: BEA
22 May 2009 | 1:00 pmWhy summer reading is broken, a report from the front lines: "Having worked a bookstore I know for a fact there are a lot of kids (and their parents, mostly) scrambling to find copies of the required book that first week of school because then, and only then, are kids frantic enough to care about reading it."I'm rather fond of my latest job function (the Perle Mesta of the ABA Bookseller Lounge), but I could go for adding this: "The job of digital concierge grows in significance as more and more material is introduced to the market via the web."Insert your geographic…
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Litopia
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My Therapist is my Journal
30 Jun 2009 | 11:48 amIn our family”, wrote Ann Morrow Lindbergh, “an experience was not finished, nor truly experienced, unless written down and shared with another.” Today, we’re considering the difference between diaries and autobiographies – which one is the more truthful? And which the more self-serving? Do you keep a journal? Is it an inviolably private matter (to go with you to the grave) or do you subscribe to Mae West’s dictum – “Keep a diary and one day it’ll keep you”? -
Books That Matter: Death Comes for the Archbishop
29 Jun 2009 | 1:32 pm"The greatest American novelist of the 20th century" says Oxford don John Simopoulos of Willa Cather, the author who grew up in Nebraska and is best known for her depictions of frontier life. John recommends Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927) "nothing short of magical" he says, and when John says that, you can take it as gospel. He also suggests you read Shadows on the Rock (1931), a novel set in 17th century Quebec describing the quiet, isolated life of Cecile Auclair and her father, the town apothecary, and The Professor's House (1925), set around an ancient cliff city in New Mexico. -
Friday Night & Monday Morning
28 Jun 2009 | 12:56 pmIt’s the Monday after the Friday night before… we’re still recovering from the very first “Litopia After Dark: Face to Face” that took place last Friday evening. Eve is still travelling back to Scotland, so there’s no Eve’s Salmagundi Club today – instead, we’re looking at our new podcast website.. what do you think of it? And if you’re interested in helping out behind the scenes, do get in touch – there’s plenty of work for willing volunteers, on whom we depend. -
Face-To-Face At Last!
28 Jun 2009 | 5:49 am"So that’s what you look like!" was one of the most commonly-heard exclamations at London’s Poetry Café on Friday evening, as the cast of LITOPIA AFTER DARK made a little bit of Litopian history – yes, we finally met, face-to-face, in the flesh, and bereft of the horny carapace of electronic pseudonymity. We recorded two shows back-to-back – this is the first, totally live and completely unedited. The format is a little different to the usual LAD sweet-and-sour melange – we decided to use this occasion to launch the first of this year’s Summer Entertainments... you’ll find that… -
Here Is The News, Again
26 Jun 2009 | 1:15 amThere's a strong digital theme in this week's news. In the future, Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader will display more book formats beyond its own and we should expect to see Kindle books on a lot more devices. A US Court has ruled against text message promotion of books. Following Apple’s claim to have sold more than one million iPhone 3G S units last weekend, ScrollMotion announced a partnership to bring content from scores of major book, magazine and newspaper publishers to the iPhone. And a picture of the typical e-book reader is beginning to emerge via the sales rankings.
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Omnivoracious
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YA on Thursday: Cut-outs and "Other Matters Odd and Magical"
2 Jul 2009 | 3:28 pmMaggie Stiefvater, who you may know from last year's Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception (a YA Wednesday favorite!) shows off her many talents in this book trailer for her upcoming novel, Shiver. The multi-talented Stiefvater not only made the cut-outs, she collaborated on the music: For more details about the trailer and its related contest, see her blog. (Thanks, The Book Girl Reviews!) Favorite summer reads... Sideshow This week, thankfully, I was handed a copy of Sideshow: Ten Original Tales of Freaks, Illusionists, and Other Matters Odd and Magical, a book of short stories for young… -
Omni Daily Crush: "The Jewel Box Garden"
2 Jul 2009 | 1:46 pmIn my very first Omnivoracious post (“Best Way to Make a Garden? Make a Garden Library”), I talked about how I'd populated my garden with plants I'd fallen in love with in books. Truthfully, it was more lust than love that drove me to plant a lot of what now greets me at home, and many of them first gave me sweaty palms in Thomas Hobbs's Jewel Box Garden, his follow-up to Shocking Beauty. (In fact, I'd wager a lot of gardeners first gasped over echeverias--those dazzlingly architectural tender succulents that come in a rainbow of pastels--when they got a look at his… -
Books of the States: Tracy Kidder on Richard Todd
2 Jul 2009 | 12:17 pmIn his recent books, Tracy Kidder has ranged from Haiti (in Mountains Beyond Mountains) to Vietnam (My Detachment) to Burundi (Strength in What Remains, a sequel of sorts to Mountains Beyond Mountains that comes out in late August), but many of his best-known books have been set in his home state of Massachusetts, from the hardware labs of The Soul of a New Machine to the Holyoke classroom of Among Schoolchildren and the Berkshire village in Home Town. He admits a conflict of interest in his choice for a favorite Massachusetts book--the author, Richard Todd, has been his editor and friend for… -
Omni Daily News
2 Jul 2009 | 11:01 amCatcher in the Rye Sequel BlockedGuess Holden Caufield will remain a callow youth for a while longer--at least in the U.S. A federal judge ruled late yesterday that the J.D. Salinger offensive was “likely to succeed on the merits of its copyright case" against Fredrik Colting, author of 60 Years Later--a sequel to The Catcher in the Rye. Colting plans to appeal the decision. His book will be released in Europe later this summer. [PW]Governor's Book on IceThe Observer reports that the scandal-ridden South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford has been given the heave-ho by publisher… -
Books of the States: Richard Russo on William Kennedy
2 Jul 2009 | 9:47 amAs identified with Brooklyn as Jonathan Lethem is, Richard Russo is just as strongly associated with his own part of the Empire State, the upstate towns where his novels such as Nobody's Fool, Bridge of Sighs, and The Risk Pool are rooted. (His upcoming novel, That Old Cape Magic, though, takes a road trip to the Massachusetts vacationland of the title--I'll be posting our interview about the book in this space in the next few weeks.) For his representative New York book, he settled, with apologies to all those writers he would have liked to include as well, on the novel of a friend…
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FreshFiction...for today's reader
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Sandra Marton | ESCAPE FROM REALITY… and it’s non-fattening!
1 Jul 2009 | 9:01 pmThe Chinese have an old saying: “May you live in interesting times.” Well, we’re certainly living through interesting times right now, don’t you think? Of course, whether those times are good or bad is up for discussion.Life can be a challenge. There are small challenges: How to get one kid to dance class and the other to swim class at the same time. What to make for dinner when it’s 6 o’clock and you’ve just come through the door. How to do three things at once before you leave your desk for the day. And there are big challenges: Losing a job. Serious illness. Relationships… -
Tracy Madison | A Little Quirk Equals A Lot of Character
1 Jul 2009 | 5:29 amI love the word “quirk.” I like how it looks, I like how it sounds, and I even like saying it. Quirk. Quirks. Quirky. See? It’s a fun little word. Just saying it forces your mouth into a pucker, which is sort of quirky on its own, but beyond the oh-so-coolness of the word’s actual phonetics, I also like what the word means.Quirk has several definitions, but the one I’m talking about today comes directly from dictionary.com and it is:“A peculiarity of action, behavior, or personality: mannerism.”Why do I love that so much? It’s simple, actually—because we all have them. And… -
Emilie Richards | Which comes first, the novel or the title?
29 Jun 2009 | 9:01 pmThere is no question that authors are odd. We hear voices in our heads. We stare blankly at walls for hours, leaving those around us to wonder if we have, without fanfare, passed away. We save things other people toss out or never possess in the first place. Real estate circulars. Missing children inserts. Photographs that show nothing except, perhaps, the curve of a cheek or the shape of an eye. We keep files. Oh yes, we keep lots and lots of files. Jotted notes of overheard conversations. Newspaper articles about mortgage fraud. Three word phrases that might vanish in the night.Authors are… -
Lori Brighton | The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
28 Jun 2009 | 9:01 pmWriting about the publishing process sounded like a good idea until I realized I could write, well, a book. The process and the emotions I’ve experienced so far have been more than overwhelming and so to make it somewhat easier, I decided to write a simple timeline of my journey into the publishing world. So sit back, grab a bag of popcorn, and enjoy The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of getting published. Summer of 2008— I get word from the Golden Acorn writing contest that my most recent manuscript, To Tame His Heart, has come in first place in the historical category and has been… -
Sandi Shilhanek | Vacation Packing...what's in your bag?
27 Jun 2009 | 11:32 pmI have decided that since the mountain won’t come to Mohammed then Mohammed must go to the mountain. Roughly translated this means that since my mom won’t come to Texas to see me I must head to Chicago to see her.Planning a trip requires a lot of thought and attention to details. First you have to decide a destination (easy for me because if I’m going out of Texas it’s usually to see mom), then you must decide the best time of the year to go, and whether or not your budget can really afford the trip. Let’s not forget about the wardrobe that might be required for your trip, and then…
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Young Adult (& Kids) Books
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Review: Liar
2 Jul 2009 | 12:09 pmYou can’t trust anything Micah tells you. She’s a compulsive liar, and has tried to convince the kids at her school that she’s a boy, that her dad is an arms dealer, and more. When her boyfriend Zach mysteriously dies, of course Micah is viewed with suspicion by people at school and the cops. Eventually even her parents come to view her with suspicion, due to the secret family curse. Read the full review here. -
Review: Fire
1 Jul 2009 | 5:00 amFire, Kristin Cashore's prequel to Graceling, is an engrossing fantasy. Monsters come in all sizes, shapes, colors and animals...birds, horses, people. Fire is a beautiful woman with firey red hair. Her talent is the mind. She can read peoples minds, cause them to unblock their minds and shed their hidden thoughts. The sight of her causes men to fall in love with her and be reviled by her at the same time.Fire's father, Cansrel, was also a monster, known for his cruelty. Fire swore she would not be like that...use her mind for evil. But when she is asked by the king of The Dell, her homeland,… -
Fast? Slow?
29 Jun 2009 | 8:06 pmSomeone wrote to tell me that the YABC site has become dreadfully slow for them and they thought the culprit might be the "Get There Quick" author and book jump lists at the top of the site. That may very well be, since there are now so many books and authors in the database. I've removed those lists for the time being and I'd love your feedback. Has the site speed improved? Had you noticed an issue before? Did you use those "jump" lists and do you miss them or did you never notice them before? Thanks! -
Boy Toy
29 Jun 2009 | 1:11 pmI enjoyed Barry Lyga's Boy Toy just as much as his Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl. -
Prize Bucket Update!! Please Read!
29 Jun 2009 | 12:02 pmOkay, whew! I've just added a bunch of books to the Prize Bucket with more coming soon. I'm also in the middle of processing a whole ton of claims for books and I have not yet had a chance to *remove* any books from the Prize Bucket. So, if you are claiming a book, please give me AT LEAST your top 5 choices and preferably more. Some books (you can probably guess which ones!) have already been requested multiple times and are not available (well, except for the lucky person who got their request in first!). I'll get everything updated as soon as I can. Thanks for your patience!
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Top Shelf Reading Picks
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Sassy Ladies Make Great Entrepreneurs
15 Jun 2009 | 1:49 pmDiane is hard at work on her new e-book this week and has asked Kathleen Burns Kingsbury to step in as a guest reviewer. The new book, The Sassy Ladies Toolkit for Start-up Businesses, is must-read for women entrepreneurs across the country interested in starting a business and doing it the right way. This fun, informative and inspirational book takes the reader on a journey from dreaming about a business to making it a profitable reality. The book is written in a conversational, down-to-earth style making the reader feel as if The Sassy Ladies are sitting with you, coaching and encouraging… -
It’s Time to Go to eBoot Camp
3 Jun 2009 | 6:03 pmI had not planned on reading eBoot Camp: Proven Internet Marketing Techniques to Grow Your Business by Corey Perlman. But I needed a short book to review on my train to NYC and was thinking about updating my online marketing plan. So I was delighted to find it in my “possible review” stack. I found the book written exactly for my level (and a little below). This means that I could skim the sections on social networks, blogs, e-mail and article marketing, and other topics that fall within my expertise. That’s not to say that I didn’t make a note here or there about… -
Notice: Technical Difficulties
14 May 2009 | 5:04 pmWe are currently down due to technical difficulties with Diane accessing the site via her service provider. We are working to correct this and expect her to return shortly with more reviews. -
Instant Appeal: Why Ugly Can Be an Advantage and Other Tips
12 Apr 2009 | 10:42 amInstant Appeal: The 8 Primal Factors that Create Blockbuster Success by Vicki Kunkel is yet another book that tries to explain how and why people react the way they do. Initially, I thought it would be a re-hash of Blink and other such books. However, there were some new ideas. The book consists of an introduction and eight chapters, each of which is focused on different factors that can attract or repel people. 1. The conspicuous flaw factor 2. The visual preprogramming factor 3. The reptilian comfort factor 4. The sacred cow factor 5. The jackass factor… -
Welcome to The Facebook Era
30 Mar 2009 | 11:26 amSometimes you find a great book when you least expect it. Last week, I was invited to a conference and met Clara Shih, author of The Facebook Era: Tapping Online Social Networks to Build Better Products, Reach New Audiences, and Sell More Stuff. As an early adopter, I understood using Facebook for brand-building (through Groups, Pages, Ads and Apps) and expanding your network by reconnecting with people from your past. However, Shih’s presentation and book brought me a new depth and understanding of what it means to interact with customers through social networks. She also…
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Kristina's Book Blog
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Shopaholic and Baby — Sophie Kinsella
5 Jun 2009 | 9:02 pmYep, I’m still around. Just not reading much apart from my son’s children’s books. Or if I am reading, I’m not finishing the books because I just can’t seem to get into them. I recently gave Sophie Kinsella’s Shopaholic and Baby a try, and gave up a third of the way in. Something about Rebecca [...] -
The Ten-Year Nap — Meg Wolitzer
9 Apr 2009 | 2:57 pmThe Ten-Year Nap tells the stories of 4 New Yorkers who chose to be stay at home moms, and how, 10 years later, they are faced with needing to decide what to do with the rest of their lives now that their children are in school and no longer needing them the way they used [...] -
Heart and Soul — Maeve Binchy
24 Feb 2009 | 9:29 pmJeez, it took me forever to read a book! I read this one in bits and pieces, a few pages at a time before going to bed. It’s a long book, so it took a while, and there was a week or two when my 7 month old son decided he didn’t want to sleep [...] -
Children’s Books — Part 24
5 Dec 2008 | 12:31 pmOne of the things my husband and I are most looking forward to doing with our son is sitting him in our laps and reading him stories. At the moment, he’s too young to understand them, so we’ve had to find books that would appeal to his senses. Therefore, any books that make sounds or [...] -
The Maeve Binchy Writers’ Club — Maeve Binchy, et al.
3 Dec 2008 | 10:02 pmMaeve Binchy is my favorite author ever, so when I discovered she had a book out all about writing, I had to get it. A while ago, The National College of Ireland held a writing class and called it “The Maeve Binchy Writers’ Club” because every week of the course, Maeve would send them an [...]
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Read Roger
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Five Questions for . . .
2 Jul 2009 | 6:29 amYou might know our monthly Notes from the Horn Book feature, "Five questions for . . ." in which I ask an author or illustrator of the moment questions both pertinent and inane. At ALA next week (yikes) in Chicago, this feature is going live at the Junior Library Guild booth (#2256) right across from ours (#2259) in the convention center. Here's the lineup:Saturday 10:00 Candace Fleming, who has just won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for The Lincolns.Saturday 12:00 Neil Gaiman, Newbery Medalist.Saturday 2:00 Ashley Bryan, Wilder Medalist.Sunday 11:00 Brian Selznick, for one last walk down… -
School of the Air
30 Jun 2009 | 10:12 amI totally wanted to go to one of those. But here's your chance, if you feel like playing along with the class I'm teaching at the Simmons College Center for the Study of Children's Literature. The class begins today and is called Crimes and Misdemeanors, and it is something of a lead up to the Center's biannual Institute, which you can attend, and which will take place at Simmons July 24-26.But if you're lonely in the outback, here's the reading list to keep you warm. Asterisks by the title indicate that the author will be appearing at the Institute.Anderson, Laurie Halse, Chains, Simon and… -
When writers attack!
29 Jun 2009 | 7:36 amI wonder what you call the Twitter equivalent to drunk dialing?And if you're going to whine about how you used to be reviewed (and how that must hurt) by Anne Tyler, it might be politic to spell her name right.[Update 11:45 AM. It looks like Alice Hoffman wisely thought to retreat from the field and suspended or cancelled her account. But for those who missed it, Hoffman had taken issue, via several Twitter messages, with a review by Roberta Silman of her latest book in the Boston Globe. Along with publishing the reviewer's phone number and encouraging readers to call and give her hell,… -
Always Lots of Heinies at the Zoo and 652 more
25 Jun 2009 | 11:47 amElissa, Kitty and Chelsey have achieved their first step toward world domination with the release of the latest quarterly update to the Guide Online. We have a very nice new page designed by Lolly, and you'll notice that you can now access lists of the authors and titles of the 653 books newly reviewed. We hope, of course, you will subscribe.And, per the post title, butts are big in this update. HUGE. -
Judging a Book By Its Title
23 Jun 2009 | 3:37 pmI wonder if the legendary Making It With Mademoiselle (a crafts book from that magazine) will be joined by Janet Evanovich's latest in the annals of books banned by mistake.
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Joe Wikert's Kindleville Blog: All Kindle, All the Time
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A Kindle App Opportunity
25 Jun 2009 | 10:18 amDo your friends and colleagues send you email messages with links to great articles and web pages they want you to go check out? I do, and when I get them I never seem to have enough time to thoroughly read them at that moment. Sometimes I print them. Quite often though I accidentally forget and miss the opportunity to read them.What if you could do this?: Grab the url from the email message or your browser and drag it over to your Kindle, which is connected to your computer via USB? The application looks up that url, grabs all the HTML content that appears on the page, converts it to the… -
When Two Out of Three Ain't Good
16 Jun 2009 | 4:20 pmRemember that great Meatloaf song, "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad"? I do, and for some reason I thought of it when I read this Jeff Bezos quote from Wired's "Disruptive by Design" conference yesterday:“[The Kindle DX] is $489, and that is an unbelievably low price for something that has inside it a sophisticated computer, a completely new kind of display of that size, and a 3G wireless radio,” Bezos said.Bezos rightfully points out three important attributes of every Kindle: it's a full-fledged computer, has a great display and a 3G wireless radio. What irritates me though is that that… -
WSJ's Mossberg on the KindleDX: "Bigger, Not Better"
11 Jun 2009 | 12:00 pmWalt Mossberg, the Wall Street Journal's personal technology guru and hit maker, has weighed in on the KindleDX, and the word isn't good. He indicates that after testing, he "didn’t like it nearly as much as the Kindle 2, which I own and enjoy using daily."See the full review here.What do you think? Are you planning to spring for a DX? Indicate your intent in our poll below:Online Surveys & Market Research -
E-Books get Olfactory
11 Jun 2009 | 11:18 amDo you enjoy e-books on your Kindle, but feel like you are a few sniffs shy of the full reading experience? Worry no more, Smell of Books has you covered.With tongue firmly in cheek, Smell of Books promises to delivery the "smell of your favorite paper book" in a handy aerosol delivery format.Not convinced it's a joke? Jump to site for DuroSport, the parent company of Smell of Books and browse the archive of truly funny product announcements and press releases. My favorite: the company's response to the Author's Guild, who criticizes Smell of Books for "Allowing unauthorized third parties to… -
Do You Want More Magazine Options on the Kindle?
