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The Beau-na Fide Bird’s-Eye View
There is a lot going on in the world today. The first day of the 2011 school year, National Read a Book Day, Freddie Mercury’s sixty-fifth birthday, Princess Diana’s funeral was fourteen years ago, Magellan circumnavigated the world back in 1522, and back in 1958, comedian and published author Jeff Foxworthy was born.
What does this all mean? National Read a Book Day is perfect for today. The US Open’s day and evening sessions were canceled because of unwavering rainfall, and picking up a good read is exactly what most players and fans will now do as a way of staying warm, dry, and relaxed in recovering from the splendid Labor Day Weekend.
As for the Queen musician, Google created a cartoon montage of Freddie Mercury’s iconic look accompanied with a song, and as a whole, it has a Peter Gabriel-meets-Yellow Submarine feel. Quite catchy and brilliant, actually. Magellan and Princess Diana, though she was of Wales and he was traveling for Spain, both need no explanation, just simply notoriety that today they were bittersweetly a part of history.
As for Jeff Foxworthy, who is known for his blue-collar comedy, has turned a new leaf by publishing his latest book with us, “Hide!!!”, a hide-and-seek children’s adventure! This book is a perfect interactive read for parents and children, or a group of young readers to enjoy together. Foxworthy’s light-heartedness truly captures the interest of all who explore it.
Beyond the bird’s eye view of today, many New Yorkers, New Englanders, and Americans know what is coming up: the ten-year anniversary of 9/11. As towns finalize their memorials, newspapers and publishers prepare to relive that day in remembrance for those whose lives were forever changed on that picturesque Tuesday morning.
BEAUnhomie: YA Fiction
A few weeks back, Wall Street Journal children’s book reviewer Meghan Cox Gourdon published a controversial article lamenting the “explicit abuse, violence, and depravity” rife in today’s young adult fiction. The topic quickly generated a lot of buzz on Twitter and immediately drew criticism from media outlets, YA authors, and the ALA. Yet with all of the outcry from true-blue adults, I felt that it might be time for a young adult voice to chime in. (Though obviously I’m not the first — I myself only stumbled upon the issue when reading a friend’s blog post, from where she is interning at a conservative news site.)
Articles like Gourdon’s tend to surface a few times a year, all with a certain fundamental problem: most of their writers seem to have totally forgotten what it was like to be a young reader. In fact, I suspect that they forgot what it was like to be a young adult. Their criticisms of modern fiction for being too dark or too sad, and their passionate defense of their children’s “happiness, moral development and tenderness of heart,” originates from idealized visions of youth. True, I’m not really old enough to have earned much nostalgia, but I have found that nostalgia tends to cloud memory more than clarify it. In falling prey to nostalgia, many have glossed over the reality of growing up: the curiosity and confusion, the exploration and missteps. It would be a very strange and sanitized childhood that had absolutely no contact with death, or depression, or pain, or sex. YA literature, as with all literature, provides a means of understanding that.
Adolescence requires darker and more complex literature than what many adults seem to expect. But the darkness in YA lit is not just craven, opportunistic reactiveness. It provides a way out. Though Gourdon is right to say that entertainment shapes taste, she forgets the other half of the equation: when need creates a space that art is called to fill. The “moral development” that she calls for is admirable, but what does morality even mean when there are no stakes? Can there really be redemption without trauma or fallenness? There’s a much stronger, brighter moral vision to be found in Harry Potter than there ever is in Nancy Drew. And Ponyboy’s promise to “stay gold” can only inspire readers after they’ve witnessed how difficult it is for him to do so.
There is no doubt that there is good and bad YA fiction. In response to Gourdon’s article, many have called for a kind of “ratings system” that would alert parents to mature themes or objectionable material. The rationale is that if such a system is in place for video games or films, there should be one for literature. However, I think that this system would be profoundly unhelpful as a filter, and would in fact impede the reading experience. Gourdon bristles at being called a “f—ing gatekeeper,” retorting that she calls it “judgment,” “taste,” or “parenting.” All three of these things are good. Gates, even, are good. But none of these are substitutes for guidance, for actual reading, for actually determining quality. It’s downright silly to boil “appropriateness” down to a calculus of nudity and blood. Ratings systems are inherently ham-handed; they don’t account for good writing or good storytelling, and they have no idea what to do with “thematic material.” They would be very poorly-conceived gates.
