Amazon’s latest generation of E-readers, the Kindle Fire HDX got a rave review at NYTimes.com, noting improved battery life, lighter weight and sharply defined images. PCMag.com takes you through a comparison of the current top eReaders.
Congratulations to 451 Degrees, the book club at Chicago’s Lane Tech High School that I mentioned in my March 31, 2013 blog. They recently won the Illinois Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Award for leading a protest after the book was banned from Chicago public schools and libraries. The clubs efforts via traditional and social media gained enough supporters that the ban was rescinded. 451 Degrees founder Levi Todd said, “A lot of books banned are really good books. They make for great discussions.”
Learning to read is probably the most difficult and revolutionary thing that happens to the human brain and if you don’t believe that, watch an illiterate adult try to do it. – John Steinbeck
It was disheartening to learn that a study conducted in late April by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy found that 32 million adults – 14 percent of the population — in our nation can’t read. Among high school graduates, 19 percent can’t read; and 21 percent of adults in the U.S. read below a 5th grade level. Only 29 percent displayed a “basic” reading level. The U.S. illiteracy rate hasn’t changed in 10 years.
Illiteracy impacts so many aspects of society in general and countless individual lives. It denies people economic security, access to health care, and the ability to actively participate in civic life. Illiteracy is often a legacy handed down from one generation to another; parents who don’t read are much more likely to have children who don’t read.
For those of us who love reading, it may seem unimaginable that others are so diminished by their inability to read. What we need to understand is that, like many skills, there is an optimal period of brain maturation in which to develop reading skills. For many reasons, children may miss learning to read during this period, finding themselves illiterate by the time they graduate from high school. Having lost the chance to fall in love with reading at a young age, they may feel unable to learn this crucial skill and lack the motivation to take on the challenge.
Schools and libraries have developed programs to encourage reading and to help those struggling to become literate. As booklovers, there are some things each of us can do to support literacy. We can read to the children in our lives. We can volunteer at schools, libraries, houses of worship and other places that offer literacy mentorships. We can also get involved with World Book Night, an annual celebration dedicated to spreading the love of reading, person to person.
Each year on April 23 –Shakespeare’s birthday– tens of thousands of people in the U.S. go out into their communities and give a total of half a million free World Book Night paperbacks to light and non-readers. World Book Day is celebrated in the UK and Ireland by giving schoolchildren a book token. World Book Night was introduced in 2011 in the UK and Ireland to bring attention to books for adult readers.
With its launch in 2012, World Book Night U.S. chose to continue the focus on adult readers,
with a few books for teens and middle readers included. Many, many other wonderful programs already exist to get books to young children, and they are essential. But World Book Night U.S. fills another important need: Encouraging reading in the teen and adult population, especially those who may not have access to printed books for reasons of means or geography.
The goal of World Book Night is to seek out adult readers wherever they are, in towns and cities, in public settings or in places from nursing homes to food pantries, low-income schools to mass transit. We owe it to our society to help lift others out of illiteracy. As booklovers – readers, writers, editors, agents, publishers, booksellers, librarians and teachers – we can join World Book Night to spread the love.
There’s encouraging news for those of us who value our local independent bookstores. The American Booksellers Association, a non-profit industry association founded in 1900 that promotes independent bookstores in North America, reports that its membership rolls have gone up every year since 2009, from 1,401 four years ago to 1,632 this year.
At the same time, the National Endowment for the Arts reports that only 47% of Americans say they read a book for pleasure last year. Read my Spreading the Love blog post to learn how you can help improve this statistic.
The 2013 Nobel Prize winner in literature, Alice Munro, just announced her retirement at age 82. The author of 14 books was also the 2009 winner of the Man Booker International Prize for her body of work. Several of her short stories have been translated into movies. The wonderful 2006 film Away From Her was adapted from Munro’s The Bear Came Over the Mountain, which originally appeared in The New Yorker in 1999, was reprinted and is available for reading in their October 21, 2013 issue.
