Perhaps less of this

Hanging around other book people's blogs long enough, it becomes apparent that I should really read Tom McCarthy's novel Remainder.
I'm sure I'll get to it but as I type this, I know it's just as likely not so.
During the dark days of 2002 and through the U.S elections in '04 I spent countless hours hunched over this same terminal reading everything I could (a mess of books, too), about the state of the Democratic Party and by extension the likelihood that Bush would be a one term fluke.
That turned out poorly, and I didn't get any of that time back.
As a Canadian I should be more attuned to what's happening up here, and I am; but a few years back it seemed as though the Liberals would muddle along in the same ineffectual way they always have (natch) and I didn't care to worry too much about it.
Instead I obsessed over happenings south of the border and for what?
The simple fact that there are a hell of a lot of small press and midlist titles out there means that there's an awful lot of books that got a head start and are now well out of sight.
I've either got to get a better handle on time management or sleep less.
I'm not going to sleep any less than I already do.
I only really wanted to solicit opinions:
Anyone read this?
Anybody let a book get away in the last few years that you really wanted to read?

Posted by Dave

All power to TEV!

It turns out that Mark isn't just a great blogger and critic, but he's joined the other side.
Excellent news, and I couldn't be happier for him.
Harry, Revised is due from Bloomsbury USA in the winter of '08.

Posted by Dave

aren't all writers photogenic?

The Guardian asks the question that worries the book trade most.

Does film make writers look too glamorous?

"Then there are those who really push the boat out, like Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf in The Hours. In order to assume Woolf's elegant yet haughty phizog Kidman relied not just on hair and make up, but went so far as to don a fake nose. The result? An Oscar. She was lucky: it could have gone the other way, with audiences muttering darkly to themselves, "If you're so goddamn beautiful then why do you get to play her?"

Perhaps, however, the Guardian is fretting over nothing.

I need a picture of Martin Amis before the dental surgery to go out on here, but I'm not sure any exist. They tended to dissolve camera lenses.

Some pretties to the right, nonetheless.

Posted by Dave

We stand (sit) corrected

Great day for a market correction.
I'm putting all of my money into things like this.

Published by Dave

But they look fabulous

Those damn kids today has been a common lament and an easy riff for thousands of years, but apparently they now like themselves a bit too much.
From a study released today via a San Diego State University psychologist:
"researchers warn that a rising ego rush could cause personal and social problems for the Millennial Generation, also called Gen Y. People with an inflated sense of self tend to have less interest in emotionally intimate bonds and can lash out when rejected or insulted."
Jean Twenge, lead author of the report and author of Generation Me, wonders if the fallout from this mix of You Tube, MySpace etc., " is letting that self-regard blossom even more" and leading to a "society where people are going to treat each other badly, either on the street or in relationships."
It's going to be tough to sell books to this crowd in years to come.
Thankfully I have this blog, which is the best blog in the known universe and no one is going to tell me different.


Posted by Dave

the guy's everywhere

Jon Clinch is everywhere, and the review in the Cleveland paper is the first one I've seen that isn't entirely positive. That's not a bad thing, but I'm only thirty pages to the finish and I still haven't found anything that could be called a flaw.
Link via TEV, who also has a review of their own and an interview with Clinch in the works.

Posted by Dave

spring is going to kick ass 1

Wow, there's a new Andrew Bird album coming out Mar. 20.
I still play the hell out of the last one; available here in Kitchener, here in Waterloo.
A small taste here
It's not book related but I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see one from Bird in future.

Posted by Dave

spring is going to kick ass 2

Lionel Shriver's new book arrives next week and the Australian (how come they get proofs and I don't?) has the early take. So far so good, but I'll devour it even if it rots and is written in crayon. Her last one (small excerpt from Serpent's Tail) was one of the defining books of my tenure at Words Worth.

Lastly, author Laura Hird has housed a bunch of Shriver-related links and interviews here.

Nice.

Some backlist comes in late June.