And as someone who is on the uncertain cusp of young adulthood and adulthood, I would like to advocate for a certain level of inappropriateness. I was always a fairly avid reader; I’m not sure a single school year went by, from kindergarten through senior year, without my being lectured by a teacher for reading a novel under my desk. Reading at inappropriate times characterized my childhood, and reading at inappropriate ages did too. I found that I reacted in three ways to these “above grade-level” books. First, I would put it down, because my total incomprehension made for a very boring reading experience. Second, I would put it down, due to lesser grade of confusion, colored sometimes by shock. Third, I would keep on reading, and learn something valuable from it. Those jolts of discovery are part of reading. They’re part of growing up.
Moreover, I would argue that young people who pick up books with serious themes are young adults who want to be Serious, and they are generally preferable to people who exclusively read about sunshine, just as they are preferable to people who only listen to the Jonas Brothers and Taylor Swift. (But that’s another beef for another time.) Kids who truly love to read never take kindly to being limited. Their natural inquisitiveness will lead them wherever it will.
That doesn’t mean that kids shouldn’t have any guidance at all. My reading tastes were and continue to be shaped by the recommendations of perceptive, intelligent, well-read adults. So I applaud Gourdon’s decision to provide a list of quality YA fiction. I would, however, argue with some of her selections. I did not care at all for Angelmonster, and thought Ophelia was extremely silly. (Also, why settle for these fanfictions when you can read the actual Frankenstein and Hamlet?)
More importantly, it puzzles and irritates me that Gourdon, or her editors, saw fit to segregate their list by gender. Their intentions are good, and come from a rational place. Objectively, and I’m sure statistically, there are some books that boys are unlikely to read, and some that girls are unlikely to pick up. But if you put aside the Twilights of this world, and examine the truly enduring, powerful, interesting young adult literature, it easily speaks to both genders. With statements like, “Girls will love this one, too” tacked onto the end of their recommendation of True Grit, they imply that girls won’t — or can’t — enjoy classics such as Fahrenheit 451, and that boys can’t learn anything from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. This is a mindset that I find depressingly narrow-minded, and it deeply, though subtly, undermines Gourdon’s argument.
In the end, after all, her problem is with the segregation in her thinking: not just between girls and boys, but also between children and adults. There’s no exact barrier between innocence and maturity — that’s where adolescence comes in, and where literature does as well.
Meaningful Leadership is a MUST
Originally posted on May 14, 2011 by LiftOff Leadership
Meaningful Leadership
Leaders have a profound and powerful influence on the trajectory of our futures. The dominant leadership model that we have operated under for the past three decades is that financial success is the #1 determinant of overall success. This has resulted in a consumer driven, market dominated style of leadership that rewards growth and profits, at any cost.
This pervasive way of thinking…”more is better” is literally killing us and our environment. This consumer driven model has entrapped most of our population into running like crazy on a hamster wheel, trying to find the thing or things that will finally give them inner peace and happiness. And we have enough evidence, through our declining health, intellect, innovation, political wisdom and financial structures, to know that this model is a recipe for disaster, after disaster.
It is time to change the way that we define leadership success. The future of our communities and countries needs leaders who understand that the best measure of success is the quality of lives and livelihoods under their watch.
Leaders need to truly believe and operate by the tenant that true contribution is a measure of the purpose and meaning instilled into organizations and people through their leadership, their products and services. Numerical measures of success alone tell only a part of a larger responsibility to sustaining and benefiting humanity.
Betty Shotton
Follow Betty’s Blog on her website: LiftOff Leadership
Betty is also available for speaking engagements.
BEAUnhomie: BEA 2011
In my interview for this internship, I’d said that I wanted to be introduced to the publishing world, and Beaufort delivered in style. My first full week at work featured a visit to BookExpo America (BEA), the largest annual book trade fair in the United States (thanks, Wikipedia!).
From the stodgiest academic houses to the hippest imports from San Francisco, publishers of all shades and stripes set up booths at the Javits Convention Center to showcase their current lists and upcoming titles. As a rising sophomore, I was faintly reminded of the extracurricular bazaar that I attended last August at school: the sheer size of the event was overwhelming, and before I got acclimated, I mostly wandered the rows in a daze of wonderment and overstimulation. But where upperclassmen leapt on any soul unfortunate enough to make eye contact, the publishing personnel were constantly bustling, meeting with colleagues, running signings, and negotiating rights. Most importantly for this college kid, they also kept the free stuff free-flowing: mostly books and totes to haul them around in, as well as promotional pens, posters and mousepads. The offerings ranged from the kid-friendly (feather boas! tiny cupcakes!) to the more adult (martinis the color of a Sandals pool!).
