Baby Got Books

The Gwinnett County (northeast suburb of Atlanta) mom who can’t stomach that children in America are being subjected to the devilment of Harry Potter has been foiled again. From the AJC:

Since she launched her anti-Potter crusade in 2005, Mallory has taken her case to administrators at the Loganville elementary school her children attend; to a school appeals committee; to the Gwinnett County Board of Education; and to the Georgia Board of Education. She’s lost at each level.

This time out she lost in the Gwinnett Superior Court. And of course, she “acknowledges she hasn’t read any of the six books in the “Harry Potter” series.” Naturally. She’s vowing to get a lawyer and take her case to a Federal Court. I guess she finally heard that old chestnut “people who represent themselves in court have a fool for a client.” See if you can follow this line of reasoning:

Mallory said the school board’s decision to offer the books in taxpayer-funded libraries violates the U.S. Constitution because, she claims, they promote the Wiccan religion. [yet]…”I have a dream that God will be welcomed back into our schools,” Mallory said.

Just not your heathen god.

Who isn’t captivated by redwoods? The Wild Trees, by Richard Preston, will draw you in with its story about a few absolutely compelling characters who simultaneously set out to discover the world’s tallest trees in the redwood forests of Oregon and California. They are rewarded for their perseverance, passion and nerve, and so is the reader.

Unbeknownst to me, most redwood forests were virtually unexplored before the 1980s, except by loggers who were only interested in taking redwood forests down. The Redwood National Park was established in 1968 and it was declared to contain “the Mt. Everest of all Living Things”, the Tall Tree. However, there were no additional explorations or challenges to the claim of tallest tree until Steve Sillett, Marie Antoine, and Michael Taylor come along.

It all starts with a road trip. Steve Sillett and friends from Reed College drive down to Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park in 1987. Off the beaten path, Sillett proceeds to climb to the top of a redwood with his bare hands. Along the way, he finds all sorts of parasitic growth he cannot recognize, but pockets for further study. At the top, Sillett is amazed to find a huckleberry bush growing out of soil in the redwood canopy and feasts on huckleberries. The climb is a risky and dangerous endeavor, but results in a rich reward.

Sillett has discovered a new world. Ascension into redwoods was previously not done. With that one act, Sillett has come upon a “Vertical Eden” not previously known. When climbed, he finds that redwoods reveal an entire ecosystem at the top, including all sorts of previously undiscovered animals and plants. He perfects his climbing technique and he and his wife Marie, a lichen expert and tree climber, go on to further climb and explore the canopies of tall trees. Along the way, they measure and name some of the biggest and tallest trees in the world, including Screaming Titans, Lost Monarch, Kronos, Hyperion and many, many others.

The author does a great job depicting the attention, skill and technique required for climbing redwoods. The risk of falling is great and danger looms large, which builds up the suspense of the story. Also, the element of discovery – whether it is finding the biggest and tallest tree, or a new lichen or ant type, it all adds to the quality of the story being told.

The book even has a shout-out to Atlanta. No redwoods there, but gorgeous trees and Peter Jenkins. Jenkins is the arborist who founded Tree Climbers International in Candler Park. Jenkins teaches the author how to climb, so he can join Steve and Marie in the redwoods.

Added to my list of things to do? Visit redwoods and learn to climb tall trees. After you read this book, you’ll want to climb, too. A great book. Highly recommended.

Additional Links:

• Tree Climbing International
• Steven Sillett @ Humboldt U.
• Richard Preston redwood photo gallery

Mrs. Cayenne and I went to the Decatur Public Library last night to see Marisha Pessl read from Special Topics in Calamity Physics. Let me begin by noting that it is pronounced Ma-ree-sha. You learn something new at these things every time.

