#fridayreads – Page 5 – The Great Gray Bridge

#FridayReads, May 3–James Lasdun’s “Give Me Everything You Have: On Being Stalked”

May 3, 2013/0 Comments/in Books & Writing, Publishing & Bookselling /by Philip Turner

#FridayReads, May 3–Give Me Everything You Have: On Being Stalked, novelist James Lasdun’s nightmarish memoir is a literary yet realistic account of how he came to be cyber-stalked by a former student. No matter what Lasdun has done over the past several years, from contacting police to ignoring the woman he calls Nasreen, she has continued to make him the target of her ceaseless anti-Jewish hatred and twisted paranoia, emailing venomous messages to him with numbing frequency, posting vicious rumors about him, impersonating him to his contacts and in online forums, implicating his literary agent and colleagues. Despite these invasions of his personal space, Lasdun has prevailed, in his own way. The book is rich with allusions to such literary sources as Gawain and the Green Knight, Isaac Bashevis Singer’s novel, The Penitent, and Lasdun’s own novel, The Horned Man. A disturbing yet compelling chronicle. I want to read more of Lasdun’s work, because whatever one may say about this horrible experience with Nasreen, he’s also a terrific writer whose sentence-making is continually engrossing.

#FridayReads, April 26, “A Double Death on the Black Isle” by A.D. Scott

April 27, 2013/0 Comments/in Books & Writing /by Philip Turner

#FridayReads “A Double Death on the Black Isle by A.D. Scott-engrossing novel of crime&journalism in a wee Scottish village. Good characters

— Philip Turner (@philipsturner) April 26, 2013

I love Scotland and have visited near the region where this novel takes place, so I found it enjoyable. However, it should have had a better line edit and copyedit. There were plot threads hinted at that weren’t resolved and characters who ought to have had more development. Annoyingly, there were a lot of typos and proofing errors in this title, published by Atria, at Simon & Schuster. C’mon publishing colleagues, you can do better than this!

#FridayReads, April 12–“The Barber’s Conundrum,” Essays by John Hartnett + Richard Nash, On the Business of Literature

April 12, 2013/0 Comments/in Books & Writing, Publishing & Bookselling /by Philip Turner

#FridayReads, April 12–The Barber’s Conundrum–And Other Stories: Observations from Life in the Cheap Seats by John Hartnett. A while back, the author, whom I know a bit as a publishing industry contact, asked if I’d like to see a copy of his book of humorous essays, which he’d recently published himself. I like the genre of the humor essay, going back to E.B. White, Stephen Leacock, and in our era with writers like Roy Blount, Jr., and Nora Ephron, and so asked him to send me a copy. I had dipped in to the book a bit before this week, but only in the past few days have I made a point of making sure to read all 35 + pieces in the collection, and gain a sense of the whole. Now I realize how much I really like this charming book. The title piece, on the futility of trying to get a decent haircut, is full of wry observations and delicate exaggeration:

“I’m a barber’s worst nightmare because I’m not a crew cut guy. They enjoy giving crew cuts because all they need is a pair of clippers and a little conversation. There’s no finesse in crew cuts, no risks. Whenever I sink into the chair, they automatically reach for the clippers and when I tell them I just want a trim, they start looking at my head like it’ the Manhattan Project. It’s not uncommon to have three barbers looking at my head at the same time, like baseball managers standing around the pitcher’s mound deciding whether to try a little pep talk or send for the reliever. I’ve had barbers spontaneously retire while I sat in their chairs. One even tried to convince me that I’d be better off cutting it myself.”

Equally amusing are such pieces as “The Catalog: A Modern Fairy Tale,” about the insidious temptations of mail order shopping, and “Surviving Your First Trade Show,” on the rituals of being an exhibitor at a convention.

Hartnett’s been a gag writer, so he’s got the knack for inducing a chuckle, and nowadays also writes a humor blog, The Monkey Bellhop. I’ve found this an ideal book for the subway, where I can actually start a piece boarding a train, and finish it before reaching my destination. I recommend it if you’re looking for some painless laughs, something to lighten whatever load of worry might be a part of your day. While self-published, it’s nonetheless attracted 55 customer reviews on Amazon. I know of many commercially published books that don’t manage even half as many comments.

I’ve also read and will be mulling for days, Richard Nash’s deepthink essay on the future and purpose of publishing, “What is the Business of Literature? published in the Virginia Quarterly Review. Nash is with Small Demons, an innovator in mapping and indexing content from books in creative ways. I also recommend this essay highly, which carries the reading line, “As technology disrupts the business model of traditional publishers, the industry must imagine new ways of capturing the value of a book.” I was happy to be reminded of Nash’s piece–which first landed with a flurry a few weeks ago–by publishing thinker Brian O’Leary of Magellan Media, who wrote about it on his blog earlier this week. H/t Brian.

I didn’t plan ahead on sharing this medley of readings–but sort of like cooking a meal with an unlikely set of ingredients and discovering how well they work together–now that I’ve done so I’m intrigued to see there’s a kind of congruity about them. From a self-published book of essays that’s making its way in the emerging publishing ecosphere to an essay considering that ecosphere and even what makes a book, I think the combination suggests something more than just my reading taste. Not sure I can say yet that is, but it’s what I’ll be mulling this weekend.

A Belated #FridayReads–for April 5

April 7, 2013/0 Comments/in Books & Writing, Philip Turner's Books & Writing /by Philip Turner

I’ve had such a busy couple days that I neglected to post a #FridayReads this week as is my usual custom. Still, I’ve been reading some good things, so here’s a belated rundown on them.

“The Meaning of White,” a personal essay by Emily Urquhart on her young daughter’s albino condition published in the April issue of The Walrus magazine, an excerpt from her forthcoming memoir, Beyond the Pale.

