This and That
Tackling the language issues of gay/straight marriage
Love in the blogosphere - congrats Leonard and Sumana!
# Wed Apr 19 22:24:43 Best book cover, ever
Pop Media
# Tue Feb 21 20:53:28 If traditional publication channels are not your thing, get in on publishing via the vastly superior beverage distribution network. I foreshadow all types of synergy ahead, very little of it good.
The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin
# Wed Dec 21 09:44:43 Very exciting to hear that Grace Lin's new book, The Year of the Dog, will be released now instead of in February, so it could actually be out before the Chinese New Year (this year being The Year of the Dog). This is her first novel, written for the middle school level. At her snazzy website you can read her essay on why she wrote it (PDF).
Scarry World
# Mon Nov 28 22:38:18 I had tons of Richard Scarry books growing up. I remember going over the little details over and over. This fantastic photoset details the differences between the 1963 and 1991 version of The Best Word Book Ever. Lots of changes you might expect, and some you wouldn't. A lot of art is noticably less interesting.
Book Popularity
So check it out if you want to know which books at least a few people are reading. Or linking to. Maybe.
# Mon Jul 25 12:58:51 Technorati, which attempts to track what people are talking about online in real time, has a pretty unclear "Popular Books" page. In contrast to the general idea of the site, it looks like it ranks books by recent links to Amazon pages instead of combining that with other mentions of the book. This is contrary to the fact that many people will often mention a book without actually bothering to link to it. Also, does the algorithm take into effect people linking via an affiliate ID (which I would think would be common for those bothering to link to it at Amazon at all). What about people who link to Barnes and Noble, Wikipedia entries or fan sites?
Harry Potter vs. Distributed Effort
Well, they managed to hold off a pirated electronic version a whole twelve hours, as armies of people took to their scanners, OCR software and proofreading duties in a perfect example of distributed collaboration (mostly through IRC channels).
I don't believe that the only reason all these folks got together is because there was no official e-book to read - there are always people who are going to take things without paying if possible. But if they had made an electronic version, at least people who would have been willing to pay would have had that option. Their course of action led to a pirated electronic text and zero extra income; producing an e-book would have led to a pirated electronic text and some number greater than zero income.
# Tue Jul 19 17:11:34 JK Rowling and her publishers decided not to release and electronic version of the latest Harry Potter book - officially due to an "underdeveloped e-book market and lack of suitable reading devices" (I guess all those computers and mobile phones don't count either?), but unoffcially due to worries that an e-book would make piracy too easy.
Moon Day, eBay
Coincidentally, I came across an old mini-book for kids from 1968-9, detailing the upcoming moon mission with cool illustrations. The condition was amazingly good, so I took some pics and posted them. The book itself is now on eBay if you collect that sort of thing.
# Tue Jul 19 15:35:14 Moon Day is coming up tomorrow! Believe it or not, people walked up there thirty-six years ago, and left the golf balls to prove it. The ever-plentiful Boing Boing has the scoop on some Moon Day parties and pics.
The $17,000 Book Report
Whether it is a publicity stunt or not (the guy has written a bunch of other stuff), this quote from Chen Xiaoming, professor of the Department of Chinese Language from Peking University, amuses me:
That's why they call it, you know, a code :)
# Thu Jul 14 13:49:01 A Chinese author has issued a challenge to decode his latest love story, which consists of 14 Chinese punctuation characters. He'll pay out to anyone who interpret the story with 80% accuracy.
"The use of punctuations has very clear rules, for instance, a full stop is used at the end of a statement or the end of imperative sentences; question mark is placed a the end of request. Punctuations are subordinates of words, which cannot be used alone as a story," he explained.
Harry Potter vs. the Pope and Canada
Assuming this is still his view now that he is Pope and incapable of being wrong, it will no doubt be one of those things most Catholics choose to conveniently overlook in their daily life.
Of course, he hasn't even read any of the books. But he has read a book that capitalizes on the Harry Potter popularity (Harry Potter - gut oder bose? (Harry Potter: Good or Evil?) by Gabriele Kuby. So that should make for a good jacket blurb for the next reprinting. I think she should attribute the blurb directly to God, since the Pope speaks for him and all.
Meanwhile, another voice from on high adds to the Harry Potter publicity machine. A bookstore in Canada put some of the books on early. And now, A Canadian Supreme Court judge has granted an injunction that forbids anyone who lucked into getting the book early from even discussing anything about they read. Again: the Canadian Supreme Court is spending tax dollars and valuable time attempting to enforce an embargo for a publishing company and cover-up for a bookstore's mistake by dictating what people can talk about. I am sure it will be terribly effective.
Or else we will have you thrown in jail.
Tune in Friday when they gain an injunction against speed readers who might purchase the book at midnight and spoil the ending for everyone by breakfast, and make it a federal crime to read the last chapter first.
# Thu Jul 14 10:19:55 The Pope (back before he got the Big Hat and became infallible) had something to say about the Harry Potter series of books:
"It is good that you enlighten us on the Harry Potter matter, for these are subtle seductions that are barely noticeable, and precisely because of that have a deep effect and corrupt the Christian faith in souls even before it could properly grow."