10 Jun 2009 | 5:02 pmI do, and that's why I wrote this post on my Publishing 2020 blog. I don't normally cross-post like this but this particular topic is perfect for Publishing 2020 but also highly relevant for Kindle owners who read Kindleville.Let me know what you think of the idea.
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Hip Librarians
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Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
7 Jun 2009 | 9:56 pmThe Giver meets The Lord of the Flies with a dash of Romeo and Juliet thrown in for good measure. In a futuristic dystopia, 24 teenagers, one boy and one girl from each of the 12 districts, must compete in a televised fight to the death in theLeave Comment -
Night Runner by Max Turner
20 Apr 2009 | 4:08 am****/5 Zack Thomson isn’t like other teenage boys, and the fact the he calls the mental institution home is just the tip of the iceberg. His parents died when he was little and ever since, Zack suffers from weird, life-threatening aLeave Comment -
Raven by Allison van Diepen
1 Apr 2009 | 8:21 pmNicole is in love with Zin, the leader of her break dancing group. Everyone can see that he has feelings for her as well, but he refuses to act on them. While working with Zin at a nightclub (where her boss nicknames her Raven), NicLeave Comment -
The Joy of Spooking, Book One: Fiendish Deeds By P.J. Bracegirdle
16 Feb 2009 | 2:48 am***/5Joy Wells and her brother Byron live with their parents in a ramshackle old home in Spooking, a dying town on the outskirts of a booming suburb called Darlington. For Joy, a rabid fan of famous horror writer, E.A. Peugeot, Spooking is everLeave Comment -
Pieces of Me by Charlotte Gingras
30 Jan 2009 | 12:32 pmThe narrative of this lovely, lyrical novel unfolds in short vignettes, like a delicate bird skimming just over the water, dipping now and then to leave deepening ripples on the surface.Leave Comment
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Kimbooktu.com
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Bookish Tattoos
27 Jun 2009 | 4:30 pmFor quite some time now, I’ve been thinking about getting a bookish tattoo. I do not have any tattoos and take the matter very seriously. This is why I do not have any yet. For some (weird) reason it just appeals to me to have my biggest passion on me. As an everlasting work of art, because that is how I view tattoos. A work of art. That is, if they are done by a proper artist. To get inspired I have been searching the web for people with bookish tattoos. I found out that there are not many. (Loving books and tattoos apparently do not go together…) It seemed like a fun idea to… -
Bibliophile sofa
23 Jun 2009 | 3:39 pmIf you love to hang out and read on your sofa, this is a piece of furniture from your dreams! It is big enough to comfortably read on and it has your favorite books within reach. If it was available in leather, I would consider this as my next sofa without hesitation. To read more about this Flexform bibliophile sofa, click here. -
Well-Read Life Kit
23 Jun 2009 | 3:24 pmIf you know someone that loves to read (including yourself!) this is the perfect gift. It could come in very handy for students too. I love this “Well-Read Life Annotation Kit”. It looks beautiful! Click here to learn more. -
The smell of books
18 Jun 2009 | 2:54 pmSome people call me weird, but I love the smell of old books. Often, I get funny looks at book markets or in a shop that sells antique books. I tend to stick my nose between the pages and have a good sniffle. The best ones have this sweet scent to them, instead of the aroma of old socks. As if they knew of my ’strange’ habit, two readers have e-mailed me an interesting link. (Thank you Roger and Mary Jo!) I love how the makers of the website neatly point out the lack of character of an e-reader. In a very fun way they make it very clear that reading devices might be handy, but… -
Shakespeare and Co book
16 Jun 2009 | 3:56 pmRemember the post I did recently about the Paris based bookshop Shakespeare and Company? (If not, click here.) It has been brought to my attention (thank you Ineke!) that there is a book about Shakespeare and Company. Or rather, a book written by a reporter that worked there for nine months. In this book “Time was soft there”, Jeremy Mercel, tells all about his experiences in this fantastic store. Click here to learn more about the book. For the Dutch readers, the book has just been translated into Dutch! It is called “Een bed tussen de boeken” (A bed between the…
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Smart Bitches, Trashy Books
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Romantic Suspense Blurbs Gone Wild: Teh Winnahs!
2 Jul 2009 | 11:39 amQuestion: are fill-in-the-blank javascripts the most funnest thing ever? Y/Y? Y! Thank you to the HOLY CRAP THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-THREE of you who had fun with the Smart Bitch Romantic Suspense Blurbs Gone Wild! I’ll have to hang out with Mr. Java and his script to make more fun, huh? Woo! And now, a special message from Roxanne St. Claire: Two hours? Just gone. Two hours laughing my ass off at those mad libs, trying to pick winners, which was flipping impossible. I loved so many of them. Here are three that really caught me because they were either hysterical or possible. -
Sony Test Drivers: Start Your Engines
1 Jul 2009 | 1:11 pmThank you to the many, many, nearly 200 applicants who gave me a righteous smacking lesson on how curious readers approach digital books. I have learned so much from reading your applications, such as how many forms of poetry can be created when one desires a digital reading device, and how frustrating it is for readers in locations with faraway bookshops to secure new reading material. With no further ado, I announce the thirty Test Drivers for the Smart Bitches Sony Reader Test Drive. Many, many thanks to Sony Electronics Inc. and to Harlequin for making this program possible. I will… -
Smart Bitch Tweetup with Irish Rogues!
1 Jul 2009 | 9:40 amSpontaneous Tweetup! Candy is in town this week, so let us gather and seek out romance heroes. Or drinks. Or both. We’ll be at The Irish Rogue, 356 W 44th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues at 5:30 pm today. Come on down - we’d love to meet you. Come on down! ETA: I hear from Katiebabs that tonight is $5 frozen drink night at The Irish Rogue. How roguish! Let there be slushies! -
Romantic Suspense and Roxanne St. Claire: ARC Giveaway!
30 Jun 2009 | 6:14 amSince I poked a little fun at vaguely religious pseudonyms, and since Roxanne St. Claire isn't a pseudonym, I thought, let's have another ARC giveaway, shall we? Yes, we shall! Your task: more fun with romantic suspense! Using your power of Word Knowlege, use the form below to generate a title and its tagline. As always, copy and paste your brilliant results into the comments. Two winners will be chosen to receive an advanced reader copy of Roxanne St. Claire's next book, Hunt Her Down. 24 hours, so grab the hand of your nearest male silhouette, and run, run like the wind! Note: the results… -
NYU’s Summer Publishing Institute, with Smart Bitches
29 Jun 2009 | 7:56 amIn a rare joint appearance, Candy and I will be on a panel today at NYU’s Summer Publishing Institute, which this year is devoted to Book, Magazine, and Digital Publishing. The panel, which is made up of book bloggers, will discuss how publishers promote books and what we think of the state of publishing. Sorry, folks, I don’t think it’s open to the public. But hell, if it were? It would be a Twitter-extravaganza. For one thing, I think 60% of the panel is named “Sara(h)”, which adds fuel to the theory that there are 9 people total in New York publishing, and at…
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Booksquare
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Comfort Reads on the 21st Century
23 Jun 2009 | 11:24 amOne of the worst-kept secrets in my household is the fact that I buy multiple copies of the same book. For myself. I am not alone in this habit, but I’ve noticed a new twist on an old concept. Last week, I observed a discussion among readers: the importance of purchasing comfort reads to store on digital readers. Make the reader happy, and that reader will buy more books. These readers weren’t looking for free digital copies of books they’d already purchased. No, they were discussing second or third purchases of favorite books. This time, the discussion focused on the quest… -
More on Joining the Conversation
16 Jun 2009 | 11:06 amThe first thesis of The Cluetrain Manifesto is “markets are conversations”. Stretch, twist, transform, voila!: books are conversations. I was reminded of this last week as fragments of a Twitter discussion caught my eye: a reader and bookseller (both located in different states) engaged in a conversation about buying from local booksellers. The reader noted that while romance readers buy a lot of books, independent booksellers are not always romance-friendly; thus these book buyers go elsewhere. The bookseller said (and I paraphrase), “Hmm. Maybe we could do a better job of… -
On Loving Reading
11 Jun 2009 | 11:21 amAnn Kirschner, after reading Little Dorritt in four different formats: Oh boy, have I had a lot of arguments along the way to the marriage of Little Dorrit and her long-suffering beau, Arthur Clennam! Readers are passionate and opinionated advocates for their preferred formats. Flip announced that she reads only hardcovers; end of conversation. “I get it,” said Bill, watching me read on the iPhone: “You like your books little.” Bob is no Luddite, but he insists that Steve Jobs has bribed me, since the Kindle is so obviously superior. Just wait for the Apple… -
Commercial Break: Twitter and Tweet Camp
10 Jun 2009 | 10:17 amWhile it can seem like the move to digital is the only topic consuming publishing industry, online marketing has resurfaced as a trending topic. Once the province of display ads (with a few wild experiments with the evil pop-ups!), online marketing is now, for better or worse, all about social media. Your MySpace, your Facebook, your Twitter. Just as when the blog craze hit (remember when everybody had to have one, even if the reason wasn’t clear?), social media mania is filling the halls of the publishing business. It’s not a bad thing. Because, social media (and marketing) is,… -
BEA 2009: A Bit of Deja Vu All Over Again
1 Jun 2009 | 2:38 pmIt is perhaps telling that I left BookExpo America 2009 with the same feeling I had in 2006. And 2008. This time, however, there is also a layer of optimism, the product, actually, of the Publishing 3.0 presentation from the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. It’s too big for a nutshell, so hang on for bit. I’m sure I’ll bring it all home. Things that make sense in one bubble might not make sense in another. This year’s theme was Big Ideas. I didn’t see any (unless forgoing a booth in favor of a meeting room is a Big Idea, and it just might be), but will take…
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carpelibrisreviews.com
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“Bialetti Moka Express” Stovetop Coffee Maker Giveaway
Click Here for More Giveaways Is 'Italian" synonymous with "design"? Perhaps my husband could help answer that question. A proud European to the core, he practically shuddered with delight when a Bialetti Moka Express arrived in our home. Was I excited too? Yes, I adore coffee, especially any with a European ... -
“Cairo - Dancas Egipcias” by Nomad
Click Here for More Giveaways One thing I truly desire to do through this blog is to entice people to explore our world through music and literature. We sometimes get a little shortsighted in our selections, falling into the ruts of what is set before us through television and radio stations. ... -
Marianni - Vai Saber CD Giveaway
Click Here for More Giveaways When sitting still is just not an option, it's time to pop in Marianni Ebert's CD Vai Saber. This Brazilian Jazz singer puts on quite a show at the Zinc Bar in New York City, and fortunately you can hear a live performance anytime you like ... -
Long Slow Distance by Thomas Phillips
Click Here for More Giveaways He's a rather thin man, hates it when they call him skinny. But he's a runner and likes how he is - he finds himself gracile, his own word for his graceful, slender appearance. We don't know much about him, really. His story may be this ... -
The Four Corners of the Sky by Michael Malone
Click Here for More Giveaways In Michael Malone's brand new novel The Four Corners of the Sky, Annie's father gave her a lot more than an old broken-down airplane when he took off. After leaving her to be raised by her aunt and uncle, he also gave her a mystery to ...
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WriteBlack
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WriteBlack’s Twitter updates for this week
27 Jun 2009 | 9:59 pmSci-fi legend Samuel R. Delany answers questions from io9 readers: http://is.gd/17yIF # Powered by Twitter Tools. -
WriteBlack’s Twitter updates for this week
20 Jun 2009 | 9:59 pmAwesome. RT @AdamSerwer Superheroes grouped by religious affiliation. http://tr.im/oGcY # Powered by Twitter Tools. -
WriteBlack’s Twitter updates for this week
13 Jun 2009 | 9:59 pmHeh. RT @elonjames Black people buying a Soulja Boy CD: Like telling ancestors “Your fight for equality was for naught…Oh & aye bay bay.” # Attica Locke’s “Black Water Rising” gets a good review http://is.gd/YRvf # Where are the black supervillains (and do we need them?) http://is.gd/YR7u # Methinks I’ll read Steven Barnes’s “Shadow Valley” next. I enjoyed “Great Sky Woman,” so I hope this lives up to its predecessor. # @skinnyblackgirl Definitely Method Man’s “Bring the Pain.” # @faboomama… -
Wednesday video: Malcolm Gladwell interview
10 Jun 2009 | 3:40 am -
Review: Some Like It Hot, by Brenda Jackson
9 Jun 2009 | 3:40 amSome Like It Hot: Stories Brenda Jackson St. Martins Press 2009 I saw this anthology of five stories by my fellow Floridian Brenda Jackson in the bookstore recently and couldn’t resist picking it up. Most of the stories have appeared in other anthologies, but I’d only read one of them before, so it seemed like a worthwhile purchase. Plus, romance anthologies generally make me happy. Sigh. From the first story, which featured a young magazine writer who said one of her main goals in life was to win a Pulitzer Prize (I’ll give you two guesses why that was an extremely clumsy…
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London Review of Books
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Rory Stewart: Why Are We in Afghanistan?
Obama and Brown rely on a hypnotising policy language which can - and perhaps will - be applied as easily to Somalia or Yemen as Afghanistan. It misleads us in several respects simultaneously: minimising differences between cultures, exaggerating our fears, aggrandising our ambitions, inflating a sense of moral obligations and power, and confusing our goals. All these attitudes are aspects of a single worldview and create an almost irresistible illusion. -
Christopher Caldwell: Bernard Kouchner
It is Kouchner, more than anyone, who has eroded the distinction between philanthropy and combat. As a young gastroenterologist and self-described 'mercenary of emergency medicine', he helped launch Médecins sans frontières in the early 1970s. He broadcast the plight of the Vietnamese boat people in the late 1970s, advised Mitterrand in the 1980s, roused public indignation over events in Somalia, Bosnia and Rwanda in the 1990s, and served as interim governor of Kosovo after Nato's attack on Serbia . . . Kouchner may not have invented the concept of 'humanitarian intervention', but he has… -
Clancy Martin: My Life as a Drunk
On 1 January this year, at about 11 o'clock in the evening, my wife found me, feet kicking, dangling from an improvised rope - a twisted yellow sheet - about a metre off the ground in our bedroom closet. Our two-year-old daughter was in the bed, sleeping, just a few feet away . . . I was at the end of a binge. I was also at the end of three years of secret drinking, of hiding bottles and sneaking away to bars while my wife thought I was living as I had promised her, as a sober man. -
Michael Wood on 'North by Northwest'
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Daniel Finn: Tax Havens
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McSweeney's
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Feature: "Respectful Yo Mama Jokes" by Lucas Klauss (5/8/09)
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Letters to McSweeney's
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Feature: "It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Gets Their Head Stuck in a 3,600-Year-Old Sumerian Pot" by Ian Wood (5/7/09)
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Interviews With People Who Have Interesting or Unusual Jobs
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Feature: "My Pitches for Political-Satire Skits Playing on President Obama's Foibles Keep Getting Shot Down" by Teddy Wayne (5/6/09)
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Podiobooker
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Hard Boiled Headline is COMPLETE!
2 Jul 2009 | 6:29 amThe king of crotchety, Greg Crites, has just released the final episodes of his book, Hard Boiled Headline. This makes the fifth book Greg has released here. With luck, we’ll see more from him in the future! -
Unconventional
1 Jul 2009 | 6:26 amPlease welcome J.J. Hebert to the site. He’s using the voice talents of Jeffrey Kafer to release a free serialized audiobook version of his inspirational fiction novel, Unconventional. To celebrate the launch, Jeffrey Kafer will do a live reading of episode 1 (chapters 1-3) via webcam at 10pm Eastern Time (7pm PST). J.J. Hebert will also be there in the chat room to answer questions and celebrate the launch with you! YOUNG JAMES FROST just knows, deep in his bones, that he’s a writer. He writes far into early mornings, after his wearying hours of scrubbing toilets and sweeping… -
Untrue Tales From Beyond Fiction, Book 1 is COMPLETE
27 Jun 2009 | 9:46 pmTeel McClanahan III has wrapped up the final episode of Untrue Tales From Beyond Fiction, Book 1. Well… that’s not really the title of the book. The real title of the book is Untrue Tales From Beyond Fiction - Recollections of an Alternate Past, Book One: An Introduction To Dodgeball -or- Conception and Induction -or- How To Begin An Apocalypse. And while this first book is done, the series is not. Next week, he’ll be releasing the first episode of Untrue Tales From Beyond Fiction, Book 2. As you might suspect, that’s not the real name of the second book. It’s… -
Acts of Desperation
22 Jun 2009 | 6:52 pmTim Dodge makes his debut on the site, releasing his thriller, Acts of Desperation, as a free serialized audiobook: Ray Davis is newly divorced, going nowhere at a dead-end job in a warehouse, and has almost worked off the debts his ex-wife rang up. Then his underinsured brother’s need for a liver transplant forces Ray to come up with a lot of money, fast. When he attempts to recover the profit he made with an old business partner, Ray discovers that the partner is dead and his investment has fallen into the hands of a drug dealer. The dealer has used the cash to buy a large supply of… -
Traitor, Book 1 of The Turner Chronicles is COMPLETE!
21 Jun 2009 | 11:18 amWe’ve just added the final three episodes of Traitor, Book 1 of The Turner Chronicles by Mark Eller. You can now download all 30 episodes to your heart’s content!
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Tripping the Muse
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Rock Your Writing Career Today
18 Jun 2009 | 3:00 am“Publishing is tough business…” it states at RockYour Writing.com. Nothing could be further from the truth. But there is help, and it comes in the name of Joe Nassise. Joe is an international best-selling author whom I have mentioned on this site before. It seems that Joe has taken the years of experience he has had in the publishing business and put it out there to help both new and established authors succeed. He is offering a book Jump Start Your Novel as well as an in depth , subscription based website at Rock Your Writing Career. I’d highly recommend… -
Pitch Your Idea to Yourself
2 Dec 2008 | 1:30 amI am contemplating a couple of non-fiction book projects which may require substantial research. I’m not exactly a subject matter expert on the subjects but I’m about half way there. I have quite a bit of work ahead of me no matter what project I decide to give my attention to. It’s time to pitch the projects to my strongest critic… Myself. So in order to make an informed decision I need to answer a few questions about each project. Are there other books on the subject? If there is it doesn’t mean my book won’t have a place of its own on the bookshelf. -
He Said, She Said
28 Nov 2008 | 1:30 amGone are the days of the simple “he said” or “she said”. Today’s writers often times feel the need to end their character’s dialogue with a descriptive tag. While there is nothing inherently wrong in doing so, it does show a certain amount of laziness when taken to the extreme. ”Laziness!?”. I can see your eyebrows arched on that one. You thought ending your dialogue with a simple “she said” was lazy didn’t you? Nope. Don’t believe me? “Rick,” Sarah smiled sweetly. ”Surely you are… -
Surefire Ways to Have Your Stories Rejected
25 Nov 2008 | 1:30 amIt’s time to submit the short story you’ve labored over. You’ve developed the characters, tightened the action, and created the perfect ending. You love it and you’re sure your readers will love it. So it’s time to get it in front of them. The best way to do that is to have it published. Time to start submitting to short story publications. That’s the simple part right? Stick a stamp on it (or attach it to an email), send it out, and eventually it will find its way to print. Right? Not so fast grasshopper. Are you forgetting anything? -
How About That Prologue?