Posted by Dave

James Salter

whom I confess I've never read, is lavished upon by Richard Ford with an accompanying short story as well.
Further, I've read very little Richard Ford.
Suggestions on where to start with either of them are welcome.

Posted by Dave

It's Pap alright

I really hope this isn't the last word on Finn from the Globe and Mail.
The main character in Jon Clinch's amazing first novel wouldn't bother pointing out how lame Levin's column was, he'd jes' injur 'im, real thorough like.

Posted by Dave

A book club by any other name

I've always wondered why more men don't frequent book clubs. It turns out they can't accessorize properly.
I guess this sort of thing is an inevitable consequence of Nascar and Harlequin getting together.

Posted by Dave

I'm just old, I guess

Great, great post that I've been meaning to get to from Richard Nash's blog at Soft Skull Press, in which he notes that Danny Postel, a senior editor at the online magazine Open Democracy; calls out Western leftists on their disinterest around progressive movements in Iran.
"In hundreds of conversations I’ve had with Iranian intellectuals, journalists, and human rights activists in recent years, I invariably encounter exasperation,” writes Danny Postel in Reading “Legitimation Crisis” in Tehran: Iran and the Future of Liberalism.
"Why, they ask, is the American Left so indifferent to the struggle taking place in Iran? Why can’t the Iranian movement get the attention of so-called progressives and solidarity activists here? Why is it mainly neoconservatives who express interest in the Iranian struggle?”
Nash continues, detailing a Soft Skull title on Iran and where initial interest came from.
Um, it wasn't the lefties.
When the history of the "War on Terror" gets written, I wonder if it will be noted that progressives owe Bush a big thanks for messing Iraq up as badly as he has.
If Bush's military misadventure had gone even half right, and women in Afghanistan and the Shia in Iraq got a seat at the table without a great deal of misery first; Western progressives would have a lot to answer for from the very people that military might would have been credited with helping.
Obviously the immediate future is looking brighter for Clinton/Obama whomever, but there weren't a lot of voices on the Left that approached oppression in Afghanistan or the Middle East in the same way as Democrats did thirty yeas ago in Nicaragua for example.
That's why I like guys like Paul Berman.

Posted by Dave

is there a line up for this?

It wasn't that long ago that books by bloggers came and went, I thought. But Judith O'Reilly from Britain started a blog in January detailing her career trajectory from working in London to home care in Northumberland, a rural setting where the nearest town is half an hour away.
Things have picked up since.
"Last week, after whirlwind approaches from an agent and a publisher, she signed a deal to turn the blog, which has become a surprise hit in Britain and America, into a book to be published by Viking Penguin.
Her publisher believes the theme of a former career woman following a dream to bring up a young family in rural surroundings will tap into the zeitgeist of the post Bridget Jones generation.
Patrick Walsh at Penguin enthuses, “I’ve done other blogs,” said Walsh, “but what’s so refreshing is that it isn’t about sex or celebrity; it’s wry, humorous and honest.”
Publishers hate sex and celebrity, don't you know. I can't find a cheap link to go out on with that.
There's literally nothing out there.

Posted by Dave

of all trades

It's just nice that Sara Gran can write such great books and still be moved by this.
That's all.

Posted by Dave

ask for McCarthy, settle for Adichie?

Time again for the Morning News Tournament of Books.
It's a fine lineup again (I confess, I've only read five of the sixteen books here.
There are some Kate Atkinson fans on the jury, but I'm still pulling for Cormac McCarthy.
This is good fun no matter the winner, although Jessa really doesn't care for Claire Messud.

Posted by Dave

tanned and rested

well not really, but back from a wee hiatus all the same.
The good books are starting to arrive, but what's really working for me is this.
Finn is a first novel by Jon Clinch and it's stunning.
The story of Huckleberry Finn's father takes Twain's classic tale, tweaks it a bit and contains language and narrative pull to burn. Clinch is a born storyteller, but his turn of phrase and descriptive power are leaving me continually flabbergasted.
Pap Finn is a sociopath, and alcoholic and pretty much evil personified.
The story of his near redemption on the Mississippi River is moving and lovingly told.
And deliciously malevolent. Holy Hell, this guy can write.
I haven't felt like this about a debut novel in years.
We're angling for signed copies (he'll be in Toronto next week), but I've already ordered from
here.
Watch this one, it's going to be big come awards time.

