British Book News, In Brief

Anne Frank's Diary and the works of C.S. Lewis rank in the Top 10 Favorite Reads of 11-14 Year Olds in England. Of course, the rest of the list is Harry Potter books and tabloid magazines, but why focus on the negative, right? Via The Guardian UK: Predictably, the most loathed read is homework. It is followed by Shakespeare, books of over 100 pages and stories about skinny celebrities in magazines.

Also embarrassing the English is a report that finds 1 in 10 Brits skipping classic literature in favor of feature film adaptations. Even more cringe-inducing is this pitch for the classics' relevancy in the modern day, via The Guardian UK: But despite one-third of adults admitting they never read the classics, there are those who think modern life is imitating the traditional. Dickensian Britain has been reborn in the modern binge-drinking culture, according to 54% of those surveyed. And 47% believe that many young people are suffering from Peter Pan syndrome, unwilling to grow up just as in JM Barrie's classic novel. There is also evidence that the "wag" culture may not be such a new phenomenon - 30% believe that trying to find a rich husband mirrors the themes of Jane Austen's novels.

Bonus! Former Colonies News Item:

But will they waive the late fees? Via The Times of India: An ancient library dating back to 300 years was reopened after a gap of 40 years at the historical monument Water Mill in Aurangabad, sources said. The library housing manuscripts and other precious and rare books like the Holy Quran written by the last Mughal emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir, was thrown open recently to the public.

Book News, In Brief

Bad news, good points...via The LATimes: Book publishers are bullish on the economy -- as a subject, that is. As the stock market gyrates, authors' proposals flourish. But will their financial advice be relevant by the time a book's in print?

According to Financial News Online, Borders has hired JP Morgan Chase and Merrill Lynch to 'advise them on strategic alternatives' as they 'struggle to shore up their capital base amid the widespread tightening of credit.' (That's press release for: This is The Beginning of the End.)

The Beat has posted a link to a recent study in Gender and Reading Habits. The study re-affirms the usual (boys read less than girls, except where superhero comics are concerned), but does so in an enlightened manner. Do make a point to check out the Beat's link to the piece, though, where great lines such as, "Valenti marshals as much statistical evidence as she can and talks to librarians to explore the topic, which shows that for teen boys, books are as great a marketing wasteland as superhero comics have been for adult women" abound.

Good News for Geeks

DC comics has confirmed that they will be releasing a hardcover collection of the Captain Marvel storyline, The Monster Society of Evil, later this year. This 1940's classic is the only comic besides the Hernandez Bros.' Love & Rockets to ever infect my dreams after reading it. The story chronicles Captain Marvel/Billy Baston's battles against a four colored menagerie of animals and monsters, culminating in a one-on-one with their leader/creator, a genius caterpillar by the name of Mr. Mind. Shazam!
(Initial tip: Newsarama)

Children's Book News, In Brief

Ugly authors everywhere are outraged by a fashion model's book being nominated for a children's book award. Something about the book being ghost-written, or some such petty, jealous nonsense.

Yikes. If those authors are worried about the integrity of kids' lit, they're really gonna love yesterday's announcement that Danielle Steel is writing a tome for tots. (Editor's note: And they wonder why kids don't read.)

Turning our attention to a more esteemed and established children's book author, J.K. Rowling's legal battle over the publication of a Harry Potter encyclopaedia has been delayed until mid-April. To tell you the truth, I'd almost forgotten about this case. But now that I've been reminded, I can't say as I like J.K. and her billion dollar bullying much more than the aforementioned authors and their crimes against the craft.

The History of the Ray Gun - Revealed!

IO9 has posted a time line charting the appearance and evolution of the stylish spaceman's weapon of choice. To think, it all started with H.G. Wells...

Book News, In Brief

We probably should have posted this last. You know, just in case you're feeling fragile.
Via TheWest.com: A scientific guide to DIY suicide is to go on sale in the Netherlands to help people end their lives quickly and painlessly. The book, the first of its kind to be published, is by a group of respected scientists and psychiatrists. It contains detailed information on using drugs as well as committing suicide by starvation, including the quickest and least painful way to do it. There are also chapters on the ethical and judicial questions for those who aid suicides. Its authors are also planning English, French and German editions.

Aw, heck. Since we're already on the subject...
Via Wauchope: Harry Potter author JK Rowling said she had felt suicidal after her divorce from her first husband, the British paper Sunday Times reported. She had been suffering from depression and sought medical help and attended a therapy after her divorce from Portuguese journalist Jorge Arantes in the early 1990s, the author told the newspaper. Rowling added: "We're talking suicidal thoughts here, we're not talking 'I'm a little bit miserable'."

