The Book Pirate

Audrey Niffenegger. You might remember her from such books as The Time Traveler’s Wife or her latest Her Fearful Symmetry. I was super excited to learn that she would be visiting Powells and that she would be signing books. I remember reading TTTW a few years back and thought it was a fantastic blend of science-fiction and romance, a difficult balancing act on Niffenegger’s part. She recently released Her Fearful Symmetry which is so completely different from TTTW that it surprised me in a pleasant way. Second novels for authors are normally hit or miss because they are trying to be as good as their first one and consequently don’t take any risks.

At the signing she read from the chapter that talked about being a ghost and what they are capable of doing. After that she transitioned to the Q and A, the heart of any good book reading. The questions asked were good and Niffenegger answered them in ways gave us, the readers, a little insight in to what she was trying to accomplish with HFS. It’s a shame that books can’t include a bonus DVD that features a Making Of documentary that chronicles the writer as he/she writes the book. I think that would be awesome.

I should really get around to posting my thoughts on Her Fearful Symmetry shouldn’t I?

2010. 2010. 2010. What can I say about 2010? “Hello”?

I hope to be a more active blogger this year. I only reviewed 16 (that few?) books this year although I am sure that I have read many more then that. I’ll get better at posting, I swear.

Then there is the matter of The Book Parrot (aka Terry) who will also be posting about books on this site. Him and I have pretty similar tastes in books so it works out well and you may get two different takes on the same book.

I also updated all the links to other book blogs in the sidebar.

Anyway, Happy new year.

It was/is Wordstock this weekend. Wordstock being Portland’s big book festival. I volunteered again this year as a Stage Manager. Maybe they thought that because I Managed Stages last year that I was deserving of a promotion of sorts and put me in charge of the Powell’s Stage. I.e. the big stage. The most important stage. The one where if something goes wrong 400+ people will notice.

No worries, I thought. Worse comes to worse this sounds like the perfect situation for comedy.

In the end everything went find. I love hearing authors speak, but when they go over their allowed time and I need to get the stage ready for the next author but the current author is ignoring my hand signals announcing that they are out of time, then there is nothing I want more for them to shut up. I’m not going to name names, but come on!

Then there was James Ellroy. Apparently he is America’s greatest novelist and each book that he rights is better than his last. However, he was the one who told me this so I took it with a grain of salt. He reminded me of James Frey that one time I had the displeasure of going to his reading. People named James are bastards it seems.

It was fun. I think next year I may hold off on volunteering and just go for pleasure.

I’m conflicted.

I’ll be finishing Portland Noir within the next couple days I am not sure which book I want to start next. With And Another Thing… coming out soon, I feel compelled to re-read the entire Hitchhikers Guide series. I’ve already read them twice, but they are good enough to warrant a third reading. My “to-read” (for the first time) pile however still has books that I have been meaning to get around to since February. Do I go on re-reading books or should I read books I have not read yet? There just seems like so little time and so many books.

I feel re-reading books is a waste of time seeing how I have already read them. My reading time should be filled with filling my head with new stories and ideas instead of refreshing old ones. But Hitchhikers is a classic.

I just finished watching the British adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic. The film is based off of the first two books of the Discworld series which I have not read. One of the reason I have not touched the series is because it is currently 36 novels long. I DON’T HAVE THAT MUCH TIME! Geez. A 36 book series. I have also read Good Omens (with Neil Gaiman) but didn’t really care much for the book. Maybe I need to re-read it. Anyway, getting off topic here. I liked The Color of Magic and Tim Curry plays the bad guy which is awesome. I am now tempted to pick up the first book in the Discworld series.

Any fans of the Discworld books seen The Color of Magic and read the book? Did you like it?

Going to Reno today for an extended weekend. After much deliberation I decided to take Armistead Maupin’s Babycakes as well as Tin House’s The Writer’s Notebook: Craft Essays from Tin House.

Speaking of Tin House, I attended their 10th anniversary shindig and was treated to some quite awesome readings from Tin House Magazine contributes. My personal favorite reader was Steve Almond and his essay on Toto’s song Africa. Anyway, I need a nap before the flight.

James Frey.

I’m just saying. I don’t -hate- people that often. But it seems that in between stroking his own ego and being obnoxiously cocky that he got away with lying in a “memoir”, he has managed to secure a four book deal with Harper.

And now, for some links:
daydalus blog – Why I hate James Frey
Flavorwire – James Frey Is Addicted to Controversy
Bookpublishing – Because what’s funnier than deriding James Frey?
words for my enjoyment – Today’s Imaginary Conversation With James Frey
Gawker – James Frey Answers Your Gawker Intern Questions (with sass I might add)

I just got on of those new fangled iPhone 3GSs. Are there any book related Apps that I should know about?

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is still sitting on the NY Times bestseller list (currently at #5). I worry about what the popularity of this book will do to the book industry. In particular, I think that this book will spawn a number or “me too” books similar to what happened after The Da Vinci Code and every book seemed to be about a hidden code.

To beat people to the punch, I have come up with some ideas:

First, Pirates make everything better.

The Old Man and the Sea and Pirates would be the perfect pop culture/classic literature crossover. I haven’t read The Old Man and the Sea but judging from the title it’s about an old man and the sea. I imagine that the the old man could run in to pirates while on the sea and, I dunno, join them while learning valuable life lessons.

Second, Ninjas make an excellient additions to novels.

Again, haven’t read War and Peace. But War and Peace and Ninjas could depic the invasion of Russia by France who hire a ninja army who get fought off by the Russians while learning valuable life lessons.

Yes, this may be a good idea.

Today is Towel Day!

“Towel Day,” you ask. “What is that?”

Long short, Towel Day is an annual holiday created in memory of the late Douglas Adams, creator of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Here is what Adams had to say about towels:

A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta…wet it for use in hand-to-hand combat…wrap it around your head to ward off noxious fumes…any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the Galaxy, rough it … win through, and still know where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.
From The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams.