Combreviations

Another day, another round up

2010-08-13T10:00:00.000-04:00

So many books in the world

2010-08-10T09:00:00.001-04:00

Google counted, and there are 129,864,880 books in the world. Click through to see how they counted or, if you read one a week, you can get started on the next 2.5 million years of reading.

How to write like Vonnegut

2010-08-09T09:00:00.001-04:00

"Don't use semicolons. They stand for absolutely nothing. They are transvestite hermaphrodites. They are just a way of showing off. To show that you have been to college."

Go here for the rest of the speech. Amazing.

Holy crap, Sue Sylvester

2010-08-05T09:00:00.001-04:00

Sweet Cheerios,Sue Sylvester is writing a memoir. There is a god!

Kanye tweets to the New Yorker

2010-08-04T09:00:00.006-04:00

There's a whole list of these here. Awesome!

Round up at PMN

2010-07-30T10:00:00.000-04:00

Check it out, folks!

Aldous Huxley v. George Orwell: Death match

2010-07-29T09:00:00.002-04:00

Holy crap, this is simultaneously the coolest and saddest thing I have ever seen. Aldous Huxley was super right.

Language geeks of the world, unite!

2010-07-28T09:00:00.001-04:00

Oh em gee, so awesome:

I bet China Mieville would be interested in this. That's an extra perk!

Mr. Rogers Crayola factory edition

2010-07-26T09:00:00.002-04:00

Interested in seeing inside the Moleskine factory? It's no Crayola factory with Mr. Rogers, but it ain't bad either.

Also: the making of rugs! (Yes, ok, slightly unrelated)

Libraries and spoofs, all the rage

2010-07-19T09:00:00.001-04:00

In my round up last week at PMN I pointed out this video of the Old Spice guy shilling for libraries. Now I bring to you Stephen Jones, on the value of studying in the library:

I'm on a cart!

Actually useful information

2010-07-16T12:00:00.003-04:00

You may think that good writing, or hard work, or good representation sells books. You would be super wrong. You know what sells books? Metadata. And, womp womp:

"There used to be consistency throughout the retail channel," Savikas said. "Amazon and B&N and other retailers all needed the same stuff." But that was before the appearance of channels like the Apple app store: "They need completely different data," Savikas said, pointing out the impact of agency model e-book pricing. "Now there may be four or five different prices for a single book."

You might write an amazing piece of work, but no one's going to find it if Amazon can't link it up right at the bottom, and if the pricing gets effed up. And most publishers don't have the resources to make sure its right everywhere. Damn internet, ruining everything.

People who read this post also read...other posts...here...

Round up day, friends and foes

2010-07-16T10:00:00.000-04:00

Head on over to PMN, for all the me time you could ever want.

Things that I should not have to read before breakfast

2010-07-15T09:00:00.001-04:00

Remember back when Phillip Pullman was making waves because schools wanted to do background checks on authors before they visited the kiddies? Once again humanity has failed us and children's author K.P. Bath has been convicted of possessing child pornography.

So, yea, maybe background checks are a good idea. Maybe also a hard drive search for everyone? And congratulations to the news, for icking me out before breakfast.

Bad romance

2010-07-14T09:00:00.002-04:00

I swear, I'm getting back into the swing of things soon, but in the meantime: some people I think misunderstand what "romance" means. For me, and this is just an opinion, I don't include Josef Fritzl in the "romantic" category. But some might disagree!

My free time was eaten by goblins

2010-07-09T10:00:00.002-04:00

But I still put together a round up at PMN. Go, read, conquer. Or something? Damn goblins.

Hall of heroes personified

2010-07-07T12:00:00.001-04:00

As we all know, American culture is built on a millenial world view, which sees the end of days coming at any time. And I'm not saying the zombie apocalypse is nigh, but I am saying: what could be more American than a good apocalypse?

Max Brooks, chronicler of the apocalypse, did an interview with Shelf Life. He says:

I knew I had turned a corner when I did my first zombie-protection lecture, which was at Colorado College, I believe. Two hundred people showed up and I was so panicked, flop-sweating like Albert Brooks in Broadcast News. I did my lecture for 45 sweaty minutes and I opened the floor up to questions, thinking, okay, they’ve suffered through my lecture. I thought they’d ask me questions like, “Is Will Ferrell really that funny?” or “Is Tina Fey nice?” but the questions were all, “If I cut off my arm, can I stop an infection?” “What rifle do you recommend at what range?” “Should I wear body armor?” They were all actual zombie questions, and I thought maybe I was on to something.

Oh man, be my friend, Max Brooks.

