It's become automatic that once literary prize winners are announced, articles come thick and fast telling how those cloistered juries arrived at the winners.
Marianne Wiggins writes rather bitterly about her experience of reading 258 novels in a three month period, and after winnowing that down to a list of five "we were uniformly underwhelmed."
Oh.
Wiggins also notes that "outside of a Bible and a phone book, many households in the United States probably own (and read) zero works of serious fiction."
Lets hope these poor unfortunates missed their L.A Times that day as well.
I'll always take the side of writers and writing over any other form of entertainment high or low, but this sort of elitist nonsense doesn't help foster any serious discussion " of how writers of serious fiction manage to survive."
Those households Wiggins dismisses as being filled with idiots have kids, jobs and likely demands on their time that may make indulging in serious fiction a fairly low priority. That's a shame, but it's certainly not the fault of those Wiggins uniformly dumps on.
It should be said that she was previously shortlisted for the National Book Award in 2003 and has had a long career. But I wonder if booksellers who read this tripe have silently put her in the "pass" column.
I will add Richard Powers' Echo Maker to my pile. There's been nothing but praise since the NBA winner was announced.
Posted by Dave
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Trust me..(uh him) on this
For someone who makes a living (booksellers are paid rather handsomely don't you know) badgering people into reading books they probably didn't intend to, I rarely solicit opinion outside of these guys and a number of favourites.
That might be true for other booksellers, I'm not sure; but I regularly refer to an old friend who eats crime fiction, knows it back and forth, and is just a great reader. Recently, he came up with this.
L. A Rex is a wonder.
Ben Halloran is a newly minted white L.A cop with a shadowy past, teamed with an old school Hispanic Miguel Marquez, a throwback to the controversial Daryl Gates era of the L.A.P.D. The pair are beat cops in South Centrals 77th Division, as is the author and first time novelist Will Beall.
If he's merely writing about what he knows, Beall has written a hell of a memoir disguised as fiction. But his chops are too good and the plot moves like a jaguar.
The books begins with the notorious hip hop wars between East and West in the late 90s and the social fallout from the Rodney King verdict.
In interviews online, Beall notes that due to it's economic isolation, South Central L.A is really more of a small town in which community policing is a necessity, albeit an extraordinarily dangerous one. As such, secrets are precious and rarely seem to hold up.
Much of the plot rests on a father son dynamic between Ben and his father, a powerful lawyer with deep roots in the hip hop and film trade. The remainder moves around gang violence, various industry moguls and dubious alliances on both sides of the law.
Chris, my aforementioned sage, compares Beall to fellow cop novelist Kent Anderson and that fits. It's been years, but I remember Anderson being a bit bleaker. That's a plus, as one of the strengths of L.A Rex resides in the blinkered humanity of the beat cops and another main character Darius, a Crip gang member turned hip hop artist.
Critics are going to wonder about the level of violence, but it feels consistent with it's surroundings. It may strain credibility for a paranoid character to guard his safe with a snapping turtle for example, but given the culture of acquisition in corners of the hip hip world, it comes off as genuine.
If there's a minor quibble, perhaps the end wraps up a bit quickly given the accumulated history here, but a final blowout/meltdown seems almost biblical in its denouement.
Will Beall is a formidable talent and his second book, tentatively titled Lion Hunters should put him into the Ellroy/Wambaugh/Connelly league.
This is an exceptional first novel.
Posted by Dave
Monday, November 27, 2006
Saturday, November 25, 2006
and then there were two more
The Globe and the Guardian weigh in on their best of the year. I'm rather impressed with the quality of the Globe's list. Carol Windley on the Canadian fiction list, Vincent Lam not; a string of strong nonfiction entries and both Clare Messud's Emperor's Children and Chimananda Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun on for foreign fiction.
Someday, someone's going to have to explain the appeal of Douglas Coupland's fiction to anyone over thirty, but that's a minor quibble.
Posted by Dave
Someday, someone's going to have to explain the appeal of Douglas Coupland's fiction to anyone over thirty, but that's a minor quibble.
Posted by Dave
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Why doesn't mine look like that?
