Book News, In Brief

Harper Bibles has released a 'Green Bible' made from recycled paper and soy ink. Quite predictably, a small section of small-minded Christians are offended.

Ever the stage director, Harold Pinter even staged his own funeral. The rules were simple: No eulogies were to be read, but drinks were definitely to be drunk.

January 1st was J.D. Salinger's birthday, and you goddamn phonies better not try and pretend you remembered.

Go, Look!

The New York Times has an article about 'reading like a girl,' but they mean it as a compliment -- honest!

The sappy, love-starved suckers at The Australian have penned a paean to the femme fatale. Can't they see she's only using them?

The Los Angeles Times has a brief piece about Asian crime fiction, complete with recommendations. (And they even give the Charlie Chan novels a fair shake!)

For your time-killing pleasure, The Guardian UK has prepared a Books Quiz of 2008. Or, as they put it: As a busy year in books closes, it's time to check whether you have absorbed its contents.

Are You Contemplating Suicide But Need That Final Push?

Then tighten your noose and read these:

Via AP: December Consumer Confidence Drops to All-Time Low
NEW YORK – Consumer confidence hit an all-time low in December, dropping unexpectedly in the face of layoffs and deteriorating markets for housing, stocks and other investments..."Deepening job insecurity and falling asset prices are outweighing any optimism consumers may have derived from falling gas prices," said Dana Saporta, U.S. economist at investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort.
(To read the entire article, click here.)

Via Bloomberg.com: Holiday Sales Drop to Force Bankruptcies, Closings
Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. retailers face a wave of store closings, bankruptcies and takeovers starting next month as holiday sales are shaping up to be the worst in 40 years. Retailers may close 73,000 stores in the first half of 2009, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers.
(My, you really are hungry for the sweet smell of formaldehyde, aren't you? Go on, then. Click here for the whole thing.)

Book News, In Brief

2009 marks Edgar Allan Poe's bicentennial, and cities up and down the east coast are hosting celebrations in honor of the notoriously anti-social artist. To see what sorts of unintentionally ironic events are taking place in your area, click here.

The holidays are the busiest time of year for newspaper obituary writers, but ego-stroking technologies are beginning to lighten their workload. Inspired by Art Buchwald's "I'm Art Buchwald and I just died" video and Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture, homemade, online obits are quickly becoming The Next Big Thing. Sandra Martin, obituarist for The Boston Globe, has written an article about these D.I.Y. R.I.P.s.

Barack Obama will use Abraham Lincoln's Bible for his swearing in. According to BlackVoices.com, this is big news, as "the Lincoln Inaugural Bible has not been used in any other inauguration. It is a powerful symbol of Lincoln's strength and wisdom during a time when the survival of the United States of America was at stake." But over at the U.S. News & World Report, Clark Evans of the Library of Congress takes a more Antiques Roadshow approach: "This Bible is not distinguished unto itself. It's not a rare-edition Bible. An 1853 Oxford Bible with no historical associations would get $30 or $40 today. But by association, it becomes priceless. There is no way to put a dollar sign on it." (Thanks to RareBookNews.com for the links!)

Book Review: The Kiss Murder

Rambling, One Sentence Pitch: A thriller by genre, a character piece at heart, Mehmet Murat Somer's The Kiss Murder is a week in the life of an unnamed drag queen who looks like Audrey Hepburn and kickboxes like Tony Ja.
A Second Rambling Sentence, This One Attempting To Act As Plot Summation: When one of the girls at 'Audrey's' nightclub goes missing, our hero/ine finds him/herself thrust into a mystery involving right wing politicians, bored housewives, catty co-workers and lustful cabbies.
More Rambling, Only Now It's Being Used To Try And Convince You To Buy This Book Instead Of The Millions Of Others Vying For Your Recession Era Dollars: There's murder, of course. And sex. These are the stock and trade of mysteries, after all. But where The Kiss Murder subverts the genre is in its exploration of the Cinderella-like lives of the club queens who must make it home before sunrise lest their facial hair grow too thick. Somer has created a diverse community of outlandish outcasts who, when not fighting against their repressive society, are cat-fighting mercilessly amongst themselves. So bitchy are these bitches that even the sudden disappearance of their cross-dressing co-worker fails to unite them. In fact, it makes things worse. Old rivalries re-arise, dead drama is resurrected, and what might have been a simple whodunit becomes a labyrinthine journey through the backstreets and bachelor pads of Istanbul.
In Closing: In Turkey, Somer's anonymous, Audrey Hepburn lookalike is already the star of her own series of books. Reading The Kiss Murder, it's easy to see why. Not only is she the classic, accidental action hero, but she's got enough emotional baggage and quirky acquaintances to fill a dozen novels. And then there's the cross-over appeal. Beneath 'Audrey's' fantastic facade of witty one liners and stylish ensembles, she's all of us, male and female.

