Filed under: books, reviews | Tags: andrew sean greer, april book of the month, confessions of max tivoli, discounted books, ed recommends, featured book of the month, the story of marriage
Our featured April book of the month is The Story of Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer. Ed had this to say:
It is San Francisco 1953, and narrator Pearlie relates the circumstances of her marriage to childhood sweetheart Holland Cook. But a strange appears at her door one day, and the plot is propelled through a series of twisting revelations and agonizing decisions by all three characters. Greer gives a beautiful portrait of the racial, sexual and social issues of the early 1950’s with its climate of fear and repression.
Greer’s crystalline prose makes this novel soar! Ed Highly recommends.
Greer is also the author of The Confessions of Max Tivoli. Come check it out. New in paperback from Picador and 10% off.
Filed under: books, rumors | Tags: a memory of light, brandon sanderson, greedy publishers, robert jordan, tor, trilogy, upset fans, wheel of time
.jpg "the gathering storm")
Meant to post this yesterday, but hey, sometimes a bottle of wine takes priority.
The last book in Robert Jordan’s unfinished epic, The Wheel of Time series, is going to be split into three separate books under the original title for the manuscript A Memory of Light.
President of Tor Books, Tom Doherty, had this to say in the press release:
“It is a magnificent closure to a great American epic fantasy whose journey began almost twenty years ago. There is no way Robert Jordan would have squeezed it to a single volume, and somehow it seems fitting that what began as a trilogy will also end as one.”
Though there has been some outcry over the handling of the final manuscript. Seems R.J himself lamented probably having to split the final book in half because of it’s heft, but Tor is being accused of, what else, greed (or money speak: maximizing profit margin). Though no one should be surprised as this cash-cow for Tor is coming close to it’s end after 18 years and millions of copies sold.
The author working with Jordan’s manuscript, Brandon Sanderson, had a blog post as a rebuttal of sorts. Worth a read for some context.
Though I am sure that all of R.J’s fans will still buy the last three books (look at how much Scholastic milked out of the last Harry Potter book) as it’s the capstone to the whole damn thing.
The first of the final books, titled The Gathering Storm, will be published November 3, 2009.
Yes. We’ll have it.
In a move like that cult self-published favorite turned mega bestseller, The Shack, Once a Runner is heading towards big-house publication on April 7 via Simon and Schuster. Never heard of it? You aren’t alone, but you are a shrinking majority. The Wall Street Journal has an interesting interview with the author, John Parker. He talks about the history, his fans, etc.
It also seems he is not afraid to toot his own horn. When asked why his book has attracted such a following:
“I think it’s good fiction. I studied with Harry Crews [a leading southern novelist and essayist] as an undergraduate and took seminars even when I was in law school. The University of Florida had a great writing program. You’d bring your stuff in, the teacher would read it, and then everyone would attack it. You’d then hash it out, and I think I learned what I needed to know.”
Hubris much?
Initial print run is 30,000. Once a Runner, by John Parker.
Filed under: books, reviews | Tags: need to own books, pride and prejudice, pride and prejudice and zombies, seth grahame-smith, zombies
We have it! We have the book. In my hands, right now, is the cream of the crop. The top-dog. The bee’s knees. The cat’s pajamas! Whew!
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
Oh, do not doubt the power of this book. It will change your life one zombie infestation in polite 19th century English society at a time. Here are some choice quotes:
“A few of the guests, who had the misfortune of being too near the windows, were seized and feasted on at once.”
“The creatures were crawling on their hands and knees, biting into ripe heads of cauliflower, which they mistaken for stray brains.”
This is more than a daft reference. This is the actual text of P&P sandwiched between a zombie horde. Do the Bennets have what it takes to survive genteal British society; for Elizabeth to fall in love with Mr. Darcy; for England to ever be the same again?!
Yeah, you need this book. Many worlds of thanks to Seth Grahame-Smith. A+
Filed under: bookstore news | Tags: free movie passes, adventureland, kristen wiig, jesse eisenberg
Just to let you know … we have all of these free movie passes to Adventureland for April 2. You just have to come in and ask for one.
It has that delightful Jesse Eisenberg (from Squid and the Whale) and Kristen Wiig!! I was totally writing this movie off until I saw the preview last night.
Marketing? Job well done.
Couple of big shipments of sale books today. Will have a full run down when it all gets sorted. But. We now have all of Augusten Burroughs’ books. While supplies last. $6.99.
Also some Mark Doty, Denis Johnson, Christopher Bram, etc. etc.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: museum of modern art, sale, taschen, tom of finland, tom of finland xxl, touko laaksonen
Now you can be just like Museum of Modern Art in New York and own a piece of Touko Laaksonen. In this case: all of it. Taschen has just released the complete Tom of Finland XXL. From the taschen website:[LINK IS VERY NSFW]
“At 29cm x 40.5cm and 666 pages, Tom of Finland XXL contains over 1,000 images, covering six decades of the artist’s career. The work was gathered from collections across the US and Europe with the help of the Tom of Finland Foundation, and features many drawings, paintings and sketches never previously reproduced.”
The book is gigantor – much like some of the, um, body parts on Finland’s illustrations. Whether you like his illustrations for, ahem, utilitarian purposes, or recognize Laaksonen’s work as art, this book is worth a look.
It includes: “Eight specially commissioned essays on Tom’s social and personal impact by Camille Paglia, John Waters, Armistead Maupin, Todd Oldham, and others, plus a scholarly analysis of individual drawings by art historian Edward Lucie-Smith. For the man—or woman—who thinks bigger is better, Tom of Finland XXL is certain to satisfy.”
We currently have it on sale at 30% off. That’s $139.99!
Filed under: books, rumors | Tags: barack obama, book deals, george w bush, presidential book deal, random house
Just announced today there are 44 and 43 got themselves some book deals! Guess which one is bigger? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I could laugh for six pages. I’ll post that link later.
“The Decider’s” large, though small in comparison, book advance. $7 million. Really. Well, Random House (Crown is publishing the book), you better have payed him in Ameros.
#44, Barry Obama, also got himself a book deal yesterday. Two months into his presidency. Well, at least we know he knows how to write. And judging from how much Dreams from My Father has Sold, I am guessing it’s going to be a little bit more than the token they threw at Georgie. Assuming, of course, that he doesn’t launch a full scale war to try and get his Frisbee off the neighbor’s lawn.
So you’re at home and you hear one of those NRP jockeys blathering on about something but you aren’t quite sure what the book is about, or the author isn’t very good at interviews and isn’t really selling the darn thing – what do you do? You go here. Scribd, recently partnered with some of the major publishers, gives you access to thousands of titles to read. They offer both whole copies of titles and partial chapters. Magazines too!
There also seems to be an option to upload your own writing. Not sure if it then belongs to Scribd like a certain Facebook nightmare.
It’s a great little feature to try out a book you aren’t really sold on. And, let’s be honest, there is nothing worse than being saddled with a book you thought would be better than it is.
My guess … books titled The Secret will never sell again.
Filed under: Uncategorized
First Where The Wild Things Are poster!!!
ZOMG! CAN’T FAIL! TOO BIG!