It's been noted elsewhere, but Maud has a new look. A great new look.
does this gig get in the way of a new book?
time of year
The New York Times has opined on it's 100 Notable Books of the Year, lamentably hidden behind a subscription wall. It looks like a decent, if safe list. I'm a bit surprised to see Updike's Terrorist there, and virtually nothing from small presses.
Posted by Dave
Posted by Dave
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
been saying it for years
Sarah has linked to an interview with George Pelecanos, who looks like he's finally making a well deserved buck after putting out top shelf crime fiction for almost twenty years. He's my favourite crime writer and like the great ones in the trade, he keeps getting better and staying fresh.
He always interviews well, but I love this:
"I was a film major in college; I thought I wanted to make films. Then, in my senior year, I got turned on to books by a professor who changed my life, really. Turned me on to crime novels. I had never really read novels at all, and the reason was that the books I had been forced to read in high school didn't really speak to my world at all; they give you "The Scarlet Letter," stuff like that. And this guy showed me the kind of literature that was really populist literature and I recognized a lot of the characters in it and I decided this is really what I want to do."
For all the worrying book people and educators do about losing young boys as readers, they problem isn't well addressed. Crime fiction should be in every English class in North America.
Posted by Dave
He always interviews well, but I love this:
"I was a film major in college; I thought I wanted to make films. Then, in my senior year, I got turned on to books by a professor who changed my life, really. Turned me on to crime novels. I had never really read novels at all, and the reason was that the books I had been forced to read in high school didn't really speak to my world at all; they give you "The Scarlet Letter," stuff like that. And this guy showed me the kind of literature that was really populist literature and I recognized a lot of the characters in it and I decided this is really what I want to do."
For all the worrying book people and educators do about losing young boys as readers, they problem isn't well addressed. Crime fiction should be in every English class in North America.
Posted by Dave
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
GG winners are...
announced here. That leaves the field wide open for an award that, though not as much of a media circus as the Giller or the GG's, is nonetheless prized as a qualitative yardstick. I refer, of course to our own WordsWorthy, to be announced.
The award is in it's fifth year and goes to the best Canadian work of fiction, in our estimation, that was not present on the aforementioned Canadian shortlists. Stay tuned.
Posted by Dave
The award is in it's fifth year and goes to the best Canadian work of fiction, in our estimation, that was not present on the aforementioned Canadian shortlists. Stay tuned.
Posted by Dave
He's a better writer, too
Nice piece in the Globe today on Alan Furst, one of my favourite genre writers. His novels of intrigue in the years prior to the Second World War era Europe are detailed and enigmatic tales in which often ordinary citizens are driven to undertake heroic, clandestine tasks to aid the Allied war effort.
As he notes near the end of the story, his work is inexplicably, absent from the screen.
"This," he says with a sigh, "is my despair."
I don't understand it either. I always thought Alan Furst was what a Bond like character might read like if he was written by Joseph Conrad.
because Fox is synonymous with good judgment
There's no way this can miss. If he still has one, Dennis Miller should probably stay by his phone.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Sunday, November 19, 2006
it's only a fetish if you don't discuss it
Book sniffing, that is.
"There is a theory, for example, that we choose a long-term sexual partner based in large part on odour, and we like someone's smell if their immune system is complementary to our own, so that offspring will get the best protection possible. Different kinds of books have characteristic smells, too, from the no-nonsense, almost newspapery tang of cheap paper and ink of a paperback thriller, to the high-class, sweet-polish aroma of the glossy coffee-table book."
"There is a theory, for example, that we choose a long-term sexual partner based in large part on odour, and we like someone's smell if their immune system is complementary to our own, so that offspring will get the best protection possible. Different kinds of books have characteristic smells, too, from the no-nonsense, almost newspapery tang of cheap paper and ink of a paperback thriller, to the high-class, sweet-polish aroma of the glossy coffee-table book."
incorruptible, got it?
