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Thoughts on Reviews, and on Advances
Grow Wings -- the Journal of Laini Taylor — I have nothing against book reviewers, or movie reviewers, or any kind of reviewers. I read reviews and I tend to heed reviews. Some reviewers more than others, certainly. For example, I almost never agree with Stephanie Zacharek of salon.com, but I usually find Peter Travers of Rolling Stone to be right in sync with my tastes. Usually. There's the matter of him having liked Dogma, a movie I hated, but hey, that was like ten years ago. So. Reviewers perform an important service and I'm glad they do what they do. But I still find it really funny when a creator, let's say a writer, finds a clever way of flouting bad reviews. ...

Friday Bookish Buzz: Spending July in an Ark
book-a-rama — see more Lolcats and funny pictures Happy July 4th to our American friends! Have a good one. I hope it's drier there than here. The drizzly weather is making me grumpy. *I guess readers are lonely people. Borders starts a dating service. *Whatever you think of Michael Jackson, he was a voracious reader. *Edith Wharton's letters find a home. *Hoffman wasn't the only author to suffering from Foot-in-Mouth disease this week. *It's a book written by a fictional writer who writes fiction. You follow? *Awful Library Books: outdated books culled from libraries. A blog we ...

This actually happened (Or, my to-read stacks are too big)
BOOKS AND MOVIES — I was telling my husband about Brad Meltzer’s hilarious video about his book Book of Lies and the poor reviews it has received. I told him that I thought it was such a gracious way to respond to poor reviews that it made me want to go out and buy the book! That night, I found the book on one of the to-read stacks next to my bed. I had completely forgotten I owned it! ...

“It’s my grandson’s book: don’t read it.”
That Shakespearean Rag — (Via Kate Sutherland.)

Bookmarks: YouTube review revenge and library porn
Quill & Quire — The best revenge on bad reviews Coach House Books publicist Evan Munday asks, “Which Canadian book should be made into a movie?” Novelist Mariko Tamaki on fiction versus academia in the new issue of No More Potlucks Montreal’s Arjun Basu, author of several Twitter-length short stories, is having one turned into a short film Book critic Julia Keller on how to read graphic novels in the LA Times. Bologna Children’s Bookfair may be forced to reinstate a fourth day, according to ...

Brad Meltzer: Why do people hate him?
Off the Page: On books and culture | Sun-Sentinel Blogs — Facebook is good for many things. OK, wasting time is paramount....but if it hadn't been for Facebook and a recently posting by author Alafair Burke, I would not have seen this very funny video in which author Brad Meltzer makes fun of his bad reviews for The Book of Lies. I notice that the Sun-Sentinel is quoted on here but I can't remember giving Meltzer a negative review. I've enjoyed many of his thrillers In any case, negative reviews didn't harm The Book of Lies was a best-seller and the paperback version is sure to be a best-seller also. Meanwhile, enjoy this video in which Meltzer, who lives part-time in Palm Beach County, ...

Big up to the Squirrel
Debi Alper — I mentioned in that last post that I couldn't take the credit for my new blog look, but I didn't tell you who was responsible. Squirrels can be shy, so I wanted to check with her first. I'm really pleased that she's allowing me to credit her. If the world is roughly divided between givers and takers, Beleaguered Squirrel is deffo in the former group. In spite of flying high with a major career change while simultaneously juggling a couple of kids (not easy with those teensy tiny paws) she still found time to devote to me and my blog. There have been the inevitable teething problems. The new links I'd added were inexplicably ...

Ouch!
Charles Lambert — Now I know how to deal with negative reviews. I just need to find the kids...