The Summer 2006 Read This! title has been announced over at the LBC blog.

Also, I would like to congratulate LBC member Jeff on the birth of his baby girl.

I came across this article by Lev Grossman from Time magazine somewhere on the internet. In it, he questions if there are any writers who can be considered the voice of this generation:

David Foster Wallace is 44 years old. Jonathan Franzen is 46. Jonathan Lethem, 42. Michael Chabon, 43.

I point that out not to be rude–although I admit it is kind of rude–but because those are the writers that people–people who think about such things, anyway–think of as the young American novelists. And even by the notoriously elastic standards of the literary world–the only place on earth where you can still be a wunderkind at the age of 30–42 is not especially youthful. Wallace, Franzen, Lethem and Chabon may be great writers, but one thing they are not is young writers.

He goes on to discuss the changes in novels over the decades. They’re getting shorter apparently. He also throws down some names: Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Salinger, Kerouac, etc. He wonders if the voice might be still ripening or if this is a time where there may not be a voice that can speak for everyone. Or are the MFA programs actually retarding the progress of literature?

At first, I the article annoyed me, but having gone back and read it several times, I think he might have a few good points or at least a few good questions. Do I think there is a “Voice of Our Generation” right now? No idea. Will one come along? Sure. I think it’s more complex than just naming a few authors (who are all men by the way) and seeing if the label sticks. Who’s being published these days? How has the changing nature of publishing affected these voices over the years? There are a great number of talented writers out there, some struggling to get their voices heard, some already being heard.

One such author is Sarah Hall. She’s not American—she’s English. I read her second novel The Electric Michelangelo last year and it was one of the best things I read all year. The writing, the story, everything came together beautifully. You can imagine my excitement when I received a galley of her first novel Haweswater, which Harper Perennial will be publishing in October for the first time in the US. Here comes my tangent from this title’s post. In an interview in the back of the book, Hall tells how lightning hit the roof on which she was standing and coursed through her body. And she’s almost been hit twice since then. I almost dropped the book—it’s very similar to what’s happened to me—I’ve almost been hit by lightning several times. It’s been close, two feet away close. Now I feel this connection to her (and now everyone thinks I’m nuts) and that is my tangent.

Feel free to chime in with an opinion here. Maybe we do have a voice of the generation and I’m just not aware of it yet.

We’re throwing around ideas for some store displays. One of them is adult books that kids should read and kid books that adults should read. Any ideas? Philip Pullman is obvious as are some others, but what do you think? Did you read anything good as a kid that you think you should go back and reread?

Ah, nothing brings back the school days more than the phrase Summer Reading. I remember having to read a slew of books and take notes on them all before the school year began. I couldn’t stand it. Not the books, I’ve always loved reading, but the being forced part of the equation. Of course looking back on it, they made me read some great books: Brothers Karamazov, Dandelion Wine, even Dune.
This summer, I’ve been trying to find more time to read and now that my buying season appointments are at an end, I’ll hopefully have more time to blog.
So far this summer, I’ve read Charity Girl by local author Michael Lowenthal (and not due out until next January). Did you know that during WWI, the government quarantined and incarcerated young women who were thought to have venereal diseases? And they did this in the Boston area! Charity Girl is the story of 17 year old Frieda Mintz, a bundle wrapper at Jordan Marsh. She’s fled her horrible home and tries to set up a life for herself, which isn’t easy on her pay. She makes the mistake of spending a night with a soldier and gets sent to a makeshift quarantine camp. Besides being a historical novel, Lowenthal infuses Frieda with enough character to make you want to survive her experiences.

I jumped for joy when I got my hands on a copy of William Boyd’s upcoming novel Restless at BEA in May—Any Human Heart is one of my favorite books. I must say that I was disappointed with this book. Boyd, like Banville, takes a leap into the espionage genre with Restless. In the summer of 1976, Sally Gilmartin thinks someone is trying to kill her. She finally tells her daughter Ruth, a young single mother, her true history. Sally is really Eva Delectorskaya, a Russian emigre recruited by the British Secret Service during WWII after her much beloved older brother’s murder (also a spy). Going back and forth between present day and the war, the story details Eva’s secret history as well as why someone might be trying to kill her now. The story, while interesting, lacked the nuances of Boyd’s previous works.

Chimamanda Adichie’s new novel Half of a Yellow Sun, coming from Knopf in September, more than lives up to her previous book Purple Hibiscus (one of the few books to make me cry). Her new book follows several characters during Biafra’s struggle to establish independence from Nigeria in the 1960’s. Thirteen year old Ugwu works as a houseboy for a revolutionary university professor Odenigbo. Olanna, the professor’s mistress and later his wife, has abandoned her more luxurious life in Lagos to live with her lover in a small town. Her estranged twin sister Kainene takes up as her lover an English author Richard. The vivid writing deftly combines the political and the personal in this provocative novel. This is definitely a book to watch out for in the Fall.