There's an interesting thread going on over at the MetauxCafe litblog. It's been addressed before, but the question is:
To what degree do bloggers compromise themselves by accepting free books for review from publishers? Are they now inevitably predisposed to mention it positively or provide a good review, or can any blogger worth their salt be trusted to ever by impartial once ARC's or review copies from publishers become part of the mix?
Good points from all sides, but the consensus is that most bloggers have larger lives to navigate and larger ethical concerns to fret over. Says Condalmo (fine site by the way)
"I'm not here to make money or get free books; I'm here because I live in East Bum and this is the closest I'll get to being part of a well-read community, with lively discussions and thoughts about books. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy free books, but sending me a book guarantees neither a review, nor a positive review. Nor even a mention - there's just too many books, and this blog isn't my full-time job. I work, I parent. "
There are blogs that are longstanding and going concerns and may even be a primary income source, but outfits like Sarah's and Jessa's very likely got where they are by being on pretty solid ground ethically.
I also share the general contention of the comments that follow that readers are generally savvy enough to suss out who they'll seek out as authors and/or reviewers.
The impetus from all this came from Simon & Schuster, the U.S publisher of Diane Setterfield's Thirteenth Tale, a monster bestseller with much co-operative ads from chain stores and good word of mouth from independents. (read it, not bad, a bit long, better than average first book)
S&S sent out the following to select bloggers in the U.S that read,
"Because you’ve done such a great job reviewing and promoting Simon & Schuster and Atria’s books in the past, I’d like to offer you an exciting and unique opportunity. Simply promote The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield in your blog, and you could be eligible to win a $100 American Express Gift Check and a library of Atria Books titles."
Not much to get excited about given bigger conflicts of interest out there in the good old world, but it seems fairly straightforward for even flyweight bloggers such as us to trade on our integrity by stating a few things up front.
Bookstores, even plucky independents like ours are lousy with review copies and promo material. However, most of my miserable screeds come from existing stock or titles in my home. I'm also rife with re-enforced preferences:
I don't care for historical novels, the eighteenth century and back isn't my drink of choice.
Every novel out of Canada's East coast reads the same to me. I'm content to call it a weakness on my part and just not explore it much further.
The Prairies are flat and boring and novels set in the Prairies are well...
A better than average short story gets more love than a better than average novel.
Crime fiction is where the favourite hand selling takes place.
Books from this outfit are better thank books from well, anywhere else.
American heavyweight fiction is better than Canadian heavyweight fiction, but second tier Canadian stuff is very good and getting a lot better very quickly. The future of the country's writers, if not the country is plenty bright.
Posted by Dave
To what degree do bloggers compromise themselves by accepting free books for review from publishers? Are they now inevitably predisposed to mention it positively or provide a good review, or can any blogger worth their salt be trusted to ever by impartial once ARC's or review copies from publishers become part of the mix?
Good points from all sides, but the consensus is that most bloggers have larger lives to navigate and larger ethical concerns to fret over. Says Condalmo (fine site by the way)
"I'm not here to make money or get free books; I'm here because I live in East Bum and this is the closest I'll get to being part of a well-read community, with lively discussions and thoughts about books. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy free books, but sending me a book guarantees neither a review, nor a positive review. Nor even a mention - there's just too many books, and this blog isn't my full-time job. I work, I parent. "
There are blogs that are longstanding and going concerns and may even be a primary income source, but outfits like Sarah's and Jessa's very likely got where they are by being on pretty solid ground ethically.
I also share the general contention of the comments that follow that readers are generally savvy enough to suss out who they'll seek out as authors and/or reviewers.
The impetus from all this came from Simon & Schuster, the U.S publisher of Diane Setterfield's Thirteenth Tale, a monster bestseller with much co-operative ads from chain stores and good word of mouth from independents. (read it, not bad, a bit long, better than average first book)
S&S sent out the following to select bloggers in the U.S that read,
"Because you’ve done such a great job reviewing and promoting Simon & Schuster and Atria’s books in the past, I’d like to offer you an exciting and unique opportunity. Simply promote The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield in your blog, and you could be eligible to win a $100 American Express Gift Check and a library of Atria Books titles."