We scrambled out of the house to get there in time and somehow got there 20 minutes early. Not sure how that happened. As a result, we were there when the author arrived and was whisked away for an interview with Wordsmiths’ Russ. Russ was clearly won over by his subject, and we’ll certainly post a link to his interview when it is up. (Also, we forgot our camera on our way out the door. Wordsmiths’ Russ agreed to let us borrow some of his. I’ll update this post when pictures arrive. Thanks, Russ!)

The reading got off to a late start due to the author’s interview elsewhere in the building. It was kicked off with a lengthy introduction by the Director of the Georgia Center of the Book. At least three minutes of the introduction were about the author being wildly attractive. Mrs. Cayenne and I were giving each other “What the…?” and “Oh no he didn’t!” looks throughout. Also: eyes were rolled.

Pessl began the evening by reading an essay called “The Big Idea.” The conceit behind this essay was that Pessl had been caught off guard numerous times during her previous book tour for the hard cover when she would be invariably asked, “where did you get the idea.” She says that she had a hard time coming up with a satisfying answer. The essay was intended to be an answer to that question/motivational speech for writers in the room. The condensed answer is to look at the everyday world around you – then look closer. The Cayenne contingent was getting a little restless by the end of this part of the program.

The reading itself consisted of four passages from the book: a piece of the introduction, the introduction to Garreth and the junebugs, an introduction to Hannah (go back and read that scene in the grocery store if you need some foreshadowing), and the passage where the Bluebloods are throwing around theories about what Hannah is really up to (which is also an interesting section when you know how the book will turn out).

After the reading, Pessl took only three questions from the audience, preferring that we ask any additional questions in person while getting our books signed. Pessl was asked if she has a new book on the horizon. She does. It will be in a similar style, but involve “a different world.” That’s about all that she would say publicly about that. She was also asked about the references spread throughout the book. Pessl affirmed the questioners observation that many of the references were fake, and she noted that she had a lot of fun crafting the fake references to seem plausible and witty. She said that she thought that it would have been very dry to have Blue only cite “real” references. So one of my pet theories died an unceremonious death.

Pessl also pointed out that a reason for the references was a reflection that Blue had been raised in a world of books. They were her only friends as she and her father moved endlessly around the country. Books are Blue’s comfort zone. The references are more frequent at the beginning of the book as Blue hides behind their protective cover. The references become less frequent as the book moves on – decreasing steadily as Blue becomes more sure of herself and more confident in telling her story.

Meeting with the author afterwards was the high point of the reading. Ms. Pessl is very charming in person and quite clearly cares deeply about her book. She talked with us at length while signing our books. (Sorry if you were behind us!) I asked her about Blue’s reliability as a narrator, a question that I had raised in the Special Topics Round Table. We quickly learned that Pessl doesn’t want to give too much away, and she’s very much of the “every reader’s experience is the correct one for them” school. She will give you a straight answer, but she’ll make you work for it by making you tell her what you think happened.

I floated my theories (again – apologies if you were behind us): I’ve always thought that Blue was hiding something or that she had at least failed to make some of the connections in the book that the reader may pick up on, etc. The author visibly beamed at the idea that some things have gotten past Blue, and she told me that I was onto something there. She also told me that she thought that Blue was otherwise a fairly reliable narrator.

Mrs. Cayenne asked the author a fairly pointed question about what happens after the book, which I can’t reveal without providing a major spoiler. Pessl did mention that someone will make a cameo in her next book (which will be unrelated to this one) that may provide some “closure” on that score. We’ll have to wait and see.

We went out for dinner afterwards (Mrs. Cayenne and I) and had a nice conversation about the book and rehashed what we thought had gone on in the book. It was a nice evening all around.

For more on the book, please visit the Special Topics Round Table, Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

New York Magazine asked 61 critics to name the best “under-the-radar” books of the past decade. Of the 60 books listed, we’ve reviewed only one: Sam Lipsyte’s Homeland. The winning author (read the article to find out who won) received two votes — but for different books. The article contains lots of great looking books that you may want to check out. Be the first kid in your area code to pick one up.

