Slate gathers together a bunch of naughty writers who confess on "great" and not-so-great books they've either never read; or conversely books that constitute a guilty pleasure.
My favourite of the list is Nell Freudenberger's entry, shamed because she's read, but faked her interest in, Thomas Pynchon.
Alas, I've never read Freudneberger, although I've heard a number of good things about her novel, the Dissident. I've sure as hell never finished Pynchon, because I agree with her that
"this morning, I reread the first chapter of Vineland, wondering whether I might have matured since the first time I tried it, in 1994. Nope. I couldn't get through even two pages of my husband's copy of Gravity's Rainbow, but I did note with frustration that the spine is convincingly broken. I'm sure I finished Vineland in college (because I am the type of person who finished all the books assigned—i.e., the type of person who can't understand Thomas Pynchon)."
I took note of her feeling left behind by the "cool" kids in college who had read Pynchon.
It looks like today's young writers don't need to sweat that sort of pressure anymore.
It also looks like tomorrows college students won't be made to feel uncool about reading anything.
Oh well, continued good health to all the boomer's out there.
Posted by Dave
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
and so it goes
George (Heat) Monbiot reads Cormac McCarthy.
"It seems to me that we are already pushing other people ahead of us down The Road. As the biosphere shrinks, McCarthy describes the collapse of the protagonist's core beliefs. I sense that this might be happening already: that a hardening of interests, a shutting down of concern, is taking place among the people of the rich world. If this is true, we do not need to wait for the forests to burn or food supplies to shrivel before we decide that civilisation is in trouble."
The Road is singularly brilliant, and it's not even McCarthy's best book.
Posted by Dave
"It seems to me that we are already pushing other people ahead of us down The Road. As the biosphere shrinks, McCarthy describes the collapse of the protagonist's core beliefs. I sense that this might be happening already: that a hardening of interests, a shutting down of concern, is taking place among the people of the rich world. If this is true, we do not need to wait for the forests to burn or food supplies to shrivel before we decide that civilisation is in trouble."
The Road is singularly brilliant, and it's not even McCarthy's best book.
Posted by Dave
Monday, October 29, 2007
but don't take my word for it..
I've always been a fan of Ronan Bennett. The Catastrophist was a breakout book a few years back, and I've since read his earlier stuff. It's solid literary thriller stuff, and the new chess-infused yarn takes place in St. Petersburg in pre-Revolutionary Russia.
You can show your age and pick it up the old fashioned way or slog through the whole thing here.
Nice backgrounder here as well.
Posted by Dave
You can show your age and pick it up the old fashioned way or slog through the whole thing here.
Nice backgrounder here as well.
Posted by Dave
Friday, October 26, 2007
one state two state red state blue state
Things like this generally don't happen in states like Connecticut, but it's right out of Tom Perrotta's new book.
The main graf is,
"The parents of a freshman student whose teacher resigned after he gave her a sexually explicit illustrated book said Wednesday their daughter has been the target of harassment from fellow students, and they want the school district to do more to clarify the issue with other parents.
The girl's father, who asked that his family remain anonymous because it has already been the target of criticism, described the graphic novel that English teacher Nate Fisher gave the student as "borderline pornography"
After awhile these things all sound the same, you know?
Posted by Dave
The main graf is,
"The parents of a freshman student whose teacher resigned after he gave her a sexually explicit illustrated book said Wednesday their daughter has been the target of harassment from fellow students, and they want the school district to do more to clarify the issue with other parents.
The girl's father, who asked that his family remain anonymous because it has already been the target of criticism, described the graphic novel that English teacher Nate Fisher gave the student as "borderline pornography"
After awhile these things all sound the same, you know?
Posted by Dave
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
yes, but
There's an interesting discussion going on over at Bookninja to do with the provocative piece in the Star over the weekend. Essentially, and this seems to be a Canadian pastime, there's no room for any young'uns in the publishing trade in the country.
What Marche doesn't mention, and what is pretty obvious if you've hung around the book trade long enough, is that older readers are the only ones at the table. Therefore, they like what they have always liked: Hence, there's a tendency (and only a slight one) to see their generation reflected in their tastes. If a Heather O'Neill gets a big of love via the CBC or whatever, the over 45's will find it.
As a matter of keeping the pot stirred, I applaud a shot across the bow every so often. It's why even though I agree with a fair bit of Stephen Marche's piece, I think he's painted himself into a corner.
Until words like "post-literate" are called out to mean something less fuzzy, and more like "not interested" it's no surprise that Son of Coupland or whatever isn't going to see too much light.
That's not a Giller cabal or something, that's just an industry who knows what side it's bread (crust?) is buttered on.
Posted by Dave
What Marche doesn't mention, and what is pretty obvious if you've hung around the book trade long enough, is that older readers are the only ones at the table. Therefore, they like what they have always liked: Hence, there's a tendency (and only a slight one) to see their generation reflected in their tastes. If a Heather O'Neill gets a big of love via the CBC or whatever, the over 45's will find it.
