People are all up in arms over the fact that Publishers Weekly's "Best Books of 2009" list features no female authors. I'd care, but I'm too busy shaking my head over the fact that they've got "best of" lists for mystery, sci-fi/fantasy, poetry, and comics, but not one for romance*, despite the fact that romance novels make up a huge percentage of total books sold.
*Romance novels are included, but they're shelved under the "Mass Market" section.
The book cover and publisher's description for The Inside Story, the eighth Sisters Grimm book, are out. Behold:
"After the shocking ending of The Everafter War, this book picks up with Sabrina, Daphne, and Puck stuck in the Book of Everafter, where all the fairy tales are stored and enchanted characters can change their destinies. The girls (and Puck) must chase the Master through a series of stories, where they’re willing to change what they need in order to save their baby brother. Soon, however, they are confronted by the Editor—the book’s guardian—who, along with an army of tiny monsters known as Revisers, threatens the children with dire consequences if they don’t stick to the stories. As they chase their quarry and dodge the Revisers, they meet Alice, Mowgli, Jack the Giant Killer, Hansel and Gretel, the Headless Horseman, and more. But will they find their brother in time?"
This puppy is officially out at the beginning of May, but the local Borders store always seems to have their copies on the shelves at least two weeks early, so I'll be keeping an eye out for it by early April.
Yes, dear readers. They're really making a Berenstain Bears movie.
Now I usually object to the idea of turning 30-page-long kid classics into 2-hour-long movies... but I have to admit it: I spent many an hour as a little girl coveting Sister Bear's clubhouse from No Girls Allowed. Should they work that storyline into the movie, I'll probably withdraw my objections. In fact, I might even scrounge up a small child and see it.
Following in the (already tired) footsteps of Quirk's Jane Austen/horror story mash-ups, Del Rey has made plans to publish a book called Little Women and Werewolves.
Now, I'm not much of a Little Women fan, so this news doesn't pain me the way the Austen ripoffs did. And I hate to say it, but Beth's deathbed scene does sort of lend itself to parody.
Slate writer Johann Hari recently wrote an article about two Ayn Rand biographies—Goddess of the Market by Jennifer Burns and Ayn Rand and the World She Made by Anne Heller. Despite describing them as "thorough" and "readable", his essay left me with zero desire to read either book, as it's clear they're both total downers*. Still, if you've ever wanted to know more about the woman who has Fox News devotees' hearts all a-flutter, the article is well worth checking out.
*Had to be, with that subject matter: Rand was a total whackjob.
The AP Wire recently posted a story about a dude named Walter Skold, an amateur poet and the founder of the Dead Poets Society of America. (Their tagline: "We dig dead poets... you dig?") Mr. Skold has just finished a three-month road trip during which he visited the graves of 150 poets in 23 states, traveling in his "Poemobile" cargo van. He spent the three months visiting and documenting the graves of the dead poets--some well-known, some totally obscure--and celebrating their works through readings, tombstone-decorating, and the odd bit of performance art.
Mr. Skold is making a documentary about his trip, and hopes to search for dead American poets buried in Europe next year.
Is it just me, or have cookbooks gotten crazy expensive lately? Or were they always crazy expensive, and I just never bought cookbooks and therefore didn't notice? Because I was all set to buy a copy of Yamuna Devi's Lord Krishna's Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking this weekend, but then I noticed it cost forty dollars. Why?!? I can see that the original book was a hugely labor-intensive project*, but A) it features illustrations rather than photographs, which should lower printing costs, and B) this edition is a reprint! How much could it possibly have cost to update a book that was first published less than 20 years ago**? And wouldn't the publishers sell way more copies if it went for, say, $25***?
*800 pages, 500+ recipes **So it's not like they have to update measurements from 1837. ***Even $30! I would have paid thirty bucks for it!
[Note: These are not rhetorical questions. I totally want to know.]
