Trends in retail sales of books to U.S. consumers from 2010 to 2012 showed that e-commerce (Amazon and other online booksellers) grew by 18.7% to capture 43.8% of the market. Large chains (Barnes & Noble and the like) shrank 12.8% to hold 18.7% of the market. Helped by the folding of the Borders chain, independent bookstores saw a 1.3% uptick but still represented only 3.7% of retail book sales. As singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell penned, “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone? They paved Paradise and put up a parking lot.” For many, the neighborhood independent bookstore is Paradise.
What a wonderful start for the Book●ed webcast shows! Thank you to everyone (from the U.S. and around the world) who have been watching and, especially, to those who took time to congratulate me and my team on our successful launch on July 8th.
Every Monday, at 8 PM (EST), a new show is featured on the Watch Shows page of the Book●ed website. The show is also streamed on UStream (with 50 million unique viewers of their shows every month). Don’t fret if you miss a featured show because it is always available at www.bookedwebcast.com and www.fenmark.net in the Archives.
If you are a new visitor to this Blog, I hope you will take some time to browse through the weekly posts since its inception earlier this year (more than 6,400 visitors and more than 95 registered fans so far). You’ll find a wide variety of fascinating topics relating to books, written in a light, reader-friendly style and supplemented with links to additional information. With the launch of our webcasts, my blogs will alert you to the next book review and author interview. Of course, I’ll continue to bring you news and fun factoids. So come along and read with me!
My debut interview with Renee James — talking about her multi-award-winning murder mystery, Coming Out Can Be Murder, her challenges in getting published, and how her own life experience as a transgender woman helped shape her novel – was so fascinating, we extended it to a second ½-hour interview. If you missed part one, visit my Archives page to watch; then check out part two, starting at 8 PM (EST) on July 15th. I promise you won’t be bored! To read an excerpt from Renee’s book, go to the Book Excerpts page on this website. If you like what you see and want to purchase the book, there’s a “Buy the Book Now” link.
Take a moment to look at the sidebar of this Blog. You can register on the RSS Feed to follow my weekly posts with helpful reminders when the updates appear. You can even let me know what you think about my Blog, ask for future topics to be covered, or share information you think other readers would be interested in. After all, as I’ve always said, this Blog is for you!
Few readers pay attention to the typography employed in the books they read; few authors play a role in the typography choices for their books . But we should pay attention because typography enhances or detracts from the reading experience. Typography is a centuries-old, ever-evolving art. To learn more, visit Ben Barret-Forest’s entertaining short animated video about the history of fonts and typography.
Pop the champagne corks! After nearly a year in the making, the debut global webcast of Book●ed happens at 8 PM (EST) on Monday, July 8th. The book reviews and author interviews you’ve been waiting for will be just a mouse-click away, 24/7 anywhere in the world that you have internet access. You’ll be able to watch interviews, read excerpts and buy books via one very user-friendly website: www.bookedwebcast.com. The webcasts will also be available at other websites, including www.fenmark.net, and UStream.
As a writer moving in writing circles, I’ve learned that authors are very interesting people! And there’s almost always a back story to their book that is as interesting as the book itself. Meeting an author enhances the reading of their work. This is what my webcasts are about!
Book●ed will entertain, inform and enlighten you. It’s an innovative concept tying in modern technologies with time-tested communications techniques to connect authors and editors with booklovers. I invite you to join us on this exciting journey and let me know what you think. This concept is all about serving YOU!
For my debut show, I selected a multi-award-winning book that has broken new ground with a character that stays with you long after you’ve turned the last page. Bobbi Logan is the memorable protagonist-narrator in Renee James’ contemporary suspense/mystery/thriller, Coming Out Can Be Murder. Bobbi Logan, a sensitive, articulate transgender woman takes us on her personal journey as she transitions from a life as Bob Logan to her true gender. The very difficult, often heart-wrenching challenges she faces in her own life are entwined in the search for the brutal murderer of her best friend, another transgender woman. This page-turner takes place in and near Chicago, in evocatively-painted places that may be familiar or new to the reader.
The theme of “familiar” and “new” run throughout Coming Out Can Be Murder — in plot, place and character. Renee James brings years of editing experience to her forceful writing. She takes people, places and situations we may think of as “other than us” and helps us see the human qualities that make us more alike than different. She knows this well because she is a transgender woman.
