LATELIES March/April 2003
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)
Look at Me
Jennifer
Egan. Anchor Books: 2002 (paperback). ISBN: 0385721358.415 pages.
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
You Are Not A Stranger Here
Adam
Haslett. Doubleday: 2002 (hardcover). ISBN: 0385509529. 237 pages.
"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.
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.
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).
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
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
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
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?
Shoot me an email at ellen@goodbookslately.com and 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"?
© March 2003, Good Books Lately, Inc.
phone: (303) 744-8000
fax: (303) 433-0801