Archive for the ‘book club’ Category

Oprah nightmare for publishers

Friday, November 20th, 2009

Oh the horror! If you look up towards the sky in Manhattan right now, you will see some very sad people dotted along the ever-so-high ledges of those massive media corporation buildings.

Yes, just when book publishers thought life could not get any worse comes the news that Oprah Winfrey, the publisher’s best friend, will shutdown her daytime talk show in 2011. All this comes on the heels of the rise of e-books, the Kindle, the Nook, the Sony e-thingy, and the demise of book coverage in the mainstream US media.

a-camel-yesterdaySo what will be the ultimate go-to source for bookselling when Oprah pulls the plug?

Frankly, there isn’t another ’superpower of recommendation’ like the Big O, who has the book club selections and features countless authors on the show. Publishers will have to target multiple media sources, including the unofficial media of blogs and social networking sites, and hope many small hits will create a bestseller.

Somehow, I think Oprah loves her literature and that she’s going to remain linked to books one way or another. Odd how this announcement comes very soon after her recent interviews with Stephenie Meyer and Sarah Palin? Perhaps these two ladies were the straws that broke the camel’s back? (Oprah’s lawyers should note I am not actually saying Oprah is a dromedary) I’d probably be ready to pack it in after discussing vampires and foreign policy respectively with those two.

10 Reasons Why Book Club is Like Church

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

The Inkwell Bookstore in Falmouth, Massachusetts, has an excellent blog. Their post on 10 Reasons Why Book Club is like Church is very funny.

10. Half the participants are lonely old women, the other half are just there for the wine.
9. There’s always one member who not only falls asleep, they snore.
8. Miss a few meetings, and they make you feel like you’re going to Hell.
7. When interpretations vary, arguments follow.
6. Audible farts are inexplicably hilarious.
5. New members = potential mates.
4. No one’s ever finished the book/The Book.
3. Donations are strongly encouraged, willfully withheld.
2. You’re too chickensh*t to admit that you thought the book/The Book was boring.
1. They keep promising you an author appearance, but in the end…nope.

Oprah’s Top 4 Summer Reads

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

Editor of  O Magazine Gayle King revealed their top4 picks from Oprah’s Summer Reading List:

  1. Columbine by Dave Cullen
    When we think of Columbine, we think of the Trench Coat Mafia; we think of Cassie Bernall, the girl we thought professed her faith before she was shot; and we think of the boy pulling himself out of a school window-the whole world was watching him. Now, in a riveting piece of journalism nearly ten years in the making, comes the story none of us knew. In this revelatory book, Dave Cullen has delivered a profile of teenage killers that goes to the heart of psychopathology. He lays bare the callous brutality of mastermind Eric Harris and the quavering, suicidal Dylan Klebold, who went to the prom three days earlier and obsessed about love in his journal.
  2. Provenance by Laney Salisbury & Aly Sujo
    A tautly paced investigation of one the 20th century’s most audacious art frauds, which generated hundreds of forgeries—many of them still hanging in prominent museums and private collections today

    Provenance is the extraordinary narrative of one of the most far-reaching and elaborate deceptions in art history. Investigative reporters Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo brilliantly recount the tale of a great con man and unforgettable villain, John Drewe, and his sometimes unwitting accomplices.

    Provenance reads like a well-plotted thriller, filled with unforgettable characters and told at a breakneck pace. But this is most certainly not fiction;Provenance is the meticulously researched and captivating account of one of the greatest cons in the history of art forgery.

  3. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
    “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.” So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton-and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy.

    Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you’d actually want to read.

  4. Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horn by James Gavin
    Though limited, mostly to guest singing appearances in splashy Hollywood musicals, “the beautiful Lena Horne,” as she was often called, became a pioneering star for African Americans in the 1940s and fifties.

    Gavin has gotten closer than any other writer to the celebrity who has lived in reclusion since 1998. From the Cotton Club’s glory days and the back lots of Hollywood’s biggest studios to the glitzy but bigoted hotels of Las Vegas’s heyday, this behind-the-scenes look at an American icon is as much a story of the limits of the American dream as it is a masterful, ground-breaking biography.

