I am the first person to admit that I am a snob, at least when it comes to books. So maybe you will understand why reading this article make me cringe.

Kate Atkinson, author of Case Histories will be stopping by the LBC website on August 29 to discuss her book and answer any questions you have. Case Histories was the controversial first pick of the LBC and we are in the process of picking another. Stay tuned. The site hasn’t seen much activity lately, but as we are figuring all the quirks out, we’re also coming up with ideas of discussion. After all, that’s what our mission is in the end—discussing books.

Item 1: Stephany Aulenback has a great interview with one of my favorite authors Kelly Link over at Maud Newton’s. Definitely worth reading.

Item 2: I was just informed that a galley of the new David Mitchell Black Swan Green has been put in the post (or UPS or whatever) and is headed my way. I am jumping up and down. It’s a departure from his previous books apparently. It tracks a single year of a 13-year-old boy in England in 1982. I’ll let you know how it is.

Anyone fans of Lydia Millet? She’s got 2 books out this year from Soft Skull Press, a great independent press: Everyone’s Pretty and Oh Pure and Radiant Heart. Both look extremely good and have made it to my TBR list (not much of a feat I agree, but I really want to read these). Read the CS Monitor’s review of Oh Pure and Radiant Heart, which they describe as “that rarest of finds: a compassionate satire, with a terrific premise and writing that’s so assured that readers should be lining up for admission to this dystopia.” And Ron pointed out this Newsday interview with her as well. Millet will be reading with Tennessee Jones and Maggie Nelson tomorrow night at Newtonville Books, another wonderful independent bookstore in the Boston area. So go check it out.

There’s a new issue of Boldtype up today. This issue’s focus is spirituality and has guest editor—the Rza, from the Wu-Tang Clan.

At the LBC website, the minority opinion, i.e. those who disliked the pick Case Histories, have written a post (though it isn’t clear who is the minority I have to say). There’s an interesting discussion going on in the comments as well, concerning the function of the group and the mission. Basically the usual objections that occur when a group of people come together to try and make a decision. I digress. Check it out.

This NYT article infuriated me. I realize it is just Michelle Slatalla opining about the Harry Potter release and the lengths her daughters will go to in order to buy a copy. But does it every occur to her to try an independent? She makes it sound like B&N and Amazon are her only online choices (besides the Scholastic site) and B&N is the only store around!

And will I drive them to a local Barnes & Noble as the clock strikes midnight on July 16 to stand in line with other devotees to get the new book?…..With Scholastic printing 10.8 million copies of the book, how hard could it be to get my hands on one without standing in line? The first step was to compare the preorder offers at three Internet sites: Amazon.com, Scholastic.com and Barnes & Noble’s BN.com.

I know this comes off like some sour grapes but she presents the case in her article as if there were no other choices. It just pisses me off. B&N is not your local bookstore.

To promote Rupert Thomson’s amazing Divided Kingdom, Knopf has created a quiz to determine how you would fare in the divided world. It’s fairly obvious which answers go with which humor and I disagree with it’s assignment for me. Choleric? Really?

It’s very hot here. Well, not hot really, humid. It’s day 6 of this weather and I am ready for it to end. But you didn’t come here to listen to me complain (or did you?). Reading is the only activity that doesn’t cause me to sweat, except when I turn pages. I’ve trained one of the cats to do that for me. I am in the middle of Pretty Birds by NPR personality Scott Simon. It’s the story of Irena, a teenager in Sarajevo, who is forced to flee her home with her parents when the war breaks out (one of many spare, but brutal passages in this book). Eventually, she is recruited by Tedic to become a sniper. This book is nothing what I expected, which is a good thing. It’s like when you read about the Holocaust in WWII. You expect darkness and misery and suffering. But those that live through it are probably want nothing more than moments of lightness and they will take those moments when they can. So we see many scenes of laughter with Irena and her parents. And the absurdity of the situation, which even she realizes. I am eager to see where Simon is going to take this book.

I also finished The Scar by China Mieville. Writing a decent review of this book would take much work, as the book is very involved. Suffice it to say, I enjoyed it almost as much as Perdido Street Station. Both books are amazing. And I don’t think you need to be a sci-fi enthusiast to enjoy them.

The next question is what to read next? Rupert Thomson’s The Insult is next. But I have some great choices after that. I just read Carrie’s post about The Historian, and even though I have a copy sitting next to me, I am not sure if I want to read it now. A copy of Sarah Hall’s Booker nominated The Electric Michelangelo just crossed my desk as well. Or The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell. And there is Rebecca Solnit’s A Field Guide to Getting Lost. Too much to choose from (I have more), but I know there are much worse problems.

Both Kelly Link and Steve Almond read at my store last night. I’ve got a bit of a head cold, so I didn’t take notes or anything, but will try to recap the evening. If you ever get a chance to hear them, do it. You won’t regret it. Kelly started by asking if we wanted to hear the happy zombie story or the not-so-happy zombie story from her new collection Magic for Beginners. The crowd of 50 or so opted for the happy one. It was about zombie contingency plans and had elements of mirth and solemnity. Steve then from his recent collection The Evil B.B. Chow. The story he chose was a beautiful and sexy reminiscence of a summer fling. He also promised candy bars to those who asked questions afterward.

The question/answer portion of the night was just as informative. Topics included the genesis of story ideas to how much work went into them to autobiographical elements of their stories. I asked them both about their publishers. Kelly Link and her partner Gavin Grant started their own publishing house Small Beer Press. She likes maintaining control of her work throughout the publishing process. And Steve decries the publishing industry. He has no agent and even said that he sent his work to many presses, but Algonquin was the only one who wanted him. They got his work, which he stresses is the most important thing when trying to get your work published.

I waited in line to get them both to sign copies of their books. Kelly and Gavin had attended the Litblog Co-op party in NYC a few weeks back, but I didn’t get a chance to meet them. They were both extremely friendly and Small Beer Press has some great looking books coming up. Steve was also very nice and charismatic. I know not everyone loves him, but he is passionate about writing and literature. And it’s hard to disagree with that. So that was the evening in short. Stay tuned for next month, when I will attend a reading by Kevin Smokler, who is promoting Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times.

Replace Richard and Judy with Oprah and Waterstones with Barnes and Noble and you get the US version: “‘They rely on Richard and Judy Page-Turners, the main prizes, three-for-two and that’s about it,’ he says, citing a client of his whose novel has been well reviewed across the broadsheets but is not stocked by Waterstone’s.”
This article has some interesting points. What is the purpose of book review pages? Who’s side is it on? Is it to sell books (on the publishers’ side) or to promote new books to the audience (on the readers’ side)? Are more people reading Dan Brown because that is what they really want or because that is what the publishers are giving them with the help of media?