We Need More Shelves...

Just a quick link to Abbeville Manuel of Style blog, where they have had a feature called "Editing the Classics." The challenge is to whittle away at a famous passage while still keeping the foundation intact, of course. Very enjoyable for minimalists like me, I have to admit. Here is the Gettysburg Address entry, which I happened to win. I hope they keep this going, it's great fun.

Booking Through Thursday: July 23, 2009

Which do you prefer? (Quick answers–we’ll do more detail at some later date)

• Reading something frivolous? Or something serious? Actually, either. See my previous entry.

• Paperbacks? Or hardcovers? Definitely paperbacks. I read a lot in bed and the hardcovers are just to large and clumsy. Plus, they are much more difficult to trade later on.

• Fiction? Or Nonfiction? Both. My family loves history.

• Poetry? Or Prose? Prose. Not much poetry, although we do like the old-fashioned, rhyming kind with actual rhythm...

• Biographies? Or Autobiographies? Biographies

• History? Or Historical Fiction? Both, in large quantities

• Series? Or Stand-alones? I love series, although there are several which have gone on too long (Lilian Jackson Braun's "The Cat Who..."), versus those who were too short (Kate Ross's 'Julian Kestrel'). Ahh, the vagaries of the reader.

• Classics? Or best-sellers? Classics (again, see my previous post)

• Lurid, fruity prose? Or straight-forward, basic prose? The latter, although I have to admit to admiring the obsessiveness of the Regency Austin and the Gothic Poe, as well.

• Plots? Or Stream-of-Consciousness? PLOTS, please!

• Long books? Or Short? Either

• Illustrated? Or Non-illustrated? Both

• Borrowed? Or Owned? Owned (that's why we need more shelves...)

• New? Or Used? We have many of both.

Is it just me, or are the subjects of books more depressing than ever these days? As examples, listed below are the descriptions -- from the publishers -- for some of the Early Reviewer books from LibraryThing for August 2009. These books will be released either at the end of the month or soon after.

"...Leaford, Ontario — home of Rose and Ruby Darlen, the sorrowing parents of Larry Merkel, and not far from Rusholme where Addy Shadd once looked after an abandoned child — love and grief combine to awaken an obese woman from her loneliness. When her husband doesn’t come home on the eve of their 25th wedding anniversary, Mary Gooch, who has never learned to be self-sufficient, sets out on a truly remarkable journey of self-discovery that takes her first to the big city and then to another country."

"...a haunting tale of love and tragedy. Marly is a young woman struggling to deal with her emotions and depression in a small, grey town. She longs to be anywhere else, retreating into daytime tv and her idyllic childhood dream-world of horses and white cottages by the sea. For her devoted fiancée David, this means a life of hard work, supporting the love of his life financially and emotionally. But as Marly begins to find her feet in reality and hope for a brighter future, time may be running out for David."

"In this inventive collection of stories, Chris Adrian treads the terrain of human suffering—illness, regret, mourning, sympathy—in the most unusual ways. A bereaved twin starts a friendship with a homicidal fifth grader in the hope that she can somehow lead him back to his dead brother. A boy tries to contact the spirit of his dead father and finds himself talking to the Devil instead. A ne'er-do-well pediatrician returns home to take care of his dying father, all the while under the scrutiny of an easily-disappointed heavenly agent. With A Better Angel's cast of living and dead characters, at once otherworldly and painfully human, Adrian has created a haunting work of spectral beauty and wit."

"The definitive history of the self-destructive lives—and tragic deaths—of rock and roll’s greatest icons: Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, John Lennon, Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain, and Jerry Garcia. The Rock & Roll Book of the Dead show there’s more hell than heaven in real stardom. Drawing on extensive research and groundbreaking details of these icons’ deaths, David Comfort’s exposé sheds new light on the tragic price of fame. Each chapter traces one of these seven artists’ lives, from their childhood traumas to their fatal attractions, and shows how much they had in common, as if cast in the same essential mythic legend."

"Her body was found in a Dumpster. But one look at the victim told Hart and Tain that this would be no ordinary investigation. There were details eerily similar to the first case that they had worked on together, a search for a terrifying murderer called the Missing Killer. And when they saw the victim’s face they realized something else—this woman was the only one to escape the Missing Killer with her life. But Hart, Tain and Nolan solved that case almost two years ago. The killer is dead. Isn’t he? Is someone out to finish what the Missing Killer started? Or did they get the wrong man?"

Now, honestly, do you REALLY want to read any of these? I actually had a difficult time finding any on the entire page of 64 books -- with the exception of children's books -- that were upbeat and positive. Amoung the vampire, murder, Holocaust, and teen pregnancy stories, there were a few shining examples of optimism: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba (HarperCollins), Nappily In Bloom by Trisha R. Thomas (St. Martin's Griffin), and especially Beauty Pearls for Chemo Girls by Marybeth Maida and Debbie Kiederer (Citadel Press), a beauty book for chemotherapy patients, which I suppose could be considered the epitome of optimism.