After meandering around the fair for awhile, it was a relief to return to home base, the Beaufort booth. We set up the displays, and I got to sit in on meetings and talk to our lovely authors in person. Their passion for their work, and for their audiences, is truly inspiring. However, our conversations couldn’t run too long, as they had interviews and signings to attend and I had visitors to talk to. Putting on my shiniest “don’t hurt me, I’m only trying to help!” smile, and trying not to blurt out “I’m only the intern!” when asked a question, I directed conference-goers to the booth, where we ran out of books within hours.
Though news from the publishing world, especially to an outsider, can sometimes seem a little gray, to this wide-eyed newcomer there are more than a few things to be heartened by:
1. the trend in indie publishing to rescue lesser-known works by literary greats, giving them re-entry into the literary conversation,
2. the generous floor-space reserved for the e-book and audiobook companies, who are working to take an old form to unprecedentedly large reading audiences,
3. the number of passionate readers in attendance,
4. the number of hopefuls who continue to bring fresh talent to the field, and finally,
5. Flavor-flav sightings (no really, he even brought his oldest son.) When you see him partying with the publishing world, you can’t help but feel that everything is going to be okay.
– Sophia
ps. When coming up with the cute name for this intern’s blog installments, I came upon this, with the rationale that if there’s anything people love more than puns, it’s reading puns in a language that the writer is unfamiliar with. I truly hope that I don’t upset any Francophiles. Yours is a beautiful language.
BEAUnanza Blog
What makes a quality movie adaptation? Is it adherence to the original plot? A quality cast that look like the characters we imagined all along (except hotter and thinner)? Special effects? Perhaps a strong fan base like our old pal Harry Potter had? In my opinion it is a combination of these paired with a director and crew who are dangerously obsessed with the film. Maybe not dangerously, but nearly there.
A quick example of what I am talking about with this last stipulation is Stephen King’s The Shining. Stanley Kubrick, the sultan of cinema, loved the book, loved the characters, loved the setting, and most importantly, loved the story. Stan knew what it took to make a hit movie – stars, suspense, a concise plot with a twist or at most 3 – so he kept the book’s overall tone and changed a great deal of the book to fit his winning* structure, resulting in the epic masterpiece of horror that the film became. Unfortunately, because the novel was one of King’s first and therefore held a very dear place in his heart, these changes forced him to break his partnership with the Kubrick and denounce the film. But, that is another story for another post.
The movie adaptations on my mind are another of Stephen King’s books – this time with his blessing – The Dark Tower, and the prelude to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit. These two are slated to be released within 6 months of each other, The Hobbit: Part I in late 2012, and The Gunslinger, the first in the Dark Tower series, in mid 2013.
Both have enormous fan bases with absurdly loyal fans. I do not mean to offend here as I proudly serve in the nerd army that marches in step with Frodo and the Gunslinger; however, we geeks are a tough sell. Many LOTR fans will never forgive Peter Jackson for his cuts in the 3 part series, while others will soon be buying their tickets to New Zealand to be made up as extras in Hobbiton. The same shall be true for Dark Tower fans, some of whom are already up in arms about the casting possibility of Javier Bardem as Roland Deschain, the saga’s anti-hero, because of the star-power that he will bring to the series. Some Dark Tower fans see this as a hindrance because audiences may relate him to his prior films, and long time fans want Roland to be remembered as naught but the grizzled Gunslinger. But, let’s be honest: my girlfriend had a crush on Elijah Wood way before LOTR came out and these days he is known to many as simply “Frodo”.
It is clear that Peter Jackson is, in fact, the world’s biggest nerd with the recent release of his on-set videos as filming of first installment of The Hobbit begins, but I do not know how I feel about Ron Howard taking the charge of the The Gunslinger adaptation. PJ was an unknown when he was chosen to take on LOTR, but Howard already has a good deal of fame and some fans worry he is unlikely to invest the balance of the rest his career on this mega-series – which will include TV series in between the films – the way Jackson did with the story of the one ring. Howard already has a wonderful reputation as a director and producer and will be laying all that success on the line with the undertaking of this mon(lob)strosity* of a project.
