This is what has always bothered me about writers like Douglas Coupland, but I've never articulated it as neatly as this.
Conversely, this is why James Lasdun is one of my favourites.
"There's an undoubted virtuosity, much of it in the service of sparkling reports from the dreckiest, highest-tech edge of contemporary materiality - video games, style products, mall design, merchandise packaging - all of which he writes about with the relish of a true connoisseur. But inextricable from this is a certain airlessness, brought on by precisely that remorseless focus on all the most up-to-the-second junk of modern life; an unwillingness to acknowledge any aspect of existence that can't be pinned down by a brand name or a slick piece of trend-watcher's shorthand ("You took her on a date to Denny's? That's so recovering alkie ...")"
Gertrude Stein said it with some brevity as well, I suppose.
Posted by Dave
Saturday, September 29, 2007
That's my boy
One of my favourites gets some love for a great new memoir.
"in an age when so much of what we call literature is no more than a lullaby for all that lies sleeping on the Big Comfy Couch, his writing embraces risk, even danger, both in the social and personal realms. He names fears, he names vulnerabilities, he names personal indulgences of the sort that most writers are well content to bypass in print - indeed, would be embarrassed to address. He names names."
I always read well enough, but when I was in my early 20s, I read David Gilmour's first two novels; Back on Tuesday and How Boys See Girls. After that, reading meant more than everything else, and it's down to him for that.
Posted by Dave
"in an age when so much of what we call literature is no more than a lullaby for all that lies sleeping on the Big Comfy Couch, his writing embraces risk, even danger, both in the social and personal realms. He names fears, he names vulnerabilities, he names personal indulgences of the sort that most writers are well content to bypass in print - indeed, would be embarrassed to address. He names names."
I always read well enough, but when I was in my early 20s, I read David Gilmour's first two novels; Back on Tuesday and How Boys See Girls. After that, reading meant more than everything else, and it's down to him for that.
Posted by Dave
Yep, it's a good group
Publishing Trends.com reveals the industry to be largely populated by happy people.
"Money isn’t the only thing publishing people gripe about. When asked about the best and worst aspects of the industry, twice as many wrote in with complaints as praise and they didn’t mince words either, not even for their colleagues. According to some, publishers lack vision, editors lack taste, managers don’t understand the business, authors have bad behavior, and a pot-smoking West Coast sales rep gets frustrated by the “idiots” he has to deal with at the companies he represents."
Aside from that, yeah.
Posted by Dave
"Money isn’t the only thing publishing people gripe about. When asked about the best and worst aspects of the industry, twice as many wrote in with complaints as praise and they didn’t mince words either, not even for their colleagues. According to some, publishers lack vision, editors lack taste, managers don’t understand the business, authors have bad behavior, and a pot-smoking West Coast sales rep gets frustrated by the “idiots” he has to deal with at the companies he represents."
Aside from that, yeah.
Posted by Dave
Friday, September 28, 2007
hmmmm.......
I don't read very much nonfiction. There are too many novels, short fiction and too much poetry out there (I don't read nearly enough poetry anymore either), to keep up with the other half of the bestseller list.
Much non-fiction of the sociopolitical or economic variety seems to exist to advance one or a few central points with a lot of supposition, numbers and ends with a sort of wrap up. It's the kind of thing we all did in collegiate essays. For the sake of argument, I exclude a great swath of historical biography as well as science or travel writing here.
If you read a newspaper or two every day, most of what Christopher Hitchens, Jimmy Carter, Thomas Friedman, Linda McQuaig, or a gasbag like Michael Moore is, I think, largely covered with more brevity and a lot less bombast.
Noam Chomsky, whatever he addresses politically; just tires me out. I could retire tomorrow if I could convince his publisher to tie in a throw pillow for every book sold.
Book reviews for fiction while mostly inadequate other than to serve as plot summaries; still work pretty well for non-fiction of this variety. Often a retelling of a couple main arguments and a simple thumbs up or down, often expressed with a load of the reviewers own biases often covers the road well enough.
But every once in awhile I'm intrigued by something that comes from the shrinking centre of the political spectrum that is smoothly written, wears it's biases openly and softly and doesn't seem to come from a core of sputtering outrage.
Granted, it's a fairly easy target to hit, but still, nicely done Mr. Chait.
