Cozy experts at the Southern Festival of Books

Posted on 12 October 2009 by Eliza, Associate Editor

51KXMCq2WdL._SS500_As we blogged last week, Friday through Sunday was the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville. In honor of our Cozy Corner column – where Joanne Collings reviews two cozy mysteries a month – I attended a session on Friday called “A Whodunit and a How-to: Cozy Mysteries.” Authors Jennie Bentley and Emyl Jenkins were the speakers.

In August, Bentley wrote a behind-the-book column 51vehpcgNKL._SS500_for BookPage about Spackled and Spooked, the second installation in her series about home renovator Avery Baker. Jenkins is the author of The Big Steal, a dead-body-free mystery starring antiques appraiser Sterling Glass.

At the Southern Festival of Books  session, both authors described the concept of cozy mysteries and how their personal interests have played into their writing. Continue reading →

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Vampires everywhere (plus, a contest)

Posted on 12 October 2009 by Trisha, Managing Editor

These days there seem to be more vampires around than you can shake a stake at. On TV, with “True Blood” and the CW’s new series “The Vampire Diaries“; on the big screen, with the films New Moon and Jennifer’s Body; and definitely in books (which inspired all of the above except Jennifer’s Body, an original screenplay by Diablo Cody).

A new wave of books is feeding on the lifeblood of this vampire explosion—vampire humor and mashups. Newbie and wannabe vamps will slurp up The New Vampire’s Handbook, a snarky look at life as one of the undead that was edited by “the Vampire Miles Proctor.”

Useful advice on topics like “Fighting Werewolves” and “Common Puncture Methods” are punctuated by “Words to Live Forever By” sections that offer advice like this:

If you find yourself fumbling at any point in your approach, try making a little small talk with your victim. Ask about his favorite hobbies, television shows or his taste in popular music. Then, once you’re both feeling a little more relaxed, savagely plunge your fangs into his neck.

Another new book, The Vampire Is Just Not That Into You, plays off of both a book and the vampire trend (nicely done, Vlad Mezrick!). Any girls looking to lure a sparkly Edward Cullen of their very own will treasure the advice provided here, which includes ideas for making your bedroom more vampire-friendly (avoid thick comforters which can “muffle the exhilarating and delicious sound of your heartbeat”), 10 things not to bring up when meeting his family (don’t bother asking for family photos!) and stories from real-life girls and the vampires who (might) be into them.

From the section on “10 tips on dating a (much) older man”:

#4 Learn about his past. It would be super awkward to invite your vampire to tour Gettysburg if it turns out he, um, left mortality behind during the Civil War. Avoid forcing him to relive painful moments, like bloody wars or the time he missed an early opportunity to invest in Microsoft.

In case you need further proof that vampires are everywhere, did you know Mr. Darcy was one of the undead?

Time for a poll:

[polldaddy poll=2005687]

And a giveaway: comment about your favorite vampire story of all time (book or TV) before Friday, October 16 and win three books from our Halloween roundup, including Otto Penzler’s The Vampire Archives. US residents only this time. Good luck!

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Twitter tips for booklovers

Posted on 9 October 2009 by Trisha, Managing Editor

10.09twitternameMedia coverage of twitter—which was ubiquitous when they discovered it earlier this year and hasn’t let up much since—tends to focus on the sensational. Like Senators caught tweeting during a presidential address. Or celebs using Twitter to to break up. But there’s a very interesting literary community out there expressing themselves in 140 characters or less. Including, of course, BookPage (@BookPage). At any moment, booklovers are tweeting out book news and links to articles or blog posts you’ll want to read, announcing giveaways or just discussing the latest bestseller.

Excellent newbie guides to Twitter have already been written, so in honor of Follow Friday, after the jump we’ll share a few of our favorite tweeters and keywords (aka hashtags) to get you started in the Twitter community. This being the end of a long week I’m sure to have left someone out, so please add to the list—or share your own Twitter name—in the comments!

Continue reading →

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The Wimpy Kid is back!

Posted on 8 October 2009 by Eliza, Associate Editor

51CH5aL1yrL._SS500_Monday is going to be a happy day for a lot of kids.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, the fourth book in Jeff Kinney’s “Wimpy Kid” series, hits bookstores everywhere on Oct. 12. With a whopping first printing of 4 million copies, Dog Days is the largest children’s book release this year, according to a press release from Abrams, Kinney’s publisher. The press release also offered the tidbit (the first I’d heard) that a Wimpy Kid movie is in the works with an April 2 release date.

