April 2008 Archives

Whew, I'm back! I apologize for the extended silence in my posts, but I've finally returned back to my desk after several weeks of bouncing around between Missouri, Florida, North Carolina, and Washington DC. I really need to get my family to live all in one time zone!

In my absence from my trusty Dell laptop, I've managed to get bunches of reading done, all of which I will post more about in the coming days. In the meantime though, I've learned that hauling that legendary brick of a novel-Anna Karenina to the beach in Florida will elicit a few strange looks from fellow sun bathers, and a sigh from ones mother.

In the words of my junior high's namesake..."I shall return."

Happy reading!

As a fledgling young writer, I cannot imagine ever really getting to the point at which I feel that I can write on "autopilot". I really admire writers who are consistantly striving to improve their previous book; playfully stretching the normally acceptable bounds of plot and language, instead of allowing themselves to be seduced into plodding along with a routine formula. 

Most would describe those writers such as Stephen King, Nicholas Sparks, Jodie Picoult, and John Grisham as "successful". Commercially, they are. But on from a literary point of view, I think they all just flipped on the 'auto' switch after their third novels, and climbed into a hammock on the beach, waiting for the next royalty check to arrive. Reading any of their later books is akin to eating a bowl of Kraft Mac and Cheese. It's easy, predictable, and comforting.

Yet at the same time their commercial successes makes it possible for less lucrative, and literary writers to be published. So while I most definitely will pass on The Notebook v.17, I appreciate that millions of readers still find the formulaic and bestselling authors pleasurable, because without them, I'm not sure that I would now find myself in the middle of one of the most brilliant novels I have read in many moons, The Bastard of Istanbul.

The moral of the story here is that while I, and many others may constantly lament the amount of drivel that's regularly published, the truth is that this is what's paying the publisher's bills, allowing the house to occasionally expose us to the next truly great read.   

I went to college as a journalism major, and took classes in communications law, and ethics, so I understand, and can practice impartiality. So if this were a newspaper, or were I being paid to review books for a living, this might be unethical, but since this is my own blog, I'm going to rave away!

Last year a friend of mine, Derek Landy, published the first in a series of young adult books following the story of a very unique Irish girl named Stephanie Edgley titled Skulduggery Pleasant. Now because the author is Irish, and resides in Dublin, he is much more well known and commercially successful in his native Ireland, and in the neighboring United Kingdom.

His second book in the series, Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing With Fire will be available on May 6th, 2008 from HarperCollins, and if the second book is as clever and well-written as the first, then readers are in for a real treat. I have a feeling that if HarperCollins' U.S. publicity team pushes this book as hard as their UK counterparts currently are (the book is already on store shelves in Europe), then Derek Landy should be a recognizable name on our shores in the not-too-distant future.

You all should get out there, and read for yourselves what HarperCollins did when they signed Landy for a seven figure advance and a multiple book deal, something nearly unheard of in the publishing industry for a first time author. Not even JK Rowling received so much fanfare when she signed her first contact for Harry Potter.

Skulduggery Pleasant tells the story of young Stephanie Edgley, and her unconventional association with a "snappily dressed, razor-tongued wit, crackerjack sorcerer, and walking, talking, fire-throwing skeleton" named, you guessed it, Skulduggery Pleasant. It is set in modern day Dublin, but there is an underground magical world that is much more than meets the untrained eye, and Stephanie and Skulduggery Pleasant  work together to solve a myriad of magical and fantastic mysteries.

Many authors who set out to write a series, such as Philip Pullman, Jasper Fforde, and JK Rowling often found critical and commercial fame and success around, or after publication of their second books. I anticipate, and hope the same will happen for Mr. Landy.

So years from now, after all the books, films, calendars, and action figures have sufficiently inundated us in Skulduggery Fever, wouldn't it be great to be able to say "I was one of the first?"

In addition to enjoying reading books, I also love to read about books, and what's new and exciting in the literary and journalism world. My morning routine usually consists of a cup of coffee (or sometimes two), and sitting down and spending a good hour reading through the online editions of various news sources, such as my local newspaper, my hometown's paper, The New York Times (of course), and several international news outlets.

What's been neat about this is that through quenching my news thirst, I have stumbled across some really great book reviews, literary blogs, and have had my radar attuned in ways that it wouldn't have been otherwise had it not been for some of these international news sites such as, my personal favorite, the UK Guardian whose bloggers and staff writers update the Book section on a daily basis, unlike the weekly New York Times Book Review section, which most think of as the Lord of the Literary Kingdom.

Yet were it not for The Guardian, the London Review of Books, and even some translated Dutch, German, French, and Italian papers that I got into the habit of reading on a regular basis when I worked in international program development, I might never have heard about Salman Rushdie's upcoming novel, or learned more about Nazi Literature in the Americas, or discovered with small and obscure American publisher was distributing one of my new favorite authors.

So while I'm not intending to impugn great American book review sites in any way; indeed my hometown paper has a wonderful literary blogger that I enjoy reading on a regular basis, there are some brilliant international reviews and bloggers out there across the pond that can deliver a fresh breeze of news and ideas.

So for those of you who are online, on the lookout for the next Carlos Ruiz Zafon, or perhaps want to know what someone besides Michiko Kakutani thought of The Book Thief, then I say get thee to a Google and roam away!  

Happy reading!

I've decided to give up reading for one whole year. No more trips to Columbia Books, no Barnes and Noble giftcards, no Amazon.com, nothing, nada, niente.

Some people decide to quit watching TV for the year to devote more time to reading, but I say, what's wrong with doing the opposite? I've spent so much time reading and writing, over the course of my whole life really, that I've missed entire seasons of shows like "Name That Fruit", or "Sell Your Granny"

So enough is enough I say! I've spent too many hours rotting my brain with books like Charlotte Gray, or Suite Francaise. Bring on the "Flavors of Love 17", and "How to Catch a Kitten Snatcher". Plus think of all the money I'll save on gas by staying home and on my tush all day long! Not to mention the eye strain I'll save from reading all that tiny print, and scribbling away on my laptop all day long.

So for the next 365 days, if you need me, I will be on the couch.

Oh, and Happy April Fool's Day everyone