Books & Authors

Posted By BNA_Daily on February 5, 2010

In case you weren't invited to any Super Bowl parties...

In today’s news, learn how literary magazines are fighting to survive, which sci-fi books are keeping NPR journalists up at night, and how you can entertain yourself with ice picks and indoor boomerangs.  Have a good weekend!

• While much of the literary world is discussing how Amazon, the iPad, and Google will affect paper-and-ink books, Jacket Copy stops to wonder about literary journals.  Will literary journals (not exactly the cash cows of publications) survive the era of digital media?  Jacket Copy talks to Brigid Hughes, a former editor at The Paris Review and now editor of the literary magazine A Public Space.  Hughes admits that “literary magazines need to figure out a way to be better advocates for the work that they’re publishing,” and the blog goes on to discuss how various literary magazines are finding a solution.

• Having trouble sleeping?  How about reading Sleepless?  On “All Things Considered,” Alan Cheuse talks about his late night sci-fi cravings, and Sleepless by Charlie Huston is the first of this week’s recommendation.  In Sleepless, LA is struck by a mysterious disease that keeps people awake until they eventually die–as you can imagine, the extreme crankiness preceding death causes some societal problems.  Cheuse also discusses Impact by Douglas Preston, whom he calls “the possible successor to the recently deceased Michael Crichton.”  If you’re not sleepless now, you might be after getting started on one of these.

• And if your weekend plans leave something to be desired, check out How to Do Nothing With Nobody All Alone by Yourself by Robert Paul Smith.  This 1958, anti-boredom book for kids was recently reissued by Tin House books, and PaperCuts blogger Gregory Cowles gives us the inside scoop.  Cowles calls it a precursor to The Dangerous Book for Boys, “complete with knife games [...] and a bow and arrow made from broken umbrella parts.”  So when you’re not watching the Super Bowl or doing other manly things this weekend, just grab a copy of Smith’s book, some knives, and a broken umbrella, and you’ll be good to go.

(more…)

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags: Daily Links

Posted By BNA_Daily on February 4, 2010

Wild Child and Other Stories

T.C. Boyle has published over 100 short stories and won six O.Henry awards, so it’s fair to expect a lot from his latest collection, Wild Child. Wild Child (released January 21st) contains thirteen short stories in addition to the title novella, a 66-page fictionalized account of the historic “wild boy of Aveyron.” In his New York Times review, author Wells Tower calls the novella “among the most richly realized stories of Boyle’s nearly 40-year adventure”–an assessment other critics seem to agree with. Where Tower and the others disagree, however, is with the collection’s other thirteen stories.  While most critics praise Boyle for writing entirely original stories that flirt (purposefully) with the absurd,  Tower complains of characters struggling for air within Boyle’s “procrustean plot contraptions.”  Mark Rozzo of the LA Times concedes that “there will be some who find Boyle’s palette garish, his characters cartoonish, his narrative fireworks mere antics of a strutting virtuoso,” but Boyle fans know what to expect, and they won’t be disappointed. (more…)

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags: popular, reviews

Posted By BNA_Daily on February 2, 2010

How do you price a virtual product? The e-book battle rages on.

In today’s news, take a moment to understand the e-book price wars that made headlines this weekend.  Then, see how blogs are remembering J.D. Salinger, and check out what’s new in the world of kid lit.

• Thank you, Tina Jordan of Shelf Life, for helping explain the debacle that is Amazon e-book pricing.  Over the weekend, Macmillan made headlines by demanding Amazon raise the price of their e-books to $14.99 from Amazon’s standard $9.99. Yesterday Amazon agreed, apologizing to its customers and making Macmillan out to be a greedy villain. But, as Jordan points out, the truth is more complicated.  While consumers assume a paperless book should be cheap, if not free, the major cost of publishing a book is in the author advance, the editing process, the marketing, publicity, etc–not in the paper, binding, and shipping that goes into a physical book.  Many major publishers are losing money on their e-book sales.  Jordan sums up the problem: “Unless all publishers negotiate better e-book pricing deals with Amazon, the number of books being published will decline.”
• Since the death of J.D. Salinger last week, the blog world has been filled with tributes, articles, and essays about The Catcher in the Rye and its author.  One of the more creative tributes comes from Classics Rock with its list of Salinger-inspired songs (from Green Day to Guns ‘N’ Roses).  The Guardian also posts several pieces about Salinger, one of which asks six current writers (including Julian Barnes and Jonathan Safran Foer) how Salinger’s work affected them. From music to modern fiction, Salinger’s cultural impact lives on.
• And in more light-hearted news, Omnivoracious gives us an update on children’s lit with its weekly “Kit Lit Roundup.”  Percy Jackson is back with the Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Ultimate Guide, which will no doubt guide you toward seeing the movie on February 12th. The blog also highlights the new picture book Brrrr: A Book of Winter, by The Book of Sleep’s Il Sung Na.

(more…)

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags: Daily Links

Posted By BNA_Daily on January 28, 2010

Learn why Wednesday, January 27th will be forever remembered as one of the saddest days in modern literature and then cheer yourself up by discovering 10 rock’n'roll novels, the bookish side of the Apple iPad, and the latest Costa Book Award winner.  Also, the New York Times‘ Jennifer Schuessler gives us permission to get bored.  (Which is an important step in the grieving process.)

