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We Want to Read Archives
Last night, I stayed out very late. Although exhausted when I returned home, I perked up as I saw the gigantic box from barnesandnoble.com on my doorstep. Two days ago, I happily spent my AuthorStore's 2006 Best Little Christmas Story Contest prize and the shipment took only 24 hours to arrive.
It being 3 a.m. when I hauled in the box and I being one who enjoys lasting suspense, I didn't immediately rip through the carton. It sat on the dining table until this morning when I could devote myself entirely to unveiling each book, contemplating covers, and thumbing through pages.
Although $50 doesn't go very far in a bookstore these days, I managed to acquire 17 titles due to my rabid love of bargain hunting. The order, including shipping and tax, totaled $54.47. Here's what I got along with a random sentence from the back cover blurb:
- Boy Still Missing by John Searles.
 "Instantly in lust, he begins a forbidden relationship with this beautiful, mysterious woman." [Note: This book is the only one not included in the box. It will be shipped later from another warehouse.]
- The Man in My Basement by Walter Mosley.
 "But Charles's fortunes take an odd turn when a stranger offers nearly $50,000 to rent out Charles's basement—and soon, as the boarder transforms the basement into a prison cell, Charles finds himself drawn into circumstances almost unimaginably bizarre and profoundly unsettling."
- Sideways by Rex Pickett.
 "Sideways is the story of two friends at a crossroads in their lives, going off for the last time to steep themselves in everything that makes it good to be young, male, and single: Pinot, putting, and prowling bars."
- Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin.
 "It startled critics, stunned readers with its unique and deceptively calm voice, and caused a worldwide sensation."
- Everyday People by Stewart O'Nan.
 "Centering around Chris "Crest" Tolbert—an eighteen-year-old left paralyzed and haunted by the loss of his best friend after a recent accident—the novel weaves together the lives of friends and family, lovers and strangers, into a rich tapestry of emotions, memories, and dreams."
- The Book Against God by James Wood.
 "In despair over his failed academic career and failing marriage, Bunting is also enraged to the point of near lunacy by his parents' religiousness."
- The Time of Our Singing by Richard Powers.
 "'Maybe the only writer working...who can render the intricate dazzle of it all.'" —Sven Birkerts, Esquire.
- Little Children by Tom Perrotta.
 "And there's Sarah, a lapsed feminist surprised to find she's become a typical wife in a traditional marriage, and her husband, Richard, who is becoming more and more involved with an Internet fantasy life than with his own wife and child."
- The Little Friend by Donna Tartt.
 "Acclaim for The Secret History." [Note: Hmm. I loved Tartt's debut, but it makes me nervous that there's nothing on this book's back cover about itself.]
- Garden State by Rick Moody.
 "They are out of school, trying to start a band, trying to find work—looking for something to do in the degraded terrain of their suburban hometown."
- My Little Blue Dress by Bruno Maddox.
 "And it unravels into a multitude of extremely amusing, searingly beautiful strands that eventually lead her, and a troubled young man who befriends her, through the well-upholstered hellholes of modern Manhattan toward a heartrending and hugely satisfying climax that will almost literally blow your socks off." [Note: Who wrote this sentence and why did the publisher allow it to get printed on the book? I have a feeling my socks are not going to be blown off. Literally.]
- Breaking Her Fall by Stephen Goodwin.
 "But his interrogation of the teenage boys still present doesn't end until one of them crashes into a glass tabletop."
- The Spinning Man by George Harrar.
 "Then, one afternoon, he's pulled over by police, handcuffed, and questioned about the disappearance of a local high school cheerleader."
- Mystic River by Dennis Lehane.
 "His investigation brings him into conflict with Jimmy, who finds his old criminal impulses tempt him to solve the crime with brutal justice." [Note: I saw and didn't like the movie. However, I'm hoping it was due to over-acting by Sean Penn, which has ruined many films for me, rather than bad writing from the book.]
- More Than You Know by Beth Gutcheon.
 "Hannah has decided, finally, to leave a record of the passionate and anguished long-ago summer in Dundee when she met Conary Crocker, the town's bad boy and love of her life."
- Evidence of Things Unseen by Marianne Wiggins.
 "When Flash's appetite for pleasure implicates the couple in his lawlessness, Fos and Opal seek refuge on Opal's inherited farm on the Clinch River."
- Seven Types of Ambiguity by Elliot Pearlman.
 "Perlman has divided his kaleidoscopic opus into seven sections, each with a new narrator who simultaneously moves the juicy story forward and radically alters everything we've understood so far...a shifting body of rich, ambiguous evidence that forces us to continually assess and reassess, much as we do in life."
I realize that the links all point to Amazon rather than B&N, but I'm not a B&N affiliate and Amazon has better product information and more reviews.
Time to figure out what to read next. Many thanks to Jamie of AuthorStore for hours and hours of entertainment!