Posted by Dave
Much non-fiction of the sociopolitical or economic variety seems to exist to advance one or a few central points with a lot of supposition, numbers and ends with a sort of wrap up. It's the kind of thing we all did in collegiate essays. For the sake of argument, I exclude a great swath of historical biography as well as science or travel writing here.
If you read a newspaper or two every day, most of what Christopher Hitchens, Jimmy Carter, Thomas Friedman, Linda McQuaig, or a gasbag like Michael Moore is, I think, largely covered with more brevity and a lot less bombast.
Noam Chomsky, whatever he addresses politically; just tires me out. I could retire tomorrow if I could convince his publisher to tie in a throw pillow for every book sold.
Book reviews for fiction while mostly inadequate other than to serve as plot summaries; still work pretty well for non-fiction of this variety. Often a retelling of a couple main arguments and a simple thumbs up or down, often expressed with a load of the reviewers own biases often covers the road well enough.
But every once in awhile I'm intrigued by something that comes from the shrinking centre of the political spectrum that is smoothly written, wears it's biases openly and softly and doesn't seem to come from a core of sputtering outrage.
Granted, it's a fairly easy target to hit, but still, nicely done Mr. Chait.
Posted by Dave
Thursday, September 27, 2007
as long as it's not treated, it's not ADD
See, now this pisses me off.
The new Denis Johnson is 600 pages, it takes about a quarter of that to get moving (which I'm fine with), but there's all these distractions and now my morning is completely shot.
Occasional doubts aside, I think I make excellent use of my off work hours.
Link via Large Hearted Boy
Posted by Dave
The new Denis Johnson is 600 pages, it takes about a quarter of that to get moving (which I'm fine with), but there's all these distractions and now my morning is completely shot.
Occasional doubts aside, I think I make excellent use of my off work hours.
Link via Large Hearted Boy
Posted by Dave
It's the paper that covers books
Much from the Guardian in the last couple days.
In short, the Bookers shortlisted author Indra Sinha is profiled trying to put the Bhopal tragedy into a novel.
"All this Sinha set out to oppose, first as an activist, now as a novelist, but no longer as an adman. He gave up advertising in 1995, on his 45th birthday. "I decided I just had to resign," he says. "I didn't have anything to write with. I found this pencil and scrawled a resignation note, then read it to [his wife] Vickie over the phone, and said, 'Shall I hand this in?' I said, 'I've got nothing to go to, and we're going to have a catastrophic drop in income,' and she said, 'Well, you're not happy, we'll manage, we'll be all right,' for which I've always been extremely grateful.'
Wait, writing a novel means a drop in income? Not if you've had some work done.
Nicholas Lezzard is on the money here, but I've no idea what to do about it.
There will always be airplane books, but I've recently looked at a bunch of bestseller data in Canada and you could run a bookshop with about two hundred titles some weeks.
Please visit some of my cool friends. They'd love to see you.
Posted by Dave
In short, the Bookers shortlisted author Indra Sinha is profiled trying to put the Bhopal tragedy into a novel.
"All this Sinha set out to oppose, first as an activist, now as a novelist, but no longer as an adman. He gave up advertising in 1995, on his 45th birthday. "I decided I just had to resign," he says. "I didn't have anything to write with. I found this pencil and scrawled a resignation note, then read it to [his wife] Vickie over the phone, and said, 'Shall I hand this in?' I said, 'I've got nothing to go to, and we're going to have a catastrophic drop in income,' and she said, 'Well, you're not happy, we'll manage, we'll be all right,' for which I've always been extremely grateful.'
Wait, writing a novel means a drop in income? Not if you've had some work done.
Nicholas Lezzard is on the money here, but I've no idea what to do about it.
There will always be airplane books, but I've recently looked at a bunch of bestseller data in Canada and you could run a bookshop with about two hundred titles some weeks.
Please visit some of my cool friends. They'd love to see you.
Posted by Dave
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Dude, I'm trying to help
Shalom Auslander is worried that being so brilliant may go to his head.
"A positive review, I tell myself, must have been written by a schmuck, a request for an interview must be a function of a slow news week, a feature on Foreskin's Lament only means George Saunders was busy, or Junot Díaz caught a cold. Or was scheduled to do Jon Stewart. Or was picking up his National Book Award. Me, I'm free.
