Remember my last post, where I mention that I tend to read more than one book at a time? Well, I need to add another one.
I found another ARC (Advanced Reader's Copy, although I guess the publishing industry has changed it to Advanced Reader's Edition, or ARE) of an author I have read before in the back room at work. Christopher Moore, author of Lamb, Bite Me, and Stupidest Angel, has another book coming out later this spring. It's called Sacre Bleu, A Comedy d'Art, a story about the sacred color blue and how obtaining this allusive and mystical color caused the death of Vincent van Gogh. I'm only a few chapters into this book, and already I'm amazed at the literary vision of color and beauty described by Moore. I'm super excited about this book; I think this might be on par with Lamb.
I will certainly do a full review of this book once I finish it... as well whenever I finish my other ones.
And if you're not sure when I'll complete my review---because neither am I---you can wait for it to come out in bookstores near you on April 3, 2012.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
My Reading List Thus Far...
From time to time, I get into the habit of reading more than one book at a time. And when that occurs, I tend to take a really long time to finish any of them. Right now I'm technically reading three books, but since one of them is a random information book, it kind of doesn't count.
This book is the first in a new "cozy mystery" series about a woman who owns a bookstore in New York. The bookstore was once owned by her late great-aunt, and she inherited it and the large black cat named Hamlet. I'm just a few chapters into it, and it seems pretty good so far. It seems similar to another series a friend of mine told me about, Magical Cats Series. That book will be tackled in the near future.
The other book I am reading at the moment is the third book by Caprice Crane, Family Affair. It is a romantic comedy by the author who brought the world the ever-amazing Stupid & Contagious. I'm also a few chapters into it, and it seems pretty good so far, still getting a lot of character and plot set-up so far, and as with Stupid, the back-and-forth POVs of the chapters (one is through Layla, the next through her husband, the next her, the next him, etc.), still takes a bit to get used to.
In the near future there will be a review of one of these two books. Hopefully I can sit down and focus on one long enough to finish one soon. Ugh. Why do I do this to myself?
The Me Generation
This isn't a review of anything, but a repost of a post from my old journal about an author experience that a coworker of mine had about two years ago. We work at Barnes & Noble, and from time to time, authors come into stores (even ours in little Eden Prairie, MN!) to check on... author stuff... I dunno. They're big name authors, they have big name author type stuff to do. But my coworker friend Lynn had a very none-too-fantastic experience with a big name author that had us confused and disgusted at his behavior.
The following story was told to me after the fact, and I wrote this little editorial post thing after I heard said story, so I don't know all that happened nor can I give you my first-hand account of reactions, emotions, etc. Now, no matter what people say, a first impression of a person is not the be-all-end-all of that person; you only got a brief snap shot of a person in the never ending slide show that is their life. Read the following retelling of the events that happened to my coworker Lynn, and let me know if you think this is an undefining snap shot, or just how this man acts:
-------
Wow, when I become a famous author, can I be a hypocrite too!?
· Oct. 20th, 2009 at 12:16 PM
Apparently Mitch Albom was in our Barnes & Noble Tuesday morning. You know, the guy who wrote such inspirational books as Tuesdays with Morrie, For One More Day, and The Five People You Meet In Heaven. Well, I guess he was touring around Barnes & Nobles looking at how his book newest book,Have a Little Faith, was displayed, because some authors spend big money to get their books displayed on their own tables and stuff like that.
But apparently, he was a real... well... "unpleasant person", in the words of Lynn, who had the (dis)pleasure of interacting with him. I wasn't there, I didn't work at BN yesterday, but I stopped in before heading over to Lane Bryant and chatted with her, and wow. Mitch Albom's kinda a prick. And a hypocrite. He and his little flunkie assistant were taking pictures of where his book was displayed and Mitch was pitching a fit because it wasn't displayed where he thought it should be---since he did pay B&N money to have his own table or something. But yeah, the whole time he was there, taking pictures of the misplacement of his books, apparently he was just a prick and was rude to Lynn when she offered to get a manager for him to talk to. Quote: "Well, if it won't take too long." (and have that dripping with annoyance acid).