As a matter of keeping the pot stirred, I applaud a shot across the bow every so often. It's why even though I agree with a fair bit of Stephen Marche's piece, I think he's painted himself into a corner.
Until words like "post-literate" are called out to mean something less fuzzy, and more like "not interested" it's no surprise that Son of Coupland or whatever isn't going to see too much light.
That's not a Giller cabal or something, that's just an industry who knows what side it's bread (crust?) is buttered on.
Posted by Dave
Sunday, October 21, 2007
reviewers in a mood
but still there are differences.
I think Ron Charles at the Washington Post is one of the best book reviewers in North America. That said, I think he blew the call in his review of Tom Perrotta's novel.
Charles seemed to want an earlier Perrotta novel than this one, and when held up against Election or even Little Children, this isn't it. That doesn't mean the novel "lacks the necessary element of passion." For me the Abstinence Teacher succeeds on all fronts and is just another fine effort from Perrotta.
Still, Ron Charles is a class act, and isn't out to get anybody. More importantly he's plenty competent.
In the New York Times on the other hand, there's this review of Alice Sebold's Almost Moon, a book that's not getting many decent reviews so far.
But Galleycat notes a huge error.
After getting a heads up of the NYT review to come,
"I hadn't started reading the book yet, so I had to have the situation explained to me while I got hold of a copy. One of the planks on which Siegel builds his indictment of novel and author is "the juvenile contrivance of Mom in the freezer," which inspired the headline the Review gave the article, as well as the Henning Wagenbreth illustration you see here. Except that, and this is somewhat important, the protagonist never puts her mother in the freezer.
Oh, she thinks about it, all right, but at the end of the relevant scene (pages 58-61 in the hardcover edition), she realizes she isn't capable of cutting up the body so it will fit in the meat locker. So when Siegel quotes from a later scene on pages 137-142, where her ex-husband arrives to help sort out the mess—
"She tells him what happened, and they have the following exchange: '"What did you think putting her in the freezer would achieve?" "I don't know," I said... "I don't know."'"
—it's a crucial misreading of what the protagonist has done, made somewhat more glaring by the fact that the ex-husband says later in that scene that "I crawled in that window and saw her in the basement." (Italics mine.) "The error isn't like getting a character's hair color wrong," says one reader who alerted me to the issue. "It's more along the lines of saying Desdemona is a whore because she slept with Iago." For this reader, it's a crucial point, speaking to a sense of moral responsibility remaining in the protagonist that Siegel doesn't see—although one might well be able to argue that the overall thrust of Siegel's attack on the novel holds up despite this weak link in the chain."
Fair enough, Siegel didn't like the book, but this is a published author many times over and a senior editor at the New Republic. As weak links go, that snaps the chain.
I won't even go into the excessive invective in the review, the last half dozen paragraphs the equivalent of bullying.
I'm not suggesting that reviewers need to soft shoe or play nice with a book that again, seems to be getting a critical drubbing, but I've read the "freezer pages" and it's pretty clear what did and didn't happen.
Nice job, NYT.
Posted by Dave
I think Ron Charles at the Washington Post is one of the best book reviewers in North America. That said, I think he blew the call in his review of Tom Perrotta's novel.
Charles seemed to want an earlier Perrotta novel than this one, and when held up against Election or even Little Children, this isn't it. That doesn't mean the novel "lacks the necessary element of passion." For me the Abstinence Teacher succeeds on all fronts and is just another fine effort from Perrotta.
Still, Ron Charles is a class act, and isn't out to get anybody. More importantly he's plenty competent.
In the New York Times on the other hand, there's this review of Alice Sebold's Almost Moon, a book that's not getting many decent reviews so far.
But Galleycat notes a huge error.
After getting a heads up of the NYT review to come,
"I hadn't started reading the book yet, so I had to have the situation explained to me while I got hold of a copy. One of the planks on which Siegel builds his indictment of novel and author is "the juvenile contrivance of Mom in the freezer," which inspired the headline the Review gave the article, as well as the Henning Wagenbreth illustration you see here. Except that, and this is somewhat important, the protagonist never puts her mother in the freezer.
Oh, she thinks about it, all right, but at the end of the relevant scene (pages 58-61 in the hardcover edition), she realizes she isn't capable of cutting up the body so it will fit in the meat locker. So when Siegel quotes from a later scene on pages 137-142, where her ex-husband arrives to help sort out the mess—
"She tells him what happened, and they have the following exchange: '"What did you think putting her in the freezer would achieve?" "I don't know," I said... "I don't know."'"
—it's a crucial misreading of what the protagonist has done, made somewhat more glaring by the fact that the ex-husband says later in that scene that "I crawled in that window and saw her in the basement." (Italics mine.) "The error isn't like getting a character's hair color wrong," says one reader who alerted me to the issue. "It's more along the lines of saying Desdemona is a whore because she slept with Iago." For this reader, it's a crucial point, speaking to a sense of moral responsibility remaining in the protagonist that Siegel doesn't see—although one might well be able to argue that the overall thrust of Siegel's attack on the novel holds up despite this weak link in the chain."