The truth speaks to me through comics

2010-07-07T09:00:00.000-04:00

If only there was some justification for constant blog reading...except replace "novel" with "procrastination" in my case.

Thanks to Michael for sending the link along (and for being nice about my blog-slacking!).

Holy crap Herman Melville

2010-07-06T12:00:00.001-04:00

You just got a giant carnivorous prehistoric whale named after you. Click through for the awesome artist rendering.

Living in the past, sure, I do that

2010-07-06T09:00:00.002-04:00

Because I have the essential Lost reading list. This show will never die! I'm up to four of these...

If we just cover this one word here...

2010-06-29T09:00:00.001-04:00

We get these great moments in price tag placement, book edition. Hurray!

This dead air is brought to you by...

2010-06-28T09:00:00.001-04:00

Work being out of control! Will post intermittently as things are hilarious.

Besos to you all.

Oh magical publishing eight-ball, show me your ways

2010-06-24T12:00:00.001-04:00

Susan Orlean's story of bouncing from editor to editor and house to house is disheartening, yes, but is pretty normal. Hurray for an industry that pays little enough that the slight pay bumps you get from constantly moving are enough to make you repeatedly scuttle your entire life at a single place!

What do you mean, "a plot"?

2010-06-24T09:00:00.001-04:00

I know we've all been there, seen that, but this article on the lack-of-plot associated with "good writing" hits the nail right on the head:

What Gaiman alludes to and Chabon tackles directly is the genre which we now know as "literary": the fictional worlds inhabited by people who think a lot and say a lot and feel a lot, but don't actually do very much over the course of the narrative - they might be caught up in the swell of an emotional riptide, perhaps, until Chabon's "moment-of-truth" revelation brings the story, such as it is, to a close.

The ongoing, endless war between "literary" fiction and "genre" fiction has well-defined lines in the sand. Genre's foot soldiers think that literary fiction is a collection of meaningless but prettily drawn pictures of the human condition. The literary guard consider genre fiction to be crass, commercial, whizz-bang potboilers. Or so it goes.

Call me a troglodyte, but I do enjoy when things actually, you know, happen...

Secret love lives that kind of ick me out

2010-06-22T12:00:00.002-04:00

Today was apparently the day of love stories that make me go, "...oh..."

First, we've got the Anne Frank novelization, plus boning. That's just awkward. I understand that she was a teenager, but, I don't know. It's just weird.

Also weird is the Emily Dickinson potential love story. And, hey, I'm not saying she shouldn't have had a man-friend of some sort. I'm saying that the way they describe it is creepers:

Over the next few months, Emily turned to [Otis Phillips Lord, her father's friend] the handsome widower – not as a father but as a suitor of sorts. Later, a granddaughter of Dickinson’s confidante Elizabeth Holland suggested that Lord’s tenderness had “long been latent in his feeling for her.”

I'm sorry, the words "father figure" and "lover" should really not go in the same sentence. That is creepos.

Best food books

2010-06-22T09:00:00.001-04:00

Everyone in the world should love the following things: napping and eating. And, to further love of the latter, the Chicago Tribune asked chefs to list their favorite non-cookbook food books. Hello, added to my reading list.

Where does Stieg Larsson stand on the ladies?

2010-06-21T12:00:00.004-04:00

I haven't read any of Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy, but I'm a bit confused on his feminist message. And it turns out, I'm not alone (warning, hey, there are spoilers at the link and heading forward, which are now spoiled for me, I need to stop reading so damn much):

This macho make-believe doesn’t negate Larsson’s professed feminism. But it does cast a shadow over how I read the many, many scenes of horrific violence inflicted upon female characters. One victim is choked to death with a sanitary napkin down her throat. Another is tortured, then decapitated with a saw. Lisbeth is raped. The crimes are unspeakable — which you could argue is the point for an activist like Larsson: Bring it into the open, try to prevent it from happening again. Still, Larsson seems to want it both ways: to condemn such savagery while simultaneously exploiting it in graphic detail for titillating storytelling purposes. And that makes me uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, as Missy Schwartz says at the link, Larsson is a little too dead to help untangle the tangles...

I now live at Hogwarts

2010-06-21T09:00:00.001-04:00

Because Harry Potter land is open!

Hundreds queued up for butterbeer, while others crowded into the Owl Post. By mid-afternoon, a line of 200 hopefuls stood outside Ollivanders wand shop. And another location to buy souvenir wands was added outside the Owl Post, which has been a bottleneck for shoppers.

At lunchtime, the line for Three Broomsticks restaurant extended out to the entrance of the Wizarding World, and more than 150 customers stood in the heat to buy butterbeer.