Please join me for a fascinating book review and author interview with Renee James, starting July 8th at 8 PM (our shows are always available for viewing by visiting the Archives at www.bookedwebcast.com).
Could be!
Who knows?
There’s something due any day;
I will know right away,
Soon as it shows.*
I’m thrilled to report that Book●ed will debut its weekly half-hour video webcast on July 8th!
You’ve waited patiently. Now come the rewards. Every Monday, starting July 8th, Book●ed will present a lively new book review with an author or editor interview. From the moment the show is first broadcast, it will be available 24/7 from any computer with internet access. After one week as the featured show, it will remain available in our Archives. You’ll be able to find our shows at several websites, including (my favorite, of course) www.bookedwebcast.com and www.fenmark.net; also via UStream.
The Book●ed website will also debut a Book Excerpts page where you can find every book we’ve reviewed, easy to locate by the book’s cover, air date, title or author. Each excerpt will include a “Buy The Book Now” link, among other user-friendly features. You can go from watching an interview to reading an excerpt, or vice versa, then buy the book — all through the Book●ed website.
Book●ed is an innovative concept. Our marriage of new technologies with proven PR techniques is attracting great authors with noteworthy books that we present to booklovers around the world. The authors I interview have fascinating back stories that enhance the reading of their books.
As I writer, I know it is easier than ever to get books published but harder than ever to get read. Many worthwhile books get lost in a vast universe of 350,000 new titles annually. As a former award-winning public relations pro, I know how to build awareness among target audiences. As a booklover, I’m thrilled to find shining stars in the book universe and bring them to you.
Starting next week, this blog will feature details about upcoming shows.
Could it be? Yes, it could.
Something’s coming, something good,
Come on, something, come on in, don’t be shy,
Pull up a chair!
The air is humming,
And something great is coming! *
*with thanks to Stephen Sondheim whose lyrics from “West Side Story” I’ve borrowed and re-arranged
Summer calls for shorts. Not just the kind you wear. The kind you read. Winter is a good time to pick up a novel, a memoir, a complex text. Something you can sink your teeth into like a thick stew that fills you up with comfort through long, cold nights. But summer is all about brevity. A day at the beach. A cool mouthful of ice cream. Something comfortable you can dip into and out of. This doesn’t mean short stories are flimsy, fly-away and forgettable. Some of our greatest literature is found in the short stories of such authors as Fitzgerald, Poe, O’Connor, Chekhov, du Maurier, Asimov, de Maupissant. . . and my personal hero, O.Henry. The list could go on well beyond summer. Great writers understand the challenge and power of the short story.
It’s true that a full-length story establishes lasting relationships through details and complexities of plot that a short story lacks. But a well-crafted short story can stay with you far beyond its reading. If you think that fewer words mean less intensity, I offer up what is possibly the shortest story ever written and challenge you to remain unmoved:
“For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.” This six-word story is often attributed to Ernest Hemingway, although it has never been verified. Does it matter? You get the point.
You can find great short stories in collections by a single author or in literary journals such as Tin House, Granta, Ploughshares, Crazy Horse, Black Warrior, Prairie Schooner and Glimmer Train.
Whether you pick up a collection of classic shorts or prefer contemporary fashions (check out the shorts of Harry Crews, Bobbie Ann Mason, Stephen King, Lorrie Moore, Jim Shepard and Annie Proulx) – it’s summer and you really should try on some shorts!code>
Pity the poor chapbook. Although it has been around for nearly 500 years, it never makes the best seller lists. In fact, many people have no idea what a chapbook is – I never heard of the term until I attended a writers retreat several years ago. Oh, how times have changed!
Chap books are believed to have originated in England in the 1500s as small, cheaply produced books for people whose literacy was limited and who could not afford expensive books of those times. They were printed using woodcuts and were sold by traveling peddlers called chapmen. Chapbooks typically contained romantic tales of chivalry, religious and moral instruction, cookbooks, guides to fortune telling and magic, and bawdy stories full of innuendo (the same topics that sell well today). Some displayed graphic art.
As the process and machinery of printing was refined publishing became cheaper. At the same time literacy improved. Books that once were accessible only to the wealthy and educated became more available to the general population and the need for chapbooks waned.
