Vanda Symon has a nice review of North Pole South Pole by Gillian Turner – sounds like a great non-fiction read.

The Well Read Kitty has another review up for The Nile – and this sounds like an amazing read.

The Vicbooks blog has a great post about the news that Hodder want to update Enid Blyton. And why did I not know about the Vicbooks website – it’s fantastic, people!

So, the 2010 Man Booker Prize longlist of 13 titles has been announced and the … nominees… are (dundahdahDAH!):

Peter Carey Parrot and Olivier in America (Faber and Faber)

Emma Donoghue Room (Pan MacMillan – Picador)

Helen Dunmore The Betrayal (Penguin – Fig Tree)

Damon Galgut In a Strange Room (Grove Atlantic – Atlantic Books)

Howard Jacobson The Finkler Question (Bloomsbury)

Andrea Levy The Long Song
(Headline Publishing Group – Headline Review)

Tom McCarthy C (Random House – Jonathan Cape)

David Mitchell The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet  (Hodder & Stoughton – Sceptre)

Lisa Moore February (Random House – Chatto & Windus)

Paul Murray Skippy Dies (Penguin – Hamish Hamilton)

Rose Tremain Trespass (Random House – Chatto & Windus)

Christos Tsiolkas The Slap (Grove Atlantic – Tuskar Rock)

Alan Warner The Stars in the Bright Sky
(Random House – Jonathan Cape)

Oh my! I haven’t read any of these! And I call myself a book reviewer … PAH! Though, in my saving grace, I do have a copy of the book that should win and yes I’m saying that even though I haven’t read it yet, but come on y’all it’s David Mitchell and that man is a fricken genius writer and one of the best of our time, and I have no problems stating that categorically, at all.

Inhale.

I have been holding off on reading The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet because I know it’s going to be brilliant and once you’ve read it… you’ve read it. You can’t ever read it for the first time again. Ever! And I’m waiting for just the right moment when I can sink into it and splash around like a duckling in a rain puddle on a summer’s day.

Plus the cover of the edition I have – she is gorgeous. I have reproduced it below in all it’s colour glory, but, oh! I cannot reproduce the way it feels, the slight gloss on the blue, the smell, the anticipation! I love this book like it’s an actual living, breathing thing… and that’s before I’ve read it. (Get that, e-book pushers? Yeah, you heard me.)

Soulless, Changeless, Blameless

Aha! I slay me.

Changeless and Soulless have bounced around the interwebs for a while so I thought I’d dive in and have a read – Changeless was the first title to become available for me at the library so, despite it being the second in the series, I took it. I’ve been told I really should have read Soulless and I will be when it becomes available.

Anyway, actual book? A fun piece of fluffery. Frippery even. Don’t expect much (which I kind of made the mistake of doing), don’t expect writing that extends beyond exposition and you’ll be fine.

Does that make me sound like a total po-faced killjoy? Because it reads like it does.

Some of the supposed language tics annoyed the frick out of me, the plot was a little slow to begin with but improved immensely, I’m not one for cliffhanger endings, I enjoyed a lot of the humour, I engaged more with the characters as the book progressed, I’m happy to read the others (but not looking to run out and buy them), I didn’t love it like I thought I would but I’m willing to look into a bit more of the genre (steampunk. I believe).

Changeless was fun. Is what I’m trying to say.

I think I need to relax more.

Blog reader recommendation for the win! Thanks Craig for recommending Jaime Hernandez – upon which I ran right out to the library and got this title (I’m so suggestible). I didn’t like this quite as much as Strangers in Paradise but to be fair that is more a matter of some personal taste around narrative and not a negative comment on this title.

Locas II is wild, a bit crazy, awesomely illustrated, sad and fun. I can’t comment a lot on the storyline because this is the first Jaime Hernandez I’ve read so these characters are all new to me. The story swings from female character centred to male character centred and, really, that just makes it so enjoyable to read, compared to the “action” graphic novel genre. Is that a genre? If not I just made it up – but do you know what I mean? Manly action hero stuff – a lot of which is good but a lot of which is crap.

Tamburlaine Must Die by Louise Welsh

I thoroughly enjoyed my first read of Louise Welsh earlier this year, so I was keen to get this out of the library when I spotted it purely by chance! And I’m glad I did as it is definitely a worthwhile read, a short novel speculating on the last days of Christopher Marlowe (a contemporary of Shakespeare) who was stabbed and died under circumstances that were mysterious at the time and have become increasingly mysterious over the centuries.

Welsh explores this mystery and gives us an entertaining story at the same time – which seems to be Welsh’s modus operandi and the reader is all the better for it!

A great short read – perfect for a little weekend quiet time.