You still with me? Good. Only, we're not done discussing death just yet.
Via The Christian Science Monitor: The first people Roberto Saviano sees every morning are his bodyguards – the three Italian policemen who pick him up in a bulletproof sedan, drive him to the gym, or take him on errands. They haven't left him alone since Gomorrah – his fierce critique of the Neapolitan mafia, the Camorra – hit best-seller lists in October 2006, bringing fame, fortune, and death threats from some powerful and ruthless enemies. But today, because of international and British laws that don't permit him the usual retinue of government bodyguards here in London, he's been entrusted to me – 135 pounds of journalistic muscle. Mr. Saviano doesn't speak English, and I – a native Neapolitan, myself – do; so his agent thinks I'm some sort of protection for him, and I laugh half-heartedly when the agent jokes about me being his bodyguard for a day.
(For the full story, click the above excerpt.)

Having followed this morose theme thus far, why not end it all with a brief (o)bit on The Death of Traditional Literature?
Via Deepikaglobal.com: According to a 2007 survey, more than 70 million people in Japan use mobile phones daily to surf the net, especially during long commutes. Inevitably, some have started to read, as well as write, novels on their handsets. Several novice mobile authors have emerged as writers, the Independent reported. Traditionalists, however, are not amused with the new style of writing which apparently lacks respect for Japan's 1,000-year literary tradition.

Editor's Note: Please refrain from posting suicide notes and/or last will and testaments in the comments section. Thank you.

Free Online Manga: Death Note

The Inkwell Bookstore is proud conflicted to present to you complete page scans of Death Note, the hottest manga of the moment (not titled Naruto).

Click here to begin.

Disney Book News, In Brief

According to internet rumor king Jim Hill, unless Prince Caspian, the next installment of Disney's Chronicles of Narnia adaptations, rakes in Lord of the Rings sized returns, The Mouse is pulling the plug after film three. Disney had originally said that they would be making film versions of all eleven books, but now seems more interested in starting up a franchise based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars.

Didier Ghez has posted a looong list of the Disney related books being released in the coming year. Everything from Disney's Dogs and Tinker Bell - An Evolution to Walt Disney's Legends of Imagineering and the Genesis of the Disney Theme Parks and Illustrating Disney: Imagineering and the Fine Art of Disney Illustration. For the full list, along with links to each title, click here.

Disney's publishing arm, Hyperion, did well at this year's NAACP Image Awards. Robin Givens' Grace Will Lead Me Home, James Sturm and Rich Tommaso's Center for Cartoon Studies Presents: Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu's Shadow Speaker, and Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond by Don Cheadle, John Prendergast all took home awards. (Note to all: Please-oh-please-oh-please don't use this good news as an excuse to start yet another 'Release Song of the South on dvd now!' thread. Please.)

Via Entertainment Times Online: 66 years after Enid Blyton created The Famous Five, Blyton’s characters are being revived in a series of books, accompanied by an animated television series, screened on the Disney Channel. Like The Dangerous Book for Boys, the new Famous Five is intended as a riposte to a society where children are told it is too dangerous to play outdoors.

CityPaper.com has a nice write up about the Carl Barks art exhibit currently taking place in Baltimore, MD. Barks is widely regarded as one of the best comic book writer/artists of all time, particularly for his work on the early Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge titles. Many of Barks' best duck tales were eventually adapted for television's Duck Tales animated series.

Book News, In Brief

Let's just go ahead and get this out of the way: Borders is up for sale and Barnes & Noble may be buying. In related news, Market Watch has run one of those cliched 'It's the end of an era for bookstores' pieces, only to reveal themselves as know-nothing idiots by using the words "immortalized" and "the film You've Got Mail" in the same sentence.

Moving right along, The NYTimes has 'raped my childhood' (or some such nonsense), by taking my comic book convention peers and remaking them into models for 'geek chic' (or some such nonsense). How Paul Pope missed this opportunity to preen and look pretty is beyond me.

According to Reuters, the new prequel to Anne of Green Gables is stirring up quite a debate. If by debate they mean that the author of the book has said "I am still vaguely troubled by the idea that L.M. Montgomery would perhaps not want this done," then yeah, there's debate. Otherwise, this is just a press release in a funny nose and glasses.

Via AP: A gossipy book by two ex-concierges at Chicago's Four Seasons Hotel has been pulled because the authors were legally banned from writing about their experiences. Tip: Anyone interested in getting the lowdown on their local hotel need only buy a black light. The true life stories of sex, drugs and violence are all right there on the rarely washed bedspreads.

Recommended Viewing:Allen Finsberg Reads Howl

(Thanks to BoingBoing for the heads-up!)

Book News, In Brief

John was the interesting, intellectual and witty Beatle. George was the spiritual Beatle. Ringo, the goofy Beatle, and Paul, the kiss-a**, boring, whitebread Beatle. So why is Howard Sounes, the writer of the excellent Down The Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan, in talks to publish a new book about the life of Sir Paul? (Answer: $)

A week back, comics scribe Brian Wood (DMZ) was interviewed by The New York Post about breaking into comics. Del Ray Manga's Dallas Middaugh has reprinted Wood's tips for would-be cartoonists, along with some relevant addendums.

A great example of when good ideas go bad. Via Bookseller.com: The bestselling The Dangerous Book for Boys is slated to be turned into a new TV series. "Dangerous Adventures For Boys" will be a six-part series that sees celebrity dads and their sons embark on expeditions and "Boy’s Own" adventures. Huh. Remember when this book was aimed at getting kids away from the television?

Video may have killed the radio star, but twas the internet that did slay the latter day book club. Via IHT: Bertelsmann is exploring the sale of its book and music clubs, a move that would close the door on a business that helped make it one of the world's top five media companies. Net income at Bertelsmann fell more than 80 percent in 2007 to €405 million, or $640.4 million, largely on write-downs at the U.S. division of its Direct Group book business.

Trust me, I'm the last person who wanted to point out a 'plus side' to print on demand memoirs. Still, good news is good news. Also via Bookseller.com: The number of books published in the UK skyrocketed to the highest level ever last year, driven by an increase in print-on-demand titles. According to Nielsen BookScan, the number of frontlist titles sold last year hit 118,602, up 36% from 2006 (86,984). The amount of backlist titles sold last year also dramatically increased, up to 758,125 from 590,464 in 2006, a jump of 28%.

Super Recommended Viewing:Dave Eggers' Grant Recipient Speech

Recommended Viewing:Naomi Wolf on The End of America

R.I.P. Arthur C. Clarke

The following biography was stolen whole from Wikipedia:

Arthur C. Clarke was born in Minehead, Somerset, England. As a boy, he enjoyed stargazing and reading old American science fiction pulp magazines (many of which made their way to the UK in ships with sailors who read them to pass the time). After secondary school and studying at Huish's Grammar School, Taunton, he was unable to afford a university education and got a job as an auditor in the pensions section of the Board of Education.
During the Second World War, he served in the Royal Air Force as a radar specialist and was involved in the early warning radar defence system which contributed to the RAF's success during the Battle of Britain. Clarke actually spent most of his service time working on Ground Controlled Approach (GCA) radar, as documented in his semi-autobiographical novel Glide Path. Although GCA did not see much practical use in the war, after several more years of development it was vital to the Berlin Airlift of 1948-1949. He was demobilised with the rank of Flight Lieutenant. After the war, he earned a first-class degree in mathematics and physics at King's College London.
In the postwar years, Clarke became involved with the British Interplanetary Society and served for a time as its chairman. Although he was not the originator of the concept, one of his most important contributions may have been propagating the idea that geostationary satellites would be ideal telecommunications relays. He advanced this idea in a paper privately circulated among the core technical members of the BIS in 1945. The concept later was published in Wireless World in October of that year. Clarke also wrote a number of non-fiction books describing the technical details and societal implications of rocketry and space flight. The most notable of these may be The Exploration of Space (1951) and The Promise of Space (1968). In recognition of these contributions, a geostationary orbit sometimes is referred to as a "Clarke orbit".
While Clarke had a few stories published in fanzines between 1937 and 1945, his first professional sales appeared in Astounding Science Fiction in 1946: "Loophole" was published in April, while "Rescue Party", his first sale, was published in May. Along with his writing, Clarke briefly worked as Assistant Editor of Science Abstracts (1949) before devoting himself to writing full-time from 1951 onward. Clarke also contributed to the Dan Dare series published in Eagle, and his first three published novels were written for children.
Clarke corresponded with C. S. Lewis in the 1940s and 1950s, and they once met in an Oxford pub, the Eastgate, to discuss science fiction and space travel. Clarke, after Lewis's death, voiced great praise for him, saying the Ransom Trilogy was one of the few works of science fiction that could be considered literature.
In 1948, he wrote "The Sentinel" for a BBC competition. Though the story was rejected, it changed the course of Clarke's career. Not only was it the basis for A Space Odyssey, but "The Sentinel" also introduced a more mystical and cosmic element to Clarke's work. Many of Clarke's later works feature a technologically advanced but prejudiced mankind being confronted by a superior alien intelligence. In the cases of The City and the Stars, Childhood's End, and the 2001 series, this encounter produces a conceptual breakthrough that accelerates humanity into the next stage of its evolution.
In 1953, Clarke met and quickly married Marilyn Mayfield, a 22-year-old American divorcee with a young son. They separated permanently after six months, although the divorce was not finalised until 1964.
Clarke lived in Sri Lanka from 1956 until his death in 2008, emigrating there when it was still called Ceylon, first in Unawatuna on the south coast, and then in Colombo. Clarke held citizenship of both the UK and Sri Lanka. He was an avid scuba diver and a member of the Underwater Explorers Club; living in Sri Lanka afforded him the opportunity to visit the ocean year-round. It also inspired the locale for his novel The Fountains of Paradise, in which he first described a space elevator. This, he believed, ultimately will be his legacy, more so than geostationary satellites, once space elevators make space shuttles obsolete.
His many predictions culminated in 1958 when he began a series of essays in various magazines that eventually became Profiles of the Future, published in book form in 1962. A timetable up to the year 2100 describes inventions and ideas including such things as a "global library" for 2005.
Early in his career, Clarke had a fascination with the paranormal, and stated that it was part of the inspiration for his novel Childhood's End. He also said that he was one of several who were fooled by a Uri Geller demonstration at Birkbeck College. Although he eventually dismissed and distanced himself from nearly all pseudoscience, he continued to advocate research into purported instances of psychokinesis and other similar phenomena.
In the early 1970s, Clarke signed a three-book publishing deal, a record for a science-fiction writer at the time. The first of the three was Rendezvous with Rama in 1973, which won him all the main genre awards and has spawned sequels, which, along with the 2001 series, formed the backbone of his later career.
In 1975, Clarke's short story "The Star" was not included in a new high school English textbook in Sri Lanka because of concerns that it might offend Roman Catholics even though it already had been selected. The same textbook also caused controversy because it replaced Shakespeare's work with that of Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and Isaac Asimov.
In the 1980s, Clarke became well known to many for his television programmes Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World and Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers.
In 1988, he was diagnosed with post-polio syndrome and needed to use a wheelchair most of the time thereafter. On 10 September 2007, while commenting on the Cassini probe's flyby of Iapetus (which plays an important role in 2001: A Space Odyssey), Clarke mentioned that he was completely wheelchair-bound by polio, and did not plan to leave Sri Lanka again.
Clarke was the first Chancellor of the International Space University, serving from 1989 to 2004, and also served as Chancellor of Moratuwa University in Sri Lanka from 1979 to 2002.
In December 2007, the occasion of his 90th birthday, Clarke recorded a video message to his friends and fans, bidding them "good-bye".
Clarke died in Sri Lanka at 1:30am on March 19, 2008, after suffering from breathing problems, according to Rohan de Silva, one of his aides.

Bonus!

Arthur C. Clarke formulated the following three "laws" of prediction:

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Book News, In Brief

For some strange reason, The Sydney Herald has randomly printed up a timeline of author Paul Auster's life thus far. Auster stalkers are welcome to chime in with any inaccuracies/omissions.

This LATimes article starts off announcing the film adaptation of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World before morphing into a truly interesting mini-biography of Huxley, his wife, and their Hollywood Hills home (complete with "space room" and "inversion machine"!).

In The GuardianUK, Sean O'Brien offers up six tips for adding drama to poetry, but not once does he mention balcony recitation, self-flagellation or defecating on a flag. Could there be a part two in tomorrow's paper?

Fed up after four months in a safe house, exiled writer Taslima Nasreen has announced that she is ready to leave India. Nasreen's writing about the many ways that religion oppresses women, as well as her descriptions of violence against Hindus in the novel Shame, have resulted in countless death threats, raspberries and 'why I oughttas' aimed against her.

