March 31, 2008
It's a jungle out there
Amanda Marcotte's new book is certainly a good read. Well worth the 13 bucks it costs. Something struck me as strange, though: Amanda is much funnier and insightful in blog format than as a writer with (presumably) an editor. Perhaps it's the "first take best take" punk ethos which has made it difficult for her to improve with each draft.
Anyway. Buy the book. Read it like it's a blog...
Posted by Andrew at 12:52 PM | Comments (0)
March 14, 2007
Interlibrary loans
I recall reading a Richard Bachman Stephen King book where the dystopian nature of the society was announced by the simple fact that libraries charged for books. It was a simple thing, but powerful: knowledge was restricted only to those who could afford it...
I was a bookseller for 6 years. I've got an extensive Library of my own. (Not as extensive as some...) I've always loved books. I always will love books. And so I love libraries...
Libraries are not merely shrines to books, but temples to the basic idea that knowledge belongs to the human race. Music, books, movies, the internet: all these things can be found inside most libraries. We citizens gladly pay for this service, considering it as essential as police and fire protection...
Something even the most librarphiliac among us takes utterly for granted is the Interlibrary loan. Don't...
Posted by Andrew at 09:36 AM | Comments (1)
January 02, 2007
Laurell loses it
Apparently there are some people who don't like Laurell K Hamilton's work. That's fine. I don't really have an opinion; I've never been all that fond of detective stories. Nonetheless, I have understand their merits well enough to recommend them to people who will like her books...
I guess some of the people who don't like her books have gotten onto her forum to explain to the world why they don't like her books. This behavior is, of course, bizarre and churlish. It does, however, spark this admission from Ms. Hamilton:
For God's sake, I'll be in the mall and see something, and go, "Oh, it's the perfect gift for (fill in the blank)." I've been in line with the present in my hand, before I go, "Wait, these are make believe people. I can't buy them a Christmas present."
When the line between what's in your head and what has objective reality starts to blur in that fundamental manner, it's time to put the pen down and go have a different sort of life. At least for a while...
Posted by Andrew at 09:02 AM | Comments (0)
December 26, 2006
Heinlein’s Troopers:
With respect to Professor De Long, he’s wrong about both Heinlein and Jefferson when he says
Consider the invented historical background of the novel, in which the twentieth-century United States collapsed because of its excessive solicitude for individual rights and its worship of the words of Thomas Jefferson and was replaced by the "veterans' government" that made no claim to derive its powers from the consent of the governed.
He’s wrong about Jefferson (Locke, actually; but no matter) in a rather subtle way. What Jefferson actually meant was that the governed always give their consent to the government unless they explicitly remove it by changing their government. This change can either be peaceful (elections) or not (revolution). Heinlein does not disagree, and is quite explicit about it in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress...
In Starship Troopers, Heinlein making narrower points. Rather than "fascism = good" he is saying that the best decisions are made by those who are able put aside their own interests when making society-wide decisions. He is, in other words, attempting to solve the agent/principle problem which has plagued constitution makers from time immemorial. You may disagree with his solution, but don’t misunderstand his point...
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June 29, 2006
Moment of Silence, Please
Jim Baen has died.
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June 05, 2006
The Competition
The Ferrett has a nice post today about why Borders sucks. He doesn’t frame it this way, or even think about it this way, but he sure does talk about it...
The rest of us sighed with relief…. Because Sophie sucked.
It’s not that Sophie was deluded; she was great with customers. She’d go off and talk to them for minutes on end, holding up the line, disappearing to have some happy, dithering conversation when the counter was busy and we needed help. She had been assigned to take care of the art section, but her shelves were always a friggin’ disaster because Sophie would spend her time yapping to anyone who came within earshot, forgetting to shelve or straighten books.
Unfortunately, the things Sophie was good at were not the things you needed to be a good book store clerk, let alone management.
No. Sophie did not suck. Borders sucks. Imagine you’re a customer (most of you are). You walk into a bookstore and everyone on the floor ignores you because they’re straitening shelves. No problem, you think. I’ll just go to the customer service desk. Which is empty. And no one comes by. And then they point you to a computer to look it up yourself...
