Posts
Stephen King reviews the Kindle for Entertainment Weekly. He likes it, but doesn't believe that it will replace traditional books. (For those of you keeping score -- Brick and mortar booksellers: appeased. Amazon.com: similarly appeased. And that, folks, is why King could have been a high ranking politician had he not found contentment as an internationally known, bestselling, millionaire author.)
Nabokov's son has come forward with a manuscript that his father never quite finished, one that Nabokov Sr. specifically asked to be destroyed should he die before its completion. The moral conundrum: Do we respect the artist's last wishes, or treat the world to what might be the makings of a literary masterpiece? Kathryn Hughes mulls it over.
The credibility of Ishmael Beah's memoir A Long Way Gone is about to get smashed into A Million Little Pieces. According to The Guardian UK, "Beah was 15 (years old) and not 13 when he was recruited into the army and that he therefore served only a few months as a child soldier and not two years as he has claimed in the book." Oh, and Oprah has had Beah on her show, so expect the proverbial 'second shoe' to fall shortly.
PR-Inside lists nine bookstores worth taking a vacation to visit. No, our store is not on there. If it was, this would've been given its own post (or at least an accompanying photo).
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Book News, In Brief
Monday, January 21, 2008
Book-To-Film News, In Brief
The film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's Choke is premiering at Sundance as we type/read. Here's a brief interview with the director, along with a couple of quick clips.
Book News, In Brief
Ursula K. Le Guin (author of the Earthsea series, among others) has just added a new feature to her website titled Read by the Author. This is where visitors can hear Le Guin read excerpts from her work, while simultaneously allowing her to maintain a safe distance from her fans, their germy handshakes, and their incessant requests to have a character named after them in her next novel.
When timid Australian publishers canceled the release of Andrew Morton's Tom Cruise biography, opportunistic American ebay sellers stepped in to fill the void. This past week, the book (retail price, $25.95) was fetching up to $60 on the online auction block, with most of those copies going to the land down under. One seller, referring to him/herself only as Wojtek, sold over 150 copies in less than two days. I wonder how many of those are going to the friends and family of Aussie native and former Mrs. Cruise, Nicole Kidman? (Link)
The devil hates Hillary. Anna Wintour, the "famously frosty" Vogue editor and inspiration for the book, The Devil Wears Prada, is quickly becoming an Obama supporter. This is due in large part to Senator Clinton's last minute bail-out on an agreement to be photographed by Annie Leibovitz for the magazine's cover. According to The New Zealand Herald, "the change of heart followed fears in the Clinton camp that the presidential candidate would appear 'too feminine' if she was plastered across the style bible in designer outfits." I heard she was worried that the cover would be unfairly compared to her November 2007 Radar photoshop masterpiece. Let's face it, there's no topping that gem.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Weekend Links
(updated at random until Sunday at midnight)
The Perfume Shrine interviews NYTimes perfume critic/The Emperor of Scent and The Perfect Scent author Chandler Burr. I'll admit, I don't know doo-doo about perfumes (the closest I come to wearing one is the 'Mountain Rush' scent of my anti-perspirant), but I've gotta tell you, this is one interesting and informative back and forth. It made me start to look at the creation of perfume as an artform equal to writing, painting or film. (It also made me switch deodorants.) Part 1, Part 2
Jim Murdoch has a good piece up on his blog about 'close reading.' It's brief, but it mines a lot of territory. It starts with Oprah, moves on to Nabokov, touches down upon Finnegans Wake, name drops Goodreads.com, ending at last with a poem about reading and self-examination. At the very least, it's worth a quick skim.
Sunday comics! Sunday comics!
Well, comics-related links, anyhow.
Over at Watchmencomicmovie.com, there's a mini-memoir penned by one of the film's street scene extras. He's effusive to the point of being unreliable, but at least he doesn't refer to himself as a "background player."
Qubecor, Canada's premier printer of American made comics, is having some serious financial problems. Will they file for bankruptcy, close up shop, or receive a large cash loan from a mysterious Gotham benefactor? French-speaking fans of costumed crusaders want to know.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
How Does A Bookstore Blog Bounce Back After Posting A Picture-less Period Piece With Extremely Limited Appeal?
