tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-297248022012-01-25T17:39:57.012-08:00"Never judge a book by the cover is one of those pieces of advice that's true about everything except books." ~ John ConnollyAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11848745769755430911noreply@blogger.comBlogger3771100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-46203806808974190402009-02-09T12:25:00.001-08:002009-02-09T12:27:23.045-08:00

Update your bookmarks everybody, because the Vroman's Blog is moving to a new location. Starting today, the new and improved Vroman's Blog will be located at blog.vromans.com. Don't worry, the banter will still be witty, the name-dropping still plentiful, but once you check out the new digs, I think you'll see why we're excited about the move.Go the new Vroman's Blog!

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-10975452516678661342009-02-06T09:19:00.000-08:002009-02-06T10:27:34.683-08:00

It is? Sweet. Here are some things to read over the weekend.Maud Newton recommends catching up on your Kate Christensen backlist before the release of her new book Trouble (due out in June). I probably don't even have to say this at this point, but I concur.It's clearly "Blog About Our Favorite People Day," so with that in mind, I found this post by Julie Klam about her role as a recess

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-20575733312883818212009-02-05T10:42:00.000-08:002009-02-05T12:13:24.546-08:00

Two interesting video game related links today:Ben Esch, who I forgot mention in my Winter Institute recap, but who I had a great time chatting with (and who witnessed me at one of my lowest points, my flu-ish plane ride to Utah) has a new book coming out, Sophomore Undercover. To promote the book, he did something interesting and created a video game. Help the nerd get across the locker room

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-74216400516704099702009-02-04T10:28:00.000-08:002009-02-04T14:11:49.587-08:00

It is not easy to get a drink in Salt Lake City. Or rather, it's not easy to get exactly the drink you'd like in Salt Lake City. First, you have to join a club, which I didn't really mind. I like the idea of being in a club, although, when I realized that everybody had to join, it lost some of its appeal. Once you've joined your club, you're halfway to drinking. There's still the matter of

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-75208461050683040382009-01-28T13:41:00.000-08:002009-01-28T13:56:40.685-08:00

I'm off to Salt Lake City, Utah, where I'll be participating in the ABA's fourth annual Winter Institute. I'm looking forward to mingling with my fellow booksellers and hopefully getting some great new ideas to share with all of you.If I can secure some WiFi, I will post blog updates (I may even Jott them to the blog, cause I'm 21st Century like that), but if I don't, you can follow what I'm

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-32685954096198263802009-01-27T11:08:00.000-08:002009-01-27T15:33:39.268-08:00

Lots of posts about John Updike are popping up at the moment, as you would expect. I thought I'd provide a link to a few of them that are truly worthwhile.Ed Champion's interview with John Updike on Episode 50 of the Bat Segundo Show.The full text of Updike's famous essay "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu," about Ted Williams' final game at Fenway Park.A link to the Google Books version of Conversations

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-29942897439593067832009-01-27T10:28:00.001-08:002009-01-27T10:37:04.919-08:00

According to the New York Times, John Updike has passed away. He was 76. He was a towering figure in American literature, and better eulogies than this are forthcoming. I will say that Updike wrote several stories had a massive impact on me. When I read his short story "The Christian Roommates," about two dissimilar roommates at Harvard, is among my favorite short stories, and sets a literary

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-30802982675675471792009-01-26T11:40:00.000-08:002009-01-26T12:28:33.814-08:00

It's a busy Monday in the book world, and we're here to cover it all.The National Book Critics Circle announced its finalists on Saturday. You can read the full list here, but the fiction and non fiction finalists are as follows:Fiction2666, by Roberto BolanoHome, by Marilynne RobinsonThe Lazarus Project, by Aleksandar HemonThe Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart, by M. Glenn TaylorOlive Kitteridge,

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-89655085511652317202009-01-26T11:16:00.001-08:002009-01-26T11:31:19.818-08:00

Okay, so it's not quite the National Book Critics Circle Award (more on that later) but congratulations are due to E, who took home first place in the first annual Vroman's Trivia Contest with 13 points. He won a $10 gift card to Vroman's Bookstore. Efren took second place with 7 points, and as such, will receive two free Advanced Reading Copies of his choosing from my own personal secret stash

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-43136721939371944722009-01-23T15:32:00.000-08:002009-01-23T16:18:01.690-08:00

To go with your hot toddy, a few interesting articles and items of note.This was pointed out earlier today on Twitter by @sarahw, but take a look at the New York Times Paperback Bestsellers list. The number one book is a fifty year-old novel (and a good one, at that).I'm not sure how everyone felt about Elizabeth Alexander's inaugural poem, but the text is here. It will be available at Vroman's

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-52697859454854700852009-01-23T10:17:00.001-08:002009-01-23T10:29:10.770-08:00

Yesterday's quote was, of course, one of the famous "Rocket Limericks" from Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, the longest, most bizarre Marx Brothers novel ever written. A hint was the diagram of a rocket that I tried to put in the background. My wife told me that this in fact looked like a sunny side up egg. EPIC FAIL on my part. Sorry.Congratulations to Efren, who took first place with 3

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-29926996560035434012009-01-22T11:33:00.000-08:002009-01-22T11:40:26.039-08:00

As several of you correctly surmised, yesterday's quote was from White Noise, by Don DeLillo. The few of you who answered "The Metaphysics of Death," I'm hip to you. That was the first reference that came up on Google. Gotcha!E once again got first place. He is now well ahead, but I believe there are still a few people who can catch him by sweeping the next two days. Alison took second place