Men Who Stare At Goats - first Ross book club pick

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

the-men-who-stare-at-goats1Jonathan Ross’ Twitter-based book club (#wossybookclub) has caused major demand for Jon Ronson’s The Men Who Stare at Goats book from 2005. From surfing around Twitter, it would appear that many bookshops have run out of stock.

AbeBooks.co.uk has many secondhand and new copies but I’m sure they’ll shift pretty quickly.

Ronson’s book is an investigation into the extremes of the psychological warfare used by US Special Forces. It examines the use of the Barney the Dinosaur theme tune, the ultimate torture tactic, on Iraqi prisoners-of-war among other things.

Apparently, future recommendations include Rutu Modan’s graphic novel about a Tel Aviv taxi driver, Exit Wounds, Shalom Auslander’s memoir Foreskin’s Lament, and Leaves of Grass by American poet Walt Whitman.

A Separate Reality by Carlos Castaneda…

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

….was the latest book to be featured in Lost. A Separate Reality is supposed to be non-fiction and tells the story of the author’s apprenticeship under a Yaqui Indian sorcerer, who used plants such as peyote to see the energy of the universe. I can safely say that I will never read this book.

Visit the Lost show’s Book Club.

What Should the Avid Reader Book Club Read in April?

Thursday, March 12th, 2009

We need your help in deciding what the Avid Reader Book Club will read during April!  Voting is simple - we have a poll open in our Community Forums where you can let us know your choice.

The choices were inspired by our recent feature, Top Ten Funniest Books According to the British.

The nominated books are:

A) Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jeromethree-men-boat-jerome
Jerome K. Jerome’s comic classic Three Men in a Boat (To say nothing of the Dog!) is unsinkable. One of the most widely read and beloved works of British fiction it has never fallen out of print since it first came out in 1889, but rather has been translated into many languages and even turned into a teleplay by Tom Stoppard.

The most ordinary circumstances turn hilarious as J., an idler who exhibits a “general disinclination to work of any kind,” and his friends journey up the Thames River. Getting into many scrapes along the way, the friends consider “assaulting a policeman” just to have “a night’s lodging in the station-house,” when they get lost, but ultimately reject the proposition, fearful that he would hit them back without locking them up. The real scene stealer, though, is Montmorency, a small fox terrier who appears to be “born with about four times as much original sin in [him] as other dogs are.”

B) My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell my-family-other-animals-durrell
When the unconventional Durrell family can no longer endure the damp, gray English climate, they do what any sensible family would do: sell their house and relocate to the sunny Greek isle of Corfu. My Family and Other Animals was intended to embrace the natural history of the island but ended up as a delightful account of Durrell’s family’s experiences, from the many eccentric hangers-on to the ceaseless procession of puppies, toads, scorpions, geckoes, ladybugs, glowworms, octopuses, bats, and butterflies into their home.

C) Thank You, Jeeves! by P.G. Wodehousethank-you-jeeves-wodehouse
Thank You, Jeeves is the first novel to feature the incomparable valet Jeeves and his hapless charge Bertie Wooster – and you’ve hardly started to turn the pages when he resigns over Bertie’s dedicated but somewhat untuneful playing of the banjo. In high dudgeon, Bertie disappears to the country as a guest of his chum Chuffy – only to find his peace shattered by the arrival of his ex-fiancée Pauline Stoker, her formidable father and the eminent loony-doctor Sir Roderick Glossop. When Chuffy falls in love with Pauline and Bertie seems to be caught in flagrante, a situation boils up which only Jeeves (whether employed or not) can simmer down…

Our poll is only open until Wednesday, March 18 so vote soon! We’ll announce the winning book shortly after that date.

Thanks for your help!

Online Book Club Discussion of The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

house-mirth-whartonDuring the month of March, the  AbeBooks Avid Reader Book Club is discussing Edith Wharton’s 1905 novel, The House of Mirth.

We have a book club page dedicated to The House of Mirth which includes discussion questions, background information on the book and a brief bio of Edith Wharton.