With a post about porn, naturally.
Via BlackVoices.com: "Even in the porn industry, Black folks get the short end of the stick. Okay, that was corny. But author and journalist Lawrence Ross decided to explore the reality of black folks working in the adult entertainment world in his new book Money Shot: Wild Days And Lonely Nights Inside The Black Porn Industry.
Ross, who is also the author of The Divine Nine: The History Of African-American Fraternities And Sororities, follows a year in the life of porn star Lexington Steele to provide a narrative framework for the book. Now I haven't seen Mr. Steele in action, but apparently, his eleven-inch penis has earned him the right to request $75,000 per movie.
Talk about using what you got.
Ross also conducted hundreds of interviews with college professors, industry insiders, and other porn stars to provide a first-hand look at a world that many of us don't know much about. Money Shot uncovers sexual and racial politics--including racism, and the hypersexual portrayal of Black women, discusses how AIDS plays a role, and looks at the close ties between the porn industry and the corporate hip-hop world."
(For the full article, click here.)
Spotlight On: Legendary Booksellers
James Lackington
Via blog.seattlepi: "James Lackington was the most successful bookseller of the 18th century.
His legendary shop at Finsbury Square in London was named 'The Temple of the Muses' and when the flag was raised on the huge dome outside it meant Lackington was inside and ready to do business. Lackington revolutionized the book trade by becoming the first bookseller to refuse to sell books on credit. His cash only approach allowed him to offer books less expensively. Lackington also refused to destroy or discard remaindered books and instead sold them at bargain prices for Lackington firmly believed 'that books were the key to knowledge, reason and happiness and that everyone, no matter their economic background, social class or gender, had the right to access books at cheap prices.'"
(For the full article, click here.)
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Via: BeatMuseum.org: "Born in New York, Lawrence Ferlinghetti earned a doctoral degree in poetry at the Sorbonne in Paris with a dissertation entitled 'The City as Symbol in Modern Poetry: In Search of a Metropolitan Tradition'. In fact he was about to become part of a metropolitan tradition himself, because after leaving Paris he moved to San Francisco, which was about to discover the Beat Generation. Ferlinghetti and Peter Martin started a magazine there called 'City Lights,' named after the Charlie Chaplin movie. He and Martin established their offices on the second floor of a building on Broadway and Columbus in North Beach. They decided to open a bookstore on the floor below as a side venture, naming it after the magazine. The City Lights Bookstore became one of the most famous bookstores in the world, and still stands proudly in its original location. Doing double-time as a businessman and a poet, he began publishing original books by himself and others under the City Lights name, most notably the 'Pocket Poets Series.' The idea of Pocket Poets was to make poetry books easily affordable, and the small attractive paperback volumes are still a common sight today. Ferlinghetti published Allen Ginsberg's 'Howl' as Pocket Poets Number Four, and was tried on obscenity charges for this. He was declared innocent, a landmark victory for free speech."
(For the full article, click here.)
You
Born sometime in the last century, you grew up loving books and naively thought that working as a bookseller wouldn't really be like working at all. After all, you'd be surrounded by that which you love most and interacting with folks with a similar passion -- getting paid would just be the icing on the cake! Silly you. This is the same mistake that nymphomaniacs make when they get jobs in the glory hole business. How long did it take you to realize that most of your customers would not be deeply devoted lovers of literature, but best seller/new release whores and self-published writers asking you to buy their books? Still, you pressed on. You dreamed of the day when you would open your own bookstore, pushing aside common sense and an economy that whispered warnings to the contrary. When the local indie you worked at went bankrupt, you didn't despair. You simply crossed the street and filled out an application at the Borders/Barnes & Noble that put them out of business. You weren't being a traitor. Not exactly. You always wanted to work in a bookstore and this was the only option available. So you suffered through annoying add-on sales, unreasonable seasonal sales goals, and illogical corporate mandates, all the while trying to convince yourself that a 10% discount made it all worthwhile. Now you've got frown lines, grey hairs (in your eyebrows!), and your friends and family are afraid to ask you how your day went, lest they be treated to the same Madlibs-variety tirade* that they've heard from you a hundred times before. But hey -- you're bookselling! In a bookstore! Just like you'd always dreamed!