I realize that human nature wires us to be entertained by the macabre, but I also like to be reminded of the beauty in the world and the happiness in life, and even to escape to other places and times. Not that my own life is miserable, by any means, but why focus on the negative all the time?

I'm not hiding my head in the sand, either. I agree that it's important to be aware of current events and human faults. As a history fan, I realize not all stories have happy endings, and although I despair of people (in general) ever learning from their past, I still have hope.

My eclectic taste in books is proof of my vast interest in life. But new books are concentrating on the dark side a little too much for me.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Mark Twain

From iheartmonster's recent "You're The Expert" feature:

Have you ever...

--judged a book by its cover?

--misjudged a book by its cover?

--passed over a book solely because the cover didn't look interesting?

--bought a book because of its cover?

--been drawn to a book because of its cover?

--seen a book whose cover has nothing to do with the story?

--spotted a cover from across the store and picked up a book you wouldn't have if you wouldn't have spotted that cover?

--hated the font of the book title?

A resounding YES to all of the questions!

Just as we judge people by their looks, we judge books by their covers. I think one reason is that there are simply too many of them out there! We must have some way of eliminating a portion of them before we make decisions. Haven't you ever felt overwhelmed in a bookstore? Instant attention-deficit for me, and that's usually after having entered for a specific reason...

I've read that authors sometimes have little control over the cover design of their own books. Knowing how I feel about covers, I think I would include a "cover-control" clause in my contract before signing with a publisher. Sounds good, anyway.

Since I also like old books, most of which do not have a sleeve and are simply bound in cloth, the cover question is doubly interesting. Obviously, these covers have little to do with my decisions; everything rests on the contents. Why, then, do I pay attention to covers of new book?

I tend to look for specific genres, which helps a great deal when facing the fiction section, for instance, since I'm interested in historical fiction more than contemporary. Covers with "antique" or "vintage" looks will definitely catch my eye, and fine art, rich colors and old-fashioned typefaces are always a draw.

I am definitely drawn to certain publishers and imprints, as well. Penguin's distinctive spine on trade paperbacks is a definite attraction because I've enjoyed so many of them before.

Example: "Ex-Libris" by Ross King; cover design by Terry Alan Rohrbach

In the mystery genre, Berkley Prime Crime covers seem to do well at representing the content.

Example: "Her Royal Spyness" by Rhys Bowen; cover art by Laurence Whitley; cover design by Rita Frangie

I was not a literary major, as anyone who is reading this might gather. I have not had the privilege of a traditional classical education. I am widely read and have loads of life experience, but that doesn't make for sophisticated narrative.

My training was exactly the opposite, actually. I was an interpreter, reporter and editor for the Department of Defense. Hence, embellishment was punishable by death. Or, at least it felt that way. The facts and only the facts; no exaggeration, no decoration, no expansion of any kind. The use of the correct conjunction, verb and adverb was crucial: possibly and probably took on real meaning for me, for example.

So, when I write, it is usually in the simplest form possible.

Technical writing is, in a way, the art of winnowing down a concept (complex or not) to its least common denominators, and making those as clear as possible to the particular audience. I write that way and always will. I will never sound like an erudite intellectual, it's just not gonna happen.

There's a place for me, too. I'll just have to choose my audience wisely.

I am learning how to use Twitter. Yes, it sounds like it should take about 2 minutes, I know. But there are subtleties there which take some time to understand, as in so much of our use of technology. Since my life is so full of excitement (sarcasm), I was having a difficult time deciding what to tweet about on a regular basis. So I decided to write a story and post it on Twitter, one sentence at a time.

I jokingly called it my "novel," and so sprang the name "Twovel," combining the show and the venue. As an experiment, I have already learned that I will have to tag my entries to distinguish them from 'normal' tweets, which makes perfect sense. Tag=#Twovel, as per Twitterspeak.

Follow me, oh guileless tweeter, and I will lead you down the road to poor dialogue and mindless description. But oh, what we'll learn together!

mcfitzsatx on Twitter

Booking Through Thursday of February 26, 2009: Collectibles
Hardcover? Or paperback?
Illustrations? Or just text?
First editions? Or you don’t care?
Signed by the author? Or not?

I am definitely a reader, not a collector. I much prefer paperbacks and buy many of them used. For some of my favorite series, I will buy new but will still wait for the paperback version to be released. Most of the historical mysteries, fantasies and thrillers don't include illustrations, of course, other than their covers.

I do like to have a matching series of books from the same publisher if possible, but that's not always practical, especially when I'm buying the books from different sources at different times. My favorites sources for books include Half Price Book stores and Amazon Marketplace (where you can buy new and used books from many stores on Amazon.com).

The problem is, if I really enjoy a book and think I will reread it again, I will keep it instead of recycle it. That's where the shelf-space problem arises. Since our house is too small and crowded to keep our already-ridiculous collection of books, many of them are stored in the attic, waiting for the wonderful solution.

As far as first editions and autographs, I'll leave those for the true collectors.