Last week, actor, comedian and author Patton Oswalt was interviewed for the New York Times’ “By The Book” Sunday feature. I always love reading these because I usually come away from them with a new perspective on a book I’ve already read or with a list of books I want to read. When the interview is with someone whose work I already enjoy, it’s always a bonus.
And I love that he includes Neil Gaiman as one of the three writers he would invite to the hypothetical “literary dinner” scenario.
Today would have been the 123rd birthday of J.R.R. (John Ronald Reuel) Tolkien, born in 1892 to English parents in Bloemfontein, South Africa, where his father was working in a bank.
Tolkien was always fascinated with languages; he went to school at Oxford, first studying Classics, and later, English Language and Literature. He came across an Old English poem by Cynewulf, which contained a couplet that fascinated him:
“Hail Earendel brightest of angels / Over Middle Earth sent to men.”
The couplet found new life in the universe of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings in 1955, which takes place in Middle Earth and includes a half-Elven character named Earendil the Mariner, who eventually becomes a star.
In 1925, Tolkien returned to Oxford University as a professor of Anglo-Saxon and, later, English Language and Literature. One day, while grading exams, he discovered that a student had left one whole page in his examination booklet blank. Tolkien, for reasons unknown even to him, wrote on the page, “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” This single line turned into a bedtime story that he told his children, and from there, a book: The Hobbit in 1937.
Tolkien passed away on September 2, 1973 in Bournemouth, United Kingdom.
Thanks to The Writer’s Almanac for much of the above.
This is the first “How to” book for authors and those who want to be that I’ve read (and I’ve read a lot of them) that covers ALL of the bases involved in writing and publishing your book, from the nuts and bolts to the mindset of an author.
First, Ms. Vanasse offers her years of experience as both a writer and publisher to inquisitive writers and authors by exploring the three ways an author can be published; traditional, independent and a hybrid of each. Each step in each way is laid out with both the pros and cons of each path enumerated so that an author or aspiring author can make an informed decision.
In the second section promotion and marketing are discussed and while most writers want to concentrate on the creative side of the work, example after example is shown to make the point that the business side must be addressed as well, especially if you’re an unknown author that wants to have your book purchased and talked about. Everything from promotion by traditional publishers (less and less of that these days for new writers) to self-promotion in all its various incarnations (E-Newsletters, Social Media, Crowdfunding, etc.) are all presented for consideration. Not every way will work for everyone, but some ways will work for everyone.
The book finishes up with a section on mistakes authors can avoid and a final discussion of how to live the life of a writer or author. Humility and flexibility are two of the best ways to live that life.
This is a book I will be referring back to again and again and I highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in publishing their own book.
Full disclosure: I was provided a free copy of this ebook for review. The review is mine and is not influenced in any way by the provider.
At the beginning of December the New York Times Sunday Book Review listed the 100 Notable Books Of 2014. I was a bit dismayed to find, when I read through the list, that I had not read one single book this year that they listed as notable.
I decided long ago that I did not need to read every book on any of the usual “Books of the Year” lists, but I would have thought that I would find at least 1 or 2 on a list of 100.
How about you? Have you read any of these 100 Notable Books Of 2014?
The perfect Christmas tree for book lovers.
It was on this day in 1946 that George Bernard Shaw wrote to the Reynolds News: “Christmas is for me simply a nuisance. The mob supports it as a carnival of mendacity, gluttony, and drunkenness. Fifty years ago, I invented a society for the abolition of Christmas. So far I am the only member. That is all I have to say on the subject.”
An editor rebutted: “Mr. Shaw’s campaign has met with serious obstacles. The public read his books and went to his plays, but they read Dickens, too. They couldn’t be made to stop singing carols, lighting up Christmas trees, making presents, and feeling more than usually amiable toward their relatives, friends, and the world in general. Many of them paid attention to Mr. Shaw’s ideas about other things, including vegetarianism and Fabian socialism, but they would not pay attention to his ideas about Christmas. His failure is as apparent to him as it is to the rest of us.”
Perhaps the editor’s sentiments had been inspired by a new film that had premiered just a few days before: Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life.
Thanks to The Writer’s Almanac for the above.
It was on this day in 1843 that Charles Dickens published “A Christmas Carol”, the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, whom Dickens described as “a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner. Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire.” In “A Christmas Carol”, Scrooge learns the Christmas spirit of generosity from three ghosts who show him his past, his present, and his future.