It’s not uncommon for movies to be adapted from books. It’s far less common for a movie to be made about books. And even less common for that movie to be a documentary. One that comes to mind is the 2002 film, Stone Reader, produced by Barnes & Noble about the 1972 novel Stones of Summer (referred to in my February 17th Blog posts, “Language Vs. Plot” and “Recommended”).
Another documentary about books is in the works and I’m looking forward to its debut. The title is simply Books, A Documentary but I don’t expect it to be a simple movie. It is the story of one man’s passion for books. That man is Larry McMurtry, American novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter, a prolific writer best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Lonesome Dove.
What is less known about McMurtry is that he is so passionate about books that for more than 40 years he amassed a collection of 450,000 second-hand books by rescuing the inventory of 26 failing bookstores and more than 200 personal libraries. Those books filled four converted warehouses that comprised his Archer City, Texas, bookstore, aptly called “Booked Up.”
McMurtry lamented the loss of independent bookstores that couldn’t compete with discounters and internet marketers. “It’s tragic,” he said. “It’s just clear that bookselling as it’s been basically since Gutenberg — a form of dispensing culture, if you will — is clearly passing away. I don’t think we have a reading culture anymore. Five years ago, I would have thought I was leaving my son and my grandson a great asset, and now I’m not sure I am.”
In August 2012, Booked Up auctioned more than 300,000 antiquarian books from its inventory. Through the personal story of McMurtry’s life-time love affair with books and his 40-year journey as a collector-seller, Books, A Documentary promises to be a compelling look at the past, present and future of the American antiquarian book trade.
A dear friend of mine with a biographical book that was published in Italy, is now planning to publish the English translation in the United States. With an intimate knowledge of her subject and fluency in English as well as Italian, translation was relatively easy. The spirit and flow of the book remains delightfully intact. Most authors do not have these advantages. They must rely on others to translate their books.
Unlike translations we might hear at the United Nations, in a corporate setting or in a textbook, translation of literature is a special craft. Beyond getting the words right, literary translators must climb into the mind and soul of the author, accurately conveying the imagination, the intentions and the artistry of the original work. Translations of poetic works must also maintain the cadence, and in many instances choose rhyming words.
Some translations work beautifully. Some don’t. Some books have been translated multiple times with mixed results. The most obvious is the Bible. The United Bible Society has tallied 1,257 languages into which the New Testament has been translated. Along with religious books, children’s books stand high in the ranks of most-frequently translated literature. They include such works as The Little Prince (originally written in French, translated into 216 languages), Andersen’s Fairy Tales (Swedish into 153 languages), Pinocchio (Italian into 100 languages) and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (English into 97 languages).
Mark Twain noted, “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is really a large matter — it’s the difference between a lightning bug and the lightning.” So if you’re thinking of reading a book that was translated from another language, it is worth doing some research to be sure you get the best possible version. Huffington Post recently released A Literature In Translation Starter Kit, listing “14 absolutely indispensable in-translation books to get you started.”
Renown author and essayist Salman Rushdie said “It is normally supposed that something always gets lost in translation; I cling, obstinately to the notion that something can also be gained.” So why are only 3% or less of the books published in the United States translations? A majority of the 400 or so original translations of fiction and poetry books published annually in the States already achieved success in their own country. That leaves countless excellent translations of lesser known quality books out of the realm of public awareness.
Kudos to Chad W. Post, director of Open Letter Books, which specializes in great books in translation, as well as the web site Three Percent. In a recent post on the Publishers Weekly website, he wrote about this unfortunate oversight. Based on his experience and expertise, he shared his list of the 20 best books in translation that you probably never heard of before.
The literary world lost another highly regarded best-selling author with the death of Tom Clancy on October 1st. His books, often translated into French, German and Dutch, elevated military and espionage thrillers to new technological heights. Several of his books were also translated into movies.
Do you remember your first favorite book? Was it one of the original 12 Little Golden Books like Pokey Little Puppy (the top-selling children’s book until Harry Potter came along)? Perhaps it was a picture book like Goodnight Moon or The Hungry, Hungry Caterpillar, an introduction to rhyming through Green Eggs and Ham, a collection of morality tales like Aesop’s Fables, or a book of short stories based on lovable characters like Peter Rabbit and Winnie the Pooh?
