Fall means three things to me - Travel (audio books), Q4 book season (best of the best) and holidays (sappy Christmas romance novels)
I am well prepared for the first, already survived a few good trips with Michael Pollan (The Botany of Desire) with a new iPhone. On the docket is The Forgotten Garden (Kate Morton), Salt: A History of the World by Mark Kurlansky, and another Pollan, Second Nature.
The second, hmm, well I'm still trying to get through summer novels with Birthmarked. Not really sure what I should look for next.
And well the third, the holidays are coming early. The sappy Christmas romances are on the bookselves. Last week I picked up Lakeshore Christmas. Usually, these things all have the same story line - boy or girl leaves small town to come back years later to have a magical holiday & fall in love or overworked boy or girls meets someone over the holidays to help them re-evaluate their lives and have a magical holiday. Sometimes the fact that it's Christmas is secondary to the whole novel (I know that some were simply re-written, adding a few holiday references to catch those freaks like me) which I hate. Well, Lakeshore was way better than I expected. Very Christmasy with just a touch of magic. A good way to start the yearly tradition.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
Try to Remember...
I wasn't a reader as a kid. Music was more my thing. Now I was fairly good in English class but I can pretty much name all the books I remember reading on my own: Encyclopedia Brown, Children of Morrow and Sweet Valley High. Then I found Withering Heights, Piers Anthony & Orson Scott Card. That was it. Grade 11 and I lost any chance of ever experiencing the classic kids' books as a kid. No Munsch, Judy Blume, blah, blah, blah...
Fast forward...most of you know I work for publisher of children's books. Sometimes my lack of childhood reading memories shows but I've been in the business long enough to have discovered some new to me favourites (Kit Pearson!)
Recently, a friend asked me for some kid friendly versions of Shakespeare. That got us talking a bit about introducing our classics to this new generation of readers. Then, I read this article, Kids' Books are alright, in the NYTimes. It referred to a book on this very topic - Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading. I love the covers!!
So I am thinking. What are your classics?
Fast forward...most of you know I work for publisher of children's books. Sometimes my lack of childhood reading memories shows but I've been in the business long enough to have discovered some new to me favourites (Kit Pearson!)
Recently, a friend asked me for some kid friendly versions of Shakespeare. That got us talking a bit about introducing our classics to this new generation of readers. Then, I read this article, Kids' Books are alright, in the NYTimes. It referred to a book on this very topic - Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading. I love the covers!!
So I am thinking. What are your classics?
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Inspiring History...
Rebel Ireland: From Easter Rising to Civil War (Paperback) - Sean McMahon
We picked this book from the many available at Easons on Connell Street in Dublin. We probably know more than most about the troubles, I mean beyond movies Rebel Heart, the Devils Own and Michael Collins or fiction books like Trinity and 1916 but we were intrigued to learn more after seeing an exhibit of photographs at the National Photographic Archive in Temple Bar, Witness to War by Journalist WD Hogan. It's hard if you have a passing interest in Irish history to not be struck by the immediacy of the fight with such heart breaking pictures. So we needed to know more.
So when we found ourselves in a bookstore we spent a lot of time in the Irish History Section. And were fairly lucky in our final choice.
This book is a quick read, originally published in three parts. It doesn't go too deeply into the reasons behind the conflicts but it does work to keep the many changing factions straight. The timelines move fast but the author is good at providing the tipping point (to use a modern term.) However, you do have to work out who's doing what and it does leave a bit left unsaid like the real affect of the orange card and the proposal of the north. So. It's a good start, a good reference and enough to make me want to read more.
We picked this book from the many available at Easons on Connell Street in Dublin. We probably know more than most about the troubles, I mean beyond movies Rebel Heart, the Devils Own and Michael Collins or fiction books like Trinity and 1916 but we were intrigued to learn more after seeing an exhibit of photographs at the National Photographic Archive in Temple Bar, Witness to War by Journalist WD Hogan. It's hard if you have a passing interest in Irish history to not be struck by the immediacy of the fight with such heart breaking pictures. So we needed to know more.
So when we found ourselves in a bookstore we spent a lot of time in the Irish History Section. And were fairly lucky in our final choice.
