Bookdwarf

I haven’t been posting lately because I’m experiencing a sort of writer’s block. With each book I read, I sit in front of the computer but no words come out to describe how I feel about it. Perhaps it’s winter’s arrival. I’m assuming it’s just a phase.

I’m off to Atlanta tomorrow for Thanksgiving. When I get back, we’ll be well into the holiday season. I hope lots of people come looking for books! It’s one of the few chances I get to handsell on the floor. I’m planning on bringing a bunch of books to my parents. Maybe readng in a new environment will spark the critical juices again. Has anyone read The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher? I’m going to bring that one with me as well as Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz. I’m not sure what to bring for a third. Happy reading everyone!

Diary of an Exercise Addict by Peach Friedman
It’s impossible for me to guess why some events will tip people over into despair and self-destruction and not faze others at all. Peach Friedman, a woman I’ve known since childhood, never struck me as the sort to fall apart. She was tough and smart and beautiful and then, well, it all went south.

She was graduating from college, breaking up with a boyfriend, and watching her parents’ marriage nearly fall apart, and that series of unfortunate events triggered something. Eating less. Working out more. Eating far, far, far less. Today, she’s lucky to be alive. Lucky that her disorder started when she was old enough to understand what was going on, lucky that her parents were able to assemble a team of doctors to help her, lucky that they were able to support her financially when she was too sick and too sad to work. And we’re lucky that she’s a good enough writer to tell us what happened and how it felt, and how she came back from it.

It was definitely a little weird reading a memoir of someone I know. I kept expecting to show up in it somewhere, and possibly in an unflattering light. I’m not mentioned, although when she changed the names of the people in the book, she used my name for one of them. Which is fine, because there’s plenty of unflattering to go around without me there. She does a great job describing her parents’ rocky marriage, her brother’s sleazy girlfriends, and her own sleazy boyfriends: The guy who got my name tried to pick her up in the gym by commenting that she worked out so often she probably didn’t even menstruate any more. But mostly, it’s an unflinching look at herself, at how she tried to avoid emotional risk and gain a sense of control through obsessive calorie control and compulsive exercise. If anyone is portrayed harshly in this book, it’s the author herself.

Besides, I love that kind of stuff. I love cringe-inducing, can’t-look-away detail. I love TMI. Why else would you read a memoir if not to find out the dirt? “Diary” definitely provides on that count, chronicling relapses and overuse injuries, bad sex and embarrassing fantasies, lanugo, and of course the terrible constipation she suffered as her body learned to deal with eating again.

I’m not really the target market for this book, but it illustrates in such vivid detail the process of physical and emotional deterioration and recovery that I think it makes a compelling read for anyone.

–Aaron Weber

Andrea Walker at the Book Bench noted the cover for Serena by Ron Rash. This is an excellent book, one which inspired me to write a staff recommendation:

If the intense cover alone doesn’t draw you to this book, perhaps knowing that this novel features one of the greatest female protagonists I’ve ever come across will. It’s 1929, and George Pemberton returns to the North Carolina mountains with his new wife Serena where they plan on creating a timber empire. She’s no meek flower. She rides horses like men and even trains an eagle to kill the rattlers that plague the crews. Letting nothing get in their way, they ride roughshod over everyone who crossed paths with them including partners, sheriffs, and Pemberton’s former mistress. With echoes of Greek tragedy and Shakespeare, this story of ambition and greed and revenge has haunted my dreams for weeks.

I’ve long admired Joshua Glenn who wrote for the Ideas section of the Globe. His new book looks fantastic. He’s reading at the Harvard Advocate on Thursday. Details are below:
WHAT: Release party to celebrate The Idler’s Glossary by Joshua Glenn.

WHO: Joshua Glenn is a Boston-based author, editor, and former Globe columnist and blogger. Introduction by the philosopher Mark Kingwell; design and illustrations by the cartoonist Seth.

