Y’all here are creatures of culture and refinement, so no doubt you’ll be wanting to buy the people on your gift list something classy. Is there anything classier than a signed first edition book? Of course not. Imagine finding out your friend’s favourite book, and giving them a signed first edition as a very special Christmas gift!
Here’s what you’re looking for. You want a book that is: Continue reading
I subscribe to Publishers Weekly (the bible of the U.S. publishing industry) and get a news feed every morning. Today there was some gobsmackin’ news to wake up to: E.L. James has been named Publishing Person of the Year.
Within the confines of the book industry, it’s a very big deal.
Let me refresh your memory. E.L. James is the penname of Erika Leonard. She wrote an erotic trilogy, the titles of which are Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker, and Fifty Shades Freed.
They are selling like shovels in a snowstorm, like handguns when the aliens invade, like toilet paper at a diarrhea festival. It is the fastest-selling adult (as against the categories of juvenile, or young adult) series ever. There’s going to be a movie. Continue reading
Have you heard of NaNoWriMo? That’s the National Novel Writing Month, an event sponsored by a group of literary terrorists who encourage bored housewives and unwashed yokels to write an entire 50,000-word novel during the month of November.
NaNoWriMo’s growth in popularity is simply astounding. It was launched in 1999 by a group of 21 writers in the San Francisco area, but within two years had 5,000 “writers” participating in it. By 2010, the non-profit group that sponsors the event had over 200,000 participants.
There are surprisingly few people who are openly critical of NaNoWriMo — probably because actual published authors are understandably wary of offending the kinds of people who buy lots of books. But this event sucks, and to pretend otherwise is to humor the delusional, literature-destroying idiots that participate in it. Continue reading
While living in Israel some years ago, I’d often encounter male soldiers on the street or traveling by bus or sherut. Their olive green military uniforms, combat boots, berets tucked under left epaulets, and assault rifles straddled over their shoulders was always a jarring image to behold during my initial weeks in Haifa. Yet as time went on, they, like the ubiquitous Cyprus trees, began to fade into the landscape with one exception: female recruits.
Israel is the only country in the world with a mandatory military service requirement for women. The times I’d cross their path, I’d often wonder what their lives and training were like, what they thought of the draft, and what their hopes and dreams were post-IDF? Did they see themselves as children weighed down in adult clothing? Were they fearful of death, or worse, fearful of becoming indifferent to the killing of others? Continue reading
On Thursday, August 30, Viking Press will publish Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story
In the old days (from about the early-mid-1800s until the past 2 or 3 years) book publishing usually worked like this: the author wrote a book, and sent the manuscript to a commercial publisher, Random House, Faber and Faber, Akashic, there are thousands of them world-wide. The publisher employs professional editors to read the manuscripts and select (‘acquire’ is the usual verb used) ones with commercial possibilities. The author is then assigned an editor to work with to prepare the manuscript for publication. Continue reading
The word ‘scent’ is very useful, it gets around the whole ‘perfume’ vs ‘parfum’ vs ‘extrait de parfum’ vs ‘eau de parfum’ vs ‘eau parfumee’ vs ‘cologne’ vs ‘eau de toilette’ vs ‘eau de cologne’ business. (These terms have to do with, more or less, a scent’s concentration.)
I’ve used scent since forever. As a teenager I was given a bottle of Chanel No.5 without having any real idea what a big deal it was.
When that ran out I couldn’t afford to replace it, and so moved on to Zen, by Shiseido. I don’t think it’s made anymore, and if it is, I seem to remember reading that it wasn’t the same formula.
Continue reading
Ray Bradbury lived most of his life in the Los Angeles area. Starting in 1950, when he lived in Venice, he took the street car twenty miles to attend a writers’ group that met in a library in Torrance. For the rest of his life he returned to that library every year to give a public lecture.
I saw him there in about 2003, when he was in a wheelchair, but despite that he stood up at the lectern to talk to us. As soon as he was done, he got back into the wheelchair. Continue reading
I know a lot of you do, did, or are considering joining a book club. Got any good stories to tell us?
A few years ago I joined one briefly. It met in a large, accommodating coffee shop and I couldn’t hear half of what was said. So, pulled the plug on that.
Now I belong to one that a friend very kindly invited me into. They’re a very nice crowd, accomplished, talkative. It seems mean to say they’re boring, but I fear this is the truth. Well, no, wait. They’re not all boring, or at least they’re not all boring all the time. I can be funny, when on my game. My friend is funny, or can be when not held back by the general atmosphere of… well, let’s take a peek inside and see what the various book-club members are like.
We have the married couple who seem determined to turn the event into a thinly-disguised marital fight for control. They’ll go around and around about a particular point and won’t stop until one or the other concedes. So tedious. Continue reading
Janice “Jan” Berenstain died this past Friday after a severe stroke on Thursday.
Jan along with her husband Stan, created a book series for pre-schoolers over a period of 50 years. Jan and Stan met when they were 18 on their first day of art school. They married years later after Stan returned from a stint in the army as a medical illustrator in an army hospital. During that time, Jan worked as a draftsman in the Army Corp of Engineers and a riveter of seaplanes. Continue reading