Quick Reads

Headache averted, for now

2009-11-16T16:57:00Z

Folks, I have looked around the Pittsburgh bookstores, made a few calls and, no, Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue" is not available here, as of today (Nov. 16). Not that I was disappointed.

Yet, without surprise, the NYTimes and WashPost got copies, did some quick page turning, and posted their reviews today. Their reviews indicated that Palin isn't about to replace Ayn Rand in the hearts of America's über conservatives as a writer and thinker.

A veteran bookseller explained that Pittsburgh isn't No. 1 on the publisher's distribution list, unlike Manhattan and D.C.

With those reviews and an eager electronic medium headed by Ms. O. Winfrey, the former Alaska governor will sell enough books to make back her $5 million advance.

Media Matters today systematically challenged a pile of statements by the former governor. No matter, the big sales are a sure thing.

Who let 'Going Rogue' out?

2009-11-13T00:24:00Z

Who's the source in New York for those "embargoed" books that are given to the media several days early? It never fails to occur. A publisher clamps the distribution lid on a hot new release, then a newspaper gets the book ahead of time and writes a story.
The latest is "Going Rogue," Sarah Palin's writer-assisted memoir, planned for release Nov. 17.Associated Press in New York said it "found and bought" a copy and wrote a story that hit the wires Thursday night.
I don't exactly know what to make of the fact that both the NYTimes and WashPost simply rewrote the AP story rather than scooping up a copy themselves, then leafing through it. They had to leaf because it doesn't have an index.
When you're out and about this weekend and spot "Going Rogue" at a store, say one that sells hunting licenses or a bigbox retailer, let me know at bhoover@post-gazette.com. I'm thinking a few store clerks may have "gone rogue" and put the book out for sale early.

The King of his domain or is even $9 too much for his books?

2009-10-23T16:25:00Z

Another widespread killing of trees has hit North America with the pending arrival of Stephen King’s latest, the 1,008 page novel, “Under the Dome.”
Mr. Supersize finds himself part of double-edged news burst as well. “Under the Dome” is at the center of a contested price war between Amazon,Wal-Mart and Target while at the same time, the novel’s transfer to digital for readers like Amazon’s Kindle will be delayed until the weighty tome floods stores.
Publisher Scribner said the digital version will be available Dec. 24 unlike Dan Brown’s hyped best-seller, “The Lost Symbol,” which was available simultaneously in both paper and on-line in September. The delay strategy is also followed by Sarah Palin’s ghostwritten campaign autobiography, “Going Rogue,” to be officially released Nov. 17 after she plays nice with Oprah.
The other side of the story are the plans of those discounters to sell surefire sellers for $9. King, Palin, James Patterson, Dean Koontz and JD Robb will also get the low-ball treatment.
Unhappy is the American Booksellers Association, trade rep for independent bookstores. It asked the U.S. Justice Department Oct. 22 to investigate trade war.
The booksellers association fears that such prices are “devaluing the very concept of the book” and make it impossible for smaller stores to compete, reported the Associated Press.

A night for Cave Canem poets at Wilson Center

2009-10-15T07:55:00Z

The spanking new August Wilson Center is bringing a lot to Downtown including a comfortable space for literary readings. Three poets, shown above from left, Terrance Hayes, Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon and Afaa Michael Weaver, all members of Cave Canem, the national forum for African-American poets, filled the second-floor space overlooking Liberty Avenue Oct. 14 with a lively display of styles and voices before a crowd of nearly 100.

First up was the new standard-bearer for the University of Pittsburgh Press, Van Clief-Stefanon, whose Pitt Poetry Series title, "Open Interval," was nominated for a National Book Award in poetry. She called her new book "a meditation on identity, freedom and space."

Her selections from that book were spare and lean like the poet, who teaches at Cornell University as well as the notorious Auburn State Prison in her Upstate New York neighborhood. Auburn is famed as the first jail with the electric chair, and is still a forboding place:

"At the prison at Auburn I corss the yard. Inmates whet tongues against my body: cement--sculpted--; poised for hate" is her description from the opening poem of the collection, "Bop: The North Star."

Pittsburgh audiences know Hayes, the Carnegie Mellon creative writing professor and author of several well-received poetry collections. He read from two of them "Wind in the Box" and "Lighthead."

The final reader was Weaver, a Baltimore poet and playwright who worked with the late Rob Penny, the Pittsburgh playwright, and is one of the "Elders" of Cave Canem. Co-founder Toi Derricotte, poet and Pitt professor, introduced the reading.