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-74468040625590311112009-01-22T09:52:00.000-08:002009-01-22T10:58:38.192-08:00

Academy Award nominations are out today, and bookish films again led the pack. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, adapted from a F. Scott Fitzgerald novella, received 13 nominations. Adaptations The Reader and Slumdog Millionaire were also nominated for Best Picture, as was the adaptation of the stage play Frost Nixon. There seems to be a sizable contingent of people angry that The Dark

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-66656112103690457362009-01-21T11:05:00.000-08:002009-01-21T11:15:38.198-08:00

Yesterday's was tough. We had a lot of very smart guesses, including one of the Ripley books, and The Savage Detectives, but the correct answer was No Country for Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy. E took first place and is now in the lead overall with 7 points. Keith grabbed second place and is currently in second overall with 4 points. For those of you who haven't scored yet, there is still

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-14056575811166393212009-01-20T11:14:00.000-08:002009-01-20T11:35:55.875-08:00

Yesterday's clue was an easy one, if you'd read the book, and probably pretty easy if you hadn't. The quote was from Portnoy's Complaint, by Philip Roth. E took first place yesterday and is now in the lead with 4 points. Kim took second, and Efren grabbed a single point for third. Let's see how you do with today's quote.What book is this quote from?Email your guesses to pbrown@

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-28911379064423563482009-01-19T11:52:00.000-08:002009-01-19T12:52:20.796-08:00

The City of Milwaukee is about to get a lot less interesting, with the announcement that Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops will close at the end of March after 80 plus years in existence. I've never been to their stores, as I've never had the pleasure of visiting Milwaukee, but on the surface, it isn't hard to see the similarities between Schwartz and Vroman's. Both are old by today's retail

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-40633448614706425242009-01-19T10:58:00.000-08:002009-01-19T12:38:40.643-08:00

People have already rocked today's trivia clue. I'll reveal the answer tomorrow, but in the meantime, I've got a few links to pass along.The new issue of Avery Anthology will be at Vroman's soon. It features stories by Hannah Tinti, Kevin Canty, Edan Lepucki and others. I recommend you pick it up. It will be in the literary anthology area, over by hardcover fiction. You will know it by its

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-18899341180891528532009-01-19T09:48:00.000-08:002009-01-19T09:57:08.372-08:00

Okay, so nobody (except Edan, who isn't eligible to win) got last week's trivia quote, which was from Ann Patchett's Bel Canto. Perhaps it was because of the copious typos. Anyway, no points were given out, so the standings are the same.To make up for Friday's uber-difficult clue, today's is laughably easy. It's Google-able, but if you have to Google it, turn in your reading light. And put

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-31627248918669462112009-01-16T10:04:00.000-08:002009-01-16T11:51:10.659-08:00

Yesterday's quote was from Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. Congratulations to Lee, who received 3 points for being the first to answer. Keith took second place and received 2 points. E came in third, and got a single point. And now on to today's quote.What book is this quote from?Good luck, and remember email your answers to pbrown@vromansbookstore.com.Edit: It was brought to my

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-56341581234880300872009-01-15T12:23:00.000-08:002009-01-15T12:33:26.207-08:00

Before we start, a couple of announcements: Vroman's employees and relatives of employees are ineligible to win, but are encouraged to email me their guesses anyway. Please don't answer the question in the comments. This will ruin it for the rest of us. Anyone posting the answer in the comments will receive -3 points and my undying scorn. Remember, email me your guesses. (pbrown@

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-64728310453555324832009-01-14T14:55:00.000-08:002009-01-14T15:16:37.165-08:00

Things feel a bit slow on the internet today, so I thought I'd introduce something new. Starting tomorrow, we will be playing Vroman's Trivia! The way it works is quite simple. I will post a little graphic quote (Just something I've thrown together in Photoshop), and you will have to guess what book it comes from. The first person to email me (pbrown@vromansbookstore.com) the correct title of

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-65833498498018347192009-01-13T13:06:00.000-08:002009-01-13T13:40:40.852-08:00

For the discerning reader:Why do ebooks cost so much? I mean, it's not like they need to print them, right?R. Crumb is publishing a literal adaptation of the Book of Genesis. It's Rooster time again. The Morning News' annual Tournament of Books is about to begin. You can check out the contenders here. More to come later, but there are a few obvious favorites (although last year's debacle

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-18283105181778010912009-01-12T11:53:00.000-08:002009-01-12T13:39:34.858-08:00

Lauren Cerand is a publicist who works in the book world. She writes The Smart Set, a weekly rundown of cultural happenings in New York, for Maud Newton, and she has her own blog, Lux Lotus, where she writes about art, culture, and politics.I follow Lauren on Twitter, where her posts run the gamut from work-related happenings in the book world to travel plans to style tips. A little after the

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-73390139363143267252009-01-09T10:01:00.000-08:002009-01-09T10:53:59.733-08:00

I think this Internet thing is going to catch on in a big, big way this year. It's really going to take off. Look what I found there today:Beatrice on the cover art for a limited edition of the new Dan Simmons novel Drood: It’s the Victorian-askew look of the latter that came to mind this morning when I got a look at Picacio’s artwork for a limited edition of Drood, the new Dan Simmons novel

