Papa Hemingway's posthumost Meow Mix
50 cats and a hefty lawsuit get Hemingway's Florida estate in a hissyfit with the U.S. Department of Agriculture!
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July 31, 2006
Monday (Sunday) review roundup
It's Monday, and we kept stop thinking about Sunday...The day of rest, and lots of book reviews.
Maslin does her Physics homework and likes it.
Speaking of physics, did you know that DNA Man Francis Crick hated physics, according to a new bio? Me too!
Says Madison Smart Bell of Jennifer Egan (The Keep): "Egan sustains an awareness that the text is being manipulated by its author, while at the same time delivering character and story with perfect and passionate conviction. Very few writers, of our time or any other, have been able to bring that combination off." I didn't think anybody could pull that off.
Two books delineate why the U.S. just doesn't understand Iraq.
T.C. Boyle, still hocking loogies?
How the Brits go clubbing (like Oprah)
As I've noted before, when I tell some folks that I work for a book club, they misunderstand. They think chamomile tea, pot luck, sectional couches, friends disagreeing over how lovely The Lovely Bones actually was. "No no no," I say, "I don't mean an Oprah/Today Show/Ladies of Peoria-style book club, where friends and friends-of-friends read a book and have a klatsch about it." (Not that there's anything wrong with that, and QPB, a book-of-the-month-like service, has plenty of absorbing, thought-provoking books perfect for reading-group discussions. Plus, if anyone wants to come over my house with a tray of brownies or hot wings...)
Anyway, speaking of ubiquitous, omnipotent talk-show hosts who drive book sales with the mere whisper of a book they happened to take a shine to (even if the critics vehemently disagree), turns out our British allies have their own book-trend-setters on the small, tube, too.
End of world is nye, says crotchety old manuscript
The good news: 1000 year-old book of Psalms found in an Irish bog last week! The bad news: it portends the end of the world! Wait, no.
July 27, 2006
Protests o'er BRICK LANE film production
Will the film adaptation of Monica Ali's brilliant BRICK LANE (Booker Prize winner and QPB New Voice 2005 victor, about a Bangladeshi enclave in London) ever get underway amidst protests?
Books reviews 'n news for today...
From the past day or two, the latest reviews, news and stuff on all things books...
Janet Maslin, film-critic-turned-book-critic, reviews a book from Nora Ephron, screenwriter and now essay-collection author. How appropriate.
Only true sufferers can create true art. Or something.
Like June, George Pelecanos is bustin' out all over. Or at least trying to.
I'm glad I'm not the only person on the planet who doesn't run from short story collections as if they're infected.
Not chick-lit? Then why would I read it?
Speaking of chick-lit, Homer, the dude who wrote The Odyssey, was not a dude.
Jack Kerouac's masterpiece to get even looser and crazier
In light of yesterday's Andrea Yates decision-reversal, an extremely timely book about maternal madness.
How the Pilgrims got their groove.
July 18, 2006
Vacation in Melville-ville
I've just returned from a week's beach-intensive vacation just off of Cape Cod in MA--one town over, actually, from New Bedford. Founded in 1787, New Bedford was once the whaling capital of the world (back when the whaling industry was one of the global economic forces) and a major port, with nearly as much maritime traffic as New York, Boston and New Orleans. Herman Melville himself sailed on the whaleship Acushnet, which launched from New Bedford. The time he spent there--and particularly in the Seamen's Bethel on Johnnycake Street--inspired a little book known as Moby Dick.
""In the same New Bedford there stands a Whaleman's Chapel, and few are the moody fishermen, shortly bound for the Indian Ocean or Pacific, who fail to make a Sunday visit to the spot." Moby Dick
With a bow-shaped pulpit and dozens of old cenotaphs honoring sailors lost at sea, this small chapel is a poignant memorial and an incredibly evocative reminder of Melville's masterpiece--which I read, in fact, during a weeklong visit. This was so much more meaningful and immersive than seeing a filmed version of a beloved book (which can often be disappointing, filling in your imagination in an unsatisfying, they-got-it-wrong kind of way). I can still smell the salt and taste the hardtack.