WHEN: Thursday October 23. 5 pm to 8 pm. OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

WHERE: The offices of The Harvard Advocate, 21 South Street, in Harvard Square.

WHY: This little book is a great stocking-stuffer!

A plethora of interesting new books showed up on my desk today. What should I read after Olympos (about three quarters of the way through now)?

• The Forever War by Dexter Filkins: Everyone I’ve spoken with who has read Filkin’s book has nothing but high praise. I’ve avoided reading most books about the Iraq war but this one seems like a must read.
• Everything but the Squeal: Eating the Whole Hog in Northern Spain by John Barlow: The author lives in Galicia and decides to drive around eating hog. Sounds like a winner to me. I’ve never read Barlow before but this is published by FSG so it has to be good, right?
• The Fires of Vesuvius by Mary Beard: I love her. She’s what I wish I could have become if I had stuck with my degree. She writes exciting prose, not the typical dry scholarly stuff that I had grown used to in school. This book explores Pompeii–what it was like before the volcano.
• Under Pressure: Cooking with Sous Vide by Thomas Keller: Yes, I’m the kind of cooking nerd who likes to read cookbooks. Will I ever tackle sous vide? Probably not, but at least I’ll know how.
• The Journey by H.G. Adler: I need to read more literature in translation and what better way to start than with with this lost masterpiece of Holocaust literature?
• Hyperion by Dan Simmons: Should I take a break from science fiction or continue on the Simmons path. I also have a galley of his upcoming book Drood, which explores the last years of Dickens.

I love my job.

I’m back in nerd-dom, reading Dan Simmon’s follow-up to Iliium, which I had read on vacation. Olympos picks up shortly after the end of Ilium. I swear if I tried to explain the plot, your eyes might start to bleed. I tried to explain it to Mr. Bookdwarf, but after 5 minutes he just told me to stop. It’s complicated, involving the Trojan War, sentient organic robots from Jupiter, a band of humans, and the Greek gods. Exactly. I’m loving it however. I’ve not read anything else by Simmons. Got anything to recommend?

Award season has begun in the literary world. Last week, the Nobel Prize for Literature was announced: Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio. Right. Most Americans immediately hit google when they found out.

Then we had the Man Booker Prize on Tuesday: Aravind Ariga for The White Tiger. I was rooting for Amitav Ghosh’s amazing The Sea of Poppies (can’t wait for the second in the trilogy), but am okay with Ariga nabbing the win.

Yesterday the National Book Award Finalists were announced in Chicago:

Fiction

Aleksandar Hemon, The Lazarus Project (Riverhead)
Rachel Kushner, Telex from Cuba (Scribner)
Peter Matthiessen, Shadow Country (Modern Library)
Marilynne Robinson, Home (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Salvatore Scibona, The End (Graywolf Press)

Nonfiction

Drew Gilpin Faust, This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War (Alfred A. Knopf)
Annette Gordon-Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family
(W.W. Norton & Company)
Jane Mayer, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals (Doubleday)
Jim Sheeler, Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives (Penguin)
Joan Wickersham, The Suicide Index: Putting My Father’s Death in Order (Harcourt)

Poetry

Frank Bidart, Watching the Spring Festival (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Mark Doty, Fire to Fire: New and Collected Poems (HarperCollins)
Reginald Gibbons, Creatures of a Day (Louisiana State University Press)
Richard Howard, Without Saying (Turtle Point Press)
Patricia Smith, Blood Dazzler (Coffee House Press)

Young People’s Literature

Laurie Halse Anderson, Chains (Simon & Schuster)
Kathi Appelt, The Underneath (Atheneum)
Judy Blundell, What I Saw and How I Lied (Scholastic)
E. Lockhart, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (Hyperion)
Tim Tharp, The Spectacular Now (Alfred A. Knopf)

I find the nonfiction a good, steady list. The fiction however is quite interesting. You’ve got two older, seasoned writers, one who is in the middle of a burgeoning career, and two debut novelists. Incidentally, they’re the only two books on the list that I’ve read. I liked The End and Telex from Cuba and see good careers ahead. Also, here’s a great interview with Salvatore Scibona. I believe I got to be the first person to ask him to sign his book ever. That’s pretty cool.We’ll see what happens on November 19th, when they announce the winners.