Today’s vast publishing capabilities have brought back the chapbook in interesting ways. They are enjoying a revival of sorts. They remain a perfect format to present a short story or small collection of poetry but have left their primitive look in the past. Now, the best chapbooks are works of art, emphasizing original design as well as featuring original writing. Their publishing run is limited, typically 100-300 copies. Chapbooks have become the coveted treasures of collectors who appreciate the value of an original work of art that is in limited supply, that can be held in the hand and that touches many senses.
It is less likely that you will find chapbooks in big chain stores and book discounters. So take a trip to your local independent book store and see if they have a Chapbook section. If they don’t, share some of this information with them and suggest they devote a corner of their store to this lovely and growing revival.
To sample chapbooks and so much more, come to the 29th annual Chicago Tribune Printers Row Lit Fest June 8th and 9th. This is the largest free outdoor literary event in the Midwest with more than 150 booksellers from across the country displaying and selling new, used and antiquarian books. Several renowned authors will offer insights and entertainment at various presentations throughout the event. All events are free but tickets must be reserved for select programs. For details visit Printers Row Lit Fest.
The oldest known literature, written in the Sumerian language, dates back to the Middle Bronze Age (circa 2600 BCE). War is as old as mankind. At some unknown point in time, the two came together. The result is the literature of war.
On Memorial Day, as we commemorate those who have served and sacrificed for the freedom the rest of us enjoy, my thoughts turn to the variations on a theme known as the literature of war. War has been expressed through every written art form, including novels, poetry, memoir, essay and graphic literature. It is history viewed through the lens of each author.
Through literature, war has been glorified and vilified, made just and unjust, raised up to soaring beauty and razed down to something incomprehensively ugly. The literary depiction of war depends on whether the writer views it as winning or losing – not necessarily the actual battle, it can also be about the moral battle within one’s conscience.
Writers are challenged to convey to non-combatants, what combat is like. What the aftermath is like. How it changes those who engage in it and those who find themselves caught up in it.
As long as there is war, humanity will try to express its impact through literature. Try to give it meaning. Try to make madness logical. Mankind has never learned enough about war to end it. War literature represents mankind’s eternal paradox in words.
Have I misjudged James Patterson? This best-selling author, known primarily for thrillers, has received mixed reviews from his peers. Many consider him more of an industry than an artist, churning out book after book. I’ve shared that view.
Honestly, I haven’t been fair to the man. I haven’t read any of his books. I tend to be suspicious of authors who constantly publish new work and self-promote on TV. Although I enjoy psychological thrillers (his predominant genre), I don’t know if his style is my cup of tea. But I’ve decided to check out Patterson’s books.
What made me reconsider Patterson is his recent Salon interview on trying to save an imperiled book industry. In the Salon interview, Patterson cites how governments of other countries support their publishing industry and suggests ways our country can step up to the challenge. The Salon interview followed on the heels of ads Patterson published in the New York Times Book Review and Publishers Weekly calling for individual, corporate and government support of book stores, libraries and reading.
Some have accused Patterson of using this platform to sell more of his books. I disagree. For several years, without fanfare, he has established hundreds of educational scholarships and donated thousands of books to libraries. He also created ReadKiddoRead.com, which helps parents, teachers, and librarians find the best books for their children.
In the world of commerce, change is inevitable. The emergence of self-publishing provides more opportunities for writers to get their work produced; eReaders make books more portable; online booksellers and big box discounters offer books at lower prices. If we are complacent, these good changes will come at a cost we cannot afford: losing the traditional publishers that produce enduring classics, along with the bookstores and libraries that keep the classics in circulation. It would be wonderful if support came solely from private interests but it has not been enough. There is a role for our government to assist in the promotion, protection and preservation of enduring American literature. Our role is to demand this assistance.
As noted in last week’s blog, I went to Boston for my son’s graduation. While there, I visited the legendary Harvard Coop in Cambridge. Being in a place so filled to the brim with books and other treats for bibliophiles, I was reminded of a scene in the 1984 comedy-drama film Moscow on the Hudson where Soviet circus performer-turned-defector Vladimir Ivanov (Robin Williams) visits his first U.S. supermarket. Confronted with rows upon rows of various toilet paper choices, he is overwhelmed and faints. That’s how I felt at the Harvard Coop: all that artistry with stories, language, facts and imagination tucked into these magical things called books! I couldn’t buy all of them but how could I choose from among so many temptations?
