The 2010 National Book Award for fiction goes to Jaimy Gordon for Lord of Misrule and published by McPherson and Company, a small New York press that typically plans print runs of 2,000 copies for literary titles (they bumped this one up to 8,000 for the first run when the nomination for Lord of Misrule was announced just before the first run, knees shaking, no doubt, with worries of unsold returns.)
On the bestseller list...the first volume (and a doorstop at that) of Mark Twain's autobiography, published by the University of California Press. It has now sold something over a quarter of a million copies after a planned initial print run of 7,500.
Another NBA finalist this year was I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita, published by Coffee House Press.
Just a few recent examples of wonderful success stories from small publishers. Good for the editors at these and other fine small presses.
Dare to be smart and buy books that fuel the imagination and challenge the mind. Don't let sales volume and marketing budgets determine what should be read. One way to see a more eclectic vision and read a greater breadth of work is to support small presses with your purchasing power.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Book Recommendation: The New Valley
Remember the name Josh Weil. When he produces a book to follow up his debut collection of three novellas The New Valley (2009), buy it. Once in a while a new writer comes along who reminds you why you love books, why books allow you to see people in ways you'd forgotten you could, books even that teach you to question yourself and your preconceptions. In this beautifully, honestly written novella collection, Weil continuously shows us characters we tend to, at first glance, think that we should dismiss, and in some instances, characters we dearly want to hate. And then he does the remarkable--he redeems them, or rather, he presents them in the fullness of their humanity and allows us to redeem ourselves. You'll never see the hill country between the Virginias in quite the same way after reading this book. He writes himself into situations that seem like they might well prove impossible for a veteran author and then every time he gets it just right.Friday, November 19, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Pearls Before Breakfast - washingtonpost.com
This story is several years old now, from 2007. but it is not only tremendously well written, it forces us to ask critical questions about art and the role of art in our lives, our ability to recognize beauty, our tendency to believe there is value in the shear industry of our busy lives, and our current hierarchy of values. Focused on the world-renowned violinist Joshua Bell, the Washington Post put on a fascinating experiment with music in a public space. This is well worth reading: Pearls Before Breakfast - washingtonpost.com
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Book Recommendation: The Lady Matador's Hotel
Christina Garcia's new novel The Lady Matador's Hotel is wonderfully original, employing a cast of six radically different characters whose live cross through their stays at an affluent hotel in an unnamed central American capital. The novel's structure is complex and original. The atmosphere of a place in perpetual turmoil is spot-on in its portrayal. And the narrative, like the character depiction, is energized by occupying some space between realism and Magical realism--an altogether fitting style for the setting, the character's backgrounds, and the events. You can read reviews and learn more about Garcia through her website. Thursday, November 4, 2010
Women's Basketball - Blogs - Denver Pioneers Official Athletics Site
"Abbey's Angles" a daughter's view of Wyoming, etc. Women's Basketball - Blogs - Denver Pioneers Official Athletics Site
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