advance.reader

gone dark

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 13:50:00 +0000

this blog has gone dark. check the adventures of jenn I(n) R(eal) L(ife) for further updates.

ARCreader: not just in it for the freebies

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:22:00 +0000

as i've been preparing for the ABA's Day of Education panel on Digital Content, i've been thinking a lot about the best way to talk about digital content -- including digiARCs. and it occurred to me at some point that i have a pretty clear stake in my modest proposal for the ARCreader: i'm looking for a handout.

regardless of my motivations, be they green, efficiency-centric, techno-centric, whatever, at the end of the day it may be easy to dismiss it all as "oh, well, she just wants a free ebook reader." so i decided to take myself out of the equation. i'm not exactly rolling in dough,* so i took a good, long, hard look at the options and made a few discoveries along the way. based on those discoveries, meet my ARCreader: the iPod Touch.

not your first thought for an eReader, right? well, here's the deal:

the Kindle is ruled out right from the start, for obvious reasons. in case you don't know those reasons, here they are: AMAZON and PROPRIETARY. as an indie bookseller, i can't in good conscience support a system that doesn't allow any other source of books to customers. there may be ways around that, but that brings us right back to AMAZON. also, MY GOD IT IS EXPENSIVE.
the Sony eReader is, as someone put it on Twitter the other day (i'd attribute but can't remember who it was), a one trick pony. it reads books. which is great and all, but when you've got little money to spend and you're not even going to give me WiFi for what i can afford, well, that puts you out of the running.
all those other Readers (of which there are many and soon to be even more) may be cheaper, but will they work? i couldn't find reviews compelling enough to take chances on companies i don't know and devices i haven't heard much about.

which leaves us with Jessica's request that publishers buy her an iPhone. i have to admit, when i read that i was pretty skeptical. not only because of the insanely expensive data plan you have to have with it. but really? reading on what i considered a teeny tiny LCD screen? for serious?

enter a family wedding in AZ. i spent four days with my family, three of whom own iPod Touchs (Touches?). and of course i already had iEnvy, since i am a big fan of most things Mac. one morning at a coffee shop i was poking around on my dad's iTouch and discovered WattPad, which happened to have a copy of The Lightning Thief that someone pirated. i've always wanted to pick the book up but never quite got around to it, so i thought "hey, why not?"

26 pages later, it was time to go, and i hadn't even realized how long i'd been reading. and that's when it hit me: i could buy an iTouch and get lots of other bang for my buck, aside from reading books. i could have email at BEA! a calendar of all the appointments and parties and panels! my very own virtual koi pond! i could finally play with the IndieBound app! AND, last but most important, i could have an ARCreader.

so i did it; i bought one. i won't get to go shopping or get a haircut for a while (that scruffy girl shuffling around the Javits Convention Center at the end of the month? yeah, that'll be me) but so far, it's totally worth it. i've been working my way through the digiARCs that one rep so kindly sent me (shout out to PGW) and so far am thoroughly satisfied with the experience.

is it the final solution? definitely not. i can imagine a better reader, an ARCreader that has a bigger screen and WiFi and maybe even a normal OS and a touchscreen and USB ports for keyboards, etc. (i'm referring here to the fabled Mac tablet/reader). as Alex Beckstead, Drew Goodman, Rich Rennicks, and Patrick from Vroman's and i were discussing this morning on Twitter, everyone has their own idea of the perfect reader, and the technology still has a ways to go. but for now, it's a start.

so publishers, be on notice! i'm not just in it for the freebies. now if only you would send me some digiARCs.... over to NetGalley i go!

---

*i should mention here that my employer pays me plenty -- really, they are fantastic! however my significant other works part time to give him more time to write, so that puts a little more pressure on the budget.

the adventures of jennIRL

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:00:00 +0000

From advanced.reader

ARCreader: the chicken or the egg?

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:41:00 +0000

well, it's official. it's no longer a numbers game. GalleyCat came along and did the math on the ARCreader.

Let's examine the costs:

1000 reviewers
x $3/galley
x $1/ U.P.S. mailing cost
x 375 titles/year
_______________________
$1.5 million /year

That's $1.5 million a year the average major publisher is spending printing and mailing out to the same 1000 reviewers every year.

Now, let's examine how much it would cost to mail each reviewer all a Kindle, including shipping costs.

1000 reviewers
x $400 /Kindle
x $0 / galley
x $0 / U.P.S. galley mailing costs
x 375 titles/year
_______________________
$400,000

they go even further and point out that if publishers pooled their money to buy ARCreaders, they'd save even more -- the article is well worth the read. i actually think the Kindle is not a great example practically speaking (given most booksellers would rather DIE than own a Kindle, except of course GC is talking about reviewers, not necessarily booksellers, but still) but it is useful because it's on the high-end of the price range. and, GC uses a low figure for ARCs; my info stated $3 - $7. so taking that into account, this is a conservative estimate of the potential savings. so why haven't publishers done this already?

i followed up with my reps this week, as i suddenly realized i'd been waiting for over a month on hearing whether or not they'd be able to send me digital ARCs. and the answers all around were a resounding "No," except for the one yes i reported earlier on. these reps, i should mention, are at the big publishing houses.

however, some independent publishers, most notably Unbridled Books, have already gone ahead and are offering digiARCs right now, through NetGalley, and i've heard that there are many more participating publishers soon to be announced. my bet, though, is that these new additions will not include the big houses.