There are other writers with me in this studio, too. They don't seem concerned. They laugh, they smile, they joke, they kibbitz. They enjoy their moment in the sun, while I chug red wine and worry about skin cancer. The photographer taps me on my shoulder. It is my turn. The rain outside has subsided, and he wants to try to get a few shots of me outside.
That's what they call them in the business, "shots."
Asshole.
What?
"Shots." That's what they call it.
You liked saying it.
My shrink said it was okay.
Your shrink is a whore."
Foreskin's Lament comes out any day now, and his first book is basically being given away in the store right now. In terms of a simple mathematical certainty around laughs per page, no one can touch Shalom Auslander.
Link via Bookslut
Posted by Dave
"A positive review, I tell myself, must have been written by a schmuck, a request for an interview must be a function of a slow news week, a feature on Foreskin's Lament only means George Saunders was busy, or Junot Díaz caught a cold. Or was scheduled to do Jon Stewart. Or was picking up his National Book Award. Me, I'm free.
There are other writers with me in this studio, too. They don't seem concerned. They laugh, they smile, they joke, they kibbitz. They enjoy their moment in the sun, while I chug red wine and worry about skin cancer. The photographer taps me on my shoulder. It is my turn. The rain outside has subsided, and he wants to try to get a few shots of me outside.
That's what they call them in the business, "shots."
Asshole.
What?
"Shots." That's what they call it.
You liked saying it.
My shrink said it was okay.
Your shrink is a whore."
Foreskin's Lament comes out any day now, and his first book is basically being given away in the store right now. In terms of a simple mathematical certainty around laughs per page, no one can touch Shalom Auslander.
Link via Bookslut
Posted by Dave
Monday, September 24, 2007
Smoke-Sept 25-27
Elizabeth Ruth will be everywhere for the next few days. Please drop by one of the venues, and scroll to the bottom for event locations and times.
She's an engaging reader with a wonderful wit; and it'll cap a fine book.
See you there.
Posted by Dave
finally...
some idea of new work from Yann Martel.
"He researched the book extensively, travelling twice to Poland to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, which was "depressing as hell, of course" but - he sighs - only because we bring the burden of our knowledge of the crimes committed there to this derelict place. After Edinburgh, he left for Poland again. Although he has completed his essay, he wants to be certain that he has successfully captured its haunting atmosphere in his fictional fable."
Looks like something about a year from now, and I know it's been a juggernaut, but Pi is still a fine novel.
One of the highlights of my time at Words Worth was hearing him read to a church full of people shortly after 9/11, and he was what everyone needed.
It's fantastic (though certainly in their interest) that his British publisher Canongate are giving him all the time he needs.
Link from Sarah
Posted by Dave
"He researched the book extensively, travelling twice to Poland to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, which was "depressing as hell, of course" but - he sighs - only because we bring the burden of our knowledge of the crimes committed there to this derelict place. After Edinburgh, he left for Poland again. Although he has completed his essay, he wants to be certain that he has successfully captured its haunting atmosphere in his fictional fable."
Looks like something about a year from now, and I know it's been a juggernaut, but Pi is still a fine novel.
One of the highlights of my time at Words Worth was hearing him read to a church full of people shortly after 9/11, and he was what everyone needed.
It's fantastic (though certainly in their interest) that his British publisher Canongate are giving him all the time he needs.
Link from Sarah
Posted by Dave
So lets review...
The English novel is dying,
there's nothing much elsewhere in the world,
poetry was never any good and is deader than dead,
independent bookstores are withering away and that's okay, because they had an attitude,
pretty much everyone at chain stores are idiots,
and Clare Messud is pretty good.
God, Joseph Epstein is a miserable sod. Someone tell him a joke before he ends it all.
Actually, I really like Emperor's Children, so Clare Messud is pretty damn good.
Posted by Dave
there's nothing much elsewhere in the world,
poetry was never any good and is deader than dead,
independent bookstores are withering away and that's okay, because they had an attitude,
pretty much everyone at chain stores are idiots,
and Clare Messud is pretty good.
God, Joseph Epstein is a miserable sod. Someone tell him a joke before he ends it all.
Actually, I really like Emperor's Children, so Clare Messud is pretty damn good.
Posted by Dave
well Merry Christmas anyway
The word from Random House; the largest publisher in the game, is that parity won't mean much until the New Year.
In the meantime, we Canadian booksellers will just have to tread water and return everything that's not priced accordingly, I guess.
