Did you watch the Emmys this past Sunday? Then you know that ‘Temple Grandin,’ the HBO biopic starring Claire Danes, won 5 Emmys.
Temple Grandin received her Ph.D. in animal science from the University of Illinois. She has written many books, including the bestseller Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior.
Her most recent book is also my staff pick (also an Indie Next pick): Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals.
I recently received an email from my Macmillian sales rep alerting me that Oprah has selected the next book for her Book Club. There is always a frenzy surrounding the announcement, which is shrouded in secrecy. This is what Macmillian knows:
1. Oprah #64 is one of their titles.
2. Oprah will announce the book on September 17th. That will also be the onsale date of the title. (At least, the official Book Club-stickered edition. No guarantees that the book hasn’t been out already.)
3. The selection is a $28.00 hardcover.
4. Books must be ordered in carton quantity (16).
Booksellers have to order blindly, as we need to have the book in stock on the annoucement date, so of course we are going to speculate about what the book may be.
My thoughts? The most conspicuous book of the fall, Jonathan Franzen’s FREEDOM, happens to be a Macmillian (FSG) $28. Is it possible that Oprah would choose his follow-up to THE CORRECTIONS as a way “make friends” after the Franzen fracas last time? It IS the most talked about book of the year, and Oprah is all about forgiveness. The last time Oprah chose a hardcover for her Book Club was with selection #62, THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE by David Wroblewski, which had already been a runaway bestseller.
It’s all speculation, of course, but it would make a good story. And who isn’t dying to read FREEDOM? Even President Obama couldn’t wait until it was released!
I’m about a quarter of the way through Freedom, and it’s very delicious. Ever since childhood, I’ve had a bad habit of speedreading, but with this novel, I’ve had to force myself to slow down and reread some spectacular passages and some elegant and surprising sentences. I’ll update about the novel when I’m finished. In the meantime, I found the Canadian version of Freedom has a slightly different cover!
If Schadenfreude denotes the relishing of another’s pain, then – according to author Jennifer Weiner – Franzenfreude is “taking pain in the multiple and copious reviews being showered on Jonathan Franzen.”
While this glut of attention may be irking other deserving authors, the consensus of glowing reviewers everywhere seems to be that Franzen’s new novel Freedom is a masterpiece, even earning from the Times a gushing comparison to Tolstoy and Thomas Mann.
NPR’s full story is here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129529565
In case you missed it, local author Ellen Ruppel Shell was on Weekend Edition this Sunday talking about the recent egg recall, outlet malls, and shrimp farms, among other interesting topics. She teaches at Boston University and her latest book is Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture.
Check out the interview here.
NPR has a very amusing article about Catherine Price’s book 101 Places Not to See Before You Die. Among the most praiseworthy — for their utter inappropriateness as travel destionations — are: Beijing’s Museum of Tap Water, Montana’s “Testicle Festival,” and a former Latvian prison which has, bizarrely, been converted into an exclusive hotel in which guests are still “treated” to iron beds and may elect to visit via abduction from their workplace.
Read the full article here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128692710
During his recent vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, President Obama had the good sense to stop by the resident indie bookstore and pick up some summer reading: Jonathan Franzen’s new novel Freedom (out on Tuesday), and Paul Harding’s Pulitzer Prize-winning debut Tinkers.
Harding will be reading here with Rick Moody on Tuesday, 14 September.
Jon Krakauer was interviewed in The Metro on August 24, 2010. An excerpt:
Jon Krakauer, author of …”Into the Wild” and “Into Thin Air,” among others, presents the story of Pat Tillman, the NFL-player-turned-U.S.-soldier whose friendly fire death in Afghanistan was covered up by Bush administration officials to better their so-called Global War on Terror.
“To understand Pat,” Krakauer told the Metro, ” I wanted to show how he was caught up… how his good intentions were hijacked by history. You’ve got this incredibly idealistic guy whose idealism ends up killing him. The Bush administration made an art out of propagandizing war. they were really good at selling wars; they were really bad at executing the wars. So I wanted to show that.”
With a number of the most popular books at the moment leaning a bit (or, in some cases, very much) toward the heavier end of the emotional spectrum, it’s refreshing to see a hilarious, entertaining novel which is nevertheless very well-written. And this all the more so given its author’s previous style, which has hitherto been much denser and more demanding. Thomas Pynchon’s new novel, Inherent Vice, is a detective story, set in a drug-fueled, late 1960′s West-Coast environment of constant misadventures, a la Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Cord Jefferson might not realize that reminding folks that summer’s end is approaching might not be the best way to ingratiate himself with his readers (I, on the other hand, realize it and welcome your opprobium!), but at least he redeems himself with these great nonfiction recommendations.
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