"It is not the intention of Raincoast to penalize the small group of fans who have innocently purchased a book in good faith. We look to them to ensure that the excitement and mystery of the story is preserved for fans around the world until July 16th by cooperating with us and observing the terms of the court injunction."
Select All, Copy
I would have thought that the scholarly view would be to preserve everything in everyway possible?
# ![[Comments]](/blog//themes/Default/comments.png "1 comment")
(1) Wed May 25 11:08:09 The Association of American University Presses, a 125-member nonprofit of scholarly publishers, is wondering if it is really a good idea (or indeed legal) to let Google Print for Libraries makes copies of everything, even if Google puts protections in place for works still under copyright.
More Books, Less Sales
# Tue May 24 15:19:02 An article describing a Book Industry Study Group report that shows people are buying less books, even as publishers put out more titles. No doubt that other activities (video games, DVDs, etc.) are eating into some of the leisure time once reserved for reading, but I'm willing to bet that some people are just starting to adopt different reading/purchasing habits - picking up high-quality used books online (Amazon), or reading highly specialized content in electronic form (web, ebooks, PDFs).
Free Book Downloads Of The Day
I recently dug up a box of old Doctor Who books, with the idea of selling them on ebay. Of course, I haven't done that yet but what I have glanced through a few and noticed that the writing ranges from horrible to quite good. Now, you can judge for yourself since the BBC is offering free Doctor Who ebooks. Extensive notes by the authors help qualify them as self-replicating downloads ;)
If you're on the prowl for more free ebooks, this bit of Google-fu might help.
# Mon May 16 10:46:14 Grab some classics as PDF documents from from Scotland's Sunday Herald.
Influencer Books
Looking to buy a good end-of-school-year gift for the student in your life (or maybe just something for yourself)? Check out that discussion.
# Thu May 12 11:57:46 AksMetafilter: What was the first book you read and really loved? Do you still think about it?
Grace Lin and Rosemary Wells in Portland, Maine
Rosemary Wells gave a short talk. Her work process is interesting - she sets up a storyboard of however many pages the book will be. Then she prints out the story and cuts and pastes the words where she think they will go on each page. Then she paints the pictures. Then she goes back and takes words away - since the pictures will now tell part of the story, some of the words are no longer needed. It makes sense, but I never thought about working that way.
Of course, with some of my pictures, I'd probably have to add more words in to explain the drawings ;)
# Mon May 09 23:55:59 This past Saturday there was a "children's literature festival" in Portland, Maine. It was a good place to go on such a cold, rainy "spring" day. Along with a roomful of local authors and illustrators, they also had two of my current favorite authors, Grace Lin and Rosemary Wells. They have different styles, but I enjoy both of their works. I got to speak briefly with Grace Lin while she signed a book, and some local kids put on a play based on "The Ugly Vegetable Garden".
Where the Wild Things Are Going
The dominant reaction to this news seems to be fear - "Oh no, not another childhood memory wiped out." But there is a good director (Jonze), screenwriter (Eggers) and the word is that author Sendak himself is at the helm, crushing (one would hope) any ideas that run counter to the spirit of the story (which will obviously need to be padded out a bit, seeing as it takes five minutes to read the book, and that includes the mandatory two-minute rumpus dance you must perform in the middle of the story).
Should classic children's stories exist in a bubble of bound media, never to venture into new forms of communications/interaction? Obviously a lot depends on the author's wishes, at least while the copyright is still good (which thanks to Senators from Disney, will be a very long time indeed). I believe it depends on the story and whether you can bring anything else to it as you adapt it. There's a nice balance in there for most stories, I think. On the other hand, when you have characters from The Cat in the Hat movie doing commercials for Visa cards, I think it's safe to say you are beyond caring about balance.
Speaking of The Cat in the Hat, it seems that it is becoming the gold standard of what sucks when it comes to adapting a classic children's book into a movie. Note the comments/messageboard on the IMDB link above:
"However, if this turns out to be another headache like "The Cat in the Hat..."
"Grinch sucked. It's only redeeming quality took several years to come to fruition: It wasn't Cat in the Hat."
"I feel you, buddy. Especially when these books being turned into movies are short and they change what's good about them a la CAT IN THE HAT"
"Give it a chance, and don't think that it's going to be a repeat of 'Cat'"
Of course, only time will tell how the final product will turn out (if at all). Rumors say 2006.
(Also, Maurice Sendak is still alive? Cool. Hi. I loved Chicken Soup with Rice)
# Sat Jul 15 09:46:11 in sister|2
voyeur little India
# Wed Apr 13 11:19:21 Awesome picture book of gods from India, created and illustrated by Pixar animator Sanjay Patel. Want!
# Fri Mar 18 16:02:26 A movie of the mega-classic Where The Wild Things Are is in the works. Has been for a while, actually. But it looks like it is slouching ever-closer to reality based on a recent Salon interview with Dave Eggers.
"For every Lord of the Rings, there's ten Cat in the Hats"
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