Fair enough, Siegel didn't like the book, but this is a published author many times over and a senior editor at the New Republic. As weak links go, that snaps the chain.
I won't even go into the excessive invective in the review, the last half dozen paragraphs the equivalent of bullying.
I'm not suggesting that reviewers need to soft shoe or play nice with a book that again, seems to be getting a critical drubbing, but I've read the "freezer pages" and it's pretty clear what did and didn't happen.
Nice job, NYT.
Posted by Dave
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
she tapes her regrets to the microphone stand
I got sucked into the hype around Lovely Bones and it was okay enough. Lost me at the ending but I guess I'm grateful that Alice Sebold has probably paid for my lunch a time or two.
Having said that, I'm likely staying away from her new one.
God, Jezebel is trash. Excellent, blissful trash.
Link via Bookslut
Posted by Dave
Having said that, I'm likely staying away from her new one.
God, Jezebel is trash. Excellent, blissful trash.
Link via Bookslut
Posted by Dave
what he said*
Dollar parity is especially problematic in the book trade, because the prices on imported books with Canadian representation are right on the jacket. $24.95 US vs $30.95 CDN or whatever.
The next question from anyone is obvious.
A trying few months aside, this is a good news story for those who love to read. Prices are starting to come down on U.S titles, in some cases dramatically. However, to read the Globe and Mail lately, you'd think every Canadian retailer wades trough wads of cash in their offices and gargles with Macallan Scotch in the morning.
To put it mildly, that's not true in the book trade.
To those who quite legitimately balk at paying the CDN prices on U.S titles, I say you're right to be annoyed. Perhaps we can show you something in a Canadian title, also priced to move. The worry about a $40 hardcover novel is a thankfully distant memory.
The same is true of non-fiction works. A comparison of best seller fare in 2003 and today reveals a healthy drop in price. In addition we've recently started discounting all Globe and Mail best sellers, both fiction and non-fiction; our staff picks are always twenty per cent off; (We've done most of the reading, we know from quality) and for what it's worth, publishers that have been caught flat footed will likely end up paying for storage on a lot of unsold inventory or selling it off at a steep loss.
. They know this and are being frog marched into the new world, by events in the wider world, and with the sustained pressure of booksellers ringing in their ears.
There are specifics around Canadian representation and economics of scale that are much better explained here.*
Posted by Dave
The next question from anyone is obvious.
A trying few months aside, this is a good news story for those who love to read. Prices are starting to come down on U.S titles, in some cases dramatically. However, to read the Globe and Mail lately, you'd think every Canadian retailer wades trough wads of cash in their offices and gargles with Macallan Scotch in the morning.
To put it mildly, that's not true in the book trade.
To those who quite legitimately balk at paying the CDN prices on U.S titles, I say you're right to be annoyed. Perhaps we can show you something in a Canadian title, also priced to move. The worry about a $40 hardcover novel is a thankfully distant memory.
The same is true of non-fiction works. A comparison of best seller fare in 2003 and today reveals a healthy drop in price. In addition we've recently started discounting all Globe and Mail best sellers, both fiction and non-fiction; our staff picks are always twenty per cent off; (We've done most of the reading, we know from quality) and for what it's worth, publishers that have been caught flat footed will likely end up paying for storage on a lot of unsold inventory or selling it off at a steep loss.
. They know this and are being frog marched into the new world, by events in the wider world, and with the sustained pressure of booksellers ringing in their ears.
There are specifics around Canadian representation and economics of scale that are much better explained here.*
Posted by Dave
Giller and Booker and GG oh my
The Booker goes to Anne Enright, continuing an emerging tradition of the favourite horse breaking a leg around the final turn. It's in paperback, which helps the friendly neighbourhood bookseller; but I've not gotten to the book yet.
Some good stuff on the GG's, particularly for poetry. Local Renaissance Man Brian Henderson is up for the prize as well as one of my faves, Don Domanski.
Still pulling for Brian. A taste of his book can be found here and a point of reference from one of my favourite presses as well.
The fiction list is a bit more conservative, although it's nice to see Barbara Gowdy get there.
Specs are here.
Posted by Dave
Some good stuff on the GG's, particularly for poetry. Local Renaissance Man Brian Henderson is up for the prize as well as one of my faves, Don Domanski.
Still pulling for Brian. A taste of his book can be found here and a point of reference from one of my favourite presses as well.
The fiction list is a bit more conservative, although it's nice to see Barbara Gowdy get there.
Specs are here.
Posted by Dave
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
how about a campaign against malformed paragraphs?
His adult stuff is packed with scary adults
Still on a high from the new Tom Perrotta, and now it seems he was a hired gun to scare..
well, little children.
"I read on your website that in 1993 you ghostwrote a teen horror novel for a best-selling series?
