Booksquare

We end our lazy week with a message of outrage. We’re sure most of you are paying attention to the “signing statements” made by the President — the latest made when he signed the the re-authorization of the Patriot Act. Privacy groups fought and worked hard to ensure that the Act protected the rights of […]

Are we alone in thinking that VS Naipaul is having a bit of nervous breakdown? He’s been a bit ranty on the subject of appreciation and himself. Like all geniuses, he believes he’s underappreciated and unloved. We are going to send him a copy of Wilco’s “Misunderstood”. He’ll enjoy it. Seriously, what is the point […]

In our continuing effort to provide, uh, optimum public service, we are proud to announce that Booksquare is now available by email. Yes, we’ll come to you instead of making you come to us. Which kind of sounds lonely, now that we think about it. But don’t mind us — it’s your life that matters. […]

Before we get started on our topic, we must clear the air. In no way, shape, or form do we support the use of the word “blook”. We demand that this word be stricken from the nation’s vocabulary immediately — think of the children! Do not let this word perpetuate. And with that, we plunge […]

Mr. Segundo has lured author Dana Spiotta (Eat The Document) into his cave to discuss (and we quote): Katherine Ann Power as inspiration, the ambiguities of terrorism, comparisons and similarities between Eat the Document and Lightning Field, witty political activists, the Billboard Liberation Front, cinematic influences, Don DeLillo, plotting, reader expectations, on stopping just short […]

To nobody’s surprise, the right cover for a book does matter. We note this only because we’re not sure what we find more fascinating: that a major publishing conference would have a session on this topic or that Publisher’s Weekly would do an article on the session. Then again, it’s possible that what really caught […]

In what is an apparently radical move, Cindy Spiegel and Julie Grau will call their new Doubleday imprint “Spiegel & Grau”. After noting that publishing houses often name imprints after the male founders, the new name feels “both old-fashioned and radical”. Definitely beats some made-up feminine sounding word that makes no sense at all. Spiegel […]

We are most intrigued by the notion of a “first novel” versus a “second” novel, because, quite possibly, the first is really the second, or maybe even the third. It is the rare author who hits the big-time on the first effort. In the world of writing, that first manuscript is often viewed as a […]

Ah, prestige. So lovely, so heart-warming, so not likely to pay the bills. We will admit that if it weren’t for the higher royalties, we wouldn’t get the desire to publish in hardcover. After all, we count among our acquaintances only one soul who refuses to touch paperback books; everyone else is quite happy to […]

Though we sincerely hope that no New York Times reporters are turning to us for clarification of policy, we cannot be sure. Times reporters are sneaky that way. Thus we offer yet another in our continuing series of public service posts. If you are a reporter for the New York Times, you are also (apparently) […]