And for what it's worth, I've never in my life heard the phrase 'windfall profits" associated with any aspect of the book trade.
Just saying.
Posted by Dave
In the meantime, we Canadian booksellers will just have to tread water and return everything that's not priced accordingly, I guess.
And for what it's worth, I've never in my life heard the phrase 'windfall profits" associated with any aspect of the book trade.
Just saying.
Posted by Dave
famous all over town
Friday, September 21, 2007
fresh ink
The first review (that I've seen in the American press) for Ann Patchett's new book is on the NYT site and it's an unqualified rave. Run doesn't quite match Bel Canto, but it's still a fine novel of familial twists, race and political ambition.
She's as close to blue chip as the American novel gets.
My boy Linwood Barclay's showed up yesterday. Watch for him and Michelle Wan on Oct 11 at the shop. Details are here.
Lastly, I've never read a Richard Russo novel before, and I should probably start.
Posted by Dave
She's as close to blue chip as the American novel gets.
My boy Linwood Barclay's showed up yesterday. Watch for him and Michelle Wan on Oct 11 at the shop. Details are here.
Lastly, I've never read a Richard Russo novel before, and I should probably start.
Posted by Dave
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
don't mention the war
Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer-winning novel is to be filmed sometime in 2008. Director John Hillcoat has worked with Nick Cave before so maybe that's promising.
From Mothercorp:
"Viggo Mortensen has been rumoured for the lead role, portraying the father travelling across war-ravaged landscape with his son, searching for civilization."
McCarthy never actually called said landscape war-ravaged, but minor point.
Posted by Dave
From Mothercorp:
"Viggo Mortensen has been rumoured for the lead role, portraying the father travelling across war-ravaged landscape with his son, searching for civilization."
McCarthy never actually called said landscape war-ravaged, but minor point.
Posted by Dave
late for the longlist
but I'll get the shortlist up as soon as it reveals itself.
The Giller list was announced a few days back, and a sort of normalcy has returned.
I was a bit surprised to see Gil Adamson off and Barbara Gowdy on, but I liked Helpless quite a bit, so good on her.
There's been good comments/coverage for several of the lesser known titles on the list. Jessa even noted one of the long shots. In that vein it would be nice if Sharon English made the shortlist (or surprised everyone by winning) because every good small press deserves favour.
I'm pulling for Elizabeth Hay, one because Late Nights on Air is a beauty of a book, two because she's coming to town, and three because she's a class act.
Posted by Dave
The Giller list was announced a few days back, and a sort of normalcy has returned.
I was a bit surprised to see Gil Adamson off and Barbara Gowdy on, but I liked Helpless quite a bit, so good on her.
There's been good comments/coverage for several of the lesser known titles on the list. Jessa even noted one of the long shots. In that vein it would be nice if Sharon English made the shortlist (or surprised everyone by winning) because every good small press deserves favour.
I'm pulling for Elizabeth Hay, one because Late Nights on Air is a beauty of a book, two because she's coming to town, and three because she's a class act.
Posted by Dave
big scary numbers
Oh well, this was bound to happen.
Doing or saying something grandiose (blindingly stupid) before your book comes out to goose the sales a bit; that happens.
It won't do O.J. any good as the royalties aren't his anymore, but his encore performance as it were, has resulted in his "book" going back to press.
That's a quarter of a million copies in print, therefore half a million rubber gloves.
Posted by Dave
Doing or saying something grandiose (blindingly stupid) before your book comes out to goose the sales a bit; that happens.
It won't do O.J. any good as the royalties aren't his anymore, but his encore performance as it were, has resulted in his "book" going back to press.
That's a quarter of a million copies in print, therefore half a million rubber gloves.
Posted by Dave
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
This guy gets it
As usual, Richard Nash gets it right on the issues of the day:
Literary Kicks, a blog I've never seen before is running with a fine idea here and over the next couple of months (if everything goes according to plan) this is going to be required reading.
Sez Mr. Nash:
"Now, I happen to think that it would be rather good if we could engage in a far more sophisticated level of price discrimination, much like the airlines do. Signed limited edition for one price ($100), regular hardcover at another (maybe as a subscription), high-end trade paperback (maybe with flaps) at another ($16, $17?), cheap borderline mass market on 35 lb. paper at another ($9, $10), and electronic at yet another ($5, or also as a subscription). There are so many levels at which a given person might be willing to commit to a book, I feel it behooves us to try to get more of the the dollars that lie below that Economics 101 price elasticity curve. That would sound crass in a business where we're minting money, but that's hardly the case in publishing! Plus, it gets more readers."