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-79677219539378936962009-01-08T12:32:00.000-08:002009-01-08T15:15:20.723-08:00

Seriously, I don't know what's gotten into the internet today, but it's brimming with pleasure-inducing goodies. Here are a few:My friend Steve has alerted me to this informative review of The Secret on the world's most insidious retailer. Since there are a million comments already, I'm guessing you might have heard of this.The Book Cover Archive is a new website devoted to, yes, book covers.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-74673746065491183552009-01-07T17:00:00.001-08:002009-01-07T17:10:09.476-08:00

A few quick things before I head for home:The Millions has its annual "Most Anticipated Books" post up. To quote the Walkmen, "It's gonna be a good year."New adventures in plagiarism: the Conversations with God author posted an essay that wasn't his. Does this mean he didn't really have a conversation with God? (I kid, I kid.)Make a Jackson Pollock just by moving your mouse.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-76943369897681558992009-01-06T13:48:00.000-08:002009-01-06T16:46:32.868-08:00

I held off on writing this giant summation post for a couple of reasons. Others have done it better than I, and I had to see if I could finish 2666 by December 31 (I finished it on December 30, sucka). But now I feel the need to look back and remember the year in reading for me. I thought about going about this a bunch of different ways, from recounting everything I read (I can't, as I didn't

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-67418250355263889012009-01-05T11:32:00.000-08:002009-01-05T12:16:26.311-08:00

Glenn Goldman, owner of Book Soup on Sunset Boulevard, passed away on Saturday from complications with pancreatic cancer. He was 58 years old.I worked at Book Soup for five years. It's where I met my wife, where I met so many friends and discovered so many authors. Glenn's death leaves a big hole in the bookselling community, not just in Los Angeles, but across the country. It's been amazing

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-70049848122235905112008-12-30T15:19:00.000-08:002008-12-30T15:41:28.600-08:00

About a week ago, the New York Times posted an article about how e-books are catching on (finally), and cited Amazon's undisclosed Kindle sales stats to support its argument. I'll likely have more to say on e-books as the year progresses, but I couldn't help but point out this incredible letter to the editor that the Times received in response to the article:Print book lovers are not the only

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-7927523704456720482008-12-29T13:51:00.000-08:002008-12-29T14:36:24.225-08:00

Regular blogging will commence next week, including a full recap of my year in books, but for now, I found a few cool things to point out to everyone:David Stretfield in the New York Times on how bargain-hunting readers (particularly the online variety) are killing publishing and bookselling. I would extend this argument further and say that the entire discount culture we've settled is the root

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-24972250128618296052008-12-26T10:40:00.001-08:002009-01-06T12:29:57.631-08:00

The store is packed with bargain hunters getting next year's Christmas and Hanukkah goods, and I'm in the office, contemplating when it's acceptable to start drinking afternoon coffee. Like for instance, do I have to wait until the afternoon? It's cold here, and that's fueling my desire for something warm. Here are some things to discuss while I brew a pot:Harold Pinter, playwright, anti-Iraq

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-27399557851299135542008-12-24T09:24:00.000-08:002008-12-24T09:32:06.076-08:00

No gift ideas today. If you haven't finished shopping, well, we're open till 6:30. For the rest of you, some audio/video entertainment:"The boys of the NYPD choir were singing 'Galway Bay,' and the bells were ringing out for Christmas Day." Happy holidays, everyone!

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-32746823418154810112008-12-23T15:34:00.000-08:002008-12-23T15:43:40.798-08:00

Laura Webb is our Simon & Schuster rep. Here are her holiday picks this season:Just After Sunset by Stephen KingPrice: $28.00I’ve long been a fan of Stephen. I haven’t long been a fan of short stories. I like getting drawn in to a story, feel a bond with the characters and then get the daylight scared out of me! But with Stephen, it doesn’t matter if I’m reading his article in Entertainment

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-69698317245763485702008-12-19T10:09:00.000-08:002008-12-19T10:20:02.911-08:00

Tom Benton is our Penguin sales rep. He might be the only person in America who likes David Benioff's City of Thieves more than we do (except maybe Amanda Peet). He recommends the following books:City of ThievesBy David BenioffPrice: $24.95If you haven’t read it already, you must read this. It is that rare novel that I can recommend to any reader and my favorite of the year. You won’t be

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-33234694058901946942008-12-18T13:05:00.000-08:002008-12-18T13:12:35.527-08:00

Nicole is our Penguin Young Readers Group Rep. She also helps out in our children's department for the holidays. Here are some of her picks for great kid's titles this year:Brava, Strega Nonaby Tomie dePaola, paper engineered by Robert Sabuda and Matthew ReinhartAges 4+$29.99Strega Nona has been loved by generations of readers, but they’ve never seen her like this! In pop-up magnificence, she

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-1023848131339358032008-12-18T11:40:00.000-08:002008-12-18T11:44:44.939-08:00

(Or go to our YouTube page to watch the video in high quality, as its director intended before those studio hacks got a hold of it and compromises were made.) And then click here to buy the stuff in the video. That's synergy in action!