This happens to me time and again at Borders. It’s why I work for Barnes and noble. Every employee and store within the Barnes and Noble family is judged on 4 things:
1) Putting the book in the customer’s hand
2) Offering to ship to home (or call another store if the customer wishes) if we can’t find the book
3) Fast Cashiering (1 register open for each 4 people in line.)
4) Offering the membership.
I’ll grant that the last one is way more important for the company than the shopper...
This means that every single person at a Barnes and Noble is dedicated to helping customers find books. Think of something which you-- as a shopper-- want when you come into a bookstore. Is it on the list, or covered by something on the list? If it isn’t, let us know; we’d like to fix that...
Customers want to browse the store, find any books they’re looking for, get recommendations, and—when it’s time to go—have the “giving up their money” part of the process be as painless as possible. Everything else we do (receiving the books, shelving the books, straitening the books) is to support our customer’s expectations. When the support functions become primary aims—as they have in the case of Border’s books—customer satisfaction plummets. Sophie can play for my team any day of the week. The Ferrett would be fired or eased out within three months. And that’s why Barnes and Noble is the world’s largest bookstore...
Oh, and for the record, I’ll go this far:
In support of part 4...
Posted by Andrew at 12:17 PM | Comments (0)
May 24, 2006
Whee!
You know that "I just finished a great book" feeling? Well, I love that feeling. The book is In the Merde for LoveIt's non-fiction about an English guy who goes to France to open an English tea room. and I recommend it in the strongest terms.
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March 19, 2006
Winning the fight against censorship.
Rationales for Challenged Books: Prepared by NCTE in Partnership with IRA. Compact Disc.
On one CD you can find a whole bunch of reasons not to censor any particular book. This is a hell of a resource. Anyone wanting to buy and donate one of these would probably also go directly to heaven.
(via Pandagon)
(see also My earlier post on banned books)
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March 15, 2006
New ALA shopping list
The First link is to BN.com, the second to Amazon. Why, oh why the ALA doesn’t do this themselves, I don’t know...
* It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie H. Harris Amazon
* Forever by Judy Blume Amazon
* The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger Amazon
* The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier Amazon
* Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher Amazon
* Detour for Emmy by Marilyn Reynolds Amazon
* What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones Amazon
* Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey Amazon (first 5 books boxed set)
* Crazy Lady! by Jane Leslie Conly Amazon
* It’s So Amazing! by Robie H. Harris Amazon
Once again, the "most-challenged" books are the ones that deal with puberty. I guess people should only learn about that sort of thing when they’re adults. Or something...
Anyway, remember my motto: Do the Job Buy a Banned Book: Go to Heaven.
(ALA Link via Librarian in Black. Links added by me)
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January 30, 2006
Ohh! Good line!
Perhaps it’s a bit conventional for me to prefer “8. It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”, but can you name the author and book?
Also, is it just me, or is #1 a book who’s pages ought never again see either light of either day or florescence?
Which have you read?
Posted by Andrew at 01:03 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 11, 2006
A million whatnow?
As you may have heard by now, it seems that the run away bestseller Million Little Pieces is actually a work of fiction, rather than the autobiography the author claims.
It isn't like we’ve not been hoaxed before, Go Ask Alice being one egregious example. Well, it seems that owing to increased scrutiny over these sorts of fraud, other authors are starting to come clean...
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December 27, 2005
Typesetting award!
When did people start caring about fonts? I don’t know. If are like me, and do, well you’ll want to read
This article about the best fonts of 2005...
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December 08, 2005
Poo on Scalzi
Whatever: Christopher Robin is Out There in the Woods
The story is sad. But the comments section really breaks me up:
I feel a Kenny Loggins song coming on.*sniff*
Pro writers writing satirical fanfiction. It's the new black. *g*
Posted by: elizabeth bear at December 8, 2005 02:00 PM
Wow. Have you turned into Gregory Maguire and not told anyone?