My own thinking around hardcovers vs paperback is kind of old fashioned, and accords with the view elsewhere on this thread, that hardcovers "seed" the demand for the paperback. Apparently that's changing and if so, I'm not too worried if hard covers continue to give ground to paperback originals. No one was happier than me to see books like this find such wide acceptance, paperback original be damned.
As books start to reflect reality in terms of the stronger Canadian dollar, that's only going to bring prices down further. There's a concern around year over year sales, but anything that's going to shave a few dollars or more off of a cover price makes a handsellers job easier.
I mean at twenty per cent off at our place, this is only twenty four dollars.
Go. Now.
Posted by Dave
Literary Kicks, a blog I've never seen before is running with a fine idea here and over the next couple of months (if everything goes according to plan) this is going to be required reading.
Sez Mr. Nash:
"Now, I happen to think that it would be rather good if we could engage in a far more sophisticated level of price discrimination, much like the airlines do. Signed limited edition for one price ($100), regular hardcover at another (maybe as a subscription), high-end trade paperback (maybe with flaps) at another ($16, $17?), cheap borderline mass market on 35 lb. paper at another ($9, $10), and electronic at yet another ($5, or also as a subscription). There are so many levels at which a given person might be willing to commit to a book, I feel it behooves us to try to get more of the the dollars that lie below that Economics 101 price elasticity curve. That would sound crass in a business where we're minting money, but that's hardly the case in publishing! Plus, it gets more readers."
My own thinking around hardcovers vs paperback is kind of old fashioned, and accords with the view elsewhere on this thread, that hardcovers "seed" the demand for the paperback. Apparently that's changing and if so, I'm not too worried if hard covers continue to give ground to paperback originals. No one was happier than me to see books like this find such wide acceptance, paperback original be damned.
As books start to reflect reality in terms of the stronger Canadian dollar, that's only going to bring prices down further. There's a concern around year over year sales, but anything that's going to shave a few dollars or more off of a cover price makes a handsellers job easier.
I mean at twenty per cent off at our place, this is only twenty four dollars.
Go. Now.
Posted by Dave
I got your moral defense right here
It's kinda nice for Alan Greenspan, who is such an admirer of Ayn Rand (shudder) to get his wish (in theory) and then feel badly about it. (in fact?)
Congratulations Mr. Greenspan. You now have your starless sky.
The choice quotes from both links are:
"Mr. Greenspan had married a member of Rand’s inner circle, known as the Collective, that met every Saturday night in her New York apartment. Rand did not pay much attention to Mr. Greenspan until he began praising drafts of “Atlas,” which she read aloud to her disciples, according to Jeff Britting, the archivist of Ayn Rand’s papers. He was attracted, Mr. Britting said, to “her moral defense of capitalism.”
and from the always merciless Paul Krugman:
"Mr. Greenspan has just published a book in which he castigates the Bush administration for its fiscal irresponsibility.
Well, I’m sorry, but that criticism comes six years late and a trillion dollars short.
Mr. Greenspan now says that he didn’t mean to give the Bush tax cuts a green light, and that he was surprised at the political reaction to his remarks. There were, indeed, rumors at the time — which Mr. Greenspan now says were true — that the Fed chairman was upset about the response to his initial statement.
But the fact is that if Mr. Greenspan wasn’t intending to lend crucial support to the Bush tax cuts, he had ample opportunity to set the record straight when it could have made a difference."
While it rots that our largest trading partner is a financial basket case; their collapsing currency is bringing the cost of books down for awhile.
Oh, speaking of costs going down, RIP Times Select. Just send notification of my refund to my email address. Thanks, you guys rock.
Posted by Dave
Congratulations Mr. Greenspan. You now have your starless sky.
The choice quotes from both links are:
"Mr. Greenspan had married a member of Rand’s inner circle, known as the Collective, that met every Saturday night in her New York apartment. Rand did not pay much attention to Mr. Greenspan until he began praising drafts of “Atlas,” which she read aloud to her disciples, according to Jeff Britting, the archivist of Ayn Rand’s papers. He was attracted, Mr. Britting said, to “her moral defense of capitalism.”
and from the always merciless Paul Krugman:
"Mr. Greenspan has just published a book in which he castigates the Bush administration for its fiscal irresponsibility.