Away from the obligations and distractions of home, I also leisurely dipped into the New York Times Book Review. It reviews only 2-3 percent of the books that are submitted, only books published in the United States and available through general-interest bookstores, and generally not self-published books. I marveled at the variety of new works that were elevated by appearing in the Review. Those books would soon find their places alongside the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves at the Harvard Coop, other stores around the country, and countless internet bookseller sites. But what about all the great books they didn’t review?
As daunting as it is for readers like me (and you) to choose books in which to invest our time, money and attention, imagine how challenging it is for most authors to get us to choose their books. This challenge is amplified many times over for newer authors, who have not developed a following. Like the Hollywood studio system of yesteryear, the publishing industry that rolled out new authors with national promotions and nurtured their careers no longer exists.
There is a lot of literary talent left in the shadows because most authors are not marketing-savvy. With the emergence of self-publishing services alongside an increase in small publishing houses, authors have new avenues to get their work published. But being published does not automatically equate with selling books, as many a disillusioned novice author has discovered. Authors must maximize their marketing efforts if they want to sell their books.
After months of anticipation, I am happy to announce that my webcast show Book●ed is about to go into production, with a global launch date coming this June. The show will be a lively, entertaining half-hour introducing authors and their recently published books. A new edition of Book●ed will debut every week and then be available 24/7 on our website, as well as other websites and social media. The marketing mix offered to authors is unique among literary webcasts. To find out more about the webcasts and follow our guests, please visit www.bookedwebcast.com. Don’t forget to sign up for email reminders of our weekly blog updates. If you’re an author with a great recently published book, check my website for submission guidelines.
Booklovers visiting the Boston area should take the T red line to Harvard Square and visit the Harvard Coop and (for used scholarly books) Raven Used Books.
I was single and living in a Manhattan brownstone when I bought a paperback book because of its intriguing cover. I was not familiar with the author (who, at that time, had just one successful novel under his belt) and the title of his second novel didn’t grab me. But the 1976 Signet paperback with an embossed girl’s face, totally black except for one drop of bright red blood at the corner of the girl’s mouth, was unlike any I had ever seen. So I bought Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot, and read one of the scariest books ever.
How scared was I? During the day, I would immerse myself in the book. Every night, I would place the book outside my apartment and lock the door. The story was perfect gothic horror and the cover conveyed the spirit of the haunting tale.
After Salem’s Lot, I became more aware of book jacket designs. Some designs are iconic. They include the original covers for In Cold Blood ; The Godfather ; Catch-22 ; Brave New World ; Clockwork Orange ; The Great Gatsby ; The Grapes of Wrath and Psycho. Great covers don’t belong solely in the adult fiction realm; iconic covers for nonfiction include The Mind’s Eye ; We Must Love One Another or Die ; What I Talk About When I Talk About Running and Visual Shock. Iconic covers for youth literature include The Cat in the Hat ; Goodnight Moon and Stuart Little.
EBooks also rely on eye-catching covers but that’s a topic for another Blog entry. About eBooks, I’ll simply quote famed book designer Chip Kidd: “Much is to be gained by eBooks: ease, convenience, portability. But something is definitely lost: tradition, a sensual experience, the comfort of thingy-ness — a little bit of humanity.”
“Don’t judge a book by its cover” is good analogous advice about how we view people. Of course, it also applies to books. However, especially in today’s marketplace where we are bombarded with choices, we often select a book by its cover. That makes the cover a critical component of a book’s ability to sell. Unless we are looking for a specific author or title, the book cover reaches our senses before anything else. It’s like any other kind of non-specific shopping: we have some idea of what we need or want, we go to the marketplace and, even before we start reading labels (or book jacket blurbs), we reach for the item that intrigues or pleases our visual sense.
Authors would be wise to pay as much attention to the design of their book cover as they are to their manuscript. And readers should take an extra moment to appreciate the creative cover art of the book they are reading.
In a 24/7 news world, we ricochet from one tragic story to the next. Children gunned down. Beautiful days ripped by deadly explosions. Communities ravaged by nature’s deadly force. Reason eludes us. We are reduced to the reality of our mortality and the power of chance over choice. Disasters render us speechless.