So... yeah. Here's this guy who is supposed to be the author of great inspirational books about changing your life for the better and all that... pitching a royal I'm-the-king-of-everything-cuz-I'm-the-author fit because his book wasn't in the spot it was supposed to be. Lynn and I discussed how he could have handled that a lot better, in a more tactful way of letting his annoyance or confusion be known. Like so: "Oh, I was under the impression that my book was meant to be displayed as such. But it's not. Maybe I'll have my people call BN Corporate and figure this out." Simple, tactful, conveys the point without being a douche about it.
I've decided that I'm going to pull a Mitch Albom when I'm a successful author. Yeah.
-----------------------
I know it was a small post, and not much was really explained. As I read through this again, being over 2 years after the fact, I wonder if we were not too harsh on him. Perhaps Mr. Albom was having a bag day? He's apparently on this tour of Barnes & Noble stores to see how his books are displayed, so maybe he's under a bit of stress, he's tired, he's a little grumpy... but does that give an excuse to his attitude in the store and his way of treating my fellow coworkers?
Having worked in a bookstore for a little over 6 years, I've seen quite a few different customer types. You have the harried mother with a brood of children to keep track of; the rushed businessman who's picking up something quickly on his lunch break; the grumpy old person who seems to be annoyed with all of the outside world; the antisocial teenager who could care less about anything you have to say at the registers; the self-important person who doesn't understand why you're not stopping everything to wait on them hand and foot... you get the idea. There are also the good customers, and more often than not we deal with those lovely people. And in the spirit of this post, those customers could also be having bad days, being rushed or overly tired, which would then influence their behaviors in the store.
My stance on this? I believe that our society is quickly regressing. Once we used to be bound by the laws of manners and respect for our fellow man. We thought about others, we lived by the Golden Rule for the most part. But in recent years, something happened and now people are looking out for Number One, not caring who they annoy, piss off, or step on to get what they want. They deserve to get what they want. It confuses me, to see people just come into stores, no matter what retail store or restaurant, and just demand to get treated in a certain way. And if you don't play along with me? I'll pitch a royal fit worthy of a 5 yr old. Where do people come up with the idea that if they don't get their way, that it's all right to throw a fit, yell, bitch, etc.? I think somewhere along the line, society as a whole decided that "The customer is always right" was written by the hand of the retail gods and that all stores should abide by this rule. To some small point, that saying is true. But it's a very very very small point. Retailers have rules and regulations and policies in place to protect them as a company. If they just returned anything without any receipt or proof you bought it at that store and not at a different store, then they would lose money. Over time, the store will lose money because of fraudulent returns. And then eventually, the store will go out of business. And where will you be when your fave store goes out of business and then you have to travel to another part of town, or to a totally different town to get the goods you want. (This is why I believe Kohls' time is numbered because of their "no hassle return" policy.)
But that's not the point of this post.
This toddler mentality is apparently not just resigned to customers. Going back to Mitch Albom, he threw a fit when things didn't go his way. No sign of manners or tact, just demanding his needs get met right then, right now. Who hasn't heard of some celebrity (no matter if they are an A lister, B, C, D, or lower), name drop or pull the "Don't you know who I am!?" when something isn't going their way? They got denied access to a swanky club, they got busted for speeding or breaking some other law, or heaven forbid---got treated like a normal person, and they pull out the Celebrity Card and flash that around in hopes of someone giving them a break and bowing to their childlike demands. Another group of people who have been infected with this toddler mentality is the 18-30 age group. The disillusioned youth of 80's yuppie parents who aren't properly parented and led to believe that they are special and amazing and they can do whatever they want. However, in the words of Tyler Durden from Fight Club, "You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake." There are rules and policies set up for a reason. There is a set order to things, and some people weld more power than others.
So... now that you've read this somewhat sporadic post and looked into the world as viewed by a bookstore retail worker... was Mitch Albom's little meltdown because he was having a bad day? Has he succumbed to his own level of celebrity and think he is above normal rules of social behavior? Or was Albom just another victim of the Me Generation?
The following story was told to me after the fact, and I wrote this little editorial post thing after I heard said story, so I don't know all that happened nor can I give you my first-hand account of reactions, emotions, etc. Now, no matter what people say, a first impression of a person is not the be-all-end-all of that person; you only got a brief snap shot of a person in the never ending slide show that is their life. Read the following retelling of the events that happened to my coworker Lynn, and let me know if you think this is an undefining snap shot, or just how this man acts:
-------
Wow, when I become a famous author, can I be a hypocrite too!?