Stephen King’s series is worth its weight in fiction, with 7 books and nearly 4000 pages. However, it does not have the massive public following that JK Rowling did with Harry Potter. Even though King himself is the most famous living American author, his movie projects – with a few sterling exceptions – have been pretty flat. Will audiences be able to overlook adaptations like The Stand mini-series and be willing to give The Dark Tower a chance?
Also, will the film draw the budget it needs for success? Just this week there has been talk that Universal, NBC, and Howard’s Imagine Entertainment have started to get cold feet about the project as they debate how much it will take to make it a success. It took King 22 years to complete all 7 books, while the movies will be rushed along at the speed of Silicon Valley and needy nerds alike. And finally, what about the stories themselves? The Dark Tower has even more twists than The Shining did while The Hobbit is a largely linear story. However, both films will be packed with special effects and Hollywood goodness so which, story or effects, will be featured?
I will leave you with the wise words of Gabriel Deschain, mother of the Gunslinger, Roland: “Let be what will be, and hush, and let Ka* work.” This is one excited nerd signing off.
*It is my understanding that until the year 2011 is through Charlie Sheen must be featured in all types of media.
*Ka is as close to religion as Roland and his companions get in The Dark Tower. It is closely related to Karma.
*A lobstrosity is a sea monster that plays a small but important part in The Drawing of the Three, the 2nd installment of the Dark Tower.
BEAUcoup Books Lover- Memoirs on the Mind
Memoirs have been on my mind in recent weeks. It seems like more and more are appearing on the shelves, and anyone who has spent a year or two on the Earth feels their story is publishable. I don’t mean for this to be a criticism of the industry, however, especially since I consistently enjoy reading memoirs myself, but I believe that only the truly insightful or incredibly talented types with lives that are exceptional should be granted the pages to tell their story. (I also think people like Justin Bieber should wait a few years. How much can be said when you’re pre-pubescent? The ghost-writer had to get creative there.)
One memoir open on my desk is Life by Keith Richards. This is exactly the kind of memoir I personally enjoy. The man has lived an insane life that I could never imagine, so it feels like you’re getting a glimpse into another world through his stories. He is also spectacularly unique, and his voice shines through in every word. Perhaps my favorite part of the memoir is his blunt and extremely matter-of-fact way of talking about his music. For instance, he claims to have written “Satisfaction” in his sleep. Literally. He woke up to find a cassette player with the melody. Yet while he obviously possesses a natural gift, he has worked hard every step of the way, studying the blues legends before him and still trying to get specific licks on the guitar down. He is a true artist, and one that every artistic mind or mind yearning to be artistic would benefit from reading.
Other memoirs of this genre I have enjoyed are Just Kids by Patti Smith, as well as the biography of Led Zeppelin, Stairway to Heaven by Richard Cole. Both give a glimpse into a different era where the world was in upheaval, and the art world reflected it. It seems I was born in the wrong decade…
But enough of the rockers and onto a more elegant memoir. And Furthermore by Judi Dench was just officially released and now at the top of my To-Read list. This is another person who has certainly earned the right of publishing a memoir, working with some of the most distinguished writers, directors and actors the industry has to offer. According to reviews, Dench is warm-hearted and intimate, sharing personal anecdotes about everything from her roles as Lady Bracknell, Cleopatra and Sally Bowles to losing her husband to cancer. I am happy to hear that this is not the last we will see of Dame Judi Dench, who made a statement that this by no means indicates that she is close to retirement.
One last memoir that I recently read and can’t recommend enough is Beaufort’s own Becoming Odyssa by Jennifer Pharr Davis. Davis has also earned her stars, albeit at an exceptionally early age, by being the fastest woman to ever thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. In fact, she is attempting to beat the over-all record in the upcoming fall. But the book is like an honest, intimate adventure novel, following Davis’s first ever thru-hike directly out of college. She can’t throw big names around like the other memoirs I’ve discussed, but her sincerity and genuine charm make up for it. This is a book that is perfect for anyone who has ever struggled to find their place in life.
That’s all for now. Does anyone else have some exceptional memoirs to suggest?