In perusing i09, my favorite Sci-Fi blog, I came across two stories which I couldn’t wait to share!

First, in this interview, Ridley Scott says he’s filming a version of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. “Because when you look at the two players or visionaries in the field, at that moment [it] would be Huxley and it would be Orwell and that was 60 or 75 years ago. They were predictions in a way, they weren’t aware at the time, but they were predictions.”

Second, they reported that AMC will be showing a television version of Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars. “”This fits in with our bigger vision of wanting series that feel like cinematic one-hour movies,” said Christina Wayne, senior vp original series and miniseries at AMC. “We’re always looking for big genres but to do them in slightly different ways so they feel fresh and new,” she added.” They also announced another project in development, based on Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold’s book about magician Charles Carter and his role in President Harding’s death.

I don’t usually talk politics here, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to post this hilarious flow chart from BoingBoing (who got it from someone else):

Are you laughing yet? Flow charts have gotten a bit gimmicky lately, but they can still be funny. My absolute favorite is from Toothpaste for Dinner:

I’m not sure what your politics are, but I’m definitely in the Obama Bush/Cheney/McCain/Palin hating camp. I’m definitely getting out to vote on November 4th, also because there’s a question regarding eliminating the state income tax. Say what? Yes, I like having my roads plowed in the winter, so I’m going to say no.

• Another great interview at the Meeting House, this time with Kelly Link!
• New Boldtype, this month’s theme is Science.
• I am jealous of this library. Mine is almost as good, if you like IKEA shelves and cats?
• A more lengthy article on the sale of my store.
• We don’t need your stinkin’ Nobel!

My office is about to have a party to welcome Jeff, the new owner of my store. So while I’m swilling champagne, busy yourselves with this:

• Robert Birnbaum talks with Howard Zinn.
• The National Book Foundation has announced the “5 Under 35″ for this year. It’s an interesting list.
• NY Magazine has an conversation between Richard Price and Junot Diaz talking about the death of Times Square, the Lower East Side, and more.
• Publishers Weekly covers the sale of my store.
• Miriam Toews, whose The Flying Troutmans I finished this morning, is among the contenders for the $25,000 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. I enjoyed her book. Comparisons to Little Miss Sunshine are inevitable, but imagine her characters more fully fleshed out.

In momentous news, Frank Kramer sold Harvard Book Store to Jeff Mayersohn yesterday afternoon. Here’s a photo of them after they returned from the closing:

That’s Frank Kramer on the left, and Jeff Mayersohn on the right. You can read more about it on Shelf Awareness.

1. The New York Times profiled go-getter Jessica Stockton Bagnulo today. The Fort Greene Retail Association threw her a fundraising party recently, where neighbors as well as authors were in attendance. She’s also gained a partner–Rebecca Fitting, a 34-year-old sales representative for Random House. I can’t wait to see their store one day!
2. Bookselling This Week has written about the scholarships we finagled out of Ingram for Emerging Leaders in bookselling to go to the Winter Institute. I visited Ingram in August and left very impressed with both their operation and the people that work for them. I’m truly excited that we can now offer six scholarships to young booksellers for such a great educational opportunity.

I got back from the Berkshires last Friday, but extended my vacation all through the weekend. It was all very relaxing, though I didn’t read as many books as I expected. Nonetheless, we had a great time out there, eating and drinking at many great restaurants, reading by a beautiful waterfall, hiking around the same woods as Thoreau once did. I have to also mentioned the fantastic Jenny Holzer exhibit at MASS MoCA, which was truly unusual and thought provoking.

