Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever make it through all the books I want to read

 

Survey of book buying behavior

Some of the conclusions from this recent survey are:

• A "robust, hybrid (print and e-book) market will endure for many years."
• Predictions of 50% e-book penetration by 2014 are "highly inflated and ignore the persistence of consumer preferences for print."
• Predictions for the demise of 90% of bricks-and-mortar bookstores within 10 years are "grossly misleading."

And the Oscar Goes to...Books

According to Shelf Awareness, Four of the 10 best picture nominations for this year's Academy Awards, which will be presented February 27, are based on books. Adaptation has once again proven to be an Oscar-pleasing formula in the major categories:


The Social Network, based on The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal by Ben Mezrich, was nominated for best picture, best director (David Fincher), best actor (Jesse Eisenberg) and best adapted screenplay (Aaron Sorkin).


127 Hours, based on Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston, was nominated for best picture, best actor (James Franco) and best adapted screenplay (Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy).


True Grit, based on the novel by Charles Portis, was nominated for best picture, best director (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen), best actor (Jeff Bridges), best supporting actress (Hailee Steinfeld) and best adapted screenplay (the Coen brothers).


Winter's Bone, based on the novel by Daniel Woodrell, was nominated for best picture, best supporting actor (John Hawkes), best actress (Jennifer Lawrence) and best adapted screenplay (Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini).

What to do with your books after the Internet Apocalypse

Okay.  If this particular internet apocalypse occurs, I hope it's after I'm long gone.

"Don’t you eva interrupt me while I’m reading a book!"

Hypothetical iPod of literature's most interesting characters

Wanted to share this from Flavorwire.  If you've ever wondered what your favorite literary character might be listening to, here's the iPod list for Ender Wiggin, a fictional character from Orson Scott Card's science fiction story Ender's Game.  There is also a link at the end of this page to access Harry Potter's iPod list.  I can't wait to see Holden Caulfield's.

202nd Anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's birth

Mental Floss featured  5 Things you Didn't Know About Edgar Allan Poe , which included this delightful little video of Humpty Dumpty in the Style of Edgar Allan Poe.  I treasure my "Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe", and it occupies a prominent spot on my bookshelf.  He was such a wonderful writer, with such a tragic background.  Check it out.

Out with the Old, In With the New 'Young Hip Librarians'

Okay, I just had to share this with you good folks.  There is a group of young librarians out there who are busting stereotypes of the "typical librarian"--you know, the older lady with the bun and glasses who's shushing finger is always at the ready.  And I think that's great...I really do.  And I get the fact that younger people are more apt to ask for help from those that look more like them.  But the bottom line that you should care about is to have a librarian who knows her job, knows the culture, knows the hot book titles, and is passionate about that knowledge and sharing it.  I don't fit into the "young" category (though I've always dressed a little bit different than some), but I do think I fit into the latter category.  So, do I hear a shout out for the older hip librarians? Or do I have to dye my hair orange or buy a pair of boots, or...dare I say it...get a tattoo? 

Got No Friend Anyhow by Peggy Ehrhart

Peggy Ehrhart is a former college English professor who plays blues guitar and writes mysteries.  She has won awards for her fiction and belongs to the Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime.  Her first book in the Maxx Maxwell mystery series was "Sweet Man Gone", which I reviewed earlier.  This one is the second installment in that series. 


Maxx Maxwell's group, Maximum Blues, has produced a CD through an outfit called Prowling Rooster Records.  But just as the CD is nearly finished, the producer Rick Schneider (who happens to be Maxx's current love interest), disappears.  At first, it looks like he's gotten back together with an old girlfriend, singer-songwriter Brenda Honeycut. When Maxx searches for the CD in Rick's studio, she finds a framed album cover that has been knocked from the wall possibly in a scuffle, and something that really frightens her:  a pool of dried blood.  She manages to make it back to her apartment with the framed album cover (and with a rooster in tow that was the namesake for Prowling Rooster records), but the next day she winds up identifying Rick's body at the morgue.

   The cops believe Rick was pirating CDs and was murdered in a dispute over territory.  Believing that Rick could never do such a thing, Maxx is determined to find out the truth and clear his name by finding his real killer.  Her quest leads her to seek out several of Rick's business partners and she uncovers a secret that Rick had kept hidden from her.  She even manages to cross paths again with Sandy, the womanizing guitar player who broke her heart in the first book, who seems intent on winning her back.


I really enjoy this series of books, as books and music are my  two main passions in life.  Maxx, Ehrhart's main character, is an amateur sleuth with a bluesy wardrobe and a tender but tough attitude.  Her eccentric band mates and the descriptions of the musical scenes are entertaining and move the story pleasantly along. Ehrhart manages to keep readers guessing as the pages turn, with suspicion pointing towards several different characters.   This is a fast, easy, and pleasant read.  I look forward to reading more tales of Maxx Maxwell from the capable Ms. Ehrhart.     

