Mr. Bertrand has a post on the Contemporary finalists which he judged for this year’s Christy Awards.
He also passes on a story about and a link to an interesting book site for new book, No One Belongs Here More Than You. Take a look at it. Do you think anyone could follow suit with a promotion of their own book? And do you think color coordinating one’s reading with her outfit will ever catch on?
Publishers Weekly asks author Annie Dillard, “Isn’t it hard to kill off your own characters and writing?”
I’ve made the decision many times. Of course, I always save them in a file. And then I got to the part that was really interesting: shaving the book by the syllable. If there was a three-syllable word, I’d say, is there a two syllable word for this, etc. That was really fun.
Dillard has a new novel coming in June called, The Maytrees.
One reason Christians should pray more and argue or fret less is the truth, maybe not exactly as we understand it but the truth nonetheless, will endure. Fools and wicked men may gain the White House and the Kremlin or be promoted to management, but the Lord says to cast our worries on him because he cares for us.
Here’s a sermon out of Luke 10 on the things that matter most. “But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.” (Link is to MP3.)
Wouldn’t there be a market for a national literary supplement, something to go in USA Today maybe? Perhaps the NYTBR holds that place, and yet it is as disgraced its partner paper, is it not?
Grad student Kristen Keckler remembers seeking out book reviews in the Sunday paper, clipping them, and taking a folder of them to the bookstore to help her buy interesting or winning books. “While Amazon suggests books it ‘thinks’ I’ll like,” she says, “newspaper book reviews introduce me to books off my radar, books I wouldn’t encounter otherwise. Print book reviews also offer the authority, depth, and substance that online reviews often lack.”
I feel for her, honestly, and I do wonder about a national book review, The USABR, if you will; but regardless, I can readily imagine a country without newspapers.
Those refreshments I thought I had to prepare for the Viking Age Society last week? Tonight’s the proper night. I just put together a concoction which will doubtless go down in song and story as one of the great tragedies of our time.
The thing is, May 17 is coming up. That’s Syttende Mai, Norwegian Constitution Day. Syttende Mai is the really big national holiday in Norway. Much bigger than their Independence Day, for historical reasons I won’t bore you with now (I’ll bore you with them later).
Anyway, last month when I got roped into providing refreshments, people made it known that they’d really like to have a bløtkake for the May meeting. The bløtkake (cream cake) is a wonderful Norwegian dessert made of sponge cake, cream and fruit.
I did some research and discovered that there doesn’t seem to be anyplace in this area (Tell it not in Gath!) that sells bløtkaker. I looked up recipes, and decided the real thing is beyond my baking skills.
So I’m faking it. No deception is involved. I’ll announce it as “Mock Bløtkake.”
I’m using a (store-bought) angel food cake and Cool Whip. The fruit, at least, is real (strawberries and blueberries). I assembled the thing and now have it keeping cool in a cooler. No doubt the cream will have slid down the sides by the time it’s time to serve it, and I’ll go home covered with shame.
In other news, my former agent, now defunct, e-mailed me the other day to ask if I was all set up with the new agent to whom he’d referred me a few months back.
I replied that I’d gotten no reply at all from the new agent.
He says I should e-mail them again, and then call them.
I think I can work up the nerve to send a second e-mail. The call, I think, is not on.
I’ve heard recordings of me on the phone. It’s not a euphonious phenomenon.
Which is odd, because I’m a good actor, and I can read copy for radio with the best of them. But when I get on the phone, talking to someone whose body language I can’t read, I go all paranoid defensive, and it shows in my voice.
I’ll keep you posted as further milestones are marked on the downward slide of my writing career.
Author Salman Rushdie gets a few words on book reviewing in between jokes on The Colbert Report. I like Colbert’s solution to finding good books: if it’s good, he featured it on his show.
G.E. Veith notes the film industry will further ruin the movie rating system by raising the ratings for smoking. Commenter Organshoes said characters in some of the old films smoked a lot. “Cigarettes were offered to guests like coffee to Lutherans.”
Does the movie rating system help you when choosing something to watch?
What do you think about indoctrination? I’m all for it and plan to indoctrinate my children in my worldview for as long as I can. It will look like education the older they get, but as I endeavor to know the truth, I will pass it on to them.
American colleges don’t claim to follow my pattern for their students. They claim to promote freedom and the bold exchange of ideas. It’s about education for them, but in a new documentary, Evan Coyne Maloney shines light on what education means on campus. My guess is Indoctrinate U. will show how liberalism undermines its own principles. I don’t know when I will be able to see this film, but I’m sure it’s worth seeing.
Books that shouldn’t be, according to Peter Feld: MySpace for Dummies. Has anyone bought this book, and if so, have they used it as intended?
Books like this make the statistic on how many books are published in America less scary. I’m sure 20% of the annually published books in this country are stuff like this, and why should I complain? I don’t lose money on them.