Our reviewer loved the first Wimpy Kid book, noting that “the writing is sharp, and the artwork, though deceptively simple, is both entertaining and expressive.”

In the series, Kinney writes and illustrates the diary of Greg, “a boy whose mom makes him keep a journal about his life.” Greg is picked-on at school. He’s just “trying to make it through school in one piece,” writes our reviewer.

At BookPage, we were lucky to have Kinney as our “Meet the Illustrator” columnist in Feb. 2009.

He answered and illustrated a series of questions, writing that the message he’d like to send to kids is:

Take pride in everything you do, from tonight’s homework assignment to setting the kitchen table. If you always try to do a good job, even the most unpleasant task can be rewarding.

Customers have already pre-ordered 300,000 books of Dog Days. Michael Jacobs, the publisher and CEO of Abrams, hopes to see how “Dog Days will bring people into the stores and give fans of the series an impetus to shop for and buy books and help kick off the holiday season at retail.”

Are any readers going to buy Dog Days on Monday? With fall book sales down, let’s hope Kinney’s latest gives children’s publishing a boost.

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Harvard Lampoon to parody Twilight

Posted on 7 October 2009 by Eliza, Associate Editor

31l++OyV0LL._SS500_Vintage Books announced yesterday that humor magazine the Harvard Lampoon will parody teen sensation Twilight. Their version, Nightlight, will be published on Nov. 3. The Lampoon hasn’t parodied a book in 40 years, since 1969′s Bored of the Rings.

The Vintage press release gave a brief history of the Lampoon:

The first volume of the Lampoon appeared in February, 1876. Written by seven undergraduates and modeled on Punch, the British humor magazine, the debut issue took the Harvard campus by storm. “Our success was immediate,” wrote founder John Tyler Wheelwright. “Our first edition of twelve hundred was sold at once.” United States President Ulysses S. Grant was advised not to read the magazine, as he would be too much “in stitches” to run the government.

Nighlight stars “Belle Goose” in an “uproarious tale of a vampireobsessed girl, looking for love in all the wrong places…”

Related in BookPage: Read our interview with Stephenie Meyer.

Confession: I’ve never read Twilight, so I don’t have much of an opinion on the parody… although I am envious of the group of undergraduates who got to write a book with Random House.

Thoughts from Twilight fans (or loathers)?

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Take a look, it's in a . . . Vook?

Posted on 7 October 2009 by Trisha, Managing Editor

We’ve posted about video/book hybrids before (how did Level 26 do, anyway?). But a new California start-up, Vook, is taking it to the next level. No YouTube here: these are ebooks that have video and even social media integrated into the text.

Screenshot from a video from 'Promises,' courtesy of the AP

Screenshot from a video from 'Promises,' courtesy of the AP

Simon & Schuster’s Atria imprint is the first to take the leap, publishing several books—including the latest from Jude Deveraux, a smart move since romance readers are some of the most ardent ebook readers—with Vook last week. But the innovative imprint HarperStudio also has plans to work with the company.

While I’m still not sure how I feel about watching a video in the middle of a novel (especially if it’s only a dramatization of what I’ve just read—talk about messing with your imagination—and how would it work on, say, the Sony Reader? I’m guessing it wouldn’t), it’s good to see publishers experimenting with the ebook format, which should be more than a badly formatted PDF.

What about you?

ETA: Mike Cane has an in-depth look at Vook here.

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Nobel Prize speculation

Posted on 7 October 2009 by Eliza, Associate Editor
The Nobel Prize in Literature

The Nobel Prize in Literature

Here at BookPage, we are anxiously awaiting tomorrow’s announcement for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Book blogs are buzzing with predictions and odds. There’s a detailed post at The Book Bench, The New Yorker’s blog, that includes a link to U.K. bookmaker Ladbrokes’ Nobel Prize odds-generator.

Word on the street is that Amos Oz (Israeli author and political activist); Herta Müller (Romanian-born German novelist); and Americans Joyce Carol Oates, Philip Roth and Thomas Pynchon are in top contention – although who knows? Maybe it will go to a wild card (like Bob Dylan, whose odds are supposedly 25/1).

While you’re waiting for the announcement, check out this amusing webpage that details where certain Nobel Prize winners were when they got “The Magic Call” informing them of the big news.

Here, you can find some interesting Nobel Prize facts. A sample: From 1901 to 2008, there have been 36 female Nobel Laureates… and 757 men. The oldest Nobel Laureate was 90 (Leonid Hurwicz, for economics) The youngest was 25 (Lawrence Bragg, for Physics). Two Nobel Laureates have declined the Prize, including Jean-Paul Sartre, who won in 1964 for Literature.

