Morsels

Given the rising cost of paper and increased focused on green, it’s not a big surprise that some publishers are reconsidering the ways they do business - such as communicating with booksellers.

Some publishers like Harper Collins are doing away with their paper catalog. Instead, booksellers can look online to see upcoming books.

“Publishers consider dropping old standby: the paper catalog” – Associated Press.

"I think we are overdue. We produce thousands and thousands of catalogs, many of which go right into the wastebaskets," HarperCollins President Jane Friedman, who said the switch would likely begin by summer 2009, told The Associated Press. "It's such a waste of paper and so inefficient."

Some booksellers are a little resistant to the change, according to the AP. They like being able to make notes and flip through the catalog.

Publishers consider dropping old standby: the paper catalog – Associated Press

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080512/ap_en_bu/books_paperless_catalogs;_ylt=AvtHVwsrNzV6WYtWGE15pHlREhkF

The power of redemption

Do you believe in second chances? James Frey probably hopes you do.

Perhaps best known for the controversy surrounding A Million Little Pieces, Freys back with a new novel, Bright Shiny Morning.

Without dredging up the past or my opinions about Frey, I will say I think our society has a dangerous habit of hyping up people and making them into stars and then delights in completely demolishing them. Look at Frey, one minute he’s on Oprah, hundreds are reading his book, flash forward he’s eating crow on Oprah.

That said, I couldn’t bring myself to read my copy of A Million Little Pieces. To me I didn’t see the point of reading something that I knew wasn’t the real thing. And I think the criticism he faced was legitimate.

With his new novel, Frey is now back in the limelight. He recently guest blogged over at Amazon’s Omnivoracious.

Amazon also included some reviews of Frey’s book in their regular feature: Old Media Monday: Reviewing the Reviewers:

(New York Times Janet) Maslin on Bright Shiny Morning by one of our other guests this week, James Frey: "The million little pieces guy was called James Frey. He got a second act. He got another chance. Look what he did with it. He stepped up to the plate and hit one out of the park. No more lying, no more melodrama, still run-on sentences still funny punctuation but so what. He became a furiously good storyteller this time."

(Los Angeles Time’s) David L. Ulin on Frey's Bright Shiny Morning: "'Bright Shiny Morning' is a terrible book. One of the worst I've ever read. But you have to give James Frey credit for one thing: He's got chutzpah.... Whatever else his failings as a writer, Frey was once able to move his readers; how else do we explain the success of 'A Million Little Pieces'? It's just one of the ironies of this new book that his fictionalized memoir is a better novel than 'Bright Shiny Morning' could ever hope to be."

The Boston Globe’s book blog, Off the Shelf also weighs in, “The Power of Redemption.” http://www.boston.com/ae/books/blog/2008/05/the_power_of_re.html

I feel like Off the Shelf makes some good points. While I believe everyone deserves a second chance, there are so many amazing authors and books I want to read, I would say Frey’s pretty low on my list.

Additional Reading:

Reviews mixed on new James Frey fiction, http://uk.reuters.com/article/stageNews/idUKN1343588520080514

James Frey emerges, with a novel about LA, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/05/14/entertainment/e130639D97.DTL

James Frey's 'Bright Shiny Morning': the reaction, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2008/05/james-freys-bri.html

Disgraced author James Frey rebounds with messy 'Morning', http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/reviews/2008-05-14-frey-bright-shiny-morning_N.htm

(The above image originally appeared on people.com)

A Girl Named Zippy

I added this book to my 'to read' list based on a recommendation from a fellow Paperback Swap member (www.paperswapback.com). I’m glad I did.

A Girl Named Zippy is Haven Kimmel’s memoir about growing up in Mooreland, Indiana (population: 300). Her family nicknames Haven Zippy because she’s always in constant motion.

This was a gentle memoir of Zippy’s colorful childhood that's told from a child’s perspective. Despite being a small community there’s some colorful characters like the ornery drug store owner, her chain smoking father and science fiction crazy mother. There are also stories of animal abuse, gambling, family abuse (not Zippy’s family) and poverty.

Some highlights for me: When Zippy tells her father she wants to be in the mafia when she grows up, he brings a framed certificate saying she was an official lifelong member of the Mafia. It was signed by Leonard “The Lion” Gravitiano Salvatore. Another is when Zippy convinces the next door neighbor “hippies” to give them their dog, who she thinks they don’t treat well, in exchange for hair cuts. She gives the dog to her father as Father’s Day present. According to Zippy, her father and the dog are constant companions for 14 years.

There’s also an interesting underlying emphasis on religion, while Zippy’s mother is a devout Quaker, her father does not go to services. Once when Zippy tells him everyone thinks he’s not a Christian he takes her early in the morning to a campground and tells her that it’s his church:

“’Where there are two or three gathered together, there I am also.’”

…

“Are there two or three of something out here?” he asked gesturing around us.

I nodded. “There are two or three trees, and two or three bugs, and two or three flowers. And us, of course.”

“Then this is where God is.”

Overall, I found this a charming come of age memoir.

Additional reading:
Haven Kimmel: http://www.havenkimmel.com/Haven_Kimmel/Welcome.html
Kimmel’s blog, http://www.havenkimmel.com/Haven_Kimmel/Blog.html
Purity of Heart (fan site): http://www.purityofheart.org/

Morsels

A coworker pointed this post out to me: What Feminist SF Books Should Be Movies?

Feminist SF: The Blog explores the topic after seeing a blog posting on the top 10 sci fi books that should be made into movies. Not only were there no women on the list, none of the books even had a female protoganist.