Not much to get excited about given bigger conflicts of interest out there in the good old world, but it seems fairly straightforward for even flyweight bloggers such as us to trade on our integrity by stating a few things up front.
Bookstores, even plucky independents like ours are lousy with review copies and promo material. However, most of my miserable screeds come from existing stock or titles in my home. I'm also rife with re-enforced preferences:
I don't care for historical novels, the eighteenth century and back isn't my drink of choice.
Every novel out of Canada's East coast reads the same to me. I'm content to call it a weakness on my part and just not explore it much further.
The Prairies are flat and boring and novels set in the Prairies are well...
A better than average short story gets more love than a better than average novel.
Crime fiction is where the favourite hand selling takes place.
Books from this outfit are better thank books from well, anywhere else.
American heavyweight fiction is better than Canadian heavyweight fiction, but second tier Canadian stuff is very good and getting a lot better very quickly. The future of the country's writers, if not the country is plenty bright.
Posted by Dave
Saturday, November 18, 2006
how about a nice fake murder instead?
Chapters-Indigo is preparing for an invasion of OJ mania and the book is number 28, no, 21, wait 14 on Amazon as of this morning.
Book product rollouts have their violence prepackaged, but the gamer industry can make it own fun before the fact, too.
As Christmas and commerce engage to highlight our better natures, perhaps a trifling distraction is in order.
I'm only about halfway through, but I'm really into Laird Hunt's third novel.
Henry is a near vagrant in post 9/11 New York City who is plucked from a mental hospital by a mysterious philanthropist of sorts, the seemingly refined and wealthy Mr. Aris Kindt.
Kindt and a cast of odd and menacing characters earn a fair living it seems, from performing staged murders throughout the city.
Hunt is so far employing a misdirection technique that I'm fine to buy into, but the real treat is the noirish and hallucinatory phantasm that is Laird Hunt's New York.
His third novel is a delicious little work from non-profit Coffee House Press. There's never a wrong time to celebrate the good stuff out of the small presses, but especially now, it seems appropriate.
Posted by Dave
Book product rollouts have their violence prepackaged, but the gamer industry can make it own fun before the fact, too.
As Christmas and commerce engage to highlight our better natures, perhaps a trifling distraction is in order.
I'm only about halfway through, but I'm really into Laird Hunt's third novel.
Henry is a near vagrant in post 9/11 New York City who is plucked from a mental hospital by a mysterious philanthropist of sorts, the seemingly refined and wealthy Mr. Aris Kindt.
Kindt and a cast of odd and menacing characters earn a fair living it seems, from performing staged murders throughout the city.
Hunt is so far employing a misdirection technique that I'm fine to buy into, but the real treat is the noirish and hallucinatory phantasm that is Laird Hunt's New York.
His third novel is a delicious little work from non-profit Coffee House Press. There's never a wrong time to celebrate the good stuff out of the small presses, but especially now, it seems appropriate.
Posted by Dave
Friday, November 17, 2006
out of many, one
The shock at Regan Books doing the OJ book is lessened a bit by putting on protective gear, having a drink at the ready and taking a peek at the publishers site.
Frontlist and back are filled with political screeds entirely concerned with score settling, titles to titillate the dull and biographies from people in the second third of their fifteen minutes.
Of course any major publisher has exceptions and Jess Walter's novel Zero, is one of them. I wanted to get there and still will, but he's surely thankful at not having won the National Book Award earlier this week, as it meant the absence of the years most awkward acceptance speech.
The world would go merrily on without much of the rest of Regan Books, but any prospective author who wants to do good work and finds themselves with an offer from this company is going to be associated with OJ.
Perhaps Harper Collins can send that damn dog over to bite him somewhere special.
It's with this in mind that the great Bella Stander announces the First Annual Skank Awards.
Posted by Dave
Frontlist and back are filled with political screeds entirely concerned with score settling, titles to titillate the dull and biographies from people in the second third of their fifteen minutes.
Of course any major publisher has exceptions and Jess Walter's novel Zero, is one of them. I wanted to get there and still will, but he's surely thankful at not having won the National Book Award earlier this week, as it meant the absence of the years most awkward acceptance speech.
