The NYT Book Review, in their new bigger better format, have an article on the new craze, blogging about books! Am I mentioned, of course not. Sniff. I am trying not to be offended. Maybe it’s the name?
As I am sure it is going to be mentioned everywhere else, I wonder about a few of their choices. I mean, Mobylives has not been updated in over a year! And the all the fan fiction stuff? A few of the sites on my left hand column might have been better choices, such as Tingle Alley or TEV. Whatever. When has the NYT been on the cutting edge?

Blank over at the Morning News makes some snap judgements about new books. Anyone who says this about Mitch Albom, is a woman I will trust: “Then came the made-for-TV movie that showed a dying Jack Lemmon teaching Hank Azaria how to live. That only made me want to gag, also alone and quickly.” (links stolen from the Bookslut Michael Schaub)

Beatrice has the goods on David Mitchell’s NY appearance. I imagine if I had not gone out for beers afterward, I might remember more clearly what was said during his reading. Alas, the lure of the beer was too much for me to resist.

Last night, David Mitchell gave a reading at my store. I was nervous about meeting him to be honest. Would I babble too much, what if he wasn’t cool at all, what if he looked down on ‘bookstore’ people (some authors do, trust me—not a good way to endear yourself to a store and get your book prominently displayed)? He turned out to be a most charming and friendly guy, looking very English in his grey ‘jumper’ and black pants. I had no idea how handsome he is! He read from 2 sections of Cloud Atlas: first the Cavendish section where he’s hiding in the hedge spying on the house, and second, from the Hawaii future section where Noah tells the story of the slaughter of his family. Then David took requests from the audience. A man, who may not have been paying attention, asked for more Cavendish and Mitchell obliged, reading the section where Timothy realizes where precisely his brother sent him to hide out.
After reading, David fielded questions from the audience, which had shown up in droves by the way, considering the terrible weather outside. Questions ranged from ‘how did the idea for 6 nested novellas come about’ to ‘how did he come up with the dialect in the Hawaii novella’. He lived in Japan for 8 years and cited the Japanese authors he read while there are huge influences on his writing. He named Mishima, Oe, and Murakami (duh!). And his favorite Beatles’ album is revolver. He considers Abbey Road ‘too embroidered’. What an intelligent and well-spoken man!
He signed books for everyone and chatted to each person waiting in line. After that, several of the booksellers, Mitchell, his driver and I went out for drinks. We went to a bar down the street and ordered some food. It was after 9 at this point and we were all famished. Topics ran amuk at the table. We went around and listed the most famous people we each had met (sounds like summer camp doesn’t it?). At the end, we played the game from the David Lodge book (I can’t remember which one) where you name a famous book you haven’t read and get points for each person who has read it.
All in all, the night was great. Mr. Bookdwarf had a wonderful dinner waiting for me when I got home. David Mitchell is not only a brilliant novelist, but a genuinely nice person to meet. The kind of guy you’d love grabbing beers with after work. I can’t help but hope he wins the Booker next month.
P.S. I took some pictures with my camera phone. They suck, but what are you going to do?

David Mitchell signing books

David Mitchell behind a giant pile of his book Cloud Atlas

As Galley Cat pointed out earlier today, the NYT Book Review reveals its new format this week. It is slightly different, but still covers more non-fiction than fiction. Some columns’ names have been changed (‘Paperback Row’ instead of ‘New and Noteworthy Paperbacks’, etc. Why they felt the need to change this I don’t know) and the look is slightly different as well. What is new this week is the thorough bashing Joe Queenan gives A.J. Jacobs book The Know-It-All. “Deluded into believing that his enterprise has made him smarter, Jacobs constantly seeks to bedazzle the reader with his latest shocking discoveries, unaware that things he perceives as riveting arcana are common knowledge in many quarters.” Ow. “Far from becoming the smartest man in the world, Jacobs, at the end of his foolish enterprise, wouldn’t even be the smartest person at Entertainment Weekly.” Wow, that’s a kick in the crotch.

According to this Guardian quiz I am a literary genius.

Born to be Wilde
Congratulations. You are a literary genius. You clearly have spent far too many warm summer days indoors writing frightening verse to a buck-toothed girl in Luxembourg. Go out and get some fresh air and buy a Gareth Gates record. (and if you don’t know what we’re talking about, you’re a lot less sad than us)

I have’t been updating the books I have been reading that much lately. I just keep coming across stuff that I will read too quickly to even mention. Last Friday I found a galley of a new book by Mary Doria Russell called A Thread of Grace, due out in February 2005. Honestly, it was just okay. It read a bit like a TV movie. Teh novel is set during the end of WWII in Italy. Apparently in real life Italian citizens formed a network to help save the lives of 43,000 Jews (this is from the back of the book. I do not know how they got such a specific number). She bases the book on this and creates an entire cast of characters. There are multiple people to keep track of—Clauette Blum and her father Albert Blum, refugees scrambling over the Alps, Renzo Leoni, an Italian Jew who seems like the bad boy with the good heart. And there are many others. But they seem all seem like typecast characters. The energy keeps you going through the book, but the whole time I kept wondering who they were going to cast for each character.
And yesterday I picked up a copy of Don Lee’s Country of Origin which has been sitting on my office shelf for a while. I have not finished it yet, but it’s good so far. This book follows the disappearance of Lisa Countryman, an American who came to Japan in search of herself. When she goes missing, her sister urges the U.S. Embassy and the Tokyo police into action. I will let you know when I finish what I think.

Sorry about the cheezy title, but I am very excited. On Wednesday evening, David Mitchell will be appearing at the Harvard Book Store. For those of you in the Boston/Cambridge area, come check it out. It starts at 6:30 and no tickets are needed. I can barely contain my glee about this event. Yay!