I took an oath of non-disclosure — that's what we called it. It was a very prominent [series]. I would get up in the morning and I wrote some part of Election, then I'd have lunch, and then I'd write my teen horror novel. Now when I think about it, that's when I became a writer. It's good to take the romance out of writing. And that certainly did it for me! [Laughs] Money was a real issue at that point in my life and it was very comforting to think, if nothing else, all these years I've spent trying to be a writer have given me a skill that I can make money with. The fact was, I got $5,000 for writing that teen horror novel. When my first book got published, I got zero.
Five grand — and your name's not even on it.
No. And thank god! It's the stupidest book. The series is no longer in existence. It was before Harry Potter and it was basically an attempt to feed the same audience. Kids like to be scared. So it's like Stephen King with training wheels."
Stephen King with training wheels. I'm stealing that line.
Posted by Dave
well, little children.
"I read on your website that in 1993 you ghostwrote a teen horror novel for a best-selling series?
I took an oath of non-disclosure — that's what we called it. It was a very prominent [series]. I would get up in the morning and I wrote some part of Election, then I'd have lunch, and then I'd write my teen horror novel. Now when I think about it, that's when I became a writer. It's good to take the romance out of writing. And that certainly did it for me! [Laughs] Money was a real issue at that point in my life and it was very comforting to think, if nothing else, all these years I've spent trying to be a writer have given me a skill that I can make money with. The fact was, I got $5,000 for writing that teen horror novel. When my first book got published, I got zero.
Five grand — and your name's not even on it.
No. And thank god! It's the stupidest book. The series is no longer in existence. It was before Harry Potter and it was basically an attempt to feed the same audience. Kids like to be scared. So it's like Stephen King with training wheels."
Stephen King with training wheels. I'm stealing that line.
Posted by Dave
Bad popcorn is still popcorn
Oh well this was bound to happen.
"One of the key religious themes of Philip Pullman's award-winning series of children's novels, His Dark Materials, has been watered down to appeal to a wider audience in the new Hollywood film version of the first book. The original story's rejection of organised religion, and in particular of the historic abuse of power in the Catholic Church, has been altered to avoid offending followers of the faith in the UK and in America."
The message of the film now seems to be 'any overreaching authority is bad, but specifics may piss off some imagined authority that we're going to need to bankroll this.. well whatever this is.'
His Dark Materials is a fantastic trilogy, meatier and more evocative than Harry ever was; and it's kind of a shame to denude the whole point of the story just make it more palatable.
Of course if one doesn't have a palate to speak of, then any old spray on flavour will do.
That's entertainment.
I can't wait to not see the film.
Posted by Dave
"One of the key religious themes of Philip Pullman's award-winning series of children's novels, His Dark Materials, has been watered down to appeal to a wider audience in the new Hollywood film version of the first book. The original story's rejection of organised religion, and in particular of the historic abuse of power in the Catholic Church, has been altered to avoid offending followers of the faith in the UK and in America."
The message of the film now seems to be 'any overreaching authority is bad, but specifics may piss off some imagined authority that we're going to need to bankroll this.. well whatever this is.'
His Dark Materials is a fantastic trilogy, meatier and more evocative than Harry ever was; and it's kind of a shame to denude the whole point of the story just make it more palatable.
Of course if one doesn't have a palate to speak of, then any old spray on flavour will do.
That's entertainment.
I can't wait to not see the film.
Posted by Dave
Hitchens loves Lessing
almost as much as he loves himself.
But seriously, he makes a fine point, busting the Nobel committee as "they let Nabokov and Borges die (yes, die) while they doled out so many of their awards to time-servers and second-raters. Had they let this happen to Doris Lessing as well, eternal shame would have covered them."
As for some assertions that her later work doesn't stand up to earlier efforts, that's a fair point, but having grown into adulthood with characters right out of 2001's Sweetest Dream, I have no problem at all with some of it.
And now onto the Booker winner, announced later today.
Did I miss something with Mr. Pip? (the favourite)
It just kinda laid there for me, but then I only read about a third of it.
Posted by Dave
But seriously, he makes a fine point, busting the Nobel committee as "they let Nabokov and Borges die (yes, die) while they doled out so many of their awards to time-servers and second-raters. Had they let this happen to Doris Lessing as well, eternal shame would have covered them."
As for some assertions that her later work doesn't stand up to earlier efforts, that's a fair point, but having grown into adulthood with characters right out of 2001's Sweetest Dream, I have no problem at all with some of it.
And now onto the Booker winner, announced later today.
Did I miss something with Mr. Pip? (the favourite)
It just kinda laid there for me, but then I only read about a third of it.
Posted by Dave
Monday, October 15, 2007
it's a pretty sweet gig
I could be very happy with this crappy little blog if all I ever did was troll for more Shalom Auslander sightings.
Seriously, buy Foreskin's Lament at twenty per cent off until further notice.
He's the funniest person on the planet right now.
Posted by Dave
Seriously, buy Foreskin's Lament at twenty per cent off until further notice.
He's the funniest person on the planet right now.
Posted by Dave
Sunday, October 14, 2007
The local colour is Blue
A genteel bloodbath?
Homosexual embraces, gorging, and stabbing colleagues in the back?
It's the book trade, yo.