The world would go merrily on without much of the rest of Regan Books, but any prospective author who wants to do good work and finds themselves with an offer from this company is going to be associated with OJ.
Perhaps Harper Collins can send that damn dog over to bite him somewhere special.
It's with this in mind that the great Bella Stander announces the First Annual Skank Awards.
Posted by Dave
Thursday, November 16, 2006
me too
This pretty much says it all on the OJ affair, from a booksellers point of view.
"Normally, I'd decry any form of censorship, but I fear this is just a book too far, and a terrible indictment of the greed and cynicism of the present breed of conglomerate publishers. While new laws are currently being gerrymandered to prevent criminals from profiting from their literary endeavours, and it is likely that the $3.5m Simpson is rumoured to be receiving for the book will help cover the damages he was ordered to pay by the civil court to the families of the deceased, I would nonetheless urge all American booksellers to boycott this disgraceful book, and maybe even future books emanating from this particular imprint."
I really do view the little bookstore that I work in as largely a bulwark against the overabundance of sludge out there.
Having said that, did I mention that this is out? Without overstating it, I'm pretty aware of my shortcomings, but everything I like about myself is amplified when I read Joan Didion.
Posted by Dave
"Normally, I'd decry any form of censorship, but I fear this is just a book too far, and a terrible indictment of the greed and cynicism of the present breed of conglomerate publishers. While new laws are currently being gerrymandered to prevent criminals from profiting from their literary endeavours, and it is likely that the $3.5m Simpson is rumoured to be receiving for the book will help cover the damages he was ordered to pay by the civil court to the families of the deceased, I would nonetheless urge all American booksellers to boycott this disgraceful book, and maybe even future books emanating from this particular imprint."
I really do view the little bookstore that I work in as largely a bulwark against the overabundance of sludge out there.
Having said that, did I mention that this is out? Without overstating it, I'm pretty aware of my shortcomings, but everything I like about myself is amplified when I read Joan Didion.
Posted by Dave
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
pure as the driven (yellow) snow
It should be noted that Harper Collins Canada has clean hands, and that booksellers up here are happy to make the distinction, but this is very likely the most odious thing I've ever seen in the book trade. Regan Publishing is distributed by Harper Collins in the U.S, and has recently published books by such luminaries as former New Jersey governor James McGreevey and porn star Jenna Jameson.
As is noted in the Washington Post, it helps and is almost fun in a sick way, to follow the skeezy bouncing ball on this.
"In one of those incredible coincidences that make covering the TV industry so fulfilling, the book is being published under the Regan imprint, headed by Judith Regan, who will conduct the interview with O.J. on Fox. And her publishing outfit, ReganBooks, is a division of HarperCollins, which is owned by News Corp. -- which also owns Fox!"
That would be the Fox that relentlessly shills for the family values party that just got shellacked in the recent U.S midterm elections.
As is noted in the Washington Post, it helps and is almost fun in a sick way, to follow the skeezy bouncing ball on this.
"In one of those incredible coincidences that make covering the TV industry so fulfilling, the book is being published under the Regan imprint, headed by Judith Regan, who will conduct the interview with O.J. on Fox. And her publishing outfit, ReganBooks, is a division of HarperCollins, which is owned by News Corp. -- which also owns Fox!"
That would be the Fox that relentlessly shills for the family values party that just got shellacked in the recent U.S midterm elections.
Hmmmmm
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Smackdown
Richard Dawkins' God Delusion has been flying off the shelves, lately. It's more accurate to say that it would if we could keep it in stock.
The publishers blurb reports that Dawkins "turns his considerable intellect on religion, denouncing its faulty logic and the suffering it causes."
I'm not a person of overriding faith, but the older I get the more I rather like the idea of a faith component out there. I have no idea what that may entail, and I don't have the necessary intellect to explore it much further or to give it a definitive construct.
That's why I like the idea of someone like Marilynne (Gilead) Robinson doing it for me.