20 Nov 2008 | 1:30 amI’ve written many prologues. In classic literature they are abundant so I always thought “why not?”. They look professional right? Well…. Put it this way. Prologue’s are beginning to have a very bad rap in fiction literature. And this is probably justified. Too many times they are thrown in just for the sake of having one. And I say this because I am guilty of it myself. So why stay away from them? For one, they are probably unnecessary. Look at your prologue if you have one. Does it need to be a separate entity? Why not include it in the…
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Bookshop Blog
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Can you Franchise the Used Book Business?
29 Jun 2009 | 9:53 amShane Gottwals www.gottwalsbooks.com I didn’t think about franchising until a friend of mine brought up the concept. Think about it. If you have a trade system, an acquisitions system, an employee requirement system, a pricing system, a fixture system, a sorting system, an advertising system, a bathroom cleaning schedule system (OK… this one’s a stretch), etc., why should you NOT open the doors for franchising? My wife and I have been preparing our newest store (you can see our labor at www.gottwalsbooks.com), and I must say that it is far easier the second time… -
Quick tip: Supporting literacy every day
26 Jun 2009 | 10:59 amEncouraging literacy should be part of your long term business plan for your bookstore, as I argued in an earlier post. You create your future market by investing in the next generation of readers. But, even if you have the best intensions, you only have so much time each day and your grand plans often get pushed to the side. So here’s a quick tip on how to do a little every day. Switch the home page on your browser to The Literacy Site. It’s a simple concept. You click the donate button once a day it takes you to a screen full of ads. The money the advertisers pay per… -
The Small Town Bookstore Path
25 Jun 2009 | 5:53 pmA guest post by P. J. Grath, Dog Ears Books, Northport, Michigan For information on becoming a contributor click here.. Christopher Milne (son of A. A. Milne) and his wife decided after World War II to leave London and open a bookstore elsewhere. In his autobiography, The Path Through the Trees (1979), Milne muses, “I doubt if any modern ‘feasibility study’ could have offered us a town in which both bookselling and living have been such a pleasure for so many years.” Sixteen years after opening my first bookshop in little Northport, Michigan, my feelings are very much in line with… -
How We Came to Be: Part 1 Blarney Books, Port Fairy
22 Jun 2009 | 5:00 pma guest post by Jo Canham of Blarney Books When my partner and I still lived in Melbourne, I had a habit of browsing internet real estate, and usually looked up any place we had visited and enjoyed, fantasising about packing up and heading off. I thought it was an innocent enough pasttime, that nothing would ever come of my internet wanderings. The reality was that we had had enough of the city, and if an escape route were found, we’d take it. Fortunately that opportunity arrived. Port Fairy is a small, coastal town that was one of Victoria’s original whaling ports, so it has a lot… -
Conversation with Linda Olsson
16 Jun 2009 | 7:28 pmA Guest Post by Kim Allen-Niesen, co-founder of Bookstore People For information on becoming a contributor click here.. image courtesy of Cato Lein The more you know about a book, the easier it is to hand sell it. At the invitation of Literary Affairs , I was able to attend a breakfast interview with Linda Olsson about her latest book, Sonata for Miriam. What I enjoy most about Linda’s writing is her uncanny ability to portray a sense of place. I felt that the landscape was almost a separate character in her first book, Astrid & Veronica, and should be part of any reading list…
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Berkeley Heights Public Library Book Blog
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Cheat Sheet
2 Jul 2009 | 8:27 amTo reward you for being such a faithful blog reader, here are some upcoming bestsellers that are in the catalog (so you can go ahead and put yourself on hold for them now).Alex Cross's Trial by James Patterson - AugustBlind Man's Bluff by Faye Kellerman - AugustIntervention by Robin Cook - AugustThe Last Song by Nicholas Sparks - SeptemberThe Lost Art of Gratitude (an Isabel Dalhousie novel) by Alexander McCall Smith - SeptemberA Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve - OctoberI, Alex Cross by James Patterson - November -
The Six Bean Story: or why gardening can drive you crazy.
30 Jun 2009 | 3:38 pmMary, Mary Quite ContraryHow does your garden grow?With silver bells and cockle shellsAnd pretty maids all in a row.The song mothers sing to their babies sounds like a sweet paean to a little girl's garden, but Mother Goose's nursery rhyme about gardening alludes to Bloody Mary Tudor and her habit of burning her subjects at the stake - 300 subjects, to put a number to it. "Silver bells" refers to thumbscrews and and cockle shells were instruments of torture used on areas of the body even more sensitive than thumbs , as explained in this Nursery Rhyme Origin and History website.My experiences… -
Starting a Business, Starting at the Library
30 Jun 2009 | 7:26 amI was reading The Martha Rules by Martha Stewart the other day (she was inspired to write it when a fellow inmate asked her advice about starting a hair salon combined with a restaurant). She has a friend who started his own exotic plant nursery. He often counsels people who want to begin their own nurseries that their biggest investment in the early years will be a wheelbarrow and a shovel (unwelcome news to those who see starting a business as an opportunity to go on a spending spree).The library has an extensive collection of books on starting businesses. I've listed some titles on… -
Books I Almost Read
24 Jun 2009 | 7:06 am"So many books, so little time." That phrase is bandied about on t-shirts, bumper stickers and stationary sold at librarian conventions or hawked on bookbags for public television fundraisers. I've always found it smug and annoying. If I put that phrase on my car bumper, my kids would refuse to ride in the car. It conveys an image of librarians that librarians claim to try to avoid (bookish, dweeby, bespectacled etc.) I do like the image (minus the smug phrase) of the old-fashioned, shushing librarian with her nose in a book and hair in a bun, and think the profession should embrace it,… -
Now, Even More Audiobooks for the Pod People
19 Jun 2009 | 12:44 pmiPod, that is. If you have A) an iPod or an iPhone and B) a computer that runs Windows, you can now download a whole lot more audiobooks to your iPod now at listennj.com. That's because on Tuesday, the powers that be made it possible for the Windows Media Audio (WMA) audiobooks to be downloaded to an iPod, as long as the publisher agreed. If you have an iPod and a Mac, you can still download audiobooks for free at listennj.com (but not as many).Just to give you a taste of what you can line up for at ListenNJ, here are some titles they have that everyone can download, whether you have an iPod,…
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Washington Post
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Book Review: 'Broken: A Love Story' by Lisa Jones
27 Jun 2009 | 9:00 pmLisa Jones writes beautifully about the natural world, knows how to bring the people she encounters alive on the page and tells a gutsy, moving story about a significant passage in her own life. -
Book Review: 'American Radical' by D.D. Guttenplan
27 Jun 2009 | 9:00 pmD.D. Guttenplan, a London correspondent for the Nation, offers a vividly written, avidly researched biography of I.F. Stone, one of the most interesting of 20th-century American journalists, in "American Radical." -
Washington Area Literary Calendar June 29-July 5
27 Jun 2009 | 9:00 pm29 MONDAY 12:15 P.M. W. Ralph Eubanks discusses and signs his new memoir, The House at the End of the Road: The Story of Three Generations of an Interracial Family in the American South . New America Foundation, 1899 L. St. NW (4th floor). Call 202-596-3367 for details; visit... -
Book Review: 'Rebirth of a Nation' by Jackson Lears
27 Jun 2009 | 9:00 pm"Rebirth of a Nation" is dazzling cultural history: smart, provocative and gripping. It is also a book for our times, historically grounded, hopeful and filled with humane, just and peaceful possibilities. -
Poet's Choice By Sarah Manguso
27 Jun 2009 | 9:00 pmI moved into a cabin in the foothills of the White Mountains in order to isolate myself, 11 years and several hundred miles from the memory of my 1995 diagnosis with the neurological disease chronic idiopathic demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy.
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Joe Wikert's Publishing 2020 Blog
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Fast Company's Bezos/Amazon Cover Story
29 Jun 2009 | 6:02 amThe latest issue (July/August) issue of Fast Company magazine features an excellent cover article about Amazon and Jeff Bezos. As I read through it I highlighted a few excerpts and made a number of notes:Recently, Bezos claimed that Kindle e-books add 35% to a physical book's sales on Amazon whenever Kindle editions are available. Put another way, for every three print copies of, say, Malcolm Gladwell's "The Outliers" the site sells, it also sells one Kindle e-book -- or about 25% of total sales.This felt like an overstatement to me...till I sat down and checked the… -
A Kindle App I'd Buy
25 Jun 2009 | 9:50 amAmazon's tightly closed Kindle ecosystem doesn't offer customers an App Store like Apple does with the iPhone. That doesn't matter though because the idea I have in mind would reside on your computer, not the Kindle...How many emails like this do you get each week?: "You need to read this article over on so-and-so.com. I just read it and thought it was terrific/funny/relevant/etc." I get these all the time. Sometimes I click the link and read the first sentence or two. If it's good and I don't have time to read it all now I'll leave that browser… -
Recent Thoughts About the Amazon Kindle
22 Jun 2009 | 5:44 amI made a few notes while reading this Book Business magazine article over the weekend. It's well worth reading, btw, but here are a few items I underlined:The innovation of the Kindle was not to improve e-reading—many earlier e-readers offered a very similar reading experience—but to dramatically alter the purchasing experience through its wireless capability.So true and yet so easily forgotten. The Kindle could have simply become Newton 2.0 without this important feature. Customers come for the eInk display but Whispernet is what keeps 'em coming back. (It still blows… -
Textbooks: A Market Begging for Change
15 Jun 2009 | 6:29 amEvery day brings more news about the book industry's ongoing evolution. Whether it's a shiny new e-reader, a recently-opened e-storefront or some other development, it's clear some experimentation is taking place...maybe not as much as you'd expect, but there's some happening nonetheless.One area where experimentation efforts should be ramped up significantly is the textbook market. Seth Godin wrote his own rant about this over the weekend and I think he makes a number of excellent points. College students are some of the most clever, resourceful and imaginative… -
Getting More Magazines on the Kindle
10 Jun 2009 | 4:59 pmThe Kindle is now more than 18 months old and there are still only 24 magazines available for it. Why so few? I've heard several reasons why and the most likely ones are (a) the magazine publishers don't like the financial terms offered by Amazon and (b) they also don't want to give up control of their content (and direct customer access) to Amazon. I've got an idea that solves both these problems and would make Kindle owners everywhere much, much happier.The company I work for, O'Reilly Media, Inc., sells Kindle editions on Amazon's website. We…
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The Journal of Electronic Publishing
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How the Media Frames "Open Access"
The Journal of Electronic Publishing Vol. 12 Issue 1, 2009-02-15. Framing has its roots in how journalists construct news in a way that makes sense to lay audiences. Frames capture the essence of an issue. They define what the problem is, and how to think about it. Often they suggest what should be done to remedy a problem (Kinder 1998). -
Two Scenarios for How Scholarly Publishers Could Change Their Business Model to Open Access
The Journal of Electronic Publishing Vol. 12 Issue 1, 2009-02-15. In scholarly publishing as in many other industries, the Internet has also opened innovative new ways of doing business. A grass-roots movement of scientists advocating the publication of scientific journals openly on the Web, which they called “open access,” started in the mid-1990s (Guédon 2001). Open access can be seen as part of a larger Web-enabled phenomenon of peer production, user-generated content, and open-source development (Benkler 2002, 2006). The open access advocates propose two partly complementary… -
Toward the Design of an Open Monograph Press
The Journal of Electronic Publishing Vol. 12 Issue 1, 2009-02-15. The cellulose-based engine of academic life in the humanities and social sciences, otherwise known as the monograph, is being increasingly displaced not by MacBooks or FaceBook but by its long-standing junior companion, the journal. After playing a supporting role for centuries as a place for trial runs, interim reports, reviews, and updates, the journal article has become the principal measure of academic achievement in many disciplines. The journal does bring a measure of precision to the academy’s reputation economy, with… -
Open Access in 2008
The Journal of Electronic Publishing Vol. 12 Issue 1, 2009-02-15. A staggering amount of energy was poured into implementing open access (OA) in 2008. This is an attempt to show its depth and breadth, while admitting that the full story can’t be captured in one article. There’s a lot of detail here, but it’s selective and I’ve tried to present just the highlights of 2008 in nine categories, with a 10th section for highlights of the highlights. To keep it within bounds, I’ve omitted some sections I’ve formerly included, such as open education, open access for public-sector… -
Current Models of Digital Scholarly Communication: Results of an Investigation Conducted by Ithaka Strategic Services for the Association of Research Libraries
The Journal of Electronic Publishing Vol. 12 Issue 1, 2009-02-15. The networked digital environment has enabled the creation of many new kinds of works that are accessible to end users directly, and many of these resources have become essential tools for scholars conducting research, building scholarly networks, and disseminating their ideas and work. The decentralized distribution of these new model works can make it difficult to fully appreciate their scope and number, even for university librarians tasked with knowing about valuable resources across the disciplines. In the spring of 2008,…
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LGBT Book, Film & Video Blog
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Lesbian and gay erotica in new Swing anthology out today in print
1 Jul 2009 | 10:00 pmSwing! Adventures in Swinging by Today's Top Erotica Writersis a new collection of swinging stories by 25 of today's top erotica writers. The book is out in print today.In a collection of swinging stories, along with straight couples, one would expect a fair amount of bisexual women. After all, bisexual women have long been a staple of the American swinging scene. However, Swing! also contains a few stories that are entirely lesbian or gay. See Lesbian and gay erotica in new Swing anthology out today in print Examiner.comgay books lesbian books gay men -
A teen book burns at the stake
22 Jun 2009 | 3:45 pmFrancesca Lia Block, an award-winning author of young-adult books (the "Weetzie Bat" series among them), has known for a while now that one of her novels, Baby Be-bop (Dangerous Angels)is at the center of a controversy in West Bend, Wis.A few days ago, she found out that it might be burned at the stake. "Baby Be-bop (Dangerous Angels)" is on a list of titles that a local group calling itself the West Bend Citizens for Safe Libraries objects to seeing in the public library. In February, the group asked the library's board to remove a page of recommended titles about gay and lesbian issues for… -
'Playing for My Life’
20 Jun 2009 | 3:38 pmA TERRIBLE SPLENDOR A Terrible Splendor: Three Extraordinary Men, a World Poised for War, and the Greatest Tennis Match Ever Played By Marshall Jon Fisher Illustrated. 321 pp. Crown Publishers. $25One afternoon in late July 1937, an American redhead and a German aristocrat graced the noble lawn of Wimbledon, spinning an unforgettable spectacle. Tennis was never so civilized — or so it seemed. Don Budge, the son of a truck driver from California, and his friend Baron Gottfried von Cramm, a dashing blond, dueled toward dusk in the last match of the Davis Cup semifinal held at the All… -
LARRY KRAMER: Review: Before Wilde: Sex Between Men in Britain's Age of Reform
18 Jun 2009 | 8:41 amBefore Wilde: Sex between Men in Britain's Age of Reform by Charles UpchurchUniversity of California Press; (April 22, 2009), 288 pages This is a very important book. It may even be a historic book, one with which gay history can arm itself with more sufficient factual veracity as to start vanquishing at last the devil known as queer studies. Queer studies is that stuff that is taught in place of gay history and which elevates theory over facts because its practitioners, having been unsuccessful in uncovering enough of the hard stuff, are haughtily trying to make do. Well, here is a healthy… -
THE GREEKS AND GREEK LOVE
18 Jun 2009 | 12:40 amTHE GREEKS AND GREEK LOVE A Bold New Exploration of the Ancient World By James Davidson. Random House. 789 pp. $45 Enthralling if overlong, "The Greeks and Greek Love" is written in part as a counterblast to Kenneth Dover's classic "Greek Homosexuality" (1978), which has been deeply influential in contemporary cultural studies. Dover argued that same-sex relationships among males in ancient Greece focused on sodomy, and that the submissive role was deeply humiliating. By contrast, the aggressive or dominant partner could freely engage in any amount of episodic sex without serious consequences…
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First Book Blog
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Books to Celebrate America’s Birthday
2 Jul 2009 | 7:37 amWith plenty of Fourth of July fireworks and cookouts coming right around the corner, the question, “Why do we celebrate Independence Day?” may come to mind. In honor of our nation’s birthday, First Book is featuring titles which highlight the history, heritage and uniqueness of America. Discover America is a wonderful series created by the Encyclopædia Britannica which tours all fifty states, describing each state’s history, environment, culture, and people. The Fact Book which accompanies this series gives readers “Top 10” lists, maps and charts detailing various facts about the… -
Worst Gift Contest Winner: A.C. Parker
1 Jul 2009 | 10:09 amWow, we asked and you responded with stories of some positively awful gifts! Thanks so much to everyone who commented; as a result, we’ll be donating 50 new books to children in need (one for every comment plus a few extra!). Congratulations to A.C. Parker, the winner of our random drawing, who will receive her choice of an autographed copy of one of these great books: Linda Sue Park’s Keeping Score, James Patterson’s The Final Warning or Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events: Book the Thirteenth (just a small consolation prize to help make up for the “Beatles… -
United We Serve: Packing Backpacks with the First Family
30 Jun 2009 | 11:25 amLast Thursday, June 25th, I was lucky enough to join the President, the First Lady, and hundreds of Congressional family members to prepare 15,000 backpacks with books and other items for the children of servicemen and women. With the incredibly generous support of Random House Children’s Books and Disney Publishing Worldwide, First Book was able to donate 30,000 books (two for each backpack!) with a retail value of almost $250,000. The service event highlighted ‘United We Serve,’ President Obama’s call to all Americans to engage in service projects and create meaningful impact in… -
Will Surf for Books! Pi Beta Phi Hosts Surf Classic to Support First Book
30 Jun 2009 | 7:40 amRecently, members of Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) hosted their sixth annual Surf Classic at Pacific Beach in San Diego, California. Over 100 Pi Phis attended the Classic, watching on while dozens of surfers took to the waves in an effort to raise money for First Book to provide new books to kids in need. The surf contest included both men’s and women’s brackets as well as a team competition. The all day classic also included a volleyball tournament, raffle, and barbecue in its fun-filled festivities. When the day was done, the… -
New Shop to Support Products!