In short, the largest literary agency in Britain is caught in a re-enactment of Network and now a whole lot of writers are orphans. It sort of sounds like what happened to General Distribution Services in Canada about seven years back, but in this case there are a bunch of household names as well as those just getting started.
"It is nothing short of a blood-bath. And in the middle of it all are the tug-of-love children: the writers, whose fate is being fought over but who nobody seems to be actually talking to. The client list includes the likes of Robert Harris and Ruth Rendell, who have said they will follow their agents wherever they go, but there are hundreds more including Nick Hornby, Alain de Botton, John Mortimer, Ricky Gervais, Margaret Drabble and many still struggling at the start of their careers, or not quite yet household names, their books stranded in the middle of a publishing spat like poor bewildered sheep lost on a moor. (The actors' agency, it has to be said, includes the likes of Keira Knightley and Kate Winslet of whom the sheep analogy works less well.) If the writers follow the agents, their backlists can't go with them - they have to remain with PFD. But if they stay, they'll no longer have their agent. It's the writers, much more than anybody else, who stand to lose."
Ah well the actors are taken care of. Of course if there are no books, then there are no moves.
Oh, the humanity.
Posted by Dave
It's the book trade, yo.
In short, the largest literary agency in Britain is caught in a re-enactment of Network and now a whole lot of writers are orphans. It sort of sounds like what happened to General Distribution Services in Canada about seven years back, but in this case there are a bunch of household names as well as those just getting started.
"It is nothing short of a blood-bath. And in the middle of it all are the tug-of-love children: the writers, whose fate is being fought over but who nobody seems to be actually talking to. The client list includes the likes of Robert Harris and Ruth Rendell, who have said they will follow their agents wherever they go, but there are hundreds more including Nick Hornby, Alain de Botton, John Mortimer, Ricky Gervais, Margaret Drabble and many still struggling at the start of their careers, or not quite yet household names, their books stranded in the middle of a publishing spat like poor bewildered sheep lost on a moor. (The actors' agency, it has to be said, includes the likes of Keira Knightley and Kate Winslet of whom the sheep analogy works less well.) If the writers follow the agents, their backlists can't go with them - they have to remain with PFD. But if they stay, they'll no longer have their agent. It's the writers, much more than anybody else, who stand to lose."
Ah well the actors are taken care of. Of course if there are no books, then there are no moves.
Oh, the humanity.
Posted by Dave
Loves him mom and kind to animals
but Kevin Chong isn't entirely taken with Denis Johnson, NBA favourite or not.
Reviews of Junot Diaz and Sam Lipsyte suggest Chong has been in a bad mood for quite some time.
On the other hand, Michael Basilieres is entirely taken with David Gilmour's Film Club (Basilieres novel Black Bird was a hell of a comic tale a couple years back); and Nathan Whitlock notes that actor and Harry Potter franchise player David Thewlis "can actually write."
Best bit of the review-"As an actor, Thewlis may be stuck with being the kindly werewolf for two more Potter outings. On the evidence of The Late Hector Kipling, as a writer he could rip that little wizard kid apart."
Posted by Dave
Reviews of Junot Diaz and Sam Lipsyte suggest Chong has been in a bad mood for quite some time.
On the other hand, Michael Basilieres is entirely taken with David Gilmour's Film Club (Basilieres novel Black Bird was a hell of a comic tale a couple years back); and Nathan Whitlock notes that actor and Harry Potter franchise player David Thewlis "can actually write."
Best bit of the review-"As an actor, Thewlis may be stuck with being the kindly werewolf for two more Potter outings. On the evidence of The Late Hector Kipling, as a writer he could rip that little wizard kid apart."
Posted by Dave
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Taking a break from Tom Perrotta
Friday, October 12, 2007
For now though sunny side up
Just like to thank everyone who came out for the opening volley of our 23rd year of author events.
Michelle Wan and Linwood Barclay read and signed from the Orchid Shroud and No Time for Goodbye, respectively before an appreciative crowd. Sold a few books, too.
Thanks to all, and stay tuned for more in days/weeks to come.
Posted by Dave
Michelle Wan and Linwood Barclay read and signed from the Orchid Shroud and No Time for Goodbye, respectively before an appreciative crowd. Sold a few books, too.
Thanks to all, and stay tuned for more in days/weeks to come.
Posted by Dave
Oh well in fifty years, I'll be well Doris Lessing's age
and she looks amazing.
The future however as predicted from the Frankfurt Book Fair, kinda doesn't.
"Almost a quarter of the 1,324 industry professionals who took part in the survey predicted that the high street bookseller would no longer exist in 2057, while only 11% thought that the printed book would be obsolete. However, nearly as many - 10.5% - also thought that the electronic reader would be superseded. The respondents, of whom nearly half were at senior director level or above, were not asked to look into their crystal balls to predict what might replace the book and e-reader, but 44% identified the use of e-books as a key area of growth for the industry."
It may be a defense mechanism, but I think the cream of the crop under that scenario becomes things like this.
I'd rather be tethered to a nice mop somewhere.