Tomorrow at 1 p.m. Central European Time (that’s 6 a.m. in Nashville) there will be a live web cast of the announcement on the Nobel Prize website.

Any Book Case readers care to make a prediction?

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Archie's all grown up

Posted on 6 October 2009 by Eliza, Associate Editor

archie_issue1archie_issue2archie_issue4archie_issue5As much as I enjoy graphic novels, my first love will always be old-school cartoons and comics—specifically, Archie Comics.  (My feminist self recognizes the absurdity of Archie’s double-playing of Betty and Veronica, although I never would have gotten through childhood car trips without Archie Double Digests.)

Other than occasionally flipping through an Archie comic at the grocery store checkout line, I’d been out of the Riverdale loop for a while… until I spotted this article in yesterday’s New York Times: “Archie’s Destiny, as Shaped by Robert Frost.” Continue reading →

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And the Booker goes to . . .

Posted on 6 October 2009 by Trisha, Managing Editor

10.06BookerGraphic

Hilary Mantel

for Wolf Hall.  To be released on this side of the Atlantic a week from today, this hefty historical novel drew an enthusiastic review from BookPage’s Lauren Bufferd, who deemed it

a riveting portrait of Thomas Cromwell, chief advisor to King Henry VIII and a significant political figure in Tudor England. Mantel’s crystalline style, piercing eye and interest in, shall we say, the darker side of human nature, together with a real respect for historical accuracy, make this novel an engrossing, enveloping read.

Continue reading →

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Amy Bloom in 'Love' again

Posted on 6 October 2009 by Trisha, Managing Editor

In January, author Amy Bloom returns with her first work since 2007′s much-lauded Away. The new book, Where the God of Love Hangs Out (Random House) will be an interconnected collection of short stories that “explores the unexpected patterns that all forms of love and loss weave into our lives”—at least, according to the catalog copy.

amy_bloom_photo_web

Amy Bloom

Away, which made several “Best Book of the Year” lists, was something of a comeback for Bloom, whose previous work of fiction, A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You, was published in 2000. BookPage reviewer Arlene McKanic described Bloom’s writing in Away as “clear, rich and shot through with moments of humor” that perhaps made it more accessible than the edgier tales of “people on the edge” she’d published previously.

We’ll be interested to see where God of Love fits into Bloom’s oeuvre. Title-wise, it seems more in line with her early works: of her first four works of fiction, two have the word “love” in the title.

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“5 under 35” selections announced

Posted on 6 October 2009 by Eliza, Associate Editor

books_authorsYesterday, the National Book Foundation announced the “5 Under 35” selections for 2009:

Now in its fourth year, “5 Under 35” has become the highly-anticipated kick-off event for National Book Awards week. In a nod to Brooklyn’s status as the literary epicenter of New York City, the Foundation has moved the event to the Powerhouse Arena in DUMBO. That evening, each author will be introduced by the writer who selected them.

The 2009 5 Under 35 Honorees are:

  • Ceridwen Dovey, for Blood Kin (Selected by Rachel Kushner, 2008 Fiction Finalist for Telex from Cuba).
  • C. E. Morgan, for All the Living (Selected by Christine Schutt, 2004 Fiction Finalist for Florida).

Of Morgan’s novel, our reviewer wrote:

C.E. Morgan’s gossamer debut novel, All the Living, tells a simple story with a graceful, probing style that elevates it far above simplicity. Chronicling a young woman’s self-discovery through the promise of love and the inevitable disappointments that ensue, Morgan’s spare but intense narrative is a poetic meditation that burrows to our most basic human emotions.

  • Lydia Peelle, for Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing (Selected by Salvatore Scibona, 2008 Fiction Finalist for The End).

Our reviewer called the book a “startlingly original collection… [which] features graceful and seductive prose that transports the reader into surreal and yet utterly plausible realms.”

  • Josh Weil, for The New Valley (Selected by Lily Tuck, 2004 Fiction Winner for The News from Paraguay)

Do any readers have comments on the recognized books we haven’t reviewed (Blood Kin, Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing, The New Valley)? Any there other under-35s you would have liked to see on the list?

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Southern Festival of Books comes to Nashville this weekend

Posted on 6 October 2009 by Eliza, Associate Editor

SFoB posterAs we posted yesterday in our News update, this weekend is one of the most anticipated literary events of the year for readers in the South. The Southern Festival of Books will descend on Nashville this Friday through Sunday.