Well, I’m sorry, but that criticism comes six years late and a trillion dollars short.
Mr. Greenspan now says that he didn’t mean to give the Bush tax cuts a green light, and that he was surprised at the political reaction to his remarks. There were, indeed, rumors at the time — which Mr. Greenspan now says were true — that the Fed chairman was upset about the response to his initial statement.
But the fact is that if Mr. Greenspan wasn’t intending to lend crucial support to the Bush tax cuts, he had ample opportunity to set the record straight when it could have made a difference."
While it rots that our largest trading partner is a financial basket case; their collapsing currency is bringing the cost of books down for awhile.
Oh, speaking of costs going down, RIP Times Select. Just send notification of my refund to my email address. Thanks, you guys rock.
Posted by Dave
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Weekend away...
with family in Niagara Falls. I think there must be a local ordinance barring bookstores from the Canadian side of the city, or indeed the surrounding towns. Perhaps I missed something.
At any rate, I've not read much of Steve Almond (a couple short stories in his first book, but he's a hell of a promoter and did some good work for Democrats in the '04 elections.
I thought great, but he kinda pops off sometimes, and ends up looking silly, but
he's picked a bigger fish now, and the odds of a Random House title ever getting the best love in the industry just took a bit of a hit.
Posted by Dave
At any rate, I've not read much of Steve Almond (a couple short stories in his first book, but he's a hell of a promoter and did some good work for Democrats in the '04 elections.
I thought great, but he kinda pops off sometimes, and ends up looking silly, but
he's picked a bigger fish now, and the odds of a Random House title ever getting the best love in the industry just took a bit of a hit.
Posted by Dave
Thursday, September 13, 2007
KWSO gets some game
A couple of my favourite people are already on the K-W Symphony Orchestra, but the new Music Director Edwin Outwater looks like a real find. He dropped by the store a couple weeks ago and in addition to having read everything, he's, well band geek is too easy, but here's some proof.
Anyone who loves Cheap Trick and is close personal with one of my favourite writers ever is damn fine with me.
Welcome to Waterloo, Mr. Outwater.
Thanks to Heather on this.
Posted by Dave
because time divided by number of books equals grumbling
I was rather excited about Roberto Bolano's Savage Detectives when it came out, and because it took so long to get from Harper Collins other books moved up the queue. I may still get to it, but it's moving away from me already.
Anyway Paul Berman, a man I like; has a longish piece in Slate on the "great novel of Mexico City."
Posted by Dave
Anyway Paul Berman, a man I like; has a longish piece in Slate on the "great novel of Mexico City."
Posted by Dave
Praise for Jonathan Coe..
from the Guardian.
Rain Before it Falls is getting some very good attention in Britain where the book is already out. It's about six months away in North America and he's desert island stuff for me.
The new book seems like quite a departure for the man who wrote the Rotters Club and What a Carve-Up (love it!), but I'll follow him anywhere.
Honestly, who picks these Booker short lists? Okay, that's not fair, it's not a bad list.
Hey Penguin, all I want for Christmas is an ARC.
Posted by Dave
Every word of this is true*
Galleycat is reporting that James (Million Little Pieces) Frey has sold a novel to Harper Collins for a million dollars. They've got exclusive rights to "Bright Shiny Morning" and it's supposed to publish (barring any number of potential meltdowns) in spring 2008.
Publisher Jonathan Burnham says, "James Frey is an immensely talented writer who has written a truly extraordinary and original novel, one of great breadth and ambition."
The novel was reportedly going to be called Bright Shining Lie but that title was already taken.
Okay, I made that last bit up.*
See, Mr Frey, it's just that easy.
Posted by Dave
Publisher Jonathan Burnham says, "James Frey is an immensely talented writer who has written a truly extraordinary and original novel, one of great breadth and ambition."
The novel was reportedly going to be called Bright Shining Lie but that title was already taken.
Okay, I made that last bit up.*
See, Mr Frey, it's just that easy.
Posted by Dave
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
more room for page six
About the only appropriate response to the news that the New York Post has stopped running book reviews, is "The New York Post had book reviews?"
Posted by Dave
Posted by Dave
Monday, September 10, 2007
You can be as alliterate as you want once your free, though
How weird is it that federal prisoners (at least in New York) can no longer read C. S Lewis, among other books " that could, according to the Justice Department “discriminate, disparage, advocate violence or radicalize.”