Update: The issue also includes The Early Word on Summer’s Debut Novels and literature professors’ take on which novelists will be taught in 50 years.

I finished The Raw Shark Texts, by Steven Hall, over the weekend. I had received this particular tome as a birthday gift from our blogmaster (for some reason that seems to be the case with every other post of mine — I wonder if he’s going to catch on that I can’t possibly have that many birthdays each year). Anyway, I was awfully excited to read this one given the hype that’s surrounded it, and I was not to be disappointed. This is just a really cool book.

I thought about simply posting a comment to the DJ’s earlier post, but I thought doing so could let my praise for the book fall through the cracks. I wanted to shout loud and proud, for everyone to hear, how cool this book is. Now that I’ve gotten your attention, though, like the DJ, I’m not going to give away anything specific about the story itself — you really need to read it yourself, lest anything I say taint your understanding or interpretation of the story.

Suffice it to say that the book utilizes some great literary devices to great effect. The author uses metaphor, symbolism, flashbacks, and other tools to really engage your brain and make you think about what’s happening and what it means. In my particular case, it left me wanting to read it again to try to pick up elements that I might have missed the first time. Chalk one up for the Ludovician and the other conceptual fish — this one’s going back into my pile to read again at a later date. Nice work, Mr. Hall, and I’m fascinated to see if this is something that can be adapted to the big screen.

Turn your internet machine to Counter Balance for Part 3 of the Special Topics Round Table. Today’s installment comes from Ana Maria of Out of the Woods Now. (also read >Round One, Round Two).

Last night, after bath time and brushing teeth, L’il Cayenne drew two names out of a hat to select the victors of our giveaway. The winners of our Special Topics Extravaganza contest are: Weezie and Dr J. Each will receive a gratis paperback edition signed by the author.

Speaking of the author, Marisha Pessl will be reading tonight at the Decatur (GA) Public Library at 7PM. I’ll be there, so be sure to say hello if you make it.

I don’t know anything about this book except that it has a ridiculously sweet cover. Also: it has the word apocalypse in the title. Way cool. (via Covers)

The New York Public Library Young Lions Award was announced. Former Emory student Olga Grushin won for her novel The Dream Life of Sukhanov (our review is here). The award presentation featured fellow nominees Chris Adrian (The Children’s Hospital) and Tony D’Souza (Whiteman). Readings from the nominated books were performed by Ethan Hawke and that one dude from House (via Galley Cat, which has a picture that includes all of the above)

George Saunders, an author that I have never read but is spoken about with awe and fawning praise thing – pretty much everywhere else, has a short story in The New Yorker. The opening sentence goes against everything that I sort of know about writing. Maybe that’s why he’s in The New Yorker and I’m here.

Look! On the sidewalk! It’s Baton Bob!

[youtube]RsDAqPrgz54[/youtube]

Enjoy your Memorial Day holiday.

Please run – don’t walk – over to the Counter Balance blog for Part 2 of the Special Topics in Calamity Physics Round Table. Today’s post, penned by me, makes the case “for” Special Topics. Be sure to also read Callie’s excellent post in Part 1, which makes the “against” case. Curiously, we both agree that Pessl is a major talent that we expect great things from in the future. Please join our conversation in the comments.

If you haven’t read the book yet and you’d like to make up your own mind – for free – be sure to enter our Special Topics contest. We’ve got two copies (thanks Wordsmiths!) to give away that will be signed by Pessl at her reading on Tuesday. We’ll announce a winner on Monday.

The Family Cayenne saw Michael Chabon read from The Yiddish Policemen’s Union last night at the Barnes & Noble in Buckhead (Atlanta). I was sad to see that the reading was going to take place in such a “corporate” setting. When we arrived, little about the arrangement made me feel any better about it.