The Festival is organized by Humanities Tennessee. According to the SFoB site:

The Festival annually welcomes more than 200 authors from throughout the nation and in every genre for readings, panel discussions and book signings. Book lovers have the opportunity to hear from and meet some of America’s foremost writers in fiction, history, mystery, food, biography, travel, poetry and children’s literature among others.

If you can make it to Nashville this weekend, it’d be well worth your time to check out the lineup of authors and events (in addition to readings, there are music performances and children’s programs).

There are too many great Festival events to write about everything, although here are a few BookPage-recommended highlights (check the Festival schedule for locations and confirmed times): Continue reading →

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Gourmet magazine to close

Posted on 5 October 2009 by Eliza, Associate Editor

9780618610181Food lovers lost a 69-year-old companion today in Gourmet magazine. Condé Nast, the publishing company, announced that it will fold the culinary giant, along with magazines Cookie, Modern Bride and Elegant Bride.

We were saddened to hear the news at BookPage, particularly because of our longtime coverage of Gourmet cookbooks and Ruth Reichl, the magazine’s editor-in-chief.

Just this month, Sybil Pratt wrote about Gourmet Today in our cooking column. She wrote:

Gourmet began its illustrious career in 1941 and has become the magazine of record, the gold standard for food magazines. There are others to be sure, but Gourmet maintains its cachet and its excellence due, in good part, to Ruth Reichl’s leadership. Reichl, Gourmet’s famed editor-in-chief, edited The Gourmet Cookbook in 2004, the more-than-magnum opus compiled to celebrate the magazine’s 60th birthday. With more than 1,000 recipes, it was a grand retrospective that gathered the best of the best—retested, retasted and updated. Now, only five years later, the indomitable Gourmet team has done it again with Gourmet Today.

prar_01_reichl_download

Gourmet editor-in-chief Ruth Reichl

In a 2001 interview with BookPage about her memoir Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table, Reichl said, “You can’t be a good cook if you don’t have a generous soul and the impulse to take care of people… I only know two good cooks who are stingy in their souls.”

Our reviewer, Eve Zibart, wrote that “Reichl’s passion, humor, abandon, intelligence, whimsy and vital sense of food as culture have revolutionized a nation raised on Betty Crocker cookbooks and school cafeterias.” Continue reading →

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'Castle' is back, in print and on TV

Posted on 5 October 2009 by Trisha, Managing Editor

Over the summer, I posted about the ABC series “Castle,” about a novelist and a cop who form an unlikely partnership when the author decides to make the cop the model for the heroine of a new series. Well, season two is airing now—and more real-life authors appeared in the very first episode. I still get a kick out of seeing writers on TV, especially when Castle starts referring to plot points in their novels in order to get them to let him know where a “tattooed Russian mobster” is most likely to hang out.

Connelly and Cannell in 'Castle,' from hulu.com

Connelly and Cannell in 'Castle,' from hulu.com

But wait, there’s more: “Richard Castle’s” first mystery starring detective Nicki Heat went on sale—outside TV land—at the end of last month. And for a based-on-TV book, it’s getting some great early reviews. (Perhaps those illustrious literary extras were also contributors?) You can watch a trailer here.

Would you read a book that’s inspired by TV? Or if you already have, what’s your favorite? As a dedicated viewer of the late, lamented (by me anyway) “Passions” I have to admit to checking out a copy of Hidden Passions back when it came out.

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"Under the Dome" cover is here

Posted on 5 October 2009 by Eliza, Associate Editor

A couple weeks ago, Trisha wrote about the cover release of Stephen King’s latest, Under the Dome (previewed here on our blog). The cover image was “revealed” in four images over a two-week period.

Well, King fans can rejoice because  the wait is over; Scribner released the complete cover image today:

Layer4

According to King’s publisher:

“The jacket concept for Under the Dome originated as an ambitious idea from the mind of Stephen King. The artwork is a combination of photographs, illustration, and a 3-D rendering. This is a departure form the direction of King’s most recent, illustrated covers.”

Thoughts on the cover? No doubt Scribner wanted something spectacular to pair with King’s 1,088-page novel.  In May, Abby posted about the plot of Under the Dome: “Featuring more than 100 characters facing a menacing supernatural element in their small Maine town, early reads are comparing Under the Dome to King’s classic epic, The Stand.”

Click here for a listing of BookPage’s Stephen King coverage through the years, and happy reading on Nov. 10 — when Under the Dome hits bookstores!

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