29 Jun 2009 | 1:32 pmSearching for that perfect gift for birthdays, graduations and other special occasions? Then check out First Book’s new line of Shop to Support products. Find the catchy slogan “A Book Today, a Friend Forever” logo on a variety of products ranging from notebooks to Sigg water bottles, and golf shirts to baby bibs. A portion of proceeds from each of these products benefits First Book. When you purchase “A Book Today, A Friend Forever” merchandise, you can also help provide new books to children who need them most! Browse through “A Book Today, A Friend Forever” gear and other…
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Publishing 2.0
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Wordpress & SocialVibe: Blogging Gone Good
15 Jun 2009 | 11:05 amNew York venture capitalist Fred Wilson is one of the most prolific and renown bloggers on the web. And if you go his blog, avc.com, you’ll notice that (like most blogs) he runs advertising to generate revenues. But what many of you may not know is that all the proceeds Fred generates through his blog goes to charity. What a concept!! You blog for a few minutes each day, and presto! You’re supporting your favorite charity! Now, imagine if millions of people did this… imagine the impact we could have on the world. Starting today, if you’re a blogger who uses… -
Why we link: A brief rundown of the reasons your news organization needs to tie the Web together
11 Jun 2009 | 10:24 amOriginally posted at BeatBlogging.org, a resource for journalists using social networks, blogs, and other Web tools to improve beat reporting. Whenever I talk with news organizations of any size about linking to sources, resources and journalism that originated outside the walls of their newsroom, two questions come up: How and Why. Well, conveniently enough, I work for Publish2, and we build tools that help answer the question of How. If your problem is that systems make adding links directly in the text of your story a difficult task, let’s solve that by adding links in widgets, sidebars,… -
Retraining Wire and Feature Editors to Be Web Curators
2 May 2009 | 10:22 amIf the wire editor and feature editor roles are becoming obsolete for print newspapers, as Steve Yelvington persuasively argues, then those editors should be retrained — or retrain themselves — as web curators. Rather than become obsolete, these editors could become essential to their news organization’s future on the web. Steve observes: On the Internet, we have no need of wire editors; if we wish to have wire content on our websites, we can plug in AP Hosted News, or run a full feed of AP Online or some similar product from another service. But with everything on the… -
Collaboration can’t cure #swineflu, but it can fight filter failure
29 Apr 2009 | 6:41 amPerhaps you’ve noticed a bit of activity online the last few days related to a certain not-quite-pandemic bug that’s going around. Swine Flu. Or, to put it in microblogging terms, #swineflu. The wonderful thing about the ease of communication online is that anyone can start a discussion, carry it on, pass along information, retweet it, forward an e-mail, leave a comment on a blog post, or bookmark a page in a social way. The problem, of course, is that when millions of people are desperately looking for solid, clear information, that’s when it can be the most difficult to… -
Joining Publish2: Ryan Sholin, Greg Linch and Howard Weaver
23 Apr 2009 | 2:25 pmToday we’re announcing three major additions to the Publish2 team — journalists whose stellar reputations speak for themselves: Ryan Sholin joins us next week as Director of News Innovation. Greg Linch is the winner of the Publish2 Future of Journalism Contest and will join us in the fall as our Producer. Howard Weaver has joined our Board of Directors. Get the full scoop at the Publish2 Blog.
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Publishing Insider
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fab bookstore vid
1 Jul 2009 | 12:28 pmFrom Shelf Awareness: Check out Green Apple Books's latest Book of the Month video This hilarious "reenactment" from the San Franciscio store is for Conquest of the Useless by Werner Herzog, journals from the time the director made Fitzcarraldo in the Amazon. -
by the time you get to Woodstock
30 Jun 2009 | 5:23 amSo, yes, the Woodstock anniversary is over a month away, and no I wasn’t there, and as you know, it didn’t actually take place in Woodstock, BUT, nonetheless, here is a link to a wonderful Woodstock site with a books list PLUS some fun articles and posters from the day. And yes, there are new books coming out, notably Taking Woodstock from Square One and The Road to Woodstock from us here at Ecco. (See more music musings at BoomerTop5.com.) -
The amazing Roberto
29 Jun 2009 | 12:14 pmI picked up the amazing little Men of Letters & People of Substance at Odyssey Books in S. Hadley, MA as I know the author...and I was enraptured!! Roberto has used different fonts to create images of famous people, and more. It is magical, as is his earlier work with animals; check out Bembo's Zoo! -
Yaddo, beware
29 Jun 2009 | 12:12 pmNew play running in NY about a writers' colony. In fact, it's called Writers' Colony! Sounds funny! -
road trip
24 Jun 2009 | 4:12 amI'll write more in a bit, but back from two 3-day swings through New England, one with an author and one for a writers' conference. Had lots of talks, food and wine with bookseller and author friends, and e-books and POD and all of it is the source of ongoing debate, which is a good thing. Again, more on this road trip, but as always, I am fascinated by the role of word-of-mouth in book sales, of course, but also in music. I got to Portland, picked up the local paper, and saw that Cracker was playing that night! I don't really know them but I'll see anyone in a small venue and support any…
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University of Nebraska Press
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Happy two days before Independence Day!
2 Jul 2009 | 1:36 pmWe here at the University of Nebraska Press celebrated the upcoming holiday with pie. Our first ever Pie-A-Palooza was today, and about a dozen UNP employees entered their most beautiful, best tasting and most creative creations. Here’s a pic of the lovely, lovely pies, with more to come on Monday.Have a safe and happy July 4! Our office will be closed tomorrow for the holiday, but we’ll be back on Monday. -
Louise Pound's birthday party
1 Jul 2009 | 8:50 amLouise Pound’s birthday party was yesterday, as was the launch party for a new biography about her titled Louise Pound: Scholar, Athlete, Feminist Pioneer. The University of Nebraska Press attended, and this party was notable for several reasons. Among them: Hostess Paige Namuth actually met Louise Pound. Her parents were friends of Pound and her siblings, Roscoe and Olivia, and sometimes visited them at their Victorian home in downtown Lincoln (which, sadly, has been torn down). One visit, Louise Pound, who by then was in her 80s, took an interest in Paige, who was then about 10 years… -
A list of summer reading lists
30 Jun 2009 | 10:17 amYou know that summer has truly arrived once every major media outlet (and a whole bunch of minor media outlets, too) has published its summer reading list. I’ve already taken a stab at creating a summer reading list out of University of Nebraska Press titles, and today I thought I’d offer UNP blog readers a roundup of summer reading lists featuring titles published by presses other than ours. I begin with none other than Oprah. Oprah’s list includes 25 titles that are a mix of mystery, literature, poetry and memoir. Some titles are brand new; others are classics. It is one of the more… -
Louise Pound, Pie-A-Palooza and Michael Jackson, too
29 Jun 2009 | 8:24 amToday is the first day of a short but busy week here at the University of Nebraska Press. Tomorrow (Tuesday) evening is a launch party for our book Louise Pound: Scholar, Athlete, Feminist Pioneer, which is (as the title implies) a biography of linguist and notable Nebraskan Louise Pound. The book launch party, which happens to coincide with Louise Pound’s birthday, is at the Antlers Center, at the corner of Sheridan Boulevard and South Street here in Lincoln, from 5 to 7 p.m. Bonus: Some of Pound’s athletic equipment – including skates, golf clubs and tennis racquets – will be on… -
Off the Shelf: Youth and the Bright Medusa by Willa Cather
29 Jun 2009 | 6:10 amRead from "Coming, Aphrodite!" in the Willa Cather Scholarly Edition of Youth and the Bright Medusa: "Don hedger had lived for four years on the top floor of an old house on the south side of Washington Square, and nobody had ever disturbed him. He occupied one big room with no outside exposure excepton the north, where he had built in a many-paned studio window that looked upon a court and upon the roofs and walls of other buildings. His room was very cheerless, since he never got a ray of direct sunlight; the south corners were always in shadow. In one of the corners was a…
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The Book Bag Blog
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Louisa May Alcott's grave in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
29 Jun 2009 | 2:28 am -
I guess this is Southport Pier..........
19 Jun 2009 | 5:59 am -
Oh I do like to be beside the seaside........
9 Jun 2009 | 2:12 am -
Across to the Hagia Sophia for more prayer.....
7 Apr 2009 | 4:51 am -
Admiring the majestic Blue Mosque in Istanbul
7 Apr 2009 | 4:48 am
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The Penguin Blog
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Can we be of service?
29 Jun 2009 | 6:25 amAs Penguin's Digital Publisher, I've had any number of conversations over the last few years with traditional book editors where I've tried to convince them that we're in 'the content business' rather than 'the book business'. I've realised, as I eat my lunch alone, that in a company full of book-lovers these editors don't really want to think of themselves as content producers, however I dress it up in sexy new-media jargon. Or, perhaps, because of the new-media jargon.And as the debate about the value and price of digital content rages on,… -
Special Guest Post: Philip O'Ceallaigh on inspiring short stories
26 Jun 2009 | 6:16 amWe asked author Philip O'Ceallaigh what his favourite or most inspiring short stories were. This is what he said:Hard to choose a favourite Hemingway story, but it would have to be from his first collection, In Our Time, and most days I’d go for Big Two-hearted River. It’s a strange story, because nothing much happens. In it, a man walks into the wilderness to find a good place to fish. It describes the places he walks through, the heat of the day, the light through the pines, the weight of the pack on his back, how he made his camp, and the fishing itself. Once in one of my own… -
Penguin Design Award 2009
26 Jun 2009 | 6:11 amThe 10th floor of 80 Strand was brimming with fresh talent on Wednesday night as the winners and shortlist of the third annual Penguin Design Award gathered for the awards ceremony and an exhibition of their entries. The students mingled with the teams from the Penguin Art departments, judges and tutors before being presented with their certificates and prizes.This year students were invited to design a cover for Donna Tartt's The Secret History and we were deeply impressed by the imaginative concepts and assured design skills of the covers submitted. Our resident judges were joined… -
Doing more with less
26 Jun 2009 | 2:08 amEvery now and again I leaf through the pages of the advertising trade magazine Campaign to boggle my mind at the amount of money that companies spend on marketing their products. Tens of millions of pounds are spent on digital campaigns for chocolate bars, margarines and air-fresheners. When you get to the amount spent on marketing movies, video games or new music releases the sums are frankly mind-blowing. In publishing we don't have the luxury of million pound marketing budgets to create CGI TV campaigns or project the Penguin logo onto the moon. Luckily, people generally like… -
Around the World in 80 Books: the fifth leg
25 Jun 2009 | 7:28 amSo I've finally made it into Central Europe. I can't apologise enough for the delay, and this isn't really one of those instances where I can claim... wait... The dog ate my passport? Well, either way, here we are again, battling into deepest darkest Osterreich (according to Googlemaps). Fifth stop: Austria. Book: Venus in Furs, by Leopold von Sacher-MasochView Larger Map Anyone who gets their own fetish named after them has to be of some interest, don't you think? Or are they? While this book is notoriously autobiographical, one can't help but wonder how thrilling…
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will work for books
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Reminder: David Sedaris Reading is Tomorrow!
19 Jun 2009 | 7:51 amBestselling author David Sedaris will read from his latest book, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, at 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 20 (tomorrow!) at the University Bookstore. He will sign copies of all his titles after the reading. Come early to get a good seat and enjoy music and stand-up comedy beginning at 2:30 p.m. For more information, contact the store at 472-7300.From what I've heard, the plan is to issue numbers to customers as they arrive and the number will correspond to a seat. I'd suggest getting there early! -
Frank Tallis, A Death in Vienna
17 Jun 2009 | 10:42 pmI just read Frank Tallis's A Death in Vienna, and I really liked it.Detectives: Max Liebermann (a psychotherapist/doctor) and Oskar Rheinhardt, a police detectiveType of series: The series (there are three books so far, I believe) is set in Vienna in the early 1900s around the time of the birth of psychoanalysis and before World War I. I'd probably characterize it as detailed and gritty historical fiction; the focus is on police procedure and on therapeutic procedure, although the characterization is also quite nicely done.Sigmund Freud was living in Vienna at this time, and Liebermann talks… -
Ariana Franklin, Mistress of the Art of Death series
10 Jun 2009 | 10:12 pmMistress of the Art of DeathThe Serpent's TaleGrave GoodsHave just read the three books in Ariana Franklin's "Mistress of the Art of Death" series; they are a lot of fun. The series takes place in the early 1100s in England. The main character, Adelia Aguilar, is a medical examiner of sorts--she went to school to learn to do autopsies and to be a medical doctor in Salerno, Italy, where women were seen as the intellectual equals of men. At the behest of Henry Plantagenet (King Henry II), Adelia is sent to England to help solve a murder, and as the series progresses, she ends up working on… -
2008 Independent Publisher of the Year: University of Nebraska Press
9 Jun 2009 | 6:00 amFrom the Independent Publisher of the Year 2008 Awards speech by Victoria Sutherland, Publisher, ForeWord Magazine:. . . And that’s the reason why we’re here, isn’t it. Because editors and publishers know how to make choices. Of course different editors will make different choices, but there still remains that responsibility for the acquisition, subjective as it may be, and the care of the manuscript. There is monitoring for quality. And ultimately, there is the accumulation of a house’s taste—call it cultural heritage—through backlist.This is where independent publishers can and… -
Catching Up: Three Books I Finished Recently
8 Jun 2009 | 6:00 amThree quick reads, all enjoyable. Especially the one by Elinor Lipman, who is new to me (via Laura Lippman).Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoultebook 1-4295-3335-8iPod Touch, eReader Procopyright 1995As Picture Perfect begins, it is daybreak in downtown L.A. A woman suffering from amnesia is taken in by an officer new to the L.A. police force, after he finds her wandering aimlessly near a graveyard. Days later, when her husband comes to claim her at the police station, no one is more stunned than Cassie Barrett to learn that not only is she a renowned anthropologist, but she is married to…
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Pub Rants
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15 Out of 2,625 & Friday Funnies
2 Jul 2009 | 1:55 pmSTATUS: Tomorrow is a holiday so I won’t be blogging. Have a great 4th!What’s playing on the iPod right now? HOUNDS OF LOVE by Kate BushOops. Perhaps I should have clarified yesterday’s statistics because requesting 15 sample pages from 52 queries sounds pretty great.That is until you hear the explanation. Be forewarned, the real statistics are daunting.So yesterday I read 52 queries. That is true. However, these 52 queries were set aside for me to read out of three weeks’ worth of queries.On average, the agency gets 100 to 150 email queries a day. So in the last 21 days, we received… -
15 Out Of 52
1 Jul 2009 | 9:36 pmSTATUS: I’m actually planning to stay home from the office tomorrow to do a reading day. The trick is to not check email….What’s playing on the iPod right now? SATELLITE by GusterTonight I read 52 queries.I asked for sample pages from the following1. two folks who had met me in person at a conference.2. two fantasy queries that had caught my attention.3. four YA paranormal queries that sound interesting but will really have to blow me away in this crowded market4 . two literary novels that will have to be all about the writing5. one military SF novel that was really very cool (I just… -
Mea Culpa—Never A Position Of Strength
30 Jun 2009 | 12:09 pmSTATUS: Ack. Is it really almost 1:30 in the afternoon? Time to hit that TO DO list hard.What’s playing on the iPod right now? LONESOME TOWN by Ricky NelsonOr another title might be—don’t tweet in anger if you don’t like your book review.I’m not sure how many of you have followed the Alice Hoffman Tweet debacle but here is briefly what happened. After a non-positive review in the Boston Globe by reviewer Roberta Silman, Author Alice Hoffman shot off 27 twitter tweets in response—one of the tweets included Silman’s email and telephone number and Hoffman urged her fans to respond… -
A Head Scratcher
29 Jun 2009 | 4:23 pmSTATUS: Doing some client reading.What’s playing on the iPod right now? TAXI by Bryan FerryI just finished reading a query where the writer spent the first two opening paragraphs talking about the interesting setting of Alaska but when the writer hit the pitch blurb, no mention was made of how the setting influenced the story.It could have been set anywhere.Well that’s a head scratcher.I couldn’t help but wonder why all the detail on the location if the writer wasn’t going to use it. So my recommend, If you are going to great lengths to describe an unusual or important setting, make… -
Time For A Cool Change
26 Jun 2009 | 1:22 pmSTATUS: I’m working on two different contracts this afternoon. So necessary, so time consuming, and always delightful when it concludes.What’s playing on the iPod right now? P.Y.T. (PRETTY YOUNG THING) by Michael Jackson(of course!)It’s no longer okay for Publishers to say to me in a negotiation: “we have a policy that we won’t do that.”Especially when I’m talking about royalty structures and for this rant, the royalty structure for a trade paperback.Just to be clear, there are three main types of print formats for books. There is hardcover--which is of a certain size and has a…
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The Rejecter
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The Infamous Synopsis
23 Jun 2009 | 7:35 pmA lot of recent questions seem to be synopsis-related, so I figure I'll go over this once and for all so that it can settle the issue until a few months bury it in the archives and someone new comes along and answers the questions because they don't know how to use the "search" function on the blog.Writers are irrationally scared of the synopsis. How long is it? Does it have to be really good, or is it just a summary? Should it have the character's name in bold? How is it different from an outline? I remember being terrified of the idea. I'd already gone through the manuscript, the editorial… -
Don't Go All St. Elsewhere On Us
22 Jun 2009 | 8:10 pmI've heard conflicting things about submitting a synopsis. Some say tell ALL (the plot twists, surprises, even the ending) and others say allude to those events but don't necessarily tell exactly how everything is ironed out. Which is it?Basic answer here - give away the ending, be it in synopsis or outline form. We want to know that the spy thriller doesn't end all crazy with everyone riding off on a magic unicorn. -
Small Press vs. No Publication
11 Jun 2009 | 4:40 pmI have a novel submitted all over the place and have a few requests for fulls. I also have a bite from a very very small press that usually only sells between 100 to 500 copies of a book and usually poetry.My question is: if the big/medium presses don’t come back with a contract, should I pursue the small press. Knowing I’d have to do all the publicity etc. I think I could sell 500 books easily.Im working on my next novel which I think will be much better than my first.Should I shelve my first novel or go with the small press? If I go with the small press and only sell 500 copies, will… -
BEA Roundup
6 Jun 2009 | 6:42 pmOfficially, I did not go to the BEA. I went into the building on Sunday, the only day I was available because of Shavuos, but I didn't have a badge and I went to meet with my editor, who was in town for the convention and pre-scheduled it. At that point I could have gotten a free badge from her, but the convention was over in about an hour and I have no more room in my apartment for free books. From my editor and my boss (who attended on Friday), I learned the following things:(1) There were less people this year. Some booksellers didn't show up at all, or sent very few people. It was not a… -
Travel Writing
2 Jun 2009 | 4:08 pmI'm back. You probably figured that out from, you know, a new post being up, but I feel like it's the thing to say. For years I haven't traveled abroad because of illness, except to go to Israel, but this year I said, "Screw it, I'm doing okay" and went to Asia, and surprised everyone by not getting sick. Of course I mainly ate trail mix, so that probably contributed to it.If you're a writer, you should really travel. If you've been saving up for years and you're not dipping into that savings to pay rent, do it now. My plane ticket was cheap, my tour was like half their regular cost, and…
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Kate's Book Blog
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Blog Birthday: The First Four Years
23 Jun 2009 | 4:30 pmI made my first blog post exactly four years ago today. Here are a few paragraphs from that first post that explained my motivation and outlined my intentions:I started a book journal in January of this year. I was inspired by the "Best Books of 2004" lists that several people posted on listservs to which I subscribe. I would have liked to have been able to contribute my own best reads of 2004 but I could barely remember what I'd read the week before, let alone a whole year's worth of books. I resolved not to find myself in the same position at the end of 2005. I also thought that keeping a… -
Books That Travel With You
22 Jun 2009 | 7:09 pmI'm leading a group read of Betsy and the Great World over at Maud-L at the moment. I've read this novel countless times and I find myself focusing on different aspects of it each time and sometimes noticing things that I've never noticed before, particularly this time through as I read it with a view to thinking up questions to generate discussion among fellow Betsy-Tacy fans. One of my current preoccupations is books mentioned within books, so this time round a passage describing the books that Betsy took with her to Europe (first stop: Munich) jumped out at me:Opposite, beyond the door,… -
"... it's a question of weaving the net of coincidence as fine as possible."
18 Jun 2009 | 7:35 pmMartin Beck's philosophy of police work in a nutshell:Police work is built on realism, routine, stubbornness and system. It's true that a lot of difficult cases are cleared up by coincidence, but it's equally true that coincidence is an elastic concept that mustn't be confused with luck or accident. In a criminal investigation, it's a question of weaving the net of coincidence as fine as possible. And experience and industry play a larger role there than brilliant inspiration. A good memory and ordinary common sense are more valuable qualities than intellectual brilliance.From Maj… -
"He's no deid at the end..."