In early 2005, art dealer Richard Polsky decided to sell a small Andy Warhol "Fright Wig" painting for $375,000. The sale originally seemed like a success, but Polsky had misjudged his moment, badly. Over the next two years, the art world shifted on its axis. Auction houses began to take over the work traditionally handled by dealers, and prices shot into the stratosphere—a similar “Fright Wig” sold in 2007 for 1.2 million pounds. Polsky's book I Sold Andy Warhol (Too Soon) traces this sea change from its roots to its collapse, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the high-stakes, ego-driven world of contemporary art dealing.
Even if the closest you've ever come to a significant art sale is cruising past a Thomas Kinkade gallery in the mall, Polsky has an interesting story to tell. Unfortunately, large sections of I Sold Andy Warhol (Too Soon) prove that he isn't the most sympathetic person to tell it. The book's descriptions of wheeling and dealing are amusingly catty, but Polsky wastes too much time on obscure art-circle namedropping and anecdotes about his (numerous) mercenary exes, neither of which the average reader is likely to appreciate. More importantly, while the housing market is full of people who should empathize with Polsky's description of selling something at a grossly inflated price and then finding himself unable to afford its replacement, the immediately-post-Madoff era probably wasn't the smartest time to release a book about a man complaining about clearing a mere(!) $300,000+ on the Warhol sale of the title. Sure, readers might sympathize with Polsky's situation, viewing it as an allegory for the grossly inflated economy as a whole... but we're betting they won't. Polsky's book might be entertaining, but our financial wounds are still too fresh.
How did I miss this? Apparently, TPTB aired an extended trailer for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland during the Spike Scream Awards, but I couldn't find a decent copy online and it turns out I hadn't seen the non-extended trailer, so that's what I've got here. Behold:
And don't get me wrong, I love Johnny Depp, but it seems a more than a little unfair that he got top billing while the main actress isn't mentioned at all....
Last year we made a list of last-minute, book-inspired Halloween costumes. Those are definitely still good options, but I ran across an even easier costume this year: dressing up as Sookie Stackhouse from the Charlaine Harris books and True Blood TV series. Now, ideally you'd go all-out and get a blond wig, but if you're low on cash you can just skip that and go as one of the other waitresses at Sookie's job (the ones with the high mortality rate). You'll need a pair of tiny shorts, sneakers, a tight white t-shirt, and a tray. Write "Merlotte's" on the shirt and you're golden! Best of all, at this time of year you'll probably be able to find tiny shorts and white t-shirts galore in the deepest recesses of the clearance aisle.
I wouldn't trick-or-treat in this, though. You'd freeze vital bits off.
Sears is currently offering an unusual deal via its website: if you buy any of these featured titles on Sears.com, Walmart.com, Amazon.com, or Target.com, you can receive a store credit for the purchase price (up to $9) that you can use immediately on your next purchase of $45 or more from the Sears website.
This promotion is part of the Sears program "Keep America Reading". I'm not sure how often the featured titles will change (they're currently the top 10 pre-selling books) or how long the promotion will run, but this might be a great way to kick off your holiday shopping!
If any of you are harboring dreams of becoming the Next Big Thing in young adult publishing, you need to check out NaNoWriMo.org's current contest: aspiring authors can submit the first 250 words of their novel-in-progress for a chance to have the idea seen by top editors at Random House, HarperCollins, Penguin, Harlequin and Sourcebooks, and get feedback on the manuscript from one of New York’s top YA literary agents. The winning submission will get a FREE 10 week writing course courtesy of the Gotham Writer’s Workshop, while four 2nd Place winners will get feedback from editors and a one year subscription to The Writer magazine.
People are all up in arms over the fact that Publishers Weekly's "Best Books of 2009" list features no female authors. I'd care, but I'm too busy shaking my head over the fact that they've got "best of" lists for mystery, sci-fi/fantasy, poetry, and comics, but not one for romance*, despite the fact that romance novels make up a huge percentage of total books sold.