It’s interesting reading and good spot for reading ideas. Her list includes Anne McGaffrey, Catherynne M. Valente and Kate Elliot.

http://blogs.feministsf.net/?p=336

Best of the Bookers

To celebrate the 40^th anniversary of the Booker Prize, a one-time prize has been created to honor the best of the past winners.

The list has been narrowed down to six. Voting ends mid-day July 8. (I regret to say that I have not read any of the finalists. I’m hoping to rectify that. Disgrace is in the mail to me as I type.)

The finalists are:

Pat Barker’s The Ghost Road

Peter Carey’s Oscar and Lucinda

JM Coetzee’s Disgrace

J G Farrell’s The Siege of Krishnapur

Nadine Gordimer’s The Conservationist

Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children

http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/vote

A list of all Booker prize winners can be found at: http://www.themanbookerprize.com/prize/archive

Amazon’s take on it: The Most Bookery Booker: Down to Six,

http://www.omnivoracious.com/2008/05/the-most-booker.html

Help Back Pages Books

I’m lucky enough to live walking distance from a bookstore – Back Pages Books.
http://www.backpagesbooks.com/

I was saddened when I heard that it’s having financial difficulties. Back Pages is an independently owned bookstore. The owner, Alex Green, always strikes me as very smart and well read. He also seems like a nice guy, whose always up for a chat with customers.

According to its Web site, Back Pages is facing possible closure.

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On April 18, Back Pages Books will celebrate its third anniversary. It has been truly extraordinary to see the bookstore become a vibrant meeting place for readers and authors from around the world. However, three years is also a point of difficult reflection for us. We must face the reality that without significant increased financial support, we will have to close the store in the immediate future.

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Back Pages Books is starting a membership program that ranges from entry ($20) to platinum ($2,500). Benefits, which are based on membership level, include discounts, invitations to members only events, signed first editions and more.

The store will use the money to pay for outstanding accounts with publishers, sustained accounting and bookkeeping, a new inventory system and tax relief.

While most people in this area think of Moody Street in terms of restaurants, there’s also a gift store and unfinished furniture store. However, a number of factors make it tough for retailers there including a lack of day time shoppers and limited parking on the weekend. I think the high number of dollar stores/ used/ thrift stores makes it difficult for non-discount stores to compete.

Update: I did not realize that the Construction Site - a toy store on Moody Street had closed. According to the Boston Globe, four stores on Moody Street have closed in the last year.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/04/24/wrong_turn_on_moody_street/?page=1

Whatever the challenges, I would hate to see Waltham lose a wonderful asset like Back Pages Books. Studies have proven that local independent stores give back more to the community. According to Big Box Swindle, when Austin, Texas studied two local bookstores versus a proposed Borders, they found that for every $100 spent at the local stores, the stores spent $30 in Austin resulting in a $45 local economic impact. For that same $100, a typical Borders spent $9 in the local community, resulting in a local economic impact of $13.

I recently read about Edwards Books' - a Springfield bookstore- closure. The owner said that 50 percent of all independent book stores have closed in the last decade.

Hopefully, Back Pages Books will get enough support that they can buck that sad trend.

Additional Resources/ Reading:

Edwards Books to close, http://www.masslive.com/news/topstories/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1209885311265010.xml&coll=1

Shelf Life: Romance, Mystery, Drama, and Other Page-Turning Adventures from a Year in a Bookstore, Suzanne Strempek Shea (Chronicles Shea’s experiences working at Edwards Books).
http://www.amazon.com/Shelf-Life-Page-Turning-Adventures-Bookstore/dp/0807072591/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210643852&sr=8-1

Independent America, http://www.independentamericafilm.com/

American Booksellers Association, http://www.ambook.org/index.html

but enough about me

I decided I needed a change. I wanted happy, light and perhaps a bit fluffy. I wanted a book that didn't require a box of tissues at hand when I was reading it.
but enough about me: How a Small-Town Girl Went from Shag Carpet to the Red Carpet was the refreshing change I was looking for.

Dunn wrote for Rolling Stone, was a MTV veejay and had a brief stint as a correspondent for Good Morning America. She talks about growing in New Jersey - a seemingly ordinary childhood. Her father worked for JC Penney and her mother made a variety of beige food.

"Surely, everyone on earth relished the fiber-free beige food my family loved to bolt down -- crescent rolls from a can, boil-in-a-bag noodles. Is it puffy? Is it off-white? Pull up a chair!"

Sprinkled between the chapters are how-to tips for interviewing celebrities - "How to Approach an R&B Artist when You're the Whitest Person in the Western World" or "None For Me, Thanks: Gracefully Refusing Your Host's Kind Offer of Heroin." The latter dilemma arose for Dunn when she interviewed Scott Weiland from StoneTemple Pilots.

There's some fun behind-the-scenes on famous people. Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton both sounded really nice (and both gave Dunn food). Jennifer Beales, not so much.

Dunn also chronicles her nervous bouts before interviewing many of her subjects and especially before going on television.

Her reminiscences about interviewing U2 had me in stitches. The day of the shoot, she shows up with a giant zit in the middle of her forehead. Her producer recommends that she look straight at the camera.

"His eyes flicked to my forehead and he abruptly stopped talking. "What is that?" he asked frowning. "Did you hurt yourself?"
...
"I look like a unicorn, don't I? I said.
He shrugged. "Its a little distracting."
...
"After I asked my questions, I stared straight ahead at the camera as they responded. Don't turn to the side, I kept telling myself. They must have been wondering why they had to address my ear, but they gamely went along with it, presumably figuring that I had some sort of showbiz tic."

Overall, a charming and fun read.
**********
Check out Dunn's blog, http://janceedunn.typepad.com/