Posted by Dave

please think of the children

Work, work, work. No time for anything much for a few days, but I'll always make room for quality.
Basically children's book wins Newbery Award, librarians find an odd word in the book, author reacts to "censorship."
I'm not sure if the ten year old target audience in the book would buy the text that,
“Scrotum sounded to Lucky like something green that comes up when you have the flu and cough too much,” the book continues. “It sounded medical and secret, but also important.”
I don't have kids, so I don't need to make the call.
Work, work, work.
Back in a few days.

It's not you, it's me

Ah hell, I'm falling behind around here.
The promised Neil Smith review never came together and I haven't maintained interest in a book for over a week.
It's been so damn cold that what little energy I have through the workday vanishes as soon as said workday ends.
I tried this and just couldn't get traction. Looking at some other new releases left me cold (as it were) so I'm going to go with a few proven winners to get my batteries started again.
Really good crime fiction, for me, trumps what is commonly shelved in the literature sections every time. I'll never understand genre bias; it's a silly divide and as far as the numbers go; crime fiction is the only piece of the pie getting larger.
Lastly, if we're serious about getting young men to read, it seems a natural fit.
I've always said that if I had influence, I'd force feed Christ Brookmyre and George Pelecanos to high schoolers everywhere.
I'd also add Will Beall's excellent book L.A Rex, and many Words Worth types have talked up this guy for years.
And so to work.

Posted by Dave

okay, go

Neil Gaiman is just a hell of a guy.
Good catch, Jessa.

Posted by Dave

is he strong? Listen bud, he's got radioactive uh..well..

This has to be a joke, but I actually walked out on the first movie, so I don't want to speculate.
If it's a joke, it's hilarious.
If not, well that's actually better.
Oh well, now is as good a time as any:
All is forgiven

Link via Bookslut
Posted by Dave

okay, just this once

I don't link to YouTube that much. I worry about our crappy little hobby turning into a glorified parking space for the stuff, but when somethings funny, it's just funny.

And so, Introducing The Book.

Link via Publishing Insider

Posted by Dave

and I'm a mouse

Think warm thoughts for George at Bookninja.
If something like that happened to me, I'd probably freeze in the dark, insulated by all the books I have yet to read.
They'd find me fused to a wrecked copy of something Ondaatje-like and ready for burial.
I'm going to make a point of reading John Degen's book, simply for his wit in the comments section.
Love it.

Posted by Dave

Some much for the nice Canadian stereotype

British journos seem surprised that Stef Penny comes off a bit difficult.
Upon winning the Costa Book of the Year award (formerly the Whitbread Prize) Penny, who suffers from agoraphobia can't, or won't play the publicity game.
"she loathes doing interviews and says that standing in front of a dozen flashing cameras at the prize dinner the previous night had made her feel like a criminal emerging from court.
She is serious, too: this is no arty pose. When she is having her photograph taken - looking far more severe than she really is - her phone goes off. She looks at the number. "Private caller - another journalist," she says, and ignores it.
This reluctance to engage, the refusal to accept that writing an award-winning book makes you public property, could be frustrating, but she is so upfront about it, and so charming and wry when she chooses to be, that she doesn't seem testy or evasive."
Even if it is an arty pose, so what? I say good on her for staying within her comfort zone to begin with.
BTW, Cheryl, who is considerably more gregarious than Penny; picked up on The Tenderness of Wolves months ago.

Posted by Dave

food fight

I know, a lazy pun, but there's no upstaging Anthony Bourdain.
For aspiring smartass cranks everywhere, he's Peter Pan with a blowtorch for a tongue.
Love him.