· Oct. 20th, 2009 at 12:16 PM
Apparently Mitch Albom was in our Barnes & Noble Tuesday morning. You know, the guy who wrote such inspirational books as Tuesdays with Morrie, For One More Day, and The Five People You Meet In Heaven. Well, I guess he was touring around Barnes & Nobles looking at how his book newest book,Have a Little Faith, was displayed, because some authors spend big money to get their books displayed on their own tables and stuff like that.
But apparently, he was a real... well... "unpleasant person", in the words of Lynn, who had the (dis)pleasure of interacting with him. I wasn't there, I didn't work at BN yesterday, but I stopped in before heading over to Lane Bryant and chatted with her, and wow. Mitch Albom's kinda a prick. And a hypocrite. He and his little flunkie assistant were taking pictures of where his book was displayed and Mitch was pitching a fit because it wasn't displayed where he thought it should be---since he did pay B&N money to have his own table or something. But yeah, the whole time he was there, taking pictures of the misplacement of his books, apparently he was just a prick and was rude to Lynn when she offered to get a manager for him to talk to. Quote: "Well, if it won't take too long." (and have that dripping with annoyance acid).
So... yeah. Here's this guy who is supposed to be the author of great inspirational books about changing your life for the better and all that... pitching a royal I'm-the-king-of-everything-cuz-I'm-the-author fit because his book wasn't in the spot it was supposed to be. Lynn and I discussed how he could have handled that a lot better, in a more tactful way of letting his annoyance or confusion be known. Like so: "Oh, I was under the impression that my book was meant to be displayed as such. But it's not. Maybe I'll have my people call BN Corporate and figure this out." Simple, tactful, conveys the point without being a douche about it.
I've decided that I'm going to pull a Mitch Albom when I'm a successful author. Yeah.
-----------------------
I know it was a small post, and not much was really explained. As I read through this again, being over 2 years after the fact, I wonder if we were not too harsh on him. Perhaps Mr. Albom was having a bag day? He's apparently on this tour of Barnes & Noble stores to see how his books are displayed, so maybe he's under a bit of stress, he's tired, he's a little grumpy... but does that give an excuse to his attitude in the store and his way of treating my fellow coworkers?
Having worked in a bookstore for a little over 6 years, I've seen quite a few different customer types. You have the harried mother with a brood of children to keep track of; the rushed businessman who's picking up something quickly on his lunch break; the grumpy old person who seems to be annoyed with all of the outside world; the antisocial teenager who could care less about anything you have to say at the registers; the self-important person who doesn't understand why you're not stopping everything to wait on them hand and foot... you get the idea. There are also the good customers, and more often than not we deal with those lovely people. And in the spirit of this post, those customers could also be having bad days, being rushed or overly tired, which would then influence their behaviors in the store.
My stance on this? I believe that our society is quickly regressing. Once we used to be bound by the laws of manners and respect for our fellow man. We thought about others, we lived by the Golden Rule for the most part. But in recent years, something happened and now people are looking out for Number One, not caring who they annoy, piss off, or step on to get what they want. They deserve to get what they want. It confuses me, to see people just come into stores, no matter what retail store or restaurant, and just demand to get treated in a certain way. And if you don't play along with me? I'll pitch a royal fit worthy of a 5 yr old. Where do people come up with the idea that if they don't get their way, that it's all right to throw a fit, yell, bitch, etc.? I think somewhere along the line, society as a whole decided that "The customer is always right" was written by the hand of the retail gods and that all stores should abide by this rule. To some small point, that saying is true. But it's a very very very small point. Retailers have rules and regulations and policies in place to protect them as a company. If they just returned anything without any receipt or proof you bought it at that store and not at a different store, then they would lose money. Over time, the store will lose money because of fraudulent returns. And then eventually, the store will go out of business. And where will you be when your fave store goes out of business and then you have to travel to another part of town, or to a totally different town to get the goods you want. (This is why I believe Kohls' time is numbered because of their "no hassle return" policy.)