Book News, In Brief

Why does this New England resident regularly read The Sydney Morning Herald's Books section? Because The Boston Globe would never open an article on poet Robert Burns with a line like this: His love might have been like a red, red rose but it turns out that Robert Burns may have been suffering from a rather nasty STD, according to a collection of explicit writing apparently by Scotland's national bard, due to go on sale in January. (To read the entire article, click here.)

Semi-related (in that it mentions a poem by Burns) is The Guardian UK's piece on the various New Year's traditions that have been immortalized in verse. Everything from leaving a lump of coal at your neighbors' doors to feeding an ear of corn to your horse is included.

The NYTimes blames the buying and selling of used books online for the the deaths of neighborhood bookstores, publisher's backlists and author's paychecks. (Yet this doesn't stop the article's author from making repeated plugs for the wonderful world of one cent books. Weird.)

Last but not least, a killer time killer: Links to hundreds of audio recordings of authors reading their own works.

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Killer Kwanzaa! Freakin' Awesome Festivus, Etc., Etc...

We've gone into holiday hibernation and won't be posting again until Monday the 29th. In the interim, feel free to fill the comments section of this "post" with random thoughts, deliberated diatribes, and ways you think we could improve our bookstore's blog.
Happy Everything Involving Presents, Friends & Family!

Book News, In Brief

O...M...G. The next generation of hard SF writers is honing their craft the old fashioned way: In the pages of Teen Ink Magazine.

A new study finds that of the 13 million songs available for purchase on iTunes, 10 million weren't downloaded once. Needless to say, this doesn't bode well for publishers hoping e-books will breathe new life into niche titles.

Then again, perhaps "niche titles" weren't what Apple was planning on pimping. At least not "niche titles" with "objectionable content." Via iLounge: Apple recently rejected an iPhone-based version of a book because it contained foul language. Citing a clause in the iPhone SDK that states “applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple’s reasonable judgement (sic) may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users. For something so wordy, it sure is vague.

Inkwell Michelle's 30 Second Book Review

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
The charm and grace of this debut novel decisively made it my favorite recommendation of the summer. Set just after the end of World War II, English writer Juliet Ashton is fretfully seeking a topic for her next book. When she receives a mysterious letter from a stranger who found her name in a book by Charles Lamb, not only does it solve her writer's block, it introduces her to the quirky inhabitants of the island of Guernsey. Juliet finds solace in the stories of the inhabitants of Guernsey which was occupied for five years by the Germans during WWII. The novel is strikingly told through letters between the characters, and each voice is distinct and amusing. Guernsey is a loving ode to the transformative power of literature which can reveal hidden truths and help us through the darkest days.

Go, Look!

RocketBomber.com (their unofficial motto: “We Read Boring Corporate Reports SEC Filings so you don’t have to!“) has put up an extensive analysis of what went wrong with Borders in the past few years, and what the teetering giant is currently doing to try and right itself. It's an interesting, informative read, and the author does a nice job of reflecting the fears of those inside the company -- from the boardroom fat cats all the way down to the "kids in college working nights and weekends for beer-and-comic-book money."

Go, look!

(Thanks to Journalista! for the link.)

Book News, In Brief

Obama chose poet Elizabeth Alexander to speak at his inauguration. Clinton chose Maya Angelou, then Miller Williams. JFK apparently kicked the whole trend off when he picked Robert Frost to recite The Gift Outright. Oh, and George W. Bush didn't have a poet at either of his inaugurations. So what does a president's pick of poets say about them? The Guardian UK speculates.

It's time to move your steamy Gavroche/Jean Valjean fanfic off of Slashfic.org and onto Xlibris Print On Demand. A French court court ruled Friday that unauthorized sequels to Victor Hugo's Les Miserables are legal. (Note to local authors: Don't even think about it...)

Authorities have accused a 43-year-old woman of embezzling $350,000 from a Raleigh, NC independent bookstore between 2001 and 2008. $350K? In seven years?! We wish our bookstore was successful enough to make such crimes possible.

Ah, here's something more a bit more realistic: A what-to-do-with-your-books-when-your-bookstore-goes-out-of-business-article. (Thanks to RareBookNews.com for the link!)