Dickens’ previous novel, “Martin Chuzzlewit” (1842), was a flop, and he was strapped for cash. “Martin Chuzzlewit” was satirical and pessimistic, and Dickens thought he might be more successful if he wrote a heartwarming tale with a holiday theme. He started writing in late October and worked hard to get it done by Christmas.
At the time of the book’s publication, the celebration of Christmas was somewhat controversial. Puritans in England and America argued that Christmas was a holiday left over from the days when pagans celebrated the winter solstice. Many Christians felt that the extravagance of Christmas was an insult to Christ. But “A Christmas Carol” was a huge best-seller in both England and the United States, and it set the tone for Christmas as we know it today: a season of generosity, feasting, and merriment.
Thanks to “The Writers Almanac” for the above.
I’ve been in large printing plants and seen the huge presses used to print books, but that is not the ART of making a book; that is just the process that has been mechanized and modernized through the years to allow us to mass-produce books. And there is nothing wrong with that because we need to produce books en masse in order to keep the price low enough for everyone, not just the rich, to have access to these tomes.
But the ART of making a book is wondrous and challenging and stirs the muse of creation, especially for those of us who love books for their simple being.
The short video below will touch the creative spirit in all when you see the craftsmanship, skill and even, dare I say, love that goes into the art of making a book.
I’ve been a fan and avid user of Moleskine notebooks for many years. I’m going to need a new one soon and I haven’t been able to find them in the office supply and general department stores I’ve looked in. Today I decided to add one to my Amazon Wishlist and as I was doing so I wondered, not for the first time, “What is the correct pronunciation of the name?”
I’ve always heard and pronounced it myself as “Mole” (as in “bowl”) “Skin” (as in “spin”) but as you can see from the spelling of the name it has several other possibilities.
It turns out that question has been asked many times over and the maker of the notebooks has the answer here.
Last month I wrote about the opening round of the Goodreads Choice Awards 2014 voting and today Goodreads has announced the winners in the 20 different categories that made it through the semi-final round from November 10th to the 15th and the final round from November 17th to the 24th following 3.3 million votes.
My single nomination in the Fantasy category, Skin Game by Jim Butcher, did not win but I’ve heard good things about the book that came out on top in that category.
Congratulations to all the winners! I hope to read most of you in the coming year.
Today would have been Madeleine L’Engle’s 96th birthday, had she not passed away in 2007.
Madeleine L’Engle was the author of the Newbery Medal Award-winning novel “A Wrinkle in Time”, which is one of my favorite books from my childhood.
Here’s what I wrote about Ms. L’Engle shortly after her death in 2007.
Oxford Dictionaries announced today that its International Word of the Year for 2014 is “vape”, a word that, language research conducted by the editors reveals, has doubled in usage during 2014 when compared to 2013.
With the growing popularity of e-cigarettes the word, which describes the inhaling of the vaporized nicotine, has also increased in common language to differentiate it from traditional smoking of tobacco cigarettes.
I found it to be an interesting convergence that, while I was sitting with Cindy in the waiting room of a tire dealer today reading about the announcement of Oxford Dictionaries International Word of the Year for 2014 on my iPhone as our car was getting new tires, the service desk attendant was enjoying his own e-cigarette and “vaping” to his heart’s content.
Last year the Oxford Dictionaries International Word of the Year for 2013 was “selfie” and it wore its crown well. Perhaps “vape” will do the same.
Here’s a great infographic that Oxford Dictionaries produced for its International Word of the Year for 2014.
Best-selling author Kurt Vonnegut Jr., born on this day in 1922, would have turned 92 today if he had not passed away on April 11, 2007.
Author of “Cat’s Cradle”, “Breakfast of Champions” and, of course, “Slaughterhouse Five”, published at the height of the Vietnam War. The book made Vonnegut a hero among the war protesters. Vonnegut agreed it was an anti-war book. But he also said, “Anti-war books are as likely to stop war as anti-glacier books are to stop glaciers.”
Vonnegut also came up with what he called the 8 Basics of Creative Writing:
Here’s a review of “Slaughterhouse Five” that I wrote last November.
Today is the birthday of writer Neil Gaiman, born in Portchester, England in 1960.
Gaiman began his career as a comic book writer and in 1987 penned one of the best titles when he took a failed DC Comics character known as the Sandman, revamping the history and very being of the character, and turning it into an award-winning comic book.
He then went on to become a best-selling author of such novels as “American Gods”, “Anansi Boys”, “Neverwhere”, “The Graveyard Book” and “The Ocean at the End of the Lane”, among others.