"Since Dawkins’s declared intention in this book is to hearten the many atheists who, he is sure, exist, but who conceal their convictions for fear of disapproval or rejection, no doubt his tendentiousness is meant to be enjoyed by the like-minded, as is so much that is called “objectivity” in these fulminating times. Yet Dawkins is in earnest in presenting himself as a man in possession of liberating truth — another characteristic of the genre — and his readership is sure to be much wider than the crypto-atheist community. So it seems fair, if not strictly possible, to take him as seriously as he takes himself."
I only know that reading Marilynne Robinson works for me on a bunch of levels. I suspect that's not going to hold up in court as it were, but in a tussle between Dawkins and Robinson, it's a no brainer.
Posted by Dave
The publishers blurb reports that Dawkins "turns his considerable intellect on religion, denouncing its faulty logic and the suffering it causes."
I'm not a person of overriding faith, but the older I get the more I rather like the idea of a faith component out there. I have no idea what that may entail, and I don't have the necessary intellect to explore it much further or to give it a definitive construct.
That's why I like the idea of someone like Marilynne (Gilead) Robinson doing it for me.
"Since Dawkins’s declared intention in this book is to hearten the many atheists who, he is sure, exist, but who conceal their convictions for fear of disapproval or rejection, no doubt his tendentiousness is meant to be enjoyed by the like-minded, as is so much that is called “objectivity” in these fulminating times. Yet Dawkins is in earnest in presenting himself as a man in possession of liberating truth — another characteristic of the genre — and his readership is sure to be much wider than the crypto-atheist community. So it seems fair, if not strictly possible, to take him as seriously as he takes himself."
I only know that reading Marilynne Robinson works for me on a bunch of levels. I suspect that's not going to hold up in court as it were, but in a tussle between Dawkins and Robinson, it's a no brainer.
Posted by Dave
Monday, November 13, 2006
more to come, too.
miserable crank redux
We went to see "Stranger than Fiction" last night and it wasn't awful. I don't generally praise movies much better than that, so I don't see a lot of them. It was something of a surprise to see the writer's lot represented with at least a degree of nuance.
The moment where Emma Thompson would have to do some crass channeling of Sharon Stone never came.
Good enough.
The moment where Emma Thompson would have to do some crass channeling of Sharon Stone never came.
Good enough.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
leave the hectoring to me
Nov 18 is America Unchained Day.
The American Independent Business Alliance has designated Nov. 18 to encourage Americans and Canadians to avoid shopping at chain stores entirely, instead choosing to patronize locally owned and independent shops.
The site is informative and free of any hectoring aftertaste.
It's the local government that has the most influence over one's tax base, so avoiding chain shops impacts on the wallet, as well as making one feel better about what Marx called dialectical materialism. Or what George Carlin simply chose to call "their stuff."
Municipal elections on Monday, folks.
It's awfully hard for Waterloo Region to be proud of a 20% voter turnout.
The American Independent Business Alliance has designated Nov. 18 to encourage Americans and Canadians to avoid shopping at chain stores entirely, instead choosing to patronize locally owned and independent shops.
The site is informative and free of any hectoring aftertaste.
It's the local government that has the most influence over one's tax base, so avoiding chain shops impacts on the wallet, as well as making one feel better about what Marx called dialectical materialism. Or what George Carlin simply chose to call "their stuff."
Municipal elections on Monday, folks.
It's awfully hard for Waterloo Region to be proud of a 20% voter turnout.
57 channels and nothings on
Others have noted this already, but the recent Giller winner is coming to a box near you.
Medical drama has rarely been tried on TV before. It'll bear watching for the novelty factor alone.
Medical drama has rarely been tried on TV before. It'll bear watching for the novelty factor alone.
there's holidays and then there's Christmas
One of my favourite bookselling perks (fame and adulation aside) is the chance to get a look at the new crop months before the harvest, as it were.
New arrivals this week are highlighted by new arrivals from Jonathan Lethem and one of my favourite crime guys, Michael Gruber.
Lethem's You Don't Love Me Yet comes out in March 07, Gruber's new book leaves his Tropic of Night Trilogy behind and begins anew (perhaps) with The Book of Air & Shadows, due in April.