Posted by Dave
The future however as predicted from the Frankfurt Book Fair, kinda doesn't.
"Almost a quarter of the 1,324 industry professionals who took part in the survey predicted that the high street bookseller would no longer exist in 2057, while only 11% thought that the printed book would be obsolete. However, nearly as many - 10.5% - also thought that the electronic reader would be superseded. The respondents, of whom nearly half were at senior director level or above, were not asked to look into their crystal balls to predict what might replace the book and e-reader, but 44% identified the use of e-books as a key area of growth for the industry."
It may be a defense mechanism, but I think the cream of the crop under that scenario becomes things like this.
I'd rather be tethered to a nice mop somewhere.
Posted by Dave
better late than never
Doris Lessing's reaction to winning the Nobel Prize for Literature is beautiful.
(See on Nobel Honour for Doris Lessing.)
I've only read about half a dozen of her later books, but for such a massive output at this level, it's about time.
Posted by Dave
(See on Nobel Honour for Doris Lessing.)
I've only read about half a dozen of her later books, but for such a massive output at this level, it's about time.
Posted by Dave
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
famous, just not in town
It turns our Canadian fiction is read elsewhere.
"But then I went to study in Montreal, where I was swiftly - within hours - disabused of the south-of-the-border assumption that everyone in Canada is a bit sorry they're not American. And once I began to tackle my required reading, I realised that my Canadian colleagues were unequivocally correct in their rejection of Americanness: although the world seems to regard Canada as the US's slightly slow cousin, Canadians are quietly and deservedly smug about their rich and distinctive culture, which includes a distinguished literary canon."
We're quietly and deservedly smug I suppose, but not especially doctrinaire about it.
Posted by Dave
"But then I went to study in Montreal, where I was swiftly - within hours - disabused of the south-of-the-border assumption that everyone in Canada is a bit sorry they're not American. And once I began to tackle my required reading, I realised that my Canadian colleagues were unequivocally correct in their rejection of Americanness: although the world seems to regard Canada as the US's slightly slow cousin, Canadians are quietly and deservedly smug about their rich and distinctive culture, which includes a distinguished literary canon."
We're quietly and deservedly smug I suppose, but not especially doctrinaire about it.
Posted by Dave
Random House rules
The Giller shortlist is here.
All Random House pretty much all the way through, and a pretty conservative take in light of last year's surprises. Still, I'm good with it as Elizabeth Hay's made the cut.
Posted by Dave
All Random House pretty much all the way through, and a pretty conservative take in light of last year's surprises. Still, I'm good with it as Elizabeth Hay's made the cut.
Posted by Dave
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
because nobody needs a Margaret Atwood ring tone
I stumbled on a couple of interesting articles contrasting the internet's influence on bottom lines for writers and musicians recently.
Basically if a few bright people do everything right; and open up every possible revenue stream, work long hours and if they can get their acts to tour pretty much non stop; there are still ways to eke out a living.
"Major Maker was an unknown, unsigned indie band when it sold the rights to its then-unpublished single, Rollercoaster, to be used in a TV spot for Maynards Candy. The band got a quick paycheque, and Maynards got a catchy ad that became a hit on YouTube. Everyone wanted to know: Who wrote the song?
Major Maker can thank Maynards that the single is available on iTunes and in regular rotation on radio. But you can bet they thanked the guys at Runaway Music first. As the band's publishers, Daniel Cutler and Jay McEwen solicit and respond to licensing opportunities, including ring-tone deals, commercials, TV shows and films. Publishing was once merely the administrative side of the industry; these days, it accounts for a hefty chunk of an artist's revenue."
It helps if a band like Broken Social Scene is there to build on at the beginning, too.
The money tree for writers grows a bit differently now.
"Shrinking space has definitely worked against my job satisfaction. I'm basically an essayist, though I often disguise myself as a critic or a journalist. Either way, it means that I am a long writer guy. I like to develop topics, approach them from different, often contradictory angles, and most of all, I like to polish the shit out of them so that the flow and the prose shine and bedazzle. On and offline, I find the internet-driven pressure to make pieces short, data-dense, and crisply opinionated — as opposed to thoughtful, multi-perspectival, and lyrical — rather oppressive, leading to a certain kind of superficial smugness as well as general submission to the forces of reference over reflection. I do enjoy writing 125-word record reviews though!"
For the most part, it kind of goes on like that. I've often said the world doesn't need any more writers, just more readers. Still and all, it's starting to look like a scenario where if anyone is going to prosper creating text, it helps to get somewhere first and write very well very quickly all the time.
It's just that easy.
Posted by Dave
Basically if a few bright people do everything right; and open up every possible revenue stream, work long hours and if they can get their acts to tour pretty much non stop; there are still ways to eke out a living.
"Major Maker was an unknown, unsigned indie band when it sold the rights to its then-unpublished single, Rollercoaster, to be used in a TV spot for Maynards Candy. The band got a quick paycheque, and Maynards got a catchy ad that became a hit on YouTube. Everyone wanted to know: Who wrote the song?