Three Shadows by Cyril Pedrosa

Duuhuuhuuhuude… *sobs uncontrollably*

So there’s this lovely little family with this cute little kid and then these shadows appear and then the mother freaks out and then the father freaks out and then he takes the cute little kid and flees and… and… and… *breaks down again*

*deep breath*

It’s a great looking graphic novel and the story is sweet and poignant and devastating and really, if you have kids or are just really, really attached to them then make sure you read this with a box of tissues handy.

*sniffle*

This giveaway ends Monday 12 July at 5.30pm and I’ll announce the randomly drawn winner at 8pm.

Usual blurb: As usual,  judges decision is final, no correspondence will be entered into, yada yada yada. Oh, and sorry overseas readers, but I can only post to New Zealand addresses, so New Zealand address holders only, please.  And, uh, I reserve the right to change these rules because there may have been something I’ve forgotten.

CAN IT TEXT?

BLOG?

SCROLL?

WI-FI?

TWEET?

No . . . It’s a book.

For lovers and defenders of book culture of all ages – arm yourselves with this book and unite!

 

A new technological breakthrough! It doesn’t involve tangled cords, won’t  require the upload of apps and never needs charging.

Who can deny the simple appeal of a good book?

Playful and lighthearted with a subversive twist that is signature Lane Smith, IT’S A BOOK is a delightful manifesto on behalf of print in the digital age. This satisfying, perfectly executed picture book has something to say to all readers of all ages.

Monkey is reading a book, but his friend wants to know what the book can do. Does it have a mouse like his computer? Can you make the characters fight? And does it make loud noises? No, it’s a book. Monkey’s friend has a delightful epiphany when he discovers that a good book doesn’t need fancy electronic accessories.

From New York Times bestselling author Lane Smith.

‘A must read for every publisher concerned about the impact of electronic publishing issues and every child who wants to enjoy more of their childhood and Lane Smith’s arch style. A devilish ending may scare a few . . . if it’s you? Lighten up.’

Publisher’s Weekly Staff Picks 2010

There was a bidding war over this book when it was presented at Bologna earlier this year and Walker scooped the ANZ rights! So far, It’s a Book is going to be published in Australia, New Zealand, England, Netherlands, France, Italy, Japan, Korea and Sweden!

Published: September 2010

AUD$27.95   NZD$29.99

Hardback Picture Book

Isbn: 9781921720147

For more information:  http://www.walkerbooks.com.au

It’s A Book! I love it!

The shortlist for the 2010 Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing has been announced! And it includes two New Zealand authors – Jane Higgins and Philippa Werry. Congratulations and best luck to them!

And a recommendation – Stella Matutina - an awesome book blog by Memory, who has recently moved to Auckland to live for a year. Not only do you get great book reviews but her pleasure at living in Auckland and her enthusiastic descriptions of the joys of our fair city are enough to bring a tear to the eye of the most hardened Auckland heart.

First up:

A Matter of Life and Death : Inside the Hidden World of the Pathologist by Sue Armstrong, Text Publishing, ISBN 9781847675811

An interesting non-fiction book, if not exactly mind-blowing. Sue Armstrong interviews a range of pathologists from around the world, all working in different areas (disease research, historical research, forensics). There’s a lot of questions about how and why the interviewees got into pathology and these are some of the most compelling answers, as well as the historical information about epidemics like the Spanish Influenza.

Suffers a little from being a bit too clinical (ha!) due to the dry “transcription of questions and answers” format. For a book length read I personally find this format to be too limiting – it’s very hard to judge tone and context without any author assistance. But overall I’d recommend it if you find this sort of carry-on fascinating (like I do) and are happy with a touch of gore and the macabre (like me).

Strangers in Paradise graphic novel series by Terry Moore

Brilliant. Brriiiiiiilliant! (trill it with me). Sad, beautiful, ridiculous and ultimately incredibly satisfying reading. I loved every minute and can’t believe I’ve now finished all 6 books. Waaah! Previous musings on this series are here. READ THEM! I command you!

The illustration is phenomenal – a perfect mix of whimsical, realistic, fantasy, serious and amusing. And I dare you to not fall in love with at least ONE of the characters.

So what’s up next? Well I have more graphic novels, as well as Gold by Dan Rhodes, Chaucer by Peter Ackroyd and Diary by Chuck Palahniuk.

And look out this week for a ton of giveaways – I’ve got a small pile of books with which to reward you, my lucky readers! ♥

Don’t be horrified by this but I had never heard of Terry Moore. What can I say, I just don’t know a lot about comic authors.

I loved Strangers in Paradise. And I’m even reading them out of order – I had volume 1, and volume 5 and 6. I’ve just finished 5. This is like the best long running TV series or soap opera – the characters are a bit weird and everything gets a lot bigger than you imagined and if you think back to the beginning it doesn’t really make sense where they end up – but you just want more of them!