The lines are the real attraction, it seems.

Time for a Rolling Rock and a round up

2010-06-18T10:00:00.000-04:00

Too early for the Rolling Rock? I guess you can just take the roundup, then...

Fast Food Nation, why do you get so much press?

2010-06-17T12:00:00.001-04:00

Confession: I never much cared for the book Fast Food Nation. It framed everything as such a shock, and I wasn't that shocked. The Jungle it wasn't. Hell, it wasn't even The Omnivore's Dilemma, which I thought was more insightful.

Anyway. Apparently we're revisiting in. Boo, just lay down and die already, FFN.

Cops bust woman, 74, for pouring mayo in book drop

2010-06-17T09:00:00.001-04:00

You heard me. Oh, you want more?

BOISE, Idaho -- Police in Idaho think they might have solved a yearlong condiment crime spree. Authorities said a 74-year-old Boise woman arrested after pouring mayonnaise in the Ada County library's book drop box is a person of interest in at least 10 other condiment-related crimes.

Check it out!

Dr. Deadlove, or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bite

2010-06-16T12:00:00.000-04:00

Question: how will you survive the (clearly imminent) zombie apocalypse? Some think that the answer is to take the plunge, get yourself bit, and join the mob of the undead:

Most humans labor under the belief that being undead is a terrible curse. That the living dead are monsters, nothing more than animals. Most humans believe zombies are unhappy....Instead of fighting the zombies, instead of shooting yourself in the head to avoid turning into one of them, let yourself go. Embrace it. If enough of us willingly became zombies, we could change the world. Start a new civilization.

You guys are all welcome to take the bite. Otherwise, you can audition for Survival Team Ombreviations.

Glenn Beck rules the writing world

2010-06-16T09:00:00.001-04:00

Apparently Glenn Beck's new novel is out (and to think, I wasn't tracking this closely!). And what are the people saying?

...Apparently, most people aren't saying anything. Don't worry though, he'll sell a shit ton anyway.

Jesus versus Twilight

2010-06-15T12:00:00.001-04:00

Who will win?

The supernatural continues

2010-06-15T09:00:00.001-04:00

Vampires are out. Minotaurs are in!

When murder messes up your book launch

2010-06-14T12:00:00.001-04:00

Sometimes writing the book, getting it agented, getting it published and getting to press isn't the problem. No, sometimes your co-author get accused of attempted murder just as the book comes out, and that really tanks the whole thing.

Ruh roh, I'm illiterate

2010-06-14T09:00:00.001-04:00

I hear that linking makes you a worse writer:

A sentence that's written to include hyperlinks won't necessarily make as much sense without them. You write differently when you know you can't dodge explaining yourself by fobbing the task off on someone more eloquent or better informed. You have to express what you want to say more completely, and you have to think harder about what information ought to be included and what's merely peripheral. (Knowing what to leave out is as important to writing well as what you include.)

Well, shit, I'm illiterate city. Woe is me?

Glenn Beck novel trailer!

2010-06-10T15:00:00.005-04:00

Oh oh oh oh oh this is so exciting. By which I mean, what the fuck is going on in that video??

Yet another Twilight post

2010-06-10T12:00:00.000-04:00

I know everyone loves Twilight and all of its iterations and movies and chat boards and on and on and on, and so I bring you this interview with Stephanie Meyer about the mental conception of Bree Tanner. Meyer says:

In the beginning, I wasn't fascinated specifically by Bree — it was the newborns in general. While I was writing Eclipse, there was a lot going on behind the scenes, of course, things Bella didn't know about. Because I was focused on Bella, I couldn't delve too deeply into the newborns' story, however, there was always in my mind a general idea of what they were up to.

Hurray more Twilight!

Dissecting fictional characters for fun and profit

2010-06-10T09:00:00.001-04:00

Psychology is important, reader types, for mental health and enrichment. Also, though, to tell us what is up with Edward Cullen. Because seriously, what is up with Edward Cullen?

hey stipulated early on that Edward was, indeed, a vampire. But since he was supposedly 100 years old, not 17 as he appeared, his adolescent moodiness suggested arrested development.

Ah, science, how I love thee.

Apple buys into my biggest pet peeve in e-books

2010-06-09T15:00:00.001-04:00

Apple contends that the iPad accounts for 22% of all e-book sales, which is most likely bullshit. Because Apple is so known for its transparency, no one can really replicate the numbers, but:

Still, Mr. Jobs said that iPad owners downloaded over five million books in the last two months, or 2.5 books per iPad. Although it is not clear how many of these books are free, this is still a troubling trend for Amazon.

