Damn, you know I was really jazzed about getting a jump on the new Michael Chabon
and got seventy or so pages into it and..meh.
I've lamented giving up too early on other books, but all the same, it's the new Ian McEwan and something out of here this weekend.
Bookninja notes a Guardian blog piece that suggests Europa author Patrick Hamilton is coming back into favour.
I'll look forward to that as Hangover Square was brilliant.
Posted by Dave
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Winner's circle(s)
Late on this, but finally a Pulitzer for Cormac McCarthy. He could have easily won it years ago, but nonetheless, justice was done. For my money Cormac McCarthy is largely by himself in the pantheon of modern American lit, and while Echo Maker by Richard Powers was a very good novel, and Alice Mcdermott is a fine stylist and storyteller, the jury got it right. Late, but right.
These guys called it weeks ago, and did it with dispatch, by the way.
Speaking of the Tournament of Books, another great book that went a long way in that battle
is part of the Orange Prize shortlist and the odds on favourite. I'd bet conservatively here.
Posted by Dave
These guys called it weeks ago, and did it with dispatch, by the way.
Speaking of the Tournament of Books, another great book that went a long way in that battle
is part of the Orange Prize shortlist and the odds on favourite. I'd bet conservatively here.
Posted by Dave
Giller jury
has been announced.
I've never read any David Bergen, but I have read all of Camilla Gibb's novels.
On balance, a jury like any other, but perhaps a more traditional outcome than last year?
Posted by Dave
I've never read any David Bergen, but I have read all of Camilla Gibb's novels.
On balance, a jury like any other, but perhaps a more traditional outcome than last year?
Posted by Dave
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Bad day
and probably going to get worse.
Information is coming slowly, but the time frame of all this is really upsetting.
"There was a two-hour gap between the first shootings, when two people were killed, and the second, when a gunman stalked through the halls of an engineering building across campus, shooting at professors and students in classrooms and hallways, firing dozens of rounds and killing 30."
Sarah already has comment and links on this.
Posted by Dave
Information is coming slowly, but the time frame of all this is really upsetting.
"There was a two-hour gap between the first shootings, when two people were killed, and the second, when a gunman stalked through the halls of an engineering building across campus, shooting at professors and students in classrooms and hallways, firing dozens of rounds and killing 30."
Sarah already has comment and links on this.
Posted by Dave
Monday, April 16, 2007
Ishmael Beah-Apr 19
He's been here, there and everywhere; and Ishmael Beah is coming to Waterloo this week.
Details are here.
Details are here.
There are five dates in Canada, so get tickets while you can.
Posted by Dave
It's funny 'cause it's true-ish
Slate has a decent rundown of the recent dustup around all things Sedaris.
It seems even North Carolina needs a hand being funny once in awhile, so the truth is helped along a bit.
Much loved and genuinely talented, Sedaris says his nonfiction stories "are both true and exaggerated," and that some license is no big deal. I don't have a dog in this fight, but the San Fransisco Chronicle rightly points out that perhaps the real reason this matters is,
"nonfiction sells a lot more than fiction. For many readers, books must have some sort of utilitarian purpose -- you have to learn something "real" from it -- and they don't see any point in investing their scarce free time in reading make-believe. It's an ironically ignorant stance, but it exists. Publishers or agents, by calling a work nonfiction that isn't, are hoping certain readers will be more likely to pick it up."
That would be funny if it weren't so depressing.
Posted by Dave
It seems even North Carolina needs a hand being funny once in awhile, so the truth is helped along a bit.
Much loved and genuinely talented, Sedaris says his nonfiction stories "are both true and exaggerated," and that some license is no big deal. I don't have a dog in this fight, but the San Fransisco Chronicle rightly points out that perhaps the real reason this matters is,
"nonfiction sells a lot more than fiction. For many readers, books must have some sort of utilitarian purpose -- you have to learn something "real" from it -- and they don't see any point in investing their scarce free time in reading make-believe. It's an ironically ignorant stance, but it exists. Publishers or agents, by calling a work nonfiction that isn't, are hoping certain readers will be more likely to pick it up."