But that's not the point of this post.
This toddler mentality is apparently not just resigned to customers. Going back to Mitch Albom, he threw a fit when things didn't go his way. No sign of manners or tact, just demanding his needs get met right then, right now. Who hasn't heard of some celebrity (no matter if they are an A lister, B, C, D, or lower), name drop or pull the "Don't you know who I am!?" when something isn't going their way? They got denied access to a swanky club, they got busted for speeding or breaking some other law, or heaven forbid---got treated like a normal person, and they pull out the Celebrity Card and flash that around in hopes of someone giving them a break and bowing to their childlike demands. Another group of people who have been infected with this toddler mentality is the 18-30 age group. The disillusioned youth of 80's yuppie parents who aren't properly parented and led to believe that they are special and amazing and they can do whatever they want. However, in the words of Tyler Durden from Fight Club, "You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake." There are rules and policies set up for a reason. There is a set order to things, and some people weld more power than others.
So... now that you've read this somewhat sporadic post and looked into the world as viewed by a bookstore retail worker... was Mitch Albom's little meltdown because he was having a bad day? Has he succumbed to his own level of celebrity and think he is above normal rules of social behavior? Or was Albom just another victim of the Me Generation?
Thursday, January 5, 2012
January Book Releases!
A new feature for the blog today! I came up with the idea when I was at work looking up when new books were going to be released so I could make sure to save up moneys for their acquisition. So I've decided to post at the beginning of the month, a list of some of the books that are coming out. Below you will see a list of books that are coming out in the month of January, I snagged it from Barnes & Noble online, and it gives a good selection of books that are coming out each week; I figured that if I went there and got a list of new books, it would give a better selection that just having me post the new release dates of the books I read... how boring would that be. These books will most likely hit bookshelves on the Tuesday of each week, as Tuesday is new release day for books (and DVDs & CDs), although some books do come out on Monday (we're looking at you, Mr. Patterson...)
So I hope you enjoy this new feature of the blog!
Happy reading!
Week of January 9
Elizabeth the Queenby Sally Bedell Smith(Hardcover)
- $30.00 List Price
- $18.96 Online Price
- (You Save 36%)
Believing the Lie (Inspector Lynley Series #16)by Elizabeth George(Hardcover)
- $28.95 List Price
- $16.98 Online Price
- (You Save 41%)
A Million Suns (Across the Universe Series #2)by Beth Revis(Hardcover)
- $17.99 List Price
- $12.84 Online Price
- (You Save 28%)
Hallowed (Unearthly Series)by Cynthia Hand(Hardcover)
- $17.99 List Price
- $12.84 Online Price
- (You Save 28%)
Death of Kings (Saxon Tales #6)by Bernard Cornwell(Hardcover)
- $27.99 List Price
- $17.36 Online Price
- (You Save 37%)
Fallen in Love (Lauren Kate's Fallen Series #4)by Lauren Kate(Hardcover)
- $15.99 List Price
- $11.98 Online Price
- (You Save 25%)
The Capture of the Earl of Glencrae (Cynster Series)by Stephanie Laurens(Mass Market Paperback)
- $7.99 Online Price
Monday, January 2, 2012
Rot & Ruin: The First Review of 2012
My first review of 2012! And it is the ever-mentioned and hyped review of Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry. But believe me, folks, it was well worth the wait! Add this book to the ever growing list of amazing books by Jonathan Maberry. His Joe Ledger series continues to thrill and entice readers with each page and volume. With Rot & Ruin, Maberry ventures into the realm of the Young Adult genre, and does so with a bang.
The story starts almost 15 years after the zombie apocalypse in a small outpost of survivors. In this new post-zombie world, electricity is almost unheard of, most modern inventions have been forgotten, and you have to pull your weight around the town. When one turns 15, one has to get a job; if you don’t have a job your food rations get cut in half. That is where our main characters come in. The Imura brothers are well known in the outpost, Tom for being a zombie hunter, and Benny for being his little brother. Benny is just turning 15 and has to find a job in the compound or fear losing half his food rations. His brother Tom was hoping he’d continue the “family business” by being a zombie hunter, or a “closure specialist” as he’d rather be referred as. Being a closure specialist means that he went into the Rot and Ruin—the world outside the safety of the compound—and would find the zombified family members of those living in the compound and put them to rest. Benny, being an angsty teen, would rather do anything than the family business and be around Tom. Benny blames Tom for the death of his mother during the First Night, running away instead of helping her escape from the clutches of a zombie. After several horrible attempts to find a job that he liked, he knew he had to get a job fast before his time ran out on his full rations. Benny finally accepted the apprenticeship with his brother.
Then the amazingness of the book kicks in. Benny is thrown into a world he had no idea existed, and all the things he thought he knew and believed in were thrown on their ear. Tom showed him how the “real world” was out on the Rot & Ruin, how the world isn’t as black and white as the people in the compound believe it to be; or how they force it to be. The zombie bounty hunters he once idolized quickly became sinister villains, more monsters than men. Even the zombies themselves lose their horror and earn an odd level of sympathy and pity. Benny gets sucked into a darker world than he ever knew existed when the once godlike bounty hunters kidnap one of his friends and drags her out into the Ruin; because the Imura brothers had learned of a HUGE secret the bounty hunters would kill to keep silent. Striking out on an epic journey that will test both brothers, Tom and Benny go after her. During this rescue mission Benny reaches a turning point in his young life. He no longer is a whiny teenager, mad at the world. He has started his journey to becoming a man and paving the way for Benny to become a proper “closure specialist”.
This book is simply amazing. I know I’ve been using that word to describe this book, but that’s really the only word I can think to do it justice. I must admit that at first, the first few chapters were a little hard to slug through. I had to plow through the angsty bemoaning of Benny. But as I sit and look back on it now, Maberry did an excellent job of bringing the discontent of the teens of today into the world of the zombie. Benny was mad at the world and wanted so much more than what he had, while the world around him was struggling to survive day to day, his version of being mad over not getting an iPad for Christmas or not getting a new car for his birthday. Tom tried on numerous occasions to get Benny to think outside himself, to see beyond the glamour of the bounty hunters and the complacency of living the compound. All Benny could focus on was himself, his misery, and trying to make the best of his lot in life. But once Tom got Benny out into the Rot & Ruin to teach him what the world was really about, I finally got into the story. And was I glad I forged through the initial angst. It was an epic coming of age story in a zombie world, with every page you watched Benny get stripped down layer by layer only to slowly get rebuilt with a new world- and self-vision.
Maberry also worked miracles by describing the zombies in such a way that they demanded our sympathy, our sadness, our pain. These were not monsters, vicious creatures who wanted to kill and eat. How he described the field of zombies in the abandoned town the brothers found, the one zombie who had just stopped walking and was now entwined by vines and weeds? It was heartbreaking to think that the zombie just stopped and… waited. It had nothing else to do in its life. It just became part of the landscape, detailed simply and beautifully by Maberry. And the ending when the brothers go on one last closure? Don’t get me started! Dear God, I was crying.
I’ve read the three Joe Ledger books by Maberry, all being of the über-masculine, action-thriller, crazy-science-gone-wrong genre of books that don’t leave much room for emotions or personal growth of the characters. There’s nothing wrong with that, those books are equally amazing in their own right. Rot & Ruin was the first book by Maberry that I read that hit me on an emotional level. Not only was there thrilling action scenes with bounty hunters and zombies, but there were tender moments where Benny and his group of friends were broken out of their little sheltered lives after the events that changed them all forever, and Maberry did an excellent job hinting that not all of them will come back from this completely okay. As you read this book, you know that these events are putting other events in motion that will change how all these people who live in the compound view their world and relate to each other.
If you love zombie books you need to read this book. If you love anything by Jonathan Maberry, you need to read this book. If you want something that combines all of the above components and then adds an astonishing emotional depth to the zombie genre, I suggest reading Rot & Ruin. There is a sequel, Dust & Decay that I haven’t read yet (it’s still in hardcover and I can’t read hardcover books… don’t ask), but I can imagine that it is as equally amazing, so you could also pick that up. On my scale of rating, 1 (literary hari kari) to 10 (literary orgasmic bliss), I give Rot & Ruin a solid 9. I can’t recommend this book, or the author, enough.
Now, go! Make this book the first thing you read in 2012!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)