David Foster Wallace, 1962-2008

I never read anything by DFW, but I have heard him lauded by people I admire and respect, so he is one of those authors whom I'm always meaning to pick up at some future point. He died in his home, on September 12th, apparently of a self-inflicted gunshot. Very sad...

What not to read

Hilarious excerpt from Brit Richard Wilson's new book, Can’t Be Arsed: 101 Things Not to Do Before You Die and smack dead-on with some of them!

Being Laura Bush

This week, Curtis Sittenfeld's new novel entitled American Wife is being unveiled to the public - just in time for the Republican National Convention. The novel is an imagining of what it would be like to be inside the head and persona of the First Lady, in this case, a fictionalized Laura Bush called Alice Maxwell. It is a roman-a-clef in which are some are claiming people will confuse with the real thing. First of all, people -- it is F-I-C-T-I-O-N and even if some people do, would it be so wrong? The arguments claim that the oafish, incompetent President in the novel, Charlie Maxwell, might be too hard for some people to distinguish between him and the real President. Hmmm...

The New York Times Book Review here...
USA Today here...

2008 Books read (as of August)

It might be better to start keeping my lists of books read online. I've traditionally kept my list in a notebook, which works perfectly fine, but thought it might be interesting to share what I've read with others.
The list is chronological, starting with most recent first:

1. Isaac's Storm: a man, a time, and the deadliest hurricane in history, Erik Larson
2. When You are Engulfed in Flames, David Sedaris
3. Survival of the Sickest: the surprising connections between disease and longevity, Dr. Sharon Moalem with Jonathan Prince
4. The Mistress's Daughter: a memoir, A.M. Homes
5. The Size of the World, Joan Sibber
6. The Robber Bride, Margaret Atwood
7. In Sunlight, in a Beautiful Garden, Kathleen Cambor
8. In a Country of Mothers, A.M. Homes
9. Jack, A.M. Homes
10. Harley, like a person, Cat Bauer (YA novel)
11. Homeless Bird, Gloria Whelan (YA novel)
12. Godless, Pete Hautman (YA novel)
13. One Good Turn, Kate Atkinson
14. Jessica Farm, vol. I, Josh Simmons (graphic novel)
15. Y: The Last Man, vol. II: Cycles, Brian Vaughan (graphic novel)
16. Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade, Diana Gabaldon
17. Daddy's Girl, Debbie Drechsler (graphic novel)
18. The Amber Spyglass, Phillip Pullman
19. Fables: Legends in Exile (vol. I), Bill Willingham
20. Y: The Last Man, vol. I: Unmanned, Brian Vaughan
21. The Subtle Knife, Phillip Pullman
22. Plum Wine, Angela Davis-Gardner
23. The Golden Compass, Phillip Pullman
24. This Book Will Save Your Life, A.M. Homes

Since I've joined the 50 Book Challenge on LibraryThing, I'm falling a little behind, since I should be at around 30-35 books read if I want to make the 50 books by December 31st. Reading 5-10 graphic novels or YA novels should meet that goal!

old grocery lists

Not sure its book-worthy, but this is a great idea. A performance artist took old discarded grocery lists and imagined their authors' lives through items on the list, handwriting, etc. Now I finally know what to do with all those old grocery lists I throw out!

Booker Prize longlist is announced

No surprises really, but the 2008 nominees on the Booker Prize's longlist are overwhelmingly male. However, 5 first-time novelists are in the running this year...

'Tin Lizzie' illustrates our car-loving culture

From USATODAY.com...

Lorrie Moore's new collection

Lorrie Moore is one of the best short-story writers around. Its good to see she has a new collection of short stories out - her last book was 1998's Birds of America. The new collection of short stories is called simply, The Collected Stories.

Summer Books to Feed Your Literary Addiction : NPR

Summer Books to Feed Your Literary Addiction : NPR

Rose Tremain wins Orange prize - USATODAY.com

Rose Tremain wins Orange prize - USATODAY.com

Why do they lie?

Arguably a favorite topic of book blogs and news outlets, plagiarism and lying about one's past are in the news again; this time in the guise of a former gang member's memoir and eventual unveiling as a fraud by her sister. She actually grew up in swanky Sherman Oaks, CA.

Fake Memoirs and the New Racial "Passing"
(Bookslut)

The Advent of Podcast Novels : NPR

The Advent of Podcast Novels : NPR

The comic book purge of the 1950s

Review of a new book by David Hajdu about the comic-book panic of the 1950s, when parents and people in charge believed comics were destroying America. Hard to believe, but artists and writers were blacklisted from the industry, similar to the Red Scare and the movie industry during the same time period. Nowadays, comic books may be the least of parents' worries about their overexposed children...

Interview with Jhumpa Lahiri

After watching the recent film, The Namesake, this weekend, I was happy to see this article pop up in my newsreader. Jhumpa Lahiri is a beautiful writer, which is why I was so disappointed with the movie version of her second book. After reading The Interpreter of Maladies when I worked for The New York Public Library, I couldn't wait for the next book by Lahiri. Her second book (first novel), The Namesake, was an evocative moving tale of the collision of cultures -- brilliantly described by Ms. Lahiri. The movie, to put it plainly, was bad. It reinforces my opinion that the book is always better ...

Arthur Charles Clarke, 1917-2008

It was a sad day for science fiction fans yesterday. Sir Arthur C. Clarke, writer and thinker, died at age 90. Probably best known for his book, 2001: a Space Odyssey, Clarke also wrote over 100 other books on space, science and the future of humankind.
Read the obituary from The Guardian here.