Libraries of the rich and famous

Oprah's Library

Ten photos of famous book shelves, from Woody Allen to Oprah.  Even celebrities like to curl up with a good book.

Waxing Poetic

Artist Veronika Teuber transforms books into sculpture by coating them in beeswax.  Wall Street Journal

This artist articulates beautifully the many reasons to choose a physical book over any electronic version.

Sound Advice

Shine by Mark Heinz

One of the nice things about belonging to a book club is that you wind up reading some good books that you might not necessarily have picked up on your own.  One of the nice things about reviewing books on a book blog is that authors will send you their new books for review, and you'll find something enjoyable that you might not have been aware of otherwise.

Such is the case with Shine, Mark Heinz's new novel.  I first became aware of it by reading a quote about it Mark had made that was part of the bookclub@KET newsletter.  When Mark asked if I'd like to review it, I took him up on it.

The book has received some good reviews in the Louisville Courier Journal and the Bowling Green Daily News, and after reading it I can see why.  It is a very well written novel set in south central Kentucky where the author resides.

Joe Bass is a decent, respectable, middle class working man whose main recreation seems to be fishing.  His life is changed profoundly by a chance meeting with an old moonshiner, Edgar Johnson, who invites Joe to fish in his private lake.  The old man's lake is a fisherman's dream, full of fish to be had at the drop of a line, and a friendship develops between these two men despite their vastly different life experiences and backgrounds.

As Joe starts to get to know Edgar, he is at first offended by the way his in-laws judge the old man so harshly and warn him to keep his distance from the old reprobate.  But over time, he begins to see that Edgar has been less than truthful with him, that his lifetime habit of brewing and consuming moonshine has literally destroyed the old man from the inside out, and he starts to realize that Edgar's dysfunctional and manipulative family are trying to use him and his affection for the old man.

When Edgar becomes sick with cancer, Joe transports him to the VA hospital in Nashville and continues to try to be his friend despite clashing with the old man's drug addled daughter and sexually promiscuous granddaughter who steals Edgar's pain medication and falsely accuses Joe of trying to seduce her.

Heinz's strong characterization and ring-true dialogue as he explores this odd friendship is the strongest part of the book.  He knows these characters and their motivations and the juxtaposition of the good samaritan, Joe, and the irresponsible, abusive and leechlike family of the old man, who will not help themselves and tend to blame others for their misfortune makes this morality tale compelling reading.

This is a fine first novel, and I'm sure we'll be hearing more from Mark Heinz in the future.

The Guinea Pig Diaries by A. J. Jacobs

A. J. Jacobs is the editor at large at Esquire magazine.  He is a man on a mission.  He practices "participatory journalism"--which means that he feels that if you really want to learn about a topic, you should dive in and try to live that topic.  So his life has in essence become a series of "experiments" that he in turn writes about.

In 2004, he wrote a book called The Know-It-All, after he decided to read the Encyclopaedia Britannica from A to Z (all 44 million words of it, which took him about a year).  This was my first taste of A. J. and his writing, and quite frankly I was hooked and have loved him ever since.

In 2007, The Year of Living Biblically was published.  I loved this book as well.  He tried to follow every single rule in the Bible , as literally as possible.  As Jacobs himself said, "I tried not to covet, gossip, or lie for a year. I’m a journalist in New York. This was not easy."


This book is his latest, and chronicles several of his life experiments.  It contains some previously published experiments (including “My Outsourced Life,” Jacobs’ quest to delegate every task in his life to India). It also has new experiments -- including life-changing quests featuring George Washington’s rules of life, marital harmony/disharmony, multitasking, and Chaper Six, "The Truth About Nakedness".
This book is fearless, hilarious, and thought provoking.  Along with A.J.'s trademark humor, we actually receive a little insight.  Most women will love the chapter about the month he spent catering to his wife's every whim (the same wife that many of his readers have said for years is a saint).

He's now working on a book called The Healthiest Human Being in the World, as he tries to perfect his physical condition while simultaneously dissecting the meaning of the word “healthiest.”   I can't wait to read it.

9 Books About the 'Real' Santa Claus and the History of Christmas

The Huffington Post here paid tribute to the big fat guy in the red suit with the fluffy white beard. 

A City of Reading

The entertainment wave of the future

What could it be? The above picture is a hint.  But here's your answer.

Book Tower, Prague Municipal Library

Photo by Tom Young

Let's Bring Back: An encyclopedia of forgotten-yet-delightful, chic, useful, curious, and otherwise commendable things from times gone by...by Lesley M. M. Blume

This encyclopedia of nostalgia honors the timeless tradition of artful living.  It is based on the author's popular Huffington Post column of the same name and features entries from many contemporary icons like Nora Ephron and Arianna Huffington.  It celebrates hundreds of discarded or forgotten objects, pastimes, curiosities, recipes, words, architectural works, etc. from bygone eras that the author believes should be reintroduced today.