From the NYT.
"A chaplain who has worked more than 15 years in the prison system, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is a bureau employee, said: “At some of the penitentiaries, guys have been studying and reading for 20 years, and now they are told that this material doesn’t meet some kind of criteria. It doesn’t make sense to them. They’re asking, ‘Why are our tapes being taken, why our books being taken?’ ”
Good question, that.
From the NYT.
"A chaplain who has worked more than 15 years in the prison system, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is a bureau employee, said: “At some of the penitentiaries, guys have been studying and reading for 20 years, and now they are told that this material doesn’t meet some kind of criteria. It doesn’t make sense to them. They’re asking, ‘Why are our tapes being taken, why our books being taken?’ ”
Good question, that.
maybe change your name to Oliver
I'm sure I've come across as bitter before, but this is really over the top.
Peter Sacks has written a book that everyone better buy or he's going to come to your house and read it to you by force. Then he'll end up on your roof with a weapon.
"Oh, by the way. I use big words sometimes and what some might call obscure literary references. I occasionally write in complex sentences, too. Maybe that's part of my problem. I refuse to dumb it down, and I'll persist in the belief, until the day I give up writing altogether, that readers are smart, that Americans want to read, and that they have attention spans of more than 30 seconds. But don't tell that to Amazon. Recently, the online bookseller installed a new feature on its website, presumably to allow its more anti-intellectual customers to keep their book purchases to a 6th grade reading level."
Sir, your book is from the University of California Press. They're a fine publishing house but rarely on the best seller list. You knew that going in, right?
And if you're pissed off about Amazon that's great, but it's hard to square using their link when flogging your book.
(see comments at the bottom of Huffington Post article)
Posted by Dave
Peter Sacks has written a book that everyone better buy or he's going to come to your house and read it to you by force. Then he'll end up on your roof with a weapon.
"Oh, by the way. I use big words sometimes and what some might call obscure literary references. I occasionally write in complex sentences, too. Maybe that's part of my problem. I refuse to dumb it down, and I'll persist in the belief, until the day I give up writing altogether, that readers are smart, that Americans want to read, and that they have attention spans of more than 30 seconds. But don't tell that to Amazon. Recently, the online bookseller installed a new feature on its website, presumably to allow its more anti-intellectual customers to keep their book purchases to a 6th grade reading level."
Sir, your book is from the University of California Press. They're a fine publishing house but rarely on the best seller list. You knew that going in, right?
And if you're pissed off about Amazon that's great, but it's hard to square using their link when flogging your book.
(see comments at the bottom of Huffington Post article)
Posted by Dave
Nerds rule, alright?
When Junot Diaz came out with his short story collection Drown, in 1996, the accolades came thick and fast. The New Yorker named Diaz one of the top 20 writers for the 21st century, and his stories were anthologized all over the place.
Rumors and snippets around the new novel have been around for a long time and after blowing through it in a couple days, I'm on board. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a smart, hip triumph of a novel on every level. He's New York cool like Lethem, he's got weight like Franzen and Mary Gaitskill he's got precision pyrotechnics like George Saunders. There's no flaws here and he more than delivers on the massive promise in Drown. I haven't been in awe of a writer's craft, while laughing my ass off to this degree in a very long time.
Oscar Wao is a hell of a character, a Dominican Ignatius Reilly. He's fat, he's a dork, and he falls in love with every girl who crosses his path. He's the main character to be sure; but the great strength of the book is that a character of this magnitude doesn't overwhelm the book. The surreal Dominican politics and history, the familial ties and the perfectly nuanced redemption (of sorts) make for one of the best books I've read this year or last.
I'm kinda ruined for other literary fiction for awhile, though Denis Johnson awaits.
Posted by Dave
Rumors and snippets around the new novel have been around for a long time and after blowing through it in a couple days, I'm on board. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a smart, hip triumph of a novel on every level. He's New York cool like Lethem, he's got weight like Franzen and Mary Gaitskill he's got precision pyrotechnics like George Saunders. There's no flaws here and he more than delivers on the massive promise in Drown. I haven't been in awe of a writer's craft, while laughing my ass off to this degree in a very long time.