It’s not too late to join in the reading! And don’t forget, you can participate when you want - it’s all online! We’d love to get your thoughts on the book!

Stress-Free, Flexible Book Club

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

I’d always rather fancied being a member of a book club. Surely discussions started with “My book club is reading…” would add an air of sophistication to my less-than-sophisticated demeanor.  But as responsibilities and commitments mounted, reality set in - joining a book club would be stressful! What if I didn’t have the time to read the allotted amount before the book club meeting? When would I have time to even attend a meeting?

My dreams seemed dashed.

But alas all is not lost! Along comes the AbeBooks Avid Reader Book Club! There is absolutely no pressure! I (you) can read as much or as little as you’d like and you can choose if and when to join in the discussion on the Community Forums!  How fantastic is that? There’s a chance I can come across as slightly sophisticated after all!

The vote for what will be read in March is currently open. But if you’d like to have a say, please vote soon as the poll closes tomorrow night (Wednesday, February 11 - Western Hemisphere).

Ok, this is a little bit of shameless self-promotion as I’ll be hosting the Book Club during March and April while my colleague and regular host, Heather is away. But I would love to have new people join and I know Heather would too.

Joining is really easy and there is no cost to be a member. Just sign up for the newsletter to ensure you get the messages letting you know about upcoming books and when it’s time to vote and then create an account on our Community Forums so that you can join in on the discussion or read what others have to say. (The vote also takes place on the Forums so you’ll need an account for that too.)

The books we’re voting on for March’s read are:

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

Summaries of each of these books are available on our Avid Reader Book Club page.

I hope to “meet” some of you “at” the Book Club! And don’t forget to vote on which book you’d like to read!

Gwyneth Paltrow’s Book Club

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow recommends reading as an inexpensive pastime during the short, dull days of winter.  As inspiration, Paltrow asked several of her “best and most literary-minded girlfriends to share their top picks” which she’s posted on her web site Goop.com.

Paltrow says, ” I always like knowing the literary preferences of people. I think it gives a better understanding of their inner life.”

Friends who’ve shared their top book picks include Madonna, who Paltrow states, “rules the world, is a loyal friend and a terrific mother” and super model Christy Turlington, “an amazing friend, mother, and an activist who is pursuing her masters in Public Health at Columbia University”.

Gwyneth’s picks:

Madonna’s Choices:

Christy Turlington’s Selections:

Don’t forget that Madonna has several books of her own published. Gwyneth Paltrow co-authored Spain…A Culinary Road Trip the companion book to the prime-time public television series Spain…On The Road Again while Christy Turlington published Living Yoga: Creating a Life Practice in 2002.

(In the pictures Paltrow is seen carrying children’s book Thank You Bear by Greg Foley and Maddonna is holding Armistead Maupin’s The Night Listener.)

Lost the TV Series - ABC Promotes the Show and Reading

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

Fans of the TV series Lost are eagerly anticipating tonight’s 2-hour season premiere. I, on the other hand, am disgracefully behind (although frantically trying to catch up) so am avoiding anything to do with the premiere including closing my eyes, plugging my ears and chanting “La-la-la-la-la-la” any time advertisements come on.  With the popularity of the show, it’s a tough job avoiding anything that could be a Lost spoiler.

Lost is a TV show that is full of literary references.  In fact, within the first 4 seasons there are more than 40 books weaved Sawyer of Lost reading Lancelot by Walker Percythroughout the episodes. The incorporation of the books is done in several ways; 1) Books read by the characters, 2) Books on shelves seen in the show, and 3) Connection to themes of the series.

If you’d like to catch up on some Lost reading, I’ll get you started with a slightly shorter “to read” pile than the 40 books and list only those connected with the island’s most avid reader, Sawyer. (It still offers an incredible variety!)