so what's the difference? if it's not cost, what is holding some publishers back where others leap forward? my money, my friends, is on DRM. especialy after the kerfuffle involving Stephenie Meyer and the internet leak of an early draft of Midnight Sun, my guess is that the big publishers are on notice regarding digital piracy. and you can't really blame them, per se -- when a bestselling author pulls a project because of something like this, it's a pretty big hit for them.

so i don't blame them, but i do think it's misguided to let fear of piracy stop a money-saving, efficiency-improving move to digiARCs. just this past week, Gizmodo pointed out a Norwegian study that showed that music pirates bought 10 times more music online than non-pirates (is that right? non-pirates? there has to be a better word. landlubbers? e-lubbers?). i have anecdotal evidence that tells me the same thing, in the form of a good friend. he rips, burns, downloads, and pirates music -- and then goes out and buys the albums. crazy, right? not really. if you think about it, the music you can get through piracy is often of poor quality, and pretty much never a complete album. so the free music just whets your appetite, and makes you willing to pay to get the full "meal".

as many have pointed out, the book industry is not the music industry, so the analogies only go so far. but i am betting that the independent publishers are operating on the old maxim, "There's no such thing as bad publicity." pirated manuscript? PEOPLE ARE READING YOUR BOOK. and if you're publishing good books, they're going to like them and want more. and if you like a book, you're (insert really high number here)% more likely to want to actually own it -- whether in audio, ebook, or book form.

the DRM issue is huge, and scarily technical, and i can't say that i understand the nuts and bolts of it. there's a lot going on right now, and who knows which way it will shake out. the part that i'm especially interested in is what it means for the ARCreader.

obviously publishers are not going to pony up money to buy booksellers a device they're not offering content for, and neither will booksellers. some who already have one will participate in NetGalley or solicit digiARCs from willing publishers, but the vast majority of booksellers won't jump on the bandwagon until digiARCs are a reality across the board. and as industries struggle with DRM, the independent bookstores get farther and farther behind the technology wave that is sweeping customers online.

do i believe that one day the book will be a thing of the past? no. do i believe that ebooks will have (and already have had) an impact on indie bookstores? absolutely. as Jessica pointed out, familiarity with ebooks and ereaders will make us better booksellers. we need to get on board, and get on board now.

how do we do that? we've made real progress this month with the ABA's release of the IndieBound iPhone app, and we'll hopefully see some more in the near future. while this doesn't directly relate to the ARCreader or digiARCs, it's a great example of independents joining the game on the digital front. but there's more, so much more, to be done within the stores themselves. hopefully we'll come up with some good ideas on our BEA panel (Going Digital). what do i really want to see?

digiARCs
content bundling (this is another post for another day, but it's coming)
bookseller education on e-content across the board

what do you want to see?

not-so-sexy vampires: THE STRAIN

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:08:00 +0000

these vampires don't sparkle. not even a little bit. and if they're playing baseball, it's probably with your head.

Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan breathe new, fetid, life into the vampires of our nightmares. i don't want to give away the specifics, but these vampires Are. Completely. Terrifying. Del Toro is a pro at bringing the supernatural into vivid, eery, disturbing life (i'm thinking particularly of Pan's Labyrinth, although the Hellboys give most comic-based horror movies a run for their money), and THE STRAIN retains all his cinematic genius. i haven't read any Chuck Hogan, so i'm not sure where his influence comes in -- i assume that the literary style (sparse, action-centric, and fast-paced, the book reads like a really well-done book-based-on-the-movie) is his, but that is really an assumption. no lightweight first installment, THE STRAIN does more than set the stage for the trilogy: it could have been a trilogy all on its own. at times predictable in plot, and with characters you'll want to periodically yell at, it's far from perfect, but it's a great addition to the horror genre and a much needed antidote to the saccharine and sexy vampire novels of late.

ARCreader: looking toward the future

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:09:00 +0000

i'm thinking i may have to retract my pledge to have an ARCreader by May and take home no print ARCs from BEA.

it's not the vagueness of rep replies (although i understand that sales conferences are ongoing, and am hopeful for more updates next week), though those have been a little disappointing. in this case, i'm of the "build it and they will come" mentality -- if i put it out there (and am obnoxious enough about it) i'm betting it'll take less time than more for publishers to come around, at least a little bit. and every digiARC is one less that i will agonize over: keep, donate, recycle? worth it to me.

no, what's worrying me is finances. due to some very unfortunate and very unforeseen circumstances, i'm buried under car-related expenses, and will be playing catch-up for the next few months. in other words, those precious credit dollars are claimed.

add that to the fact that, thus far, no sponsors have come forward and i was unable to get in touch with anyone at Sony who could actually authorize a discount, and it equals no ARCreader for me.

which is ok -- i knew the pledge was ambitious when i made it. and thankfully the conversation continues: Stephanie and Jessica (who, for the record, is super smart and overly modest) have added excellent thoughts and points, and the discussion continues on Twitter (#digiARC and #ARCreader are both worth the search). Stephanie's point about the importance of physical objects is well taken and needs more thought, and Jessica's assertion that e-ARCs would make us better at handselling e-books makes me want to stand on my chair and cheer.

but in the meantime, i really did want to have a print-ARC-free BEA... maybe next year?