Major Maker can thank Maynards that the single is available on iTunes and in regular rotation on radio. But you can bet they thanked the guys at Runaway Music first. As the band's publishers, Daniel Cutler and Jay McEwen solicit and respond to licensing opportunities, including ring-tone deals, commercials, TV shows and films. Publishing was once merely the administrative side of the industry; these days, it accounts for a hefty chunk of an artist's revenue."
It helps if a band like Broken Social Scene is there to build on at the beginning, too.
The money tree for writers grows a bit differently now.
"Shrinking space has definitely worked against my job satisfaction. I'm basically an essayist, though I often disguise myself as a critic or a journalist. Either way, it means that I am a long writer guy. I like to develop topics, approach them from different, often contradictory angles, and most of all, I like to polish the shit out of them so that the flow and the prose shine and bedazzle. On and offline, I find the internet-driven pressure to make pieces short, data-dense, and crisply opinionated — as opposed to thoughtful, multi-perspectival, and lyrical — rather oppressive, leading to a certain kind of superficial smugness as well as general submission to the forces of reference over reflection. I do enjoy writing 125-word record reviews though!"
For the most part, it kind of goes on like that. I've often said the world doesn't need any more writers, just more readers. Still and all, it's starting to look like a scenario where if anyone is going to prosper creating text, it helps to get somewhere first and write very well very quickly all the time.
It's just that easy.
Posted by Dave
Friday, October 05, 2007
Nixon would have appreciated the irony....
Conrad Black has glommed onto Margaret Atwood's "Long Pen" thingy to potentially "do his entire tour from the warden's office."
The World's Biggest Bookstore looks like a prison, so the setting is appropriate.
Posted by Dave
The World's Biggest Bookstore looks like a prison, so the setting is appropriate.
Posted by Dave
Everything else can wait
Kite Runner grounded
Concerns about the safety of the principal actors in the Kite Runner film have delayed the release date. Nov 2 is now moved to Dec 14.
I still haven't read the book, and likely won't, but given the fear of pirated DVD's spawning violence from the same idiots who destroyed the Buddha statues and so forth; this is a good move.
Posted by Dave
I still haven't read the book, and likely won't, but given the fear of pirated DVD's spawning violence from the same idiots who destroyed the Buddha statues and so forth; this is a good move.
Posted by Dave
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Funeral for a Friend
I've said many times that the best thing I ever did as a reader was to develop an appreciation for crime fiction. It's less given to the fashions of the day, less politicized around awards time, (that matters for booksellers) and much less of the stylistic stepchild than in days past.
The only reason I morphed into a genre fan was due to the influence of a remarkable reader and friend named Chris Brett-Perring.
In simplest terms, Chris was a better reader than many inside the book trade and in my mind, unsurpassed outside of it.
He read everything of quality in crime fiction, militaria and many works of historical study.
He could remember it all, and his love for the stuff he considered great was limitless. I remembered all of it, indeed I regularly enjoy turning people onto his some of his favourites.
I damn sure read them.
We met in the early 9o's when I was working in the used book trade. The store at the time was a pretty poor mix of old magazines and paperbacks, and the staff were only starting to make strides toward making the shop anything close to decent. In a lot of ways, it was Chris who lit a fire under a few of us to put our mark on the place. His enthusiasm was infectious and immediate.
Of course the staff were readers at the time, but he knew so much and was so generous with his time and opinions; it made us want to earn praise from him. His derision was both acidic and eminently quotable. He quickly became a fixture in the bookstore, a sort of bookseller emeritus.
Outside of that, the two of us were salting away gems to sell on the emerging World Wide Web. Through our interest in collecting modern first editions, we quickly amassed an enviable collection of the gems of the day, and soon started exhibiting at book fairs around Toronto and elsewhere. Whatever else the Internet has done, it has largely taken the fun of the hunt out of book collecting. When everything is available, the subtler pleasures are entirely removed from the equation.
We both immensely enjoyed our endeavours as early booksellers, loved kibbutzing with other dealers at these shows, and Chris' acumen and ability to forecast with uncanny ability what would take off in value made us (briefly) the equal of many more established dealers in the modern first trade. Chris especially loved watching the faces of some of the more condescending dealers (you know who you are) change to grudging respect.
Alas, cash flow proved largely unsurmountable, but for a few years, there wasn't a much better reason to get up in the morning. It's a truly wonderful thing to be young and have something to look forward to every day.
The smallish empire Chris, my partner Theresa and myself made was Under Wraps Books. It lasted for a good five years, and selling on the upstart Advanced Book Exchange was a great deal of fun, but by then Chris was more than content to play a pivotal advisory role. The loss of his father around this time hit him fairly hard and I'm not sure he was the same person afterward. I had the opportunity to meet his parents only occasionally, but they were both the very picture of charm, dignity and warmth. I suspect his father had the good grace to throw a game or two to a clearly inferior chess player, and it's clear that Chris' love of books came from both his parents. Lots of people say they have a lot of books. These people were hard core.