Book News, In Brief

It's perhaps the grimmest Top 5 List you'll read this year, but it's also a fitting tribute to some good writers. Via USA Today: The publishing world lost five celebrated writers in 2008. Their books will live after them...
(Click here to see who.)

Nothing succeeds like success...and graphically detailed autopsies. Via CNN.com: When Patricia Cornwell began writing thriller novels, she ruled the world of forensic science...Now the author is bombarded with CSI-like information from every side -- from Bones to Forensic Files to, well, CSI.
(Click here for the grisly details.)

Remember the day after the election, when the media claimed that the USA was now a post-racial society? And then do you remember the day after that, when they had to try and find a way to spin the Springfield, MA church burning and the white-on-black violence that occurred the night of the election? Well, it took seven weeks, but the papers are finally beginning to return to their senses. Via TheWashingtonPost.com: In all likelihood, prejudice, intolerance and nationalism will...be with us always. But what, you ask, does any of this have to do with books? Read on, my friends, read on: And two new slim volumes -- both remarkably thoughtful and compressed, both by extraordinary writers, and both addressing the gaps between disparate cultures -- will just as likely continue to remain relevant and timely.
(To find out which "two slim volumes" they're referring to, click here.)

Quote of the Day

“Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.”
Mark Twain, a.k.a. Samuel Clements, a.k.a. Li'l Twain

Go, Look: Corpus Libris

From the C.L. blog:
Corpus Libris began as a fun little photo essay on a Thursday night while working at Skylight Books in Los Angeles. As we kept going and going, I realized that many, many more people could enjoy and create similar photographs. The possibilities are practically endless! So, send me your Corpus Libris (body/book) photos, and perhaps I'll post them here.
CorpusLibris@gmail.com

(Well, what are you waiting for? Go, Look! And while you're there, see if you can't find this week's guest columnist, AutumnBottom. She's the one who tipped me off to this sweet site.)

Book News, In Brief

Booksellers: It's time to dig out the passwords to your old ebay seller accounts. BookFinder.com has posted the Top 10 Out-of-Print Books in America. There's gold in them thar stacks!

Trust me, I'm as sick of these year-end round-ups as the rest of you. But The Best News Corrections of 2008? That's something worth linking to. (Thanks to the Bookninja for the heads-up.)

Bilious b*tch Ann Coulter is autographing a limited number of copies of her new book, Guilty. All you have to do is order it via WorldNetDaily, and the Far Right's answer to Oprah will personalize it for you. I'm ordering a copy this afternoon, on the proviso that she make it out to 'All My Friends at Planned Parenthood.' I'll let you know how it turns out.

Time's 2008 Person of the Year? An Author.

Click here to find out who.

Book News, In Brief

A personal message to our valued customers: Try this, and we'll show you the door. Via Forbes.com: Haggling is no longer limited to used car lots...Retail prices are an artificial, arbitrary number. Ticket prices are not ordained by some almighty being. They are created by humans. Anything that results from a negotiation is negotiable.

Q: How is it that while book sales are down, poetry prospers? A: Filthy rich philanthropists. Via the AP: Poets & Writers, a nonprofit literary organization, has received a $2 million donation to support its Jackson Poetry Prize, a $50,000 award founded in 2007 for emerging American poets...The money comes from the Liana Foundation, a philanthropic organization based in N.J. and co-managed by poet Susan Jackson.

John Updike has written a promotional blurb for the first of a series of 500-word erotic e-book offerings. While Updike's 'elder statesman' status makes him an awkward choice, there's another, even less flattering reason he might want to refrain from putting his name on porn. Via The Guardian UK: What sets the story apart from other moby-lit offerings is the seal of approval from John Updike...Coincidentally or not, Updike last month won a lifetime award for Bad Sex in Fiction.

Oy vey! Hanukkah is Only Five Days Away!

Hanukkah starts this Sunday at sundown. Have you bought your Jewish friends their gifts yet? We Chosen Ones don't want to wait 'til the 25th for our presents any more than you want to wait 'til the 29th* for yours. But you jolly Gentiles needn't despair. (Despair is our thing!) Books Etc. has put together a list of Hanukkah Gifts for Adults.** You use this, and you'll go from insensitive shmoiger to goen Goy -- instantly.

*The 29th is the last day of Hanukkah, y'all.
** Don't worry about our kids. They're easy. They want video games, just like the uncircumcised ones.

10 Tips from a Former Traveling Sales Rep...Part 2!

If you missed the first half of AutumnBottom's epic, two part guest column, click here. And shame on you for arriving late to the party.