*"I had this (curse word ending in 'ing') customer today who called me an (curse word, singular) when I told them that (obscure book from a college press) has been out of print for (number over ten) years. Then , when I told them I could try and order them a used copy, they told me they'd get it on (online bookselling bohemoth)."
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Coming Soon: The Boston Book Party
It would seem that we have more than just a common language separating us from the Brits. We also have a staggeringly different view of what constitutes an interesting read. Seriously, would any US publisher have paid a million dollars for a Roger Moore bio? And then there's today's headlines about George Michael being signed to what HarperCollins UK refers to as "one of the biggest book deals ever." Wtf? Don't be surprised to find the first stateside shipments of these books bobbing about in Boston Harbor like so much English Breakfast tea.
Book-To-Film News, In Brief
Via the GuardianUK: "The Afghan-set drama The Kite Runner has been banned in its homeland after government officials claimed it could incite violence." In related news, the state of Vermont has also banned the film, citing that they already have enough sap.
Also via the GuardianUK : "Charlize Theron will co-star alongside ViggoMortensen in The Road, an adaptation of the apocalyptic 2006 novel by Cormac McCarthy. (The film will be) directed by Australian film-maker John Hillcoat (The Proposition)." Hmm...no wisecracks to be made here. McCarthy's book was solid, The Proposition was great, and I'm a big fan of Theron's work in the film version of The Cider House Rules.
Wow, something that's not via the GuardianUK: A new ad for P.T. Anderson's There Will Be Blood, loosely based on Upton Sinclair's Oil!
(Note: The joke only works after you've seen the film.)
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Book News, In Brief
This past December, poet Peppino Marotto was shot and killed near his home in Sardinia. Then, on Jan. 4th, the two men suspected of the murder were killed...vendetta-style. Finally, a fan gives back. (Initial heads up: GuardianUK.)
For those of you who can't stomach reading Andrew Morton's Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography in its entirety, Slate.com's Juliet Lapidos lists all of the good parts -- chapter by chapter, controversy by controversy.
A sneak peek at Tom Robbins' upcoming kids' book, B is for Beer can be found here. Apparently, the book was an inspired by a cartoon in The New Yorker with the caption, "I doubt that a children's book about beer would sell." Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins, will publish the new novel this fall.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Brief Glimpse:
Julie Doucet's 365 Days
After years of sketching scathing screeds detailing her life with layabout lotharios and messy menstruations, Julie Doucet has released an even more personal product: 365 Days, a daily journal-cum-collection of quickie art. Strewn below are two examples. Click here for more.
Book News, In Brief
According to The Prince George Citizen, the process of adapting a book to film is "a kind of demolition job." Click their link (above) to hear the demolition crews behind the recent adaptations of The Kite Runner, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Atonement discuss their destructive craft.
Via Salon.com: The Canadian government is cracking down on the hateful diatribes of right wing extremists. Sounds good, right? Wrong! The real issue here isn't your liberal guilt and NPR-ispired ideals. It's free-motherf**king-speech. "For those unable to think past the (well-deserved) animosity one has for the specific targets in question here, all one needs to do instead is imagine these proceedings directed at opinions and groups that one likes."
This weekend's papers were brimming with articles encouraging self-publishing. Read them here, be inspired, but please -- PUH-LEEZE -- do not then bring a box of your print-on-demand tomes round to our store, trying to unload them en masse. Truth be told, it's the rare self-published work that actually sells.
(Editor's note to you, our faithful reader/writer: This post was in no way referring to your book. We were -- of course -- talking about everyone else's. Your book is going to be great. A real success. Poorly edited, but totally profound. We promise.)
Friday, January 11, 2008
Book News, In Brief
Striking screenwriters have decided to try writing kiddie books. They claim it's cuz kids lit and movies are both a melding of words and images. I say it's cuz both are sparsely scripted and aimed primarily at drooling idiots.
Book sales are stagnant. I'm not talking about the numbers, though. I'm talking about the titles. This week's NYTimes bestseller list read like a Xerox of June 2007's: A Thousand Splendid Suns, I Am America, The Dangerous Book for Boys...how can this be? The ranking authors are even more tired tried and true: James Patterson, Sue Grafton, Dean Koontz. Zzzz...