This week's Reading Group Pick: Not Me
"A novel with a powerfully unsettling moral conundrum at its heart: is radical evil indelible, can anything undo it? But what philosophy cannot resolve, storytelling triumphantly can. Lavigne’s radiantly imagined portrait of human possibility never obscures the blackest abyss of real history, and his Heshel Rosenheim emerges with all the complexity of a modern Raskolnikov"—Cynthia Ozick, author of The Shawl
This week's Reading Group Pick at QPB.com is Michael Lavigne's Not Me. One of our editors, Victoria, absolutely adored this novel, and when I heard its plot, I couldn't help but think that it would be a great follow-up to our recent pick, The Book Thief.
If you plan to read this with your own reading group, post a comment to tell us why you chose it.
July 17, 2006
Revisiting Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist
THE ALCHEMIST SPECIAL GIFT EDITION
I first read Paulo Coelho’s novel, The Alchemist, about eight years ago, and it literally changed my life. I remember feeling so inspired by the story of Santiago, a young Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to follow his dream of seeing the pyramids of Egypt, that I quit my job and embarked on a journey of my own. Everyone thought I was crazy, but for the first time in my life I didn't listen to anyone except that voice inside my head that said, “Go.” So I set off—with very little money—and backpacked through Europe. It was a dream of mine—and I did it alone. Since that time, The Alchemist has been at the top of my list of recommendations; I must have given it as a gift it to over 50 people—family, friends, even strangers. This special gift edition is a beautifully designed hardcover, featuring an ornate slipcase, illustrations, a ribbon marker, deckled edges, and colored endpapers. If you’ve never read this book, here’s your chance; if you have and were moved like I was, then this is a great gift for yourself and anyone in your life.
I first read Paulo Coelho’s novel, The Alchemist, about eight years ago, and it literally changed my life. I remember feeling so inspired by the story of Santiago, a young Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to follow his dream of seeing the pyramids of Egypt, that I quit my job and embarked on a journey of my own. Everyone thought I was crazy, but for the first time in my life I didn't listen to anyone except that voice inside my head that said, “Go.” So I set off—with very little money—and backpacked through Europe. It was a dream of mine—and I did it alone. Since that time, The Alchemist has been at the top of my list of recommendations; I must have given it as a gift it to over 50 people—family, friends, even strangers. This special gift edition is a beautifully designed hardcover, featuring an ornate slipcase, illustrations, a ribbon marker, deckled edges, and colored endpapers. If you’ve never read this book, here’s your chance; if you have and were moved like I was, then this is a great gift for yourself and anyone in your life.
July 13, 2006
Walmart and Us
Have you read the Wal-Mart: The Face of Twenty-First Century Capitalism yet? Barbara Ehrenreich, the investigative journalist who changed the way we look at blue—and white—collar labor in America, has called this book, “Necessary reading for anyone concerned about the future of the American economy.” I couldn’t agree more. Some years back, after a few months of doing my own research, I made a personal decision never to shop in Wal-Mart. Ever. A totally insignificant gesture, I know—it’s the equivalent of an ant mooning the sun--but this book explains why more and more Americans are boycotting this company and explains what mega-chains are doing to the world economy. Yeah, you can definitely buy cheap stuff, but that purchase has a ripple effect many of us never really considered. Anyway, maybe you'll agree with the essays in this book, maybe not, but it's worth reading just to expand your vision about what's going on around us as money exchanges from one company or person to the next.
July 12, 2006
Today is Henry David Thoreau's Birthday
Mr. Thoreau was born on this date in 1817 in a little hamlet known as Concord Massachusetts. I still remember reading Walden for the very first time when I was in high school and how it struck a note with the gypsy spirit inside me. Simplify. It's a word I keep on a piece of paper taped to my computer here in the QPB offices. Simplify.
One of my favorite quotes from the book. Overused, yes, but it still strikes my heart:
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." -- From Walden
Kurt Vonnegut's A MAN WITHOUT COUNTRY
What can I say about Kurt Vonnegut? The man is a legend and his books were some of the most influential of the 20th century. Cat’s Cradle, Slaughterhouse-Five, Bluebeard, Mother Night (in my opinion his best, and most under-appreciated novel) are modern day classics that mix great storytelling and hard-biting satire with one wicked sense of humor. In case you missed it, A Man Without a Country, his first major book in almost 10 years, is a riotous collection of essays that pokes at the cracks the permeate American Society. Angry, yet affectionate, this book is an exciting work from a genius who prose is still as razor sharp as it was 40 years ago. Check it out if you haven't read it yet.
