Author Archives: bookdwarf

Good review

The California Literary Review sent me this link to their review of Camille Paglia’s forthcoming book Break, Blow, Burn. When I first heard about this book, I thought, oh great, another rundown of poems I should have read. Great. But this review and the one in this Sunday’s NYTBR (no link yet) make it seem much more interesting. Plus I can see her speak a the Brattle theater on April 12th (sponsored by my store).

Another short review

I received some books from Soft Skull Press a few weeks ago and was intrigued by one title in particular—White Like Me by Tim Wise. Wise, a prominent white anti-racist, helped in the fight against David Duke years ago and now speaks across the country discussing the meaning of whiteness. This book is part memoir part essay on how racism is so entrenched in our American society and how we should fight it. It is not the usual white guy realizing the privileges the color of his skin has given him. Rather he takes a hard look at his own life and shows how racism is inherent in our school systems, judicial systems, collegiate systems, etc. I liked his message—it’s not easy to admit to oneself that you are making some of the mistakes he talks about. But I also found him generalizing a bit too much in places. Though I found him repetitive throughout, White Like Me is a book worth checking out for its message alone.

More Da Vinci madness

I can’t help myself. Spotted in this weeks’s Publisher’s Weekly: Doubleday’s winningest title, The Da Vinci Code, marking two years on PW‘s charts, has gone back for an 82nd printing, making for record-breaking 10 million copies. Worldwide, Da Vinci has 29 million copies in print, in 44 languages, and the audio versions have sold more than 500,000 copies, making it the bestselling audio in Random House’s history. By the way, these figures do not include The Da Vinci Code: Special Illustrated Edition, published last October, now nearing the one-million mark. If you stacked every copu of Da Vinci printed, it would be 220 miles tall, notes Doubleday. THat’s high enough to get in the path of an orbiting shuttle and 50 miles short of hitting the international space station. Perhaps it’ll reach that after the release of The Da Vinci Code movie from Columbia Pictures, planned for 2006, starring Tom Hanks.

Maybe Dan Brown can use some of those 10 million copies to build himself a fort. That way he can hide in it and work on his next novel and not be bothered by the public. Plus, with all those dust jackets, he’ll never need another form of ID.

Halcyon days

There’s going to be light posting for the next 2 weeks as Mr. Bookdwarf and I prepare to move. We are moving to a great new apartment located approximately 1 block from our current place, which sounds like an east move, but in fact, is almost more frustrating since we have to go through the same trouble as if we were moving 2 towns over. But the new apartment is bigger (with more room for books!) and better in many ways (walk in pantry!). But I have to finish packing (it’s taken me more than a week to pack the books, but seeing them all empty is cool too) and deal with all the trivialities of moving—changing addresses, securing new utilities, removing the cats from the boxes, etc. That’s why I have not done the weekly Globe review this week. I might get to it tonight or tomorrow.

Guys make passes at girls who wear glasses

I liked this article about the new Editor in Chief of the Oxford American Dictionary. Except for the part when the author of the article seems to find her so bizarre for wearing “a casual outfit accented by bright, pink-framed glasses and a pair of beat-up black-and-white Converse sneakers”. She also sits on an exercise ball instead of a chair and serves beverages in neon blue glasses. So the woman has taste. Does she deserve this? “Might Ms. McKean be an escapee from a local version of Cirque du Soleil? A young woman in the throes of suspended adolescence?” It’s rich coming from someone named Strawberry. But I imagine she’s joking.