Greetings, bookworms. I hope you’re enjoying your Saturday, wherever you happen to be. And I hope you enjoy this week’s book news.
- Someone alert the World Wildlife Foundation! We’ve got a new endangered species! According to courtroom wizard Jon Grisham, printed books now share the same rank as blue whales, cougars and Banded Hare Wallabys. Grisham made the comment in reference to the pricing wars taking place between discount book sellers and the rise of e-readers like the Kindle. I think Grisham may be jumping the gun a bit. Publishing may be changing, but people are still going to want to read.
- Social media and wine guru Gary Vaynerchuk embarked on a unique twist on the book signing this week. He traveled to several airport bookstores (you know, the ones you browse through after passing through security, while waiting for your flight) to promote his new book, Crush It! While definitely non-traditional, it was also probably a good idea. His book is a business book and who spends a lot of time in airports? Businessmen!
- Coming off the heels of his uber-popular Percy Jackson series, Rick Riordan is getting set to publish a new series in the spring. This time, Riordan is tackling Egyptian mythology and, presumably, mummies and curses. Sounds to me like Riordan’s been taking tips from Scooby and the gang.
- Yet another book award nominees list was announced recently. As far as book awards go, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award is a bit different. It’s one of the most global book prizes, since libraries and librarians from around the world can nominate books. The result – a longlist (as opposed to a short list) that’s 156 novels long, from 163 libraries in 43 countries. Also interesting to note are the books that come up again and again during the nomination process, thereby proving some things truly are universal.
- In the U.K. the latest adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma has already aired (while I, regrettably, must wait until January to watch it on PBS/Masterpiece Classic) and has given Telegraph columnist – and self-admitted pedant – Charles Moore an abundant amount of material to work with. Apparently, mistakes abound in the new miniseries, making it less authentic Austen and more of a 21st century attempt to not botch Austen too much. I’ll reserve my judgment until I actually see the series, but if it’s even only slightly better than the abomination that was the Gwyneth Paltrow adaptation, I’ll call it a win.
- The never-ending list of end-of-year “best of” lists continues to grow. Last week, Amazon.com counted down their top 100 of the year and this week, they revealed the top 10. And once again, it seems the editors’ picks don’t always align with what customers read and buy. However, Hilary Mantel’s Tudor-England Booker Prize winning novel Wolf Hall came in at number 3, so now I’m even more excited to read it. (Also, I feel compelled to mention, once again, that 2009 still has 2 months left in it!)
- Entertainment Weekly has an exclusive book excerpt from the new Twilight spoof (courtesy of the Havard Lampoon writers) Nightlight. The spoof promises to deliver “romance, danger, insufficient parental guardianship, creepy stalker-like behavior and a vampire prom.” With promises like that, how can you possibly resist?
- I would like this tee-shirt. Santa, are you listening?
That’s all we’ve got time for this weekend, bookworms. Be sure to come back next week!