That would be funny if it weren't so depressing.
Posted by Dave
economics 101
I'm not sure what to make of this yet, but I wouldn't want to try and shake off a determined Yann Martel.
Susan Swan makes a good point as well, given that Mr. Harper has a cash register for a heart.
"And now, I'm coming to my biggest tip. What countries like Ireland know (and Canada too, before you became Prime Minister) is that you have to grow literature, like other businesses. Just the way the Ministry of Natural Resources (both federal and provincial) benefits the oil and gas industry by researching oil fields, and just as the flow-through tax credit encourages the Canadian mining world to develop risky mines, so has cultural funding helped us Canadian artists contribute to our economy through our valuable exports. Did you know that for every dollar you invest in the arts, you get eight back, Mr. Prime Minister? Today, as a small country, we have been boxing above our weight."
Do tell.
Posted by Dave
Susan Swan makes a good point as well, given that Mr. Harper has a cash register for a heart.
"And now, I'm coming to my biggest tip. What countries like Ireland know (and Canada too, before you became Prime Minister) is that you have to grow literature, like other businesses. Just the way the Ministry of Natural Resources (both federal and provincial) benefits the oil and gas industry by researching oil fields, and just as the flow-through tax credit encourages the Canadian mining world to develop risky mines, so has cultural funding helped us Canadian artists contribute to our economy through our valuable exports. Did you know that for every dollar you invest in the arts, you get eight back, Mr. Prime Minister? Today, as a small country, we have been boxing above our weight."
Do tell.
Posted by Dave
Friday, April 13, 2007
Unosignit?
Whatever is the beleaguered author to do when he runs out of inscription fodder?
"A few years back, after giving a reading at a local bookstore, I was inscribing books for a long line of attendees. I noticed that one woman in the line was repeatedly firming her lips and scowling at me. This put me on edge, and I found it hard to concentrate on what I was writing. When she finally arrived at the head of the line she put her book down on the table in front of me and said, "Now listen, you're probably writing the same thing in everybody's book. I want something different."
It turns out our hero came up with something, but I'd love to see what some writers I know come up with when faced with such a request.
That brings to mind Joni Mitchell on Van Gogh
Posted by Dave
"A few years back, after giving a reading at a local bookstore, I was inscribing books for a long line of attendees. I noticed that one woman in the line was repeatedly firming her lips and scowling at me. This put me on edge, and I found it hard to concentrate on what I was writing. When she finally arrived at the head of the line she put her book down on the table in front of me and said, "Now listen, you're probably writing the same thing in everybody's book. I want something different."
It turns out our hero came up with something, but I'd love to see what some writers I know come up with when faced with such a request.
That brings to mind Joni Mitchell on Van Gogh
Posted by Dave
Return, you say?
I think this just make my whole month. Love the Harry Potter line, too.
Jesus, this whole affair is not that complicated, but this guy has hit on it.
"We saw a gap. Waterstones, in Islington, started out as a fantastic bookshop, really excellent range, really good stuff. By the time I left, the front of house was all three-for-two and just dull. I went up there a few months ago and it was so depressing. The staff there are all a bit miserable. For us the idea of a bookshop is that your hardcore customers, the ones who keep you alive, who buy 50-100 books a year, they want to come in, chat to us about books, see books they haven't seen before - they want to feel like their passion about books is being reciprocated."
Try and keep that under your hat, okay?
Posted by Dave
Jesus, this whole affair is not that complicated, but this guy has hit on it.
"We saw a gap. Waterstones, in Islington, started out as a fantastic bookshop, really excellent range, really good stuff. By the time I left, the front of house was all three-for-two and just dull. I went up there a few months ago and it was so depressing. The staff there are all a bit miserable. For us the idea of a bookshop is that your hardcore customers, the ones who keep you alive, who buy 50-100 books a year, they want to come in, chat to us about books, see books they haven't seen before - they want to feel like their passion about books is being reciprocated."