15 Jun 2009 | 11:34 amIan Rankin on whether the protagonist of his forthcoming novel, one DI Malcolm Fox, is likely to become a recurring character:"Well, I like him and he's no deid at the end, well not at the end of the second draft," said Ian. "But I do like him. He's an engaging and likeable character and someone I have enjoyed spending time with, so you never know."The Complaints is due out in September, and I can't wait to read it.(Thanks to Donna for the link.) -
Alexandra Leggat's Animal Launches in Toronto on Friday Night
15 Jun 2009 | 10:07 amIf you're in Toronto on Friday night, you won't want to miss this. For more about the book, click here.
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800 CEO Read Blog
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The Heart of Marketing: Book Review
1 Jul 2009 | 9:46 amI just finished reading the book The Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back by Judith Sherven, PhD & Jim Sniechowski, PhD. and I just thought it was what marketing books have needed for a long time…. a breath of fresh air. Many companies in today’s business world have lost sight of what is most important to their customers and for their company internally and that is feeling the pulse of a heart beat. Actually caring about people, yes, people and not ideas, not money, not computers, etc. People. It’s a simple task but one that has been… -
I Hate People!
30 Jun 2009 | 10:10 amMarc Hershon and Jonathan Littman have been hard at work promoting their new book, I HATE PEOPLE!, Kick Loose from the Overbearing and Underhanded Jerks at Work and Get What You Want Out of Your Job. You may recognize Jonathan Littman for co-authoring a few 8CR favorites, The Art of Innovation, which is featured in the 100 Best, and The Ten Faces of Innovation which we’ve written about periodically over the years. The Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek have both run reviews of the book, so feel free to check them out when you have a minute. As a special offer, I will send a free copy… -
Harvard Business Review Is Bringing It
26 Jun 2009 | 7:59 amRecent travels has allowed me to catch up on some magazine reading and my biggest surprise was continuing evolution of Harvard Business Review under Adi Ignatius. Take the articles by Niall Ferguson and Dan Ariely in the July/August edition. These two authors certainly have higher institution credientals to belong on the pages of HBR with Ferguson at Harvard and Ariely at MIT. And their research certainly fits the profile of the magazine. But it’s the style and composition that is so refreshing. While the audience is clearly business executives, the pieces read like articles you would… -
The Brand Bubble in strategy + business
24 Jun 2009 | 11:10 amWe were big fans of last year’s The Brand Bubble: The Looming Crisis in Brand Value and How to Avoid It, by John Gerzema and Ed Lebar—so much so that it took home the 800-CEO-READ Business Book Award in the Advertising & Marketing category. We also published a manifesto from Mr. Gerzema over at ChangeThis about How Business Speculation in the Consumer Marketplace Threatens Our Economy. Well, the issue has certainly not resolved itself, and John and Ed are still sounding the alarm—most recently in the latest issue of strategy + business with an article simply titled The… -
Penguin Launches New Online Promotion Tools
23 Jun 2009 | 9:15 amLast week, Penguin launched a set of micro-sites for their newly published books. Called From the Publisher’s Office, the initiative uses text excerpts, audio interviews and video clips to promote upcoming titles. Our friends at Portfolio are specifically involved with one of the microsites called Penguin Business Thought Leaders. They will be interviewing authors from across the Penguin imprints and featuring a variety of books. Their first episode features retail consultant George Whalin (Retail Superstars), a reading from Small Giants, and TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky (Revolution in A…
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Used Books Blog
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Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
6 Jun 2009 | 3:18 pmBlack Swan Green by David Mitchell is a beautifully written novel that captures the difficulty of growing up while delivering a unique view of family and society in England circa 1982. I’d read a number of negative reviews prior to reading Black Swan Green. Many readers seemed unwilling to stray from Mitchell’s multi-narrative structure (as seen in Cloud Atlas and Ghostwritten) or couldn’t relate to Jason Taylor, the 13 year old stammering protagonist. To those naysayers I say this: you are wrong. Readers who really pay attention to Black Swan Green will recognize that it is… -
Going To See The Elephant by Rodes Fishburne
2 May 2009 | 2:26 pmGoing To See The Elephant by Rodes Fishburne is a pleasant and readable first novel with colorful characters and interesting ideas. However, it lacks depth and a consistent tone that would have made it a truly great book. Going To See The Elephant follows Slater Brown, a budding writer who has traveled to San Francisco to launch his career. He winds up writing for a long-standing but third-rate newspaper, gaining scoops through a unique and strange method. Brown becomes a local celebrity, incurring the ire of a colorful and voracious mayor. He also falls in love with a beautiful chess player,… -
Woken Furies by Richard Morgan
8 Mar 2009 | 8:31 pmWoken Furies by Richard Morgan mixes hard-edge science fiction with sociology, politics and philosophy as the Takeshi Kovacs saga continues. Though a bit formulaic, Woken Furies is pure Morgan, equal parts slam-bang action and cerebral dissertation. This is one of those instances where it’s probably best if you’ve read the other books in the series. Woken Furies hits the ground running in a rich world of Morgan’s making. It’s a world where your essence is written to a ’stack’ - a microchip of sorts at the base of your skull. Should your body die, your stack… -
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
22 Feb 2009 | 10:28 amThe Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is an absorbing non-fiction narrative that juxtaposes the success of the World’s Columbian Exposition with the evil of serial killer Herman W. Mudgett. Larson packs the pages of The Devil in the White City with history and personality, making it both entertaining and educational. I have a love hate relationship with history. In the wrong hands history can be unbelievably dull. Too many times a pious academic has reduced a truly interesting event into cut and dry facts that have as much life as a waterlogged tennis ball. But history is actually… -
Fringe features Land of Laughs
12 Feb 2009 | 8:54 amAs I’ve mentioned before I like TV and am not one of those Kill Your Television type of bibliophiles. The other night I’m catching up on TiVo and watch the latest episode of Fringe, which has gotten progressively better, so tune back in if the first two or three episodes left you cold. This episode, “Ability”, led the characters to a rare book store where we witness a customer selling a copy of Jonathan Carroll’s Land of Laughs. The appearance of Land of Laughs was an illuminating look at the influence literary fiction is having on TV writers. There’s no…
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Duffbert's Random Musings
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Book Review - Waking Walt by Larry Pontius
21 Jun 2009 | 9:01 amI first ran across the title Waking Walt by Larry Pontius a few years back, and knew immediately that I wanted to read it. But alas, it was not to be found at our local library. I parked it on my Amazon wish list as a personal reminder so I didn't forget it. The situation changed when I discovered the Interlibrary Loan feature that allows you to request books through your local library, and they can be shipped from any *other* library that happens to be in the program and has the book. Oh, happy days! Of course, you *knew* this had to be the first book I'd test… -
Book Review - 10 Things I Hate About Christianity: Working Through the Frustrations of Faith by Jason T. Berggren
20 Jun 2009 | 4:04 pm10 Things I Hate About Christianity: Working Through the Frustrations of Faith by Jason T. Berggren is not quite the book you'd expect on first glance. Its provocative title suggests that you're about to get one man's rant about dealing with the current state of the Christian church and culture. And in a way, you are to some degree. But it's written from the perspective of a practicing Christian, dealing openly and truthfully about the struggles he has in trying to live out his life as a follower of Jesus and what that means in today's society. An eye-opener for those… -
Book Review - Call for the Dead by John le Carre
20 Jun 2009 | 9:50 amThere are some authors who I know I would like if I started reading them, but I also know I'm certainly not lacking for reading material either. A good friend of mine finally convinced me to start reading John le Carre, the quintessential spy novelist. I have the distinct benefit of being able to start at the beginning of his body of work, that being Call for the Dead. I can now see why he's considered a master writer. I could learn much from his style, and I'll have a great time doing it. le Carre introduces George Smiley in Call, a character that runs through many of… -
Why enterprises are moving to Google Apps, Gmail
15 Jun 2009 | 6:36 pmFrom CIO.co.nz: Why enterprises are moving to Google Apps, Gmail This is an interesting article, and shows how (in my opinion) IBM and Microsoft are not competing against each other, but against Google... Though it started selling software to universities and small businesses, Google has pervaded more large businesses during the past year with Google Apps, the company's suite of messaging and productivity software. Analysts say Google Enterprise, the division of Google that runs Apps, has added many features to the product that make it more attractive to enterprise IT departments. -
Request for council members' emails rife with difficulties
14 Jun 2009 | 2:09 pmFrom The Longmont Times-Call: Request for council members' emails rife with difficulties The Times-Call submitted a Colorado Open Records Act request March 24 for all e-mails from each Longmont City Council member’s account, giving the city until April 4 — seven more days than the three required by law — to round up the messages. Longmont city clerk Valeria Skitt said that when her office received the newspaper’s request, she planned to burn each council member’s e-mails to a disc. But that didn’t work with some accounts. So Skitt told council members that…
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Three Percent - Article
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A Translation Roundtable
1 Jul 2009 | 8:14 amThe Observer Translation Project, which we’ve mentioned here before, posted a really cool translation roundtable/interview that they conducted recently: World-famous novelist Norman Manea, two premier experts in the realm of literature in translation—Susan Harris of Words Without Borders and Chad Post of Three Percent and Open Letter—and award-winning translator from German Susan Bernofsky address a literary zone in permanent crisis: the world of literature in translation. They manage to cover a lot of ground pretty quickly—from editing translations, to the market for… -
Translation Database Update
1 Jul 2009 | 7:26 amI know things have been pretty quiet around here of late—I’ve been out of the office and am detail with some personal issues, so I might not be posting as much as usual for the next couple weeks—but since July 1st is such a great day for spreadsheets, I thought I’d post updated versions of the 2008 and 2009 translation databases. As always, these spreadsheets contain info on never-before-translated works of fiction and poetry distributed in the U.S. (I left off anything that’s been published in English translation before, even if the earlier version was censored,… -
Latest Review: "Curriculum Vitae" by Yoel Hoffmann
1 Jul 2009 | 7:00 amThe latest addition to our review section is a piece by Phillip Witte (former Open Letter intern, current New Directions intern) on Yoel Hoffmann’s Curriculum Vitae, the sixth of Hoffmann’s books to be published by ND. I think this is the only work of fiction I’ve ever come across with no page numbers . . . Here’s the opening of Phil’s review: Imagine the scene we are all familiar with: you are writing up a C.V. to send out to those who might judge your capabilities, your efficacies, and the quality of your existence to date from what you were able to condense… -
The Private Lives of Trees [1]
30 Jun 2009 | 8:47 amWe wanted to post this article about Alejandro Zambra in The Nation when it came out a few weeks ago, but we were in the middle of trying to sign Zambra up, so we wanted to wait until it was official. Readers who consider Roberto Bolano the pole star of contemporary Chilean fiction will be jolted by Zambra’s little book. For though Zambra has been stamped as the Next Great Chilean Writer in many circles, he’s in no way Bolano’s heir. (But then, who is?) Where the heroes of Bolano’s novels are resolutely proletarian, Zambra’s characters are mostly downwardly… -
Latest Review: "Op Oloop" by Juan Filloy
26 Jun 2009 | 6:00 amThe latest addition to our review section is a piece on Juan Filloy’s Op Oloop, which was translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman and is forthcoming from Dalkey Archive Press. Pretty interesting book from a very interesting author: The first time I heard of Juan Filloy was during an editorial trip to Germany, organized by the German Book Office and including a day of “speed dating” with other publishers. It was at one of my first “dates” that I met the very hip editors from Tropen Verlag who, after finding out that I worked at Dalkey Archive, the publisher of David…
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HarvardBusiness.org
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Trend to Watch: Asia Rising
2 Jul 2009 | 1:00 pmAuthors' note: Each week in July and August, we'll introduce a new trend you have to watch from our HBR article in the July-August special issue. We also invite you to comment on this trend and suggest what trends you think you have to watch. One long-term trend that's been thrown for a loop in the past year is the steady rise of Asia as a force in the global economy. Seemingly unstoppable in the past decade, China in particular saw a sharp slowdown in its growth in recent months as investment flows dried up, exports collapsed, and stock markets and consumer confidence plummeted.It would be… -
What Nonprofits Teach Us About Learning
2 Jul 2009 | 12:31 pmThe recession that has staggered the world economy has leveled the nonprofit world. Endowments have lost significant value, and donations from corporations and private citizens have dwindled. But dealing with hard times is nothing new to many in the nonprofit sector. Well-run nonprofits know how to be frugal as well as creative in how they work with limited resources. A core competency of the nonprofit world is people, men and women who are committed to a cause who know how to get effective results. A virtue of effective nonprofits is their culture; it extends beyond a gathering of… -
This Year's Management Off Site: Necessary or Negligent?
2 Jul 2009 | 12:00 pmCuts, cuts, cuts. Rightsizing, rightsizing, rightsizing. How can a conscientious CEO--one who has asked employees to contain costs, or who has even frozen or reduced their salaries--even consider spending money to take his or her leadership team off to some nice hotel with rich food and cocktails for a management retreat? Historically, for most organizations, annual or quarterly off sites in which senior management work on strategy has been considered "good business." After all, it's senior management's task to chart the strategy of the company, and good strategy is what's needed now more… -
Whom to Pay is More Important than How Much or How
2 Jul 2009 | 10:20 amHaving read every posting and response so far in the debate, I see that everyone has naturally focused either on the moral and practical appropriateness of how much to pay, or on practical suggestions on how to pay. That is all very good when it comes to avoiding scandals and abuses, and will to some extent improve performance and value creation. But the real aim should be not just to avoid public frustration and excess, but to aim for a much more ambitious objective -- to ensure that CEOs and other leaders make the greatest potential contribution towards building lasting greatness. Whom you… -
Hiring the Already-Employed: Savvy or Sad?
2 Jul 2009 | 7:06 amA fascinating article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal caught my eye. It suggests that even with so many great people out there looking for work, employers would still rather hire someone who is already working, thank you very much. Apparently, many believe that those that are unemployed were their former employers' lower-priorities, poor performers or otherwise non-superstars. By hiring someone who already has a job, they reason, they are reducing their risk of picking up someone who is a second-class performer. I guess this is the modern-day version of Groucho Marx's old line that he…
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Book Recommendations, Blog and Podcast: Books on the Nightstand
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Where to Discuss the Beowulf on the Beach Reading Challenge
1 Jul 2009 | 5:31 pmSo many of you have left comments about the books you've chosen for the Beowulf on the Beach Reading Challenge. I'm impressed at all of the reading that has already occurred and is being planned for the rest of the Summer. At the urging of a BOTNS listener, I've set up a couple places for you to discuss your reads. Goodreads - I've set up a folder for any discussion threads on particular books. I've started a thread on Moby Dick already. For more info check out this post. Facebook - Unfortunately, Facebook doesn't allow you to group certian topics in a folder like Goodreads does, so check out… -
Books on the Nightstand Podcast, Episode #34: Our Listeners Sound Off About Audiobooks!
1 Jul 2009 | 4:35 amBooks on the Nightstand, Episode 34 (31:25)(You can listen by using the player above. If you're using Internet Explorer, click twice to listen. If your browser does not support javascript, you won't see the player; click the link below the player to listen, or right-click to download the episode. If you are receiving this post by email and cannot see the player at the bottom of the message, please visit http://www.booksonthenightstand.com to listen) It's finally here. Our long-promised and long-awaited audiobooks episode. We turn the podcast over to you, our listeners and we really want to… -
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo -- what are you waiting for?
28 Jun 2009 | 10:35 pmI've been remiss in informing you of an important publishing development, and I'm sorry. Many moons ago, I told you about The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Books on the Nightstand podcast episode #12). Here in the United States, it's just been published in paperback.And it's not just a paperback -- instead, it's in two different paperback versions. There's the larger format trade paperback version, and the smaller, more portable, mass market edition.Whatever your flavor preference, if you enjoy intelligent mysteries or thrillers, particular those with an international setting, you owe it to… -
Reading Challenge Update... How are YOU Doing?
25 Jun 2009 | 8:05 pmOkay, I admit it. I'm probably not going to get through four classics this Summer. I think I was a little ambitious in my planning. Work reading is taking up the bulk of my time right now. I'm still reading Moby Dick when I've got a spare moment, and will be taking it with me on vacation (to the beach) next weekend. But it looks like I'll be sticking to the true letter of the reading challenge rules and reading at least ONE book from Beowulf on the Beach. (Though I'd really still love to get to Great Expectations this summer...) All that being said, I know I'm not alone. For one thing, I keep… -
Summer Begins, Reading Continues!
21 Jun 2009 | 3:37 amToday is the first day of Summer (and Father's Day, Happy FD to all the Dads out there!), so I come to you bearing lists. Ann and I already gave you our Summer picks on the last podcast, and of course, we'll continue to recommend books throughout the Summer. Several sites around the internet have posted their picks for warm weather reading. Here are a few that have lists and more: NPR - In addition to recommendations from Independent Booksellers, NPR critic Alan Cheuse and uber-librarian Nancy Pearl, you can also vote for the Best Beach Books ever. There's even a printable list of all…
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Omnivoracious
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YA on Thursday: Cut-outs and "Other Matters Odd and Magical"
2 Jul 2009 | 3:28 pmMaggie Stiefvater, who you may know from last year's Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception (a YA Wednesday favorite!) shows off her many talents in this book trailer for her upcoming novel, Shiver. The multi-talented Stiefvater not only made the cut-outs, she collaborated on the music: For more details about the trailer and its related contest, see her blog. (Thanks, The Book Girl Reviews!) Favorite summer reads... Sideshow This week, thankfully, I was handed a copy of Sideshow: Ten Original Tales of Freaks, Illusionists, and Other Matters Odd and Magical, a book of short stories for young… -
Omni Daily Crush: "The Jewel Box Garden"
2 Jul 2009 | 1:46 pmIn my very first Omnivoracious post (“Best Way to Make a Garden? Make a Garden Library”), I talked about how I'd populated my garden with plants I'd fallen in love with in books. Truthfully, it was more lust than love that drove me to plant a lot of what now greets me at home, and many of them first gave me sweaty palms in Thomas Hobbs's Jewel Box Garden, his follow-up to Shocking Beauty. (In fact, I'd wager a lot of gardeners first gasped over echeverias--those dazzlingly architectural tender succulents that come in a rainbow of pastels--when they got a look at his… -
Books of the States: Tracy Kidder on Richard Todd
2 Jul 2009 | 12:17 pmIn his recent books, Tracy Kidder has ranged from Haiti (in Mountains Beyond Mountains) to Vietnam (My Detachment) to Burundi (Strength in What Remains, a sequel of sorts to Mountains Beyond Mountains that comes out in late August), but many of his best-known books have been set in his home state of Massachusetts, from the hardware labs of The Soul of a New Machine to the Holyoke classroom of Among Schoolchildren and the Berkshire village in Home Town. He admits a conflict of interest in his choice for a favorite Massachusetts book--the author, Richard Todd, has been his editor and friend for… -
Omni Daily News
2 Jul 2009 | 11:01 amCatcher in the Rye Sequel BlockedGuess Holden Caufield will remain a callow youth for a while longer--at least in the U.S. A federal judge ruled late yesterday that the J.D. Salinger offensive was “likely to succeed on the merits of its copyright case" against Fredrik Colting, author of 60 Years Later--a sequel to The Catcher in the Rye. Colting plans to appeal the decision. His book will be released in Europe later this summer. [PW]Governor's Book on IceThe Observer reports that the scandal-ridden South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford has been given the heave-ho by publisher… -
Books of the States: Richard Russo on William Kennedy
2 Jul 2009 | 9:47 amAs identified with Brooklyn as Jonathan Lethem is, Richard Russo is just as strongly associated with his own part of the Empire State, the upstate towns where his novels such as Nobody's Fool, Bridge of Sighs, and The Risk Pool are rooted. (His upcoming novel, That Old Cape Magic, though, takes a road trip to the Massachusetts vacationland of the title--I'll be posting our interview about the book in this space in the next few weeks.) For his representative New York book, he settled, with apologies to all those writers he would have liked to include as well, on the novel of a friend…
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Avon Romance Blog
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Countdown To Washington, D.C.