First Rumsfeld gets sacked, now this.
A good month so far.
Friday, November 10, 2006
a blowhard among the sages
a cabal of learned colleagues put forth on their faves for the area taste maker mag Grand Magazine.
Seriously, though Alayna Munce is unbelievable.
Seriously, though Alayna Munce is unbelievable.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
and now for something completely different
Dems in the house, and very likely the Senate, the firing of Rumsfeld?
Is it too early to start feeling good about America?
I certainly like their major shortlist better than ours.
In other list news the IMPAC sets the standard for looooonglist
Lisa Moore, David Gilmour and a huge list of Canadians. Neat
Oh and Cormac McCarthy
Posted by Dave
Is it too early to start feeling good about America?
I certainly like their major shortlist better than ours.
In other list news the IMPAC sets the standard for looooonglist
Lisa Moore, David Gilmour and a huge list of Canadians. Neat
Oh and Cormac McCarthy
Posted by Dave
well it could always get worse
Not a bad night last night in the tired old world.
The Democrats take the House and perhaps the Senate, and Vincent Lam wins the Giller Prize.
A better night would have been if the Dems took the Senate outright and Carol Windley was the Giller winner, but this is where we are.
A perfect night would be every Republican senator dissolving into a gooey mess and another Giller list entirely but those discussions will be updated at the House of Alex soon enough.
Posted by Dave
The Democrats take the House and perhaps the Senate, and Vincent Lam wins the Giller Prize.
A better night would have been if the Dems took the Senate outright and Carol Windley was the Giller winner, but this is where we are.
A perfect night would be every Republican senator dissolving into a gooey mess and another Giller list entirely but those discussions will be updated at the House of Alex soon enough.
Posted by Dave
Sunday, November 05, 2006
the ump blew the call
Philip Marchand, a cranky guy that I've always liked, got through a whole article in the Toronto Star today on the oft-explored question of what a great Toronto novel might look like without mentioning, to my mind, one of the highlights of the season.
Said Marchand,
"Our city awaits its great novelist. We sense the lack, even in the midst of Giller Prize hoopla."
I wonder if there would be more Giller hoopla if Michael Redhill's Consolation would have made the list. This deftly plotted novel of Toronto past and present is a beauty.
Alas, not even on the longlist.
Sigh.
Said Marchand,
"Our city awaits its great novelist. We sense the lack, even in the midst of Giller Prize hoopla."
I wonder if there would be more Giller hoopla if Michael Redhill's Consolation would have made the list. This deftly plotted novel of Toronto past and present is a beauty.
Alas, not even on the longlist.
Sigh.
Unhealthy and no good for you but I can't look away
God I love America. The country's a mess, but their elections are like crack for me.
The negativity, the lying, the abysmal CNN coverage, all of it.
Even when the federal Canadian election got nasty near the end it wasn't the same at all. We're just amateurs at this sort of thing.
Anyway, here's the latest.
Needless to say if you live in Tennessee, Virginia or Missouri your vote counts for a heck of a lot.
Posted by Dave
The negativity, the lying, the abysmal CNN coverage, all of it.
Even when the federal Canadian election got nasty near the end it wasn't the same at all. We're just amateurs at this sort of thing.
Anyway, here's the latest.
Needless to say if you live in Tennessee, Virginia or Missouri your vote counts for a heck of a lot.
Posted by Dave
Yoda for policy nerds
We're switching to non-fiction for the next few author events at the shop, and for me
Thomas Homer Dixon is the favourite. A huge piece in the Globe (locked behind a subscription wall) in which the author of the Upside of Down lays it all out in terms of the next generation of planetary nasties. This is territory visited by Jared Diamond, Thomas Flannery etc, but Dixon is such a fluid writer with a firm grasp of multiple disciplines. He's Thomas Friedman without the repetition, Malcolm Gladwell with more depth, he briefed Vice President Al Gore during the 90s, and what I like particularly is that he walks the walk.
(Forgive the editorial: Making your home or business Bullfrog Powered is a cinch to meet one's Kyoto requirements several times over).
