Archive for December, 2008

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My Best Books Read in 2008

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

Most of the year’s best books listed compiled by book reviewers cover only books published during the current year. My list, however, includes books that I read during this past year, regardless of when they were published.

Being a full-time student has cut way, way down on my pleasure reading. This past year I only got through 38 books (exclusive of textbooks, of course!). Here’s my list of best reads for 2008, arranged alphabetically by author’s last name:

The Top 10

Honorable Mention

  • Barry, Brunonia. The Lace Reader
  • Botton, Alain de. How Proust Can Change Your Life
  • Cheever, Susan. American Bloomsbury
  • O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried
  • Tyler, Anne. Saint Maybe

Happy New Year to all!

Posted in Book Recommendations, Personal | No Comments »

With ‘Angel at the Fence,’ Another Memoir Is Found to Be False

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

With ‘Angel at the Fence,’ Another Memoir Is Found to Be False – NYTimes.com:

In media circles, there is a joke about facts that are too good to check. This week Oprah Winfrey and the New York publishing industry stumbled on yet another unverified account in the form of a Holocaust survivor who said his future wife had helped him stay alive while he was imprisoned as a child in a Nazi concentration camp by throwing apples over the fence to him.

And so another memoir is pulled from publication. This is getting to be such a common occurrence that it’s almost not worth pointing out. Really, where does the blame lie for this kind of thing? You could lay it on the agent, who should have made sure of the manuscript’s authenticity before she shopped it around for publication. Or you could lay it on the publisher, who should have checked out the manuscript’s veracity before agreeing to put its imprint on it. But I place the blame squarely on the writer. It may be a good story, but if it’s not true, it’s fiction, not memoir.

Posted in Book News, Publishing | No Comments »

Maureen Corrigan’s Best Books Of 2008 : NPR

Monday, December 29th, 2008

Maureen Corrigan’s Best Books Of 2008 : NPR:

Yes, yet another “best books” list. This one contains both fiction and nonfiction.

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Madoff Case Echoes Rich Lode of Swindler Literature

Saturday, December 27th, 2008

Madoff Case Echoes Rich Lode of Swindler Literature – NYTimes.com:

In the “there’s nothing new under the sun” department, this article points out some of the literary predecessors to the Bernie Madoff financial scandal:

‘You must realize that money making is one thing, religion another, and family life a third,’ Mr. Voysey matter-of-factly tells his son Edward, who is appalled to learn that his father has been operating a pyramid scheme for decades with his clients’ money.

Mr. Voysey — the affably corrupt character in Harley Granville-Barker’s 1905 play ‘The Voysey Inheritance’ — is one of Bernard L. Madoff’s literary predecessors, and his compartmentalized view of the world may suggest how Mr. Madoff, a philanthropist and a pillar of the financial world and Jewish life, enmeshed family and friends in what federal authorities are calling a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

Posted in Literary History | No Comments »

Harold Pinter, Nobel-Winning Playwright, Is Dead at 78

Thursday, December 25th, 2008

Harold Pinter, Nobel-Winning Playwright, Is Dead at 78 – Obituary (Obit) – NYTimes.com:

Harold Pinter, the British playwright whose gifts for finding the ominous in the everyday and the noise within silence made him the most influential and imitated dramatist of his generation, died on Wednesday. He was 78 and lived in London.

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Photo of the Day

Wednesday, December 24th, 2008
Floral Department Santa

Floral Department Santa

Happy Holidays to all,

And to all a good night.

Posted in Personal | No Comments »

Photo of the Day

Sunday, December 21st, 2008
Let it Snow

Let it Snow

With best wishes to all our friends in New England, the Midwest, and the Pacific Northwest. Stay safe, happy, and warm.

Posted in Personal | No Comments »

End of the book?

Sunday, December 21st, 2008

End of the book? – Los Angeles Times:
From his perspective of more than 30 years in the publishing industry, Tom Engelhardt speculates on the current state of the industry:

In scale, even the largest of modern publishers isn’t exactly a General Motors or a Citigroup or an AIG, in part because unlike cars, banking or insurance, the book represents such a quirky, small-scale, labor-intensive process to create and produce, but also to absorb. Demanding a significant investment of time and energy on the part of the consumer, it has always fit somewhat awkwardly into the world of mass entertainment. Still, there’s a comparison to be made. Like their larger cousins, the big publishing outfits seemed to feel that, when it came to the future, they were immune.

Sure, what happened on publishing’s recent Black Wednesday is only a minor blip on the current economic radar screen, but what Engelhardt sees happening has implications for the future of books and reading.

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Two More Best Books Lists

Thursday, December 18th, 2008

These are both from The Seattle Times:

Our Picks for the Best Books of 2008

“Our reviewers have nominated . . . books that informed, inspired and delighted them,” announces the newspaper’s book editor. The list includes both fiction and nonfiction.

Our Critic’s Top Ten Fiction Books of 2008

Critic Michael Upchurch’s list of “eight novels and two story collections from 2008 that followed unexpected paths with rigor and invention.”

Posted in Book Recommendations | No Comments »

The Big Read is a national page-turner – Los Angeles Times

Monday, December 15th, 2008

The Big Read is a national page-turner – Los Angeles Times:

Developed by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Big Read funds projects nationwide in an effort, NEA literature director David Kipen explains, ‘to restore reading to the heart of American life.’

This newspaper article, which understandably focuses on Southern California, may pique your interest about what Big Read events are planned in your state or local community. A good place to start would be your local public library.

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