Scholars have differing opinions about when books started to be written specifically for children but they agree that today’s children’s literature (also known as juvenile literature) evolved from the contributions of many cultures. Even before the invention of books, adults told tales to children. Many children’s tales in modern times have their origins in the spoken narratives of ancient storytellers. Every corner of the world traces its storytelling and books to its particular history and culture, through evolution and revolution across the ages.
The first book published in what would become the United States was a catechism written in verse for children, known as Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes. The author was Puritan John Cotton. The book was published in Boston in 1646. By the 1800s, classic children’s literature from many other countries was translated into English for American children. Examples include The Swiss Family Robinson (Switzerland), Grimm’s Fairy Tales (Germany) and The Adventures of Pinocchio (Italy). From England came Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Jungle Book and Wendy and Peter (known here as Peter Pan). The 1800s also saw wonderful children’s literature written and published in the U.S. Examples are Little Women and Tom Sawyer.
While the period between WW I and WW II saw a noticeable decline in children’s literature in Europe, libraries in North America spurred growth by creating demand and opportunity to bring children and books together. Publishers followed with reviews and events geared toward children’s books. This period saw the introduction of book series from such authors as Laura Ingalls Wilder (Little House on the Prairie) and Dr. Seuss.
As Baby Boomers came of reading age in the 1950s, they ignited a boom in juvenile literature. In addition to such books as Charlotte’s Web and the imaginatively illustrated books by Maurice Sendak, non-fiction books flourished in the children’s market.
It’s no surprise that the Harry Potter series, launched in 1997, became the best-selling children’s book series of all time. The plot and writing have drawn legions of admirers among adults as well as children because J.K. Rowling respected readers of all ages.
The growing popularity of eReaders (Kindle, Book, Kobo, etc.) raises questions and concerns about juvenile literature. While such devices make it easier to access books, they take away the physical pleasures associated with traditional books. Books on eReaders will never grow old with us; never greet us as we enter our homes, saluting us from bookshelves, inviting our fingers to dance through pages that evoke the memories of where and when we first met.
As holidays approach and you’re wondering what gift to give a special child in your life, give a book. Make it a real, physical book. Save the eReaders for later. If you really love that child, don’t wait for the holidays. Celebrate now by introducing your special child to a book that could become their first love.
Have you seen those ads for Lumosity, MyBrainTrainer and other “brain gyms,” where you can fork over $15 or more every month to keep your brain youthful? The fear of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia in later life is as common as the fear of heart attacks and strokes. While some of us head off to the fitness center, others are investing in online brain games. Mental exercises, say “the experts,” can keep you sharp in old age, just as physical exercises keep your body fit through the years.
Time to break out the confetti and rejoice, fellow bookworms! According to research findings reported this past July in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, reading books and writing can do as much for you as ready-made mind exercises.
Findings from a six-year research study, supported by the National Institute on Aging and the Illinois Department of Public Health, are remarkable. Memory decline was reduced 32 percent in bookworms who continued reading into old age, compared to engaging in average mental activity. Those who neither read nor wrote frequently experienced a 48 percent decline in memory. “We shouldn’t underestimate the effects of everyday activities, such as reading and writing, on our children, ourselves and our parents or grandparents,” says study author Robert S. Wilson, a neuropsychologist at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
Save your online “brain gym” membership fees and pick up a book instead. Don’t waste another moment. Just like physical exercise, the sooner you start and maintain a regimen, the better you’ll be in the long run. A seven-year study of 2,000 healthy individuals aged 18 to 60 found that mental agility peaks at 22. By 27, mental processes like reasoning, spatial visualization and speed of thought began to decline.
So let your mind take leaps and bounds. Let it take flight. Delight your synapses. Read a book. Then share it with a friend.
Have you ever seen the earth’s evolution represented as a 24-hour clock? On it, even the simplest forms of life didn’t exist until 4am. Sexual Reproduction has only been around since about 6pm. The Dinosaurs didn’t live and die off until late evening, and Humanity itself has been around for roughly 1 minute, 17 seconds. To see what a 24-hour hour earth evolution clock looks like click here.