santa olivia

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 17:43:00 +0000

i first discovered Jacqueline Carey years ago through a review at Salon.com which, due to link rot, i can no longer find. the gist of the review (as i remember it) was that her Kushiel's Legacy series was an intriguing look at politics disguised as sexy fantasy novels. understandably compelling. so i picked up, ironically, the first book of the Kushiel's Scion series, which actually comes after the Legacy books -- a little confusing, but sufficiently followable to get me hooked on her and the entire Legacy/Scion set.

i read them all and then, as tends to happen when you read books, they were over. sigh.

add that nostalgia to my triumph at having dug myself out from under the avalanche of ARCs at work, and you can understand my glee at locating a review copy of Santa Olivia, her newest novel. especially after skimming the back -- the combination of the phrase "Wolf-Man" with the heroine's name, Loup Garron (which, as any Dresden Files fan will know, is a play on the loup-garou werewolf legend) led me to believe that i had in my hands a contemporary werewolf novel.

this is not exactly the case. let's just say that no one is furry. however, this should not deter any SF/F fans from giving it a read because, like her Kushiel books, it's an intriguing look at politics disguised as a sexy science fiction novel.

Carey takes the politics of terror, specifically, and sets the story in an America that, while theoretically a future dystopia, is eerily familiar. Santa Olivia has all the components of a great story -- action (she manages to make boxing interesting, which to me is no mean feat), sex (less than her other works, but still plenty) and romance, endearing characters, and an excellently gritty feel to the setting and language -- but more importantly, it does what really good science fiction can do: it shines a very bright spotlight on things we'd rather overlook. how easily we give up freedom, how hard it is to regain, and what compels us to work that hard are integral questions here, questions that, while they're answered for Loup Garron, will leave readers wondering what their own answers might be.

this political touch, plus the sections of the novel narrated by teenaged Loup, make this a good candidate for a YA crossover as well, specifically the highschool crowd. Santa Olivia pubs late May 2009.

ARCreader: update

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:00:00 +0000

rep number 1 not only says yes, but sends me 3 manuscripts right off the bat
rep number 2 says he'll bring it up at the upcoming sales conference, since it is an important and meaningful discussion (YES!)
rep number 3 says let me check with my boss
rep number 4 says i'm the second person to ask the question, and the answer is not right now but hopefully soon
rep number 5 says no, not yet

i also sent Sony an online inquiry about offering booksellers a discount on Readers -- got back message to call a Sales Rep, plus phone number. i hope to make that phone call this week, although events may conspire to prevent me. will keep you posted!

Lev Grossman on drinking in THE MAGICIANS

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 15:16:00 +0000

what an author -- the post is up for a day, and he responds! just in case people don't read the comments, i'm reposting here:

Hi a.r. I hear and obey.

First I want to thank you for doing such a careful and thoughtful reading of my book. You explained what it's about better than I could. Second, to answer your question, yes, there's a lot of drinking in the book. Chalk it up to two things:

-- Insane stress. Brakebills (that's the name of the magic school they all go to) is a real hothouse. The way I imagine it, if you cram 100 type-A certified geniuses into one house and work them like pack animals until their mighty brains start to melt, the stress levels are off the charts. They'd go nuts if they didn't drink.

-- Insane boredom. One thing that makes the Magicians universe different from, say, Narnia or the Potterverse -- as you pointed out -- is that there isn't really a Big Bad. There's no ultimate evil to fight. So they've got all this power at their command, but nothing to do with it. It eats away at them, makes them feel worthless and pointless and bored. Hence drinking.

Plus, I like to drink. And you're never drinking alone as long as your characters are drinking.

my love/hate relationship with THE MAGICIANS

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 16:21:00 +0000

the blurb on the back of this ARC (plus the pretty, pretty cover) really sold me. magic in the real world? loosely disguised Narnia? nightmares and shocking truths? yes! well, except for the phrase "coming-of-age" -- that always makes me want to not read a book. too many high-school english class connotations. but i went ahead and read it anyway.

and i loved it! it's Harry Potter plus some Narnia plus sex, booze, lies, guilt, and other actual human emotions! the beautiful thing about the Harry Potter and Narnia series, and books like them, is that they are perfectly suited to reinforce moral codes: bad people are bad, good people are good (although they sometimes may make mistakes), and when you try and fight the good fight, you know exactly which side you should be fighting for. it's what makes them great reads for children (aside, of course, from the magic). but that's also the unrealistic thing about HP and Narnia (aside, of course, from the magic): good people aren't always good and bad people aren't always bad, and sometimes what appears to be the right side is absolutely not. and sometimes you don't even want to fight the good fight, sometimes you just want to go away and have a cocktail and see who comes out on top. and no, you don't necessarily want your 10-year-old to wrestle with the reality of these things. but if you're an adult (or teenager) reading Harry Potter, don't you find yourself wondering if Harry and Ron ever snuck up to the Astronomy Tower with something a bit stronger than butterbeer to get a buzz on? or if Hermione smuggled in some caffeine pills to help her stay awake during all that Time Twisting?