Because I'm Alkie For Seltzer:

The NYTimes On Why They Were Fooled, And What They're Doing To Make Sure That It Never Happens Again

Fooled Again
by Clark Holt
March 16, 2008

With a few computer keystrokes last week at my request, Jack Begg, the supervisor of newsroom research at The Times, showed me that there was no record of a Margaret B. Jones in Eugene, Ore. With a few more keystrokes, he brought up property records showing that the house Jones said she owned was bought by Margaret Seltzer and another person in 2000 and now belongs to Stuart and Gay Seltzer after an “intrafamily transaction.”
All of this should have been a huge red flag about Margaret B. Jones, the author of a memoir in which she said she was abused, taken from her family at age 5 and shuttled between foster homes for three years before winding up in a world of gangs, violence and drugs in South-Central Los Angeles.
The book, “Love and Consequences,” was a fake, and had Begg been asked to do five minutes of checking in readily available public records, or had reporters and editors done it themselves before the newspaper bit, The Times could have been spared the embarrassment of falling for yet another too-good-to-be-true memoir from a publishing industry unwilling to accept responsibility for separating fact from fiction.

Click here to continue...

Book News, In Brief

In France, book fairs are da bomb, yo. Via AP: A bomb threat on Sunday targeted the Paris book fair, forcing organisers to evacuate visitors to the literary event, which this year is honouring Israeli writers despite a Muslim boycott, police said.

Is former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto the next memoirist to have her writing's validity called into question? Via AP: The lawyer for a suspect arrested in a deadly attack on a rally for former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said Sunday he would try to halt sales of her memoir because he believed it wrongly implicated his client in a plot to kill her.

Well, it's less embarrassing than the time they opened Disneyland before the asphalt had cooled. Via The Bennington Banner: The Northshire Bookstore held an official launch on Thursday of The Espresso Book Machine, a new type of technology expected to revolutionize the publishing industry, but unfortunately, it (was) broken.

Note to authors doubling as fighter pilots: make sure your name and bibliography are clearly visible to other pilots. It just might save your life. Via The Earth Times: The German pilot who shot down the plane carrying Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the author of the beloved book Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince), said he deeply regretted his act, the French weekly Le Journal du Dimanche reported on Sunday. "If I had known who was in front of me, I would never have shot. Not him!"

Recommended Listening:Carmine Infantino

From Bostonist:
Carmine Infantino holds a singular place in the history of comic books. He started working in the industry during the Depression and his career lasted until the 1980s. During that time, he apprenticed under Jack Kirby and Joe Simon (the creators of Captain America), reinvented the Flash and redesigned Batman and Robin in the early 1960s for DC Comics, and, by the late 1960s, ran that company.

While he was editorial director (and, eventually, publisher) of DC, Infantino standardized its business practices, giving artists bigger paychecks and more rights over their artwork. At the same time, he infused the company with talent, bringing writers and artists such as Dennis O'Neal, Dick Giordano, Neal Adams, Joe Orlando, Joe Kubert, and Jack Kirby to the company. Under Infantino, DC, which had trailed Marvel Comics in sales and creativity throughout much of the 1960s, emerged robust, its titles guideposts to a more modern comic book.

Infantino will be in Boston on Sunday, the guest of honor at the Boston Comic Con. Bostonist got a chance to talk with him last week.


Subscribe Free  Add to my Page

Book News, In Brief

Via The Wall Street Journal, via Publisher's Weekly: Borders has announced that they will begin displaying the books in their stores with the covers face-out. They predict that this will decrease the number of books that they carry by 5%-10%, but increase the number of customers attracted to "shiny things" and "pretty pictures" by up to 25%.

From the IndependentUK: When Robert Fisk heard that his biography of Saddam Hussein was selling well, one thing bothered him: he had never written one. Click on the link to read about Fisk's trip to Cairo to suss out the fake him. I'll admit, the whole time I was reading it, I was hoping that it would turn out to be Margaret Seltzer. I miss her already.

Three months after Terry Pratchett announced that he has Alzheimer's, and two days after he donated $1 million towards Alzheimer's research, The Guardian UK makes this bold claim about the famed fantasy author: As a satirist...he's right up there with Wodehouse and Evelyn Waugh. I'm slightly puzzled more people don't spot this. (Fans of Pratchett will also want to click here for a three part video interview.)

Time Magazine raves, Horton Hears a Who: Rated G for Glorious! "The new version...shows a pleasingly Hortonian faithfulness to the original story; and the process of fleshing it out Geisel's anapestic rhymes to feature-film length seems smart, sensible and organic." Thank goodness. Cuz after the filmic abominations that were The Grinch and Cat in the Hat, it was high time Hollywood got one of these right.

Recommended Viewing: Chip Kidd on Book Cover Design