The reading took place in the aisle between the main floor and the childrens book area. There were 35 chairs available for the audience – I counted. We arrived a half hour before the reading, and it was standing room only. I’d estimate that about half of the audience did not have a clear view of Chabon once the reading started. Abysmal. The only good thing about the set up was its proximity to the kids area. L’il Cayenne was able to read books and play, while Mrs. Cayenne looked on from behind the podium as we deployed our “divide and conquer” strategy. For the record, that was not our child who was talking from the back throughout the reading nor the one who yelled “Daddy!” Really.

The scene in the shoe box a half hour before the reading started

I’d always thought of Michael Chabon as a literary rock star, but last night confirmed it. He was escorted into the building by two policemen who hung out for the duration of the reading. Weirdly, there was no author introduction by the book store staff. Chabon was unceremoniously dropped off at the podium. In a particularly strange moment, Chabon asked for some help adjusting the microphone and a cop jumped in to help.

Once the reading started, all of the above went out the window. Chabon spoke briefly to set up the premise of the book and then read from two sections of the book. I still haven’t started it yet, so this was my first exposure to the book. Chabon has a great reading voice, and the selected sections sounded great.

Chabon reads from YPU

The reading was followed up with some Q&A. Someone asked for more details about the contra-history setting in which the book takes place. Chabon apparently only mentions things like the nuclear bomb dropped on Berlin in passing. He replied that the historical setting was used as a backdrop for the story, since that’s what he was more interested in (as opposed to using a story as the framwork for showing off an alternative history). In Chabon’s imagining, the Alaskan resettlement of European Jews precedes the implementation of the Final Solution. Therefore the Nazis were able to spend more of their resources fighting the war since less effort goes into wiping out a generation of Jews. So the war dragged on much longer, which left the Allies with no choice but to nuke Berlin to end the war. Very interesting.

We also learned that the Mysteries of Pittsburgh movie has been completed. Sadly, the Kavalier and Clay movie is dead. He mentioned that it was to star Tobie McGuire and Natalie Portman. It had a director, it had a budget, it had a schedule – it was all ready to go. It was wiped out by one of Hollywood’s inexplicable spasms of project nixing. He had spent over five years working on the screenplay, but he is trying to be philosophical about it.

The last question came from a guy who was jumping out of his seat raising his hand who wanted to know about Chabon’s appearance on The Simpsons. My kind of guy. His appearance on the show seemed to come as a surprise to the majority of the audience. I am so glad that I didn’t yell “Shay-Bone!” from the back of the room. I may have been killed. He loved doing the show, but the show is ruined in some ways for him now. Since he has seen how the show is made, he pictures the actual people who do the voices for the characters when he watches the show. Keep that in mind when you are invited to appear on The Simpsons.

Chabon signing our book.

After the Q&A, the staff brought out a cake. It was Chabon’s birthday, and the crowd sang. That was nice. Then it was off to the signing table. Chabon signed as many books as people brought with them. The signing part of the evening was set up so that you were given a color-coded slip of paper that determined your relative place in line. That led to an unfortunate announcement, “We’re going to start with all of the white people. If you’re not white, we need you to please wait your turn.” Yipes. We were pink people.

Chabon was great. He shook hands and talked with everyone. He tried to engage L’il Cayenne in a conversation about her rain boots. Chabon signed our stack of books and we were on our way. Chabon has long been on my top five authors to see read list, so having him chat with us and take the time to draw a key while signing our copy of Kavalier and Clay was pretty special. It turned out to be a great evening in spite of the B&N setting.

First things first. The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall will knock your socks off. Look at me. I’m totally sockless.

A story at the CBC says that the title is a play on the Rorschach Test. I suppose that means that the book is open to numerous interpretations that reveal something about us as we project our our own reading onto the material. I don’t know if that is true or not, but it sounds deep.

This is my third attempt at writing a review of the book. I’ve tried mightily not to tell too much of the story (that’s the fun of reading the book), not to reveal what I think it all means (especially as it may reveal something about my psyche), and not to talk too much about things external to the book that have been the focus of too many other reviews (marketing, Hollywood, advances, etc.). It has been difficult, but I’ve pared things down the best that I could.