i definitely wondered, and so did Lev Grossman. THE MAGICIANS really, truly, does an excellent job imagining what we'd all be like if we could actually do magic and/or get to Narnia. sure, we could make pretty lights appear out of nowhere and levitate and shoot static charges at each other from across the room, but we would also cheat on our tests, sleep with the wrong person, make friends who are not good for us, have torturous childhoods, and in general continue to be dissatisfied with our lives. in other words, magic doesn't make us any less human or angsty or damaged. if you're like me, this thought makes you giddy with the sheer audacity of the premise. if it makes you cringe, then don't read this book.

so there's the love, now for the hate. yes, reality does often involve drinking. lots of teenagers (as much as we'd like to think otherwise), college students, and many, many adults drink. some more heavily than others. but everyone, and i mean EVERYONE, in THE MAGICIANS is constantly drinking, drunk, or hung-over and contemplating their next fix. always. all the time. every waking moment. some of it "sanctioned" by the magical Academy, and some of it "extracurricular." and these are supposed to be the brightest of the bright, the creative creme de la creme, collected together for the express purpose that they have talents no one else has. and ... they're all alcoholics? why, Lev Grossman, why? i understand that it's key to a specific character's development in the story. but all of them? all the time? now really. i knew a lot of very bright, very creative kids in high-school and college, and i can assure you that while they did indulge, the frat/sorority population was far more likely to behave the way Grossman's characters behave. unless he's going with the "tortured artist" cliche, but usually artists tend to be a bit older than 18 when they hit that point in their lives. i mean, Hemingway was probably a pretty tortured teen, but it took him years to work up to the level of debauchery that THE MAGICIANS' protagonists achieve.

i would really love to hear from the author about this -- if you're out there Googling yourself, please comment! i'm also curious to see if anyone else who has read the book feels the same way -- maybe i'm out of line here? unless and until those comments come, however, i will have to just continue to be torn. THE MAGICIANS pubs August '09.

ARCreader: by hook or by crook

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:40:00 +0000

i'm on a crusade, it turns out. after Thursday's rousing discussion and Friday's recap, i've discovered i'm completely unable to let this go.

so, i decided this morning that i would be a guinea pig for my crusade (to mix some metaphors) and find out whether or not publishers would actually be willing to send me digital ARCs. i've emailed some of my reps (and gotten one VERY encouraging response, still waiting to hear from the others) to find out. based on the first feedback (bless you, CH, for paying attention to your email on a Saturday) and my anticipation of further good news (even if it's just a few digital chapters to encourage me to request ARCs, it's a step forward) i have created my ARCreader pledge:

i solemnly swear that, not only will i have an ARCreader by May 2009, but that i will not take home a single ARC from BEA '09.

those of you who have been to BEA know just how dramatic this pledge is -- i went home with several very large boxes of ARCs last year. and that is exactly what the publishers want -- for us to read their books. well, i'll read them... on my ARCreader!

where will i get this ARCreader? right now, i don't know. if i have to, i will (gulp) add it to my already over-burdened credit card. but i'm hopeful that some people out there, be they publishers, Sony (who i have also contacted, in hopes of getting an industry discount), the ABA, an anonymous benefactor/benefactress, will see the beauty and importance of this idea and help me get there.

onward, soldiers!

a modest proposal: the ARCreader

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:58:00 +0000

"an embarrassment of riches" is the perfect way to describe a perennial bookseller problem: ARCs. we love them and we hate them. let me explain: we love them, because we love books and authors and being in the know and reading the next great book; we hate them, because we get so many and they pile up and up and up and then what do you do with them when you're done reading them, or for that matter what do you do with the ones you haven't read? we try all kinds of things--donating them, passing them along to friends/family/interested bloggers, letting customers take their pick--but the fact remains that all of those efforts combined will never, ever, drop that pile down to zero for most of us.

now, i know there are greater problems facing the publishing industry. but when i dug myself out of the avalanche of ARCs in my office yesterday, i couldn't help but think that there had to be a better way. how to get books read, decrease cost, and make everyone happy (or at least two out of the three)?

here is my proposal: ARCreaders, i.e., e-readers for booksellers.

my initial idea was pretty basic: publishers provide a small group of booksellers, who they already send loads of arcs to, with an e-reader. then, they make those ARCs available as, say, pdfs to download. the bookseller, in exchange for the e-reader, agrees to read x number of ARCs from those publishers per season.

of course booksellers love this idea. publishers? not so much. they love the idea of decreasing the costs involved in ARCs--Fred Ramey of Unbridled Books told me, "ARC costs vary a lot, based on 1) the length of the book and 2) the number of fellow prints. But it ain't never cheap." but the outlay of money to buy readers is not exactly small potatoes either. and then there's the question of who gets them? publishers value their relationships with booksellers--they have to, if they want their books read and reviewed and bought, but on top of that a lot of us genuinely like each other. so what if a publisher sends them to a specific bookseller at a bookstore, and other booksellers there develop a case of sour grapes? not good!

one idea proposed yesterday in our conversation (Twitter, #ARCreader, plus some pre-tag notes in my feed) was that the ABA would take charge of such a program. get in touch with Sony, get a special deal on their reader, and then the publishers would provide the virtual ARCs.

this is definitely a thought worth looking into, but i wonder if the ABA is in a position to do this. recently, they slashed dues for bookstores in half (thank you, by the way!) and reduced their staff through attrition. in addition, this program would clearly be of great benefit to the publishers, so shouldn't they provide some monetary support?