Right now I am enjoying Elizabeth Gilbert’s earlier book The Last American Man. I am also excited about reading Richard Power’s upcoming novel The Echo Maker coming from FSG in October. Also Da Chen’s first novel Brothers is high on my list as well as Them by Francine du Plessix Gray.

What are you reading this summer? Read anything good or do you have any suggestions?

I’ve been reading up a storm the past week or so and I’m trying to write up some reviews of them. In the meanwhile, you can read these:

• The Spring Oxford American has arrived. This is their big Best of the South issue with articles such as “An Ode to the Moon Winx Lodge Sign” by Michael Martone and a story by Kevin Brockmeier.
• I can’t remember who directed me to this interview with Bun B in the Believer but thanks!
• Salon has started a Literary Guide to the World with articles by Alexandra Fuller, Tom Bissell, and Jon Banville. Yes, you have to go through an annoying ad to get to the good stuff, but still.
• This has been mentioned everywhere, but Google has the complete works of Shakespeare available and it’s searchable too.
• In the Boston Globe, Richard Thompson reports that independent bookstores in New England are on the rise. I can attest to that—my store has never been busier and we’re down the street from a Barnes & Noble!
• Lastly I’ll mention the furor that John Freeman of the National Book Critic Circle sparked in the past week with his remarks on affiliates programs and litblogs. Scott Esposito, Ed, Scott at Slushpile, Bud, the Literary Saloon, Sarah, and Ron have all chimed in with their responses. Freeman seems to think that there are some litbloggers who make money off blogging, that by linking to sites like Amazon and so forth through their affiliates programs, they lose their credibility. I don’t use an “affiliate” program here—I link to the store where I work. But I am completely upfront about where I work and clearly if you buy the book at my store, it helps me in the end since they’re paying me. I don’t see Freeman’s point at all. Can anyone see his side?

Sorry for the continuing silence here. I mentioned a few months back that I was starting a new job here at the store. While it’s going quite well, I’m finding that it’s taking up most of my time right now. Starting anything new takes a bit of adjustment and I’m finally starting to feel a bit settled into a new routine. So here are a few things that I’ve been reading this week:

• Boldtype’s June Issue: Summer Reads just became available (seriously, it popped into my inbox two minutes ago).
• My friend Ed has been a busy man. He’s churned out several episodes of the Bat Segundo show in the past few weeks. He’s got extensive BEA coverage: part 1 (includes an interview with me), part 2, and part 3. Also he’s got a great interview with Derik Badman and Jordan Stump, who translated Television, the Spring 2006 LBC Read This! pick.
• Which brings me to another favorite, Robert Birnbaum, who has two interviews: George Saunders and Lawrence Weschsler.
• Another Bookdwarf favorite Scott of Conversational Reading has put together another issue of The Quarterly Conversation. He and others cover a great deal of books that aren’t reviewed elsewhere, so be sure to check it out.

I’m heading down to DC tomorrow morning for Book Expo America, the yearly giant convention where all the book people let their hair down—if they have hair. This year I’m bringing my new laptop and will be blogging daily to keep you updated on what’s happening. I’ll be meeting up with old friends and making some new ones I hope. The LBC discussions will resume next week, once we’ve all returned to our respective caves and recovered. Anyone in the DC area who wants to chat should check this out:

I’m not sure what to make of this article by Tyler Cowen on Slate in which he claims that shopping at independent bookstores is nothing more than posturing. We do it to be cool basically, but the chain stores really do things better. Obviously, I disagree with much of the article, but I’m more curious about what you think? Do you think independent bookstores provide a useful service, or should we just go the way of the dodo and concede that Cowen is correct? Do you think independents have anything valuable to offer anymore?

I don’t know why all of these Mitchell links cropped up today, but here they are:

• From the Written Nerd, I learned about an exclusive new story available on the Random House website featuring characters from Black Swan Green.
• From Bookslut, I learned about this audio interview with Mitchell when he here in the states.
• From Robert Birnbaum himself, I learned that he sat down with David Mitchell and discussed a wide range of subjects, as he likes to do.

And the winner is Beloved by Toni Morrison. This feature won’t run until the May 21st issue (but you can read A.O. Scott’s essay already), but I thought it worth mentioning now. You can see the list of other nominees here. The list of judges is equally fascinating.