Try and keep that under your hat, okay?
Posted by Dave
It makes sense 'case Wal-Marts look like what I'd imagine a gulag to look like
It's not book related, but Wal-Mart do sell a lot of books.
Unfortunately, they watch you shop, work eat sleep etc.
From the NYT today:
"First we learned that a Wal-Mart employee taped phone calls between Michael Barbaro, a New York Times reporter, and Wal-Mart officials. This came after The Times reported on a Wal-Mart memo that suggested such clever tactics as forcing all shop clerks to spend some time hauling shopping carts in from the parking lot — the better to weed out unhealthy workers who might submit health insurance claims.
Wal-Mart fired the employee it said was responsible for taping the calls, a man named Bruce Gabbard, and said his actions were unauthorized. Then Mr. Gabbard started talking to The Wall Street Journal, saying the department he worked for had spied on critics. Wal-Mart quickly issued apologies to the critics and got a judge to order Mr. Gabbard to stop talking.
Mr. Gabbard said he told a Wal-Mart lawyer that “I’m the guy listening to the board of directors when Lee Scott is excused from the room.”
Does that mean that Mr. Scott authorized spying on his own board when it was discussing his performance? If so, it would be a shocking breach of corporate etiquette and governance."
Uh.. yeah, that's about it.
And by the way.
Posted by Dave
Unfortunately, they watch you shop, work eat sleep etc.
From the NYT today:
"First we learned that a Wal-Mart employee taped phone calls between Michael Barbaro, a New York Times reporter, and Wal-Mart officials. This came after The Times reported on a Wal-Mart memo that suggested such clever tactics as forcing all shop clerks to spend some time hauling shopping carts in from the parking lot — the better to weed out unhealthy workers who might submit health insurance claims.
Wal-Mart fired the employee it said was responsible for taping the calls, a man named Bruce Gabbard, and said his actions were unauthorized. Then Mr. Gabbard started talking to The Wall Street Journal, saying the department he worked for had spied on critics. Wal-Mart quickly issued apologies to the critics and got a judge to order Mr. Gabbard to stop talking.
Mr. Gabbard said he told a Wal-Mart lawyer that “I’m the guy listening to the board of directors when Lee Scott is excused from the room.”
Does that mean that Mr. Scott authorized spying on his own board when it was discussing his performance? If so, it would be a shocking breach of corporate etiquette and governance."
Uh.. yeah, that's about it.
And by the way.
Posted by Dave
Some Cancon as well
The Man Booker International Prize is up. I'm a day late on this.
Shouldn't Doris Lessing get the nod on the strength of longevity alone?
She also knew how to keep things brief, by the way.
Posted by Dave
Shouldn't Doris Lessing get the nod on the strength of longevity alone?
She also knew how to keep things brief, by the way.
Posted by Dave
keeping things short
I'm never sure where the trend line is on long novels. A few years ago, it seemed like everything was coming in at 400 pages and I share Dan Rhodes' view that that's just too long most of the time.
I really like Rhodes. Timoleon Vieta Come Home was a laugh and although I've never read it, I hear Rhodes walks the walk too. Each of the one hundred and one stories in his book comes in at exactly one hundred words a pop.
As his publisher Canongate says,
"you'll laugh, probably cry and you'll be finished in time to go to the pub".
Posted by Dave
I really like Rhodes. Timoleon Vieta Come Home was a laugh and although I've never read it, I hear Rhodes walks the walk too. Each of the one hundred and one stories in his book comes in at exactly one hundred words a pop.
As his publisher Canongate says,
"you'll laugh, probably cry and you'll be finished in time to go to the pub".
Posted by Dave
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt
The world lost a giant last night.
I only read a couple of Kurt Vonnegut works, so I'm not in a position to comment much.
