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OH MA GAHHH...The NYT has finally noticed that there are a lot of great books coming out this fall.
We, of course, have most of these. Yay! Take a look: www.zooba.com.
It's time you saw your favorite authors in a whole new light (or at all, really).
The Rock Bottom Remainders, a band composed of Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, Stephen King, Scott Turow, Amy Tan, James McBride, Mitch Albom, Roy Blount, Jr., Matt Groening, Kathi Kamen Goldmark and Greg Iles might be the most talented band you'll ever encounter.
Just not at music. Still, they have a great sense of humor, as evidenced by the quotes on their website, and this video clip of the band playing the 2006 Festival of Books.
Rock on, famous people.
(Warning: video resolution... not that great)
Hooray! We finally have a MySpace page, complete with 16 li'l buddies...less than Black Expressions, but we plan to change that soon!
Check us out: http://myspace.com/zoobabookclub
Joyce Carol Oates, author of The Falls and personal favorite Where I've Been and Where I'm Going, has drawn some heat from The College of New Jersey.
Her new story, Landfill, is partially based on the life and death of a CNJ student.
The International Herald Tribune reports:
Matt Golden, a college spokesman, said that Oates has the right to write whatever she wants, but the story has nevertheless caused some pain. "There are also people who were close to John and were loved ones who might have a difficult time with the story," he said.
Oates response was a TEENSY bit overboard. She likened her critics to Muslim fundamentalists who issues a fatwa for Salman Rushdie after the publication of his Satanic Verses.
Classy! And I mean, the parallel is really so obvious. I'm surprised no one pointed it out before.
Michael Connelly's marketing people have got some serious brains. Check out this noire-y YouTube clip for his new book, <i>Echo Park</i>. Have questions? Just call protagonist Harry Bosch on the phone: (323)-244-5631.
Today, we bid a bittersweet good-bye to Coliseum Books in New York City. The store will close by the end of the year.
I know that, in business, it's unusual to eulogize your competitors, but I think if you grew up in a certain era, the independent bookstore was how you first became familiar with books and may have been what made you love them.
Coliseum's closing is the latest in a series that marks the changes in the publishing industry. See the NYT graveyard article here.
Our sister club Black Expressions has 95 friends on MySpace, and they're all cool authors who we want to be friends with, too. Pretty impressive, since the profile just got put up YESTERDAY.
I mean, we're happy for Black Expressions and all, but this feels a little like the time we got picked last for dodgeball and then Rob put a bug in our hair during health class.
Stay tuned for us to copycat like the younger sibling we are and get a MySpace page of our very own...
The perfect thing to lead you out of your food coma:
We are late announcing the National Book Award nominees, but here they are.
Little excerpts from the Gashleycrumb Tinies to help you get through the day.
(Public service announcement: I love Bookslut as much as anyone (okay, maybe more), but I notice they link to Amazon, which sells the book for over $15. We have it for $9.95 + FREE shipping. Just sayin'...)
Read about it here...
Gawker has an item on An Incomplete History of the Art of the Funerary Violin, a hoax book with (apparently) a hoax marketing campaign.
How trendy.
Okay, I'm finally putting an NYC reading series up here. The Target Great Read in the Park will have a special children's area, used-book sales to benefit charity, famous authors on panels and food.
Cross your fingers for good weather -- it's on Oct. 15th.