Today closes the opening round of the Goodreads Choice Awards for 2014. If you’re a member of Goodreads, you’ve already received your email notification and most likely already placed your vote(s) in the opening round to be part of the more than 1 million votes cast thus far. I’ve been busy and just got to mine tonight.
I feel bad, because even though I have already read 49 books thus far this year, only one of them was a book that was published this year and placed in nomination. That one book, which I obviously voted for, was “Skin Game” by Jim Butcher in the Fantasy category.
So as not to find myself in the same situation next year, I have already set a goal of reading at least one book published in 2015 in the following (bolded) categories before voting rolls around next November. As you can see, out of the 20 categories normally presented for voting, I’ll be trying to read something in 14 of them.
Fiction
Mystery & Thriller
Historical Fiction
Fantasy
Romance
Science Fiction
Horror
Humor
Nonfiction
Memoir & Autobiography
History and biography
Business Books
Food & Cookbooks
Graphic Novels & Comics
Poetry
Debut Goodreads Author
Young Adult Fiction
Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction
Middle Grade & Children’s
Picture Books
Even if you haven’t voted by today’s deadline in the opening round, you can still vote in the semi-final round from November 10th to the 15th and the final round from November 17th to the 24th.
And hey, if you’re a member of Goodreads, come look me up.
In last Sunday’s New York Times Sunday Book Review there was a special treat for book-loving music fans and specifically fans of “The Boss” in the aptly titled “Bruce Springsteen: By The Book” interview.
When you think of Springsteen you think of a top tier musician with 11 albums in the Billboard Top 200, 26 singles in the Top 100, 12 in the Top 10 and 20 Grammy awards. But you probably don’t think of a 65 year old man who, in his own words, “…didn’t begin reading seriously until 28 or 29.” and who today has a philosophical bent that states, “I find men and women struggling to answer the deepest questions we can ask freeing.”
As a fellow book lover and fan of Springsteen’s music, I found myself feeling an even greater amount of respect and admiration than I previously possessed when I thought of him only as a master musician. These aren’t “beach reads” that he’s delving into; these are books of serious content for a serious mind and serious contemplation.
For instance:
What books might we be surprised to find on your shelves?
I read a lot on cosmology and a reasonable amount of philosophy. I also like to read about baseball, having just finished Mariano Rivera’s autobiography. For cosmology, “Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos,” by Dennis Overbye, was one of my first favorites. I find men and women struggling to answer the deepest questions we can ask freeing. It also puts in scale whatever my small problems of the day might be. The book that turned me on to philosophy was Bertrand Russell’s “The History of Western Philosophy.” I just finished “Examined Lives,” by Jim Miller, and “How to Live; Or, A Life of Montaigne,” by Sarah Bakewell.
I mean, holy crap!, this is deep stuff and to think that someone most “intellectual” people would describe as “just a musician” is delving into such subjects and thought processes is just incredible.
Read the entire interview; you might find yourself feeling a little bit of amazement and, like me, it might give you a few other books added to your nightstand stack.
If I recall correctly, the first Stephen King book I read was “The Stand”, though that was actually his fourth novel. After that I HAD to go back and read his first three; “Carrie”, “Salem’s Lot” and “The Shining” but “The Stand” was my favorite until I read “It” and “It” was my favorite until I read “Misery” which has retained that position through the years.
And of course I thought I had hit the motherlode when I discovered his stories written under the Richard Bachman pen name.
King is also the author “On Writing” of one my favorite books about the art of writing. The first copy I bought was the paperback version because that was all the bookstore had. I devoured it in one day, and returned to it so many times I lost count. For years I looked in bookstores all across the country and could still only find the paperback version until one day a little over a year ago I stumbled into a used bookstore in Asheville, NC and they had the hardback version. I was ecstatic! I gave the paperback copy to my son and the hardback now occupies a place of importance on my bookshelves.
Like “On Writing”, Stephen King’s interview with The Rolling Stone on the day after Halloween (how apropos) gives us insight into the mind and imagination of the man who can doubtless be called the modern day master of horror. He takes us down memory lane to explain his years of alcohol and drug abuse, walks us through his process of writing (he still writes 7 days a week, after breakfast and a 2 to 3 mile walk), and reveals his belief in some kind of god figure while also stating, “My view is that organized religion is a very dangerous tool that’s been misused by a lot of people.”
King was almost killed 15 years ago when he was hit by a van while out walking near his home in Maine. It’s sobering to think that most likely (unless one of his family members finished some that were left) his last 19 books would not have seen the light of day.
Thankfully, that wasn’t the case.
