Everyday I Write the Book

DC is #2!

2009-12-23T12:07:05-05:00

USA Today came out today with a list of the most literate cities in the U.S. This year, Washington DC knocked out Minneapolis for the #2 slot (usually Seattle and Minneapolis take the top two slots). Yay, Washington, DC! The factors that go into determining the top 10 are: "newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment and Internet resources". Click through to the article to see if your city is on the list.

I am not surprised to see DC high up on the list. There are lots of great book bloggers in the area too - Swapna of S. Krishna's books, Jenn of Jenn's Bookshelves, Michelle of Galley Smith, Serena of Savvy Verse and Wit, and many more that I am sure I am leaving off. (If you're a DC book blogger, leave me a comment!)

We are full for the EDIWTB book club for Between Here and April, which I announced yesterday. My gmail account did something odd this morning (deleted a whole bunch of email), so if you emailed me sometime between Tuesday night (late) and this morning around 9, could you resend me your email with your address to gweiswasser@gmail.com? Thanks, and sorry for the inconvenience!

January Book Club: "Between Here and April" by Deborah Copaken Kogan

2009-12-22T22:36:47-05:00

I am happy to announce the January EDIWTB book club selection: Between Here and April, by Deborah Copaken Kogan. I received a review copy of this book from Algonquin a few months ago, and thought it would make a good book club selection. Here's a blurb from Amazon:

How could a mother kill her children? This breathtaking first novel from photojournalist Kogan attempts a heart-wrenching answer. Elizabeth Lizzie Burns Steiger, a 41-year-old TV producer/journalist, has a hallucination while watching a performance of Medea at a Manhattan theater; she sees her best friend in first grade, April Cassidy, who was killed by April's depressed mother, Adele, in 1972 in Potomac, Md., along with April's sister. In addition to exploring her memories in therapy, Lizzie interviews the Cassidys' former neighbor and others who knew the family for a proposed cable network documentary, but a priceless Pandora's box—tapes of Adele with her psychiatrist—provides the most startling revelations. Kogan skillfully interweaves Lizzie's struggles with her troubled marriage, parenting and a personal trauma shared in the Balkans with a former lover in this unflinching portrait of filicide, which still manages to find light in the darkness of a very disturbing subject.

The Washington Post says Between Here and April may be "the perfect book club book".

Caribou's Mom says:

Kogan’s writing is sharp, intuitive and hypnotic. I always enjoy novels written by journalists who have honed their writing skills to get to the core of the story quickly, and who know how to create tension and conflict between characters. This is not a book for everyone. Many readers will be disturbed by the images Kogan creates. The subject matter will turn many readers off. But, those readers willing to follow Kogan into the darkness will be rewarded with a story not soon forgotten.

Book a Week with Jen says: "It's a well written, moving read (though not perfect -- the end is odd). And it's one of those books that had me thinking about it long after I'd put the book back on the shelf."

If you can handle the dark topic, please join me here for the book club discussion for Between Here and April. Algonquin has generously agreed to send 15 copies of the book to EDIWTB readers who sign up. Once the books go out, I will pick a day (probably late January or early February so that people have enough time to read it), and will post a review of the book. Book club participants (and anyone who else who has read the book) are encouraged to post their thoughts in the comments to keep the discussion going. We may also get Deborah Copaken Kogan to answer questions in a later post.

If you're interested in participating, please send an email to me at gweiswasser@gmail.com with your contact info in the following format:

Name
Mailing Address
Email address

The first 15 people who email me will receive copies of the book.

Thank you to Algonquin!!

Top Books of the Year - 2009

2009-12-19T09:00:59-05:00

A lot of sites/papers have come out with their lists of the top books of the year. Here are a few of the ones I have seen:

The New York Times Book Review 10 Best Books of 2009 (and listen to the podcast here). There are 5 top non-fiction and 5 top fiction picks. (I'd like to read A Gate At The Stairs by Lorrie Moore).

You can also browse The New York Times Book Review's 100 Notable Books of 2009. I was happy to see Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon (which I wrote about here), Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann (which I wrote about here), and Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead (which I wrote about here) on the list, and I was intrigued by the blurb about Penelope Lively's Family Album ("It’s the slow, inexorable way everyone comes to acknowledge the suppressed event at the heart of this domestic novel that makes it quietly devastating."). Maybe someday I will actually read some of these books.