Link via The Millions

Posted by Dave

the benefits of education

It seems the Loyal Order of Waterbuffaloes, clearly some of WLU's finest, are making the world safe for stone age men. I mean boys.

Thanks guys, that makes Waterloo look especially good during Black History Month.
Good job.

Posted by Dave

Lawrence Hill, Afua Cooper in Waterloo

The opening author event in our (early) spring series takes place at Knox Church on Monday Feb. 19.
Please click here for all the details and follow the links for some very good looking websites for each of the authors.
I should also mention that reviews for the Book of Negroes are nothing short of reverential.
The Globe and Mail called Hill's new novel a masterpiece, but it's behind a subscription wall.
The Star's review is here, but the last paragraph is the keeper:
"Of course fiction, especially historical fiction, contains all manner of facts. What makes The Book of Negroes extraordinary is Hill's ability to transcend the facts – to make something magical out of them. Despite the unpalatable subject matter, he compels our attention and manages to delight. His Aminata is a heroic figure, a little larger than life, residing within and outside of history. You can never forget this character. She embeds herself in your heart."
Bronwyn raves about it, too.

Please mark your calendar.

Posted by Dave

Uh, I also voted for the Liberals once

And I'm a massive fraud too.
But the book I'm reading right now is starting out pretty good, and I will finish it.
Honest.

Posted by Dave

Can someone get Maureen Dowd a map?

I've always liked Maureen Dowd. She's smart, quick and one of the reasons I shell out for New York Times Select. Fifty a year is money well spent for Frank Rich, too.
It just is.
But come on, this just means you need to broaden your horizons a little.

"I was cruising through Borders, looking for a copy of “Nostromo.”
Suddenly I was swimming in pink. I turned frantically from display table to display table, but I couldn’t find a novel without a pink cover. I was accosted by a sisterhood of cartoon women, sexy string beans in minis and stilettos, fashionably dashing about book covers with the requisite urban props — lattes, books, purses, shopping bags, guns and, most critically, a diamond ring.
Was it a Valentine’s Day special?
No, I realized with growing alarm, chick lit was no longer a niche. It had staged a coup of the literature shelves."
A coup of the literature shelves? Not in any decent Washington area bookstores. (where Dowd filed from)
A grand pronouncement on the state of the "coup" can only come from a Borders, I suppose.
Around our place, the pink shock troops never even massed an army. Not because we're making any grand pronouncements ourselves; we just figured the pink novel craze was over.
My understanding is that it died a painful death.

Thank God.

Posted by Dave

talking to the tax man about poetry

One can develop immunity from articles like this, but it still pisses me off that the "blues"' around independent bookstores in a changing retail landscape come from a bad movie.
When books or most other stuff can be purchased from a plethora of sources it's harder for independent shops to play an independent card as a sort of badge of honour. (We haven't gone all corporate, man!) isn't much of a rallying cry. Independent bookstores are in fact, very dependent on their communities, but communities are dependent on locally owned business as well.
If, as Chris (Long Tail) Anderson says, "a lot of our affection for bookstores is based on a romanticized notion" is true well that's nice, and not without merit. But the reason independent business needs to be present in communities has much more to do with dollars and sense.
As good on price as chain stores are over their independent counterparts, they don't begin to match the amount of taxes paid into the communities they both inhabit.
It bugs me that someone who "heard about this book on the CBC" turns around and orders it on Amazon. For all I know, Jeff Bezos may by a huge fan of NPR; I'm sure he's never paid any taxes to keep the CBC up and running.
As for paragraphs like this, well....
""Why would anyone want to perpetuate small independents by paying higher prices?" wondered Curtis Faville, a poet who sells rare books on the Internet. "Most of these proud little independents were poorly run anyway."
Mr. Faville has apparently never seen the anemic poetry sections at chain stores in Waterloo. One can maintain a decent poetry section and take a hit on cash flow, but I guess that makes my little shop poorly run.
I submit that the independents that are left are running their businesses pretty damn well, mostly out of necessity. Conversely, Amazon has a current long term debt of $1.5 billion and took years to register any kind of profit, most of that EBITA driven.
Chapters-Indigo lost millions in its first five years. If only they were run as well as most small businesses.
Things are pretty dire for independent shops of all kinds, but the idea that they can be wholly replaced with online shopping or any store that exists in dozens of cities ignores economic reality.
We all still have to live somewhere. It would be good if that somewhere had a tax base.