July 10, 2006
Calling all pet lovers
I know QPB members love books about animals. Judging from the huge success of MARLEY & ME, BAD CAT (our #1 seller over the 2005 holiday season!), BAD DOG, and more furry mischief, we can't resist telling people about what our pets are doing or watching others' pets act like, well, animals.
On that note, I'm sure you'll appreciate a few of these photos that a friend sent to me earlier today, titled "What our pets do while we're at work".
July 07, 2006
Fractured fairy tales
Hi all, this is my first post so I'll introduce myself. I'm Catherine Wallach, and I'm a QPB contributing editor. Like Justin, I'm a pop-culture junkie, but I also love to just throw a question out there and see what other people think, like Dana.
I just finished a book last night that got me thinking about fairy tales, especially fractured ones, as used in mainstream literature. It's called The Book of Lost Things by John Connelly, and it will be coming out in November. In it, a young boy whose mother has died and whose father has remarried and had a baby with his new wife feels ignored and jealous, and finds himself lured into another world by the voice of his dead mother. In it, he finds a Woodsman, a knight errant, talking wolves, and a Crooked Man who wants something from him, and it ain't good.
It reminded me a lot of Labyrinth, Donnie Darko, The Neverending Story ... and some books too, don't worry. The quest story is of course one of the oldest forms of storytelling, but using it as a post-Freudian metaphor for one's subconsious desires finding a way into our conscious reality is a relatively new twist.
I'm always getting too academic and up in my own head, so if anybody can tell me why we still write these books, as entertaining as they are, even though there are SO many of them, I'd be interested to hear your take!
Oh, and hi.
How brusque of me to just jump in and jabber without a self-introduction. I'm Justin, Associate Editor of QPB. I hope to blog quite often here--about books, culture and related matters. Presently I have no plans to sit at the table on The View.
What do I think you should be reading right now? I just can't shut up about A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyun Li--a stunning debut by any counts, all the more so because its author never wrote a word of fiction (in her native Chinese or English) until 10 years ago. Forget all those frantic editorials about the rise of the Chinese superpower and spend some time with a tiny handful of its billion citizens. They've all got tragedies, secrets, piccadilloes and yarns to spill. Li does it astoundingly well and delicately. You'll love this.
Rated Argh!
Color me surprised: the critics ain't thinking Oscar for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, the sequel to the blockbuster based on a Disney World ride. (The success of the first Pirates subsequently inspired a revamp of said ride to better reflect the film--a depressing yet unprecendented Mobius strip of Hollywood commercial synergy!) The New York Times' A.O. Scott calls it "a glistening, sushi-grade chunk of franchise entertainment" and suggests the filmmakers pretty bully audiences into enjoying themselves. "It's about fun. You're there to have fun. Fun for the family. Fun for the kids. Fun for everyone. So shut up and have fun." 'Pirates of the Caribbean': Eat My Jetsam, Davy Jones
Anyway, I certainly might end up shelling out to see this slimy, cartoony, Deppy piece o' fluff myself. First of all, it's summer! I'm not in a Lars von Trier frame of mine when the weather's hot. Bring on the explosions, implausible plots, gauzy closeups and Hallmarky dialogue. Secondly, I LOVE PIRATES (even the totally fake, Keith Richards-y ones). The swashbuckling! The hardtack! The salty air! The life of crime and watery mobility! The colonial expanse of the universe! The shipwrecks! The swords, wooden legs, hooks...And I know I'm not alone. QPBers have long taken a shine to books (fiction and non fiction alike) about pirates, too: THE PIRATE COAST, THE PIRATE WARS, KINGSTON BY STARLIGHT are just a few recent examples. So why do YOU love these eye-patched villains of the high seas? And please, please share any pirate jokes, too. They're argh-uably my favorite genre of cheesy-corny jokes.
P.D. James
We here at QPB absolutely love mystery writer P.D. James. If you haven't had a chance to read her work yet, I implore you to purchase her newest novel, The Lighthouse, which QPB is offering now in an exclusive early softcover edition.
We love her so much that one of our contributing editors, Jane Dentinger (a Senior Editor at the Mystery Guild Book Club), created a video for us to tell all of you about why this book is so good. Click here to watch what Jane has to say