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-15199158577153838892008-12-16T11:49:00.001-08:002008-12-16T12:04:27.343-08:00

And by non-book merchandise, I mean liquor. Cognac, to be specific. Last New Year's my wife and I made Sidecars (cognac, cointreau, lemon juice and sugar...yum), and I really liked them. I also liked having a glass of the leftover cognac after a big meal. The trouble is I only had wine glasses from which to drink it. I don't typically have a bottle of cognac in the house, so it seemed silly

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-89953532189452656132008-12-16T11:34:00.000-08:002008-12-16T11:43:57.566-08:00

Wade Lucas is our local Random House sales rep. Everybody at the store eagerly awaits his visits, as he always has a great tip on what to read next. Here are a few books he's recommending this holiday season:The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie BarrowsThis is the perfect book to curl up with over the holidays. All the charm and wit of a Jane Austen or

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-38206941613568760372008-12-15T11:39:00.001-08:002008-12-15T12:13:39.604-08:00

I've blogged about Kate Christensen and Sam Lipsyte several times before, and as such, you may already know that I've been wanting some of their earlier work for a long time. Christensen's In the Drink and Jeremy Thrane and Lipsyte's Venus Drive are perfect examples of Relatively Hard to Find Books. Most bookstores don't carry all of every author's backlist, so consequently, it's the earlier

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-5112106609351722332008-12-12T11:13:00.000-08:002008-12-12T11:32:23.281-08:00

Surprise me! Is there anything better than getting a book you never knew you wanted, something, maybe that you've never even heard of? Or maybe just a book that you'd always meant to read but never got around to, something that was on your to-read list, taking up room at the bottom of the list like that fan you brought with you to college and never used. So this year, get me something I never

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-22749656500529028582008-12-11T11:56:00.000-08:002008-12-11T12:17:37.363-08:00

I like to have some links right before lunch, how about you?The Guardian book blog has spotted the cresting wave of Shadenfoer, the envy and subsequent hatred of Jonathan Safran Foer. Gawker is also on board with the trend. I wrote about it a few months ago. Vroman's Bookstore: trendsetter.Via Boing Boing, the LA Times recommends 50 great homemade gifts. As much as we love the idea of a

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-48559996507971493172008-12-11T09:59:00.000-08:002008-12-11T10:10:26.038-08:00

Today's gift I'd like to receive are Sea Salt Caramels from the Little Flower Candy Company. I've had these babies before and let me tell you, they are delicious. I've had dreams about these candies. Normally, I'm a chocolate guy (ideally dark chocolate, even more ideally dark chocolate over caramel) but these caramels are enough to convert even the most ardent chocoholic (which is, of course,

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-71372218452948098932008-12-10T10:56:00.000-08:002008-12-10T11:36:20.272-08:00

It's December 10, which means that I'm now allowing myself to admit that it's the holiday season (I try to wait until we're double-digits into December before diving in with both feet. Otherwise I get burned out on Phil Spector Christmas tunes). Rather than get into the gift giving spirit (others have done that better than I), I thought I'd get into the gift receiving spirit. because whoever

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-22615737842006032132008-12-09T16:31:00.000-08:002008-12-09T16:32:47.012-08:00

Austenbook. (via Anne)

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-49320609484401740432008-12-09T15:15:00.001-08:002008-12-09T15:20:03.814-08:00

Like that headline? It's kind of newspaper-ish, right? Or is it just Variety-esque? Either way, I found this account of why Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke was not asked back to direct the sequel, New Moon. Among the more interesting tidbits was the challenge of having a series carried by a perpetually teenage cast, which I hadn't really considered before: Unlike with "Harry Potter,"

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-63359356325391256992008-12-09T12:15:00.000-08:002008-12-09T13:08:28.442-08:00

My head feels as if it's suspended in a jar of jelly, so you'll forgive me if I don't have something meatier to offer this fair morning afternoon. In lieu of substance, I offer a few things that have gotten me through the day so far.Daily Routines catalogs the daily habits of "writers, artists, and other intersting people." How else would I know how Emily Post wrote Etiquette: "Post worked on

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-2816488131280548642008-12-05T10:21:00.000-08:002008-12-05T11:08:44.349-08:00

It's Friday morning, and I've just had a large coffee and a bagel/egg/sausage/cheese breakfast sandwich, so of course I have some things to tell you:The Inside Flap, the terrific blog of the venerable Milwaukee indie Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops, has started this series of video shelf talkers. I love this idea, as it gives you a feel for what it's like to be in their store, meeting their staff.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-42026675623347902202008-12-03T17:07:00.001-08:002008-12-03T17:32:11.071-08:00

A few bits and pieces from the engine we call the Internet:Edan Lepucki at The Millions on what a novel needs.Speaking of The Millions, The Year in Reading series has begun, with posts from notables Nam Le, Benjamin Kunkel, Rosecrans Baldwin, Amanda Petrusich and Hamilton Leithauser writing about they enjoyed reading this year. What I love about The Year in Reading is that it isn't The Year in

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-51397937906062500212008-12-03T11:31:00.000-08:002008-12-03T13:16:34.977-08:00

The New York Times has published its list of the 10 Best Books of 2008:FictionDangerous Laughter, by Stephen MillhauserA Mercy, by Toni MorrisonNetherland, by Joseph O'Neill2666, by Roberto BolanoUnaccustomed Earth, by Jhumpa LahiriNon-fictionThe Dark Side, by Jane MeyerThe Forever War, by Dexter FilkinsNothing to be Frightened Of, by Julian BarnesThis Republic of Suffering, by Drew Gilpin

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-59103194433509545382008-12-02T15:01:00.000-08:002008-12-02T15:08:03.492-08:00