Blume warns us, lest we get the wrong idea, that this book is not about stopping the clock or extolling the virtues of simpler times.  Times have never been simple.  And it's not just about nostalgia for nostalgia's sake alone.  Looking back in the right way can help us to intelligently look forward as well.  It makes us preservation-minded, astute observers of contemporary culture and helps us evaluate what traditions, heirlooms, and elements of our own lifestyles and households we want to pass on to the next generation.  It makes us consider why we value an object or ritual one day and forsake it the next.

I love the humor inherent in her entries.  For example, DRAWBRIDGES AND MOATS, is one entry...followed by "For the privacy-minded homeowner:  These features are much more creative than the been-there-done-that two-story hedge."  Here's another one, LONG HAIR ON WOMEN OF ADVANCED YEARS "There seems to be a mandate that women must crop their hair into short, frumpola styles when they reach a certain age.  I'd hate to think that this was an implicit social commentary about older women losing their feminity and sensuality, requiring them to craft themselves into sexless objects.  My grandmother had waist-length hair for her entire adult life, and even in her nineties, she still wore it up in an elegant, dignified French twist; sometimes she'd cross two long braids over the crown of her head, or wind them into a bun at the base of her neck.  Nothing is more beautiful than torrents of silver or ghost-white hair; it reminds me of unicorn manes."

A fast, easy, and delightful read with passages that you will linger over.

Bookmans Does Book Dominoes

Alex & Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot Discovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence--and Formed a Deep Bond in the Process by Irene M. Pepperberg

"You be good.  I love you," were Alex's final words to his owner, Irene Pepperberg, before he died at age 31.  Alex was an Afridan Grey parrot with a brain the size of a shelled walnut, yet he could sound out words, understand concepts, and do other things comparable to human intelligence.  This book is the true account of an amazing parrot and his best friend who worked together for 30 years.

Dr. Pepperberg's training of Alex differed from accepted standards of the time.  Under the prevailing psychological dogma of the time, known as behaviorism, animals were seen as automatons, with little or no capacity for cognition, or thought.  It was claimed that much of animal behavior was innately programmed.  When you worked with animals, they were actually supposed to be starved to 80 percent of their body weight so they would be eager for the food given for a "correct" response.  They were also supposed to be placed in a box so that the appropriate "stimuli" could be very tightly controlled and their responses precisely monitored.  This technique was known as "operant conditioning".

This was contrary to all of Dr. Pepperberg's gut instincts.  She adopted instead a model/rival program of training having two trainers, trainer B being the "model" for the animal subject and its "rival" for the attention of trainer A.

In the process she taught all of us that animal minds are a great deal more like human minds than the vast majority of behavioral scientists believe.  They are far more than the mindless automatons that mainstream science held them to be for so long.  Alex taught us how little we know about animal minds and how much more there is to discover.  Clearly, animals know more than we think, and think a great deal more than we know.  Our vanity has blinded us to the true nature of minds, animal and human.

This is the story of a landmark scientific achievement and a beautiful relationship.

How Bad are Bananas?: The Carbon Footprint of Everything by Mike Berners-Lee

Just finished a class in "Human Ecology" that I found very intriguing.  Got me to thinking about a lot of environmental issues again.  Then I came across this book.  I think I'm going to add it to my Christmas wish list.  Here's the product description lifted from Amazon.  See if you might want to add it to your Christmas list.

"Is it more environmentally friendly to ride the bus or drive a hybrid car? In a public washroom, should you dry your hands with paper towel or use the air dryer? And how bad is it really to eat bananas shipped from South America?

Climate change is upon us whether we like it or not. Managing our carbon usage has become a part of everyday life and we have no choice but to live in a carbon-careful world. The seriousness of the challenge is getting stronger, demanding that we have a proper understanding of the carbon implications of our everyday lifestyle decisions. However most of us don't have sufficient understanding of carbon emissions to be able to engage in this intelligently.

Part green-lifestyle guide, part popular science, How Bad Are Bananas? is the first book to provide the information we need to make carbon-savvy purchases and informed lifestyle choices, and to build carbon considerations into our everyday thinking. It also helps put our decisions into perspective with entries for the big things (the World Cup, volcanic eruptions, and the Iraq war) as well as the small (email, ironing a shirt, a glass of beer). And it covers the range from birth (the carbon footprint of having a child) to death (the carbon impact of cremation). Packed full of surprises-a plastic bag has the smallest footprint of any item listed, while a block of cheese is bad news-the book continuously informs, delights, and engages the reader.
Highly accessible and entertaining, solidly researched and referenced, packed full of easily digestible figures, catchy statistics, and informative charts and graphs, How Bad Are Bananas? is doesn't tell people what to do, but it will raise awareness, encourage discussion, and help people to make up their own minds based on their own priorities. "