02.18.10
This is My New Favorite Commercial
Saw it during the Olympics last night, and Scott and I about died laughing.
02.03.10
And My Respect for Steve Jobs Just Tanked
In a New York Times article from awhile back (like May), Steve Jobs said in regards to the Kindle:
It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore. Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.
I didn’t realize that I didn’t read anymore. But now I’ve been reading about the iPad (and I’m really going to resist commenting on the name, other than this aside in which I remind everyone that the name is infinitely commentable) and the pricing wars between Amazon and Mcmillan, and have decided that the modern world of book publishing, particularly in regards to the e-book market, is all fascinating and somewhat confusing and frustrating.
I own a Kindle. I love it muchly; it’s easy to use, carries more books than even I can read on vacation, is lightweight and very portable, and I was shocked by how much I just didn’t miss trying to read paper books in which the type was so close to the spine I had to practically rebreak the cover every time I turned a page. If, on the Kindle, I could organize my books into digital bookshelves (like I do at home – I have my own whacked out system that they will not come up with on their own), loan the books to friends, flip to other pages easily, and see the covers (and no, Nook’s “if I squint I can almost tell what that is” inch tall cover display doesn’t count), it would be perfect. Oh, and if I didn’t have this sense of impending doom that eventually I won’t be using a Kindle anymore (either because of tech envy or Kindle just goes the way of the 8track) and I will have lost a few hundred books that can only be read on an obsolete device. But, in the meantime, my bookshelves are staying at a comfortably groaning stasis, which makes my marriage a far better place to be. So the Kindle will stay.
Who knew? Technology and literature together make a powder keg. Oh. Wait. They always have by themselves; why would conjoining them make a difference?
01.20.10
Soulless – I am reading a fabulous book
I’m about half way through, and haven’t had this much fun reading in… well, in many many novels. Example line that made me put the book down I was laughing so hard:
“He tore his eyes away from the tops of those remarkable breasts of hers and tried to think unpleasant thoughts of particularly horrible things, like overcooked vegetables and cut-rate wine.”
See? You can’t not laugh. Or, at least you can’t if you think Victorian England, gastronomy, dry humor, and urban fantasy are some of life’s greatest wonders… but didn’t think you’d ever get them in one book. And since those are four of my favorite things, it was like Ms Carriger wrote this book for me.
It’s fabulous! Go buy this book! You need it!
12.13.09
Fabulous Book!
I just finished Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, and WOW it was fabulous. Really likable characters, beautifully done southern gothic setting, cool mythology that actually makes sense (that’s one issue I sometimes take with urban fantasy and paranormal, when it’s like… in what universe does this set of rules make even vague sense?), and a message about conformity and love that’s just awesome (without banging you over the head too much).
Read this book!
In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything…
Before his sophomore year of high school, Ethan Wate thought life in Gatlin County was life on repeat: same people doing the same things, winning the same awards, making the same speeches about southern pride. Except this year he’s facing it without his parents; his mother’s death from a car accident last year sent his father into his office and his writing, never to emerge for normal conversation again.
But all summer, Ethan’s been having dreams about a girl, falling, love… and the inability to hold on to her long enough to prevent a disaster.
Some loves are meant to be… others are cursed. There were no surprises in Gatlin County. At least, that’s what I thought. Turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong. There was a curse. There was a girl. And in the end, there was a grave.Now it’s on to my first Eloisa James novel. Been meaning to check her out for awhile now, and getting A Duke of Her Own at ARWA’s annual holiday white elephant book exchange gave me the kick in the pants (…or book that I needed…) to do just that!
12.04.09
I probably shouldn’t admit it, but…
… I haven’t heard of any of these. That’s the New York Times’ list of the best books of 2009. And to reiterate, I didn’t say I haven’t read them. I said I haven’t heard of them. Any of them. And I’m hoping to become a published writer one day. They haven’ t been on Amazon anywhere where I can find them (including the Kindle bestseller list that I regularly stalk) or the front page (which admittedly for me is a lot more likely to have the latest Kim Harrison or Jim Butcher), or even the New York Times book review email, which I read about half the time. Where do you find these books?
Three of them at least look interesting to me and my tastes.
You know, I like artsy plays. I can go and two hours later come out, maybe a little more somber, but feeling enlightened. Laramie Project, Doubt, Wit… I LOVE these. But books are such an investment of my time… if I’m going to “educate” myself, I guess I’d rather read Edith Wharton or Charles Dickens or D. H. Lawrence, or, heck, finally finish Ulysses (I’m like 2 chapters from the end… gonna… make it… one day….).
At least from what I’ve read (and, granted, I need to read more modern literary novels, so I will admit that this is an uneducated standpoint given from a small sample), to be literary the writing can have very little joy (’cause quality can’t be tainted by happy?) and has to be very much what I would call “masculine”: spare, emotionally distanced, grisly details that you see as if watching on camera, with these characters who are so flawed and/or twisted that I can’t figure out if I’m supposed to root for them or condemn them. And frequently it feels to me like the story takes second place to the prose itself, and I don’t understand why. I mean, pretty writing is nice, but I think substance is every bit as important as shell. I’d rather have friends who are caring and joyful who help me be a better me than friends who know how to dress and get their makeup right every time. (Not that there’s anything wrong with well dressed and getting your makeup right every time. My sister is an absolutely fabulous example of substance meets style – on a budget, even. She amazes and shames me.)
I have this feeling that if I tried hard enough, I would change and understand what the literati have been trying to tell me for years. I also have this feeling that if I read more modern literature it would probably help my writing. So I should read more literature. Maybe I should grab those three books that sounded interesting and give ‘em a go. Maybe I will.
But I have 84 books on my Kindle that I haven’t read yet, ranging from Sun Tzu to Nalini Singh, and I can’t quite figure out when I became uneducated because I’d rather finish my Jane Austen collection than read a book about a “turbulent life — marred by alcoholism, financial turmoil and family discord” or prose that has “quiet restraint and calm precision” (quotes from NYT reviews on the link above).
Am I doomed? Anybody got a painless way to break into the world of modern literature for someone who prefers F. Scott Fitzgerald to Hemingway and spends her time bouncing back and forth between Victorian literature and Kresley Cole?