David Mitchell reviews Haruki Murakami’s new book Kafka on the Shore for the Guardian. Mitchell fans know that his writing is influenced by Murakami pretty heavily. Hence the drooling.

Several of my favorite book blogs got mentioned today in Newsday. Laurie Muchnik is starting a new book review column inspired by the likes of Maud, TEV and Bookninja. I am only slightly jealous (ok, a lot), but also more determined than ever to provide more reviews. I decided that I’ve become too lazy about reviewing the books I am reading. My New Year’s Resolution was to devote more time this year to reviews and ways to improve this blog. I just have to remind myself of that when I get home at night. So if you have any suggestions let me know.

MorrishGirl has sold a book! It sounds like a pretty interesting group of short stories. And Algonquin is a great publisher—they only bother with quality writers. Yay for her!

The Literary Saloon pointed out a great interview in the Sunday Herald with Murakami. He discusses his newest book Kafka on the Shore (due out on Jan. 18th) and how he got into writing.

The Denver Post has an article on litblogs featuring some of my favorites Maud Newton, Mark Sarvas aka TEV, Carrie Frye aka Tingle Alley, Max Perkins of BookAngst, and Traver Kauffman aka The Rake (had know idea that was his real name, how funny!). And yours truly is mentioned! It’s the first time seeing my name in print, although the context is for having a funny name. And there is a hyphen. But whatever! It’s still exciting.

Publisher’s Marketplace reports today that James Zetlan has sold a book based on his websiteSorryE verybody.com. The site basically collects pictures of people holding apologies for Bush winning the election. Frankly I can’t imagine wanting to buy a book to remind of the travesty of November, but whatever. People will buy anything.

I’m a big fan of Barack Obama. His book Dreams From My Father has been flying out of my store. I think he represents the best of what the Democrats have to offer. So I should be very excited about this piece from Publisher’s Marketplace:

Two books by Senator-elect from Illinois Barack Obama, the first providing “a window into his political and spiritual convictions,” for publication in spring 2006, again to Rachel Klayman at Crown, in a major deal, for $1.7 million, begun by Jane Dystel at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management and finished by Robert Barnett at Williams & Connolly (world). Rights to a children’s book to Michelle Frey at Knopf Children’s, for $200,000, by Robert Barnett.

It’s the second part of this that annoys me. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like everyone is publishing a kids’ book these days. All of these celebrities now feel like their voices should be heard by children—Jamie Lee Curtis, Madonna, Billy Crystal, etc. But I tell you what—-most of the books suck. I hope Barack Obama’s kids’ book is good, but I want to hear what he has to say to adults in America.

It’s no secret where exactly in Cambridge I work and what famous university I stare at out my office window each day. Working in Harvard square has its advantages and disadvantages just like any other place I imagine. Since I don’t work for the university, I can say what I want about it (biting the hand that feeds you can be dumb). Harvard takes itself very seriously. But I can’t imagine anyone beyond this mile radius actually caring to read a 300 page book about Larry Summers and his exploits. Sure he chased off Cornel West and pissed off a lot of other professors (do I have stories about famous people and their bad behavior in my store—some of them will act like total asses just to get their book in the damn window. But I digress…), but so what? Apparently Richard Blow (teehee) now Richard Bradley is writing a book on Summers—without Summers help. Like Alex Beam says, “I can see maybe 500 copies sold at the Harvard Bookstore; after that, who knows?”

Update: Comments are still broken over here and no one seems to be able to fix it. Until they works again, I am just going to post comments at the end of the original post. So keep commenting!

Edward J. Renehan Jr. says:

Behaving badly in Harvard Square bookstores seems to be something of a tradition. My dear, departed father-in-law, Bill Bartkovick, managed the the Harvard Square Barnes & Noble through the 1960s and into the early 1970s. (That would be the OLD B&N corporation, btw, owned by the Barnes family.) Bill was full of stories about the likes of Van Wyck Brooks throwing hissy fits when books were not featured prominently enough.

Leila says:

I worked in a Harvard Square bookstore for a few years, and I was horrified by the behavior of customers and authors alike. Whether it was drunken college students groping each other in full view of everyone, people shoving dirty diapers under the bookshelves, or authors screaming about the placement of their books, I was constantly surprised at the pure gall of people. I do miss the galleys, though.

I know this is true cuz the NYT says so. Sorry for the sarcasm–wait, no I’m not. This is nothing new. Many bloggers are writers as well—blogging is just another form. So I am not surprised about the number of blog writers who have landed book deals. Just like I was not surprised this summer when we all first heard about it. Way to be on top of things NYT.

Here are a bunch of Lit Magazines that I’ve been checking out.

Dirt Press features short fiction, poetry, and visual arts. Plus it looks cool.

Dislocate is a new media journal from students in the MFA program in Creative Writing at the University of Wisconsin.

I think most people are familiar with Swink by now, the new magazine of fiction, poetry, etc.

Another familiar new magazine is n+1, which delighted many. It comes out only twice a year right now. But they post new stuff on their site fairly often.

I received a copy of Ninth Letter at my office and immediately devoured its glossy pages. It is a collaborative effort between the Department of English and the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

And then there is Monkeybicycle, which I know the Rake loves for its logo alone. Besides the cute monkey, they have tons of interesting fiction and poetry.

These a some of the distractions for me at work this year. I just thought I would share.