Chris lived hard in his youth and indeed, he was a joy to be around because he was a kind of Keith Richards who just happened to have read everything and lived a few blocks away.
He resumed some of those habits a couple years back and while it's pointless to connect the dots; Chris died last week of a heart attack at a very young sixty years old.
He moved out of town a few years back, and I didn't keep in touch as well as I should have.
It will be a great regret for a long time, as when I was a younger man, he was my best friend for the better part of the 90's.
As I said earlier, he was one of the best readers I've ever seen, and even though he never worked in the trade as such; he was the consummate bookseller. It should be said, especially as it's been very much on my mind that last few days, that Chris made me a much better reader, and to the extent that I have any chops as a bookseller, much of it is due to his influence.
He had friends from all walks of life (the diversity of the assembled mourners at the funeral this afternoon bears this out in spades) and his generosity and loyalty to those he cared about were legion. He was there for myself and Theresa, my partner of almost twenty years, and to people close to me in a very real and demonstrative way time and time again, and was classy enough to never remind me of it as, to my very great regret, I kind of slid out of view in later years.
I will miss him a great deal, and for a very long time.
R.I.P. Chris, (1947-2007)
The obituary from Oct 1 is here.
The only reason I morphed into a genre fan was due to the influence of a remarkable reader and friend named Chris Brett-Perring.
In simplest terms, Chris was a better reader than many inside the book trade and in my mind, unsurpassed outside of it.
He read everything of quality in crime fiction, militaria and many works of historical study.
He could remember it all, and his love for the stuff he considered great was limitless. I remembered all of it, indeed I regularly enjoy turning people onto his some of his favourites.
I damn sure read them.
We met in the early 9o's when I was working in the used book trade. The store at the time was a pretty poor mix of old magazines and paperbacks, and the staff were only starting to make strides toward making the shop anything close to decent. In a lot of ways, it was Chris who lit a fire under a few of us to put our mark on the place. His enthusiasm was infectious and immediate.
Of course the staff were readers at the time, but he knew so much and was so generous with his time and opinions; it made us want to earn praise from him. His derision was both acidic and eminently quotable. He quickly became a fixture in the bookstore, a sort of bookseller emeritus.
Outside of that, the two of us were salting away gems to sell on the emerging World Wide Web. Through our interest in collecting modern first editions, we quickly amassed an enviable collection of the gems of the day, and soon started exhibiting at book fairs around Toronto and elsewhere. Whatever else the Internet has done, it has largely taken the fun of the hunt out of book collecting. When everything is available, the subtler pleasures are entirely removed from the equation.
We both immensely enjoyed our endeavours as early booksellers, loved kibbutzing with other dealers at these shows, and Chris' acumen and ability to forecast with uncanny ability what would take off in value made us (briefly) the equal of many more established dealers in the modern first trade. Chris especially loved watching the faces of some of the more condescending dealers (you know who you are) change to grudging respect.
Alas, cash flow proved largely unsurmountable, but for a few years, there wasn't a much better reason to get up in the morning. It's a truly wonderful thing to be young and have something to look forward to every day.
The smallish empire Chris, my partner Theresa and myself made was Under Wraps Books. It lasted for a good five years, and selling on the upstart Advanced Book Exchange was a great deal of fun, but by then Chris was more than content to play a pivotal advisory role. The loss of his father around this time hit him fairly hard and I'm not sure he was the same person afterward. I had the opportunity to meet his parents only occasionally, but they were both the very picture of charm, dignity and warmth. I suspect his father had the good grace to throw a game or two to a clearly inferior chess player, and it's clear that Chris' love of books came from both his parents. Lots of people say they have a lot of books. These people were hard core.
Chris lived hard in his youth and indeed, he was a joy to be around because he was a kind of Keith Richards who just happened to have read everything and lived a few blocks away.
He resumed some of those habits a couple years back and while it's pointless to connect the dots; Chris died last week of a heart attack at a very young sixty years old.
He moved out of town a few years back, and I didn't keep in touch as well as I should have.
It will be a great regret for a long time, as when I was a younger man, he was my best friend for the better part of the 90's.
As I said earlier, he was one of the best readers I've ever seen, and even though he never worked in the trade as such; he was the consummate bookseller. It should be said, especially as it's been very much on my mind that last few days, that Chris made me a much better reader, and to the extent that I have any chops as a bookseller, much of it is due to his influence.
He had friends from all walks of life (the diversity of the assembled mourners at the funeral this afternoon bears this out in spades) and his generosity and loyalty to those he cared about were legion. He was there for myself and Theresa, my partner of almost twenty years, and to people close to me in a very real and demonstrative way time and time again, and was classy enough to never remind me of it as, to my very great regret, I kind of slid out of view in later years.
I will miss him a great deal, and for a very long time.
R.I.P. Chris, (1947-2007)
The obituary from Oct 1 is here.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
pylons in the rear view
Not much to say the past few days.
Just a post Word on the Street rest, but back tomorrow.
Dave
Just a post Word on the Street rest, but back tomorrow.
Dave
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