This book is a quick read, originally published in three parts. It doesn't go too deeply into the reasons behind the conflicts but it does work to keep the many changing factions straight. The timelines move fast but the author is good at providing the tipping point (to use a modern term.) However, you do have to work out who's doing what and it does leave a bit left unsaid like the real affect of the orange card and the proposal of the north. So. It's a good start, a good reference and enough to make me want to read more.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
New books to watch for...
in a about a year or so (from Publisher's Lunch Deal Weekly)
Illustrated/Art
Seymour Chwast's CANTERBURY TALES, a graphic novel of Chaucer's classic, to Margaret Maloney at Bloomsbury, in a very nice deal, in a two-book deal, by Sandy Choron at March Tenth (world).
Science
Stanford mathematician and NPR's "Math Guy" Keith Devlin's FIBONACCI'S BRIDGE OF NUMBERS: THE MEDIEVAL GENIUS AND THE BOOK THAT LAUNCHED THE MODERN WORLD, the previously untold story of how a 12th-century Italian mathematician brought Arabic numbers to the West, triggering revolutions in everything from banking to the age of exploration to architecture, to George Gibson at Bloomsbury, at auction, by Ted Weinstein at Ted Weinstein Literary Management (World English).
Children's: Young Adult
Maggie Stiefvater's FOREVER, the final book in the bestselling SHIVER trilogy, plus three new stand-alone fantasy titles, to David Levithan at Scholastic, for publication summer 2011, by Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (world).
Illustrated/Art
Seymour Chwast's CANTERBURY TALES, a graphic novel of Chaucer's classic, to Margaret Maloney at Bloomsbury, in a very nice deal, in a two-book deal, by Sandy Choron at March Tenth (world).
Science
Stanford mathematician and NPR's "Math Guy" Keith Devlin's FIBONACCI'S BRIDGE OF NUMBERS: THE MEDIEVAL GENIUS AND THE BOOK THAT LAUNCHED THE MODERN WORLD, the previously untold story of how a 12th-century Italian mathematician brought Arabic numbers to the West, triggering revolutions in everything from banking to the age of exploration to architecture, to George Gibson at Bloomsbury, at auction, by Ted Weinstein at Ted Weinstein Literary Management (World English).
Children's: Young Adult
Maggie Stiefvater's FOREVER, the final book in the bestselling SHIVER trilogy, plus three new stand-alone fantasy titles, to David Levithan at Scholastic, for publication summer 2011, by Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (world).
Thursday, March 4, 2010
YRCA Nominees
Some of my favourite books from this past year have been nominated for the 2011 YRCA selection.
9 Scholastic titles out of 23.
9 Scholastic titles out of 23.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Catz!
Book: Dewey by
Finished on Feb 9th, 2009
****
I've had cats all my life. Even when I didn't think I was ready to have another cat, somehow they would make their way into my life. So I know that look; that one that drags you in, not letting go, where every moment near them effects your life, as they watch.
Dewey had that look from a young age apparently. And the library/town that adopted him was not immune.
Spencer was a typical small town in the mid west, suffering from an economic downturn and the loss of families, until Dewey, the rescue cat became a focal point for the town to rally around. The story of Dewey is the story of a town's survival. It has humor, sadness (especially for anyone who has had to put a cat down) and most of all insight to what brings people together.
And I loved it. It was beautiful. A great balance between the generalizations of what one thing can do to help a community and the influence of that special thing on individuals.
I have to admit, my first thoughts were "really, how much can you write about one cat? They sleep 20 hours a day." Now that I'm finished the book, I see, once again, the power of writing; to expand the mundane, seemingly simple events to significant universal experiences.
Once I, on a whim, I went to a movie. It was a sunny afternoon and I was wandering downtown with nothing to do. The movie was Remains of the Day. I remember walking out of the theatre thinking "I'm a better person for seeing that movie."
It's not often I say that about a book.
Finished on Feb 9th, 2009
****
I've had cats all my life. Even when I didn't think I was ready to have another cat, somehow they would make their way into my life. So I know that look; that one that drags you in, not letting go, where every moment near them effects your life, as they watch.
Dewey had that look from a young age apparently. And the library/town that adopted him was not immune.
Spencer was a typical small town in the mid west, suffering from an economic downturn and the loss of families, until Dewey, the rescue cat became a focal point for the town to rally around. The story of Dewey is the story of a town's survival. It has humor, sadness (especially for anyone who has had to put a cat down) and most of all insight to what brings people together.
And I loved it. It was beautiful. A great balance between the generalizations of what one thing can do to help a community and the influence of that special thing on individuals.
