A Digitally Novel Idea

I received an email recently from an anonymous author about his upcoming book project.  I thought I would share this with you in case you are interested.

Because of a contractual disagreement with my publisher over royalties for previous works, I've made the (crazy?) decision to self publish my next novel anonymously at www.LegendOfWolfboy.com. I'm excited about publishing in this format because there will be no restrictions from the publishing house, it'll allow readers to interact with one another, offer feedback on each chapter and even contribute to the storyline/character development as it's being written.

Here is the press release about this decision.  It's not entirely clear what this book will be about but it starts in Northern California and obviously has a "wolfboy" character.  I think even if the story doesn't come together the way the author is hoping, I think it will be an interesting project to follow for its use of the internet and social groups.

Thinking about writing a tiny bit of a book,
K

Book Club Read: Brodeck

The first selection for the Not The TV Book Group was the novel Brodeck by Philippe Claudel and was selected by Lynne at Dovegreyreader Scribbles. The discussion begins today at her blog. I invite you to head over there for the summary and discussion.

Briefly, this is the story of a man (Brodeck) who has been tasked with writing an account of an atrocity that has happened in his town.  He is already scarred by having been found orphaned in the charred remains of his home town (presumably in WWI) and then dragged from his adopted home as a young man by soldiers (in a WWII scenario).  He survives to return home but finds his town changed by the occupation of the soldiers and, eventually, the arrival of a stranger in town (the Anderer) triggers a series of shameful events.  Brodeck decides that along with the official report he was asked to write (to provide justification for the town's acts), he is going to write his own story and the full version of events.  This is what we are reading in the novel.

This was a heartbreaking story that rang too true.  Though there was an assumed time frame, this story had a definite fluidity of time that gave it the ability to apply to almost any period of hatred and fear in world history. I believe that the message of the book is that emotions do not end with a conflict.  The signing of a treaty does nothing to change the evil already sown in men's hearts.  There remains a heightened awareness of those who are different and those who were ostracized.  There also remains the ability to perform horrific acts once the mental barriers to them have been brought down.

This book lends itself to much discussion so if you are interested, find a copy and head over to the discussion which will be ongoing.  It's called Brodeck in the U.S. and Brodeck's Report in the U.K.  It is translated from the author's native French.

Quiet with introspection and sadness,
K


Support our site and buy Brodeck on Amazon or find it at your local library. We borrowed our copy from the library.

Starred Saturdays: week of January 31

Some of you get three days off this weekend.  We don't.  Thanks for nothing, Abraham Lincoln.  (Joking, of course!)

We're apparently still talking about the Macmillan/Amazon tussle.  I just wanted to point out (via Harper Studio) that hardcover new releases only cost two dollars to produce.  The rest of the cost is in the process of making the book (and, of course, the profit) and should be significantly represented in the price of the e-book.  I understand that Amazon is taking the losses but they are also establishing an expected price difference between e-books and paper copies -- perhaps an unrealistic one.

School libraries in the US are going to have to fend for themselves even more than usual as the newest Obama budget eliminates a grant program that was essential for school libraries in low income areas. (via Jacket Copy)

The Millions has a wonderful piece about deckled edges.  Their theory is that simple aesthetic things like this will actually become more prevalent if physical books become more rare.  They also explain deckled edges in the modern bookmaking era and why they still seem to have some variety like the original hand-cut pages.

If you haven't seen this yet, check out LIFE Magazine's slideshow of Famous Literary Drunks and Addicts.  Thankfully, they offer the suggestion that Poe had a low tolerance for alcohol versus the commonly held belief that he was a drunk.  I think it's also interesting that they list their vices--alcohol, speed, cocaine, etc.-- but don't mention the fact that many of the pictured authors have lit cigarettes in their hands.  (via The Millions)

Author Terry Pratchett discusses something other than his books when he speaks to The Guardian about assisted suicide.  It's a fascinating and terribly sad discussion. (via io9)

Salon.com examines book trailers.  Their writer is unimpressed by the quality of most of them and also finds them to be mostly useless in making a decision about the book.  I saw a book trailer during some late night television watching a few weeks ago.  It was the first and only one I've seen on t.v. so far and it was for The Swan Thieves. (via io9)

And finally, I'm not on twitter so I'm missing out on these amazing Earth photos that some astronauts are tweeting.  Luckily io9 posted a few of them.  This is Mt. Kilimanjaro from space.

Hoping for a more light-hearted week ahead,
K

Book Lovers -- Mark Your Calendars

I keep seeing book-related "official" weeks and days popping up around the news media and the blogosphere.  Unfortunately, most of them are revealed too late to do any planning or celebrating.  Being an organizer, I thought I would gather some of these dates so that we can all celebrate books together year-round!

First week of January - Buy a Friend a Book Week (worldwide)
January 27 - Family Literacy Day (Canada)
First week of February - National Storytelling Week (UK)
First Thursday in March - World Book Day (UK and Ireland) - March 4, 2010
First week of April - Buy a Friend a Book Week (worldwide)
A week in April - National Library Week (USA - ALA sponsored) - April 11-17, 2010
     (includes National Library Worker Day - April 13, 2010)
April 23 - World Book and Copyright Day (worldwide except UK and Ireland - UNESCO sponsored)
April 30 - El día de los niños/El día de los libros (USA - ALA sponsored)
First Saturday in May - Free Comic Book Day (worldwide) - May 1, 2010
A week in May - Children's Book Week (USA) - May 10-16, 2010
First week of July - Buy a Friend a Book Week (worldwide)
September 8 - International Literacy Day (worldwide - UNESCO sponsored)
First week of October - Buy a Friend a Book Week (worldwide)


If you know of another significant book date, leave a comment and I will add it to the list.  I would like to keep this at a country and worldwide level -- no conferences or city-specific book festivals please.  Once I have a relatively complete list, I will find a way to keep this handy for everyone!