Why? Why do people do this? Because they're assholes who equate downloads with sales. These are not sales if they are free. I'll take anything that's free! But I'm a discriminating consumer when it comes to spending my actual money. There is a difference, Apple, so don't inflate your numbers.

...End pet peeve.

Author estates: Super complicated

2010-06-09T12:00:00.001-04:00

We all know how effed Steig Larsson's estate is. Well, it turns out his problem is not so uncommon. The answer, of course, is to 1) write a will, 2) never produce anything anyone cares about, or 3) leave it all to me, and I will milk every last penny out of your blood, sweat, and tears.

Overheard from your life

2010-06-09T09:00:00.001-04:00

There's a new writing project afoot, called the Bugged Initiative, in which British writers eavesdrop and use conversations they hear as inspiration. It's the British version of Overhead in New York, but less mockery based. Maybe.

Justin Long argues for gay marriage

2010-06-08T09:00:00.001-04:00

I'm so confused...usually I don't like Justin Long so much, but today I find him awesome:

How does this affect my beliefs about Justin Long? Crap, I guess I like him now.

Celebrities write for kiddies

2010-06-07T12:00:00.001-04:00

In response to Evangeline Lilly's children's book (which some charming person mentioned here) Jezebel, my favorite of blogs, put together a list of books to be written by celebrities. Because being famous means you know what children like to read.

Cute Penguin covers that don't technically exist

2010-06-07T09:00:00.001-04:00

Amy Fleisher designed the absolute cutest classic Penguin covers that Penguin never designed. As a sucker for newly covered classics, I heart these.

Netflix, marry me

2010-06-04T15:00:00.002-04:00

We've already talked about streaming literary adaptations from Netflix. What will they come up with next? Of course it's a list of Netflix for people who love plays. Is there anything Netflix can't do? (Besides send me a copy of "Amadeus" that doesn't need to be flipped like an LP, of course.)

Seriously, what happens at BEA?

2010-06-04T12:00:00.001-04:00

BEA is a mystery. What really happens there? Answer: human sacrifice. Spooky!

Round up day

2010-06-04T10:00:00.000-04:00

At Pimp My Novel. Click click click...

Breaking up is hard to do

2010-06-03T12:00:00.001-04:00

Especially when you have to break up with a book. This article is great, for the ways it breaks down types of books to dump.

All hail, Biblioracle

2010-06-03T09:00:00.001-04:00

For the indecisive, those who don't plan ahead, and don't believe that every book on GoodReads deserves five stars oh em gee!, meet the Biblioracle. Based on your last five book choices, and a sacrifice of your choice, it will tell you what to read next.

I will do the same, in exchange for cookies.

Fingerprinting for library books

2010-06-02T15:00:00.002-04:00

Because library cards are so old hat, the school system in Machester wants to use fingerprints to check out library books. What, the retinal scans were too expensive?

This is quite clearly appalling,” said Phil Booth, national coordinator of NO2ID, a privacy campaign group.

“For such a trivial issue as taking out of library books the taking of fingerprints is way over the top and wrong.

“It conditions children to hand over sensitive personal information.”

I think the real point is to crack down on library theft more effectively. You don't return your book? Your fingerprints are already in the system! So when you, 13 year old Joey, get pulled over for speeding and arrested for assaulting an officer, they'll match your fingerprints to your stolen library book and fine the crap out of you. Libraries saved!

Self-pubbing apps

2010-06-02T12:00:00.001-04:00

Would you like to self publish, but skip that messy "book" stage? Well, you're in luck, friend. Now you can self publishing to an iPhone app! This will work because:

An iPhone might not be the ideal format for reading, but it gets points just for turning up. As Andrews puts it: “People carry their phones constantly, so you’re never stuck without something to read.”

I love getting points for just showing up.

Summer reading, or how I keep myself entertained

2010-06-02T09:00:00.001-04:00

Honestly, I think the only reason people put such emphasis on summer reading is because there are no massive gift giving holidays to liven up sales. That said, hurray lists of summer reading!

If you are an indie lover, check out this list of choice summer reading from independent book sellers (from NPR, naturally). If you are a steamy romance reader, check out this list of steamasaurus rexes (written by one of the women from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, obvi). And if you are just really shallow (me!), check out these classics with great new covers.

Cue reading and no work getting done.

