Get into the Spring of things

Embarassing blog title aside, this Spring is shaping up to be the perfect time to spread out in the park and have a read in the sun. Here are some of the big name titles that have recently been released and others that are soon to hit the shelves.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

Jonathan Franzen's latest and much anticipated new novel has been producing a steady surge of excitement lately. After the publication of his first and incredibly popular novel The Corrections, Jonathan became notorious (at least in the literary world) for losing his inclusion in the Oprah Book Club. For those that don't know, being included in Operah's Book Club will, without fail, instantly make an author's book a huge hit. So it was seen by some as strange and by others as a brave act that Franzen said during an interview at the time that he was uneasy with his selection for the book club because he felt that it may distance him from the male readers he most desired to reach. Along with a few other disparaging words about the quality of readers one might find in an average Oprah audience, this lead to his invitation to be revoked. So it has been with much interest (at least in the literary world) that he has once again been selected and has this time been positive about about the inclusion.

Apart from the drama, Freedom has been getting almost unanimous rave reviews and has even been dubbed the 'next great American novel'. It is currently number one on the New York Times Bestseller list.

The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking's most famous popular science book was his 1988 title A Brief History of Time which was many people's first, and for most their last foray into the world of quantum mechanics, theories of everything, black-holes and quarks. In that book Stephen infamously finished the book with the quote:

 "If we find [a unified theory], it would be the ultimate triumph — for then we would know the mind of god"

Which was interpreted by many religiously minded people at the time to mean that there was room in complex physics for a creator. In his latest book it appears Mr. Hawking has happily changed his mind -- or at least emphasised things differently -- by stating that there is no need for a creator to be involved in the big bang at all.

The latest is sure to be an interesting and accessible venture into a world -- or should we say universe -- that most have little understanding of.

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

Ken Follett is one of the worlds most popular writers of thrillers. His latest is a 1000 page piece of historical fiction that is to be the first in the Century trilogy:

... it follows the fates of five interrelated families – American, German, Russian, English and Welsh – as they move through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women’s suffrage.

Thirteen-year-old Billy Williams enters a man’s world in the Welsh mining pits…Gus Dewar, an American law student rejected in love, finds a surprising new career in Woodrow Wilson’s White House…two orphaned Russian brothers, Grigori and Lev Peshkov, embark on radically different paths half a world apart when their plan to emigrate to America falls afoul of war, conscription and revolution…Billy’s sister, Ethel, a housekeeper for the aristocratic Fitzherberts, takes a fateful step above her station, while Lady Maud Fitzherbert herself crosses deep into forbidden territory when she falls in love with Walter von Ulrich, a spy at the German Embassy in London….

It certainly sounds interesting, maybe this is to be Follett's magnum opus. Released 28th of September.

"The Confession," by John Grisham

The hugely popular author that is John Grisham is set to release his new novel on October 26. The latest in a long string of legal thrillers including 'The Client', The Chamber, The Partner, and The Associate, comes The Confession. As surly as the 'The', this will be another hit.  Go to this link to download the first two chapters for free and preorder yours from us today!

"Our Kind of Traitor," by John le Carre

The 78 year le Carre is no doubt hoping that he still has what it takes to write great espionage fiction and if his last novel is anything to go by, he does. Always entertaining and more realistic than some of their counterparts, his novels have been adapted to the screen 7 times. His latest touches on modern Russia and it's current global influences. It comes out October 12. Preorder yours today.

"Earth: A Visitor’s Guide to the Human Race" by Jon Stewart

One of America's most popular satirists has just released his 3rd book. This one is laid out as a guidebook to Earth, aimed at any curious alien, pointing out all the ridiculous aspects of human life on planet Earth as seen by the author and his team at Comedy Central. I personally love people finding the lighter side to our serious problems while at the same time highlighting those same problems and Jon Stewart achieves this better than most. His daily comedy show, suitably enough named 'The Daily Show', has been a hit in the US for some years and many of its great moments can be seen on their website.

Book news: BISG annual meeting

Last Friday saw the annual meeting of the Book Industry Study Group held in New York. The focus of much of the meeting was apparently about eBooks and the general future of the publishing industry. It would seem that publishers, especially in the US, are becoming more and more aware of eBooks and how potentially huge their impact might be for the industry.

From our perspective as booksellers there are obviously going to be huge changes for us too and we will have to be fast on the heels of the publishers when they start introducing new means of distributing eBooks to booksellers and customers. The hope for us is that publishers will continue to see small booksellers as having an important role to play as a link in the in the supply chain to customers.

The focus publishers are giving to eBooks is just one more example showing that the whole industry is on the precipice of massive change. Australia is sure to be, at most, a few years behind and it would pay for the publishers here to be watching the American scene very closely.

More informations about the BISG meeting here.

Short stories and confusing titles

I love short stories; all types of short stories generally but the more contemporary, open ended ones suit me best. Plot driven ones with a surprise ending or twist in the tale can also be greatly entertaining. One of the great exponents was O Henry and it’s good that his books are still readily available to delight a new generation of readers.

I’ve always particularly enjoyed the stories of the American south by authors such as Eudora Welty, also still available. There is at least one inexpensive collection on our website.

A good, and cheap, introduction to a range of southern writers is The Signet Classic Book of Southern Short Stories with stories by such maestros of the art as Robert Penn Warren, Carson McCullers, Eudora Welty, William Faulkner, Truman Capote, and Alice Walker. If you want to browse short story books go to Fiction and then either Short Stories (Anthologies) or Short Stories (single author). You will also find some under Fiction/Anthologies (multiple authors).

The title of a book of short stories is often the same as one of the stories. I recently read a glowing review in our local paper of a collection by an author I didn’t know about, one Tim Gautreaux. The collection was titled Waiting for the Evening News and I was surprised I couldn’t find it on Scribbly Gum Books. So I ordered one from a UK bookshop. The title of one of the stories rang a bell and I realized it was the title of one of Gautreaux’s books that we do list. The same book had been published in the UK and USA each using a different short story as the book title. The one on our website, cheaper than the UK one I bought, is Welding with Children and if you are a short story lover you should try it.

In the news: Deepwater Horizon oil spill

On April 20th, 2010 the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig suffered a huge explosion killing 11 workers and injuring 17 others. The explosion lead to the rig's eventual sinking. Ever since then there has been a serious and ongoing oil spill leaking from the wellhead at the drilling site in the Gulf of Mexico.

The oil gushed out of the sea floor at a rate of between 12 000 to 100 000 barrels per day, with many experts suggesting the rate was at the upper, worst case scenario limit. The oil spill is quickly becoming one of the world's worst environmental disasters with the effectiveness of the attempts by BP (owner of the drill site) to stem the flow still uncertain.

Below we have listed some books related to oil, oil rigs and deep sea drilling.

Deep Challenge: Our Quest for Energy Beneath the Sea
Clyde W. Burleson

Oil on the Brain: Adventures from the Pump to the Pipeline
Lisa Margonelli

Don't Tell Mom I Work on the Rigs: She Thinks I'm a Piano Player in a Whorehouse
Paul Carter

Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil
Peter Maass