Celebrating books with my nearest and dearest worldwide friends,
K

Bookish Pet Peeve #2: White Space

I've come up with my second Bookish Pet Peeve.  It's related to the way that books manage the space between chapters.  This is what I like -- a chapter ends on one page and the next chapter begins on the following page, whether it be on the left or right hand side of the book.
What I don't like is either
a) when they finish a chapter on the right hand page but then insist on starting the next chapter on the right, leaving an entire white page in between ...
OR
b) when they don't leave any space at all and begin the new chapter on the same page with just a tiny gap between them.

Neither of these situations are satisfying to me as a reader.  One makes me feel like they are b.s.ing and trying to make the book seem longer than it really is and the other makes me feel like the book is one never-ending blob of text.  I like enough space to take a breath but not enough to write another few paragraphs into the story.

Is this something you have thought about?  Do you have an opinion on white space between chapters?

Sweating the small things,
K

"It wasn't a very likely place for disappearances, at least at first glance."

Before I forget ... can we just take a look at the book cover here?  This is the cover of the FIRST book of the series that is advertising "bestselling author of ..." the FIFTH book of the series.  This wasn't the book that inspired my first Bookish Pet Peeve post but now I feel vindicated in pointing it out because it obviously happens at least somewhat frequently!  I think I just started really noticing it.

Moving on ... I received a promotional copy of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander last fall when everyone was talking about the impending release of the seventh book in the series.  It sat on my shelf until now -- partly because of its 850 pages, partly because I knew that many readers either loved it or hated it and I was scared to start a tome that I may not like.  I kept meaning to pick it up but then I would choose a safer book or a different review copy.  Finally, I guaranteed that I would get the book read this year by choosing it for one of my Take Another Chance Challenge tasks.  This was the one for Task 3: 100 Best Book.  I went all out in the "take a chance" aspect of the challenge, clicked on the link for "100 Best Romance Novels of the 20th Century" and, lo and behold, Outlander was number one on the list.

If you're not familiar with Outlander or the series, it's the story of a British woman, Claire, who falls into a stone circle in Scotland in 1945 and emerges in 1743.  She is forced to navigate a world she doesn't know and to try and return home -- except after a while she starts to question where home really is.

I was definitely curious about what would happen to Claire but I didn't really like her character.  However, there were enough other interesting characters in the book to keep me reading.  I also really enjoyed the setting and language of 18th century Scotland -- it felt authentic and alive.  There were so many things to learn and even the geography and natural history of the land became a character in the story.  I won't be rushing out to get the next book in the series--after all, it's another 750 pages and I'm a busy reader--but I am now invested enough to want to continue the series at some point.

Back to the Take Another Chance Challenge ... did I think this was the "Best Romance Novel of the Twentieth Century"?  Probably not.  I'm not an expert on romance novels and there's no denying that it was romantic but I'm sure that there must be some novels out there that don't have the amount of moral ambiguity that this one does.

Enjoying all the conveniences of modern life and love,
K


Support our site and buy Outlander on Amazon or find it at your local library. We received a promotional copy from the publisher.

New Release: The Fleet Street Murders

After a fantastic first book and a strong second one, I was very excited to have the third Charles Lenox mystery released. Charles Finch has created a rather unique Victorian gentleman detective who uses his ample resources and also his strong intellect to solve the most difficult crimes in London. The Fleet Street Murders takes a slightly different direction than the first two novels, keeping the series fresh and creating room for the main character to grow.

As is always the case in a series, it's impossible to summarize the story without giving at least a bit of information away that was revealed in the first two books.  So here's fair warning that there might be some mild spoilers to follow.

Charles Lenox is a second son whose older brother has a seat in Parliament -- the same seat their father held for many years.  Though Charles has enjoyed his life of leisure, planning travel and pursuing his detective career, he also is jealous of Edmund's position and his ability to help the country.  When the chance comes for Charles to run for a vacant seat in a Northern town, he decides to go for it -- even if it means giving up his freedom to be a detective.  Of course, he is soon torn between the two callings when a major case comes up in London and he is asked to assist.  Which life of public service will Charles ultimately choose?

This book was different in that it spent more time exploring Charles Lenox's personal relationships and gave quite a bit of insight into the Victorian political process.  The mystery part of the story was still strong and I can only hope that the series will continue.  Finch has a very clear writing style and I really enjoy his books.  I've borrowed the entire series from the library but have these on my wishlist as well because I would love my own copies!

Pursuing the perfect mystery novel,
K


Support our site and buy The Fleet Street Murders on Amazon or find it at your local library. We borrowed our copy from the library.

The Reading Calendar: January Edition

This year, Z and I are trying something new.  Each day, when he reads an entire story or book (or has one read to him), we are recording it.  This is partially to remind him to read books and not just to browse them.  He likes to grab huge stacks from his shelves (usually with a theme -- yesterday it was all of the Eric Carle board books) and then just thumb through them.  I'm not discouraging this behavior but just adding a bit more to the ritual.

The other reason for the calendar is to record what he is reading at this age.  Most of the titles won't be memorable 20 years from now because they are picture books that we borrowed from the library for a couple of weeks.  But it will still be interesting to see if we can keep this up through the years and write down chapter books as he gets to them.  I would have loved to have a list like that from my childhood!

So, this year we are using the Creature 2010 Wall Calendar.  Each day that we read, I write down the story name and Z puts a sticker on the date.  Our record isn't perfect but I would love to show you what we've accomplished at the end of each month.  Z is already getting into the pattern of this activity and choosing to read on his own more often.

If you are a parent, did you or do you record what your children read?  Do you see value in this activity?

Reading together for fun and stickers,
K and Z