Gaga for Gaga, library style

2010-06-01T15:00:00.001-04:00

Famazing:

Why I heart the Rejectionist and Le R hates Cormac McCarthy

2010-06-01T12:00:00.003-04:00

I know we all already read the Rejectionist religiously, because that blog is so good and so smart and so spot on. Well, Le R strikes again with her analysis of man fiction and her response to Cormac McCarthy. Heart heart. Heart.

The Oatmeal explains Twilight, my heart explodes

2010-06-01T09:00:00.001-04:00

I love the Oatmeal. My universe has been explained so succinctly by poorly drawn comics, and I love love love it. So the Oatmeal explaining Twilight? Game on.

Garrison Keillor shits on your dreams

2010-05-27T15:00:00.001-04:00

Keillor paraphrases The Incredibles, saying if everyone is a writer, no one is. He tells us about hanging with publishing celebs at a rooftop party, with "wall-to-wall authors and agents and editors and elegant young women in little black dresses" (the last being either call girls or the assistants from the publishing house). And, you know what?

[T]his book party in Tribeca feels like a Historic Moment, like a 1982 convention of typewriter salesmen or the hunting party of Kaiser Wilhelm II with his coterie of plumed barons in the fall of 1913 before the Great War sent their world spinning off the precipice.

That is bold, sir. And at fault? Drum roll please...oh, it's self-publishing, the whipping boy of traditional publishing everywhere!

Call me a pessimist, call me Ishmael, but I think that book publishing is about to slide into the sea. We live in a literate time, and our children are writing up a storm, often combining letters and numerals (U R 2 1derful), blogging like crazy, reading for hours off their little screens, surfing around from Henry James to Jesse James to the epistle of James to pajamas to Obama to Alabama to Alanon to non-sequiturs, sequins, penguins, penal institutions, and it's all free, and you read freely, you're not committed to anything the way you are when you shell out $30 for a book, you're like a hummingbird in an endless meadow of flowers.

I choose not to articulate my thoughts on this, sirs and madams, for the sake of my sanity. Oy.

Spontaneously spouting poetry requires work

2010-05-27T12:00:00.001-04:00

Sure, we all want to be able to throw off a line of poetry in conversation to sound as brilliant as we really are, but what to memorize for maximum smarm?

The fanfic dilemma

2010-05-27T09:00:00.001-04:00

Confession: I avoid fanfic like the devil avoids church. I'm generally not interested in non-canonical views of characters I'm attached to, which I think explains why I've never heard of the Marion Zimmer Bradley fanfic fandango. Jim C. Hines does a really great job of bringing all the facts together, and sheds some light on a tricky wicket.

Orlando Bloom is not a musketeer

2010-05-26T15:00:00.001-04:00

Orlando Bloom, continuing his domination of books-to-movies, will be the Duke of Buckingham in a new adaptation of The Three Musketeers. You heard that right, gentlefolk, they're going to put Orlando Bloom next to Christoph Waltz, and hope that no one notices that one of the people with an accent is actually a block of wood.

Hurray casting!

Watch your favorite book instantly

2010-05-26T12:00:00.000-04:00

Netflix, how I love thee! I will instantly stream a movie, thank you.

For those of you who need to stream literary shiz, GalleyCat put together a list of instantly streaming literary adaptations. The lesson I learned is that women don't write books that become movies that stream instantly. Womp womp.

On the importances of titles

2010-05-26T09:00:00.000-04:00

Oh, Elizabeth Eslami, I really feel for you, in your article about people assuming your book is erotica. A slightly misleading title is making you have to defend your characters' reputations and repeatedly state that they are not incestuous.

But no one saw this coming with the title Bone Worship?

Rock stars and authors, one and the same

2010-05-25T15:00:00.001-04:00

No, I'm kidding, only Neil Gaiman gets to be a rock star author (except for celebrity memoirs). But Jeffrey Wasserstrom came up with 5 reasons author tours are like rock concerts. Among them is the knowledge that being the opening act for someone huge is bittersweet. He of course leaves out the drugs and groupie sex, to meet HuffPo standards of cleanliness.

Science pop-up book makes me feel smart

2010-05-25T12:00:00.001-04:00

Sure, it might be aimed at a slightly younger crowd, but this pop-up book about particle physics will make a scientist of me yet. Collide your own atoms and see if you can discover popped-up Higgs Boson particles before CERN--I double dog dare you.

A primer in technology

2010-05-25T09:00:00.001-04:00

Do you feel overwhelmed by all the new doo-dads and interwebs running around? Well, I can't really help. But I can help if you're interested in the gossipy side of Silicon Valley. Behold, a reading guide to titles about the tech-mafia leaders. Nerds: they're so in right now!