Taken together, his last book, the Ingenuity Gap and the Upside of Down resemble a cold eyed look a very few years ahead and a bit of hope for later, which brings up the next post.
Thomas Homer Dixon is the favourite. A huge piece in the Globe (locked behind a subscription wall) in which the author of the Upside of Down lays it all out in terms of the next generation of planetary nasties. This is territory visited by Jared Diamond, Thomas Flannery etc, but Dixon is such a fluid writer with a firm grasp of multiple disciplines. He's Thomas Friedman without the repetition, Malcolm Gladwell with more depth, he briefed Vice President Al Gore during the 90s, and what I like particularly is that he walks the walk.
(Forgive the editorial: Making your home or business Bullfrog Powered is a cinch to meet one's Kyoto requirements several times over).
Taken together, his last book, the Ingenuity Gap and the Upside of Down resemble a cold eyed look a very few years ahead and a bit of hope for later, which brings up the next post.
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Jane Bond Nov 12
Everybody try and get to this. Coach House Books and Jane Bond are both pretty damn cool and it'll be a hoot to give some up and comers a full room.
Posted by Dave
Posted by Dave
listen up
Now this I like. Started by local favourite and two time GG listed author Trevor Cole, AuthorsAloud has (so far) about two dozen audio clips featuring a fine bunch of Canadian fiction and poetry. I still lament missing Catherine Bush's reading in town a couple years back. Claire's Head is a great book and a snippet is on AuthorsAloud.
Trevor Cole is interviewed at Bookninja as well.
Posted by Dave
Trevor Cole is interviewed at Bookninja as well.
Posted by Dave
try drilling for oil in the remainder sections
If J.K Rowling becomes a merely adequate writer for adults , then Indigo will have to sell uh.. well something. The previous non-Harry quarter was not kind.
"The challenge of the Harry Potter anniversary in this quarter was compounded by a weaker lineup of new releases this summer," added Heather Reisman, Indigo chief executive officer.
Yeah that's the problem, not enough good books. Classy.
Posted by Dave
"The challenge of the Harry Potter anniversary in this quarter was compounded by a weaker lineup of new releases this summer," added Heather Reisman, Indigo chief executive officer.
Yeah that's the problem, not enough good books. Classy.
Posted by Dave
and in this corner..
The pre-Giller opinion is forming at the Globe with Sandra Martin, James Adams and Andrew James sift through the Giller hopefuls, and seem to settle on Gaetan Soucy and Rawi Hage as the finalists. I'll comment in detail here and well, here soon enough, but the Globe trio got it partly correct.
For now, enough said.
Posted by Dave
For now, enough said.
Posted by Dave
Thursday, November 02, 2006
ain't no particular sign I'm more compatible with
because there's nothing good on television
Some interesting posts from Bella Stander's blog. (link from Sarah)
Some are cute, most are cringe worthy, all of them are spot on.
There's nothing worse than stirring up the medicine for an author event, booking a room that seats x dozen people and finding your discouraging words echoing loudly off the walls as you pack up all those unsold books afterward. I didn't know of her blog before, but it's required reading now, because she seems to be in the know about what makes author events work.
I'm going to revisit this soonish, but our little shop is in the first third of our author series and so far so good it seems.
I've been lucky enough to work the events that these guys put together. Most of it's over my head as my knowledge of theoretical physics and the like involves shoelaces and such, but their events are extremely well attended by people who bless them...buy and read books!
More to come from us.
Posted by Dave
Some are cute, most are cringe worthy, all of them are spot on.
There's nothing worse than stirring up the medicine for an author event, booking a room that seats x dozen people and finding your discouraging words echoing loudly off the walls as you pack up all those unsold books afterward. I didn't know of her blog before, but it's required reading now, because she seems to be in the know about what makes author events work.
I'm going to revisit this soonish, but our little shop is in the first third of our author series and so far so good it seems.
I've been lucky enough to work the events that these guys put together. Most of it's over my head as my knowledge of theoretical physics and the like involves shoelaces and such, but their events are extremely well attended by people who bless them...buy and read books!
More to come from us.
Posted by Dave
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