Posted by Dave

oh well, whatever, nevermind

Not book related, but good fun, nonetheless.
As for being old enough to hang out with retirees, I'm hoping for good health from every damn one of them.

Posted by Dave

I've done a lot of stuff I'm not proud of. And the stuff I am proud of is disgusting.*

Some early literary efforts should really stay buried.
Although taking dating advice from Dan (Danielle!?!!) Brown is certainly less tedious than reading him.

* quote from bartender/philosopher Moe Sizlak
link via Bookninja

Posted by Dave

Helicopters above the rooftops of Saigon

I and several Words Worth types lost our baby teeth in a place like this.
It was a long time ago, but we were young and didn't know any better.

Link via Bookgasm (wow, excellent look to this place. I can't believe I've never seen it before)

Posted by Dave

succession to success?

This bears watching. Although I've never been there, I've purchased from Newtonville Books and have gotten their newsletters for years. They're routinely acknowledged as one of Boston's best bookstores and it looks like Tim is selling the shop to a former employee.
The key graf from Boston.com reads:
"I think it's safe to say this is a wake-up call for anyone who would be sorry to see Newtonville Books go out of business. If you want it to survive, you have to patronize it."
Uh, we're fine and everything, but that's true of all independent bookstores.
We love you all.

Posted by Dave

Lam and a cast of sheep

The industry's tracking mechanism Booknet revealed yesterday that Vincent Lam took on all comers over the holiday season. Also noted, very few surprises.

Now onto new business. I often despair at how many really good short story collections that don't get nearly enough review attention at the expense of mediocre novels.

That's why I felt pretty good (well better than okay) about the small press representation at Giller time this year.

Perhaps this will help.

Neil Smith's Bang Crunch has all the tools. He's similar to writers like George Saunders and Amy Hempel, but his work is original and with great turn of phrase and a wicked range. There are absurdist elements here, but a real grounded sensibility as well.

This is a first collection from a Canadian that deserves a Lam-like audience.

It's certainly a superior book. I'll post a proper review by the weekend.

Posted by Dave

see and raise

Perhaps it surprises no one that food bloggers are a surly bunch, or just manically devoted to their calling.
Alternately, there could be something to this after all.
At any rate, the genteel (natch!) world of food/restaurant review is now coping with
"a new food game in the city that never stops grazing. A proliferation of blogs treating every menu revision, construction permit, clash of egos and suspiciously easy-to-get reservation as high drama is changing the rules of the restaurant world and forcing everyone from owners to chefs to publicists to get used to the added scrutiny."
For a bit of local colour go see Jasmine. She keeps her knives sharp, but out of most peoples backs. Besides, anyone who likes Chris Brookmyre and skewers Celine Dion must know what they're talking about.

Posted by Dave

and then what?

One more kick at the cash cow on July 21.
Please consider pre-ordering through us.
In our version of the story, the series continues for three more installments

Posted by Dave

A million wannabes writing for a million years...

could produce a big pile of who knows?
The Guardian wants to know:
"Can creative writers put their egos to one side and work successfully as a team? That's the question Penguin and De Montfort University are exploring with a new literary experiment - a collaborative wiki-novel."
Despite a "core team" of overseers at the ready, I don't see this ending well.
It might just be a passing mood, but a collaborative anonymous narrative thread made up of people predisposed to work alone is probably going to look a bit like this gem from our own NFB.

(Select the bottom of the list)

Posted by Dave

More Molly

More news/obits here and here.
Sigh.

Posted by Dave