The New York Times has released its list of notable children's titles for the year. There are eight of them. Eight. Can't they do better than that?Anyway, among the honored are:Little Brother, by Cory Doctrow of Boing Boing fameThe Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. This is an absolute favorite of the Vroman's staff at the moment.ABC3D, by Marion Bataille. Visually inventive and stylish

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-34491870783114767842008-12-02T10:01:00.000-08:002008-12-02T10:28:48.932-08:00

James Gleik in the New York Times on November 29: As a technology, the book is like a hammer. That is to say, it is perfect: a tool ideally suited to its task. Hammers can be tweaked and varied but will never go obsolete. Even when builders pound nails by the thousand with pneumatic nail guns, every household needs a hammer. Likewise, the bicycle is alive and well. It was invented in a world

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-85818391134760605312008-12-01T11:54:00.001-08:002008-12-01T12:11:40.628-08:00

I found this letter from the owner of Village Books to a customer inquiring why books cost more at an independent bookstore than at Amazon to be well-reasoned and to the point. For further reading on issues of cost and value, I will point you to this lengthy compound review I wrote of Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food and Dana Thomas' Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster on The Millions.(Thanks

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-69078905716051632702008-12-01T11:36:00.000-08:002008-12-01T13:33:57.627-08:00

The Book Design Review has posted it's list of the best book covers of 2008. Nothing by our man Michael Fusco made the list, but there are some very nice covers, including, I think, the wittiest cover of 2008:What are your favorite covers of the year? Comment below.(Incidentally, Michael Fusco has launched a new e-commerce site called M+E, where he sells exquisite prints of posters he's made,

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-6165772705633479382008-11-28T12:21:00.000-08:002008-11-28T12:51:11.159-08:00

Looking at the 100 Notable Books of 2008 as compiled by the New York Times, I was struck by several key omissions (of course), but also by how several of the books' authors had visited our store in the past year. Going down the list, which is presented alphabetically by author name and divided into fiction and non-fiction:Charles Bock, Beautiful Children, February 20Joseph O'Neill, Netherland,

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-45276018437373940132008-11-26T12:20:00.000-08:002008-11-26T12:23:24.150-08:00

It's been quiet around here, I know. I've got a lot going on, big things are brewing, etc. Anyway, regular dispatches from Planet Vroman's will resume after Thanksgiving. In the meantime, William S. Burroughs.Via This Isn't Happiness.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-58466099773383895812008-11-21T11:15:00.001-08:002008-11-21T11:42:34.435-08:00

Be honest -- you're groggy at work today because you went to a midnight screening of Twilight, right? I knew it. To go with your fourth cup of coffee, here are the links:This site is interesting. You can get a book recommendation based on your preferred level of happiness/sadness, violence/no violence, sex/no sex. I wanted something that was violent, sexy, and happy. It recommended God's Spy

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-34369193472128686142008-11-20T12:14:00.000-08:002008-11-20T12:54:02.842-08:00

And that can mean only one thing...links!Via the Book People blog (one of the great indie stores in the world), comes the story of Lauren Myracle's book ttyl, which has been removed from the Round Rock, TX middle school library for being "vulgar." You know what I've just noticed, it's always the mothers who lead the charge to ban books, never the fathers. Why is that? Are the fathers just not

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-63059061669321602372008-11-20T10:09:00.000-08:002008-11-20T10:16:51.141-08:00

Pasadena has announced its choice for 2009 One City One Story. This year's book will be Luis Alberto Urrea's novel The Hummingbird's Daughter. According to Publishers Weekly: "[Urrea] fashions an astonishing novel set against the guerrilla violence of post–Civil War southwestern border disputes and incipient revolution. His brilliant prose is saturated with the cadences and insights of

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-15260193481245016192008-11-19T19:25:00.000-08:002008-11-19T19:29:05.631-08:00

I am at home obsessively refreshing my twitter feed as sarahw live-tweets from the National Book Award presentation ceremony. So far, the winners are:Young People's Fiction: Judy BundellPoetry: Mark DotyNon-Fiction: Annette Gordon Reed (and it's her birthday today!)And I just found out that Peter Metthiessen has won the fiction prize for the revised version of three books he wrote and

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-88069336177355487482008-11-19T13:09:00.000-08:002008-11-19T13:13:59.662-08:00

From Kottke.org comes this utterly confounding footage of recent Vroman's guest Martha Stewart making cognac mashed potatoes with, yep, Snoop Dog. For shizzle. You will need to use your mental to understand it.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-21761161547961321702008-11-19T09:45:00.001-08:002008-11-19T09:50:26.078-08:00

A few weeks back, I heard an interesting report on NPR about what happens when big box retailers like Walmart and Best Buy abandon their stores for bigger stores. In one town in Kentucky, this has happened several times (Apparently Walmart is a bit like a hermit crab, abandoning its shell for a larger one every so often), leaving the town with a couple of big ugly buildings with lots of

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-75738687136244031832008-11-17T09:49:00.000-08:002008-11-17T09:51:24.500-08:00

A sign from Saturday's "No on Prop 8" rally at City Hall in Los Angeles.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-88010917390874463172008-11-14T10:17:00.001-08:002008-11-14T11:01:11.333-08:00

I've said before that books make great gifts, and now there's a blog dedicated to that very notion. Some bloggers have banded together to form Books for the Holidays. At their site, you can get gift recommendations, wish list ideas, and even suggest a gift.In the spirit of the season, I thought I'd offer up my holiday wish list (Note: My wife already surprised me with one book this year, Jane

