"Scream" for joy
They found Edvard Munch's Scream! Yay!
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August 31, 2006
Author of "The Known World" returns
Goodness, did I love Edward P. Jones' The Known World. Obviously I'm not alone--this masterful novel, about black slave owners (you read right), won the Pulitzer Prize, and so many QPBers read and adored it too. (The book was reportedly decades in the making. Worth the wait). In any case, Jones is back with an incredible short story collection. QPB, of course, will be offering it soon in early paperback. While we wait, read this interview in the New York Times.
Poor A.N. Wilson
It was bad enough that British biographer A.N. Wilson unknowingly featured a fake letter in his latest book; it's worst that said pseudo-epistle was an insult again Wilson himself. Oy vey.
Remembering a groundbreaking Nobelist
August 24, 2006
Where's the beef?
Do you ever wonder where the food you're eating comes from? I don't mean from your favorite Italian, Greek, or Chinese restaurant, but the food you prepare at home -- eggs, meat, vegetables, and so forth. Food that is grown on a farm somewhere in the United States and then shipped to your local supermarket or grocery.
If you haven't, you certainly won't be able to think otherwise after reading Michael Pollan's newest book, The Omnivore's Dilemma. QPB will be offering this eye-opening look at the return to local food distribution in a couple months, of course in an exclusive paperback edition, but I thought I'd give you a preview now to whet your appetite (no pun intended!). I first heard about Pollan's book in an article called "No Bar Code" in the May/June issue of Mother Jones magazine (an absolutely wonderful rag for independent investigative journalism that I recommend everyone subscribe to!). "No Bar Code" is an excerpt from the book in which Pollan describes the expansion of sustainable, localized farming. In an era where the terms "globalization" and "mass-market" ring in our ears every day, The Omnivore's Dilemma is a fresh look at supporting local food economies and the effect alternative food distribution may have on our environment as a whole. Highly recommended!
August 23, 2006
Exclusive audio interview with New Voices winner Clare Clark!
Happy humpday, QPBers.
At long last, without any further delay, we're stoked to present to you an exclusive audio interview (high tech!) with the brilliantly imaginative, Dickens-channeling, sewer-spelunking Clare Clark, whose debut novel THE GREAT STINK won QPB's 2006 New Voices award. (That's $5000 and a place in the Kewp's Pantheon of New Voices winners--which includes Terry McMillan, Yann Martel, Monica Ali and other greats.) Who got to chat with this uncannily talented author? Me. Bonus: no reading required; just listen!
August 22, 2006
9/11 Report: the Graphic Novel
If you watched The Today Show this morning, you may have caught a fascinating piece on an upcoming release which QPB is proud to offer: The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation. When this graphic novel, by visionary comic legends Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón, first arrived in our offices, we were all pretty skeptical: that horrible day recalled in comic book form? But then we all also realized: had any of us actually read that thick, voluminous official report from the 9/11 Commission? Would we ever? Sitting down with this slimmer, more accessible version of that historic document, we were unexpectedly riveted, moved and informed in a way we never imagined. This is a vital, heartbreaking and unforgettable work of art inspired by one of the worst, most transformative days in modern history.
August 16, 2006
Dressed like a man, PH-balanced like a woman
OK, so one of my top 5 favorite books of 2006 (so far, but this'll stay on the list) is SELF MADE MAN: One Woman's Journey Into Manhood and Back Again. At long last, we're offering this acclaimed New York Times bestseller in early, exclusive paperback in our just-released October catalog. Why do I love this book? Well, it's audacious enough that author/journalist Norah Vincent donned stubble, a prosthesis in her pants and a full wardrobe of man gear (suit, hoodie, monk's vestments...) for over a year just to find out what it's like to live like as a man in a man's world in the vein of Barbara Ehrenreich or Black Like Me. It's audacious-er that the resulting book is so much more than a stunt, and that Norah dispenses immediately with Men Are Pigs polemics. Her revelations--about the hurt guys carry around with them, about the tender platonic relationships they form with one another, about their fraught relationships with fathers and women--are sociologically astute, deeply empathetic and always surprising. Norah--known as "Ned" during her experiment--submitted to a sit-down interview in the QPB offices earlier this year. What a treat that was! Check it out.
The best debut novelist you've never heard of
Ello--sorry for the sabbatical. Didja miss me?
Today's confession:
I don't always understand this here book industry. Why some books get so much critical/promotional fanfare (and subsequent blockbuster sales/NYT bestseller status) while others languish ignored, unsold and worst, unread. In fact, it's ultimately not for me to understand, but to keep on keepin' on--by offering both the buzzed-about books AND hidden, undiscovered little gems that DESERVE some buzz and excitement.
Case in point: SEND ME, an absolutely stunning debut fiction from Patrick Ryan. About a dysfunctional Floridian family struggling through several decades, it's touching, artful, brilliantly constructed and stays with you for a long time. Reading it made me think of The Corrections. Help me spread the word about this wonderful book. Incidentally, Patrick's a real stand-up guy, too--kind, endearing, unpretentious and eager to chat. My exclusive interview with him is here. Enjoy!
August 09, 2006
Why isn't this guy a QPB member?
Joe Queenan's the kind of junkie we love: he can't stop starting books!
Salman Rushdie's wild about Harry!
(Again, thanks to GalleyCat!)
Now that the fatwa's off, Salman Rushdie can concentrate on the important things...like what's gonna happen in the last Harry Potter book!
Angels & Demons go to the movies
Shocker: Angels and Demons just got greenlit for da movies. (Thanks to my pals at GalleyCat!)
August 02, 2006
Abused, abandoned single mother & maid becomes literary sensation
Live from New York, it's JK Rowling, Stephen King and John Irving!
Three of the biggest authors out there will be at Radio City Music Hall for one night only. No singing and dancing, unfortunately, but Stephen King and John Irving have already begged for the life of Harry Potter. Ah, off the four-eyed brat.
August 01, 2006
Turkey's James Joyce?
Today, Orhan Pamuk is "is something of a rock star and political lightning rod who has stirred criticism from both secular and Islamic detractors, not only for his writing but also for his outspoken opinions," and a much-mentioned Nobel Prize candidate. (QPB recently offered his brilliant memoirs Istanbul: Memories and the City) He burst onto the international literary scene in 1990 with Black Book, recently re-released and reviewed in the San Francisco Chronicle..
Terrorist teddy bear?
We at QPB weren't sure about this particular novel about an animate, androgynous, terrorist teddy bear when its manuscript graced our desks...