Egad, no Bookbits for two weeks?! *hangs head in shame* Many apologies, so sorry, life unexpectedly got busier than anticipated! Will try to make this one full and lovely. 
- First up, Al Gore is speaking in Aalsmeer tomorrow, October 14th. I haven’t given this its own post, because attending the event is through a sign-up and quite costly (see the link above on how to), but I thought you might want to know anyway, in case you bump into him somewhere!
Neil Gaiman has just finished touring the US to promote his latest, The Graveyard Book. At each stop he read one chapter of the book, which was then videotaped and put online, right here. That’s right, you can have the entire book read to you by Mr. Gaiman hisself! Well worth a listen, in my opinion..
- The NY Times has an interesting article about books and online gaming tied together, like Rick Riordan’s recent The Maze of Bones (part 1 of The 39 Clues, in which you can go online to look for extra clues and background stories).
- Lists! Forbes has listed its 10 best paid authors between June 1st, 2007 and June 1st, 2008. No guesses for 1st place, but I was a bit surprised at no. 10. And also that Nora Roberts didn’t feature in the list. Also, to counter all the summer reading lists, the Boston Globe offers up fall fare.
- Arguably the oldest Bible in the world, the Codex Sinaiticus (currently split up with parts in Egypt, Russia, Germany and the UK), will be digitized and available in its full form in the summer of 2009. The authors of the article are obviously eagerly anticipating being able to compare it to the Bible in its current form.
If you’re an American still trying to make up your mind about which candidate to support in the upcoming election, you may want to check out this flip-graphic-novel that has biographies of both Barack Obama and John McCain.
- Awards! Larry Doyle has won the 2008 Thurber Prize for American Humor for his debut I Love You, Beth Cooper. One judge called it “a hilarious yet painfully accurate account of high school in all its pimply glory.” Also, Mick Imlah won the 2008 Forward Prize for best poetry collection for The Lost Leader (oddly unfindable in our database though).
Tags: al gore, awards, bible, Children's Books, elections, fantasy, Fiction, flipbooks, gaming, lists, neil gaiman, Poetry, rich authors, Social Science, speakers
@JanetRaden – well, I checked everywhere for The Lost Leader. The UK supplier does list it, but doesn’t have anything in stock, so my guess is that the originaly print run is finished. I imagine it’ll be available again soon now that he’s won the prize.
@Mike’s Webs – sorry to hear that (no pun intended).
I have a hard time reading Dutch writers anyway, because I can’t get past their generally moody and self-satisfied portraits! Never mind hearing their voices…
@JanetRaden – I’m not sure what’s going on. I’ll have a look tomorrow at work to see why it’s not showing up. I can’t imagine it’s already out of print, although poetry books do generally get very small print runs. I would think this success should get it a little more widely available though…
Mick Imlah’s THE LOST LEADER is published by Faber and Faber, in the UK. I don’t know why it doesn’t come up in your database, but you can find it easily on the Faber and Faber website. It is well worth looking out for — I believe it is the most brilliant, important, accomplished, and also simply most enjoyable voluem of poetry for a very long time (and I believe I’ve actually understated the case!).
@Sophie: Good point, not every writer should be allowed to do their own audiobooks. The Dutch novelist Arnon Grunberg for instance.. Everytime I try to read one of his books, I hear his terrible voice in my head… Suffice to say I never finished any of his works..
Yes, the UK version with McKean’s illustrations is beautiful! And I’m glad you liked the link to the videos. Neil Gaiman is a great reader! He generally (as far as I know) provides the voice to his audio books. I can’t recommend it for all authors, but it really works with him.
I saw The Graveyard Book in store a couple of days ago. It has some beautiful illustrations by Dave McKean. By the way, thanx for the link to the video’s. It’s very interesting to hear an author’s voice reading his own work.