But when I was starting to read, friends who were a few years older said repeatedly that they read Vonnegut and did so, not in so many words, because they looked to him to figure things out.
Sure he was outrageous and caustic, but their sense was that Vonnegut could show the way to people looking for answers to some fundamental questions.
It made a big impression growing up that that's where some answers were to begin with,
and that wisdom could come in an appealing mess and still be funny in spots.
In time, I found a good crew for that; but Vonnegut was huge, especially since something on his scale hasn't come along since.
Posted by Dave
I only read a couple of Kurt Vonnegut works, so I'm not in a position to comment much.
But when I was starting to read, friends who were a few years older said repeatedly that they read Vonnegut and did so, not in so many words, because they looked to him to figure things out.
Sure he was outrageous and caustic, but their sense was that Vonnegut could show the way to people looking for answers to some fundamental questions.
It made a big impression growing up that that's where some answers were to begin with,
and that wisdom could come in an appealing mess and still be funny in spots.
In time, I found a good crew for that; but Vonnegut was huge, especially since something on his scale hasn't come along since.
Posted by Dave
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
I, on the other hand
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Belles lettres, yes?
A bit out of fashion at the moment, but Hemingway strides like a colossus over American literature. It seems he had some influence over Marlene Dietrich, as well.
"Although it was not a physical relationship, they certainly knew how to flirt. In a letter dated June 19 1950 at 4am, Hemingway wrote: "You are getting so beautiful they will have to make passport pictures of you 9 feet tall." He continued with a question: "What do you really want to do for a life work? Break everybody's heart for a dime? You could always break mine for a nickel and I'd bring the nickel."
Damn.
Posted by Dave
"Although it was not a physical relationship, they certainly knew how to flirt. In a letter dated June 19 1950 at 4am, Hemingway wrote: "You are getting so beautiful they will have to make passport pictures of you 9 feet tall." He continued with a question: "What do you really want to do for a life work? Break everybody's heart for a dime? You could always break mine for a nickel and I'd bring the nickel."
Damn.
Posted by Dave
Monday, April 09, 2007
Be Near Me-Andrew O Hagan
In the midst of a bunch of high culture this weekend, I also devoured a book I'm just stunned about.
Be Near Me is a heart breaker of a novel that concerns an English priest who takes a position at a small Scottish parish. David Anderton is a man informed by his heady education at Oxford in the late 60s, and quite at odds with the postindustrial landscape of Ayrshire, where "people define themselves as best they can, and when occupation is taken away, what's left is a snarling clannishness, picking at old wounds and spreading the poison down the generations."
In this environment, a gentle, somewhat socialistic priest struggling with his Faith and longing for a lost love at Oxford years ago who turns his attentions to a young boy... well it ends badly.
Some reviews have noted with disappointment the well worn theme of wayward faith and homosexuality etc., but that misses the point.
Be Near Me is about universal themes of how to live with holes in ones heart and how insular societies become such. Large and small concerns, detailed characters large and small, and oh my this guy can write!
Be Near Me is about universal themes of how to live with holes in ones heart and how insular societies become such. Large and small concerns, detailed characters large and small, and oh my this guy can write!
"At the centre of himself, a man cannot choose whom to love. He can choose how to live and can honour the truth of himself where he may. But he cannot choose whom to love, anymore than he can choose how tall he is or how good. One can take up platform shoes or fine deeds, but the heart will always have the last word and when the word is love we can recognise, we can respond, we can submit and we can try to ignore, but we can never choose. Love is not a matter of choice, but an obdurate fact of surrender."
Lesser writers would have overwritten Be Near Me into submission, but in less than 280 pages, Andrew O'Hagan has contained a multitude.
Posted by Dave
Saturday, April 07, 2007
outta here
Away for a couple days, back Monday evening.
I'll have some time to think about things like this, which is all I really do in idle moments anyway. Perhaps it's good that I'm getting away for a bit.
Posted by Dave
I'll have some time to think about things like this, which is all I really do in idle moments anyway. Perhaps it's good that I'm getting away for a bit.