The book begins with Eric Sanderson regaining consciousness on his living room floor. He has no idea who he is, where he is, or how he got there. He’s freaking out. Eric finds a note from “The First Eric Sanderson” that provides a brief orientation to his immediate situation. We learn form Eric’s therapist (phone number provided in the note from ES#1) that he has suffered a “psychic break.”

This episode marks his eleventh such break. With each break he remembers less of his former life. Eric describes himself as feeling like he has had his mind scooped out like a decorative egg. This idea is carried forward later in the book when another character begins to refer to him as the “Tin Man.” Subsequent notes from Eric #1 provide Eric #2 with some necessary pieces of his back story and also provide details on the elaborate security precautions that will be needed to survive in this new life. That’s where the shark comes in.

A conceptual shark soon begins to hunt Eric. You may well ask yourself what, exactly, is a conceptual shark? The Annotated Raw Shark Texts wiki describes the Ludovician (the species of conceptual shark after Eric) like this:

Ludovician: Member of the Cognicharius family, a species of predatory, purely conceptual fish that flow in the rivers of human knowledge. They are solitary, territorial and see only people, especially the ones they are hunting. It eats memories and is the biggest and most aggressive of the conceptual animals—rogue males sometimes focus on one food source.

You can get a feel for what a conceptual shark might look like in these fan-created clips that use actual text from the book (1 and 2). Hunted, alone, and just needing more from life, Eric #2 decides that he has no choice but to leave the safety of the cocoon that he has created. He sets out to find some answers.

Like Don Quixote before him, Eric begins what will become an epic adventure armed only with the everyday items that he believes will provide him with the armor to survive his future battles. Also like Quixote, the adventures that Eric takes part in may or may not accurately reflect the reality around him. However, I believe that the tales in Eric’s head are what give him comfort and give his life meaning (just like the Spaniard).

On this journey, Eric is accompanied by his cat. (I hesitate to carry this analogy too far and call the the cat his Sancho Pan.) Here’s Eric on Ian the cat:

A cat is a responsibility after all. And feeding and keeping and caring about a stupid fat cat isn’t much, isn’t much in the entirety of what counts for being a person and the huge range of what people do, but it is something. It is something and it’s something that’s warm and that I still have.

Ian the cat is one of my favorite characters in the book. And I am not a cat person at all. Hall’s description of the looks that Ian gives Eric #2 throughout the book provide the comic relief. We learn from clues to Eric’s past that Ian was part of what was a feline duo – Ian and Gavin. Eric wonders what has happened to allow one to live on while the other has been relegated to the dust bin of memory. That might be an important aside.

Near the end, the book includes a harrowing encounter with the conceptual shark that is given immediacy through a (featured in this clip). The ending is an emotionally gripping, page-turning roller coaster that becomes even more draw dropping as “what it all must mean” begins to dawn on you.

The Raw Shark Texts can be read as many things. It can be read as a mystery, a psychological thriller, science fiction – it has something for everyone. Something that I think has gotten lost as reviewers have focused on the flashier elements of the story is that The Raw Shark Texts is a love story above all else.

Prior to developing his “condition,” Eric was a regular (if anxious) guy who lost the love of his life, Clio, in a senseless accident. For me, this tragedy is the lens through which the rest of the novel must be viewed. It drives home some of the book’s themes: the demons of the past, the double-edged sword of memory, love and loss, hope, and finding a way to reclaim a treasured past. The book left me asking a central question, “If you lose someone that you love, which is harder: letting pieces of them go so that you can live or doing whatever it takes to keep them alive in your mind forever?”

There’s so much more that I want to talk about – Unspace, Mr. Nobody, Mycroft Ward, the Shark, Scout, other conceptual animals, the conceptual shark hunting boat… This is such a rich book of ideas. I had the luxury of having multiple copies lying around, so Mrs. Cayenne and I were able to read the book simultaneously. That never happens.

