An angry patron comes stomping down the stairs to the Reference Desk. He is angry because he borrowed a book from us and then mailed it back. (Why did he mail it? I have no idea.) He is being charged for the book because it apparently never arrived. So he is here to check the shelf. Ok, no problem. He wants me to check with him. Ok, again, no problem. He tells me that he'll know it's the copy he borrowed because he UNDERLINED huge segments of the book and wrote notes in the back. When we locate the book he triumphantly shows me the blue and red ink all over the front, inside and back cover of the book. Great. Now we will know who to charge to replace the returned book.
Duh.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Drood is heavy
Seriously. It weighs about 4 pounds and is 777 pages. This will keep a lot of people from reading it which is incredible unfortunate.
It is an amazingly well done book. Dan Simmons took the last few years of Charles Dickens life (1865 - 1870), added accurate and beautiful descriptions of Victorian London, created a mystery with an air of ghosts and mysticism to create a book that is a historical fiction/mystery told through the eyes of novelist Wilkie Collins.
The reality of daily life in London as well as Dickens and Collins' lives are not sugar coated. Dickens was a workaholic and adulterer and Collins was a drug addict. They were best friends, collaborators and competitors. While Dickens becomes more and more obsessed with corpses and crypts, Collins loses his mind and all his money in the underground opium dens of London. The pages fly by as Simmons takes us from the sewers to the countryside of London and as Dickens and Collins' reality becomes blurry and they seem to go mad we wonder if it is the drugs, sickness, or real life ghosts.
Read this book! Don't let the number of pages disuade you - by the end you will be wishing for more. Publishers Weekly and others are reporting that Guillermo Del Toro will be directing the film version of this book. It may end up being 6 hours long!
It is an amazingly well done book. Dan Simmons took the last few years of Charles Dickens life (1865 - 1870), added accurate and beautiful descriptions of Victorian London, created a mystery with an air of ghosts and mysticism to create a book that is a historical fiction/mystery told through the eyes of novelist Wilkie Collins.
The reality of daily life in London as well as Dickens and Collins' lives are not sugar coated. Dickens was a workaholic and adulterer and Collins was a drug addict. They were best friends, collaborators and competitors. While Dickens becomes more and more obsessed with corpses and crypts, Collins loses his mind and all his money in the underground opium dens of London. The pages fly by as Simmons takes us from the sewers to the countryside of London and as Dickens and Collins' reality becomes blurry and they seem to go mad we wonder if it is the drugs, sickness, or real life ghosts.
Read this book! Don't let the number of pages disuade you - by the end you will be wishing for more. Publishers Weekly and others are reporting that Guillermo Del Toro will be directing the film version of this book. It may end up being 6 hours long!
The Lisa Files
McNally Jackson books, an independent book store in New York City, is not only clean and spacious but is also full of good books and helpful people. I was also impressed by their displays - numerous and well done. But the real reason I stopped by McNally Jackson books was for their author event.
Lisa Lutz, promoting her third installment of the Spellman series, was at the bookstore this week. She seemed younger then I'd imagined but just as funny and sarcastic as her main character, Isabel Spellman.
When an audience member asked if it was true that she would never write more than 4 Spellman books (and she is finishing writing the fourth - it is due out next March) Lisa winced and looked at her editor, publisher and agent, all sitting in the front row. "Were you planted by my editor?" She demanded. There are no promises of Spellman books after the fourth installment, although she added that she had trouble tying up all the loose ends.
Lisa Lutz, promoting her third installment of the Spellman series, was at the bookstore this week. She seemed younger then I'd imagined but just as funny and sarcastic as her main character, Isabel Spellman.
When an audience member asked if it was true that she would never write more than 4 Spellman books (and she is finishing writing the fourth - it is due out next March) Lisa winced and looked at her editor, publisher and agent, all sitting in the front row. "Were you planted by my editor?" She demanded. There are no promises of Spellman books after the fourth installment, although she added that she had trouble tying up all the loose ends.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Loving Lutz
I just finished listening to the first two books in the Spellman series by Lisa Lutz: The Spellman Files and Curse of the Spellmans. These were great books to listen to. Isabel Spellman is a private investigator from a family of private investigators. She works for Spellman Investigations in San Francisco - the company is Isabel, her mom and her ex-cop dad. Isabel is a sarcastic, heavy drinking, ex-vandal with a bit of a record. She is overly suspicious in everyday life - which leads to family fights and losing over 9 boyfriends. These part-mystery, part-comedy books are quick reads or great listens: narrator Christina Moore gives a fabulous performance.
If you, like me, have finished the first two Spellman books and are left wanting more, there is not long to wait! The third installment, Revenge of the Spellmans, will be released tomorrow (March 10)!
I couldn't wait until March 10, so I did the next best thing - I found a copy of the movie Plan B. This is a 2001 straight to video movie starring Diane Keaton and Paul Sorvino. It was written by Lisa Lutz before she wrote the Spellman books. As movies go, it's not fabulous. But if you have read Lisa Lutz you can find that Spellman humor in this movie, as well as similar themes (she must have a brother - both Isabel Spellman and Fran from Plan B have brothers with OCD). Lisa Lutz wrote an article about her 10 years of writing and rewriting the screenplay of Plan B for Salon.com.
Still, not enough Lisa Lutz for me. So I will be driving into the city on Monday, March 16 to meet the woman behind the sarcasm in person. Lisa Lutz will be at McNally Jackson Books in NYC to sign and read from her new Spellman book.
If you, like me, have finished the first two Spellman books and are left wanting more, there is not long to wait! The third installment, Revenge of the Spellmans, will be released tomorrow (March 10)!
I couldn't wait until March 10, so I did the next best thing - I found a copy of the movie Plan B. This is a 2001 straight to video movie starring Diane Keaton and Paul Sorvino. It was written by Lisa Lutz before she wrote the Spellman books. As movies go, it's not fabulous. But if you have read Lisa Lutz you can find that Spellman humor in this movie, as well as similar themes (she must have a brother - both Isabel Spellman and Fran from Plan B have brothers with OCD). Lisa Lutz wrote an article about her 10 years of writing and rewriting the screenplay of Plan B for Salon.com.
Still, not enough Lisa Lutz for me. So I will be driving into the city on Monday, March 16 to meet the woman behind the sarcasm in person. Lisa Lutz will be at McNally Jackson Books in NYC to sign and read from her new Spellman book.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Sigh.
I just shushed two patrons. Finger to lips and everything. They did not teach me that in Librarian school ... I guess it just comes natural.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