I have to admit, my first thoughts were "really, how much can you write about one cat? They sleep 20 hours a day." Now that I'm finished the book, I see, once again, the power of writing; to expand the mundane, seemingly simple events to significant universal experiences.
Once I, on a whim, I went to a movie. It was a sunny afternoon and I was wandering downtown with nothing to do. The movie was Remains of the Day. I remember walking out of the theatre thinking "I'm a better person for seeing that movie."
It's not often I say that about a book.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Marriage? Why?
I recently got married. For some bizarre, inexplicable reason, my boyfriend of 13 years and common-law husband for 6 years and I decided "yeah, I guess it's a good time." Really, I have no formal answer as to 'why now'?
So when I heard that the author of "Eat, Pray, Love" Elizabeth Gilbert was publishing a book on her experience as a reluctant bride, I was very intrigued. I read EPL and while I will admit is was interesting, like many others I found it overly indulgent and almost naïve. Oh, the imagery was beautiful, the spirituality exudes every chapter, and the author is unbelievably smart but I will always have a problem with too much self indulgence. Unfortunately, I just don't have the ability to relate to people who spend so much energy questioning themselves and others. I know. My life would be totally different if I did...
Anyway, I was a bit hesitant about Committed. And let me say - am I ever thankful that I got over that.
Committed is a better version of EPL. All the wit with more smarts. I'm not saying it doesn't have any episodes of Gilbert saying "woe is me, why is this so hard on me?" and then trying to find the answers outside of herself (again, something I don't really understand.) But this has more historical and social insights. And that's really where her intellegance shines. She can take however many scholarly reports & publications and somehow whittle them down to what they really mean now, to her and the 26 women she's writing for, as mentioned in one of the best opening chapters ever written for what basically is a long awaited sequal.
As such, the details of her life fade into the background and we, as readers (or listeners in my case*,) become incased in how marriage is situated in our lives. I have to admit that I found myself agreeing with her on many observations: the misunderstood history of marriage, the overriding legal significance vs. romantic significance of marriage and the ways friends and family can become invested in one's marital status.
Seriously, change only a few details, this could be my story. I never really considered exploring my feelings towards marriage but this book really does highlight why I didn't get married until now & why now was the right time to. My friends, really, I will hand this book over to you when you ask me once again, why now? Ignore the travel itinerary, I'm working on it.
*PS. I heard Committed as an AudioBook narrated by the author. Elizabeth Gilbert's voice is perfect for audio. It's deep and resonant and she can pull off the best characterizations. lovely.
So when I heard that the author of "Eat, Pray, Love" Elizabeth Gilbert was publishing a book on her experience as a reluctant bride, I was very intrigued. I read EPL and while I will admit is was interesting, like many others I found it overly indulgent and almost naïve. Oh, the imagery was beautiful, the spirituality exudes every chapter, and the author is unbelievably smart but I will always have a problem with too much self indulgence. Unfortunately, I just don't have the ability to relate to people who spend so much energy questioning themselves and others. I know. My life would be totally different if I did...
Anyway, I was a bit hesitant about Committed. And let me say - am I ever thankful that I got over that.
Committed is a better version of EPL. All the wit with more smarts. I'm not saying it doesn't have any episodes of Gilbert saying "woe is me, why is this so hard on me?" and then trying to find the answers outside of herself (again, something I don't really understand.) But this has more historical and social insights. And that's really where her intellegance shines. She can take however many scholarly reports & publications and somehow whittle them down to what they really mean now, to her and the 26 women she's writing for, as mentioned in one of the best opening chapters ever written for what basically is a long awaited sequal.
As such, the details of her life fade into the background and we, as readers (or listeners in my case*,) become incased in how marriage is situated in our lives. I have to admit that I found myself agreeing with her on many observations: the misunderstood history of marriage, the overriding legal significance vs. romantic significance of marriage and the ways friends and family can become invested in one's marital status.
Seriously, change only a few details, this could be my story. I never really considered exploring my feelings towards marriage but this book really does highlight why I didn't get married until now & why now was the right time to. My friends, really, I will hand this book over to you when you ask me once again, why now? Ignore the travel itinerary, I'm working on it.
*PS. I heard Committed as an AudioBook narrated by the author. Elizabeth Gilbert's voice is perfect for audio. It's deep and resonant and she can pull off the best characterizations. lovely.
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