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-30945465245167142222008-11-13T11:52:00.000-08:002008-11-13T13:41:47.048-08:00

After participating in the Great ShakeOut, a statewide earthquake preparedness training session, Vroman's is now prepared for a major earthquake. At ten a.m. this morning, everyone took time to imagine what they would do if a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the area. We know where to hide, where our emergency supplies are, where our flashlights are. Should the earthquake hit, we are ready. For

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-62464506853634650252008-11-12T12:26:00.000-08:002008-11-12T12:51:37.812-08:00

After the internet took the day off yesterday, it is back and full of good stuff today:Vroman's favorite David Benioff has a new pilot at HBO. It is an adaptation of the George R.R. Martin fantasy series Song of Ice and Fire. Vying for the title of hottest book this season, Malcom Gladwell's Outliers gets Boinged.The non-profit small press Dzanc Books is hosting an online write-a-thon this

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-11846373175659207402008-11-10T11:44:00.000-08:002008-11-10T12:32:00.279-08:00

It was a busy weekend in the cyberworld, and Vroman's got a decent share of the attention. Interesting hypertext links follow:Martha Stewart was here yesterday. It was a packed event, full of enthusiastic fans. I spotted Martha as she walked into the store, and then again as she walked out. In between, I was outside with the folks waiting to get in. The event has been written up a few places

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-80794460761368029362008-11-07T11:54:00.000-08:002008-11-07T12:23:12.265-08:00

This week seemed to fly by for me. Some bookish things happened. A brief breakdown follows:Michael Crichton passed away this week. He's remembered here and here.Tony Hillerman passed away last week. He was among my father's favorite authors. He's remembered here.Following in the grand tradition of Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac have a new book out.Not

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-10409996999814842512008-11-06T09:09:00.000-08:002008-11-06T09:17:51.084-08:00

On our newsstand, that is. Yesterday, we sold out of every newspaper. Not every major newspaper, or every local newspaper. Every newspaper. And we weren't alone. We got a stack of yesterday's LA Times delivered this morning, so that's back in stock, but now we've got the special editions of People, Newsweek, etc. If yesterday was any indicator, they won't be around for long. Get em while

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-41556644337774530112008-11-04T14:58:00.000-08:002008-11-04T15:16:30.099-08:00

Vroman's will be hosting an event tomorrow evening. Yes, there is life after the election. We'll be screening the documentary film Paperback Dreams, a movie about two Northern California independent bookstores Cody's and Kepler's. Paperback Dreams recently aired on PBS, and we are lucky enough to have the filmmaker, Alex Beckstead, with us to discuss it. Alex will be moderating a panel

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-86696663537156208722008-11-04T11:17:00.000-08:002008-11-04T11:30:48.209-08:00

If you haven't voted yet, please do. As long lines and lengthy waits are the norm this year, I recommend you bring a book. In fact, I recommend you bring Blood Kin, by Ceridwen Dovey, a beautiful, sensual novel about a coup in a nameless country. Narrated by several nameless characters, including the deposed president's cook, his barber, and his portraitist, the novel covers the dizzying,

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-51080497996222077322008-11-03T15:48:00.001-08:002008-11-03T16:28:05.615-08:00

A few book-related links, before we all descend into election mania:Adam Kirsh on the epic 2666 at Slate.A list of books that take place on a single day. I've read two of them - Seize the Day and Ulysses.Speaking of Seize the Day, the New York Times on Saul Bellow's neighborhood, Humboldt Park.Viewing our current recession through the lens of Depression-era literature.Bruce Weber on the late

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-46011951568681487692008-11-03T11:33:00.000-08:002008-11-03T13:30:05.719-08:00

...Come to Vroman's. Yes, we are a bookstore, and yes, books make great gifts (It really says something that even though I get a big discount on books and occasionally have books sent to me for free I'm still asking for some books this Christmas), but if you think we're about nothing else, you, good reader, would be mistaken.This holiday season, we're branching out and selling a few truly

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-30639651523906254732008-10-31T13:00:00.000-07:002008-10-31T13:17:11.276-07:00

When you've been around for over 110 years, you're bound to accumulate your fare share of myths and ghost stories, and Vroman's is no different. My coworker Anne has heard from a local psychic that Vroman's may be haunted by the ghost of our founder, A.C. Vroman. Anne, however, is unconvinced: "Since ghosts haunt places, I find that highly unlikely, because Vroman's current site is several

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-41749849973842619612008-10-30T14:28:00.000-07:002008-10-30T14:37:21.124-07:00

Courtesy of our friends at Off the Page with Melinda Lee on KNX 1070 News Radio, we've got a handful of tickets to give away to the upcoming November 7 appearance of Marcus Buckingham at Azusa Pacific University.The Cambridge-educated Buckingham has been the subject of in-depth profiles in The New York Times, Fortune, Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-79814558375427527012008-10-30T11:25:00.000-07:002008-10-30T11:34:59.572-07:00

This photo was taken last week, when George Hamilton had his event at the store. For those of you who weren't there, you missed an epic evening with the Tanned One. He told stories for about an hour, then signed copies of his new memoir Don't Mind If I Do.A typical George Hamilton story begins like this: "There I am in the Persian desert with the Princess of Iran, of course, and we spy a