• 

  J.D. Salinger, 1919-2010

  Of course, the major news today is the death of J.D. Salinger, who died from natural causes at the age of ninety-one on Wednesday, January 27, at his home in Cornish, New Hampshire. A consummate artist known for his intense desire for personal privacy, Salinger will forever be best remembered for his only novel, The Catcher in the Rye, which was hailed as “brilliant” upon its publication in 1951 and has endured as one of the most significant and influential books of the twentieth century. While several of the short stories Salinger also wrote and published in popular magazines during the 1950s were eventually collected in book form, it remains Catcher in the Rye that kept his name a familiar one, particularly among the many young readers who have found in the novel’s teen protagonist, Holden Caulfield, an attitude of rebellion against the world of “phoniness” that serves as a model for their own rejection of adult values and mores.  If you want to know more about Salinger’s life and legacy, take a look at these remembrances of Salinger’s life from the Associated Press, The New York Times, or The Washington Post.

• Moving onto significantly happier (and sillier) news - We love random Top 10 book lists, so here’s a “Top 10 Rock’n'Roll Novels” list from British author Tiffany Murray.  Murray describes rock’n'roll as “a coming-of-age sound that allows us to find ourselves,” and she picks ten novels that capture this sentiment.  Some of her picks, like High Fidelity, aren’t too surprising, while others, like Wuthering Heights, may take some explaining.

• Have you ever been embarrassed to admit that you found a supposedly “brilliant” book boring?  Jennifer Schuessler, an editor for the New York Times Book Review, discusses boredom and literature in “Our Boredom, Ourselves,” confessing that boredom “is something professional readers, who are expected to keep things lively, would rather not admit to, for fear of being scolded and sent back to the Weekly Reader.” She touches on the history of boredom, its potential cognitive benefits, and how it plays a role in David Foster Wallace’s final, unfinished novel, The Pale King (to be published in April 2011).  Maybe boredom isn’t such a bad thing, after all.

• 

  Brace yourself for the iPad bookshelf.

  The 2009 Costa Book of the Year award was announced earlier this week, with the prize going to poet Christopher Reid for his collection The Scattering.  Written in memory of his wife, Reid’s book struck a chord with award judges, who called it, “Intensely moving, compelling and honest” and  “highly readable.” Reid beat out favorite Colm Toibin, who was expected to win for his novel Brooklyn.

• In case you’ve been living under a rock the past 2 days, Apple has announced its much anticipated tablet computer, the iPad.  The iPad resembles an oversized iPhone, but it also has an e-reader function backed by some of the biggest book publishers.  Pretty soon, you’ll be shopping for iBooks along with your iTunes.  Shelf Life breaks down the gadget’s new features, emphasizing which ones book lovers should pay attention to.

(more…)

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags: Daily Links, in memoriam

Posted By BNA_Daily on January 28, 2010

The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn

In addition to sparking the English Reformation, Henry VIII provided some of the 16th century’s hottest gossip, with Anne Boleyn at its center.  Experts have long disagreed about the real reasons behind Anne Boleyn’s execution, and historian Alison Weir attempts to uncover the truth in her new book The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn.  The book considers multiple sources and carefully assesses each for its validity, ultimately painting a portrait of a conniving Thomas Cromwell and not-so-sweet Jane Seymour, who initally served Anne Boleyn and then replaced her as Henry’s third wife.  Weir also discusses the little-known aspects of Boleyn’s reign, such as her role in Church reform as a passionate evangelist. Critics so far have praised Weir’s careful research and captivating writing, though the book comes to no definitive conclusions about what happened to Boleyn.  If you enjoyed Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall,  The Lady in the Tower is its must-read, nonfiction companion. (more…)

Category: General Nonfiction | No Comments »
Tags: history, reviews

Posted By BNA_Daily on January 26, 2010

In today’s news, read about the decade’s most influential YA authors, speculate on the latest Apple gadget, and ask yourself, “What the *$%# was Bloomsbury publishing thinking?”  Details below.

Oops, they did it again...

• Over the last ten years, young adult book sales have taken off while other areas of publishing have declined, and Omnivoracious gives us some reasons why.  Noting that young readers hooked by the Harry Potter craze have grown up to become avid teen readers, the blog discusses eight YA authors that have helped the genre grow over the past decade.  From Stephenie Meyer to John Green, today’s teen readers have a lot to be grateful for.

• For the past week or so, book blogs have been buzzing about what exactly Apple has up its sleeve and predicting something along the lines of a Kindle on steroids.  The company is expected to announce a “tablet or notepad-sized media device” on Wednesday, which could give the Kindle a run for its money.  At this point it’s all speculation, but NPR has the details on what experts are predicting and why the Apple device will have to be more than just another e-reader.