cleary this idea has lots and lots of loopholes. a look at the ups and downs follows, but please note: the phrase "i'm betting" appears a lot in this post, for the reason that i don't have numbers at my disposal. if i ever get some, you can be sure i'll put them in, and if you happen to know either way, please, comment!

the up-sides:

immediate decrease in printing and shipping costs for publishers. sure, not every bookseller will have one, but providing key booksellers who receive mammoth quantities of arcs should drop costs pretty quickly -- especially when you think about the effect over time. one estimate mentioned was between $6 and $11/arc, plus shipping. if i take home between 5 and 10 ARCs a week during the spring and fall seasons, that's between $60 and $110 every two weeks, not including shipping. in this scenario, your reader gets paid off within months, and then continues to save you money for potentially years to come.
increased access to ARCs for booksellers. if i could download an assorted range of titles without having to worry about where in my postage-stamp-sized office/closet-sized apartment i'm going to put them, i'd be that much more likely to look at more titles. this in turn benefits the publisher, because more of their upcoming books are getting read.
green, green, green. in our green-aware times, the cache involved in eliminating even a small portion of the carbon footprint involved would definitely be good for business. i am aware that tech does not necessarily equal green, but in this case i'm betting that the tech is greener than the ARC.

the downsides:

up-front cost. let's say you pick your basic Sony Reader, which retails for $300 (assuming that you can't negotiate a special deal, which i'm betting you could). that's $300 per bookseller involved. that's a sizable outlay of cash. as seen above, the cumulative savings add up fairly quickly, but an up-front investiture may not be in the cards for some publishers, or for the ABA, at the moment. which brings us to our next downside...
who pays? after all, those 5 to 10 ARCs i take home weekly are not usually all from the same publisher. if a publisher is paying, how do they make sure that i am reading their books? another idea brought up in the conversation yesterday was of a mandatory comment card, with brief notes on ARCs. of course, if the ABA pays, that question is moot.
who gets the readers? clearly no one (publishers, the ABA, bookstores) can buy a reader for every bookseller out there. plus, there is the aforementioned collegial sour grapes issue. this is a tough one with no easy answer, but i do think that there are a core group of booksellers out there (buyers, usually, but also frequent blurbers like myself) who receive ungodly quantities of ARCs and could immediately benefit from this kind of program. another thought that occurs to me is that, if the ABA is involved, the readers could be part of the IndieNext list process--for example, if your blurb is picked for an IndieNext list, you get a reader. this has the handy side-effect of potentially increasing the number of blurbs submitted to the List, which is good for everyone involved.
DRM. oh god, please not DRM. i don't even begin to know how to deal with this angle, other than to point out that the sale of ARCs (which is completely illegal) is a flourishing business all on its own--technology is not, and has never been, the only way that content gets where it shouldn't go.

some closing thoughts: after further contemplation, and a VERY VERY long post, i kind of like the idea of the tie-in to the IndieNext list. what if publishers put money into a pool, managed by the ABA, which then purchased (at hopefully a friendly negotiated price) and distributed the ARCreaders based on the IndieNext list? in addition, i imagine there are booksellers out there who want nothing to do with an e-reader, so that further limits the pool. then the questions of who pays, who benefits the most and who gets one are managed a bit easier and pretty fairly. i'm sure there are problems with this idea as well, but they seem a little less than other scenarios.

or, and this is a shout out to Sony directly, provide booksellers with a hefty discount on readers! i'm much more likely to be able to scrape together, say, $150 than $300. offer booksellers a special discount, and Sony has accomplished two things: made a lot of booksellers and publishers very very happy, which is good karma, and gotten a whole segment of their target population (i.e. people who read books) familiar with their product, which can only be good for business.

back

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:32:00 +0000

after almost exactly a year's hiatus (weird, no?) i am back. probably no readers anymore. but hey! that's alright. because my current goal is READ FOR FUN, and so i am rededicating this space, and therefore my personal reading time, to books that i want to read -- new or no, popular or ignored, whatever takes my fancy. coming up: my love/hate relationship with The Magicians by Lev Grossman.

fax from honduras

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 20:00:00 +0000

tee hee! it's a bad joke, i know, but i can't control these impulses.

Telex from Cuba is not only a catchy title, but an ambitious first novel by Rachel Kushner. set in the 1950s and detailing the tumultuous transitions from Batista's presidency to Castro's coup, it bounces from narrator to narrator. children in the United Fruit-controlled towns Nicaro and Preston; an Eastern European prostitute at the Club Tokio; a French ex-Waffen arms dealer; pretty much every perspective except for that of a Cuban is represented. it's an interesting choice, and i think it works in this novel -- Kushner writes with great strength about foreign perspectives, foreign intervention, and their impact. there's a little unevenness of voice, because of this incredibly ambitious and intricate dialogue, but that's not uncommon in a first novel.

you won't learn anything new about Castro (well, maybe you will, not all of us were history majors), but you will be drawn into the web that Kushner weaves, and sad when the story has spun itself out. get this one in hardback -- i foresee great things from her, and you'll want a first edition!

glossy is good

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 16:28:00 +0000

it's hard when someone sends you, specifically, an ARC. even if you aren't really interested in the premise, you feel obliged to read it. thankfully, thus far, these ARCs have all been pretty good.