In hard times, many seek solace in scripture. Beyond holy texts, great authors also help us navigate the depths of our despair. Geoffrey Chaucer, Zora Neal Hurston, Toni Morrison, Michael Ondaatje and Jennifer Lash are just some of the novelists whose books effectively capture the human experience of grief. Their characters, milieux and story lines may not match our particular experiences but they mirror the ways we grieve, tapping into our human strengths and frailties.
Great non-fiction literature also gives voice to unspeakable pain. One such work is A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis (originally published under the pseudonym N.W. Clerk in 1961, following the death of his wife). Lewis, a noted theologian as well as a celebrated author, candidly reflects on his grief as he moves through its stages. Many consider A Grief Observed the best book about coming to terms with grief. Questions of faith along with the daily challenges he faced living without the love of his life find eloquence at the master’s pen.
Examples include: “Her absence is like the sky, spread over everything.” “No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.” and “Getting over it so soon? But the words are ambiguous. To say the patient is getting over it after an operation for appendicitis is one thing; after he’s had his leg off is quite another. After that operation either the wounded stump heals or the man dies. If it heals, the fierce, continuous pain will stop. Presently he’ll get back his strength and be able to stump about on his wooden leg. He has ‘got over it.’ But he will probably have recurrent pains in the stump all his life, and perhaps pretty bad ones; and he will always be a one-legged man. There will be hardly any moment when he forgets it. Bathing, dressing, sitting down and getting up again, even lying in bed, will all be different. His whole way of life will be changed. All sorts of pleasures and activities that he once took for granted will have to be simply written off. Duties too. At present I am learning to get about on crutches. Perhaps I shall presently be given a wooden leg. But I shall never be a biped again.”
Lewis did not intend his book to represent everyone’s experience. In chronicling his own, however, his gift with language, wedded to his philosophic and spiritual views, gives us words to help process and express our own grief.
Great fiction exploring death, grief and mourning includes Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale; Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God; Morrison’s Beloved; Ondaatje’s The English Patient; and Lash’s Blood Ties. Nonfiction literature includes Lewis’ A Grief Observed (originally published under the pseudonym N.W. Clerk; republished under Lewis’ name).
My daughter, Kenna, suggested I write about writers’ pets. The menagerie in our home includes a calico cat named Katje, a dwarf hotot rabbit named Oliver and a betta fish named Tidus. Past residents included Arrow (English Pointer), Dusty (mini-lop), guinea pigs Mücki and Rosette, and a goldfish named Sunset. All have been amusing, but only one has been a muse for me, resulting in my prose poem, Katje Must Be Fed. My niece, Leisa, also has a variety of pets but it was her first pug that inspired her to write the children’s picture book, Pugsley’s Imagination.
Dogs have been favored by the likes of Steinbeck, Cheever, Doctorow, Vonnegut, Sendak, Wharton, Dorothy Parker, Stephen King, Virginia Wolf and Robert Penn Warren (who saluted Tolkien by naming his dog Frodo). Cats were companions to such literary luminaries as Twain, Dumas, Beckett, Huxley, Kerouac, Collette, Eliot, Plath, Sartre (his cat was Nothing) and Raymond Chandler (whose Persian purred while perched on his manuscripts as Chandler edited). Polar opposites Hemingway and Capote owned both cats and dogs (the progeny of Hemingway’s famous six-toed cats still roam the Hemingway House & Museum in Key West, FL).
As far as I can tell, authors choose cats more often than dogs to share their lives. This may not be a matter of personalities (authors’ or species’) as much as it is a result of lifestyle. An author living in the countryside might like to take thoughtful walks with a canine companion while a city-dwelling author might view dog walking as stealing writing time. Cats tend to be more independent — or less needy — than dogs, depending on how you feel about felines vs. canines.
Then again, look at which authors have chosen dogs and which have chosen cats. Do you see any trends? And what can we imagine about writers with more “exotic” tastes in pets? Those would include some obvious ones such as Beatrix Potter (rabbit) and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (raccoon). But how do you explain Flannery O’Connor (peacocks) or Lord Byron (peacocks, crocodile, crow, heron, fox and bear — oh my!)?