Tomorrow I turn 33 years old. It’s a strange number. According to Wikipedia, “this number has the meaning that good will always triumph over evil”. Hah! Maybe this is my year. Maybe it means Obama will win the election in November!

Our regional trade show starts on Thursday and continues through Saturday. I’ll be there, not near a computer, so that means another week of silence. Monday life returns to a more normal pace finally. So expect more posting and commentary on books then.

On Wednesday night, Junot Diaz read a brand new short story to a packed house at the Brattle Theater here in Cambridge. You can hear a podcast here. Also, Henry Jenkins, an MIT professor, has posted a geek quiz based on references from The  Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Haven’t had a chance to take the quiz myself (I’m about 2 hours away from vacation) but I bet I’ll score big.

• The Washington Post has a pretty thorough Fall Books Preview.
• What happens when a philanthropist takes on the downtown of Nantucket? The wife of Google CEO has decided to pour money into the decaying downtown. Is this good or bad?
• The shortlist for the John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize, awarded by the Mercantile Library Center for Fiction, has been announced. It’s a good looking list. The prize will be awarded by last year’s winner Junot Diaz, whom incidentally gave a great reading last night.
• The Quartlerly Conversation has entered its fourth year with its latest issue.
• Two brand new Robert Birnbaum conversations, this time with Robert Stone and with Elizabeth Strout.
• Joshua Henkin, author of Matrimony, is guest blogging over at The Elegant Variation.
• Mr. Bookdwarf’s letter to the editor got published!

Traveling gives me a chance for some uninterrupted reading. I’ve been doing a lot of that lately and managed to finish a few books:

• Alive in Necropolis by Doug Dorst: I’m not sure why they gave this outstanding debut novel such a weird cover (the galley looked completely different). The cartoonish cover belies the fresh, imaginative writing inside. Rookie police officer Michael Mercer tries to navigate adulthood, fitting in with his fellow police officer, working on his relationship with an older nurse, befriending the widow of another policeman, maintaining stagnating relationships with high school friends. It doesn’t help matters when he starts seeing ghosts.
• The Tsar’s Dwarf by Peter Fogtdal: Funny and sad, this book chronicles the life of Sorine, a female Danish dwarf, who is given by the king of Denmark to the Russian Tsar Peter the Great. She’s smart and witty but hardened by such a tough life. Sorine’s life is mesmerizing.
• The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss: I’ve long liked Liss’s historical mysteries–he provides such wonderful details. This book about the Whiskey Rebellion is no different. He’s provided a great cast of characters and an exciting plot about Hamilton’s First Bank of the United States. Lots of forgotten history for me, but it was an exciting time post the Revolutionary War when the foundations of the United States were being set.
• Exit Music by Ian Rankin: The final chapter in the long series follows John Rebus on his last 10 days before retirement. There’s a complicated plot, but Rankin does a good job keeping it clear with his excellent writing.
• A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn: A debut mystery set in 1950s apartheid South Africe, featuring Detective Emmanuel Cooper, a man haunted by his past in World War II. A murder of a police captain in a rural town throws everyone off balance, especially since the new apartheid laws have recently gone into effect. Nunn does a good job portraying how the country functioned on such seemingly bizarre rules.

I’m about to do some traveling over the next few weeks, so I won’t be posting much. Not that I’ve been posting much of anything anyway. August got away from me somehow. Hopefully a weekend with my sister in San Francisco and a week in the Berkshires will help me relax. Meanwhile, here’s some links to keep you occupied:

• Danish author Peter Fogtdal has a blog called Danish Accent. Go there and also go read his new book The Tsar’s Dwarf, which is fan-freaking-tastic. Not only is the book good, but it’s beautiful as well.
• Quiet earth got a hold of the the script for the screen adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.
  

  To be blunt, the script is a complete stunner. It is a devastating masterwork which, I’m glad to report, has been written with absolute devotion to the original novel. If this is the script that gets filmed, then The Road will not only be the most important post-apocalyptic film ever made but it will profoundly affect the cinema going world.

