Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Bits and pieces from the web

Simon & Schuster emailed earlier to announce a live web event featuring Philippa Gregory that will be broadcast on Sunday, September 16th, at 2pm EST. Details here:

Philippa Gregory LIVE will feature a live simulcast streamed through the Internet of Gregory speaking to an audience in London. She will discuss her historical research; writing process; her latest novel, The Boleyn Inheritance; the upcoming major motion picture based on The Other Boleyn Girl; her next novel, The Other Queen; and much more. Throughout the one-and-a-half-hour long event, online attendees will have the opportunity to ask Philippa their own questions and interact with other fans and book clubs.
You can sign up at http://www.philippagregorylive.com/ and get a reminder in your email with login directions when the date draws closer. I vaguely recall that this is a weekend date I signed up to work the reference desk; I hope I'm wrong.

From Smart Bitches, Trashy Books comes this article by Pam Jenoff, author of The Kommandant's Girl, on the vagaries of genre classification. Her novel was nominated for a Quill (it received a starred review from Publishers Weekly) in the romance category, and the PW review called it "historical romance at its finest," yet it's not really a romance by definition. The novel itself - not to mention its title and cover art - have gone through several iterations, mainstream to romance to mainstream again, before final publication.

And then we have the UK cover, which keeps the same title yet shows an embracing couple from the WWII years; decidedly more romantic, which may have helped it become a bestseller there. I can't help but remember the frilly, sentimental UK cover of Michael Wallner's April in Paris, which features another embracing couple. Yet if readers pick up that novel expecting a traditional romance (rather than a fairly dark thriller with a love story on the side), they'll be quite surprised.

Finally, something every household needs: possessed books. Amuse your friends, scare your enemies. (And your cats.)

3 comments:

  1. One of my cats might love that, actually. He's fascinated by the fax machine and always comes by to watch it in action. This same cat also has been known to stand on top of the shredder and try to get it to run--the reason we have to keep it unplugged so he doesn't end up with a shredded tail.

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  2. Anonymous8:53 AM

    Thanks for the tip but I already have plenty of possessed books: my bookshelves groan and creak simultaneously! Anyone walking past them can set off an avalanche and be thoroughly spooked when they cascade to the floor. What I need are more bookshelves and preferably ones with safety rails.
    Lucy
    http://www.lucyannwrites.blogspot.com

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  3. Yes, my books have been known to jump off shelves for no particular reason, though my cats may have something to do with it. I've even been hit by one or two as they fell. This makes me nervous - ever see Howard's End?

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