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-68651427612213642912008-10-30T09:18:00.001-07:002008-10-30T09:22:29.679-07:00

This morning when I checked my Google Reader page, I discovered this post on the Guardian Book Blog about Halloween-related fiction: There's horror in Bradbury's stories - why else would I be recommending him for Halloween? - but it's not the horror of blood and gore. It's the horror of ringing telephones, the horror of the realisation that something inside you - a growing baby, perhaps, or a

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-17935678124960905352008-10-29T09:34:00.000-07:002008-10-29T13:37:18.789-07:00

Unless you've been living under a rock or, I don't know, focusing on the election or something, you probably know that Oprah is just crazy about Amazon's ebook reader the Kindle. It is, in fact, her "new favorite thing in the world." This is bad news for bookstores, as Amazon uses a special ebook format on the Kindle, one that only they can sell. In the past, Oprah's book endorsements, in the

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-52151143301507851242008-10-28T09:35:00.000-07:002008-10-28T09:55:17.014-07:00

Longtime readers of this blog may remember my list of books I hope the next president has read. First on that list were a pair of books by Michael Pollan about food production and consumption in the United States. If the current poll trends hold, it looks like I may get my wish. Barack Obama has already read Pollan's excellent piece from a recent NY Times Magazine on the role oil plays in our

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-17281813803492974362008-10-23T14:35:00.000-07:002008-10-23T14:53:35.409-07:00

I'm back from my three-day soujourn to the Governor's Conference on Women, where I helped host author signings with the likes of Rachel Ray, Rocco DiSpirito, Jenny McCarthy, and Madeleine Albright. I'm very, very tired, so you'll forgive me if this post is brief. A few things to check out while I soak in a hot tub:Narrative Magazine has a new short story by Stuart Dybek available online (You

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-42366984940382671012008-10-17T16:01:00.000-07:002008-10-17T16:05:06.502-07:00

Seattle author Jennie Shortridge will be at Vroman’s Sunday, October 19 at 5 p.m. to read from and discuss her latest novel, Love and Biology at the Center of the Universe, quickly becoming a book club favorite. Called “smart, funny, and wise,” by author Garth Stein (The Art of Racing in the Rain) it’s the story of middle-aged Mira’s journey from perfect to better when she flees her “perfect”

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-87689999429455457792008-10-17T09:56:00.000-07:002008-10-17T10:45:52.741-07:00

Anybody else noticed that vampires are suddenly everywhere? It's like the early 90s all over again. These things are always cyclical. On with the links:Via Kottke.org comes the thrilling news that Brad Pitt will star in the film adaptation of Moneyball.Kottke.org was full of great finds this morning, including this interesting list of books that inspired graphic designers (no design books

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-88931120892760980792008-10-15T10:48:00.000-07:002008-10-15T11:07:11.079-07:00

As promised, today the National Book Award finalists were announced. There were a few surprises, in my opinion, including the inclusion of Salvatore Scibona for his novel The End (a coup for the wonderful Graywolf Press) and the omission of Nam Le, who I thought was the one shoe-in for the list. Below are the complete lists of finalists in Fiction (I've read a fat lot of none of these books. I

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-32077542077662209332008-10-14T14:49:00.000-07:002008-10-14T14:51:29.156-07:00

Aravind Adiga's debut novel has won the 2008 Man Booker Prize. You may remember I interviewed Mr. Adiga a couple of weeks ago for our podcast. Congratulations to him on his tremendous novel.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-51337643687067715752008-10-14T11:06:00.001-07:002008-10-14T12:59:27.722-07:00

The House of Representatives of Massachusetts recently named Moby-Dick the commonwealth's official 'epic novel,' a compromised reached after representatives from areas that were home to writers Louisa May Alcott and Nathaniel Hawthorne protested. While the bill must still pass the Senate and get the governor's signature, it got me thinking about our own state's literary tradition.California

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-12480145943162162092008-10-13T11:34:00.001-07:002008-10-13T12:18:29.260-07:00

I don't normally do this. I almost never outright request that you, fair reader, buy a specific book at a specific time, but this is a special case. I've mentioned Amanda Petrusich a few times on this blog. She is the author of the new book It Still Moves, a great book about Americana music. In it, she traces the history of Americana music from its roots in the delta blues and Appalachian

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-4337256053837149742008-10-13T11:22:00.000-07:002008-10-13T11:30:59.444-07:00

This week marks one of the busiest weeks of the literary schedule as the winner of the Booker Prize and the nominees for the National Book Award are announced. As I've said before, I'm pulling for Aravind Adiga's excellent The White Tiger to win the Booker, while I'm hoping to see a few familiar names on the National Book Award list (Benioff? Le?). Not everyone is as eagerly awaiting the

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-38296013172479619212008-10-10T15:04:00.000-07:002008-10-10T15:11:30.429-07:00

Pitchfork Media, the home for all things obscure music criticism related, will publish its first music guide this fall. On November 11, Fireside Books will publish The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present. While there are other books that cover the same timeframe (particularly the very odd and funny This Is Uncool), none has Pitchfork's signature blend of

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-30873616571226553952008-10-10T10:32:00.000-07:002008-10-10T11:14:38.407-07:00

The best thing about the internet, I've always felt, is the sheer quantity of incredibly weird stuff on it. For instance, I was just checking out the Barrelhouse Blog, as I am wont to do from time to time, when I came across this post about a guy (it has to be a guy, right?) who posted an ad on Craigslist looking for a professional writer to write the "about me" section of his personal ad on a

