Bookdwarf

To promote Rupert Thomson’s amazing Divided Kingdom, Knopf has created a quiz to determine how you would fare in the divided world. It’s fairly obvious which answers go with which humor and I disagree with it’s assignment for me. Choleric? Really?

My man Robert Birnbaum speaks with Elizabeth Gaffney, author of Metropolis at the Morning News.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Dan Wickett’s foray into blogging. His brand new Emerging Writer’s blog has much to offer (he’s already putting me to shame with his many posts) and I am glad to congratulate him on his new endeavor.

It’s very hot here. Well, not hot really, humid. It’s day 6 of this weather and I am ready for it to end. But you didn’t come here to listen to me complain (or did you?). Reading is the only activity that doesn’t cause me to sweat, except when I turn pages. I’ve trained one [...]

Time magazine has named the Literary Saloon one of the 50 Coolest Websites. I find them an invaluable source of information on books. They post daily (unlike myself) and their blog content is top notch. Congratulations to them.

Both Kelly Link and Steve Almond read at my store last night. I’ve got a bit of a head cold, so I didn’t take notes or anything, but will try to recap the evening. If you ever get a chance to hear them, do it. You won’t regret it. Kelly started by asking if we [...]

Replace Richard and Judy with Oprah and Waterstones with Barnes and Noble and you get the US version: “‘They rely on Richard and Judy Page-Turners, the main prizes, three-for-two and that’s about it,’ he says, citing a client of his whose novel has been well reviewed across the broadsheets but is not stocked by Waterstone’s.” [...]

I love Patricia Storms work. Here she pokes fun at everything in the publishing world, including litbloggers (okay, the Litblog Co-op in particular. Ouch.)

This guy refuses to by Da Vinci Code in hardcover. He’s been waiting for the paperback for over 2 years. Keep waiting, friend. They will bleed that damn book dry. You know they will issue several new editions for the movie whenever that comes out. I am so sick of Da Vinci, Da Vinci that. [...]

Richard McCann discusses the 20 years it took to write and publish Mother of Sorrows in The Denver Post. “After The Atlantic, I got a contract for a novel, which I said might be a memoir,” said McCann, 55, who lives in Washington, D.C. “I had never written prose, and suddenly people were expecting things. [...]

I was all set to write a review of this book, when Christian Bauman emailed me a link to an essay of his on the very same book. It’s a very funny read on food obsession, something I know a little about. And that same day Dan Wickett emailed to let me know he has [...]

This is why I love blogs—an earnest discussion on sentimentality in fiction on TEV’s site.

The House voted yesterday to block the provision of the US Patriot Act (cough.bullshit.cough) that makes it easier to for federal investigators to review the records of libraries and bookstores on national security grounds. I don’t care what they say. Just because they’ve never used it doesn’t mean they won’t. I am not willing to [...]

Mike pointed his baton (that sounds dirty) and here’s the results. 1.) How much music on the hard drive? I have no idea. 20 Gigs? I put about 3 quarters of my cd collection on my iPod. And I keep adding. 2.) What’s the last CD you bought? Architecture in Helsinki’s In Case We Die. [...]

Robert Birnbaum interviews Alma Guillermoprieto, author if Dancing with Cuba: A Memoir of the Revolution. I love his interviews because he really seems to know each subject and asks all the right questions. Check out his older interviews, listed at the bottom of the page and you’ll see what I am talking about.

Popmatters has a new columnist Erik Wennermark (this is his second column, I know. I forgot to mention it last month) who calls himself the Bad Librarian. It’s observations on life from behind the desk, aka some nice rants. My cup of tea.

Another panel from Dan Wickett, this time questions for independent bookstores: Nicki Leone of Bristol Books in Wilmington, NC, Neil Strandberg of Tattered Cover in Denver, CO, and RoseMarie London of Chickering Bookstore in Laramie, WY. Good questions and good answers.

All those who want more than 4 pages for the Boston Globe Book Review section raise your hand. Even 6 pages would be better. This week is promising though. The fiction/non-fiction ratio is the best I’ve ever seen. And they have some interesting choices. Plus a column that brought tears to my eyes. There’s hope [...]

Here’s an article on the popularity of Haruki Murakami in the U.S. There is a film adaptation of his short story, “Tony Takitani,” set to open on July 29 and the article suggests this will bring him the wider audience that he deserves. As a reader of this site might know, he is one of [...]

I can’t believe that I forgot to include this in my BEA post. I met Maud Newton! She was very kind, beautifully dressed with sexy glasses. And she urged me to read more Rupert Thomson. I’ve been unable to find The Insult in our Used departement, which she says is best, but I have found [...]