‘Tis the season (for book awards)!

First the NBCCs, then the Orange Prize Longlist, now the American Academy of Arts & Letters literary awards. I am in list heaven! And no, I’m not going to try and read all these books and authors, too, alongside my Orange Prize Longlist reads and selected NBCC winning books. I’m nuts, but not quite that [...]

What book groups read in 2010

The top 25 book group discussion books of 2010, based on reports by book clubs, according to ReadingGroupGuides.com. I highlighted the titles I’ve read in a lovely shade of maroon: 1. The Help by Kathryn Stockett 2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson 2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by [...]

Borders. And so it begins.

Chances are there’s a Borders store near you that’s either closing or will close within the next year. Fortunately, the store in my town will remain open – for now - though another location 15 minutes north of here isn’t quite so lucky. I’ve visited the unfortunate Borders store three times since they put up the [...]

Entertainment Weekly – List of 100 New Classic Books

List covers between 1983 and 2008. I’ll highlight the ones I’ve read: 1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006) 2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000) 3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987) 4. The Liars’ Club, Mary Karr (1995) 5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997) 6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001) 7. [...]

Judging a Book by its Cover

A recent article in the Guardian discusses the importance of cover art in making book sales. The publisher Penguin is in the process of reissuing selected classics with blank covers, counting on the fact everyone knows enough about these titles not to need any sort of visual cues as to what’s inside. Well, maybe. Maybe [...]

Authors, and the Readers Who Love Them, or Why You Should Consider Turning Off That TV…

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that an author in possession of a published book must be in want of a venue in which to promote it. Being an author is truly hard work. Not only must a writer produce an actual written, published product, but once that’s done (which is no small feat), the real [...]