1 Jul 2009 | 9:01 pmEvery year, Romance Writers of America has a conference to celebrate romance, writers, and books. I enjoy attending, not only because that's when I see most of my authors, but also because it brings me to different cities.Living in New York City, I see tourists all the time, just stopping in the middle of the street to gaze up at the Empire State Building, or taking pictures of The Plaza or Rockefeller Center. During the annual RWA conference, I get to play tourist, at least for a couple of hours.Last year, it was San Francisco. This year, it's Washington DC. I'm particularly excited about… -
Missing David Tennant
1 Jul 2009 | 6:30 amDear Fate:As you know, David Tennant stars as the 10th Doctor on DOCTOR WHO. I’ve been following him ever since an obsessed friend insisted I watch this show, and then an author (Suzanne Enoch) told me “Blink” was a particularly good episode.So, there I was, flying home from RWA in San Francisco on Virgin America, and what did they have on BBC-A but “Blink”. It was like you, Fate, were telling me I had to watch this show. So, I did. In fact, I watched all four seasons in one weekend. I was hooked.Then, last September, I was in Stratford-Upon-Avon in the UK, where, lo and behold,… -
Look And Listen
30 Jun 2009 | 8:16 amWatch CBS Videos OnlineTake a look at this video from CBS' EARLY SHOW with Tatiana Boncompagni author of HEDGE FUND WIVES.Later, we invite you to listen live to Julia Quinn, as she talks about WHAT HAPPENS IN LONDON on Blog Talk Radio today at 2 PM ET. -
Hedge Fund Wives
29 Jun 2009 | 9:41 pmTatiana Boncompagni author of HEDGE FUND WIVES is scheduled to be on the CBS Early Show Tuesday, June 30th.Tatiana will discuss the social fallout that has followed the Madoff family since Bernie Madoff's Ponzi Scheme conviction. We don't know the time, yet, but tune in! -
Julia Quinn - Authors On Air
28 Jun 2009 | 9:01 pmTomorrow, join #1 New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn, who'll be on Romance Radio to talk about her winning new historical novel, WHAT HAPPENS IN LONDON.Anyone who loved THE SECRET DIARIES OF MISS MIRANDA CHEEVER will be thrilled by this story, which opens with Miranda's best friend, Olivia Bevelstoke, spying on the mysterious Harry Valentine.Click HERE for more information.
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mediabistro.com: GalleyCat
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Book Stock Watch Adds Apple
2 Jul 2009 | 2:23 pmDespite Apple, Inc. CEO Steve Jobs's remark that "people don't read anymore," his company has a mysterious page-turning patent registered. Whatever they are doing with the patent, the company has earned a spot on our weekly Book Stock Watch. GalleyCat has been tracking the stock performance of the major companies that influence the bookselling business. We created this chart with eight publicly-traded publishing stocks hand-picked by our readers--including company name, symbol, current stock price, and price increase or decrease at week's close. The McGraw-Hill Co. MHP 29.48 -1.15… -
HarperCollins Buys YA Novel Co-Written by James Frey
2 Jul 2009 | 1:23 pmHarperCollins will publish a YA science fiction novel entitled, "I Am Number Four"--the first in what is conceived as a six book series co-written by James Frey and Columbia University creative writing graduate Jobie Hughes. According to the NY Times, William Morris Endeavor agent Eric Simonoff sealed the deal. Dreamworks has already purchased rights to the space alien story, and Michael Bay is interested in producing. After his bestselling memoir was revealed to be embellished, Frey mounted a comeback with last year's novel, "Bright Shiny Morning." Here's more from the article: "[Simonoff]… -
POD Literary Journal
2 Jul 2009 | 12:23 pmThe brand new literary journal, Electric Literature, combines old and new media distribution models in a new kind of product. The magazine will be published as a digital text, with a print-on-demand option for readers looking for paper copies of the journal. In addition, the journal can be purchased as an e-book, Kindle, or iPhone format. The opening issue features a blockbuster list with work by Jim Shepard, Lydia Millet, and Michael Cunningham. Here's more from the site: "Ultimately, the content of a book is information, and the methods of distributing information have changed. Electronic… -
SC Governor Mark Sanford Released from Book Contract
2 Jul 2009 | 10:33 amPenguin's Sentinel imprint has released South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford from his book contract. Recently, the governor admitted to an affair with an Argentinian woman. Sanford was scheduled to finish the book for Spring 2010 publication. In 2000, he published a book entitled, interestingly enough, "The Trust Committed To Me." Here's a statement from Adrian Zackheim, President and Publisher of Sentinel: "Sentinel has agreed to release Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina from his contract to write a book about fiscal conservatism, which was to be called WITHIN OUR MEANS and was… -
What's Apple Building in There?
2 Jul 2009 | 10:23 amPublishing types have been buzzing all week about Adam L. Penenberg's long Fast Company article about Amazon.com, Inc. and the future of the book. The article explores the company's $9.99 pricing structure for many Kindle books, an arrangement that reportedly creates a loss for Amazon as publishers are "earning between $12 and $13 per e-book." Despite the Amazon-centric focus, this GalleyCat editor spotted a nugget of Apple intelligence, as Penenberg examined the company's patent for a tablet device and an intriguing screen design--another of the fabled "Kindle-killers." Here's more from the…
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Chronicle Books Blog
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Volunteering Is Cool, Really Cool
2 Jul 2009 | 12:54 pmWhen Michelle Obama gets behind something, it changes everything. As the keynote speaker at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service, she brought a whole new energy to the volunteer movement. Obama began by addressing the 4,000 community organizers, non-profit workers, and volunteers in the room: “You are my people,” she said. She acknowledged that her listeners had probably heard the question, “So working in the community is nice and all, but when are you going to get a real job?” But she’s not the only one getting behind volunteering and service… -
From the Chronicle KitchenThe ¡Salpicón! Cookbook
1 Jul 2009 | 1:34 pmEnter to win a copy of The ¡Salpicón! Cookbook when you tell us about your favorite Mexican spice/seasoning and what makes it so delicioso. Mexican-Style Gazpacho with Spicy Cucumber Sorbet Gazpacho Mexicano con Nieve de Pepino y Serrano Gazpacho is, of course, a Spanish dish, and it can be quite mild. I much prefer it a la mexicana, with the added zip of poblano chile. Wait until local tomatoes are in season before making this salad—it just isn’t worth it with bland supermarket tomatoes that are shipped in from who-knows-where. And please remember that gazpacho should always be served… -
Comic-Con Spotlight
30 Jun 2009 | 5:42 pmThis will be Chronicle’s 6th year at Comic-Con. We have expanded our booth and will have an impressive roster of authors/artists available for signings. Yet, I wanted to spotlight one of the “smaller” products that won’t have a signing, but will no doubt appeal to fellow Comic-Con’ers. The Art of Star Wars Comics is a collection of 100 covers from Star Wars comics in postcard form, presented in a cool collectible box. From the 70s up to present day, the collection spans the history of Star Wars comics and features some iconic imagery. The Star Wars Tales with Darth Vader pondering… -
From the Design Desk: Our Office, Virtual Visit
29 Jun 2009 | 3:24 pmOver the last four weeks, Design Desk featured a series of New York creative studios and the very talented people who work in them. At each visit, we couldn’t help wishing we, too, had our own letterpress, silk-screening table, and Boston Terrier. But looking around our own little design corner of the office, and out the window to the baseball stadium, and feeling the sunlight beaming in, well, it became clear that we do indeed have some studio perks to enjoy. For one, our production room has a cutting table large enough for eight, a bulk paper cutter, binding equipment, a drill (I think… -
Greetings from the Ocean’s Sweaty Face and much more…
26 Jun 2009 | 2:03 pmShowcasing the inventive spirit of McSweeney’s publishing, Chronicle Books recently released a box of 100 postcards that are idiosyncratically categorized into five tabbed sections: Across the Miles I Love You So; I Can’t Stop Thinking About Us; Care/Concern; More than Words; and Friendship. As many of you know, McSweeney’s was founded in 1998 as a San Francisco-based literary journal edited by Dave Eggers, and has since evolved into a celebrated and award-winning independent publishing company. McSweeney’s is known for attracting a wide range of writers, artists and…
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The PlanetEsme Plan: The Best New Children's Books from Esme's Shelf
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ME WITH YOU (PICTURE BOOK)
19 Jun 2009 | 9:32 pmPICTURE BOOKME WITH YOU by Kristy Dempsey, illustrated by Christopher Denise (Philomel)Oh, the pleasure of being able to truly be yourself around the people you love! That's what's celebrated in this picture in verse, in which a little bear girl plays within the warm circle drawn by her guardian. The slipcover suggests the big bear is "grandfather," but there is nothing in the text that explicitly says so, allowing the sentiment to be extended to father, kind uncle or friend, making it usable in Father's Day and other family storytime programs that include children who may not have… -
FALLING DOWN THE PAGE (POETRY)
14 Jun 2009 | 1:04 pmPOETRYFALLING DOWN THE PAGE: A BOOK OF LIST POEMS edited by Georgia Heard (Roaring Brook)Tap your toes on the tabletop,listen for the right rhythmthen dance a poemacross the page.- From "Things To Do If You Are a Pencil" by Elaine MagliaroThere are so many poems that dance their way down (if not across) these pages in this collection of list-making verse that is both succinct and sublime. Avis Harley offers a multilingual list of "Ways to Greet a Friend," while J. Patrick Lewis's "What is Earth?" is so lovely, it will catch your heart in your throat like a butterfly in a net. David Harrison's… -
JOE AND SPARKY GET NEW WHEELS (PICTURE BOOK)
3 Jun 2009 | 12:49 pmPICTURE BOOKJOE AND SPARKY GET NEW WHEELS by Jamie Michalak, illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz (Candlewick)"I won!" Joe shouted. I won the the big prize! There it is at the end of the road." "Giraffes do not win big prizes.""Some do," said Joe. "Safety first!" suggests slowpoke turtle Sparky, and a word to the wise is sufficient; one would do well to look both ways while Giraffe Joe is on the loose in his misbegotten yellow convertible. When the giraffe sports a Carmen Miranda-like chapeau a lady has left on the seat, the duo manages to flummox the zoo gatekeeper and off they go on several… -
JEMMA HARTMAN, CAMPER EXTRAORDINAIRE (FICTION) and BRIDGET ZINN AUCTION ALERT!
26 May 2009 | 8:01 amFICTIONJEMMA HARTMAN: CAMPER EXTRAORDINAIRE by Brenda Ferber (Farrar Straus and Giroux)Tammy said we'd be best friends forever, and I believed her.Jemma has weathered a long year without her BFF who has moved to another town, but looks forward to a summer with her at beautiful Star Lake camp, where she fantasizes that together they will skim across the lake in a beautiful sailboat, the picture of harmony and happiness. Who knows, she may even embody the spirit of Camp Star Lake and win the Firelighter award (excuse me, "you don't win Firelighter, you earn it...Either you're Firelighter… -
THE UGLY DUCKLING (PICTURE BOOK)
20 May 2009 | 12:05 amPICTURE BOOKTHE UGLY DUCKLING by Rachel Isadora (Putnam)Original nursery tales are so charming, so eloquent, and often so freaking hard to read to the five-year-olds who would most like to hear them. Enter long-time picture book talent Rachel Isadora, who has done such a stunningly fine job on introducing a new generation of children to classic folkloric plot lines such as THE PRINCESS AND THE PEA, THE TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES, RAPUNZEL, HANSEL AND GRETEL and THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WIFE, and even manages to give them a multicultural and more inclusive flavor by penning them against the…
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The Writing Life
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The Power of Asking
5 Jun 2009 | 9:30 amWe live in a busy world and the pace of life seems to get faster each day. The amount of email and good things that we can jump into only seems to multiply: blogs, twitter, facebook, myspace, forums and email newsletters. My encouragement is for you to handle it one task at a time. It is OK, not to blog or be involved in twitter. Each element is a choice and you have to know and understand the reason you have strategically decided to be involved in such an effort. Also periodically return to your different obligations and see if they continue to contain value. If not, then see how to… -
Every Email Counts
31 May 2009 | 3:16 pmSince the beginning of 2004, I've had a newsletter called Right Writing News. Ideally, I write one a month but because of my schedule and other responsibilities, the newsletter hasn't gone out as frequently recently. There are 38 back issues of Right Writing News and it's free to subscribers. These back issues contain more than 400 pages of how-to write articles and information--a rich resources for anyone who wants to learn about writing. Also anyone who subscribes will receive three valuable Ebooks worth over $100. The main page of Right Writing.com has a pop-up menu which offers the… -
Back At My Computer
30 May 2009 | 9:40 amOver the past couple of weeks, I've been on the faculty of a couple of different writers conferences in Colorado and North Carolina. It meant nine straight days on the road away from home. I came home for two days. Last Sunday I flew to Buffalo, New York and drove an hour and a half to the small town of Houghton which is in Southwestern New York State. For four hours I spoke last Monday morning to a class at Houghton College, then I did my Sunday trip in reverse getting home to Phoenix late Monday night. This past week, I've been on the phone and computer attempting to get my various book… -
Jumpstart Your Conference Experience
10 May 2009 | 8:23 pmSeveral days ago, I wrote a post for the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writer's Conference Blog. What I didn't mention on that entry is the Blue Ridge Conference will be my second one--in a row. There are a number of us at the Blue Ridge Conference who are traveling from Denver, where we will be attending the Colorado Christian Writers Conference in Estes, Park. I leave on Wednesday for Colorado. Without returning home, we go straight to the Blue Ridge conference. It will make blogging difficult (if not impossible) because time will be spent in other places. Here's what I wrote about how to… -
Book Size Matters
8 May 2009 | 1:25 pmYesterday, I packed two boxes of Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams to mail to the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. I packed the books in the flat rate priority boxes from the U.S. Post Office. The mail clerks could see the boxes were heavy. "Let's see how much it would have cost without the flat rate," one of them eagerly said. They were curious. Without the flat rate, each box would have cost over $33 in postage. Because of the flat rate, each box was $10.35 to be shipped priority mail anywhere in the United States. I saved over $23 a box on shipping those books. The size of…
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The Kindle Reader
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Take Me Out to the Kindle: New Baseball Books
2 Jul 2009 | 9:03 amThe 4th of July and baseball go together like hot dogs and cold beer - two delights of summer living. And just in time for after game reading, new baseball titles for the Kindle - none more than $9.99: Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legendby Larry Tye. Random House. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (5 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99."Few reliable records or news reports survive about players in the Negro Leagues. Through dogged detective work, award-winning author and journalist Larry Tye has tracked down the truth about this majestic and enigmatic pitcher, interviewing more than… -
A Week of Entertainment: Books Reviewed in Entertainment Weekly Jun 26/Jul 3
30 Jun 2009 | 7:37 amEach week Entertainment Weekly reviews a small selection of popular new books. Titles available for the Kindle reviewed in the June 26th/July 3 issue include:The 100 Best Volunteer Vacations to Enrich Your Lifeby Pam Grout. National Geographic. NONFICTION. EW's slant: "Who doesn't need some serious karma on their side." Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (2 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99."From building houses in Appalachia to saving sea turtles in Costa Rica to teaching English in Thailand, this book is a rich resource of ways to use your skills to help out the world and reap some lasting… -
Capturing Lives: New Biographies & Memoirs for the Kindle (28 Jun 09)
28 Jun 2009 | 7:54 amOne lives in the hope of becoming a memory - Antonio Porchia.Given the burgeoning popularity of social media on the Internet, it is not surprising that biographies and memoirs are among the most popular reading choices of Kindle readers. Whether you enjoy reading of exemplary lives or living vicariously through celebrity memoirs, now you can spend less time searching and more time reading, as I watch for new biographies and memoirs in the Kindle Storeso you don't have to.At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream: Misadventures in Search of the Simple Lifeby Wade Rouse. Harmony. Amazon… -
Kindle E-Books on the Cheap: A Weekly Selection (26 Jun 09)
26 Jun 2009 | 8:13 amJUNE 27 UPDATE: If thrillers are your genre of choice, go grab this new free offering at Amazon: Joseph Finder's Paranoia.St. Martin's Press, 2004. "In another age, a genre thriller fairly required the brandishing of a weapon and blood smeared on the floor. Finder's latest is the archetype of the thriller in its contemporary form: e-mail is the means of communication and threat, industrial espionage among nasdaq competitors the field of violence." - The New Yorker. ____________________Once you've purchased an Amazon Kindle e-book reader, the wonderful world of public domain, Creative Commons… -
PC Magazine Now Available for the Kindle
24 Jun 2009 | 9:35 amAmazon has just added PC Magazine to its roster of magazines available for the Kindle. The price of $1.49 per month includes free automatic wireless delivery of each issue at the same time the paper version hits the newsstands. All subscriptions begin with a 14-day free trial period."Business buyers and consumers of computing and consumer electronic products turn to PC Magazine as the trusted online brand for lab-based product reviews, news, buying guides, expert analysis and commentary, and special features. Our readers use this information to make informed purchasing decisions for…
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Storytellersunplugged
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Steve & Melanie Tem: HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED TO START?
1 Jul 2009 | 11:40 pmSteve: So how much do you need to have in place before you start a piece of fiction? I’m mostly talking about short stories here, since I presume that before you begin a novel you’re going to want to have a pretty clear idea of what it’s about, who the characters are, and in general where it’s going. Maybe you’ll even want to have some, or all, of your research done before you put that first word down on paper. Melanie: True in most cases, I think, but I’ve been known to start what I know will be a novel without knowing much about it, on the basis of only a… -
Collecting Characters on the Road
1 Jul 2009 | 4:13 amMy son and I are in Baltimore as I write this. I set up a new office for my company here a while back, and since we just managed to get it connected to the corporate network, I’m here to iron out the kinks and get things running smoothly. Bill is in training to do this sort of work, and he’s a great helper. On the drive up, I caught myself in an old habit that I thought I’d share. I call it character collecting. I think we all do this to a degree, writers, artists, anyone with creative tendencies. You see a guy with greasy hair and five kids in a beat up pickup… -
I AM NOT LOOKING FOR ME
30 Jun 2009 | 8:30 amWhy do people treat books as mirrors? I recently came across a post by Elizabeth Bluemle at the Publisher’s Weekly site entitled “The New Literal Mind” (link to the full post, and comments that follow, given at the foot of this essay). Elizabeth writes, amongst other things: “I’ve noticed a strange trend among grandparents these days, and sometimes among parents: the tendency to reject a book for not being specifically, literally, representative of their child’s world.” Parents or grandparents apparently look at a book – its cover, to be more precise – and come up… -
Yearn For A Dream
27 Jun 2009 | 11:19 pmYearn For A Dream Wayne Allen Sallee June 28th 2009 We finally got our mid-90s here, so I’m listening to Cannonball Adderley and Charlie Parker. In the stinking summer subways of Chicago, the best thing you can hear is someone playing a saxophone with a pile of coins inside the case on the floor. One summer I heard a guy playing “I Can See Clearly Now,” and I can still see the moment, maybe fifteen years later, stopped in time. This temperature is great for me, health-wise, though I’m still one fingered, I can type for longer stretches, and this late at night I feel less tormented, as… -
The Secret To Good Writing. Seriously.