BEAUcoup Books Lover- Young Readers Under the Spotlight
Young readers are constantly in the publishing industry’s spotlight. They are criticized for not reading enough, under scrutiny for embracing the technology they grew up with, their habits are studied for money-making opportunities, they are praised for sending Young Adult sales through the roof, and then they are criticized some more. I recently happened upon an article asking the question, “How can book reviewing be relevant to the new generation of readers?” This question certainly merits a lengthy discussion, and I was excited to see the respectable list of names taking part. I was not excited, however, to find how many are pessimistic about the future and how often the younger generation is blamed for the problem.
The new generation is often unfairly lumped into a large group of vapid, vampire loving ditzes, who are unable to form a deep thought. “Have the seductions of short-form transmissions–tweets and texts–sucked the vital juices from their minds?” Roxana Robinson mocks. Perhaps this is what The Jersey Shore and the latest Kardashian show suggest, but I take offense to this. Every generation has their ignorant members, as well as their well-educated, motivated, and intellectual members. Furthermore, it is the older generation, the people in charge of television programming and trashy novel marketing, that feed into the stereotype. The intellectuals are getting lost.
Additionally, young readers are not the only group spending less time reading book reviews. Book reviews have, in fact, never truly existed for or been targeted to young readers. Books like Harry Potter and Twilight were only reviewed after they were blasted to the top of the bestseller lists. As Greg Barrios points out, “While alarmists have huffed and puffed over the decline in newspaper book review sections as the end of discourse about books, the bottom line remains that book reviewers and newspapers have paid little attention to much less reviewed popular fiction written for young people.” So it is the older reading generation who is forgetting to pick up the Sunday Book Review.
Nevertheless, the issue of who to blame does not discount the essence of the problem: Book reviews are increasingly less important. Or are they? Book-lovers’ sites like Goodreads, as well as the Amazon website, prove that reviews may be more important than ever. Readers are always looking for ways to talk about the books they love, and what better way than to post a review for all to see. The book reviews on sites like these are a convenient way to judge whether or not to buy a new book. So what the media is complaining about, then, is that the people who were getting paid to review books are needed less these days, since anyone can do it.
I believe, however, that the ‘new generation of readers’ is not dumb. They know the difference between an anonymous post following the price of a book and an educated, lengthy discussion published by an actual journalist. It will be harder to get paid to review books, which I find as sad as the next person, but book reviews will not die. Intelligent readers will still look to reviews for advice. Writing exceptionally good reviews is the best mode of defense I can think of.
Read more of the critics’ thoughts in the Huffington Post article.
BEAUcoup Books Lover- National Book Critics Circle Awards
The finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Awards have officially been announced. I find myself discussing award winners often through this blog, largely because I find them to be the most trustworthy recommendations around. Of course, the bestseller lists are a great way to find fun new reads, but the fact that George Bush’s Decision Points has been on the bestseller list for the past 10 weeks proves to me that my own tastes might differ from America at large. But finalists are decided and awards bestowed after an entire panel of educated and talented individuals have waded through the sea of intriguing books on the shelves. It’s like a screening process helping me decided which books to invest in. Genius!
But enough of my rambling and back to the award at hand. National Book Critics Circle is a non-profit organization founded in 1975 to honor outstanding writing and foster a national conversation about reading, criticism and literature. The only awards to be chosen by critics themselves honor the best literature in six categories—autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction and poetry. This year’s finalists include a wide range of authors. Two fiction finalists are actually in translation: Israeli David Grossman’s To the End of the Land and Hans Keilson’s Comedy in a Minor Key, which address a similar strength in the face of oppression despite the years separating the plots. Franzen’s familiar title Freedom made the list, as well at Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad. The fiction list is rounded out by the Irish author Paul Murray’s Skippy Dies, which is perhaps one I will be adding to my “To-Read” list. Set in an all-boys Catholic prep school in Dublin, the novel unfolds the events leading up to Daniel “Skippy” Juster’s untimely death. Said to be “tragicomic,” the book is endorsed as making the reader want to laugh and weep all at once.
Here is the complete list of all the categories. Good luck to all the finalists. It’s time to get reading!
Fiction
Jennifer Egan, A Visit From The Goon Squad, Knopf
Jonathan Franzen. Freedom. Farrar, Straus And Giroux.
David Grossman, To The End Of The Land. Knopf.