The Final Five

-Sales Pitch-
We reps think it's wonderful when buyers have looked at the catalogue before we come in and you already have an idea of the titles that interest you and the numbers you might want to order. It's amazingly, wonderful helpful. That said, stay flexible. Or at least give the appearance of flexibility. We've worked hard on our sales pitches and, chances are, the books that we actually HAVE a pitch for are important. It's just nice to have a receptive audience.

-Complaints-
Everyone loves to complain. I'd say it's the "great unifier" because nothing brings people together like kvetching. The company I worked for had a very...unique catalogue. It was about 16 inches tall, 10 inches wide, and 200 pages of flimsy newsprint. Putting a positive spin on it, I'd say something like, "It certainly is easy to spot!" But really, it was just a gigantic pain in the ass, and my buyers never hesitated to let me know.
Chances are, if you have to say to your rep, "I don't know if anyone has ever complained about this..." they have heard it a million, billion, trillion times over. At every single meeting I got a complaint about the catalogue. No, wait, I lie. There was one meeting with a design store in Beverly Hills where the buyer loved our catalogue. Silly Californians.
I'm sorry, where was I going? Oh yes. Complain about the catalogue to me all you want. Complain about having to pay freight or how we print our company's name on the cover of every book, but please, don't punish me for it. As a lowly rep I simply do not have the power to change these things. My buyers telling me that they wouldn't order books until we changed the catalogue just made me think they were jerks. But don't tell them I said that.

-Keep Your Appointments-
I toyed with the idea of making this heading "Keep your *fucking* appointments" to drive home the importance of this topic. As a traveling rep I cannot even begin to describe how annoying it is to take the time and effort to fly somewhere 1,000 miles from home and have the person you were supposed to meet cancel on you when you show up at their store. I completely understand cases of sickness or other emergencies, but when it's simply because you forgot to tell the babysitter that you needed her until 4 pm.... I had one guy in LA who would cancel on me almost every time and it was always because he'd already gone home and didn't want to fight traffic to come back "so maybe we can meet next time you're in LA". Gah!!!!

-Pass Along the Kind Words-
There is almost nothing better than praise. I loved, reveled really, in being told by my customers that they loved meeting with me. I loved that they felt taken care of by me and that I cared about them and their businesses. It was even better when I heard from my boss that one of my bookstores had taken the time to call New York to let her know that I was doing a good job. Something like that goes a long way in assuring job security and letting the muckity-mucks know that the people in the field are taking care of the customers.

-Always Use a GPS-
So this one has no bearing on you, the bookstore, whatsoever. But should a new traveling sales rep happen upon this list, this is the most important thing ever. Buy a GPS and take it with you wherever you go. Expense it, write it off on your taxes, or just eat the cost of it, but it is the most valuable tool in your arsenal.
The first three or four trips I went on, I printed out a veritable encyclopedia of MapQuest Maps and spent all my time in the rental car with my head buried in those print-outs and a map provided by the rental car company. I didn't see any of LA, Calgary, or Portland. But on a fateful trip to Denver I was offered a GPS unit at the rental counter and my life changed. I was able to drive around the city admiring the buildings and the mountains and avoiding pedestrians while a pleasant Englishwoman fed me turn by turn directions. I stopped at Best Buy on my way home from the airport and picked up one to take with me wherever I went.
It made my travels so much easier knowing that when I stepped off an airplane in a strange city I could just plug in my little friend (God that sounds dirty) and I could navigate the city like a native. My greatest fear while traveling was not that the planes would crash and burn or my buyers would block the doorways of their stores (that did happen to a fellow rep of mine) but that I would forget my GPS at home and be completely, utterly lost. See what technology hath wrought?! Anyway. GPS is a gift from God. Go buy one.

Again, if you dug what Autumn wrote, PLEASE CHECK OUT HER LIVEJOURNAL! Homegirl is mad funny and she posts regularly. Oh, and if you work in a bookstore, make sure you print this out and show it to your travelling sales reps. It'll make them feel loved.

Book News, In Brief

Local city makes good. Boston has been named one of The 3 Best Cities for Bookworms. MSNBC explains why.

Bottomless Belly Button author/artist Dash Shaw has been crowned one of The Top 100 People of 2008 by USA Today. Pop Candy's Whitney Matheson has the accompanying interview.

Dorothy Sterling, author of perennial classroom favorite, Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman, died December 1st at her home in Welfleet, MA. The self-described "accidental historian" was 95.

The Washington Post pulls no punches with this one: Most Textbooks Should Just Stay On the Shelf. This is a follow-up to an article they did about the $8 billion-a-year textbook industry's unwillingness to include any science breakthroughs post-Einstein.