Siege 13 by Tama Dobozy, an amazing collection of interlinked short stories revolving around Hungary, its history, and its far-flung tribe. I’d made this a #FridayReads back on February 22, and am still savoring the stories, such as “The Atlas of B. Gorbe,” about a legendary childrens’ book illustrator living in NYC, and a sulking narrator who tries to befriend him. After posting about it in February, I heard from my friend, designer Michel Vrana, that he’d designed the evocative jacket, which I’m glad to show again here.

Also reading a couple of promising manuscripts submitted to me for consideration from possible author clients–a novel for middle grade students with a funny, gross-out plot, and a novel by a South Asian writer.

#FridayReads, March 29–‘Heretics: Adventures with the Enemies of Science’

March 29, 2013/1 Comment/in Books & Writing, Technology, Science & Computers /by Philip Turner

Saturday update–

Wow, just finished @wstorr‘s Heretics, on the clash bet skepticism&mysticism in our history-w/great closing chapters. bit.ly/YPYVHO

— Philip Turner (@philipsturner) March 30, 2013

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#FridayReads, March 29—The Heretics: Adventures with the Enemies of Science by British journalist Will Storr. I posted this book as a #FridayReads March 8, so it should be clear it is not a quick read. However, it should also be clear that I’ve stayed with it because reading it is a very rewarding experience. Storr’s investigation blends spot reporting from such locales as a revival meeting in Australia led by a creationist preacher with consideration of the placebo theory and homeopathy and its detractors. Like Jon Ronson, another British author with whom I’ve compared Storr, the author of this book is an affable guide who successfully inveigles his way on to a tour bus of Holocaust deniers led by disgraced former historian David Irving and in to a conversation with the churlish defender of Hitler. I’m reading the last 40 pages now where Storr probes the question of whether James Randi deserves the status he’s widely accorded as the ‘world’s most noble skeptic.’ Storr, shall we say, has some doubts. I recommend this thoughtful and nuanced book most highly. I first read about this book in the Guardian last January and I’m glad I was able to get a copy from Picador, Storr’s obliging UK publisher.

Please note: you may visit a ‘buy page’ for this book at the website of Powell’s Books–the affiliate bookseller for The Great Gray Bridge–by clicking on this book link: The Heretics: Adventures with the Enemies of Science.

#FridayReads, March 22–“Things Fall Apart,” Chinua Achebe

March 22, 2013/0 Comments/in Books & Writing /by Philip Turner

#FridayReads, March 22–Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, who died Thursday at age 82. I read the book in college, the very copy shown here. It’s a classic, richly deserving of its status.

#FridayReads, Feb. 22–“Siege 13,” Stories by Tamas Dobozy

February 23, 2013/1 Comment/in Books & Writing, Publishing & Bookselling /by Philip Turner

#FridayReads, Feb. 22–Siege 13: Stories by Tamas Dobozy, an innovative collection of short fiction that oscillates between the Nazi siege of Budapest in 1944 and the present day. I’ve just begun digging in to the book, but find I’m already astonished by the fluency of the writing, and the way the stories pull me right in. I don’t have too much to say about it yet, so I’ll note here the review of it that ran in Quill & Quire, the magazine of the Canadian book industry (Siege 13 was published simultaneously in the US and Canada). The reviewer is writer Robert Wiersema:

The stories are varied in tone: some emphasize the horrors of war, while others–like “The Society of Friends,” about two men in love with the same woman – are darkly humorous. Gripping realism is comfortably juxtaposed with fantasy in stories like “The Ghosts of Budapest and Toronto.” The pieces in Siege 13 are also unified by Dobozy’s skill as a writer. Carefully crafted, but executed with seeming effortlessness, every sentence in this collection, every paragraph, is a thing of beauty, and the stories themselves are without flaws. That said, the combination of the author’s abilities and the book’s subject matter means Siege 13 should come with a warning: take it slow. These are stories that should not be rushed through.

I will definitely take my time. Meantime, if you’d like to know more about the writer, here’s the web page for the book from its US publisher, Milkweed Editions. They sent me a review copy some months ago, I’m glad I’m finally getting to the book. The striking cover was designed by Michel Vrana, a friend who I met at the first Book Camp, an unconference about publishing.

#FridayReads, Feb 15, “Worth Dying For,” a Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child

February 15, 2013/1 Comment/in Books & Writing, Publishing & Bookselling /by Philip Turner

#FridayReads, Feb 15, “Worth Dying For,” a Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child. I’ve been hearing about Child for quite a while, and now have finally picked up one of his books. It’s a corker, I can see why they’re so popular. Reacher is a marauding justice-seeker who knows no limits, physical or psychological, in avenging those who’ve been wronged. In this case, it’s about justice for an 8-year old girl who went missing 25 years before the primary events in this story, with her disappearance having gone unsolved all this time. Reacher shows up in a desolate Nebraska county unsuspectingly, and soon gets drawn in to a tangled web with the corrupt Duncan family at the center of it all. The violence–and there’s quite a bit of it with Reacher being one of the toughest badasses I’ve ever come across in suspense fiction–is thick and visceral, and though very realistic, somehow hasn’t made me avert my eyes, figuratively or literally. It’s a bit like the mayhem in a comic book–thunderous and full of punch. Still, unlike the Road Runner, who always gets up again after having an anvil land on him, the blows sustained by Reacher’s opponents leave them down for the count.

As usual, also reading book proposals from prospective author clients, in this case, a manuscript about the recently excavated Richard the III, translated into English from Dutch. Timely, and if good enough, could be something publishable here in North America, and perhaps in other English-speaking countries.

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