James ‘Sawyer’ Ford’s Books

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

Bad Twin by Gary Troup

Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

Grimm’s Fairy Tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

Lancelot by Walker Percy

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Watership Down by Richard Adams

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle

Britain’s Richard & Judy Add Canadian Novels to Book Club List

Monday, December 29th, 2008

Two of ten novels chosen by  Richard and Judy for their 2009 reading list are written by Canadian authors.Richard and Judy, the popular talk-show duo and one of the greatest  influences on Briton’s reading habits, have selected Andrew Davidson’s The Gargoyle and Steven Galloway’s The Cellist of Sarajevo as part of their book club reads in 2009.

Books featured by Richard and Judy ofter become bestsellers in the UK as exemplified by Kate Mosse’s Labyrinth which after being chosen for the book club in 2006, became Britain’s fastest-selling paperback  of all time.

Richard & Judy’s 2009 Book List

Barack Obama’s reading a Lincoln biography

Tuesday, November 25th, 2008

The latest pick in the Barack Obama book club is Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer by Fred Kaplan. The President-elect was photographed leaving the Chicago home of friend Penny Pritzker after having dinner last Saturday. Barack’s getting in his Lincoln reading early - next February is the 200th anniversary of his birth and there are going to be dozens of Abe books on the market.

Curious what others are Barack Obama’s favorite books? We were, too.

Book Club currently reading Things Fall Apart

Friday, September 12th, 2008

The AbeBooks Avid Reader Book Club is currently reading Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe during September. It’s a short read, but certainly packs a punch. The novel depicts the start of British colonialism in Nigeria and the impact it has on one Ibo community. It’s is considered the birth of African literature and is definitely not a book to miss.

If you’d like to join us in reading the book, we’re discussing Things Fall Apart in the community forum.

Simon LeBon’s book club

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008

Who knew?

Richard and Judy - bookselling gurus

Monday, June 16th, 2008

If you’re not from the UK, here’s an article about Richard & Judy - who account for 26% of the top 100 sales in the UK. Although they are day-time talkshow hosts, Richard & Judy are quite different to Oprah. For a start, no-one is accusing them of setting up a cult. The real story concerns Amanda Ross - the lady behind R & J and now the most powerful single person in UK publishing.

Richard and Judy’s hot summer reads

The Outcast by Sadie Jones (Chatto & Windus). Set in the south of England in the 1950s, this tells the story of a boy who becomes estranged from his family and environment after witnessing a terrible, tragic accident.

No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay (Orion). A page-turning thriller in which a teenage girl wakes up one morning to discover her family has vanished without trace. Twenty-five years later, she begins to learn the truth behind their sudden disappearance.

East of the Sun by Julia Gregson (Orion). A sweeping epic set in 1928. Three women are travelling to India: Rose is to going marry a man she barely knows, Tor is in search of a husband and Viva, their chaperone, is travelling back to the country where she was born and where she lost her parents.

Down River by John Hart (John Murray). A Chandleresque thriller about Adam Chase, who has spent the past five years in New York trying to wipe out the memory of his family’s rejection after he was accused and acquitted of murder. He returns home after a call from an old friend to find more murders have begun.

The Pirate’s Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson (Headline Review). A multi-generational story based on the extraordinary true story of Errol Flynn‘s arrival in 1940s Jamaica. The Pirate’s Daughter follows Ida, a girl who falls for Flynn’s charms. Through the eyes of Ida and her daughter, May, it also tells the story of their home, Jamaica, before and after independence.

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee by Rebecca Miller (Canongate). Married to an older man, and living in a retirement village in her fifties, Pippa Lee appears to be the perfect wife to her overbearing literary-agent husband, but behind this front lies a troubled and varied past.

Addition by Toni Jordan (Sceptre). Grace Lisa Vandenburg counts: the letters in her name (19); the steps she takes each morning to the local cafe (920); the number of poppy seeds on her orange cake. Her orderly world is thrown into confusion when she meets a charming man in a supermarket.

The Resurrectionist by James Bradley (Faber & Faber). A dark and compelling gothic thriller set in 1826, when Gabriel Swift arrives in London to study with Edwin Poll, the greatest anatomist in the city. He soon finds himself drawn to his master’s nemesis, Lucan, the most powerful resurrectionist in London and governor of its trade in stolen bodies.