Ray Bradbury’s 1953 dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451, presents a repressive society of the future where books are illegal and firemen burn any house that contains them. Bradbury titled his most famous book after “the temperature at which book paper catches fire, and burns.” The cultural landscape Bradbury created is reminiscent of Nazi Germany and other societies throughout history, from ancient eras to contemporary times, in which censorship of thoughts resulted in mass book destruction.
Lest you think America’s celebrated Constitutionally-protected right to “free speech” has shielded this country from similar attempts at suppression, be aware that in the past dozen years alone, Harry Potter books were burned in several American states, “non-approved” Bibles, books and music were burned in North Carolina, and copies of the Qu’ran were burned in various states.
It doesn’t take burning to threaten books and the treasures they possess. Every year, attempts to ban books abound throughout our country. Thought-provoking expression and concepts are often banished from classrooms, libraries and public discourse simply because someone has taken offense at a word, a phrase or an illustration; isolated fragments are pulled out of context and attacked, often by people who haven’t bothered to read the full text or consider different viewpoints. This is true of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, a perennial title on “Most Challenged Books” lists since its publication in 1960, and of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, recently banned in Chicago Public Schools (see last week’s Book●ed blog 451 Degrees – Part 1 for details).
Fahrenheit 451 is prescient and worth a read (or re-read) six decades after its first publication. Bradbury envisioned many technical and cultural developments that are common today. The book’s uncanny foresight magnifies the strength of its message: When we ban books, we repress thought; we reduce the ability to think; we diminish what it is to be human. If we do not defend the freedom of books to exist and be read, we could find ourselves fulfilling Bradbury’s dystopian nightmare.
We do not need to endorse books with viewpoints, language or imagery that are at odds with our own — but we should not fear them. Every book eventually stands on its literary merits. Poorly written books, those with gratuitous attempts to shock or titillate, will fall from their own weakness. Every book should be given a chance: to start a dialogue, to teach, to enlighten and to enhance humanity.
Banned Books Week 2013 will occur September 22 through 28. See Banned Books Week for information and resources for getting your library or organization involved in this event.
Noted author Judy Blume once said, “Fear is often disguised as moral outrage.” I pondered this concept – one I happen to agree with – as I read a Chicago Tribune story about a student-run book club at Chicago’s Lane Tech College Prep High School. The club is called 451 Degrees, the temperature at which book paper burns in Ray Bradbury’s classic 1953 futuristic book about a repressive America that confiscates books and burns them. The Lane Tech book club was created by 16-year-old student Levi Todd with the express purpose of reading banned and controversial books.
Earlier this month, Chicago Public Schools issued a directive that removed all copies of the highly acclaimed, award-winning autobiographical graphic novel* Persepolis from seventh-grade classrooms because of “powerful images of torture.” Author Marjane Satrapi defended the book about her childhood during the 1979 Iranian revolution, noting, “These are not photos of torture. It’s a drawing and it’s one frame. . . Seventh graders have brains and they see all kinds of things on cinema and the internet.” (*For more about graphic novels, see last week’s Book●ed blog Let’s Get Graphic.)
As a parent, I am sensitive to the challenges of protecting children from unnecessarily disturbing or inappropriate words, images and values (whatever we deem them to be). The key word is unnecessarily; the concept is very subjective. In reality, we cannot protect our children from disturbing or inappropriate words, images or values. In today’s world, they are all around, seeping into our everyday lives. If we close our eyes to this reality, we fail our children and our society. Ignorance is not bliss.
We can do better by our children and our society by being vigilant about controversial books – not by jumping the banned book bandwagon, but by reading those books and discussing the aspects that have raised the controversy. We could all learn much about our world and the people in it and the events that shape our lives – and our future.
American classics that have been banned or challenged around the country include The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald; The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger; The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck; To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee; and The Color Purple by Alice Walker. For more about books in the U.S. that have been challenged as well as information about classic novels that have been challenged and/or banned, please see Frequently Challenged Books.
When I was a kid, comic books shared shelf space with more serious literature. Black Beauty and Little Women were flanked by the likes of Archie, Superman and MAD Magazine (which originated as a comic before it morphed into a graphic magazine to avoid the strictures of the Comics Code Authority). Most of us read comics, either casually or loyally, when we were young. As we left childhood, we graduated to “real” literature — books without drawings. The emergence of graphic novels has, unfortunately, been dismissed by many of us as just another form of comics.