Posted by Dave
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Laurier Poetryfest Mach 2
Another great night at the Registry Theatre, as the Laurier Poetryfest wrapped up. Great attendance and readings from Tim Lilburn, Lorna Crozier and several other top of the mark Canadian poets and critics.
A good time on both nights and thanks are due to the Registry staff and everyone at Wilfrid Laurier Press, who put together a great couple of evening.
Nice one folks!
Posted by Dave
A good time on both nights and thanks are due to the Registry staff and everyone at Wilfrid Laurier Press, who put together a great couple of evening.
Nice one folks!
Posted by Dave
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Carl Sandburg was a decent sort, too*
Who knew that Kitchener-Waterloo, *hog processor to the world, tool and die maker, stacker of paper* etc. would be so very fond of a night of poetry?
The two night Laurier Poetry Fest opened with a bang at the Registry Theatre tonight. I just got back and an overflow crowd of over two hundred hearty souls braved the vile weather. Organizers, who did a great job all the way around would have been over the moon with half the crowd, so kudos to everyone who came out. All the poets, some of the best Canada has, were brilliant, especially the first of the evening Christopher Dewdney. Full marks to the Registry Theatre and everyone at WLU Press. Please come through tomorrow if you can. It was glorious tonight.
Posted by Dave
The two night Laurier Poetry Fest opened with a bang at the Registry Theatre tonight. I just got back and an overflow crowd of over two hundred hearty souls braved the vile weather. Organizers, who did a great job all the way around would have been over the moon with half the crowd, so kudos to everyone who came out. All the poets, some of the best Canada has, were brilliant, especially the first of the evening Christopher Dewdney. Full marks to the Registry Theatre and everyone at WLU Press. Please come through tomorrow if you can. It was glorious tonight.
Posted by Dave
Ishmael Beah in Waterloo
Bronwyn has done yeoman's work in putting this (see Apr 19) together. The book has gotten international attention and it will be one of our biggest author events this year.
An excerpt from Ishmael Beah's Long Way Gone is here.
Tickets will vanish quickly, so please call or email the shop.
Posted by Dave
An excerpt from Ishmael Beah's Long Way Gone is here.
Tickets will vanish quickly, so please call or email the shop.
Posted by Dave
WordsWorth Books goes green
We've signed on with a green power company out of Toronto. All the company related specs are on Bullfrog's site, but basically it means our little shop is carbon neutral. There should be a link to our place soonest.
It's a no-brainer for a dozen reasons and it will provide some much needed psychological air conditioning when the mercury gets over 34C in July and August.
Posted by Dave
It's a no-brainer for a dozen reasons and it will provide some much needed psychological air conditioning when the mercury gets over 34C in July and August.
Posted by Dave
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
If you can screw up there, you can screw up anywhere
I'm not sure how to take NewYork magazine. They do a fair bit of book industry coverage, but do it kind of bitchy (and sloppily).
For a time, Chris Lehman (I'll second Maud on this, he's one of the sharpest critics around) was there and now that he's not I don't pay as close attention.
The above feature tracks a few careers of high profile novelists who earned the coveted cover shot on the NYT Sunday Book Review over the last couple years. Hey, that'll fill up some space; good idea.
One of them was Paulette Jiles whose been around forever. NY Mag refers to a "second novel" coming out next month. Guys, her career has been going since the early 80s, and her novels have been in print for years.
Posted by Dave
For a time, Chris Lehman (I'll second Maud on this, he's one of the sharpest critics around) was there and now that he's not I don't pay as close attention.
The above feature tracks a few careers of high profile novelists who earned the coveted cover shot on the NYT Sunday Book Review over the last couple years. Hey, that'll fill up some space; good idea.
One of them was Paulette Jiles whose been around forever. NY Mag refers to a "second novel" coming out next month. Guys, her career has been going since the early 80s, and her novels have been in print for years.
Posted by Dave
Bach and Brando, wow!