My long-time (25+ years) pen pal in England marvels at my openness when writing about the most personal aspects of my life. Diana was brought up with the British stiff upper lip approach to life whereas I am ready to hop onto a therapist’s couch at the slightest twitch. I grew up in the culture of Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Phil. Whatever one might think about those media icons or the dozens of other American confess-and-be-healed talkathons, they’ve unmasked masses of the walking wounded looking for a path to healing – providing solace in sharing the lessons learned at the school of hard knocks.
Well beyond talk shows, self-help has found a welcome home in publishing. It’s estimated that more than $1 billion in self-help books sell every year. They sell in numbers large enough to be included in the New York Times Sunday Book Review, where best-sellers are listed under “Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous.”
As popular as self-help books are (perhaps magnified by the anxious times we live in), they have their critics. Anyone can hang a shingle proclaiming he or she can help you. Anyone can publish a book proclaiming it will help you.
Sandra Dolby, a retired professor of folklore at Indiana University read 300 self-help titles as preparation for her own book, Self-Help Books: Why Americans Keep Reading Them (University of Illinois Press, 2008). Her take on this genre is, “Reading them is like going to a trusted friend to ask for advice, and listening to them tell you what they think you should do and why it would be a good thing. Most people like the idea of self-education and discovery, which is encouraging.”
I come down somewhere in the middle on self-help books. Books that address our challenges with helpful advice deserve our attention. At the same time, caveat emptor – buyer beware. Check a book’s reviews and the reviewers. Peruse the chapter headings. Read some of the advice. Does it resonate with you? Each book is like a potential new friend: it must stand on its own to prove its worthiness.
One form of self-help comes from victims who became victors. There’s comfort in seeing a successful path forged by others who precede us. Wounded? Survive! Thrive!!! is such a book. It is a collection of true accounts by 101 women who faced a variety of crises yet reclaimed their lives – and who share what they learned along the way. Most contributors are not professional writers but they candidly divulge their personal stories to help others, men as well as women. As Dolby suggests, “Reading them is like going to a trusted friend.” The book also offers a list of resources.
To learn more about Wounded? Survive! Thrive!!! and hear one woman’s incredible story, watch my Book●ed interview with “stolen” adoptee Ellen Miller, starting Monday, August 5th at 8 PM (EST) at www.bookedwebcast.com.
The newest edition of Book●ed is shown on Watch Now and in the Archives, while all previous shows remain available in the Archives. And while you’re visiting the Book●ed website, check out the Book Excerpts page where you can purchase any book reviewed on my show..
If the name Evelyn Wood rings a bell, you are probably a child of the ‘60s or ‘70s. She was an English teacher who gained fame as the creator of a system to increase a reader’s speed by 200-500%. She coined the term Speed Reading and built a lucrative business around it. President Kennedy, a natural speed reader, brought her to the White House to teach his staff Speed Reading. The staffs of Presidents Ford and Carter also took her course.
I took a Speed Reading course many years ago. I failed. I tried. Really, I did. I practiced all the exercises and did increase my speed while maintaining comprehension. I used it to advantage when reading non-fiction periodicals and textbooks. But Speed Reading diminished the enjoyment I derived from reading fiction, poetry and anything written in beautifully expressive language.
A cardinal rule of speed reading is to banish the voices in our heads when we read (what scientific types refer to as subvocalization). But without the voices, I lost the pleasure of the reading experience. I could not have it both ways. I had to choose. When it comes to reading books, I welcome the voices in my head. What about you? What voices live inside your head?
Speaking of voices, come watch my Book●ed interview with author Al Zimbler as we laugh our way through a light-hearted half-hour, discussing his latest book, Broadway at 77th, and his previous three books. An improvisational actor who, at age 88, still has some of the clients he served for decades as a CPA, Al brings his wild and woolly wit to his humorous short stories and poems. You’ll get a taste (think corner deli or the diner down the street) of Al’s humor when his interview becomes available starting Monday, July 22nd at 8 PM (EST) at www.bookedwebcast.com.
