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March/April 2003
(click here for a printable copy of GBL's e-newsletter)
Letter From the Editor:
First off, a hearty thank you to all the readers who whipped us into shape.
We begged, we pleaded, and you have complied! Thank you for all the feedback.
Your suggestions have helped us to create a brand new focus and forum for this e-newsletter,
so check it out and see what you think of the brand new LATELIES.
Here's what you told us:
1. You like great book recommendations. Keep those on top, please.
2. You like "Tips and Tricks," but would like to see more debate about some of the truly knotty book group issues.
3. You don't like the recipes so much. Actually, you may have liked specific recipes, but there are lots of
places to go on the web to get them. In this newsletter, you want substantial book news rather than appetizing add-ons.
So, here's what we've done. The new LATELIES is divided in three sections, which are, as you will see:
1. WHAT WE'RE READING NOW
2. HOT FRESH DIRT
3. NOTES FROM THE FIELD
We don't want to wear you out with our requests, but we would love to know what you think of our latest
LATELIES efforts. Email me at ellen@goodbookslately.com to give me
a piece of your mind--good, bad, or heartily ambivalent.
What We're Reading Now (GBL Picks for March 2003)
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Look at Me
Jennifer Egan.
Anchor Books: 2002
(paperback).
ISBN: 0385721358.
415 pages. |
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| Do you ever get tired of seeing the same old face in the mirror? Ever wish you could swap your mug for someone else's?
The lucky heroine of Jennifer Egan's novel gets to do just that, after she loses the original in a car accident.
With eighty titanium screws holding her new visage together, Charlotte Swenson returns to New York City to continue
her career as a second-tier fashion model. The interesting thing is that nobody--not her agent, not her old friends
in the biz--recognizes the old Charlotte behind her still beautiful but completely restructured face. Struggling to
reorient herself, Charlotte comes to the painful realizations that she has a unique opportunity to explore a familiar
modern conundrum--if nobody can connect your former identity to your current image, how real is that identity in the
first place? Egan explores the always troubling relationship between what is essential and what is ornamental with
a fresh new eye in this novel, interweaving the story of Charlotte's quest to recapture her true self with that of a
young teenage girl playing a dangerous game for love, an alcoholic private eye on the trail of a mysterious stranger--one who may be preparing an apocalypse for America--and a faded academic who yearns to inspire just one of his students
with the truth of his life-changing revelation. This wildly ambitious novel may have some weak moments, but that doesn't
change the fact that it is one of the most original and passionate attempts to capture the mercurial essence of
contemporary life in America that we have ever run across. You're going to enjoy this one.
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You Are Not A Stranger Here
Adam Haslett.
Doubleday: 2002
(hardcover).
ISBN: 0385509529.
237 pages. |
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| "The mental health establishment can go screw itself on a barren hilltop in the rain before I touch their snake oil or listen to the visionless chatter of men half my age. I have shot Germans in the fields of Normandy, filed twenty-six patents, married three women, survived them all, and am currently the subject of an investigation by the IRS, which has about as much chance of collecting from me as Shylock did of getting his pound of flesh. Bureaucracies have trouble thinking clearly. I, on the other hand, am perfectly lucid."
That's from the first paragraph of the first story of Adam Haslett's mind-blowing new short story collection. The story is "Notes to my Biographer," and the speaker is a manic-depressive septuagenarian who is determined that no one--especially not the son who still loves him--shall thwart his manifest destiny as one of America's greatest inventive geniuses. From the roller-coaster ride of this first story, Haslett's collection picks up speed and delivers knockout punch after knockout punch, chronicling the bizarre attempts of the desperately alienated and terribly lonely to find some way to connect to their fellow human beings. This is a harsh but absolutely amazing, ultimately touching book, a must-read for anyone who wants to meet the future of American letters. Like nothing you have read before.
We should add that it's a bit surprising, and greatly to their credit, that The Today Show selected this collection for their book club. This is definitely not what you might think of as the usual choice for a morning news show book club--the third story is about a gay orphan teen who's persuading a bully in his class to beat him as a means of making an intimate connection. After finishing this story, we had a huge new respect for The Today Show and for the brains behind their book club.
If you're interested in checking out the transcript of the show and a short video of Haslett discussing his book, click here.
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Hot Fresh Dirt (News from Book Industry Insiders)
Oprah's Book Club is Back! Only This Time She Maintains Exclusive Relationship with the Dead!
Yes Readers, it's true. Our top story this month is none other than that Oprah plans to raise the Oprah
Book Club from the dead. Only this time, she plans to promote only the work of those who can no longer promote
it for themselves. Oprah Winfrey announced her post-Franzen book club plans last week while receiving the
AAP Honor award at the organization's annual meeting. Working with a tentative title of "Traveling with the Classics,"
Winfrey intends to visit the locations where books by such classic authors as Shakespeare, Steinbeck, Faulkner,
and Hemingway are set. Segments will likely run three to five times a year.
USA Today report
In a Book Club? Just Check Out How Young and Hip You Are!
According to Newsweek, book groups are hotter and heavier than ever.
But they aren't just your mother's book club anymore.