It's my better half's birthday today. She props up a pretty weak group. Happy Birthday, Theresa.
Posted by Dave
Posted by Dave
It's where the cool kids are going
learning to crawl
I don't know why articles like this are a surprise.
The summary is basically, good bright high schoolers are turned off the existing reading lists and will read if given material relevant to them. Further, letting a little modern air into the curriculum "can add the kind of engaging and relevant content that high school reform advocates have been calling for."
Shocking, I know.
Fears that a little modern fare alongside Shakespeare will dumb down the content miss the point if high school readers struggle to find a way in to the second tier stuff, and give up.
A bit of dark materials, as it were, can work really well.
I had the great good fortune to move seamlessly from heavy metal to Susan Musgrave poetry at sixteen because to my young mind, they were just complimentary lyrics in a lot of ways. Very shortly after, the metal music left, poetry stayed and...well I'm still a general disappointment, but reading pretty well.
Often to the detriment of my few precarious relationships, sleep patterns, my social skills. Okay, moving on.
Posted by Dave (link via Goodreports)
The summary is basically, good bright high schoolers are turned off the existing reading lists and will read if given material relevant to them. Further, letting a little modern air into the curriculum "can add the kind of engaging and relevant content that high school reform advocates have been calling for."
Shocking, I know.
Fears that a little modern fare alongside Shakespeare will dumb down the content miss the point if high school readers struggle to find a way in to the second tier stuff, and give up.
A bit of dark materials, as it were, can work really well.
I had the great good fortune to move seamlessly from heavy metal to Susan Musgrave poetry at sixteen because to my young mind, they were just complimentary lyrics in a lot of ways. Very shortly after, the metal music left, poetry stayed and...well I'm still a general disappointment, but reading pretty well.
Often to the detriment of my few precarious relationships, sleep patterns, my social skills. Okay, moving on.
Posted by Dave (link via Goodreports)
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Just one more (because I like you unreservedly)
I'm posting far too much regarding Lionel Shriver lately, but it's my bat and my ball so...
But I'd love someone to explain to me why dislike for characters in a novel can lead to a negative review.
"A resolutely unromantic writer, Shriver has created a choice between two men so flawed I had trouble warming to either."
WTF?
Why would a resolutely unromantic writer such as Shriver create a choice between flawless men? Why would anyone?
Some variance on "I just didn't like the characters" doesn't belong in a proper review.
I hear this fairly often from some readers and I'll never understand it.
I wonder if romantic comedies or political campaigns are to blame, but how did we get to a point where likability determines a plausible or engaging character?
We heard over and over how George W Bush was the guy, rather than Al Gore or John Kerry; that America wanted to grab a beer with and therefore he's the leader of the free world.
How's that working out?
Surely, there's a reason why Hamlet, a complex character worthy of limitless critical interpretation; is the gold standard. But a preferred guest at the barbecue?
For novelists, creating wholly likable characters would be more of a stylistic prison than any worry to do with presentation or arrangement of a narrative. I can't imagine anyone writing a book for an audience over eight years old worrying about it.
Crime writers would laugh at such a conceit and outside of the romance genre, I'd wager most novelists would.
Critics have pointed out that the book is longish and the structure of the novel works for some and not others. Fair enough, but characters as fully fleshed out as Ramsay and Lawrence,
(the two main male characters) are going to have some qualities that are less than heroic. That's why there are novels are written for adults.
Posted by Dave
But I'd love someone to explain to me why dislike for characters in a novel can lead to a negative review.
"A resolutely unromantic writer, Shriver has created a choice between two men so flawed I had trouble warming to either."
WTF?
Why would a resolutely unromantic writer such as Shriver create a choice between flawless men? Why would anyone?
Some variance on "I just didn't like the characters" doesn't belong in a proper review.
I hear this fairly often from some readers and I'll never understand it.
I wonder if romantic comedies or political campaigns are to blame, but how did we get to a point where likability determines a plausible or engaging character?