Each night we’d catch up on where we were in the book, speculate about what would happen next (we were almost always wrong), and sort through what it all meant. Then our friend Weezie came to town after having both read the book and having seen the author read in San Francisco. So we got the opportunity to rehash it all over again over adult beverages. If you decide to read the book, get a Raw Shark buddy. This is a book that begs to be talked about when you are finished, and I can think of no higher praise than that.

Post Script:

One of the things that I enjoy when reading a novel by a British author is when the U.S. publisher makes the always correct decision to publish the book as written – with British usage and spelling intact. I always learn something new. For American readers of the book, here is a brief collection of helpful tidbits:

• The cat’s name is funny in the same way that an American cat named Bob or Harry would be funny. (Thanks, Weezie, for that piece of intelligence.)
• A biro is a ballpoint pen.
• A strimmer is a weed eater.

A tale of two reviews:

This is at least the third time that I’ve mentioned here that the half-assed New York Times review of this book is the laziest possible reading of the book. Don’t believe me? Compare that review to the infinitely more thoughtful Los Angeles Times review.

This week we’re participating in a blogosphere round-table discussion of Marisha Pessl’s book Special Topics in Calamity Physics. First up in the discussion is our ring leader Callie from the superior lit-blog Counter Balance. I think that I’m up next with a post that will appear on Friday morning (EST). I’ll add links here to each of the round table posts. Be sure to join in the discussion at each stop.

Also: Please don’t forget that we are giving away two (2) signed copies of the new paperback. Enter our contest here. Please also remember that Ms. Pessl will be reading at the Decatur (GA) Library next Tuesday night, May 29th, at 7PM.

Al’s new book, The Assault on Reason, receives a glowing review in the LA Times by Joe Conason.  Look for scathing, half-baked sound bites from The Right beginning with tomorrow’s news cycle.  You’ll recognize them when the exact same phrasing is used by 10 or more politicians/pundits to criticize Gore.

There are a few items in the print media that I thought that I’d share, being the parasite that I am. (Although I’ll link to their web sites, because it is easier – and cheaper – than obtaining a hard copy, photocopying it, and mailing it to you. I’m truly sorry.):

The new Khaled Hosseini reviews are pouring in and much to my chagrin, everyone loves A Thousand Splendid Suns. I wasn’t entirely the fan of The Kite Runner that the rest of the free world appears to have been. The new book is reviewed at the LA Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post, and even – wait for it — the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (!). If Hosseini is your bag and you are near the Hot-lanta area, you can see him read at Georgia Perimeter College next Monday. (Apparently he will also be reading at a Sam’s Club in Alpharetta, but I’m going to forget that I ever read anything about that.)

The Guardian favorably reviews a Prince biography, but the NYT is less than impressed with Don’t Hassel the Hoff – the David Hasselhoff autobiography.

Speaking of The Guardian, those guys have either been under a rock or Dave Eggers’ What is the What has just been released in the UK. Probably the latter. In any case, they have a review.

The San Francisco Chronicle reviews the new Chabon. He’s reading in town this Thursday. I’d say more, but it’s already going to be an effing circus. The Chronicle also reviews Nathan Englanders’ The Ministry of Special Cases.

There’s plenty more where this came from, of course, and that’s worth noting. That’s all I have time for now though. Viva the print review!

The graphic novels Persepolis and Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi have finally made it to the big screen.  The Persepolis movie debuted at Cannes.  See the trailer below, which does not have English subtitles:

[youtube]rUp9o_CNo04[/youtube]

Wow.  My French is rusty.  The animation looks fantastic.  Additional excerpts: 1, 2, and 3.

Check out the punk rock band in excerpt 2.  Awesome.
BGB previously reviewed Persepolis and Persepolis 2.

