Books/Mags/Blogs

No moral to this story, no lesson to be learned, no topic to rant about. Just a collection of memories about a friend. Not ours. Various writers, editors, friends remember Grover Lewis. As he was. Return to Splendor

We often think that people are afraid to write about sex because it is, at its essence, so primal. Murder, for example, almost always has a reason, a motive. People rarely go off randomly killing. It is rare that violence is committed for the sheer joy of getting off, so to speak. But sex? It not only captures the full range of human emotions and behaviors, but it’s also something we do just for the hell of it. No ulterior scheme. No twisted meaning. No secret desire. It’s just sex. And we have been thoroughly brainwashed to believe that that

Did we not say that the libraries will triumph? Hmm, probably not those exact words, but it was on our list. Today, we bring you the story of a library that defies the odds, and a man who loved books. Reading this story made us cry, especially because we identified with Rudy Eiler and the library he wanted. And it’s our kind of joint: “How to Get Filthy Rich, Even If You’re Flat Broke” recommends reading obituaries so you can assume a dead man’s identity to throw creditors off the hunt. “Adventures in Science with Doris and Billy” — circa

Or maybe it’s that there’s something in the Kool-Aid this week. Everyone’s writing about blogging, and not in the way you think. Suzanne McMinn has a great post at Romancing the Blog, and Dan Green of The Reading Experience parodies Suzanne’s nightmares. We’re also working up a little piece, though not nearly as entertaining as the two referenced below, about how to blog or not to blog shouldn’t be the major question authors ask when it comes to the Internet. How To Annoy Me (with your blog) Meeting Strangers

If there’s one thing we like, it’s public relations-speak. You know what we mean — that attempt to put positive spin on something, only to come off as if you’re trying too hard. Like, oh, pretending I Am Charlotte Simmons is doing much better than the numbers (apparently) indicate. We will admit this was one book we chose to avoid based solely on reviews. Also, the Bad Sex award didn’t help. It’s possible it’s a fine book and well-told story. And we are the last to suggest that not meeting previous sales levels indicates dire consequences. Though, again, it does

We are going to say it loud: we hate 85% of romance novel covers. While we’re at it (and we hope this doesn’t come off as politically incorrect), female breasts do nothing for us. We’re woman enough to admit we can admire a good pair, but they don’t make us stupid. If you require a bra, you know what we mean when we say they’re more trouble than not. If you’re seeing a romance novel cover with a, ahem, heaving bosom, we can assure you the target audience is not female. If you see a hot guy, well, why in

Did you know that when you buy blank media like CDs or videocassettes in some countries, you pay a small surcharge that is then remitted back to copyright holders (and, then, hopefully to artists). This fee was imposed because it was presumed that some of these items were being used to tape programs off the television or copy other artistic works. We think there’s something like this in the book world, but cannot be certain (in other words, we’ve heard rumblings, but haven’t encountered specifics). Perhaps the time has come to institute a small charge on used book sales —

Isn’t this whole thing blatant? In theory, yes. In practice, well, we could do better. Like, oh, hmmm, perhaps the fact that we can’t think of anything should tell us that we can’t do better. But that won’t stop us from mentioning that we’ve officially entered the world of unpaid but very happy online columnists (what, you want our thoughts on the world? With pleasure…). Our first article is up at Romancing the Blog, though posted under the alias given at birth. We work hard to protect our secret identity. Now we’re off to sit in traffic and contemplate potholes.

For the three or four of you who haven’t already read Jennifer Weiner’s posting about her attempts to write an article for the New Yorker (much less get anyone on the phone), now is your chance. If the publication is not on your dream list, well, you can substitute just about any publication or publisher. I heard back from the New Yorker

Let’s face it, writing books is hard. If you don’t believe us, ask anyone. Except those people at dinner parties who think they’ll dash off a romance because it’s easy. Wait until they’ve done their dashing before asking. One key component of writing is life experience. We think that some of the lack of staying in much of today’s chick[final syllable deleted at the request of Booksquare management] is the youth of many of the authors, whereas much of the success of Helen Fielding’s work came from the fact she was looking backward, in a manner of speaking. So of