Books/Mags/Blogs

The LitBlog Co-Op unveils its final nominee for this quarter: Rupert Thomson’s The Divided Kingdom. Check out Bookdwarf’s description of this excellent book. But wait, there’s more! At the end of her post, there’s a link to discover your quarter. In light of recent discussions here, our region (helpfully revealed above) should come as no surprise. Starting Monday, the Co-Op begins a weeklong discussion of Anders Monson’s Other Electricities. The Co-Op has put together a party’s worth o’ fun, including podcasts, guest authors, rousing debate, and balloon tricks. Hmm, maybe you shouldn’t expect the balloon tricks — sometimes we misread […]

We have long admired Jennifer Crusie both personally and professionally, and were elated to discover that one of her early novels, Anyone But You, was being re-released. Of course, as discussed here earlier this month, HQN chose to release this book as a hardcover. Sure we questioned the wisdom of paying hardcover (well, closer to trade paperback) prices for this book, but we were hypocritical, typing with one hand, ordering the book with the other. We want you to make your own decisions before plunking down cash (what does a plunk sound like anyway?), so we bring to you a

Yesterday, Garner (which Jill has been monitoring on the Amazon charts and, based on her detailed analysis, has declared a major hit). Today??? Yes, you have to go there. It will be worth it, we promise. But we’ll give you a clue this time: we keep mixing this author up with the dude from Varnaline. If you know what we mean (and you should, you really should), you’ll want this book. LitBlog Co-Op

We just wanted to let you know that the Winter 2006 LitBlog Co-Op choice, Garner by Kristen Allio is available at Powell’s with a 30% discount. Be the first kid on your block to have your copy! How long has it been since you picked up a book that made time disappear? How long has it been since you read a book that resonated in your mind for weeks after? While ostensibly a murder mystery — or maybe it’s a death mystery — Garner is also the story of a town on the edge of time: In Garner, Allio pulled

So we’re tooling along, minding our own business, sort of thinking we should get started with work with this morning, then, thwap!, slap in the face. Buried in the lead of what was supposed to be a puff piece about Amy Tan taking over as literary editor of the Los Angeles Times Magazine is news that said magazine is, oh oh, changing its name. Can nothing remain the same anymore? Can’t we have a little stability in our world? Is this the result of the collective additional seconds afforded the LAT’s brain trust? Did they learn nothing from the millions

For those who were curious about 2005’s bestsellers but didn’t actually want to do research, we have come to your aid! Bookstandard has compiled the list and checked it twice. Now all you have to do is study the list and make some sort of sense of it all. We wish you luck — please feel free to explain it to us when you’re done. The Biggest of 2005: The 200 Bestselling Books of the Year

It’s not just because of Fup. Store Cat. Though that would be good enough. It’s stuff like this that brings joy to our little black heart: This edition of our newsletter is sponsored by the semicolon. Friends, are you tired of all those surly periods, persistent question marks, and annoying exclamation points? Extend the life of your sentence; keep your readers hooked interminably (studies show that people stop reading more often at the end of a sentence than in the middle); win lots of literary accolades for having long, overly complicated sentences that critics just love; and best of all,

We admit it: we spent about five minutes last year trying to work up enthusiasm for the mystery that might be JT Leroy. Hmm, that’s a lie. We only made it three minutes, tops. As it turns out, we didn’t care, don’t care, and probably won’t care in the future. Unless there’s an opportunity for making fun of someone or something. Then we will invoke our gender-given right to change our mind. Apparently Leroy has a stand-in for public appearances. Also, apparently Leroy doesn’t exist. Or not. It appears the name is a pseudonym that comes complete with backstory. Quite

Bear with us a moment while we work through our confusion: Random House will be printing five million copies (give or take) of the paperback version of The Da Vinci Code. Now to us, that seems excessive given the fact that everyone in the known universe already has a copy. The hardcover has topped bestseller lists for years now — is there really anyone out there who hasn’t read the thing? Oh right, collectors. There are Dan Brown freaks who want each and every edition. And people who were waiting to buy the paperback, though one presumes a large percentage

If, like us, you made a resolution to eat less and read more this year, the Emerging Writers Network has a deal for you. Our friend Dan Wickett has twisted the arms of some his favorite journals — and they cried uncle in the form of discounts to EWN readers. Take advantage of their generosity. It’s the least you can do. The offer is simple – pay for one less journal than you order. Subscribe to 3? Pay for 2. Subscribe to 4? Pay for 3. And so on, right on to those truly dedicated souls out there who subscribe