Posted by: Laura at December 8, 2005 02:08 PM
My bank account says "no."
Posted by: John Scalzi at December 8, 2005 02:26 PM
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December 05, 2005
"biblical knowledge"
XBiz - Students Trade Bibles for Porn
Posted without comment
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November 26, 2005
John Scalzi makes some changes...
Whatever: The Editorial Process, Revealed, Kinda
It’s number 5 & 6 that kill me...
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November 19, 2005
Feast for Crows.
Well, I've just finished reading the new one by George R. R. Martin. If you’ve not read the series, start with Game of Thrones...
I won’t do too much review of the latest book, save to say that the Author didn’t want to write it, and it shows. It isn’t that he did a bad job, it’s just that he wanted to write about the next events in the character’s lives, rather than these events. As a consequence of that, the story is a bit bare. There is an entire political movement, and we readers only find out about it afterwards. This is ordinarily something that we readers would have seen forming, or at least heard whispers of. But since the effect was more important to the Author than the story, we’re left out. Not to say that the story is bad, or unimportant, just that the book suffers from middle-child syndrome.
The difference between a good author and a great author is the ability to show characters being clever—and doing it believably. Martin is a great author. Just as a contrast: Robert Jordan’s character’s cleverest moments all happen off stage. Fiest’s character’s aren’t believably clever. With Martin, Characters behave reasonably, and their actions always have realistic and unintended consequences. Not only do characters do clever things, they do them while we watch through their eyes...
To put it a different way, when I was growing up, I’d read everything I could get my hands on. In many books, I’d walk away thinking but how does politics work. I took a bunch of poli-sci classes and found out. With Martin, I’d not have had to do so...
Anyway, I can’t wait for book 5. Hopefully it’ll be sooner than 5 years...
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October 13, 2005
Just finished the new Robert Jordan book
It was awesome! He actually moves the plot forward. Lots of fights. Rand SPOILS a SPOLIER! Mat and Loial get SPOILED! Perrin finally gets around to SPOILING SPOIL!
Anyway, if you’ve been not reading Wheel of Time books of late (and who could blame you) go ahead and Read some chapter summaries and get cracking. This one was _good_...
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September 30, 2005
Left behind.
So: at a recent family get together I found out that one of my cousins is a big fan of the Left Behind books. Now, our family many not know sanity very well, but we’re all kinda good at knowing books. I couldn’t explain to her why they were terrible. Fortunately, the Slactivist can. He’s going through the Left Behind books page by agonizingly poorly writing page, and telling us what’s wrong with them. here's today’s installment...
Here, then, are the stories our intrepid reporter is following, listed according to his sense of priority:1. Suspicious suicide of Princeton roommate
2. Meeting of Jewish nationalists
3. Meeting of Orthodox Jews
4. Parliament of World Religions conference
5. Global cataclysm, mass disappearances, the end of the world.
The rest of today’s article and the archives are pretty good too...
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September 28, 2005
Buy a banned book!
Actually, these books are merely frequently "Challenged " And I admit that I did not like many of the books which ended up on this list. Still, there is something fundamentally unAmerican about wanting to keep a book out of someone's hands. So I've spent some time compiling a list of links to both BN.com and Amazon.com. If you want to buy a book or three from this list, I recommend doing so. "Censor" was a part of the Roman Republic America happily did not adopt...
BTW: even if you don't want any of these books for yourself, buying one and donating it to a library will get you directly into heaven...
Also, if you spend more than US$25, shipping is free...
1. Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz Amazon
2. Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite Amazon
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou Amazon
4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier Amazon
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark TwainAmazon
6. Of Mice and Men by John SteinbeckAmazon
7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. RowlingAmazon
8. Forever by Judy BlumeAmazon
9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine PatersonAmazon
10. Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds NaylorAmazon (one of the series)
11. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea NewmanAmazon
12. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher CollierAmazon
13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. SalingerAmazon
14. The Giver by Lois LowryAmazon
15. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie HarrisAmazon
16. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. StineAmazon
17. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton PeckAmazon
18. The Color Purple by Alice WalkerAmazon
20. Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. AuelAmazon
21. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine PatersonAmazon
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’EngleAmazon
23. Go Ask Alice by AnonymousAmazon
24. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean MyersAmazon
25. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice SendakAmazon
26. The Stupids (Series) by Harry AllardAmazon
27. The Witches by Roald DahlAmazon
28. The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles SilversteinAmazon
29. Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois LowryAmazon
30. The Goats by Brock ColeAmazon
31. Kaffir Boy by Mark MathabaneAmazon
32. Blubber by Judy BlumeAmazon
33. Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois DuncanAmazon
34. Halloween ABC by Eve MerriamAmazon
35. We All Fall Down by Robert CormierAmazon
36. Final Exit by Derek HumphryAmazon
37. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret AtwoodAmazon
38. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead GeorgeAmazon
39. The Bluest Eye by Toni MorrisonAmazon
40. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda MadarasAmazon
41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper LeeAmazon
42. Beloved by Toni MorrisonAmazon
43. The Outsiders by S.E. HintonAmazon
44. The Pigman by Paul ZindelAmazon
45. Bumps in the Night by Harry AllardAmazon
46. Deenie by Judy BlumeAmazon
47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel KeyesAmazon
48. Annie on my Mind by Nancy GardenAmazon
49. The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis SacharAmazon
50. Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin SchwartzAmazon
51. A Light in the Attic by Shel SilversteinAmazon
52. Brave New World by Aldous HuxleyAmazon
53. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)Amazon
54. Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna ColeAmazon
55. Cujo by Stephen KingAmazon
56. James and the Giant Peach by Roald DahlAmazon
57. The Anarchist Cookbook by William PowellAmazon
58. Boys and Sex by Wardell PomeroyAmazon
59. Ordinary People by Judith GuestAmazon
60. American Psycho by Bret Easton EllisAmazon
61. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda MadarasAmazon
62. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy BlumeAmazon
63. Crazy Lady by Jane ConlyAmazon
64. Athletic Shorts by Chris CrutcherAmazon
65. Fade by Robert CormierAmazon
66. Guess What? by Mem FoxAmazon
67. The House of Spirits by Isabel AllendeAmazon
68. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline CooneyAmazon
69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt VonnegutAmazon
70. Lord of the Flies by William GoldingAmazon
71. Native Son by Richard WrightAmazon
72. Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy FridayAmazon
73. Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel CohenAmazon
75. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. AnayaAmazon
76. Where Did I Come From? by Peter MayleAmazon
77. Carrie by Stephen KingAmazon
78. Tiger Eyes by Judy BlumeAmazon
79. On My Honor by Marion Dane BauerAmazon
80. Arizona Kid by Ron KoertgeAmazon
81. Family Secrets by Norma KleinAmazon *
82. Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette ColeAmazon
83. The Dead Zone by Stephen KingAmazon
84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark TwainAmazon
85. Song of Solomon by Toni MorrisonAmazon
86. Always Running by Luis RodriguezAmazon
87. Private Parts by Howard SternAmazon
88. Where’s Waldo? by Martin HanfordAmazon
89. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette GreeneAmazon
90. Little Black Sambo by Helen BannermanAmazon
91. Pillars of the Earth by Ken FollettAmazon
92. Running Loose by Chris CrutcherAmazon
93. Sex Education by Jenny DavisAmazon*
94. The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette GreeneAmazon*
95. Girls and Sex by Wardell PomeroyAmazon*
96. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas RockwellAmazon
97. View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis RobertsAmazon
98. The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley SnyderAmazon
99. The Terrorist by Caroline CooneyAmazon
100. Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher CollierAmazon
Asterisks indicate a book that is out of print. Which probably means the ban was effective...
Caveat:
I work for Barnes and Noble. That’s why they are listed first...
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September 15, 2005
Hamlet Text Adventure!
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