The Washington Post Book World Best of 2009. Here's their Top 10 List (A Gate at the Stairs again). You can also see their much longer Best of 2009 List here. I was very excited to see a few books that I have actually read on here: A Friend of the Family by Lauren Grodstein (reviewed by me here) and This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper (reviewed here). From this list, I'd also like to read Valerie Martin's latest - The Confessions of Edward Day, The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter (which I wrote about here), and Glover's Mistake by Nick Laird.

Flashlight Worthy Books' Best Books of 2009 as selected by readers. Noteworthy: Sag Harbor again and The Help by Kathryn Stockett, which I finally own, thanks to my husband who gave it to me for Hanukah! Hope to start it soon. And while you're there, check out the Best Book Club Selections of 2009 as chosen by "Great Book Bloggers", including me!

Publisher's Weekly Top 10 Books of 2009 (again, Await Your Reply). And here is its Top 100 (again, Sag Harbor).

Here's Amazon's Top 10 List, which is topped by Let The Great World Spin. And here's the Top 100 (lots of familiar titles on this list, including The Help and Andre Agassi's Open, which for some reason I want to read).

And finally, my beloved Entertainment Weekly's The Best Fiction (sneaky EW won't post the whole list online - you have to have the print version), which includes The Help, Await Your Reply, Let the Great World Spin and This is Where I Leave You.

Whew. That was a lot of links!

So, EDIWTB readers, what are your picks for the best books of 2009? Please share them here.

Writer's Guild Awards

2009-12-15T23:24:33-05:00

In addition to loving to read, I am also a big TV fan. I used to watch more than I do now, but I still manage to follow several shows a week, thanks to my DVR. And I just started a new job at Discovery Communications, home to the Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, etc., so I am even more immersed in TV.

Just like in books, I always notice good writing on TV. I find it pretty rare, so when the writing is good, it stands out to me. I was therefore very happy to see that several of the shows I love were nominated for Writers Guild Awards this year: Mad Men, Glee, 30 Rock, Modern Family, The Good Wife, and The Office. Like Jennifer Amstrong of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "I’m a writing-first kind of TV watcher, so it makes sense that I’d like this list."

Did any of your favorite shows make the list? Any missing?

"The English Major" by Jim Harrison

2009-12-13T23:54:49-05:00

The English Major, by Jim Harrison, which came out last year, is out in paperback, according to the NYT Book Review's Paperback Row:

“We English majors of a serious bent are susceptible to high ideals we paste on our lives like decals,” the protagonist of Harrison’s 15th work of fiction, an English teacher turned cherry farmer, says. Dumped by his wife of 38 years, he leaves his Michigan home and heads west; the novel is his “trip journal.” Along the way he contemplates sex, marriage, farming, fatherhood, teaching, the landscape, American history and the younger brother who drowned when they were boys.

I have been curious about this book for a while. I have to say, though, that the review I read on Shelf Love tonight made me less interested. Sounds like the book is written "in a free-flowing stream-of-consciousness style, filled with run-on sentences and odd non sequiturs", which is not a style I usually enjoy. It was fine for Faulkner in my English Lit survey class in college, but when I have 15 minutes a day to read before bedtime, I don't have the patience for it.

RabbitReader said that while The English Major "is not riotously funny, it does have its moments with some sassy, snappy prose.... A pretty decent road novel worth a couple of lazy afternoons."

Cogito Ergo Sum (another local book blogger - he bought the book at Politics and Prose!) had very good things to say about The English Major: "This book was a pleasant surprise. There was something fresh and striking on virtually every page -- at times wry or outright funny, or poignant, or, sometimes, wise....It's a quick, wonderful read, a homespun picaresque that is often touching."

Has anyone in EDIWTB-land read this yet? Please weigh in...

"That's How I Blog"

2009-12-09T23:29:57-05:00

I've been catching up over the last week on a great podcast called "That's How I Blog", which is done by Nicole at Linus's Blanket. Every week, Nicole interviews a book blogger, asking all kinds of interesting questions about why she blogs, what books she reads, how she got started, etc. And then at the end of the podcast, she and the interviewee spend 20 minutes discussing a book that they have both read. So it's a mini book club as well. So far, I have listened to her interviews with Trish of Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin?, Candace of Beth Fish Reads, and Michelle of Galley Smith. I love hearing about other book bloggers! It's really fun. Nicole has a very easy interview style, and the whole podcast is a pleasure.

"That's How I Blog" is a weekly feature on Blog Talk Radio - you can find it here. You can chat online with other listeners during the show, which is also fun (just be sure to register on Blog Talk Radio before the show). I can't always listen in live, though (most shows air at 9 PM), so I often download them onto my iPod from iTunes or from Blog Talk Radio and listen to them in the car.