26 Jun 2009 | 8:46 pmIf you are reading this, you are most likely someone who reads extensively about writing. You have no doubt read or heard a great many bits of advice, suggestions and recommendations as to how to make your writing better. You have almost certainly been told multiple times what the secret/key/Maguffin to good writing is, often in ways that contradict each other with jagged and relentless ferocity. You have been told to do everything except dip yourself in lemon herb butter and conjure the spirits of the ancient lobster gods of Lemuria before sitting down at the writing desk and taking quill in…
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Paulo Coelho's Blog
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About the Blog
2 Jul 2009 | 8:53 amI’ll make some changes in this blog. Since couple of months, most of the readers complains that they can’t keep pace with daily updates because there are many interesting things to read but very little time. What we are going to do from now on : we are going to keep the Forum and Workshop basicly. And I’ll interfere as less as I can, because this blog is a place of discussion between readers. It’s the reader who understands my books and discuss. I’ll read your posts, your comments and try to interfere, to explain if I see the necessity. So, we are going to update… -
Forum : Angels
2 Jul 2009 | 3:26 amThis is a gift from a reader, Agnieska from Poland it is the painting of my guardian angel. I wrote a book about angels I believe in angels. The book is called The Valkyries, it takes place in the Mojave Desert and there (and not only there) I had a very strong experience with angels. Having said that: I want you to share in this forum your experience with angels. Meaning, moments that you know that your angel is taking you out of trouble; moments that you know that your angel is helping you to get the things that you want. And of course I want you to discuss with us your beliefs in angels. -
Your Space in my Blog : 2nd July of 2009
2 Jul 2009 | 3:20 amThis space is for you to share your ideas. You can publish here excerpts from your blogs or news and articles in general that you think make a difference to the world today. Edit what you post here, avoid links (use copy/paste).This blog is viewed by over 230.000 unique visitors a month. Related posts:Your Space in my Blog: 1st of May 2009 This space is fYour Space in my Blog: 7th of May 2009 This space is fYour Space in my Blog : 29th June of 2009 This space is f
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Condalmo.
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Closed for the summer.
10 Jun 2009 | 8:24 amI started Condalmo in 2006 to scratch an itch. Lately, that itch seems to be all cleared up. So, I’m suspending operations here until Fall to go and scratch at some other, newer itches. Enjoy the summer, and go buy some good books at independent bookstores. Posted in Books Tagged: My work elsewhere -
Cover love: Walrus Summer Fiction Issue ‘09.
5 Jun 2009 | 6:37 pmWe’ve got a day trip planned – to a family reunion – and I’ve got four books packed, despite that I’ll be unlikely to have any time to read. So: yup. Posted in Lit journals Tagged: Non-moving pictures -
Kamby Bolongo Mean River.
5 Jun 2009 | 12:04 pmI greatly enjoyed Part of the World by Robert Lopez (Calamari Press) when I read it in 2007, and I’m sorry that I didn’t get around to writing a proper review of it. It’s one of the few books I’ve read over the past few years that will pop into my head at random moments, and one of the even fewer that I plan to reread at some point. I was happy to receive his forthcoming Kamby Bolongo Mean River (Dzanc Books) in the mail the other day, and have already started in with it. Click here and here to read excerpts of Part of the World, and/or watch the video below;… -
On writing workshops, and creating.
1 Jun 2009 | 2:10 pmFrom an essay by Louis Menand, on the subject of creative writing programs and whether or not writing can be taught: I don’t think the workshops taught me too much about craft, but they did teach me about the importance of making things, not just reading things. You care about things that you make, and that makes it easier to care about things that other people make. Posted in Essays, Writing Tagged: Essays, Writing -
Thought for the day.
1 Jun 2009 | 3:59 am“I’ve thrown away my Don Quixote costume and am in a yellow submarine, thought Harry,” - from “Ray of the Star” by Laird Hunt Go forth and conquer all things Monday. Posted in Books
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Advanced Fiction Writing Blog
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Alpha Testing for Snowflake Pro
29 Jun 2009 | 8:08 pmI’ve been quiet on the blog lately because I’ve been working frenetically on my next software product, “Snowflake Pro,” which will make it fun and easy to work through the steps of the Snowflake method. “Snowflake Pro” also creates the skeleton of a book proposal, after you’ve completed the first 6 steps of the Snowflake method. [Note added on Tuesday, June 30:] I posted the above yesterday and asked for volunteer alpha testers. I received a flood of emails and have selected a team of alpha testers that is small enough for me to be able to manage all… -
Thanks For the Suggestions
8 Jun 2009 | 6:12 pmLast week I asked the advice of my loyal blog readers on how best to rename those pesky Motivation-Reaction Units. Thank you for all the suggestions! A few of you expressed concern that my forthcoming book, WRITING FICTION FOR DUMMIES, might be too theoretical, or too focused on this or that, or too something else. All I can say is that the few comments I’ve made so far have dealt with small parts of only two of the 22 chapters. The book will cover everything that I’ve learned and taught over the last 21 years of writing, all in one handy reference. And there are some new ideas in… -
Renaming MRUs
4 Jun 2009 | 5:03 pmI am about to start writing the chapter on those pesky Motivation-Reaction Units for my WRITING FICTION FOR DUMMIES book. (For those who’ve never heard of MRUs, you can get up to speed almost instantly in my page on “Writing the Perfect Scene.”) MRUs are, in my opinion, one of the most important concepts you need to learn to write good fiction. If you get them right, then your scenes just flow nicely. If you don’t, then your scenes drive about like that ancient Dodge Colt I used to have. The main problem I’ve always had with “Motivation Reaction… -
Sam The Plumber On Twitter
2 Jun 2009 | 11:22 amI’m working on my e-zine today, which should go out tonight at midnight. In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to note that my latest “Sam the Plumber” humor column is now available. Sam is now on Twitter! The title of this month’s column is “All A-Twitter.” Read all about it here. And by the way, Sam really does have a Twitter account! Not sure how that happened, but his user name is “SamThePlumber”. Are you following Sam? -
On Reaction Scenes
29 May 2009 | 7:17 pmThere were a number of very perceptive comments in response to my last blog posting. I’d like to respond to Cherie’s question: Something I’ve been pondering as I read through the recent blogs: do you feel that the type of novel being written would or should affect the use of Reaction Scenes? I was thinking that in a romance novel, for example, it would make sense to go a little heavier on Reaction Scenes because a romance focuses more on emotion, and the thought processes and reasoning of the characters would be of more interest. Whereas in an action story, long and frequent…
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ReadersRead.com Book Blog
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Judge Stops Publication of Catcher in the Rye Sequel
1 Jul 2009 | 7:00 pmA federal district court judge in Manhattan has ruled that a Swedish author may not publish a sequel to J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye in the United States. Salinger had sued to stop publication of the book on the grounds that it infringes on his copyright to the original novel. The author tried to argue it was a parody, but the judge wasn't buying it, saying that the sequel mirrors the original and lacks parody or critique that might be allowed under federal copyright law. U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts issued her written ruling in Manhattan after considering arguments in a lawsuit… -
John Edwards' Fall Guy Writing Tell All Memoir
30 Jun 2009 | 6:00 amDisgraced politician John Edwards is about to get hit with a tell all book by his former aide, Andrew Young. Young pretended to be the father of John Edwards' love child with Rielle Hunter, but now he's not covering for Edwards anymore. A man who was one of former Senator John Edwards's closest aides has a deal to write a book claiming that Mr. Edwards said he "would be taken care of for life" in return for falsely claiming he was the father of the baby carried by Mr. Edwards's mistress, Rielle Hunter. The aide, Andrew Young, sold his book proposal to St. Martin's Press for an undisclosed… -
Slumdog Millionaire Star Rubina Ali Writes Book
29 Jun 2009 | 8:00 pmPeople reports that Slumdog Millionaire star Rubina Ali has a book coming out that tells the story of her life so far. She's only nine but she has experienced two very different worlds: the slums of Mumbai and Hollywood. July 16 will find her book, Slumdog Dreaming, simulatenously released in the U.S. and U.K. Publisher Transworld, says, besides recounting Oscar night, Ali will tell her story of "playing marbles with her friends beside the sewers of Garib Nagar in Mumbai, to dancing along to the Bollywood films she and her family watch on their old television set. "Rubina brings alive a world… -
Will Zondervan Still Publish Kate Gosselin's Cookbook?
27 Jun 2009 | 4:00 pmKate Gosselin has a book scheduled for release in October called Love Is in the Mix: Making Meals into Memories. While the book is up for pre-order on Amazon.com it may not be published as scheduled now that the Gosselin's have filed for divorce. USA Today reports that Zondervan's CEO says they are going to work with Kate Gosselin to "reassess the schedule for her next book." Maureen "Moe" Girkins, CEO of Zondervan, said the company, a division of News Corp.'s HarperCollins publishing company, was going to "work with Kate to reassess the schedule for her next book." "We are saddened by this… -
Siobhan Dowd Awarded Posthumous Carnegie Medal
25 Jun 2009 | 7:00 pmSiobhan Dowd has posthumously won The Carnegie Medalm, the most prestigious prize in children's literature, for her book, Bog Child. Siobhan recently died after a battle with cancer. Bog Child, the story of a teenage boy who finds the body of a child in an Irish bog, was finished by Dowd in May 2007. She died of cancer that August at the age of 47, having only turned to writing in 2003. In just four short years, she penned four children's books: her first, A Swift Pure Cry, was also shortlisted for the Carnegie. "It's infuriating that she didn't start writing earlier, that she couldn't go on.
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The Abbeville Manual of Style
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Abbeville vs. Chicago: Blog Titles
2 Jul 2009 | 10:58 amThroughout the long mock war we’ve waged against The Chicago Manual of Style, we’ve always preferred to tangle with their print edition, largely because the paint-peeling shade of orange they chose for the cover has provided such a goldmine of cheap jokes. Today, however, we came across an item on their Web edition—the color scheme of which favors light blue, with the orange merely an accent—that hit far too close to home for us to ignore. Chicago Online, your palette may be muted, but our indignation is not. The offending passage runs as follows: Q. How would you treat… -
The Bibliophilia of Michael Jackson
1 Jul 2009 | 9:49 am(Jackson and books photos courtesy Wikimedia) Until now we’ve resisted adding to the welter of Michael Jackson death coverage, preferring to leave celebrity news, gossip, etc. in the capable hands of other blogs. But after this morning’s LA Times story on the singer’s reading habits, we could no longer remain silent. Jackson a fan of art and architecture books? Who knew? If only we had, our sales representatives mutter… Actually, while it’s unlikely that marketing to a star of Jackson’s wattage would have been possible or even desirable, there’s… -
Look Back in Angkor
30 Jun 2009 | 8:29 amAngkor, by Jon Ortner Jon Ortner, author of Abbeville’s 2002 volume Angkor: Celestial Temples of the Khmer Empire, has recently revisited the subject of Khmer temples in an excellent text/photo essay on the National Geographic website. Like the book, and in the best Abbevillian spirit, the essay combines exotic locales, arresting images, and suspenseful travel yarns. Here’s a quick snippet: I looked through the military binoculars the guard handed me. Across the valley, surrounded by thick piles of sand bags, was a bunker. In it was a group of young soldiers, members of the… -
Fireworks Art
29 Jun 2009 | 1:39 pmCai Guo-Qiang, Closing Rainbow: Fireworks Project for the Closing Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Courtesy www.caiguoqiang.com So you want to get into the July Fourth spirit, but as a sophisticated Manual of Style reader you find patriotic fervor slightly gauche. What to do? Well, you could always ditch America and take a jaunt to Bilbao, where the Guggenheim Museum is currently featuring a retrospective on conceptual artist and fireworks master Cai Guo-Qiang. Or you could stay home, light a sparkler, and check out this Wall Street Journal slideshow of Mr. Cai’s… -
From the Comments: British Humor
26 Jun 2009 | 8:36 amThanks to the eloquent contributions of Vincent, a commenter from the UK, Monday’s post on the Economist’s in-house style guide has turned into a discussion of a certain elusive quality of British humor. Unsurprisingly, Vincent’s description of that quality far surpasses our own: I would call it playful and ultimately affectionate. If I were to characterise the British gentlemanly code of behaviour, now obsolescent, it is to be silent about that which you despise or hate, and to be very restrained about that which you love passionately. So one’s utterances are…
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Joanna Campbell Slan
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About Rejection...
19 Jun 2009 | 2:24 pmI've had two people within the past week ask me how I handle rejection. One said, "Joanna, have you ever had anything rejected by your publisher?"Well, yeah.And I'll tell you how I've come to think about this...See you can't get to the east coast or the west coast without crossing mountains. You can fly over them, or you can drive over them, but one way or the other, you've got to pass through them.Rejection in this business is like mountains. It's just a hard spot between me and my goals. I can choose to whine and moan. I can avoid them. Or I can pull up my big girl panties (thanks, Linda… -
Upcoming and Incoming--Stuff I'm Doing and Thinking
15 Jun 2009 | 1:35 pm* Listen in, please! I'll be Sylvia Dicky Smith's featured guest on Murder She Writes today at 5 p.m. CDT. You can listen in at http://www.blogtalkradio.com I hope to talk some about promotions as well as my new book.* Welcome new subscribers! My Constant Contact list grew by 62 names this month. Why? I think that reminding people they can sign up for my newsletter as I sell my book has helped. Now the challenge will continue to be providing value in that newsletter.* Old friends and familiar faces. I continue to be amazed by the people I run into who own one of my "older" books. This… -
The Rising Tide of Cozies, Part 1
3 Jun 2009 | 3:12 pmI just completed a four-part article about 'craft cozies," mysteries that center around a craft or a person involved in crafts. The first installment is now up at ForeWord Magazine, and you can read it here: http://tinyurl.com/puxwykWhy should you care? Well, maybe you'll come up with a couple new marketing ideas or an idea for a mystery series of your own! -
Tools for Overcoming Writer's Block
3 Jun 2009 | 6:52 amLast night I posted 15 essays on writing at www.youpublish.com/joannaslanThese were originally monthly columns for an online magazine called "Graceful Bee," but I'm now making them available for a short time for anyone who needs a gentle boost to get writing. Although written for scrapbookers, the ideas and concepts could inspire any writer. Often, when I'm working on a book, I dig through my personal bag of experiences to find raw materials. I then take a situation that I observed or participated in and RESHAPE that situation as a scene in my books.For example, in Cut, Crop & Die, Kiki… -
Living a Deeply Satisfying Life
2 Jun 2009 | 7:20 amTook a quiz on BlogThings, and "discovered" this:Your Life is Deeply Satisfying You live a satisfying life even when it's not easy. You are dedicated to being happy.You make sure to what you're passionate about. You don't waste any moments.You surround yourself with people you cherish. There is a lot of love in your life.You are thankful for everything you have. You don't take anything for granted.It's really true. Going through all my old journals, I discovered how often I tried to start writing a book and didn't get very far. Now I'm working on something new, something challenging, and each…
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Living to Read
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More Fathers and Sons
1 Jul 2009 | 7:28 pmI have actually spoken to one person who did not like Out Stealing Horses (OSH) by Per Petterson but otherwise everyone I know who has read it thought it was superb (see blog of April 28, 2008). So I was eager to follow up with reading Petterson’s earlier novel In the Wake. After reading this book I looked up the author’s biography and was totally confused. I thought that I had been reading a book of fiction but in fact it so closely follows the details of the author’s own life centered around a family tragedy that you have to wonder why he chose to write it as fiction.Like OSH, In the… -
A Woman of Substance
28 Jun 2009 | 9:44 pmElizabeth Stout has won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for her latest novel “Olive Kitteridge”. This book has been referred to as a novel in stories. There are thirteen chapters (she’s not superstitious!) each with its own title. The story brings to life the small coastal town of Crosby, Maine with all the quirkiness and charm of a small New England town. The tie that binds this novel together is the main character, a middle aged seventh grade math teacher, whose name is Olive Kitteridge. Olive is a force to be reckoned with. She has become a large woman in middle age, who has little patience… -
The People of Muddy River
26 Jun 2009 | 6:50 pmI hadn't intended to read another book about China so soon. I felt like I was still digesting “The Corpse Walkers”, which had many powerful and disturbing stories about the “bottom rung” of Chinese society (see China Revealed). But I heard an interesting radio interview with author Yiyun Li, so I decided to tackle her first novel, “The Vagrants”. Li was born in Beijing in 1972, and did not come to the United States until 1996, after completing a college education and stint in the army. (Because Beijing University had been a hotbed during the Tienanmen Square uprising in 1989, all… -
Secrets
24 Jun 2009 | 5:00 amEven though I wasn’t especially enamored of the first book that I read by Benjamin Black (aka John Banville), when I saw his newest novel The Lemur on the library shelf I thought that it would be fitting to have the whole collection (3) of his Black works on our blog. For a refresher see blogs of 06.18.08 (Dorothea) and 03.06.09 (Charlotte).Here’s the premise of the story: “I’m here to tell you, everybody has secrets, mostly guilty ones.” John Glass is a retired journalist. He has been hired for $1 million by his father-in-law to write the latter’s biography with “all the… -
Revolution and Freedom
21 Jun 2009 | 7:14 pmDalia Sofer was ten years old when she and her family escaped from Iran into Turkey with the help of smugglers. The family eventually emigrated to New York and began a new life. Two years before they fled Iran Sofer’s father had been imprisoned and accused of being a Zionist spy. Dalia Sofer’s first novel was her way of understanding the horrific experience her father and many other Iranian citizens had suffered in prison. She relied on her memories, dialogs with her father and reading numerous accounts written by other Iranian prisoners. The result of this immense effort is a beautifully…
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RobAroundBooks
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‘Book Bites’ for Wednesday 2nd July 2009
2 Jul 2009 | 3:22 pmA suitable partner coming for Seth’s A Suitable Boy - Hot news today as Vikram Seth announced that the long awaited follow-up to his best-selling novel, A Suitable Boy is going to be released by Penguin in the UK, India and Canada in the autumn of 2013 (the US rights have still be put up for sale). Cunningly titled A Suitable Girl, Seth’s follow-up novel will see the narrative being brought up from the period in which A Suitable Boy was set (just after India gained Independence in the late 1940s), to the present-day, with the story centering on the grandson of the first novel’s heroine,… -
Daily Bookshot: Stormy Celebrations
2 Jul 2009 | 11:51 amStormy Celebrations, originally uploaded by Robert Burdock. Gotta love Canongate Books for some of the great books they publish, but gotta love them even more when they send over works in translation that look as delicious as this one does (both in terms of story and cover). This is the soon-to-be released The Hurricane Party from acclaimed Swedish novelist Klas Östergren Published in Sweden in 2007 as Orkanpartyt, The Hurricane Party mixes Norse myth with a dystopian future to bring a novel with a difference, and one that looks not a little promising. Here’s the blurb: Hanck Orn’s… -
Bookshelf of the Week: Jonathan Urch’s attic library
1 Jul 2009 | 12:48 amIf your idea of the perfect reading experience is anything like mine then peace, tranquility and a private ‘book nook’ are essential ingredients. And it looks like Jonathan Urch, may have ticked the box for all three with the subject for this week’s Bookshelf of the Week, this library space that’s been created in his attic. Ok, so some people may find such a space a bit claustrophobic, but not me. I think it looks like the perfect distraction-free reading spot, an all-nurturing ‘bookish cocoon’ if you will, and when it’s wet an windy outside I can… -
Reading Journal: Tues 30th June 2009
30 Jun 2009 | 3:42 pmLast night - Yay finally turned the last page on Athol Fugard’s Tsotsi [forethoughts] last night. But I’m ‘yaying’ not because I couldn’t wait to finish it (far from it, it was quite the literary journey), but rather I was getting frustrated at my taking so long. Done and dusted I’ll posted my ‘afterthoughts’ as soon as I can, but initial thoughts - Enjoyed it. Didn’t go in the direction I thought it was going to, but when do decently written novels ever do that? Fugard’s prose is annoyingly flowery and rambling at times, but what can one expect from a man who known more… -
Daily Bookshot: Elemental Ox-Tales
30 Jun 2009 | 2:32 pmElemental Ox-Tales, originally uploaded by Robert Burdock. I made an announcement earlier today about the new Ox-Tales collection coming out this week in support of Oxfam, so I thought I’d keep the ball rolling with a more ‘arty’ shot of the four volumes in the collection. Rather than repeat all of the information again, I’ll just invite you over to this morning’s ‘Cover Love’ post so you can check out the details.
