The holidays are already upon us; time to start making that list of books you should have read this year as potential stocking-stuffers. The New York Times Sunday Book Review has been gracious enough to help us out be releasing their top 100 list of notable books released in 2010, soon to also appear in the December 5 edition of the Book Review.
Anybody have any titles to add to the list? What novels did the New York Times overlook this year?
Image via Wikipedia"Perhaps, if they stopped believing in crazy things like a Money River, and go to work, they would stop having such a rotten time."
"If there isn't a Money River, then how did I just make ten thousand dollars today, just by snoozing and scratching myself, and occasionally answering the phone?"
"It's still possible for an American to make a fortune on his own."
"Sure - provided somebody tells him when he's young that there is a Money River, that there's nothing fair about it, that he had damn well better forget about hard work and the merit system and honesty and all that crap, and get to where the river is. 'Go where the rich and powerful are,' I'd tell him, 'and learn their ways. They can be flattered and they can be scared. Please them enormously or scare them enormously, and one moonless night they will put their finger to their lips, warning you not to make a sound. And they will lead you through the dark to the widest, deepest river of wealth ever known to man, You'll be shown your place on the riverbank, and handed a bucket all your own. Slurp as much as you want, but try to keep the racket of your slurping down. A poor man might hear.'"
Be careful what you wish for, especially if you are a writer.
Parnell Hall's tongue-in-cheek music video humorously yet accurately depicts the double-edged sword that is finally becoming a "published" author: now what? Book signings are one of the Holy Grails of the struggling author, but seldom does it occur to them (okay, us) that unless you are one of the elite literary celebrities who are well-known enough to have name recognition with people who have never read your books, it isn't likely that you will have a crowd of people asking you about you and your latest novel.
As Hall clearly demonstrates, the only thing worse than being an obscure author is being an obscure author at a book signing at the same table as Mary Higgins Clark.
I've recently decided to start reading and review some of the less popular books on my online trade lists. Think of it as the Land of Misfit Books; titles that I don't seem to be able to give away, despite the instant access to millions of readers.
The first book I've chosen to showcase is the young adult romance novelSmart Guys. This book has been sitting on my trade list at PaperBackSwap.com since 2006 without a nibble, despite having had other books from the Crosswinds series requested. After awhile, that makes me curious enough to give it a read.
“Meet the Kids in Group Three.
Dave: He just wants to have a good time – and to get to know a certain girl better.
Taylor: Dave’s dream girl. She’d make Miss America look like a dog. The only trouble with Taylor is, she doesn’t know how to relax.
Benson: He could star in a nerd movie. Definitely the clumsy-genius sort.
Frieda: She’s cute but hyper, with a nonstop mouth. She’s also great at organizing – one guy in particular.
James: With his high-fashion clothes, he may look well-put-together, but he’s a real airhead until he gets in a lab.
Five special teens are spending the summer working on a top-secret project. Just how much trouble can they get into?”
Quite a bit, it turns out. Especially after they decide to look into the supposedly accidental death of their project’s original inventor, and suddenly find themselves knee-deep in a murder investigation and conspiracy reaching as high as their school’s administration, and quite possibly the US Military.
Smart Guys is a part of the shortly lived young adult Harlequin imprint Crosswinds, for which Carrie Lewis wrote a few novels, this being one of them. While it is admittedly a light and fun read with the romantic elements existing on a strictly After School Special level, there is no denying that it also bares a strong resemblance to the 1985 cult classic comedy Real Genius, which was loosely based on actual events at Caltech. Both feature recklessly fun-loving genius main characters that team up with a ragtag group of highly intelligent misfits to sabotage their institution’s insidious plans.
But the similarities don’t stop there. Some of the book’s plot twists and scenes are right out of the film, such as the after-hours pool party and the secret military project, and the characters of Dave and Frieda are almost identical to those played by Val Kilmer and Michelle Meyrink. Considering that the book was published in 1988, three years after Real Genius hit the screen, and it isn’t hard to guess where Lewis got her inspiration.
That isn’t to say the book isn’t good. Lewis has a very light and breezy style that makes the story breeze by, and the characters and dialog are much more inventive than the lame back-cover description. This is definitely the perfect Young Adult romance novel for someone looking for a Revenge of the Nerds without the adult humor. Just don’t be surprised if you experience déjà vu while reading it.
During the final years of his life, Vladimir Nabokov continued to write. He spent those years working on "The Original of Laura," outlining jotting notes on index cards. One of his final wishes was that his wife and son should burn the cards upon his death.
It turns out that deathbed wishes aren't that important to some people; Nabakov's final work is seeing print nearly thirty years after his death.
"The Original of Laura" will be published in two formats. One will contain reproductions of the english-language index cards, while a Russian volume will contain a translated version in a more traditional text format.
Regarding his decision to ignore Nabakov's final wishes and have his last lingering literary work published, his son Dmitry writes in the preface that "I think my father or his shadow would not be against of letting Laura to freedom if it has already lived for so long." Considering his original wish was that Laura not be freed, but rather burned to death, this is somewhat debatable.
Some of my favorite news updates involve my own work. Yes, it is quite selfish. But there's nothing I love more than sharing my latest projects with people who might enjoy them.
In this case, I wanted to share the cover of my next book, Performed by Lugosi (due out in December), which is going through the final stages with my publishers, Idea Men Productions. This is looking to be the final version. What do you think?
Performed by Lugosi takes a closer look at several of Bela Lugosi's films that were adapted from or inspired by classic works of literature by some of the greatest authors of our time, such as Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Not only are the similarities between the stories and films examined, but Lugosi's performances, career, and personal life at the time of the productions is also discussed. This is going to be a great cross over book for people who enjoy classic genre fiction as well as classic cinema.
I'm not going to promote too much more about the book until the release date firms up, but I thought this would be a fun sneak peak. Be sure to let me know what you think.
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Image via Wikipedia"Perhaps, if they stopped believing in crazy things like a Money River, and go to work, they would stop having such a rotten time."
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Some of my favorite news updates involve my own work. Yes, it is quite selfish. But there's nothing I love more than sharing my latest projects with people who might enjoy them.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tpwSMoAo1ps4HM5jJ37KYcYwU9w00GL3KjgLsjB-X0oka0zCmClbPbNjq_HD5iumH9bkX1_MvFTtt1igInPr_bddDifP-IJ1jzO_BlruuHo5v_pNyTAvLBKbSYrHUhiFdx_PeDXygUROgOnXRXLiw=s0-d)