The newest edition of Book●ed is shown on Watch Now and in the Archives, while all previous shows remain available in the Archives. And while you’re visiting the Book●ed website, check out the Book Excerpts page where you can purchase any book reviewed on my show.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Literary agent Rachelle Gardner offers a wealth of suggestions for authors who are considering titles for their latest book. You can read these at how to title your book. For a list of tossed titles from more classic books, visit what 10 classic books were almost called. If you're curious about other past winners and the short list for the 2013 Diagram Prize, visit www.thebookseller.com.
Bowker, the company that manages ISBNs and bibliographic information for books published in the U.S., confirmed last October what most of us already knew: self-publishing is on a strong, upward trajectory. Between 2006 and 2011, the number of print and e-books self-published annually jumped an impressive 287%. Of nearly 346,000 print books published in the U.S. in 2011, self-published titles accounted for 43%. In addition, Bowker counted 87,201 self-published e-book titles – not including the many e-books that don't have ISBN numbers.
The availability of self-publishing is good news for writers who are increasingly frustrated by the dwindling opportunities with traditional publishing houses and the limits of small, independent publishers. It's good news for readers who want a broad selection of reading options. It's good for my unique, new Book.ed venture that provides a wide variety of effective, cost-efficient marketing opportunities for authors and others in the publishing community.
In the brief time since Book●ed started inviting authors and editors to submit their published work for a possible review on our weekly webcast (to debut this Spring — visit our website for more information), at least half the books received were self-published. The quality of writing and attention to detail in these books hover between the sublime and the ridiculous. (Cue the haunting whistler.) Here's where I get to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly about self-publishing. Pay attention aspiring authors!
Down every alley and around every corner you'll find a company that would love to publish your work. They'll try to entice you like an internet matchmaking service because they know you'’re hungry for success. Most of us wouldn'’t marry after the first date nor turn our child over to the first nanny that walks through the door, no matter how attractive or affordable they appear to be. So don't casually tie your reputation to a publisher you know nothing about. Don't give away your baby just because someone says they'll make it a star. Don't let fancy clothes or fancy claims corral you into something you'll later regret.
Like Forrest Gump's momma said, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.” Except that you can get an idea of what you're going to get when you take that big bite out of your wallet to hire a company to publish your book.
Start paying attention to self-published books already on the market. Note the ones that present well, with crisp editing, free of typos and grammatical errors. Check lists of award-winning self-published books and notice the companies that produced them. They are likely to produce a good product for you, too.
Self-publishing used to be referred to as Vanity Press. While their capabilities have advanced, be realistic about what self-publishing can – and cannot – do for you, and be prepared to do your part to achieve success. Most houses offer a range of services; make a list of your priorities: decide what's most important for them to do, what you'’re prepared to pay and what you are capable of taking on yourself.
Remember: Getting your book published may be the final step of your writing journey bit it is just the first step of your journey to being read.
A strong self-publishing market almost single-handedly pushed traditional print book sales up six percent in 2011 from the previous year. How do you choose which books to dip into: From the national best seller lists? Because it seems everyone is talking about them? Following a literary blog (if you don't already know what that is, you soon will)? Just browsing the used book section in stores and libraries (not for you “Kindlers”), hoping to serendipitously latch on to great reads you'd never heard of for a bargain price? Once you've cracked open a book (or powered up your Kindle?), do you commit to finishing what you started to read? Or do you “audition” your books, giving them a set number of pages to engage or lose you?
My reading habits have changed over time. Years ago, I used to commit to finishing any book I started. Now, unless I'm reading a book specifically to cull information, it has to have either a provocative plot or stunning writing to retain my attention. At least one book in five that I start will go to the recycle pile to be re-sold or donated before I get through chapter three. It's not that I read less; it's that I'm more selfish with my time. One of my favorite authors was James Michener (Tales of the South Pacific; Sayonara; Hawaii; The Source; and The Covenant, to name a handful of the novels from this prolific author). But I wonder: If I were finding his great books for the first time today, would I have the patience to work through the often-stiff, dry first chapters to get to the juicy parts?