Some graphic novels are like fast food: easy to consume, not meant to be memorable. But many graphic novels are worth a closer look. Beyond Japanese manga or DC and Marvel comics, some graphic novels are true works of art in every sense. When the author is also the illustrator, we see with the author’s eyes rather than with our mind’s eyes. For traditional readers, this takes getting used to. The effort is rewarded because we can imagine what the author wanted to convey through design as well as words; when text is limited, graphics must convey to us what a character is thinking or what action is taking place.
The best graphic literature – novels and non-fiction — are on par with the best traditional literature. Maus aka Maus: A Survivor’s Tale — My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman recounts the dark history of the Holocaust, depicting Jews as mice and Germans as cats; it won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize. Other graphic works of note were subsequently adapted into well-received movies. They include Iranian-born Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical novel, Persepolis, about her childhood during the country’s Islamic revolution (a 2007 Cannes Film Festival winner and Oscar nominee); V for Vendetta (a 2005 film adaptation of the 1982 graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd); and 300 from the graphic novel by Frank Miller. Two graphic novels made the short list to win the prestigious 2012 Costa Book Awards, one of the UK’s most prestigious and popular literary prizes: Bryan Talbot’s graphic memoir Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes and Jeff Winterhart’s Days of the Bagnold Summer.
My Book●ed webcasts would certainly welcome any submissions from authors of graphic literature to be interviewed on my show. Meanwhile, don’t dismissively walk past the shelves of graphic novels at your library or book store. If you look closer, you just might find an artistic masterpiece.
I have a bundle of letters, tied in a pale pink satin ribbon, that my mother saved nearly 70 years ago. The letters were sent to her from, or about, my father when he was in the U.S. Army; when he was in training, in combat, missing in action, discharged, always longing to come home to his wife and young son (I was not born yet). I’ve read and re-read these letters, many written in my father’s hand. I treasure this remnant of the life he lead and the love he had for his family, to know what he (a quiet, reserved man) thought and felt during those important years in his life. Had eMail or Skype technology been available to my father during World War II, I would have no record today of the person he was at that time or what he experienced. As wonderful as the ease, speed and reach of using eMails is today, think of how much is lost in the infinite universe of the internet when we forego the archaic use of paper, pen and the postal service.
I mention this because of the explosive growth of eReaders and eBooks. Kindle. Nook. Kobo. Cute, simple names for the handy eReaders that have revolutionized everything about reading in the modern world. Friendly, cozy, endearing names for technical wonders that put a veritable world of literature and useful information at our fingertips. EBooks cost less than their printed and bound counterparts. They may contain immediate links to additional information or insights, which are not accessible from traditional books. EReaders can be tucked into a pocket or purse. They instantly make a virtual library available wherever you are. So many reasons to welcome modern technology into our reading lives. Yet the awareness of specific literature is more likely to evaporate into the “cloud” universe of e-technology once it has been viewed and returned to the world of bits and bytes storage. Literature that is solely in eBook format is more likely to be lost to future generations. E-literature is less likely to be serendipitously discovered while browsing titles on spines of book, standing like sentries in rows upon rows of bookshelves.
Call me an old-fashioned gal; I’m usually late to the high-tech dance. Although I recognize the many advantages of getting my lit fix via an eReader, I love the look, feel and smell of traditional books. I like the artistry that goes into the production of a hardcover book or a quality trade paperback: the choice of typeface, the grade of paper, the choice of cover graphics. I like a book that has a history when it comes to me, or begins a history after I’ve purchased and read it. I like my favorite books to remain as companions on my bookshelves, reminding me of the intimate journeys we shared.
An eReader is certainly going to be in my future. For Book●ed to cover the wide spectrum of what is being published and read, it is necessary for me to familiarize myself with all aspects, including eBooks, one of the fastest growing segments of the publishing industry. I will appreciate the ease of accessing a world of literature with the touch of a button. But traditional books, real books, will always be my first love.
If you’re in the market for an eReader, you can see a comparison of the three leading brands – Kindle, Nook and Kobo – at eReader Camparison and Reader Features Chart.