We heard over and over how George W Bush was the guy, rather than Al Gore or John Kerry; that America wanted to grab a beer with and therefore he's the leader of the free world.
How's that working out?
Surely, there's a reason why Hamlet, a complex character worthy of limitless critical interpretation; is the gold standard. But a preferred guest at the barbecue?
For novelists, creating wholly likable characters would be more of a stylistic prison than any worry to do with presentation or arrangement of a narrative. I can't imagine anyone writing a book for an audience over eight years old worrying about it.
Crime writers would laugh at such a conceit and outside of the romance genre, I'd wager most novelists would.
Critics have pointed out that the book is longish and the structure of the novel works for some and not others. Fair enough, but characters as fully fleshed out as Ramsay and Lawrence,
(the two main male characters) are going to have some qualities that are less than heroic. That's why there are novels are written for adults.
Posted by Dave
Playing all the hits
Staying with the Post, here is a small sample of what's coming.
The slight Ian McEwan novel came out up here last week and the big book on most of the excellent nerds around the 'sphere is the new Chabon.
(Kathryn, you forgot my ARC!)
Full marks for including a Small Beer Press title, home of Kelly Link and some wonderfully designed and nervy fiction.
The early read on the new Khaled Hosseini (says Tricia) is that he's more than a one hit wonder.
Hosseini wrote something called the Kite Runner a couple years ago. I guess it did okay.
Posted by Dave
The slight Ian McEwan novel came out up here last week and the big book on most of the excellent nerds around the 'sphere is the new Chabon.
(Kathryn, you forgot my ARC!)
Full marks for including a Small Beer Press title, home of Kelly Link and some wonderfully designed and nervy fiction.
The early read on the new Khaled Hosseini (says Tricia) is that he's more than a one hit wonder.
Hosseini wrote something called the Kite Runner a couple years ago. I guess it did okay.
Posted by Dave
As happy as a folio in vellum, am I
That's a couple positives for the new Michael Gruber, but I'm very glad that my guy Ron Charles is in agreement over at the Washington Post. Charles is one of the best reviewers around and he knows what he's talking about.
"Which may be why I'm such a sucker for this relatively new genre of books that are literally literary thrillers -- stories in which some pudgy book guy is propelled into a vortex of romance, crime and intrigue. If you love books -- their physical presence, the craft of making them, the art of collecting them -- then you already may well have enjoyed Ross King's Ex Libris, Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind and a dozen others. Now make room on the shelf for a new guilty pleasure from Michael Gruber called The Book of Air and Shadows. It's smart enough to let you think you're still superior to that cousin who raves about The Da Vinci Code, but it's packed with enough excitement to keep your inner bibliophile as happy as a folio in vellum."
I'm not especially close to some of my more geographically scattered cousins, but I'm pretty sure they're a brighter lot.
The Book of Air and Shadows moves a bit slower than the Jimmy Paz trio, (Tropic of Night, etc.) but the guy's a natural storyteller and writes with a veteran's confidence; which of course he is.
Posted by Dave
"Which may be why I'm such a sucker for this relatively new genre of books that are literally literary thrillers -- stories in which some pudgy book guy is propelled into a vortex of romance, crime and intrigue. If you love books -- their physical presence, the craft of making them, the art of collecting them -- then you already may well have enjoyed Ross King's Ex Libris, Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind and a dozen others. Now make room on the shelf for a new guilty pleasure from Michael Gruber called The Book of Air and Shadows. It's smart enough to let you think you're still superior to that cousin who raves about The Da Vinci Code, but it's packed with enough excitement to keep your inner bibliophile as happy as a folio in vellum."
I'm not especially close to some of my more geographically scattered cousins, but I'm pretty sure they're a brighter lot.
The Book of Air and Shadows moves a bit slower than the Jimmy Paz trio, (Tropic of Night, etc.) but the guy's a natural storyteller and writes with a veteran's confidence; which of course he is.
Posted by Dave
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