• Newsweek sent novelist Claire Messud on the road with Barack Obama’s campaign for a week. “First of all, joining up with the Obama campaign was rather like finding an unannounced rave party in the dead of night without a map.”
• Say it ain’t so Oscar!
• Amazon is buying up various parts of the book world. I never used Shelfari anyway as they’re link to Amazon is too prominent for my taste.
• Chad Post at Three Percent has some nice commentary on another silly article on the Huffington Post about the publishing world.

I just read Jennifer Nix’s opinion piece in the Huffington Post on the Chelsea Green/Obama’s Challenge debacle.

“Even more sad? This week, a hefty faction on the left–primarily independent booksellers (following Barnes and Noble’s lead)–is actively boycotting a brave attempt to bring the book-publishing industry into the 21st century, and effectively trying to keep a progressive, pro-Obama (and fact-based) title called Obama’s Challenge out of the marketplace of ideas.”

Not true my friend. Sure some stores might decide not to carry it, but it’s not like we’re getting together to actively decide to boycott the title. Some will carry it and some won’t. Was Margo Baldwin’s desire to get the books out fast smart? Yes. Do we care that Chelsea Green is having Booksure print them? No. For me and others it’s the exclusive deal Amazon gets. Do they think that having the book only available in one place will really drive the sales? Wouldn’t a blanket nation wide roll out of the book make more sense?

“I hate to tell you, indie booksellers, but this isn’t just about business. It’s about activism and defeating the right, and getting our messages and ideas out in the most effective ways possible. It’s about not shooting ourselves in the proverbial foot, again…Boycotting this book is a mistake, and you know it. Instead of looking backward, find ways to advance your own innovative models and POD services with publishers and the public.”

And will they please stop talking down to us like we’re luddite idiots? This means you Jennifer Nix and you Margo Baldwin.

Why don’t we all cheer when a little publisher from Vermont decides to stand up to the right-wing smear tactics against Obama, with a bold and innovative publishing plan?

Perhaps because this “innovative publishing plan” gives the business advantage to a large corporation? Oh wait, Chelsea Green’s motto is “the politics and practice of sustainable living.” Does this new plan fit in with their motto?

And for the record, I do think the book is important. I just wish they had chosen a better way to put this one out. See, no profanity.

• Bookninja pointed out this great article on the success of Sam Savage’s novel Firmin in Europe. “In a quite unsuspected outbreak of literary cultdom, Firmin, the first novel by a retiring 67-year-old from South Carolina about the adventures of an erratic, paper-gobbling, self-pitying rodent, has spent the summer knocking Ken Follett and Stephen King from bestseller spots in Spain and Italy.” Back in the day, Firmin was an LBC pick (I say this to point out how great our taste was).
• I love this Observer story on Sarah McNally and her fabulous NYC independent McNally Robinson, now renamed McNally Jackson. “Ms. McNally’s distaste for Barnes & Noble is aesthetic, in other words, not political: What bothers her is the artlessness with which they go about sellling books, not the mere fact of their corporate status.”
• Speaking of Barnes & Noble, have you heard about the Chelsea Green brouhaha? They’re publishing a book by Robert Cuttner called Obama’s Challenge: America’s Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency. Chelsea Green, traditionally a lefty, pro-local, pro-sustainable living publisher, has partnered with Amazon who will be using their Booksurge print on demand arm to publish the book quickly. The kicker is that Amazon has exclusive selling rights for two weeks. Oh, and they’re passing out coupons at the Democratic convention in Denver that will give people a 25% discount in addition to the discount Amazon is already giving. Barnes & Noble is outraged. They’ve canceled their 10,000 copy preorder. Other independent bookstores are pissed too. It’s odd to be on the side of Barnes & Noble, but Amazon has become the bully in the school yard. Read president Margo Baldwin’s open letter to the bookselling community. I don’t buy it.