so when i got Up for Renewal, by Cathy Alter, i decided to give it a go even though my first impression was "what, another one?!" it seems like there's a spate of these lately -- someone tries 12 diets in 12 months, or 12 self-help methods, or in this case, uses women's magazines to fix one area of life a month. but ok fine, sheesh, i'll read the first 50 pages and then not feel guilty when i don't finish it.

imagine my surprise when i finished it! Alter is a snarky, smart narrator, with no illusions as to the potentially unempowering, vapid nature of her quest. but she says it herself [with my paraphrasing]: even as a feminist in today's world, aren't you tempted? look, they're all glossy and confident ... surely they can fix me!

and ok, sorry, i couldn't resist the above illustration. but this is, in fact, part of what Up for Renewal is all about: the weird and fraught intersection of empowerment and sexuality. Cathy starts out the book as a total mess; having casual cubicle sex (!) with a middle-manager, running after unavailable men, and generally feeling like sh*t after her divorce. her solution? women's magazines! well, ok, to be fair, she knows it's not a solution, but figures it might be an interesting way to start.

and, in fact, it is not only interesting but entertaining! my favorite moment in the book has to be her first assignment: learning to saran wrap a sandwich from Real Simple. yes, it's true. this was hilarious. and the meaning that she finds in it, well ... let's just say that no one else could have pulled off this book premise.

and who of us hasn't been tempted? i have never succumbed, but oh, so tempted. especially when i have those moments when i realize i have four author event shirts and the people who come to these things will eventually notice. this is why i'll be keeping my ARC -- there's a list in there of the 84 essential wardrobe items that i fully plan to utilize once my tax return goes through.

Alter ends up in a wonderful place (getting married to the right guy who is also 10 years younger than her) and acknowledges that it's not the magazines themselves, it's the fact that she worked on changing her life in the first place.

this stuff is addictive, and so is Up for Renewal. keep an eye out for it, it'll be out in July.

mother of god

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 04:15:00 +0000

IT WORKS!!! all you bloggers, go out and download Flock immediately. it is FANTASTIC!

testing testing

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 04:08:00 +0000

ok, so this is bizarre. somewhere in the last hour and a half, i discovered Flock. and now, after having played with it for an hour and fifteen minutes, it seems to be telling me that it will post to the blog from a neat little texty window in my browser. is this true?? can it be???? do i really not have to deal with the clumsy blogger back-end?!! (though to be fair to blogger, it seems like every blog back-end is fairly clumsy)

so here's what i've been wanting to say; let's see if you can read it!

1) i apologize for not having posted. it turns out that work is supposed to be priority numero uno. who knew?

2) a thought occurred to me about Oh. My. Gods. versus Something To Blog About. the difference between swoosh and vanilla is all about character. for example, in OMG we know all about our main character's primary motivation -- what makes her tick. not so much for STBA; oddly enough she also runs, but we don't really know if she LOVES it, we just know she does it. it's all about these little details (that's where god is, right?)

swoosh

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:15:00 +0000

i don't normally go for the gimmick titles. but something about the cover of Oh. My. Gods (the bright pink banner behind the title? the way the banner oh so subtly covers up the naughty bits of the statue? the fact that the statue has pink nikes draped around its neck? or that it's standing in sand? it's quite the cover) caught me and demanded that i give it a go.

it was so. much. fun. (sorry, just had to) Tera Lynn Childs, if she can keep it up, is going to be a great addition to the young adult author pool. Phoebe, our narrator, lives for one thing: running. well, maybe three things: running, running in Nikes, and getting into USC so she can run some more. so when her mother announces that she's remarried and they're moving to a tiny island in Greece for Phoebe's senior year, it's a pretty big deal. which becomes an even bigger deal, when Phoebe finds out that her new school is inhabited entirely by descendants of the greek gods, many of whom decidedly do not like the new girl.

there were definitely a few moments heavy on the cheese (the prophecy in particular, i could have done without), but they were balanced by the laugh-out-loud moments liberally sprinkled throughout. this is a really fun, funny, and heartwarming story, especially for those of us obsessed with mythology (i know you're out there!). i won't spoil the ending (shame on you, ending-spoilers!) but i guarantee you'll be grinning from ear to ear. Oh. My. Gods. hits the shelves in May.

formula one is not nascar

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 16:56:00 +0000

one of the many things that happens at bookseller conferences is, reps from publishers get to pitch their favorite new titles. generally they have no more than eight or so minutes to get through a list that can be as long as ten or twelve titles, so they've got only a very little time to get your attention.

The Art of Racing in the Rain was one that definitely got my attention. the rep said something about "NASCAR and Buddhism" and then "narrated by a dog." you better believe that got my attention! so, at the author reception that night, i found Garth Stein and told him as much: "your rep said it was about Buddhism, NASCAR, and a dog, and i had to meet the author who could write that book."

the poor guy. he sighed and said "i'm going to have to talk to those Harper people. it's Formula One, not NASCAR!"

at the time, i nodded sympathetically, not having a clue what the difference might be.

folks, the highest praise i can give to this book is that i now care about that difference. Racing in the Rain is an incredible piece of work, one that i will be handselling with gusto. Enzo, our canine narrator, is the perfect medium to tell this story: the story of Denny, a man with talent (at Formula One. not NASCAR!) who faces not "insurmountable odds", but rather every day odds taken up a notch -- something that makes him that much more of a hero. his family saga is heartbreaking in its commonality, and his custody battle for his daughter, while more extreme than many, is by no means unusual in its cruelty, its hopelessness, and its redemption.

the characters are perfectly drawn, seen in all their glory and misery by faithful Enzo, who may be part terrier and is definitely part sage. the backdrop of Formula One is made absolutely fascinating with the minutiae of racing greats, tactics, terms, and Zen-like philosophy (it's Zen, not Buddhism!). Denny's daughter Zoe, especially, is the light at the end of the tunnel -- a perfectly normal, perfectly lovable child. and the zebra ... well, for that, you'll have to read the book yourself.