Bad Ombreviations

2010-05-24T09:00:00.001-04:00

I may have skipped writing posts in favor of watching the Lost finale. I know, bad. But hey, look at...this...bulldog who can't get up!

Hey, he has to learn to get himself upright. It's dog science. And ADORABLE.

Not be a crotchety grandma yet again, but...

2010-05-21T15:00:00.001-04:00

So, okay. The Rumpus is launching a new book club, and, well, I'll let them describe:

You’re invited to a moderated online discussion with the author at the end of the month which we’ll edit and run on The Rumpus as a feature article. You can also write a review of the book and we’ll run the best written review on the website. You don’t have to participate in the discussion or review the book, you could just subscribe to receive a new, unpublished book every month.

Now, on the one hand, it is nice to be able to read something first, and be the smug, "Oh, you're just getting to that now? I read it before it was cool" guy. And talking with the author about her book, also a great way to engage with the text. And I don't have the issues that the dick commenters do below the announcement (Oh, $25 is too much! How dare you make any profit on this endeavor?). But I feel all "ew" inside about the reader reviews. Don't we have enough crappy reader reviews? Isn't that what Amazon and Goodreads are for? Why are you punishing me Rumpus? I don't care about John D. Took An English Class Once's opinion. Throw me a bone! Don't open another forum for meaningless crap reviews!

Then again, it's possible I just hate book reviews. In which case, please disregard, and give your $25 to the Rumpus.

Outer space, weirder than you thought

2010-05-21T12:00:00.003-04:00

But not just because of the space itself. Sometimes the human aspect is the weirdest. Mary Roach's next book is going to be about all the shit we don't talk about when going into space, and some of it is just weird.

Sure, being in space makes you hotter, but, if you're a Japanese astronaut, they make you origami 1,000 paper cranes to see how you deal with boredom and monotony. The plus is, you get a wish after the thousand paper cranes. The downside is, anyone who doesn't wish for Sadako to live is a fucking monster, and doesn't get to go on the shuttle. What a traumatizing story. Thus concludes today's chapter of "For real, you gave that to children?"

Pimp my Novel round up

2010-05-21T10:00:00.000-04:00

Over at Pimp My Novel. And the world makes sense once again!

Storing the stash with style

2010-05-20T15:00:00.002-04:00

For some of us, closet space is a mythical beast to be worshiped and lured into our homes. For this demographic, where do you store your books?

Om nom nom storage I love you.

Using Twitter...for good?

2010-05-20T12:00:00.001-04:00

This post about geographic slang disparity via Twitter is awesome. He writes:

The southern US is the focal point for words like "bruh" and "ima" (and its orthographic variants i'ma and imma), while "hella" is centered in California and "rad" in the Pacific Northwest. "Wicked" is more characteristic of New England (especially Massachusetts), but less strongly than the others (perhaps because of its polysemy - its meaning as "very" is likely a regionalism but its older sense of "evil" is almost certainly not).

His methodology is also pretty interesting.

Blowing up enemies with book learnin'

2010-05-20T09:00:00.001-04:00

Ever wondered what a tank covered in books looks like? Wonder no more! Take that, ignorance! Take that, illiteracy!

Sidebar: I would have embedded the video, but it is unembeddable. Why would anyone do that? You're not driving more traffic by making it harder to access, sirs. You're just pissing me off. Argh.

Wheeling, dealing, and busting ghosts

2010-05-19T09:00:00.001-04:00

I'm taking the day off because, well, I am lazy. In exchange, I bring you library support and Ghostbusters:

Day off: earned.

New Franzen, super good

2010-05-18T15:00:00.001-04:00

Check out the first sentence of Jonathan Franzen's new book, and then click through for the next bit. It is super good, bitches.

Steig Larsson's estate is fucked up

2010-05-18T12:00:00.002-04:00

Terribly, terribly fucked up.

How peculiar, English

2010-05-18T09:00:00.001-04:00

English is a great language, friends. But sometimes it is a mite peculiar. Where do terms like fanboy come from? And what is up with this list of words? Please, keep your cachinnation to yourself.

People don't want to keep books that they won't reread

2010-05-17T15:00:00.001-04:00

Some smarties crunched some numbers, and put together a list of the most and least desired books on book swap websites. Interesting stuff, reader types!

Lost is awesome, also a to-read list

2010-05-17T12:00:00.001-04:00

Lost is amazing for many (many, many many) reasons, but up there are the regular allusions to great books and great ideas. The writers are incredibly well read and have fabulous taste in books, and drop tons of hints and insight into the characters and plot:

If one book was most influential on the show, it was probably “Alice in Wonderland.” "To say there is only one is unfair," said Lindelof, "but we keep coming back to 'Alice in Wonderland' thematically. That was a book that both Carlton and I remember very specifically as children. It was a gateway drug to sci-fi and fantasy in many ways."