The magazine profiles the plethora of young people stepping in to the book group forum,
positing the hypothesis that "With people marrying later, and schedules becoming more and more hectic,
book clubs are appealing to people who want a connection that isn't
about dating (or at least isn't about singles bars) or money or jobs or working out."
Of course, "Never mind that the books themselves aren't necessarily that important" (or even read).
Read this piece and let us know what you think!
Newsweek piece
Think That You Can't Get a Book Deal? If They Can, Maybe You Can Too! A Backstreet Mom Comes Clean
Just when you thought the world was finally safe from new news about the Backstreet Boys, think again.
Backstreet matriarch Denise McLean has sold her manuscript for BACKSTREET MOM: A Mother's Tale of Backstreet
Boy AJ McLean's Rise to Fame, Struggle with Addiction, and Ultimate Triumph, single mother McLean's tale of her son's
rise to fame, his decent into depression and alcoholism and his ultimate recovery-a pattern you may find eerily
familiar from VH1's Behind the Music.
Madonna's Literary Career Runs Gamut From S&M to Children's Fiction
Madonna's first foray into the publishing world took place over a decade ago in the shape of the glossy 1992
coffee table extravaganza Sex, with which Madonna sought to offend middle-brow, middle-class sensibilities.
It worked! But now "Madge," as she is affectionately known in her adopted home of England, has sold a children's book,
The English Roses, which will be followed by four other illustrated storybooks for children ages six and older,
to Puffin, a division of Penguin Putnam.
Did We Miss the First Installment?
Do you really want to hurt him? Then consider yourself forewarned: Boy George has sold the second installment
of his memoirs, written with Paul Gorman, to a publisher called Century, for publication in spring 2004.
The WB is Totally Psyched!
Newcomer Jana Riess has sold WHAT WOULD BUFFY DO? The Vampire Slayer As Spiritual Guide, an exploration of the
spiritual lessons and wisdom that the popular show exemplifies. Hopefully, this inspirational guide will be of help
to young girls, sci-fi geeks, and unhappy vampires everywhere.
Harry Potter as Muggle Satire?
Harry Potter may be more than just fantasy, after all. Some readers have suggested that Dobby
from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, "with his long nose, buggy eyes and somewhat dour expressionbears a
startling resemblance to Vladimir Putin, president of Russia." Seventy-seven percent of readers polled on the BBC's
Russian Service voted yes.
Radio Free Europe item
Book Sense Marketing Guru Steps Down, Heads for Harper
Carl Lennertz, the man who made BookSense make sense to a huge readership of independent bookseller
fans across the country, is leaving his position as senior marketing consultant for BookSense at the ABA.
He will join HarperCollins in the newly created role of VP of marketing for the HarperCollins imprint,
effective March 17 of this year. Since 1999, the contagiously passionate and energetic Lennertz has been the
public face on the BookSense 76, its bestseller lists, and its associated programs. Lennertz's solid instincts
helped demonstrate that thousands of vigorously independent booksellers could pool their own distinct passions
for hand-selling to form a brand of their own. The success of the 76 program has given serious market impact
to the voices of independent booksellers, granting the independents a feasible chance to compete against the chains.
No need to worry that BookSense and the 76 will stumble when Lennertz leaves the helm.
The BookSense lists have always been a team effort, and other members of the team will step up to take Lennertz's place:
Mark Nichols will be the director of Book Sense marketing, and our wise friend Meg Zelickson Smith will become deputy
director of Book Sense marketing--You Rule, Meg!
Notes From the Field (We Ask You, You Tell Us)
Book Group Skeptics Scoff Suggestions of Serious Discussions
A week or two ago, Good Books Lately cofounders met with a journalist from The Denver Post, a man who enjoys a
certain amount of prestige here in town, and who is certainly very well connected with our Denver book community.
During the interview, as this gentleman reviewed the history of our experience with book groups, he asked a surprising
question. "I've heard that the deep dark secret behind book groups is that they are all women and that nobody in them
actually ever reads the book--would you agree?"
We sat for a fraction of a second in stunned silence. "Uh, no, that's not true." Ellen said.
"Many people in book groups are women," Kira responded practically,
"but that's not exactly what I'd call a deep dark secret.
And rather than finding they don't read the books, I'm impressed by how much and how thoroughly
most of these members read."
"Many people in book groups are women," Ellen agreed, "perhaps two-thirds are women. However, more and more men are joining book groups. In answer to the second part of your question, we can say only that in our many years of study, we've found no direct correlation between gender and actually reading books vs. just using them to decorate your night stand."
Maybe this journalist had hoped to get some sort of rise out of us with this question. Maybe he had a genuine desire
to get confirmation or repudiation of this rumor. Either way, the question and our response got us thinking:
Does most of the non-book group world believe that the books are just an excuse for women to get together and gossip?
Does the fact that more men are currently joining book groups give the community more authority somehow, more legitimacy,
if men are becoming a substantial part of its membership?
Use the form below to let us know how you perceive the book group's reputation in the larger non-book group world around you -- what
sort of feedback do you get about your book group participation from your partner, your family, friends, co-workers?
Do you get the feeling that others around you may believe the fable of book clubs' ''deep dark secret"?
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