The Art of Racing in the Rain comes out in May. run, do not walk, to your nearest indie bookstore and buy yourself the hardback. a first edition will, mark my words, be worth something one of these days!

return from radio silence

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:53:00 +0000

well folks, i'm back! i wish i had had the technology to blog from the conference -- it was incredible. 500 booksellers, publisher reps, plus some 40 authors from newbies to Mary Roach, Augusten Burroughs, Tobias Wolff, and more -- as one author put it, "heaven is in Kentucky."

i did indeed get the answer to my question for Kerry Cohen, which i will post as soon as i catch up with the mountain of work on my desk. and i have lots and lots of reviews for you, from The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein to The Host by Stephenie Meyer.

and, congratulations to Elainareads! as soon soon as i can figure out how to contact you (let's hear it for restricted Blogger profiles!), i'll send I'm Looking Through You your way. or you can contact me at emai...@gmail.com.

freebie

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 00:24:00 +0000

i don't usually read memoirs. perhaps i should rethink this policy. the last two i've read, Loose Girl and now I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted, have been shockingly good.

Jennifer Finney Boylan, formerly James Boylan, has mastered, in my opinion, the art of the memoir in I'm Looking Through You. there were moments where i actually laughed out loud (doesn't happen all that often reading, believe you me) and had to put the book down until i was done laughing. there were also moments of pathos, of family dysfunction, of family love, surprises and twists, and of course, some really creepy and some really lovely ghosts.

purportedly, this is about growing up with ghosts. but i suppose it also had to be about her experiences with gender -- it's a pretty big life thing to just leave out or touch on lightly. in fact, Boylan weaves her gender experiences with the hauntings in such a smart, interesting, and thought-provoking way that it all makes complete sense in the end. not to mention, this is a book that is completely appropriate for everyone, say, 13 and up -- not at all something i would have expected. i can think of a few teen customers at the store that will definitely want to buy this one, and i'll be recommending it to every customer i see in Memoirs & Biography from now until ... well, until i find a new favorite.

since i'm kind of cheating by reviewing something that is already available for purchase (albeit by a mere four days -- the laydown was January 15th), i've decided my penance will be to give my ARC to some interested reader. i'll be buying the hardcover anyway, i liked it that much (once you meet Gammie, you will completely understand. PIZAZZ!).

so! if you're interested, drop me a note in the comments expressing said interest, and i will mail it to you, free of charge, with my compliments. if more than one person expresses interest, then i promise to choose in the randomest fashion i can come up with, scout's honor!

sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 18:53:00 +0000

sometimes you get ARCs for a specific reason -- the author is coming to do a signing, or you're going to a conference where they'll be. i don't think i would have picked up this one if it had come in randomly, not because of any particular reason (well, the cover is black and white and that's usually enough to miss my interest), just because. thank god for conferences!

Kerry Cohen's Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity is a fascinating read. it's autobiographical for a start; i can't recall ever shelving a book in memoir, biography, or non-fiction that dealt with this particular issue in this particular way.* and, as a self-written memoir (no ghost writer here, Cohen has an MFA) it's excellently put together. she's frank, simple, open, and while pulling no punches never sensationalizes. it's clear that she sees the story as very simple: things happened with her family that led her to search for [meaning, belonging, love, what have you] elsewhere, and, instead of drugs or alcohol, she found sex.

her path from promiscuity to a monogamous relationship is totally unique to her, but seems to me to be an example of the path from any addiction to recovery. this is probably (according to the dust-jacket, definitely) intentional; Cohen is a practicing psychotherapist, and while she avoids therapy-speak in the book (i never once realized that she had a degree in psychotherapy until i was done with the book and looked more closely at the author bio) it's clear that she understands why she did what she did and how her recovery began.

i think this is a great book, and an important one as well. if we ever want to really help our younger counterparts, we need to be frank and honest and open about things like sex, drugs, alcohol, self-esteem, family dysfunction, and all the other pitfalls and obstacles along the way. there but for the grace of god go we, and some of us have already been. and it's not always easy for girls to go to therapy, or talk to a trusted adult, or find answers -- and books are a safe way to get them. they don't know who you are, they won't judge you, and they won't tell anyone that you're reading them: the perfect friend.

ok, that's me on the soapbox. i'll get down now, and just say one final thing: can't wait to meet the author. i have a burning, burning question for her about word-choice, of all things. here's the question -- i'll post next week, when i return from kentucky with (hopefully) the answer:

Q: in the book, you refer to potential sexual partners as "boys", not ever "guys" or "men." i think maybe once you used the word "guys" to refer to friends, but when attraction was involved it was always "a boy." why is that?