Former New Yorker editor and Princess Diana biographer, Tina Brown, is writing a book about Bill Clinton. Something about a cigar...something about Talk magazine...see you next week!
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Book News, In Brief
Don't give in to that post-Xmas suicide urge just yet -- 2008 has comics worth living for. The Savage Critic(s) list(s) 'em.
Via Reuters: Joel and Ethan Coen win the 20th annual USC Libraries Scripter Award for their film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel, No Country For Old Men. Who else thinks that The Nanny Diaries was robbed? (Cue: crickets chirping)The Wagner Clan ain't nuthin' to f**k with. English biographer Jonathan Carr dishes the dirt on Germany's most famous musical family...and what dirt there is! One of them -- Wagner's granddaughter, Winifred -- used to call Hitler by a pet name, 'Wolf,' and was so smitten with Der Fuhrer that she attended Hitler Youth reunions until her death in 1980.
Free Comic Book Day Goes Worldwide
(Well, Sort Of)
Via AFP: "China's ruling Communist Party will release an anti-graft comic book during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday to help officials avoid corruption. The pocket-size comic book, which includes caricatures depicting common forms of graft and bribery, will be distributed as a gift to 100,000 party members."
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Book News, In Brief
Publisher's Weekly lists the 15 Trends To Watch in 2008. E-books take up nine spots. Of the remaining six, three have to do with publishers' websites, two have to do with the pros & cons of Barnes & Noble's "sophisticated supply chain," and one hints strongly at the elimination of traveling sales reps. Cheery.
It's a bad time for literary fiction, and the librarians are to blame. From the GuardianUK: "(There has been) a shift in the priorities of libraries, which used to be a guaranteed haven for several thousand copies of hardbacks that take a bit of brain work, but which are now rapidly ceding shelf-space to Citizens Advice Bureau leaflets or DVDs." (Editor's note: The Inkwell unequivocally absolves all sexy librarians of any blame.)
Locus Magazine interviews fantasy/SF author Nnedi Okorafor (Zahrah the Windseeker, The Shadow Speaker) about a wide variety of topics, the most interesting to me being why science fiction hasn't made further inroads in Africa: "I guess people write what they know. From my experience with the Nigerians, most don't read stuff specially categorized as ‘fantastical.’ (...) Maybe this category doesn’t exist in Nigeria because it’s not needed. The fantastical is naturally a part of the Nigerian world already.”
Monday, January 7, 2008
Book News, In Brief
The reason Tom Wolfe left longtime publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux should have been obvious to anyone who'd ever read his work: money. Dude is obsessed with it. Apparently, he wanted a $5 million advance for his new book. Hmn...maybe if he revealed his secret recipe.
Princess Diana's controversy-courting biographer, Andrew Morton, has completed his unauthorized book on Tom Cruise. In it, Morton claims that Cruise is now the second in command of the Church of Scientology, and "suggests" that Cruise's daughter, Suri, was conceived using frozen sperm from the movement's dead founder L Ron Hubbard. Needless to say, the Church of Scientology is suing the author and his publisher, St Martin's Press, while fear of legal reprisal has already caused the cancellation of the book's publication in the UK.
BostonNow.com suggests that Barack Obama's reason for not having a plan to reduce foreign corporate control of the U.S. book publishing industry (and other U.S. media industries) is based -- at least partially -- around the $1.7 million two-book contract that he received from the Random House/Crown Publishers/Alfred Knopf subsidiary division of Bertelsmann AG. Does BostonNow.com have any proof? Of course not. But they're a blog, so they don't have to, right?
Friday, January 4, 2008
I'm Robbing The Believer to Feed You, My Faithless, Fickle Flock
Besides Don Diva, The Believer is the only magazine out there actively giving the toll free internet a run for my meager funds. Listed below are a few interviews with writers of varying styles and formats. Enjoy.
David Simon, creator/writer/producer of HBO's The Wire and author of the books Homicide and The Corner, is interviewed by Nick Hornby, author of High Fidelity and Slam.