The One-day-ness of History: Questions for Nicholson Baker

Good interview with Nicholson Baker; writer, archivist, satirist.
OMNIVORACIOUS: The One-day-ness of History: Questions for Nicholson Baker

The murky demimonde of Amazon's Top Reviewers

The murky demimonde of Amazon's Top Reviewers. - By Garth Risk Hallberg - Slate Magazine

Novel about painter wins PEN/Faulkner

Kate Christensen wins the PEN/Faulkner award for her novel, The Great Man. What a coup for Christensen! She wins $15,000 and the admiration of her writing peers. Her first novel, In the Drink, was considered to be chick lit (at best) and a trashy novel (at worst). I just finished reading her second novel, Jeremy Thrane, a few months ago and was impressed by her writing, although I did like In the Drink much better. She writes convincingly of celebrity, life in the city, and contemporary youth, but was able to connect with the reader more effectively in her first novel.
This promises more "great" things come from Christensen!

The designer library consultant

This article about using books as a design element in L.A. homes also features an interesting new trend in affluent Southern California - a paid "library consultant", who will come into your home, catalog your library collection, organize it, and create bibliographies based on your reading passion. Hmmm, southern California, rich people, beaches? Who wouldn't want that job!

L.A. Times Book Prize nominees announced - Los Angeles Times

Last Friday, the L.A. Times Book Prize nominees were announced. Maxine Hong Kingston won the Kirsch award, which, "...honors a living author with a connection to the American West whose works have made a substantial contribution to American letters."

My gal Harriet

Going through Bloglines today (over 3000 unread posts in my Books folder alone!!), I discovered this post on Kate's Book Blog about the children's book Harriet the Spy.
There is a link to an NPR audio "tribute" to the character of Harriet M. Welsch, child spy.
God, I loved Harriet when I was a kid! She was sarcastic, curious, and aspired to be a writer. So much fun spying on other people. This was one of my favorite books, I remember thinking about New York City and how much I, too, wanted to be a writer when I grew up. Harriet wasn't afraid to be herself, that is also what I remember liking about her character.

How did I miss this?

So I'm trying to catch up on my blog reading and come across the Boston Globe's article about this year's National Book Awards winners. Except...it is last year's winners! How did I miss this? Sherman Alexie won the award for Best Young for The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian -- good Lord!

Free version of a readers' advisory tool

Public librarians use and rely on What Do I Read Next?, a genre tool that aids librarians and patrons in making reading selections. It is organized by fiction genres (science fiction, romance, westerns, etc.) and is enormously popular at reference where the librarian may or may not have extensive knowledge of authors and genres. Use it to find similar authors to those you love and books that meet a certain criteria (vampire romances, anyone?).
This usually comes with a cost, of course. Libraries either purchase a print copy of What Do I Read Next? or purchase an online electronic subscription to the database, so interested patrons had to go to their local library (if they had a copy) or to their library's website and login (if they purchased the electronic version).
Not anymore -- Cengage Learning (owner and manager of the content) has recently introduced a "curtailed" version of the What Do I Read Next? database called Books & Authors. It will give patrons a chance to search for much of the same information on their own, with the ability to locate a local library which subscribes to the full, value-added content.
Leave them wanting more...

Writers Rejoice!

Red Room

Want to join a writing community but don't know where to find one? Red Room is just what you have been looking for! This website is too cool -- a resource for writers, aspiring writers and anyone interested in books and authors. Videos, podcasts, author interviews, blogs -- you name it, they got it.

Book stats

In my zealous quest to catalog all my books (please see post from yesterday) I have tallied up my reading stats from the past several years and give you some selected figures to dwell on (drumroll please):

33 books in 2007 -- I gave birth to my first child and didn't seem to have a lick of time to myself. 'Nuff said.

65 books in 2006 -- This is probably an inflated figure because so many of the titles were graphic novels. But they still count!

22 books in 2004 -- Lowest amount read during the thirteen years I have tallied the books I read. Surprising on the face of it, since I was newly divorced and all, but it is also the year I met Jeff, so there you go...

108 books read in 1998 -- Whew! I looked through my list and had to count again - 108 books in one year?? Wow, impressive. I was also unhappy in my marriage, on a major readers' advisory committee at work where we were selecting all the best books of the year, and lonely in a city where my then-husband and I knew practically no one.

I yearn for the days when I could read 100 books in a year...but wouldn't give up my present life on a bet!

LibraryThing addiction

Yes, its true. I have become addicted to LibraryThing. The social cataloging application is slowly ruining my tastes for other social networking sites and causing me to steadily lose interest in almost anything else besides cataloging my enormous home book collection. My husband bought me a $25 gift card so I could have a lifetime membership - basically its either that or pay $10 a year to have an unlimited number of books cataloged. Its an interesting production; I'm learning quite a bit about myself along the way. It is also forcing me to realize that I have waaaay too many books and need to assess my collection (should I keep all those M.C. Beaton paperbacks my mother-in-law gave me - 35, yikes! - or ditch them since, if I am honest with myself, I will NEVER end up reading them all?).
Sigh, so much to do, so little time to do it. Especially now that I am busily cataloging...

Fantagraphics Books - Linda Medley Comics

My all-time favorite comic book series -- Castle Waiting by Linda Medley -- has a new issue out! This series about an abandoned castle with very weird inhabitants is a not-so fairy tale with very feminist themes. Great story for teen girls interested in comics. Check it out...
Fantagraphics Books - Linda Medley Comics