Just thought that I’d point that out. The Campaign to Needlessly Smear Bloggers continues at the National Book Critics Circle blog. One of the organizers of the Atlanta book review protest had this to say:

Seriously, though, blogs are kind of like parasitic microorganisms which feed off of a primary host. For the sake of this discussion, the host is clearly print media. Some are the good bacteria and some are transient and viral. Or maybe I can upgrade blogs to the status of some sort of interstitial or synovial fluid, buffering the vital organs of the media (newspaper, television, radio, the Internet)? But, c’mon, if newspapers are dying, then blogs are the maggots come to feast upon their corpses.

Wow. That’s offensive. The “seriously though” would lead you to believe that what preceded it was a joke or tongue-in-cheek – sure doesn’t seem like it. The post’s main point, if I can paraphrase, is that most blogs do not produce anything original or interesting. Ugh.

A post by novelist Lee Smith says:

I would take issue with the notion that blogs will somehow replace newspaper book reviews. During a recent visit with a local book club, a group of 16 well-read, highly intelligent women, I asked how many of them had recently read a book review on a blog. The answer was, nobody! Then I asked if any of them had EVER gone to a blog to read book reviews. Again, nobody. The average reader—the average person—just doesn’t do this yet. Maybe we read reviews on Amazon, but that’s it. Readers read book reviews because they happen upon them in the newspaper.

There you go. Just by visiting this blog and others like it, you are separating yourself from the average reader, nay, the average person. I’ve yet to hear anyone say that lit blogs will replace book reviews generated by the mainstream media. Why must this be a death match in which only one form of commentary emerges to rule victorious?
Things have gotten so ridiculous over at the NBCC blog that the webmistress had to post a note that says that the views expressed on the blog are not hers nor do they represent the NBCC. And then another post at the NBCC points to data that show, like it not, that newspaper readers are migrating to the online editions in record numbers. People are getting information from their electronic interweb page viewing machines.

ANYWAY…

There has been a lot of bemoaning of the death of the Atlanta literary scene, and the truth of the matter is that it has never seemed more vibrant than it does right now. Maybe I’m just paying better attention these days. In the last month or so we’ve seen some top notch authors coming to town. As I’ve mentioned, we just had Irvine Walsh in the hood (read about it here and here); Walter Isaacson read recently from his Einstein bioghraphy; and Dave Eggers and Valentino Achak Deng were also here, just to name a few.

Here are some upcoming events in the next eight days that you may want to mark on your calendar and come out to support:

• On Thursday May 24, Michael Chabon will be reading at the Barnes and Noble on Peachtree in Buckhead.
• On Monday May 28, Khaled Hosseini will be reading at Georgia Perimeter College from his new book A Thousand Splendid Suns.
• Then on Tuesday, May 29th, Marisha Pessl will be reading from Special Topics in Calamity Physics at the Decatur Library.

I promise not to post for at least a week on the topic of being outraged by the latest ill-informed commentary deriding lit blogs. Unless it is really offensive.

A huge high five to Heather of the music blog I Am Fuel. Not only did Heather review the book Love is a Mix Tape (she digs it), but she also put together a mix of songs from the playlists of the various mix tapes in the book. Free for your downloading pleasure.

Have a good weekend.

The San Francisco Chronicle – uh – chronicles a drunken celebrity spelling bee. By “celebrity” they mean authors and publishers that live in the Bay Area. Atlanta has hosted an annual Orthographic Meet for over 35 years. Drinks feature prominently. The event began at The Stein Club (RIP) and has migrated to Manuel’s Tavern. It is held in February, so there’s plenty of time to get your spelling prep on.

The NYT has the scoop that no one knows how to make a book become a best seller. The New York Sun follows up with how can’t miss best sellers sometimes do. (Both links via Book Ninja.) The Penguin Books blog joins the discussion with two posts on their take about predicting the future of books. The first post is a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes of the book business (that also mentions a book that they published. The second post talks about how to sell books in an interesting way when “word of mouth” travels faster than ever before.