One wild success, or a career of pretty good?

2010-05-17T09:00:00.001-04:00

Would you rather write one insanely successful book, or a string of literary titles? I would take the one-off (less work, my friends), but there's been some discussion about which is better:

Sometimes, there are writers who seem born to produce just one book. Ralph Ellison published Invisible Man in 1952 and spent the rest of his life trying to follow it. Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano was the fruit of a life-and-death struggle. Jack Kerouac's On the Road towers above all his other books, and he died an alcoholic aged 47. Guiseppe di Lampedusa's The Leopard was not fully recognised until after his death.

Either way, in songs or novels, sustaining a lifetime's work as a writer is exceedingly difficult. Most literary careers begin, and possibly end, before the age of 40. Some fly too close to the sun, and fall to earth; others give up, exhausted and demoralised.

Oh god, Muppet mashups

2010-05-14T15:00:00.001-04:00

This is an amazing list of Muppet mashups. My favorite is below:

What book explains you?

2010-05-14T12:00:00.001-04:00

Join the conversation, and explain yourself with one book (or, hey comment here).

Round it up

2010-05-14T10:00:00.001-04:00

At Pimp My Novel.

Ray Bradbury: The man, the myth, the mythology

2010-05-13T15:00:00.001-04:00

Ray Bradbury is super, super prolific, and may or may not be the great American mythologizer.

He's seen the future, and it's not all grand pink-stoned chess cities on Mars and houses that tidy up after you. It's also knowing that the world is about to end and that there's nothing to do but lie under the covers and wait for oblivion to come. It's a room full of robots telling stories about the people who made them, long after the human race has vanished from the earth.

Live strong, Ray.

Dear Daddy Long Legs, please do advise

2010-05-13T12:00:00.001-04:00

Some might suggest that, of women in literature, Juliet Capulet might not be the best for love advice. Mostly because she was 13, and my love advice at 13 involved having friends talk to boys for you and wearing Bonne Bell Lip Smackers.

I would prefer to ask...erm...I actually can't think of anyone I would prefer to ask. Awkward. Thoughts?

Hotties can read

2010-05-13T09:00:00.004-04:00

Are you interested in hotties? And you interested in men? Then perhaps you'll be interested in Hot Guys Reading Books. Some of the guys aren't reading, and some aren't...hot...and some of the photos seems to have been taken surreptitiously, which is a little sketchy, but for the most part, hurray!

International book covers are ridiculous

2010-05-12T15:00:00.001-04:00

What possible discussions took place in Germany, for instance, when publishers first received the manuscript for Martin Amis's House of Meetings – a novel that describes the misery of life in a Russian gulag – and set to work on a cover that featured six figures body-popping in the windows of a modern apartment block? What prompted Italian book designers to give junior wizard Harry Potter a hat shaped like a mouse, and why did the French opt against the monochrome design that jacketed Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything is Illuminated in the UK and the US, concocting instead a watercolour of somebody fondling a woman's breasts?

These are super fair questions! What is up with some of these international covers?

Tyra Banks, smizing model

2010-05-12T12:00:00.001-04:00

Because while she writes, she smiles with her eyes. Her YA trilogy stars the Intoxibellas, and that's how you know this is actually Tyra's brainchild, because only she would come up with that.

Love. Her.

The mistress memoirs and the path to a book deal

2010-05-12T09:00:00.001-04:00

It turns out, having writing talent doesn't land you a book deal. In reality, all you have to do is fuck a celebrity (not even an A list one!).

So, aspiring authors, take heart: don't worry about rejections, because boning, and not talent, is the way to success.

Neil Gaiman charges $45k for four hours

2010-05-11T15:00:00.001-04:00

Neil Gaiman recently spoke at a library event, and was paid $45,000 for a four hour talk (and before anyone asks, the money was earmarked for speakers, so they couldn't spend it on anything else).

Some people are angry, but I say, hey, I would also charge that much. Now taking speaking engagements! Mail cash, and I assure you I'll show up.

Romantic writers: They're just like us!

2010-05-11T12:00:00.001-04:00

They go on crazy diets! They hurt themselves trying to impress the ladies! They give each other nicknames! They redecorate!

Check out five little known facts about Romantic writers. Super fun times.