National Book Award finalist here Oct. 14

2009-10-14T19:37:00Z

Poet Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, who read Oct. 14 at the August Wilson Center for African-American Culture, was nominated that same day for a National Book Award in Poetry for her collection, “Open Interval.” She's a professor of English at Cornell University and was joined in the reading by poets Terrance Hayes of Carnegie Mellon University and Afaa Michael Weaver, director of the Zora Neale Hurston Literary Center in Boston.

Five nominees in fiction, nonfiction, children's literature and poetry were announced by National Book Foundation in New York. The winners will be announced Nov. 18.

Oh, the horror, the horror!

2009-10-02T12:20:00Z

A recent post on the PBC blog -- the one about the Pirates -- identifies Stewart O'Nan, recently returned Pittsburgh native, as a "horror" novelist, which is like describing the latest edition of the Buccos as a Major League team. O'Nan only pals around with horror novelists, most frequently Stephen King, who shared box seats with him at Fenway Park. Stew is a serious literary novelist whose last book, "Songs for the Missing," was published last year. Apologies to Mr.O'Nan.

George Orwell lives at G20 protests

2009-09-28T17:54:00Z

"Pittsburgh Police Chief Nate Harper tonight said David Japenga was taken into custody shortly after 11 p.m. Thursday after police witnessed him breaking businesses' windows during a protest along Forbes Avenue in Oakland.

Chief Harper said Mr. Japenga, who at first refused to give his name, then gave the false name of Eric Blair, broke more than 20 storefront windows and glass doors, including $20,000 worth of windows at Citizens Bank on Craig Street in Oakland. He was single-handedly responsible, Chief Harper said, for most of the $50,000 in damage done during summit protests." -- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sept. 26.

Eric Blair, eh? Maybe Japenga was making an ironic statement, easy to do around law enforcement officers not noted for their appreciation of irony.

Eric Blair is George Orwell's real name, He served in Britain's Imperial Police in Burma for five years during the 1920s until he became fed up with the political injustice of the job. His novel, "Burmese Days," tells the tale.

Get outta tahn!

2009-09-23T16:56:00Z

Tired of locked-down Pittsburgh? Get away to safe, secure Washington, D.C., this Saturday for the National Book Festival on the Mall in front of the Capitol Building.

It’s a daylong event of author readings, book signings and children’s activities sponsored by the Library of Congress. For the details.

Along with the fest, the LOC’s Center for the Book Saturday is launching Read.gov., a multimedia Web site tapping the library’s resources to highlight books, authors and illustrators.

Kids author Jon Scieszka has written the first episode of a new book for the occasion, "The Exquisite Corpse Adventure," illustrated by Chris Van Dusen.

Also adding chapters and are will be:

M.T. Anderson, Natalie Babbitt, Susan Cooper, Kate DiCamillo, Timothy Basil Ering, Nikki Grimes, Shannon Hale, Daniel Handler (a k a Lemony Snicket), Steven Kellogg, Megan McDonald, Gregory Maguire, Fred and Patricia McKissack, Linda Sue Park, Katherine Paterson and James Ransome.

Name a winner -- from a pile of winners

2009-09-22T22:05:00Z

The National Book Foundation, organizers of the National Book Awards, is hyping the prize ceremony in November by running a popularity contest. It's asking the public to name the best book among six finalists that were winners in the 60-year history of the awards.

Those six are:

"The Stories of John Cheever," Ralph Ellison’s "Invisible Man," William Faulkner’s "Collected Stories," "The Complete Stories" of Flannery O’Connor, Thomas Pynchon’s "Gravity Rainbow" and "The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty."

Tthrough Oct. 21, votes can be cast through its Web site. The winner will be announced Nov. 18, the day of the award ceremony in New York City.

New Brown book breaks records

2009-09-16T19:37:00Z

Sept. 15 brought a shot of cash for booksellers and publisher Doubleday, a Random House imprint , thanks to a monster response to Dan Brown's new cliffhanger, "The Lost Symbol." The publisher claimed more than 1 million copies were sold in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Reuters reported:

"The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown has broken all previous one day sales for adult fiction in the first 24 hours of its release at its retail stores and online at Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com). The company also said that the eBook edition of The Lost Symbol is now the number one title in its eBookstore."

Doubleday yesterday also ordered an extra 600.000 copies run off to meet demand.