Hans Keilson.Comedy In A Minor Key. Farrar, Straus And Giroux
Paul Murray. Skippy Dies. Faber & Faber.
Biography
Sarah Bakewell. How To Live, Or A Life Of Montaigne. Other Press
Selina Hastings. The Secret Lives Of Somerset Maugham: A Biography. Random House.
Yunte Huang. Charlie Chan: The Untold Story Of The Honorable Detective And His Rendezvous With American History. Norton.
Thomas Powers. The Killing Of Crazy Horse. Knopf.
Tom Segev. Simon Wiesenthal: The Lives And Legends. Doubleday
Autobiography
Kai Bird, Crossing Mandelbaum Gate Coming of Age Between the Arabs and Israelis, 1956-1978, Scribner
David Dow, The Autobiography of an Execution, Twelve
Christopher Hitchens Hitch-22: A Memoir, Twelve
Rahna Reiko Rizzuto, Hiroshima in the Morning, Feminst Press
Patti Smith, Just Kids, Ecco
Darin Strauss, Half a Life, McSweeney’s
Criticism
Elif Batuman. The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them. Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Terry Castle, The Professor and Other Writings. Harper
Clare Cavanagh. Lyric Poetry and Modern Politics: Russia, Poland, and the West. Yale University Press.
Susie Linfield. The Cruel Radiance. University of Chicago Press.
Ander Monson. Vanishing Point: Not a Memoir. Graywolf
Nonfiction
Barbara Demick. Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea. Spiegel & Grau
S.C. Gwynne. Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American, Scribner
Jennifer Homans. Apollo’s Angels: A History of Ballet. Random
Siddhartha Mukherjee. The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. Scribner
Isabel Wilkerson. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration. Random
Poetry
Anne Carson. Nox. New Directions
Kathleen Graber. The Eternal City. Princeton University Press
Terrance Hayes. Lighthead. Penguin Poets
Kay Ryan. The Best of It. Grove
C.D. Wright. One with Others: [a little book of her days]. Copper Canyon
BEAUcoup Books Lover- Twain Censorship Points to a Bigger Problem
The topic is already all over the news and blogs, but I can’t help adding my own two cents. As you may have heard, NewSouth Books has announced a forthcoming edition of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which will replace the word “nigger” with “slave” and “injun” with “Indian.”
That the words have an uncomfortable history is an understatement, but shouldn’t children be made aware of that history? Mark Twain is among the most prolific American writers in existence, who surely chose his words with purpose. Whose right is it to alter his art in this way? Yes, publishers are going wild with the public domain with crazy new editions of Jane Austen multiplying daily, but those editions respect the original work and create an entirely new work in the process. This proposed edition of Twain’s masterpiece does not create another piece of art, but only succeeds in watering down the original.
The idea behind the new edition of making the book more accessible and easier to teach in schools, while still not permissible in my eyes, is at least respectable, but I have to wonder what this is really teaching. Perhaps it says it’s okay to ignore a difficult topic and pretend it never existed. Perhaps there is no need to respect history and the great artists who came before us. It is most certainly teaching that the easy road is the road best taken, but the over-arching lesson to students is that they are incapable of handling anything difficult and the adults in power lack faith in them.
Ultimately, the new edition points to a larger problem that may have catasrophic effects: Our school system is lazy. Of course this isn’t true of every single teacher in existence, but the trend is toward apathy. Many don’t care enough to take the time and effort to properly teach the hard topics that students will be forced to encounter anyway, like those in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Some of my favorite articles concerning the Twain drama are listed below.
Michiko Kakutani for The New York Times
Ishmael Reed for The Wall Street Journal
Akim Reinhardt for The Huffington Post
And my ultimate favorite: A comic strip by Ruben Bolling
Hide This Prize Under the Tree!
Need a last minute gift idea? How about a signed copy of Jeff Foxworthy’s beautifully illustrated children’s book, Hide!!! Or even better, a personalized drawing from the book’s illustrator, Steve Bjorkman! Beaufort Books is giving away ten signed copies of the book.
One grand prize winner will also get a call from illustrator Steve Bjorkman, who will create a custom drawing of the winner. You can have him draw you on the ski slopes, as an astronaut…or even hanging out with Jeff Foxworthy! This is so good, you may just want to keep it for yourself.