*most books about women and sex tend to either demonize, idealize, or preach -- either you're a whore, or you're an empowered Lady Godiva, or someone talks about how to prevent you from being either (I'm thinking Reviving Ophelia mostly on this one, which is a great book but, let's face it, is all about telling parents how to avoid being the thing that sends their daughters to therapy).

twitchy witchy

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 22:45:00 +0000

oh - my
twitchy witchy girl
i think you are so nice,
i give you bowls of porridge
and i give you bowls of ice
cream.
i give
you lots of kisses,
and i give you lots of hugs,
but i never give you sandwiches
with bugs
in.

oh, i love neil gaiman. i think it's pretty hard not to these days. i couldn't get through American Gods, i will grant you, but the Sandman Series is the reason i love graphic novels, and Stardust was magnificent, albeit too short (not to mention that the movie was even pretty good, which is more than i can say for most of the recent fantasy epics). and the above was a gem hidden in the new Coraline which, when i have tiny neices, i am determined to set to music and sing every chance i get.

what? a new Coraline?! that's right! a graphic novel adaptation no less. can our joy know any bounds? i think not! that being said, i've never read Coraline. i had a vague notion of the plot though, and so when i saw the arc for the graphic novel adaptation come in (due out late June), i snatched it up. not too hard to manage, when you're the only graphic novel enthusiast in the store, but still!

and believe you me, this does not disappoint. at first i wasn't sure i liked the style -- the art is very well done, but it's also very straight-forward, and i have been known to prefer a more stylistic approach. however, P. Craig Russell's genius was soon revealed. his straight-forward style makes the scary horrific, and the good heroic. the story, by turns funny, nostalgic, and absolutely terrifying, is brought to vivid life. fans of the original will, i think, be pleased, and those in my shoes will be yearning to read the book.

gut it out

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 00:50:00 +0000

Jacquelyn Mitchard is another one of those authors whose name i'm familiar with, and whose works i've sold often, but whom i've never read. until now, that is!

All We Know of Heaven, her second young adult novel, is a doozy. no fluff here, folks! it's pitched as "based on a true story of mistaken identity ripped from the headlines." now i don't know about you all, but i'm a sucker for "based on a true story," whether it's a book or a movie or whatever. even though it always means that the characters are prettier and the plot is neater and has been edited for your enjoyment, there's something about knowing that somewhere out there, someone has gone through this (more or less).

All We Know follows a girl who is mistaken for her identical best friend, after the two get in a car accident resulting in one death and one coma. the heroine (i don't want to give anything away, so i won't use her name) wakes up to find herself traumatized, physically and mentally injured, and on top of all that thought to be someone else. her efforts to not only get over the tragedy, but to regain her physical and mental abilities, are, for lack of a better phrase, insanely well done. the heroine rides an emotional rollercoaster in her attempts to remaster things as diverse as walking, math, and sentence structure. nothing is treated lightly here, and Mitchard gives full attention and props to the difficulties inherent in the aftermath of brain trauma and to those who "gut it out." she also nails the teenage mind and emotional state, already turbulent enough, and provides moments of sweetness and fun to break up the drama.

the book also gave me a lot more respect for cheerleaders, which i can pretty much guarantee i've never had before. to all of you wronged cheerleaders out there, i apologize on behalf of non-cheerleaders. you might get more respect if so many of you weren't evil to the rest of us in highschool. just a thought.

the yuck factor

noreply@blogger.com (advanced.reader) — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 20:48:00 +0000

i was a vegetarian for about 10 years, and still can't eat red meat. that probably explains my initial reaction to The Inferior, by Peadar O Guilin. he uses the word "flesh" at least once a sentence, and always in reference to food. there's a reason for it -- a (theoretically) integral to the plot reason for it, but still.

however, i persevered, and got past my knee-jerk reaction (though i'm betting i made a face every time i read it) and, well, yeah. the back of the book says "With echoes of Tarzan, Conan, and The Truman Show, Peadar O Guilin's debut is an action-and-ideas packed blockbuster that will change your perceptions of humanity and leave you hungry for more."

aside from what i consider the incredible crassness of the phrase "hungry for more," given the above "flesh" thing, it's not a bad blurb. there is a lot of Tarzan in it -- i couldn't say about the Conan reference, never having read it -- with spears and hunting and jungly tribal stuff. the ending is a pretty clear reference to The Truman Show, and there is an awful lot of action.

but i didn't like this book. i think i'm not the right audience. this is the kind of book that will make an amazing video game, and would indeed make a standard blockbusting action movie. but that didn't make it a good read.

why didn't i like it? aside from the yuck factor, of course. well, like i mentioned above, the ideas seemed there more as an aside than as the point, and were muddled on top of that. when i finished the book, after the (theoretically) stunning conclusion, the only thing i could think was that the book was either too long or too short.

the way in which it all ties together at the end (i.e., the way in which they connect Tarzan and Conan with The Truman Show) was a little sloppy. it kind of reminded me of an episode of Lost. lots of really insane conspiracies, possible red herrings, inexplicable appearances and disappearances, weird intercepted technology, and no real hope of it all ever being reconciled. (i will now be promptly stoned by Lost fans; all i can say is, i calls it like i sees it.) so either there needed to be less of all the conspiracies and red herrings and inexplicable happenings, or the book needed to be longer to really and truly tie them all together.

that being said, it would make a great video game, and i can see a lot of guys (i'm thinking 12 to 18) really enjoying it for the admittedly well done action and the truly bizarre concept. not to mention fans of Lost.