• ShelfLife does a good job summarizing Bloomsbury’s latest cover catastrophe by calling it “the FAIL news of the day.”  Bloomsbury (the publisher that came under fire a few months ago for whitewashing the cover of Justine Larbalestier’s Liar) has again put a white woman on the cover of a book with an African-American protagonist.  This time the book in question is Jaclyn Dolamore’s Magic Under Glass, and Bloomsbury has already asked for a do-over and apologized for the offensive cover.  Larbelestier commented about the incident on her blog, writing, “Publishers don’t randomly pick white models. It happens within a context of racism.” (more…)
  

  Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
  Tags: Daily Links, young adult

Posted By BNA_Daily on January 26, 2010

Unfortunately, today’s news isn’t very cheery (except for Twilight fans). Both Robert B. Parker, a prolific crime writer, and Erich Segal, oft-quoted author of Love Story, passed away earlier this week in their 70s.  Many blogs, newspapers, and magazines are celebrating their work and lives.

• 

  Robert B. Parker

  Crime novelist Robert B. Parker died suddenly last Monday at his home in Massachusetts.  Parker was 77 and the author of over 60 books (some of which have yet to be released), and he was working on the latest of his Spenser novels when he suffered a heart attack at his desk.  The Guardian and Shelf Life reflect on Parker’s work and the influence he’s had on the crime genre.

• 

  Erich Segal

  The book world also lost Erich Segal last week, the novelist best known for his 1970 bestseller Love Story.  Segal was 72 when he passed away, but you can expect to hear his famous line, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry,” for years to come.  Jacket Copy remembers the author, and NPR’s Martha Woodroof describes her experience with Love Story 40 years ago.

• In cheerier, vampire news, fans of “The Twilight Saga” are celebrating the announcement of an upcoming Twilight graphic novel. Illustrated and adapted by Young Kim, the graphic novel will release March 16th and has already moved to Amazon’s top 50 (probably top 10 by the time this publishes).  Omnivoracious and Shelf Life discuss the project, the buzz, and Stephenie Meyers’ thoughts on the illustrated version.

(more…)

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags: Daily Links, in memoriam, Twilight

Posted By BNA_Daily on January 21, 2010

Sam Shepard's Day Out of Days: Stories

There are few writers who can successfully incorporate a talking, severed head into a story collection, but Sam Shepard is one of them.  An award-winning playwright and short story writer, Shepard explores the American West in his latest story collection, Day Out of Days.  Note that the term “story collection” is used loosely, since only a few of the stories have traditional structures.  Many consist only of snippets of dialogue, poem-like passages, even a single paragraph, but they are linked by a common narrator.  The narrator travels through small, forgotten towns of the west, relaying stories that range from suspiciously autobiographical to flat-out fantasy (again, there is a talking, severed head).  While some critics find the stories unsatisfying in their brevity and lack of arc, most claim Shepard has once again created an original work of art that highlights the strangeness of life.  Fans of Shepard will likely be delighted, but readers of more traditional short fiction might want to tread carefully. (more…)

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags: reviews

Posted By BNA_Daily on January 19, 2010

Jerry Pinkney's Lion prepares for his Caldecott Award acceptance speech...

While many of us were relaxing over the 3-day weekend, authors, librarians, and publishers were busy at ALA Midwinter, the American Library Association’s 4-day, nonstop bookfest filled with meetings, events, and awards.  While the meetings were no doubt exciting, we’ll ignore those and focus on the major awards: the John Newbery Medal, the Randolph Caldecott Medal,  and the Michael L. Printz Award.

Newbery Medal - When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

The Newbery Medal is arguably the most famous children’s lit award, given annually to the “most outstanding contribution to children’s literature.”  This year’s winner wasn’t a huge surprise to those in the book world, since librarians and kids have been praising When You Reach Me since it came out in July.  The book is a puzzle-like adventure reminiscent of A Wrinkle in Time, with a young, female protagonist and time travel.

“In this taut novel, every word, every sentence, has meaning and substance. A hybrid of genres, it is a complex mystery, a work of historical fiction, a school story and one of friendship, with a leitmotif of time travel running through it.” - Monica Edinger, New York Times

Caldecott Medal - The Lion & the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

Jerry Pinkney is no stranger to the Caldecott Medal–this is his 6th win in the “most distinguished American picture book for children” category, and his illustrations are as strong as ever.  The Lion & the Mouse is a retelling of the classic fable, only with very few words.  The words included are all sound effects, like ““screeeech” for the mouse and “putt-putt-putt” for the Jeep, but Pinkney’s illustrations are enough to keep your eyes and the story moving. (more…)

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags: ALA, awards, children, Daily Links, young adult

Posted By BNA_Daily on January 14, 2010

Peter Reynolds wants you to draw, even if it's just a dot.

Today’s news will thrill short story fans, political junkies, and children’s lit lovers alike, giving you plenty of conversation ammo to power through the weekend.  Enjoy!

• Finalists were announced this week for the 2009 Story Prize, a cash award given annually to a collection of short stories.  All three of this year’s finalists are first-time authors, and Jacket Copy introduces each selection.  With past winners like Edwidge Danticat and Tobias Wolff, the Story Prize aims to bring attention to story collections, which, in the struggle for mass readership, just can’t beat the vampires. (more…)
  

  Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
  Tags: 2010, Daily Links