To enter, send an email to JeffFoxworthyContest@gmail.com telling us who you’d like to give the prize to by 11:59 PM on Saturday, December 18th. The winners will be announced on Monday, December 20th at 12 PM.
Want to check out the book? You can find it here:
B&N: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Hide/Jeff-Foxworthy/e/9780825305542/?itm=1&USRI=hide+foxworthy
Powells: http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-9780825305542-0
Borders.com: http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?sku=0825305543
In Canada: Chapters Indigo: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Hide-Jeff-Foxworthy/9780825305542-item.html?ikwid=hide&ikwsec=Books
Pearl S. Buck in China–Top Book of the Year!
Shannon McKenna Schmidt at Shelf Awareness named Hilary Spurling’s biography of Pearl S. Buck one of the top ten books of the year. (You can find the list here.)
One of the most exciting things about taking over Moyer Bell’s backlist has been discovering how incredible Pearl S. Buck’s novels are–and not just The Good Earth. Her novels (or at least the ones I’ve read so far) tend to be set in China about a hundred years ago, and do an incredible job showing a culture that is so removed from ours in time, place, and many other things. Buck’s novels tend to focus on women and their often very difficult lot in life, and usually feature a missionary or someone else from the west who, in spite of living in China, cannot bridge the gap between cultures–what’s more, they sometimes don’t even realize how vast the gap is.
If you liked Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, I would absolutely recommend picking up one of Pearl S. Buck’s novels.
Margot
BEAUcoup Books Lover- Hope in Children’s Literature
With the young adult genre as the only genre in the publishing world actively growing right now, it makes perfect sense that talking about YA trends has become a trend in itself. Scholastic just released a list of the “Ten Trends in Children’s Books in 2010” with some interesting ideas that may bode well for the publishing industry’s future.
First, as series like Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games prove, the Young Adult genre is growing in a way that invites adults to enjoy as well. Adults may mock the younger titles and read them in secret (I have known some who remove the jacket cover of certain books and replace it with another), but the reality is that these books are good, and more people are becoming aware of that. I firmly believe that anything to get people reading and away from more mindless entertainment is a positive thing. Also, the existence of books both adults and teens can enjoy together creates a sort of solidarity, and might invite an even larger young crowd to read if they follow in the footsteps of people they look up to and see as “cool.”
Second, dystopian fiction is on the rise. It seems to be the new generation’s version of the past generation’s brooding favorites like Catcher in the Rye (but I hope new generations like this classic title as well!). I find this to be a good omen, because it means the younger generations are thinking about the state of our society in a critical way. I found The Hunger Games to be incredibly smart and filled to the brim with social commentary. Let’s just say that reality TV and plastic surgery couldn’t look any worse in the eyes of heroine Katniss, and now these issues are on our young people’s minds.
Another obvious trend is the interest in the supernatural and mythological, with books like Percy Jackson, Immortal, and Prophesy of the Sisters. Perhaps this is escapism incarnate, but the trend also points to heightened creativity with less limitations – never a bad thing!
The best thing about the growth in children’s literature is just that: the fact that more and more young people are reading. Getting youth hooked on books will hopefully lead to adults hooked on books as those youth grow up. This new generation of readers has a different mindset, and has been raised with technology as an extention of their fingertips. Ebook and app opportunities abound, giving a whole new genre for the publishing community to set its sights on.
Who said publishing was dying? I don’t think so.
Authors in the Driver’s Seat: Nielsen for Authors
I just got an email earlier today from an author talking about a huge jump in her Amazon ranking. This is a common scenario, and always a cause for celebration. However, I cautioned her that a major spike in Amazon sales rank (from, say, 1,000,000 to 100,000) does not necessarily indicate huge numbers of books sold. I understand this can be hard for an author to hear, and also hard to believe–such a big change in numbers must mean something! But the relative ranking system means that to go from #100 to #1, you need to sell a LOT of books, but to go from 1,000,000 to 100,000, the sales don’t have to be that extreme.
I love it when my authors are involved in the marketing and sales process. What sells books is not Beaufort putting them out there, but our fantastic authors tirelessly introducing their books to people at speaking engagements, on their blogs, on television, even on the subway. Having an enthusiastic and involved author makes my job easier and more rewarding. I’ve tried to provide feedback to authors about sales, but I have dozens of authors, and they don’t stop being interested in their books when I take on new books. It’s overwhelming to try to keep everyone posted about what their book is doing more frequently than they get royalty statements. So most authors turn to the most responsive real-time reflection of sales that they have access to–Amazon’s sales rankings. (I admit that I do it, too, when I’m trying to see immediately how effective an author’s appearance on a particular show was.)
