judging these books by their covers

Penguin Classics has recently changed the look of some literature stalwarts with, "... cover designs {have been} executed by some of today’s most beloved and respected, dare I say “hip,” graphic artists...". These covers actually look more like comic books or graphic novels than dusty prose, but the attractive nature of the covers has the possibility of drawing in more readers to such timeless classics as Lady Chatterley's Lover or The Jungle by Upton Sinclair.
Book cover art is itself a hobby, with collectors passionate as any other bibliophile.

dystopic graphic novels

V for Vendetta is next on my list of graphic novels to read by Alan Moore, but I'm not sure I'm going to rent the movie after reading this review...

Best Book of the past 25 years is...

Beloved? I just don't get it -- the BEST work of American fiction of the past 25 years is Beloved by Toni Morrison? Runner-ups include Underworld by Don DeLillo and the Rabbit books by John Updike. C'mon people! What about Tim O'Brien, Jane Smiley, Lee Smith, Richard Russo? Admittedly, Beloved is a much better book than Underworld or ANY novel by Cormac McCarthy (have YOU tried to get through All the Pretty Horses??). The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien would be my pick -- what would yours be?

a million little lies?

This guy has an addiction...
James Frey, the writer notorious for being busted as a liar by Oprah Winfrey, has admitted to fabricating sections of his most recent book, My Friend Leonard. His publisher has reportedly dropped him. Not a strong vote of confidence...

Short story master

Last night I read through notes from one of my creative writing classes I took while I lived in NYC. One of the suggested writers to emulate was Raymond Carver. I forgot how well Carver crafts short fiction -- arguably he is one of the masters of American short fiction. Minimalist, spare, clean -- just a few adjectives which describe his writing. "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" is his best-known story, but "Cathedral" is another brilliant short story taught in creative writing classes everywhere.

The "Blooker" Prize

"The Lulu Blooker Prize is the world's first literary prizedevoted to "blooks": books based on blogs or websites. Awarded in three categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Comics...". The 2006 Lulu Blooker Prizes went to Julie Powell for her book Julie & Julia: 365 days, 524 recipes, 1 tiny apartment kitchen in the Nonfiction category; Cherie Priest for her novel, Four and Twenty Blackbirds; and Zach Miller for his comic novelization, Totally Boned. Neat concept and about time awards were given to this form of writing!

Short Fiction prize

The Ontario Review has announced a Short Fiction Prize contest for 2006. Submissions are being accepted through September 1, 2006.

a universal library?

What is the concept of the universal library? Google thinks it knows...

lets all read the same book

Reading programs are hot again! "Tuesday at Carnegie Hall, the National Endowment for the Arts will announce a competition for grants, up to $20,000 each, to be awarded to 100 communities that select a novel and encourage everyone to read and discuss it."
The one community, one book movement has been catching on in cities across the country, but the Big Read program expands on this movement, giving communities the monetary incentive to start the program and making it easy to choose from a pre-selected list of novels.

And the Pulitzer goes to...

Bravo! For fans of Geraldine Brooks (author of The Year of Wonders), its no surprise that she is the winner of this year's Pulitzer in Literature for her Civil War era novel, March. Don't confuse it with The March, E.L. Doctorow's novel about the Civil which also won an award -- two in fact -- the PEN/Faulkner and the National Book Critics Circle awards.

Baltimore roots

Anne Tyler does not give interviews. But USA Today was able to ask her some questions by email about her most recent book, Digging to America. Read and enjoy!

Hershey, PA

Today I am in Hershey, PA with Jeff's family -- right now we are trying to decide what we are going to do (some people voting for the outlets, Hershey Park, Target). No one can decide :) How about a bookstore?

Bookworm

As I was doing searches for the "reading literature pyramid" today for my fall comics class syllabus, I came across Bookworm: a love of learning, a love of books, a site with everything a book lover could wish for. Lots of references to the Great Books of the Western World and to book groups and Great Books websites. So, even if you question what "great books" inherently mean, you can find lots of "great" resources that purportedly tell you why they think so! Mostly white, dead males...

John Kenneth Galbraith, 1908-2006

John Kenneth Galbraith, writer and influential Harvard economist, died Saturday at age 97. Author of one of the most important books (arguably) of the 20th century, The Affluent Society, JKG was a political liberal and a strategist and advisor to several Presidents and Democratic politicians. In the aforementioned Affluent Society, JKG argued that America may be growing richer in private economic resources, but our public resources were being steadily eroded by an increasing reliance on consumer production and growth of capital. His book paved the way for a new societal discussion about infrastructure, schools, social services, and the allocation of money for the public good.

book heaven

Jeff & I were in Rochester on Saturday and stopped at Starbucks for a grande Americano (my fav). Next to the coffee place was a new store "BOOK OUTLET" -- imagine that! A bookstore next to a Starbucks -- hmmm, wonder if they will do any business?
I think it might be one of these chain remainder places; their prices were advertised as 70% off the price on the jacket. I got three paperbacks and a hardcover for $23.31 -- bless my lil bibliohungry heart!
Here's what I got:
Trash, short stories by Dorothy Allison (she of the Bastard out of Carolina fame, which is probably one of the more disturbing fictional takes on child sexual abuse)
The Overworked American, by Juliet Schor (geez, like we didn't know that already!)
American Dynasty, by Kevin Phillips (author of political-social-economic history, Wealth and Poverty)
Things you Should Know, short stories by A.M. Homes (wicked, ace writer!)

When I will have time to read all the above? Hmm...probably not this year unfortunately, but the deal was too good to pass up!