Reading Copy Book Blog

Six Basic Plot Conflicts in Literature

Beth Carswell — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:35:51 +0000

How to Open a New Book

Beth Carswell — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:56:39 +0000

It may sound easy-peasy, but for maximum spine protection and book-life extension, there is indeed a way to open a new (hardcover) book. Read on, readers. Turns out we may be doing it wrong.

via Alfred a. Knopf

Happy 100th Birthday, Studs Terkel

Beth Carswell — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:40:43 +0000

Louis “Studs” Terkel died in 2008, but today would have been his 100th birthday. Born to Russian-Jewish parents in the Bronx, Terkel spent the bulk of his life in Chicago. He married his wife, Ida in 1939, and the couple remained together until her death in 1999.

Terkel was interested in oral history, and jazz, and very politically outspoken. He was best-known for the jazz column he wrote regularly for the Chicago Sunday Times, and his long-running radio show on WFMT, called The Studs Terkel Show. His contributions to literature, music, the theater, journalism and Chicago won’t soon be forgotten.

Christopher Walken Reads “Where the Wild Things Are”

Beth Carswell — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:22:37 +0000

Curmudgeonly grump and marvelously imaginative author Maurice Sendak died a week ago today. I came across this again today and thought it was worth a revisit…. Sendak’s classic Where the Wild Things Are, as ready by Christopher Walken*. Makes me laugh every time. “The kid is kind of a jerk. I think that’s the point you’re supposed to get.”

And now, let the wild rumpus start!

*okay, or an excellent impersonator. Still super.

Introducing the Pages & Proofs book blog

Richard Davies — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:46:16 +0000

Reading Copy has a sister. AbeBooks has just launched a new blog called Pages & Proofs for our AbeBooks.co.uk site, which serves our British customers. I’m handling most of the blogging on Pages & Proofs and I promise to make it the same but different to Reading Copy. It will be the same in that it will be very readable and never dull. It will be the same in that we are addressing everything that catches our eye from the book world with a special focus on used and rare books. It will be different in that it won’t be a carbon copy of Reading Copy. There will be lots of news and links regarding books from the United Kingdom but the posts won’t be exclusively British-themed.

Now, if you are really into books you will visit both blogs on a regular basis.

Over at Pages & Proofs you will discover why the United Nations thinks Norwich is a bookish town, where you can see the original Harry Potter manuscript, how Pussy Galore wrote a self defense book in the 1960s, a review of a book about a road that goes past Stonehenge and much more. Visit Pages & Proofs.

Mike McGrady AKA Penelope Ashe 1934-2012

Beth Carswell — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:08:41 +0000

Former Newsday columnist Mike McGrady has died of pneumonia. McGrady was most famous as being the leader of a group of 24 prominent journalists (19 men, 5 women), who in 1966 set out to prove that the minds and tastes of the American people, when it came to culture consumption, had become tasteless and vulgar. They went about it in a very creative way – by writing and publishing an intentionally bad book, Naked Came the Stranger, full of lewd, ridiculous over-the-top sex (there are sex scenes involving a rabbi, a shetland pony and many more unlikely characters) under the pseudonym Penelope Ashe. Ashe did not in fact exist (each of the journalists took on a chapter), but was played in public by McGrady’s sister-in-law, Billie Young.

The book was published in 1969 by Lyle Stuart, known for their willingness to publish sexually-charged books. The publishing house did not know the book’s true origins or authors. Upon publication, Naked Came the Stranger immediately began proving the authors’ suspicions correct – it sold 90,000 copies by October of 1969. When they began earning large amounts of money, many of the co-authors’ consciences bothered them and they went public about the hoax on the David Frost show on television.

Their confession only served to make the book sell faster, and the co-authors were approached to write a sequel, which they turned down.

Not everyone was happy, either about the ruse, or about the book’s content, which, given that it was intentionally written to be as depraved and devoid of literary value as possible, served to make a lot of people feel dirty.

McGrady died in his home state of Washington. He was 78 years old.

Read about Naked Came the Stranger and other literary hoaxes.

39 Books for a John Buchan Collection

Beth Carswell — Tue, 15 May 2012 18:04:20 +0000

We have a guest writer today – bookseller Peter Thackeray describes the legacy of the author who helped launch the espionage fiction genre with The Thirty-Nine Steps.

John Buchan published more than 25 novels and yet he had a remarkable life away from writing that included being a Member of Parliament and Governor-General of Canada.

Read the Whole Article.

Orhan Pamuk Museum of Innocence now open in Istanbul

slaming — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:01:27 +0000

In 2008 Orhan Pamuk published The Museum of Innocence, a book about a wealthy businessman , Kemal, who becomes infatuated with a lower class shop girl, Füsun, who is 12 years his junior. Despite Füsun being the love of his life Kemal refuses to give up his relationship with his fiancée to be with her, instead opting to obsessively collect artifacts associated with Füsun and his time with her; and with these artifacts he builds a museum.

Now, you can visit that museum yourself. Last month Pamuk cut the ribbon on an actual Museum of Innocence which is based on the book and features the strange array of objects associated with and discarded by the character Füsun within the pages of the book. The collection is housed in the Çukurcuma neighbourhood of Beyoğlu, Istanbul.

Today’s Globe and Mail has an interesting review of the museum that is worth a read.

The American Guide Series

Beth Carswell — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:58:26 +0000

The American Guide Series is a collection of books, magazines and pamphlets published between 1937 and 1941. Meant to educate and attract, the series was put together by The Federal Writers’ Project (FWP) which provided government funding towards writing and publishing initiatives during the Great Depression. Each publication in the American Guide Series included background history, information, attractions, and photographs. They were published by the individual states – no Hawaii or Alaska, as neither was officially a state until 1959 – and were also created for several cities, states, territories and regions, as well. Nowadays they are highly collectible as memorabilia of the era and pieces of history, and for their often-striking covers.

Guile and Mischief: 25 Tricksters in Literature

Beth Carswell — Mon, 14 May 2012 18:04:28 +0000

Tricksters are intriguing. You never quite know what to expect. Look at Loki and Puck, and the Raven of First Nations lore, to name a few. They can be good or bad, or an unpredictable mix of both. They survive, and also annoy, by using their wits. By turns funny and infuriating, these are the pranksters of literature who keep our protagonists on their toes.

This selection of literature goes way beyond Brer Rabbit and showcases famous tricksters from around the globe.