Which is why I’m so thrilled that Amazon is going to start providing authors access to Nielsen sales figures through the Author Central program.
The LA Times goes into detail here.
I’d encourage every author to go sign up for Author Central. It enables you to fill in your author profile on Amazon, link your blog to your books, etc. And now, it’ll give you access (for free!) to the same tools publishers have to gauge sales. Every week, authors will be able to see their updated Nielsen sales figures. Those don’t represent all sales (special sales, library sales, the author’s own sales at events, and some other channels are not reflected in Nielsen’s numbers), but it’s a much more useful way to gauge success than Amazon’s sales ranking.
I think this is a great step forward, and will give authors more tools to help sell and promote their books. Kudos, Amazon.
Margot
BEAUcoup Books Lover- Write Like Jane
For those of you who have kept up to date with the Beaufort Books blog, you know my obsession with Jane Austen. Well here’s another manifestation of it! BadAusten.com is hosting a Write Like Jane contest for all those Austen-aholics out there. The rules are simple: write a unique, witty, and imaginative scene based on the style of the great Jane, no longer than 800 words, and submit. The panelists will choose the best worst Austen scenes to be published in a compilation in 2011. There are already a few posted on the website, so visit and vote for your favorite! Or maybe it’s time to embrace the Austen bug and write a scene of your own. Perhaps an Emma and Gossip Girl mash-up? Or maybe Northanger Abbey‘s Susan goes goth. It could also be fun to see the Bennet sisters Big Love style. There are so many options! Imitation is a form of flattery right?
Do you have any ideas?
Tips for Author Blogs
Here’s a great article from book publicity expert and owner of SellingBooks.com Cathy Stucker:
How to Get More Traffic to Your Author Blog
by Cathy Stucker, Founder of www.sellingbooks.com
BEAUcoup Books Lover- Bad Sex in Fiction
The Literary Review‘s Bad Sex in Fiction Award, hailed as the U.K.’s “most dreaded literary prize” was announced Monday, with the rather embarrassing honor going to Rowan Somerville for some steamy passages in his new novel, The Shape of Her. The award, in its 18th year, was created to humiliate the “most embarrassing passages of sexual description in a literary novel.”
Somerville’s novel out-sexed the nominees, which included Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas, The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon, Maya by Alastair Campbell, A Life Apart by Neel Mukherjee, Heartbreak by Craig Raine, and Mr Peanut by Adam Ross.
I have not personally read The Shape of Her, but it seems the award was well-deserved. Here is one especially killer passage: “like a lepidopterist mounting a tough-skinned insect with a too blunt pin he screwed himself into her.” Another favorite is: “He unbuttoned the front of her shirt and pulled it to the side so that her breast was uncovered, her nipple poking out, upturned like the nose of the loveliest nocturnal animal, sniffing the night. He took it between his lips and sucked the salt from her.” I am generally one to give the author the benefit of the doubt, assuming there is a deeper meaning or an important character development in awkward passages, but this one is not negotiable. And while I do not liken myself to a sex-in-books expert, I can say on pretty good authority that this passage is far from sexy.
On a brief side note, I am happy to see that Freedom has gained some recognition for the phone sex passages that did more to turn my stomach than serve a higher purpose. They may be a bit too explicit for the blog, but feel free to check them out if you are curious.
Somerville accepted the award with grace saying, “There is nothing more English than bad sex, so on behalf of the entire nation I would like to thank you.” The award seems to have turned into a big event, although it was not created in the goofy spirit it has morphed into. The original goal was to discourage writers from resorting to crude, tasteless passages, but some recent authors have turned the uncomplementary attention into a joke. This year, it is reported that Alistair Campbell was disqualified for his apparent excitement at the prospect of winning. The judges shied from awarding him the dishonor, afraid it would only encourage him. Similarly, in 2003, Aniruddha Bahal recieved the award for his novel Bunker 13, and his publishers were so excited that they flew him from Delhi to accept the award in person.
Some other recent winners include Rachel Johnson for her novel Shire Hell and The Kindly Ones, by Jonathan Littell.