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-79691682205572652032008-10-09T09:24:00.000-07:002008-10-09T09:43:36.593-07:00

French novelist and essayist Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio. Shock of shocks: I haven't read him. As Jacket Copy has pointed out this morning, neither have most Americans, as his books can be difficult to find here in the states. A quick check of our inventory shows that we've carried three of his books fairly recently: Round and Other Cold Hard Facts, Onitsha, and Wandering Star. I'm

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-73745833704223741362008-10-08T15:11:00.000-07:002008-10-08T15:23:22.885-07:00

Sarah Vowell was on The Daily Show recently and she wasn't too happy with the way some politicians praise New York City on September 11, and then use New York City as the paragon of all that's evil and elitist about America when they're on the stump in middle America:Did I mention that Vroman's will be hosting Sarah Vowell at All Saints Church on Thursday, October 16 at 7 p.m. That's next

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-7267332479102987882008-10-08T09:28:00.001-07:002008-10-08T09:37:28.687-07:00

The Pasadena Playhouse District - the area of Pasadena where Vroman's is located - has an excellent blog called Pasadena: Center of the Universe. Today, they've posted an interview with me. You can read my (definitely wrong) guess at who will win the Nobel Prize this year, among other things.Of course, now that I've thrown my two cents in, everybody's guessing the Nobel winner.

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-61554576934003783962008-10-07T10:29:00.000-07:002008-10-07T11:00:38.367-07:00

It's a glorious morning in Southern California, and as such, the links:Laurel Maury reviews the much discussed Jewel of Medina in the LA Times. "The Jewel of Medina" is a second-rate bodice ripper or, rather, a second-rate bodice ripper-style romance (it doesn't really have sex scenes). It's readable enough, but it suffers from large swaths of purple prose. Paragraphs read like ad copy for a

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-30313322064716219042008-10-06T14:54:00.000-07:002008-10-06T15:05:04.849-07:00

For the latest edition of Vroman's Podcast, we're trying something different. Our guest this week isn't an author, but he is among the more important people in the book business today. Otis Chandler is the founder of Goodreads.com, a social networking site for readers. I have a Goodreads account, as do many of my friends. Vroman's has its own group (Big ups to the Vroman's Goodreads group!),

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-84278439181173280332008-10-03T10:30:00.000-07:002008-10-03T12:12:13.636-07:00

Slate joins the American backlash against Horace Engdahl, the Nobel Prize juror who called American literature "too isolated, too insular." Adam Kirsch argues that, well, Engdahl is wrong, and furthermore, he's merely continuing a long run of the Nobel committee dissing America: Just look at the kind of American writer the committee has chosen to honor. Pearl Buck, who won the prize in 1938,

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-82213584905814180892008-10-02T13:53:00.000-07:002008-10-02T14:45:20.975-07:00

A few things to tide you over until tonight's great debate:Normally I dig these weird home decor ideas involving books but this inverted bookshelf is kinda stupid. It looks like it would be hard to get the books, out and that it would only look cool from one angle.A member of the Nobel Prize jury has said that American literature sucks (well, sort of). Normally this kind of America dissing

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-91720459044014442652008-10-01T16:03:00.000-07:002008-10-06T09:39:01.811-07:00

Hayden Carruth, winner of the 1992 National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry and the 1996 National Book Award for Poetry, has passed away at his home in Munnsville, NY at the age of 87. Regular readers of this blog may remember that back in April, I closed my month of poetry with Carruth's poem "The Last Poem in the World":Would I write it if I could?Bet your glitzy ass I would.Carruth lived

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-9481594131740476562008-10-01T09:19:00.001-07:002008-10-01T09:24:47.408-07:00

"What we are talking about here is not a system of formal censorship, under which the state bans works deemed offensive. Rather, what has developed is a culture of self-censorship in which the giving of offence has come to be seen as morally unacceptable. In the 20 years since the publication of The Satanic Verses the fatwa has effectively become internalised..."In a plural society it is both

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-44147503820774112422008-09-30T09:45:00.000-07:002008-09-30T11:01:36.224-07:00

As I mentioned yesterday, it's Banned Books Week. It's a time to remember the books that have been challenged, censored, burned or otherwise restricted from the public view. It's also a time to celebrate intellectual freedom in general, and to ruminate on what a precious and sometimes difficult thing that is.I thought David Ulin's piece in yesterday's Los Angeles Times was very well-put. As he

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-60706780821861428532008-09-29T11:10:00.000-07:002008-09-30T11:01:56.716-07:00

It is Banned Books Week, when we think about books that have been challenged, banned, burned, or otherwise kept from the reading public. I'll have more thoughts on banned books later in the week, but today, we need to catch up on the literary happenings around the internet:"My neighborhood was the first stop on the bus from New York. But every one of my friends acted like the neighborhood was

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29724802.post-80447206890422148432008-09-26T10:53:00.000-07:002008-09-26T11:19:48.410-07:00

There maybe no more polarizing author writing today than Jonathan Safran Foer. His two novels, Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, have both been NY Times Bestsellers and have been lauded by literary critics as daring and experimental. Foer's detractors have called him cloying, pretentious, and smug. Keith Gessen, editor of n+1 and author of All the Sad Young

Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09278709045250361665noreply@blogger.com0