I’ve been stunned by the expectations for Delillo’s new novel, Falling Man. Maureen Corrigan says that he failed “to deepen our understanding of September 11.” A Guardian review that applauds DeLillo’s “masterly way” of telling the story is actually a negative review. The Washington Post says, “there’s nothing to be learned from Falling Man about September 2001…”

The Guardian likes Chuck Palahniuk’s Rant.

No disrespect intended, but did you know that S.E. Hinton was still alive? Did you know that she received a publishing contract for The Outsiders on the day of her high school graduation? She also has a new book out, Some of Tim’s Stories, which is reviewed in the New York Times.

It had just about gotten to the point where I was continuing to support the NBCC’s Campaign to Save Book Reviews in spite of themselves. It seems a lot of the call to arms has been at the expense of sites like this. For example, last week the NBCC’s interviewed author Sheila Kohler. The author was asked if her books were ever discussed on blogs and how that discussion differed from print reviews. Says Kohler:

Occasionally someone may mention my books in a blog. I believe the dangers of this indiscriminate reporting on books is that people who have no knowledge of literature can air their views as though they were of value and may influence readers. Critics may not always be right, of course, but at least they have read and studied literature, the great books, and have some outside knowledge to refer to when critiquing our work.

Ms. Kohler, you need have no fear. We will never talk about any of your books here. Ever. You have our word on that. But really, why even frame the question that way? Luckily, someone at the NBCC thought to get author, blogger, and print book reviewer Mark Sarvas’ take on the whole thing. Finally, someone who gets it.

I read a review in the New York Times recently for a book that I had recently finished and loved, The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall (BGB’s review is coming soon). It is my deeply held belief that the review is the laziest and most dismissive review possible. It was written by someone who was paid to do so in the “paper of record” that appears to not have thought about the book very much at all. The problem here is that many papers, like the AJC, have stated that they will come to rely on syndicated reviews from the NYT (and others) to bolster their own reduced reviewing. So one guy’s half-assed review will now be reproduced in papers across the nation. As traditional print reviews become more monolithic, the varied and voices of the lit blog scene may turn out to be a needed corrective.

I picked up Brick Lane by Monica Ali accidentally.  That’s not entirely accurate.  I bought it on purpose, but for a mistaken reason.  I thought that I had read that Monica Ali was coming to read at the Decatur Library.  She was short-listed for the Booker, so the thinking was it should make for an interesting Brit Lit reading.  Plus, the book was priced to move – $0.45 used.  As it turns out, a book club was meeting at the library to discuss the book.  No Monica Ali.  It pays to actually read things and then take a moment to comprehend them.

So the book sat in my too be read stack until I had finished reading Londonstani.  It seemed like a perfect follow-up.  I used to be a very streaky reader.  I’d read five books about Russian pogroms, follow it up with three histories of early flight, read four books by French authors, and then mix it up with something else.  I’m glad that’s over with.  It turns out that I like my reading to be wider rather than deeper – if you follow me.  I wish that I had stuck that new game plan.

Although the books are different, Londonstani’s main characters were British-Indian men of Hindu/Sikh background – Brick Lane was principally the story of a female Muslim Bangladeshi immigrant to England,  some of their themes were basically the same.   Quite frankly, Brick Lane suffered from the direct comparison.

Where Londonstani was edgy and carried malice just beneath its surface throughout, Brick Lane was fairly tepid with supposed dangers that just never felt that immediate.  Londonstani crackled with life, while Brick Lane sort of limped along.  While Londonstani might aspire to be a South Asian Sopranos, Brick Lane read like a Bangladeshi All My Children.

So let’s recap.  Brick Lane – meh.

Another take: BGB’s Nitro reviewed the book almost exactly one year ago with different results.  It could be that Londonstani is a guy’s book and Brick Lane was more of a women’s story.  I don’t know.