Today is Friday the 13th of the scariest month of the year, which aptly marks the release of the 13th book in A Series of Unfortunate Events. Although titled The End (Oh, Snicket, you rogue! No alliteration for the last book?), I strongly suspect that this will not be the last we hear of the Baudelaire orphans (Or is it? Could the abrupt flatness of the title mean it really is the end?). After all, there are paperbacks to release and promote. I'm still not over the fact that some of the books are already available in paperback for $3.99 to the school market, so I'm curious to find out what the pricing will be when mass market editions hit bookstores.
When I was teaching, I read the first 12 books during an informal competition with a student to see who could get to the end of The Penultimate Peril first. I beat the kid, but it wasn't a fair fight. I bought them from Scholastic for my classroom and didn't release each one to our library until I finished it. And then he had to contend with the rest of the class over who would actually get the book. He did ultimately read them all, but had to resort to going through a few of them twice while waiting for the next. Unfair or not, at least the competition generated some buzz over reading.
Even as an adult, I thoroughly enjoyed the Lemony Snicket books. From a marketing standpoint, the back cover blurbs are the best I've ever seen and the next-in-series teasers creatively generate anticipation for future books. They're fast-paced and easy to read, which was also noted by my former fourth graders, and you have to be pleased at kid's sense of accomplishment that comes with finishing 300+ pages. I especially liked the digressions on vocabulary and idiomatic expressions which subtly teach irony and wordplay in a fun way.
If you haven't read the first 12 books or need a refresher before tackling the 13th, here's a link to a Tim Curry narrated video, 12 Books in 120 Seconds. Other trailers and information about the series can be found at lemonysnicket.com.
Addendum: Via Bookninja (Who cares about the Nobel, indeed! We will soon find out the identity of Beatrice.), here's a link to The New York Times article about the release, which includes a few tantalizing details.
I'm probably just being lazy here, but does anyone know when Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is going to be released in the U.S. in paperback?
It seems like everyone on the planet has read this book and I'd like to as well, but I refuse to buy hardcover books because they're too heavy to carry around. I could probably get my hands on the U.K. paperback, but shipping costs would make it more expensive than the U.S. hardcover. If I dug hard enough, I could also probably find a U.S. paperback book club version. But why should I have to dig when a paperback ought to be available? Seriously, The Da Vinci Code has been out since early 2003. It's time for a new format, and I?m not talking about the even more expensive hardcover special illustrated edition .
This reminds me of my quest to find the Lemony Snicket books in paperback and makes me think the publisher wants to squeeze as much money out of the reader as possible. Of course, it all boils down to supply and demand. Why would a publisher bother to release a paperback when the hardcover still sells well? Because they should, damn it. I want one.
Update: The U.S. paperback will be released on 03/28/06. Thanks to Brian at Bookland in Keene, NH, for the tip.
Here's something about publishing that really gets under my skin.
Before becoming a teacher, I worked for an educational book publisher. I realize that I made a backwards career move since a lot of teachers go into educational publishing in order to make more money. However, the money isn't all that much better and most publishers have scummy ethics.
Anyway, I read a lot of children's books. When I'm finished, I either put the book in my classroom library for my students or give it to an upper grade teacher if it's too difficult. Each year, my school has a week-long book fair at which parents, students, and teachers can purchase books at a discount. I've wanted to read the Lemony Snicket books , so I bought one of each volume available at the fair because they were fairly cheap:
My copies of the above are all paperbacks.
Children's series books are usually designed so that you can read any volume without having to start at the very beginning. For example, every single Magic Tree House book includes an opening explanation of who Jack & Annie are and what the deal is with the tree house. A Series of Unfortunate Events, like Harry Potter, doesn't include background information. As a result, I want to read The Bad Beginning (Book 1) before starting in on the rest.
Yesterday, I went to Barnes & Noble to pick up the first book. They only had hardcover books so I asked a clerk if they had any paperbacks. He said that they weren't available in paperback. I begged to differ since I had four paperbacks at home. I left without The Bad Beginning after spending $70 on five other books including next month's selection. Sure, I could have plunked down the extra $9 (after my educator's discount) for the hardcover, but it was the principle. I should be able to buy a full-priced paperback for $5.
Upon closer inspection of my paperbacks, I noticed a note on the back cover: "This edition is only available for distribution through the school market." I went to the publisher's web site and ordered The Bad Beginning in paperback and the rest of the titles I'm missing. But, I was a little put off by the fact that they don't have The Austere Academy (Book 5) . They also won't ship my order anywhere except school, as a means of making sure I'm part of the "school market."
So, long story short: Anyone should be able to walk into a bookstore and buy a $5 paperback when one's been printed. However, the book industry would rather sell a $12 hardcover and run away with your $6.
I hate getting ripped off.
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