Lee Child has no stuff

2010-05-11T09:00:00.001-04:00

But in Lee Child's case, he has no stuff by choice, whereas I have no stuff by lack of money and lack of desire to go into debt. Because I'm smart, America. Down with credit card debt! Anyway. Back to Lee Child's living habits:

The entire left-hand wall—stretching from the white Corian kitchen counter along the living space and to the windows that open to a small balcony—is a plane of glossy white laminate cabinetry. Inside the cabinets are some 3,000 books, as Mr. Child believes books make a room visually chaotic and that displaying them is pretentious. The books are shelved randomly; Mr. Child said his photographic memory allows him to know exactly where each one sits.

Dear Mr. Child,

I am incredibly messy, and also will be really chatty when you're trying to work. If you're looking for a freeloader, please contact me before you turn to Craigslist.

Sincerely,
Laura C. Ombreviations

Happy Mother's Day with domestic gifts

2010-05-10T15:00:00.001-04:00

EW put together a list of 24 books to give your mom for Mother's Day (which is useful to you now only if you're a day late...). I only link to it late because it's a bit oddly skewed toward domestic tasks, with books about cooking, sewing, decorating, and gardening making up the vast majority of titles. And sure, a lot of moms like those things. But where are the zombie survival guides? The local restaurant guides? Moms can like thrillers, too. Just saying.

So, moms: what books would you prefer for holidays?

Things about Twilight I could have kept from you

2010-05-10T12:00:00.001-04:00

I have, in the past, been a bearer of Twilight related bad news for society. I have sworn that, one day, I will be a force for good, instead of evil, but it just keeps being easier to bring the bad Twilight news to the fore. So, continuing my trend: did you know that Twilight related baby names have shot through the roof? There's going to be a whole generation of boys named Cullen dating girls named Bella, causing their parents to squee to no end.

And, although the boys won't sparkle, there are coping methods for non-sparkle boyfriends. ...Are these all signs of the apocalypse, or just me getting a headache?

Feminist toys for girls and boys

2010-05-10T09:00:00.001-04:00

Check out the Bronte sisters action figures, and the Brontesaurus:

Do want. And thanks to Michael, for sending this along!

Rounding up, rounding up the road

2010-05-07T10:00:00.001-04:00

At Pimp My Novel. Go go!

Also, I think I've made a reference to The Wiz previously in a round up title, and I'm not sure because I won't look it up. How's that for lazy?

The bodice rippers of architecture

2010-05-06T15:00:00.001-04:00

An awesome new collaboration between romance publisher Mills & Boon and the UK's National Trust has inspired Meredith Blake to consider similar collaborations in the US.

She says it might be a little difficult, but, hello, sweeping plantations of the South! Ranches and stately northern farms! ...Other places! We can do for the Walt Disney Concert Hall what Dan Brown did for the Vatican.

Once again Amazon confuses "bestseller" with "most downloaded"

2010-05-06T12:00:00.007-04:00

Over at Jacket Copy we learn that the top 10 Kindle downloads are free. And, look, as someone who regularly creates free content (that is read by people who regularly create free content) I'm not saying there's anything wrong with offering an e-book for free. I think it can be a savvy publicity tool, and a nice boost for your numbers (clearly). But I will say that these are not bestsellers because they're not being sold.

So, yes, these are the top 10 Kindle downloads. But they are not the top 10 sellers. As the Jacket Copy post says, other titles by the same authors that are being sold (as opposed to being given away) are ranked in the mid-thousands, which really makes you question how good a sense you can get of what people like and what people take because it's free.

I vote we actually make a distinction between "most sold" and "most downloaded." Because most people I know stream movies they would never pay for, use Pandora to listen to music they would never buy, and, oh, use the Kindle to download books they would never purchase.

How to cope with your unread library

2010-05-06T09:00:00.001-04:00

Kirsty Logan writes at the Millions about her vast collection of unread books, why she keeps them, and how she avoids feeling guilty about them. I have absolutely felt this way before:

Last week I bought a book. I looked at the blurb and read the first paragraph, and I could feel the texture of the book in my mind....With every sentence I read, the book I had imagined shrank smaller and smaller. By the end of the third page, it had disappeared. The actual book was by no means bad, it just wasn’t the book I thought it would be.

Been there! I think I'm also less likely to read books I got for free, or bought for cheap, as opposed to books I've borrowed, or expensive books I've bought. Am I alone in this?

Get sucked into a book

2010-05-05T15:00:00.001-04:00

For reals!

Angry authors say great things

2010-05-05T12:00:00.001-04:00

Amazing list of quotes from angry authors. Oh god, I love when people say things they shouldn't (who aren't me).