Author Archives: bookdwarf

Land Ho!

In celebration of Columbus’s sighting of land supposedly on this day in 1492, I don’t have to work today. Perhaps I should be celeb rating it old school style, contracting the black plauge or performing some obscure religious rite. Instead, I will be spending it finishing up Cormac McCarthy’s latest novel The Road, which so far has been one of the most depressing books I’ve read this year.

Kakutani and Then Some

Marish Pessl’s debut novel Special Topics in Calamity Physics received a lot of press when it arrived on the shelves this August. Many of the reviews seemed favorable. Some have called the book overly clever and nothing but a literary trick. This week, my favorite local paper The Weekly Dig posted their own review. The subtitle of the piece says it all: “Deadly chick lit virus claims another victim”. Lest you think I’m trying to bring up the chick lit yay or nay discussion again, I’m merely pointing out the negativity of the review, not talking up the chick lit reference. I find this review so very interesting as it flies into the face of the anti-snarkiness that the Believer gang proselytize.

This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader by Joan Dye Gussow

After reading Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma this past summer, I wanted to do a bit more reading about sustainable living. Luckily, Pollan has posted a reading list on his website, which included Gussow’s This Organic Life, written in 2001.

Joan Gussow does not beat around the bush. She manages to live almost entirely off the vegetables and fruit she and her husband grow in their suburban backyard and spends most of the book telling you how she does it. It’s not an easy task, but she maintains that people don’t think hard enough anymore about where their food comes from. Gussow wants to be an example that raising your own vegetables and fruit year round can be done, even in New England. Eating locally grown food makes the most sense environmentally, ecologically, and economically. She demonstrates that with her careful research into food transportation. Transporting asparagus from South America in the winter (out of season) costs more in energy calories in shipping than you’d get eating it. Plus that asparagus will probably lack flavor having been refrigerated for at least a few days. Not to mention the impact on the farmers growing the produce in South America.

I only wish that Gussow’s book had a little more focus. She covers many subjects: buying her first and then second home, moving into her second home, planting the gardens at each home, the problems within the food system of the US, and the death of her husband. It goes back and forth in time, even within a chapter, and it can be confusing at times. Plus she can come across a little holier than thou and she seems behind the times, even taking into account this was written in 2001. Nevertheless, her overall message is clear and a good one and the passion that came through when she talks about her garden makes this book worth reading.

Another Award I Neglected to Mention

The shortlist for the Giller Award (the National Book Award of Canada if you will) has been announced:

  • Rawi Hage De Niro’s Game
  • Vincent Lam Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures
  • Pascale Quiviger The Perfect Circle
  • Gaétan Soucy The Immaculate Collection
  • Carol Windley Home Schooling

The winner will be announced on November 7th.

I have to admit that I am not familiar with any of these authors. Even Canadian George of Bookninja had no comment. It sounds like a repeat of the National Book Award shortlist from 2004 when five fairly unheard of women were nominated.

On a side note, I noticed a difference of word usage that I’ve never seen before in this sentence: “Moreover, a survey released Tuesday by BookNet Canada, a not-for-profit agency that tracks national book sales, among its other activities, suggests that a win can significantly goose sales.” I like the idea of “goosing” sales. Typically I think of pinching someone’s posterior as the main definition of goosing. I now have a mental image of one of those Monty Python hands pinching an animated book’s butt.

A Match Made in Heaven

Lawrence Ferlinghetti will announce the twenty National Book Award Finalists this year on October 11th at his historic store City Lights. “The Foundation is excited to announce our Finalists from one of the country’s great bookstores in the heart of a city long associated with a passion for literature,” said Augenbraum, who will co-host the announcement at City Lights.

The award season crush is upon us already. The Man Booker prize is announced next Tuesday October 10th. The Nobel Prize for Literature will be announced sometime in the next two weeks (they’re being coy). And now National Book Award finalists next Wednesday, with the finalist in each category announced on November 15th.

Too Many Books

Somehow I don’t feel at all bad for the publishers in this article. They choose to send out far too many books each season. That they’re putting out so big name authors at once, it’s their fault if they don’t all get the attention they deserve. It’s hard enough for some books to get any attention, I won’t feel bad if the enw Charles Frazier doesn’t get a review in the Boston Globe (though I’m sure it will since they’re running such a mediocre section they’ve, cut more pages this summer and now only review the same books the NYT reviews). Like Ed, I don’t get paid to do this. You can send me stuff, email me, whatever, and I don’t have to read it, review it, or like it. I like to think I’m more than a marketing tool. I’ve said it before but I’ll restate my intentions for this blog. As someone who works in a bookstore (have I ever mentioned what I do? I do frontlist buying for the store), I have access to many many books, particularly advanced copies. Since I read prodigiously and love talking about books, I thought I would write about what I’m reading, open the discussion a bit more, if you will. It’s that simple.
Regardless, the publishers are expecting a big book season. I for one am hoping that Margaret Maupin is right: “This could be the year,” she said, “when people buy one or two more books than they planned — and one less DVD.”

Around the Water Cooler