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Bookninja
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Vikram Seth Writing Sequel to A Suitable Boy
2 Jul 2009 | 11:37 amAs if the 1300+ pages of A Suitable Boy wasn’t enough, Indian novelist and poet Vikram Seth is set to write a sequel. To be titled A Suitable Girl, the story will pick up in the present, not in 1952 where the story left off. Said Seth: That allows me in a sense to bring a whole lot of post-independence history to bear on the novel. It allows me to live in the present. I’m doing something quite different to keep myself interested rather than just writing another historical book that I’ve written before. I hope it can be read by a person who hasn’t read the other book as… -
We’ve come a long way, baby?
2 Jul 2009 | 10:14 amI have this theory. It’s that three little things (and none of them are “the man”) are keeping us from true gender equality, and yes, perhaps even personal fulfillment. They are, in no particular order: 1. Jodi Picoult; “In Bedminster, N.J., 15 women have banded together to form the Jodi Picoult Book Club. They read only Jodi Picoult books. ‘It’s hard sometimes,’ says founder Anne Marie Verdiramo, of the emotional turmoil. ‘They’re so gripping. . . . She brings up so many issues you never thought about.’” 2. Self-help books;… -
Sayonara, suckers
2 Jul 2009 | 8:32 amI’m out of here for Ireland, my shadowy minions. Not before a bit of my trademark intrigue/buffoonery: I went to print boarding passes late last night only to find out my passport was expired. … … … … As my friend Pete said, Only you, Murray. Anyway, suffice it to say, I have discovered yet ANOTHER reason living in St. John’s, Newfoundland rocks the Casbah: no lineups at the passport office. I’ll have a new one by 3pm. And then I’m gone. I see my winged monkeys have already been busy keeping you distracted while we pilfer your valuables… -
They Needed Submissions?!
2 Jul 2009 | 8:08 amThe moment you’ve all been waiting for: the results of the 2009 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest have just been released. The contest celebrates some seriously wretched writing. The winner. Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin’ off Nantucket Sound from the nor’ east and the dogs are howlin’ for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the “Ellie May,” a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin’ and, Davey Jones be… -
Increasing Book Royalties and Lowering Advances The Way To Go
2 Jul 2009 | 6:54 amThe recession has served as a wake-up call, finally the time is here for the publishing industry to re-evaluate its business practices. Plaguing the industry for years has been the habit of offering massive advances up-front for the next Harry Potter or Twiligh-esque blockbuster, advances that rarely pay out, hurting both author and publisher. Writer John Green delivers the final blow to that house of cards by doing the math. Straight-up, larger royalties and smaller advances are a win-win situation for both sides: Let’s say that The Unicornians [ed: sample fictional YA book] is not a…
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Flashlight Worthy
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Expatina's Las Vegas Lucky 7
In my family, the religious gene was recessive and the gambling gene dominant, so I’ve read a lot of books about that Xanadu, Las Vegas, city of bright lights and brighter hopes. I used to spend a lot of time there — I watched Richard Nixon resign on a TV in my suite at the MGM Grand after interviewing Helen Reddy, which seemed somehow fitting. So I know a good Vegas tale when I read one. These are some of the best.Click here to see the 7 books on the list -
The Best of P.G. Wodehouse
Pelham Gringham Wodehouse is one of the most hilarious writers I've ever read. Delightfully understated, Wodehouse wrote stories about the good old days of England, when everyone had butlers and valets and were called things like "Bingo" and "Kipper." My dad was the first to introduce me to him, at the age of 12. I believe I have every one of his books now, almost 80. Wodehouse is timeless, as shown by the search engine (now called Ask.com) that was named after his most famous valet ("gentleman's gentleman"): Jeeves.Click here to see the 8 books on the list -
Novels Set in Schools
Given the near universal common experience with formal education, schools have a long history as a setting for fiction. They open fascinating windows into social, emotional and political issues, and provide great opportunities for humor as well.Click here to see the 6 books on the list -
Teacher Memoirs
We’ve all been affected by teachers in our lives... now consider how they’ve been affected by us, their students. These memoirs provide a range of experiences in the classroom that are touching, humorous and enlightening.Click here to see the 11 books on the list -
Memoirs of The First Year of Teaching
Nothing compares to the first year of teaching: the highs, the lows, and the NoDoz. Few things require as much planning, creativity, energy, and determination as surviving the first year managing your own classroom. Here's a selection of books that capture the challenges facing novice teachers and provide insight into what gets them up and over that steep first year learning curve.Click here to see the 6 books on the list
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This week's book you need to read!
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Do I.T. Yourself Now
14 Jun 2009 | 4:17 amWhen you purchase a car, you expect to do normal maintenance. Oil changes, new tires and tune-ups are rarely covered under warranty, so we expect to do these simple tasks. Or at least pay someone to do them for us!Surprisingly, computers are similar in terms of needed maintenance. And a lack of maintenance can have the same effects on your computer as it can have on your car. Your performance -
The Pollyanna Principles
23 May 2009 | 12:03 pmUsually the only books that keep me up at night revolve around baseball history. For example, I did not sleep for two nights while I crammed reading Joe Morgan's autobiography around the rest of my schedule. I could not get enough of tales of the Big Red Machine and how horrible the Astrodome was as a baseball stadium. The Pollyanna Principles is one of those rare books for me. In fact, it -
The Power of Intention; Learning to Co-create Your World Your Way
16 Apr 2009 | 12:31 pmSeveral years ago, my uncle had me read the The Celestine Prophecy. I was a little surprised when he spoke about it because it was a stark departure from the archeology books he loves. So, I picked it up and read it in a weekend. One thing from the book has always stood out to me, and that is the idea that the universe is working to help me get where I need to be in life. The instructions, as -
Networking Shampoo; Lather, Rinse and Repeat These Books!
13 Mar 2009 | 11:55 amThere are only two universities in the United States that teach a class on networking, yet organizations like BNI are growing exponentially as sales professionals realize cold calling is no longer an effective lead generation tool. Few business schools are preparing their graduates for the real world of business, where effective sales people drive market share and profitability. Fortunately, -
Gleaners Community Food Bank
2 Mar 2009 | 5:24 pmSeveral years ago, back when I was the development director for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Detroit, a friend of mine suggested I contact Anne Weekley. At the time, she was working for the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan and became a valuable resource for me. Anne answered all sorts of questions for me, especially my questions about running for public office as she had
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The Millions
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The Millions Top Ten: June 2009
2 Jul 2009 | 7:12 amWe spend plenty of time here on The Millions telling all of you what we've been reading, but we are also quite interested in hearing about what you've been reading. By looking at our Amazon stats, we can see what books Millions readers have been buying, and we decided it would be fun to use those stats to find out what books have been most popular with our readers in recent months. Below you'll find our Millions Top Ten list for June, the list is also in our sidebar.ThisMonthLastMonth TitleOn List1.1.Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming… -
Most Anticipated: Rounding Out 2009, An Epic Year for Books
1 Jul 2009 | 3:18 amAt the beginning of the year, we noted that "2009 may be a great year for books." With the publishing schedule for the remainder of the year filled out, calling 2009 a great year for readers is now a certainty. If anything, 2009 is backloaded, with new titles coming in the second half of the year from legends like Thomas Pynchon and Philip Roth and fan favorites like Lorrie Moore and Jonathan Lethem. A peek into 2010, meanwhile, reveals more literary excitement on tap, with new titles on the way from Jonathan Franzen, Joshua Ferris, and others. Below you'll find, in chronological order, the… -
Curiosities: SF Tour
28 Jun 2009 | 7:09 pmHistory's 10 best prison breaks.A Paid Content column argues that the true genius of the Kindle is that it breaks the trend toward multi-tasking......But there is still a huge amount of confusion surrounding the Kindle's DRM policies.AbeBooks aggregates some summer reading lists.VQR compiles a brief reading list for those following the post-election protests in Iran.Bay Area readers: Conversational Reading is taking a page from The Millions playbook and hosting a San Francisco indie bookstore walking tour. Sounds fun! -
The Millions Interview: Matthew Vollmer and Nic Brown (Part II)
25 Jun 2009 | 3:46 amFuture Missionaries of America by Matthew Vollmer and Floodmarkers by Nic Brown are short story collections from debut writers with enormous gifts. Their work is beautiful, funny, and delightfully weird. Matthew and Nic were my classmates at Iowa, where they proved to be not only talented writers, but also sharp and passionate readers. Since they're pals, I thought it would be fun if Matthew and Nic interviewed each other about their books. It's a real thrill for me to see their stories in print, and to have them on The Millions.In this second installment, Nic interviews Matthew about Future… -
The Millions Interview: Matthew Vollmer and Nic Brown (Part I)
24 Jun 2009 | 3:13 amFuture Missionaries of America by Matthew Vollmer and Floodmarkers by Nic Brown are short story collections from debut writers with enormous gifts. Their work is beautiful, funny, and delightfully weird. Matthew and Nic were my classmates at Iowa, where they proved to be not only talented writers, but also sharp and passionate readers. Since they're pals, I thought it would be fun if Matthew and Nic interviewed each other about their books. It's a real thrill for me to see their stories in print, and to have them on The Millions.In this first installment, Matthew talks to Nic about his book.
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Lair of the Undead Rat
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The Adult Summer Reading Program
1 Jul 2009 | 11:39 amThis year the Cleveland Hts.-University Hts. Public Library system proudly presents the 2009 Adult Summer Reading Progam! After only a few weeks into the program we’re on track to having the best numbers for an Adult Summer Reading Proigam ever. This is nice. However, we want more of you to participate. It’s easy and it’s fun. First you read a book. Any book. We don’t have a list of pre-approved books or anything like that — you just read whatever you want. You can read or listen to a book on cassette, CD or MP3. It can be fiction or nonfiction. Second you fill… -
Presenting the Award Winning Joe Kieran Series
29 Jun 2009 | 8:36 amJoe Kieran is a newspaper reporter with a past . . . and now a future . . . but a future that might just cost him his soul. Each week I pick a new series and detail it here — giving you the proper order. Click the mouse on the book covers to order these books from the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library. Covenant Covenant (The Joe Kieran Series #1) Author: Everson, John Format: Mass Market Paperback Type: Novel Page Count: 352pp. Pub. Date: August 26, 2008 Publisher: Leisure/Dorchester Original Pub: November 2004 (Hardcover — Delirium Books) The 2004 Bram Stoker… -
Dexter’s Dark Devotion
26 Jun 2009 | 12:45 pm“And now it is Dexter’s turn to feel the queasy prickling of eyes on his back, the flutter of fear as I become more certain that something is now hunting me.” Dexter Morgan is your friendly neighborhood sociopath with two differences, he kills only bad people that the law can’t touch and he genuinely likes children. But he’s not fond of a detective who puts him under surveillance. Remember, if you are interested in this book, click the mouse on the book cover to order it from an online bookseller. TITLE: DEARLY DEVOTED DEXTER WRITER: by Jeff Lindsay SERIES: The… -
Save Ohio Libraries!
24 Jun 2009 | 11:48 amThere’s no time to write. Call or email our State Senator Shirley Smith, State Representative Barbara Boyd, and Governor Ted Strickland. Save the Public Library Fund! The Ohio Public Library Fund makes up one third of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library Budget. Friday’s version of the budget cuts the Ohio PLF in half. * Libraries throughout Ohio will close. * Branches will close. * Unemployment will rise. * Valuable employment tools and training will be unavailable. Libraries are a public safety net in time of recession as well as centers for lifelong learning. One… -
Check Out Darkly Dreaming Dexter
22 Jun 2009 | 2:20 pm“I’m quite sure most people fake an awful lot of everyday human contact. I just fake all of it. I fake it very well, and the feelings are never there. But I like kids. . . . kids are special.” Dexter Morgan is your friendly neighborhood sociopath with two differences, he kills only bad people that the law can’t touch and he genuinely likes children. He also don’t mind helping the police catch serial killers. Remember, if you are interested in this book, click the mouse on the book cover to order it from an online bookseller. TITLE: DARKLY DREAMING DEXTER WRITER:…
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Jacket Copy
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Bigfoot: Why do we believe in you?
2 Jul 2009 | 1:49 pmThe cover of this book reminds me of the thousands of pairs of Ugg boots I see girls wearing around L.A. Perhaps Bigfoot -- since we can never seem to pin that guy down completely -- is supporting himself somewhere out in the woods by designing the original pair of Uggs? In all seriousness though, Bigfoot really is an American tall-tale. Up there with the Loch Ness monster and other such mystic creatures we can never seem to find, he eludes us and yet we always choose to believe in him, just a little bit. Bigfoot embodies American ideals: Western ruggedness, the great outdoors, old-fashioned… -
Who should a book's cover speak to?
2 Jul 2009 | 9:40 amOn his blog, Seth Godin argues that the job of a book cover is not to attract everyone's attention, just the right people's attention in the right way.Is the purpose of the cover to sell books, to accurately describe what's in the book, or to tee up the reader so the book has maximum impact?The third.It's the third because if the book has maximum impact, then word of mouth is created, and word of mouth is what sells your product, not the cover.His argument makes sense. The people who should be attracted to a book are the people who would like that particular book, who will be… -
Ray Bradbury is everywhere
2 Jul 2009 | 7:14 amWhat do you plan to do for your 89th birthday? Ray Bradbury, who will leave 88 behind later this summer, plans to head to the library. He's having a birthday celebration at the Memorial Branch Library on West Olympic in Los Angeles on Monday, Aug. 31 at 6:30 pm. The event is free, but to support the library, Bradbury's books will be for sale. He'll be happy to sign those that are purchased at the event. And he's also pitching in to help the Venice Historical Society restore the columns along Windward Avenue. The Ray Bradbury Adopt-a-Colonnade project kicks off July 31 with… -
No book tour for Henry Waxman?
1 Jul 2009 | 1:31 pmU.S. Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday night; he was feeling "unwell," a spokeswoman told The Times. But, she added, the 69-year-old is feeling "much better now."Waxman is the author (with co-writer Joshua Green) of the new "The Waxman Report: How Congress Really Works," one of the dozen books that will be released this year by picky publishing house 12. Today, the "heartfelt, important little book" is reviewed by Tim Rutten.When the history of postwar America is definitively… -
Exposing Hancock Park: Can a 19-year-old touch James Ellroy?
1 Jul 2009 | 12:07 pmIsabel Kaplan, who's just finished her freshman year at Harvard, wrote the new young adult novel "Hancock Park" while she was in the 11th and 12th grades at the private Marlborough School. She explains in the Daily Beast today: For the young and glittery in L.A., party-promotion companies would rent out dance spaces and throw under-21 parties with names like “Seduction,” where tickets were at the very least $20, a bottle of water cost $5, and everyone was drunk upon arrival because alcohol wouldn’t be served inside. Think Gossip Girl with less preppiness,…
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Buzz, Balls & Hype
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The Ad Man Answers #64
2 Jul 2009 | 1:00 amThursday + Gregory Huffstutter = The Ad Man Answers Continuing our Ex-Ad Guy/Gal interview series, this month we’re thrilled to bring you a chat with Louise Ure. Louise began her advertising career in Account Management at Ogilvy & Mather/New York, then moved west to open the fledging O&M office in San Francisco under Hal Riney. She then moved to Foote Cone & Belding/SF, leading the accounts for Alaska Tourism, Clorox, Pacific Bell and the unforgettable Dancing California Raisins. Her work at FCB continued in other cities, including stints as Vice… -
Why Not
29 Jun 2009 | 6:00 pmJudge Page usually scours the web for interesting marketing information with the idea being that those of us writing (and doing more of our own marketing) need to come up for air once a week and see what the rest of the business world is up to so we don’t get left too far behind. Today there are no Linktopia links, but an interesting idea for our interesting times. Read on and see whether you are asking yourself, well, why not? M.J. and I will more often than not lament the sometimes bizarre world of publishing and marketing. This started with an email that covered the states… -
THE DOCTOR IS IN
25 Jun 2009 | 10:15 pmHi, Dr. Sue,I'm a writer - unpublished, so I do it because I love it and because with practice, I hope to be able to write something worth publishing. My problem isn't being blocked - I know that I go through creative and non-creative times and take the ups along with the downs. My problem is my day job. I make decent money, but I'm not happy where I'm working. I understand that I'm obviously not at the point where I can write full time, and I don't know when or if I'll ever get to that point, but I don't know what to do with myself in the meantime. I really don't like where I'm working now,… -
Linktopia
22 Jun 2009 | 7:45 pmLinktopia (with the help of Judge Page) checks in with what youth publishing is doing right when it comes to marketing according to ypulse.com, and a favorite TV ad that leads to a look back at book ads. This week there has been a flurry of announcements out of the YA book publishing world concerning technology nicely summed up in this USA Today piece. In a nutshell, Harper Collins is using mobile to promote LC's new book (Lauren Conrad's L.A. Candy), Simon & Schuster launched a YA social network called Pulse It and Penguin launched YA Central, aggregating interviews with popular… -
THE DOCTOR IS IN
18 Jun 2009 | 10:01 pmWHY WE DO IT I recently began working with a filmmaker on a series of videotaped interviews with writers, musicians, and visual and performing artists. Before I came on board, the focus was the artists' day-to-day lives, their struggles, and their techniques. I was asked to help explore the emotional aspects of their creative process. We are now immersed in the first project I have been part of. The subject is an actor and university teacher who incorporates the Japanese discipline of Butoh into her work. We have several hours of video so far, and we all feel we have barely scratched the…
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My Mind on Books
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‘Musicophilia’ on NOVA (PBS)
30 Jun 2009 | 10:47 pmTonight’s NOVA program on “Musical Minds” was based on Oliver Sacks’s Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain. The program will be available to view online starting tomorrow (July 1, 2009) through the website. -
“The shadow life of reading” – Sven Birkerts, ‘The Gutenberg Elegies’
28 Jun 2009 | 11:24 pmThe shadow life of reading begins even while we have the book in hand—begins as soon as we move from the first sentence to the second and start