Oscar Wao is a hell of a character, a Dominican Ignatius Reilly. He's fat, he's a dork, and he falls in love with every girl who crosses his path. He's the main character to be sure; but the great strength of the book is that a character of this magnitude doesn't overwhelm the book. The surreal Dominican politics and history, the familial ties and the perfectly nuanced redemption (of sorts) make for one of the best books I've read this year or last.
I'm kinda ruined for other literary fiction for awhile, though Denis Johnson awaits.
Posted by Dave
Round One
A couple of top flight crime writers are dropping by a month from now. I've already raved about Barclay, and Michelle Wan is a surprise as well. Deadly Slipper deals with the well documented obsessions around orchid enthusiasts and a Canadian woman searching for her sister, an orchid enthusiast who disappeared years earlier in the south of France. Her writing is sinewy and descriptive, but still moves quickly; and I'll follow anything set in the south of France.
Mark your calendars, this is a free event and it's going to be a fine evening.
Orchid Shroud and Deadly Slipper are out in paper, and No Time For Goodbye (I've mentioned how good this guy is right?) comes out Sept 25
Posted by Dave
Mark your calendars, this is a free event and it's going to be a fine evening.
Orchid Shroud and Deadly Slipper are out in paper, and No Time For Goodbye (I've mentioned how good this guy is right?) comes out Sept 25
Posted by Dave
Friday, September 07, 2007
If anyone wants me I'll be doing curls
It's beginning to look a lot like..I can't say it, but publishers compress more books into a shorter window every year and the fall heavies are showing up.
Everyone loves the new Denis Johnson, and I'll listen when someone says he betters most of Tim O'Brien where Vietnam is concerned. I don't believe it yet, but I'll damn sure give it a whirl.
The new Junot Diaz is getting love from all over as well. I started it last night and after Drown ten years back, I'm really looking for greatness here as well.
And the new Shalom Auslander, Jonathan Coe, new stuff constantly from here and here and this, and I gotta go now.
Posted by Dave
Everyone loves the new Denis Johnson, and I'll listen when someone says he betters most of Tim O'Brien where Vietnam is concerned. I don't believe it yet, but I'll damn sure give it a whirl.
The new Junot Diaz is getting love from all over as well. I started it last night and after Drown ten years back, I'm really looking for greatness here as well.
And the new Shalom Auslander, Jonathan Coe, new stuff constantly from here and here and this, and I gotta go now.
Posted by Dave
Thursday, September 06, 2007
consolation for Consolation (I'm very sorry)
It's been kind of a big day for Michael Redhill.
Just as well, they have a fine track record.
Good on him, he should have been on the Giller list last year, and it's a damn fine novel.
Posted by Dave
but no one remembers it
U.S and British booksellers have weighed in on the highly regarded Lawrence Hill novel "The Book of Negroes," and are feeling a bit "squeamish" about it.
Therefore, in a move to make the book seem more "literary" international editions will be titled "Someone Knows My Name."
Says Essence book editor Patrik Henry Bass, ""Someone Knows My Name is lyrical," he said. "It says 'literary novel.' The Book of Negroes, not so much."
Because the public is crazy for literary novels. Can't get enough of 'em.
Somewhere Gil Scott-Heron is laughing until he drops.
Posted by Dave
Therefore, in a move to make the book seem more "literary" international editions will be titled "Someone Knows My Name."
Says Essence book editor Patrik Henry Bass, ""Someone Knows My Name is lyrical," he said. "It says 'literary novel.' The Book of Negroes, not so much."
Because the public is crazy for literary novels. Can't get enough of 'em.
Somewhere Gil Scott-Heron is laughing until he drops.
Posted by Dave
what if they made a gadget and nobody cared?
After about ten months, sales for the Sony Reader are "tepid at best," says Business Week.
Users apparently don't care for the ease of use and the fact that titles can only be purchased through Sony.
The company still sees potential in the device, but when they don't release the sales figures, you don't need to be a genius to smell fear.
It works similarly to movies.
Posted by Dave
Users apparently don't care for the ease of use and the fact that titles can only be purchased through Sony.
The company still sees potential in the device, but when they don't release the sales figures, you don't need to be a genius to smell fear.
It works similarly to movies.
Posted by Dave
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
new month, old absences
After an August breather, back to our usual standard (!) starting tomorrow.
There's quite a backlog 'round the place.
Posted by Dave
There's quite a backlog 'round the place.
Posted by Dave
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
