Happy New Year!

Book News, In Brief

Today's indie bookstore reach-around is brought to you by Edward Nawotka.


David vs. Goliath -- part II! (How much do you wanna bet Goliath wins this time?)


You know those 'bestselling e-books' that Amazon keeps hyping? Over 50% of them are giveaways.


American Book Review asked writers to speculate -- in one sentence or less -- on the future of fiction. Here are the responses.


Director Bryan Singer has offered the first concrete quote as to what the hell the next X-Men film is going to be about, and it sounds like a yoai fanfic writer's dream: Professor Xavier and Magneto's tumultuous relationship as twenty-somethings.

Go, Look: Time's Top 10 Magazine Covers of '09

Click here to begin.

Book News, In Brief

Q: Are Americans are getting fatter because of their recent reading habits? A: Of course not, but the link needed a hook.


It's only slightly less depressing than those 'Local Bookstore to Close' articles: Local Bookstore Taking Painful Steps to Stay Afloat.


The NYTimes asked a handful of authors to explain how they decide which books to throw away and which to keep. Needless to say, the trash talk is as tepid as the praise is rhapsodic.


Local lawmaker hopes to make it tougher for pervs checking out kids checking out books. (Or: Quincy, MA is considering an ordinance that would ban Level 3 sex offenders from libraries.)

Ouch!

"If Mr. Bezos wanted to do his part to avert layoffs of schoolteachers and firefighters and, yes, professors at state universities, he should start collecting the sales tax."
To read the rest of the NYTimes' assault on Amazon, click here.

Tuesday's Tips for Flailing Writers,

Voilà -- Voltaire! Philip Larkin explains the 'The Process of Poetry' in three simple steps.


Oy vey, the chutzpah! Daily Writing Tips has The 40 Yiddish Words You Should Know.


Plot to Punctuation echoes what I've been telling my probation officer for years: Villains are heroes too.


You tell me. Is CopyBlooger's 'The Eminem Guide to Becoming a Writing and Marketing Machine' the best titled tip of the day or what?


Three different approaches to dealing with writer's block, all from the same source. Swati Nitin Gupta's How to Avoid, How to Cure, and How to Take Advantage of Writer's Block. (Homegirl seems a li'l obsessed, no?)

These Are The Comics I Gave My Kinfolk For Christmas

I'd originally intended to post this pre-X-mas, but on the off chance that one of my family members somehow happened upon this blog (yeah, right!), I figured I'd better wait. Fast forward four days, and now that all of the gifts have been distributed and the fill-in-the-name thank-you cards emailed en masse, I figured it was safe to share. So now, without further intro, a brief list of the comic books I gave to my comics-curious family.

To the 6th grade nephew who likes Bone, Monty Python & The Holy Grail, and monster movies:















The first two Dungeon books by Lewis Trondheim and Joann Sfar.
The Essential Godzilla by Doug Moench, Herb Trimpe, et al.

To the 9th grade niece who likes emo music, shopping at Hot Topic, and the Death Note anime:















The Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá.
The first three xxxHOLIC books by Clamp.

To the 11th grade nephew who likes death metal, skinny jeans, and zombie movies:















The first three Detroit Metal City books by Kiminori Wakasugi.
The Walking Dead Omnibus volume 1 by Robert Kirkman, et al.

To the 40-something sister who loves sappy BBC costume melodramas and reads almost as many comics as me:














The first three Emma books by Kaoru Mori.
Future Lovers volume 1 and 2 by Saika Kunieda.

To the 40-something British brother-in-law who likes beer, wine, and looong conversations fueled by beer and wine:














Alec and The King Canute Crowd by Eddie Campbell.
The Disappearance Diary by Hideo Azuma.

What about you? I want to to know what books you got for your friends and family. More importantly, I want to know what books they gave you. Feel free to list, critique and offer public praise for gifts received in our comments section.

Book News, In Brief

"A brilliantly ambitious article, this is, without a doubt, the editorial of the day...and possibly the decade."


Wanna-be writers of limited skill have reason to rejoice: Publishers are now begrudgingly accepting submissions from the merely "insanely great."


Librarians, like everyone else with even an infinitesimal investment in the written word, are nervous about what's gonna happen when Google scans the world.


Inspired by the publishing industry's recent ebook release announcements (and using the film industry's many missteps as a measuring stick), Booksquare has put together A Long, Detailed Look at Distribution Windows.


After initially announcing that they would be closing close to 200 Waldenbooks locations in the first few weeks of January, Borders now promises to save twenty of those stores. Question: Is this the big box bookstore's attempt at spinning themselves some positive PR? Cuz it still sounds grim.

Merry Christmas!

To all our faithful Irregulars and anonymous passersby:
If I were a much richer and more generous man, I'd give each and every one of you a copy of each and every one of these books. But since I'm not, the covers will have to suffice.

Happy Holiday! See you next week!

Last Minute Gift Tips for the Bookish: Papercraft

Jules Verne Bust is available for download here.
Lovecraft's Cthulhu is available for download here.

Twilight: New Moon characters are available for download here.

Tuesday's Tips for Flailing Toast Writers

We're three short days away from Christmas. It's time to put down that NaNoWriMo novel you're secretly rewriting and get to work on your non-denominational, safe for alkies, seasonal toast. The fact is, your friends and family already 'jokingly' refer to you as a 'wannabe' writer. If you can't come up with a memorable pre-martini mantra, they're really gonna start talking sh*t about you. That's why, in an effort to save what's left of your writerly rep, we've put together a short list of toast writing tips. If you use these and your toast still sucks...well, maybe your family's right.

eHow's How to Write a Great Toast

Toastmasters Tips on Holiday Toasts

How To Do Things' How to write a toast

Emily Posts' Toasting Tips and Sample Toasts

Life123's Great Tips for Making The Best Holiday Toasts

Purple Trails Party Ideas' Toasts – Tips For Giving A Great Toast

Ezine @rticles' Holiday Toasts - Setting the Tone For the Holiday Break

Book News, In Brief

Timely topic! While I giftwrap this copy of Nanny Returns: A Novel that I'm giving to my stepmother, please entertain yourselves with EW's Would you buy a book that makes you cringe as a gift if you know the recipient will love it?


A year-end list to make you slit your wrists! The LA Times momentarily forgets that they cut out the Books Section of their newspaper to make room for more film premiere photos, then asks, The decade in reading: How bad is it?


Don't go getting any ideas! Now that movies and music are available for free download online, arts & entertainment obsessed shoplifters have found a new favorite thing to steal: Books. (Don't worry, booksellers: With the rampant rise of e-books, the thieves will soon be downloading these, too.)