I was hooked. Moore’s female characters are superb, beautiful but real-looking and just such fun to be around. Maybe this is why I’ve reacted so much more positively to these stories than to some of the other graphic novels I’ve been reading – the female characters are a total pleasure to read and look at.

The stories are a crazy mish-mash of yakuza, lesbians, love, sex, humour, art, violence, Las Vegas – you name it, it’s in there. And then this volume ends with the completely unrelated story of Molly and Poo – and chopping up husbands.

Odd.

Needless to say I’ve requested every volume the library has. I have sweet, sweet reading ahead of me….

“Of course, you don’t have to buy a book to read it, but the act of giving someone a book of his or her own has an undeniable, totemic power. As much as we love libraries, there is something in possessing a book that’s significantly different from borrowing it, especially for a child. You can write your name in it and keep it always. It transforms you into the kind of person who owns books, a member of the club, as well as part of a family that has them around the house. You’re no longer just a visitor to the realm of the written word: You’ve got a passport.” –Laura Miller in her Salon essay, “Book owners have smarter kids.”

I love it that I saw this quote on Beattie’s Book Blog right next to a reproduced article about e-books (written by Bachelor of Communications student Perlina Lau) which contained this:

When asked about the fears of losing the paperback, Taylor says that there are emotional attachments to paper books, but this desire to hang on is “hope rather than reality”.

“Once you get into digital, you don’t go back.”

The quote is from Martin Taylor, forum director of the Digital Publishing Forum. To me it illustrates one of the major, fundamental problems with current thinking about digital publishing and e-books – that the technology is not an addition, it is a replacement. That technology enthusiasts and reading lovers are just waiting for the magic key which will give them license to throw away their paper books and never hold another again.

I really don’t want to go on another rant (oh yeah? okay, I am) about the many misconceptions about reading and the many pronouncements about how dead paper is, but why are proponents of digital publishing still holding on to this idea that it’s one or the other? Why is this a replacement paradigm only? Why are we as readers being told that we have to choose between paper and digital – both have really obvious benefits and both have strengths over the other. I do have very strong emotional attachments to books, though this isn’t overriding my logic (or my sense of reality). If it was, I would have far more books in my house and I would have real trouble selling them – but books are still things, just incredibly efficient things that allow me to read in very pleasurable manner and often look damn good.

At the same time, please don’t underestimate this attachment, however. The very essence of what we’re talking about here is retailing. Why would retailers ignore the power of emotional drivers? As the Laura Miller quote above illustrates, the feeling of possession of a book is quite unique. It is at once intensely personal and intensely communal.  Books can be strongly coveted by those that don’t have them but at the same time they don’t represent unattainable luxury like a lot of technology, especially to those in countries with far less access (and possiblity of access) to any of this kind of technology. I have this book – I have the power to lend it, to recommend it, to sell it and to show it off to you. I have the power to give it to you freely. That power disappears in digital.

Ebooks will do other things that paper doesn’t – that’s why I will never dismiss them or suggest we don’t need/want them. An ebook reader filled with hundreds of out of copyright classics that I can just pick up and browse through, any time? Brilliant! When I can afford one I’ll be thrilled. I’ve been a longtime browser of the NZETC and the new MeBooks intiative is fantastic. There may be a lot of new releases I’ll be interested in too, particularly those I see myself reading once only. And for subscription content, for rental content – I totally agree with the possiblities of a rental system – imagine a university library where every single student can rent readings for course content at the same time, instead of the limited access of paper copies. Imagine the possibilities for education.

However, if we’re going to talk about hope and reality, the current reality for ebooks is this: as pointed out in the comments to the article, this same talk about the effect of digital over print has been going on for years – and the process is ongoing and will continue to be. The many pronouncements over the years of “the death of print” have not borne immediate fruit. Digital is far more about “hope”, currently. Hope that consumers will buy their product (and the product is not the book, it is the e-reader, because books are a proven product), hope that a particular e-reader will become dominant (for the makers that is), hope that they can work out the many issues over DRM, pricing, format, designing e-books, publisher contracts, etc.

Beattie, who now judges, reviews and blogs about books, says e-books are good for those who prefer technology to reading.

“It’s in a format that appeals to them.”

I’m going to go a little further than that. I was going to end with a mea culpa about this being a polemical rant and how maybe I’m a minority voice, etc, etc, but no. Let me end with this address to developers of digital publishing. For you it’s about technology. For us, your readers and consumers, it’s about books. Your books may not be printed but they are still books. You need to start thinking about, and understanding, readers. Not technology adopters.

Readers aren’t looking for an excuse to give paper books up.