I am extremely honored to add that I will be featured on That's How I Blog on March 9th. I am really excited about it and so happy that Nicole asked me! We are going to read Unaccustomed Earth by Jumpa Lahiri, a book that Nicole and I have both had on our to-read lists. Please tune in!

"A Friend of the Family" by Lauren Grodstein

2009-12-07T23:58:51-05:00

i just finished a book I enjoyed a great deal - A Friend of the Family by Lauren Grodstein. It's about Pete Dizinoff, a fiftyish New Jersey doctor with a comfortable life - wife, son, successful practice - who watches it all unravel, mostly of his own doing. It all starts when Pete's son, who has dropped out of college to pursue his art career, gets involved with the daughter of Pete's best friend Joe. Laura - the daughter - isn't who Pete would have chosen for his beloved son. She's ten years older, but more troubling, she has a terrible skeleton in her closet - a teenage pregnancy that ended horrifically. A Friend of the Family is at its core about the lengths to which parents will go to protect the lives they've envisioned for their children.

I am not a fifty-year old man, but Lauren Grodstein isn't either. I was constantly impressed while reading this book with Grodstein's ability to capture Pete's thoughts and outlook. The story is told with a great deal of foreboding, which adds tension and drama throughout, and is detailed and compelling. I think Grodstein is an incredibly talented writer. There were a few loose ends at the end of the book that I felt were insufficiently explained, but I otherwise found A Friend of the Family to be very satisfying.

I was reminded while reading A Friend of the Family of two other books about parents trying to protect their kids, with often disastrous results - Breaking Her Fall by Stephen Goodwin (reviewed here) and Trespass by Valerie Martin (reviewed here). All three explore the increasing desperation and pain these parents feel as they watch their children slip away, and while their actions are sometimes deplorable, it's hard not to sympathize with them.

I highly recommend A Friend of the Family and will be checking out Grodstein's other books!

Flashlight Worthy's Best Book Club Books for 2009

2009-12-03T23:41:43-05:00

I am very honored to report that I was included on Flashlight Worthy Book Recommendations' list of the Best Book Club Books for 2009! I love Flashlight Worthy's book lists, and I was thrilled when they asked me to submit a book for their list. [I will keep the book in suspense - you have to click through to the list to see what I recommended.]

There are a lot of books on the list that I'd like to read, such as Await Your Reply and The Help. Which have you read?

"Company" by Max Barry

2009-11-30T18:20:42-05:00

I just started a new job this week, at a relatively large company. As I navigate new processes and procedures, a confusing office map, a bunch of people who seem to all have the same first name, and typical office bureaucracy, I thought I'd feature a book here that came out in 2007 which I haven't read yet. I was reminded of Company, by Max Barry, in my 2009 Page-A-Day Book Lover's Calendar last month. Here's the blurb:

Australian Max Barry's third novel is a biting and hilarious satire of modern corporate culture: outsourcing, stolen doughnuts, downsizing, "human resources", office politics, and all the rest. It has a nice twisty plot that revels in the absurd and the sinister. If your days are spend in the confines of an office cubicle, Company may be just the thing to maximize the potential of your water-cooler chat effectiveness.

This Week at the Library Blog reviewed Company and "found the book to be very entertaining, at times reminding me of "The Office" and of a particular John Cleese clip. Not only is it an entertaining novel by itself, but it functions also as a criticism of corporate culture."

Used Books Blog didn't like Company nearly as much: "My copy of Company has the image of a glazed donut on the cover, which I find an apt metaphor: sweet sugary exterior with nothing but airy dough on the inside. Oh, and there’s a hole in the middle and it’s not at all nutritious."

The last book I read skewering the American workplace was Then We Came To The End, by Joshua Ferris, which I didn't really like. (Review here). I am kind of leery of this one, but I am willing to give it a chance, given how ripe for satire so many workplaces are. (Not mine, though - I am very happy to be here!)

Can anyone weigh in on Company and let me know how you liked it?

Holiday Shopping Tips for Book Lovers

2009-11-29T14:32:00-05:00

A quick holiday shopping tip - if you're looking for books to give as gifts, Chronicle Books is having a promotion - 35% off plus free shipping through 12/4. I got some cute books for my kids, but they have a very wide range of books on a lot of topics - cooking, pets, home, travel, photography, architecture- plus a whole fiction section too. Use the code FRIENDS at checkout.

Also, another site that has some great book-related gift ideas is Well Dressed Reader. Cute necklaces, earrings, and more for the book lovers on your list.