apologies « Do You Read Me? The American Book Center Blog

Posts Tagged ‘apologies’

Monday, July 6th, 2009

And some more hopelessly outdated Bookbits! But I’m slowly catching up, truly. I’m almost in the right month now:

Awards! An award I never mentioned anywhere are the Audies, for best audio books (Neil Gaiman won once more with his The Graveyard Book, good on him!). The lovely thing about that site is the reviews of each nominated audio book (who reads what well and why). Edward Hogan won the Desmond Elliott Prize for best (UK) debut, for Blackmoor. And after posthumously winning the Bisto Children’s Book of the Year for Bog Child, Siobhan Dowd now also wins the prestigious Carnegie Medal. The Greenaway Medal for illustration was awarded to Catherine Rayner for Harris Finds His Feet.

The book on facebook (Accidental Billionaires) is fresh off the printing presses, and already Hollywood’s circling it. Or maybe just the author, since his last book was turned into a movie.

Old news and Dutch news, but still noteworthy: the Dutch Royal Library has electronically catalogued all books published in this country between 1540 and 1800.

Can you lift stuff off Wikipedia for a book about Free stuff without acknowledging the source? Well, at least the author’s apologizing, twice.

Lists! I’m drowning in all these summer reading lists! Here are more, this time from US public radio: VPR asked three local bookstore owners, NPR looked at books for “tweens”, and NPR also looked more broadly at children’s books for the summer. If you want something steamier this summer, have a look at these 10 books about ménages à trois.

If you happen to be on a London Tube train this summer, don’t be surprised to have Gandhi or Sartre quoted at you by the drivers.

Thursday, September 4th, 2008

Another weekly round-up of newsworthy literary tidbits!

Stephenie Meyer (please don’t tell me you haven’t heard of her Twilight series) has, for the moment, scrapped plans for the final episode (Midnight Sun) because a working manuscript was leaked on the internet. I can hear about 3 million horrified gasps right now, in this country alone. For everyone’s sake I hope she’ll come ’round!

Shucks! Salman Rushdie won an apology from the man who claimed to have stuffed him into a closet all those years ago. Apparently that’s not enough, though; the Mail on Sunday must now apologize to the man (Rushdie, not his ex-bodyguard), too. Who says the literary world is boring?

One of the authors of 100 Things To Do Before You Die was killed in a fall last week. He managed to visit about half the places advocated in the book – but then, he was only 47.

Looking for a way to get your (grand)son to read? Then head on over to youngbond.com, where Charlie Higson, author of the Young Bond series, hopes to preach reading (be it books or comics) through an online game set in the Young Bond ‘Verse. It’s up until Oct. 8th, so click fast!

Interview! If you’re thinking of trying Gargoyle, one of the big hypes across the pond, here’s an interview with the author. I like the way he talks about his characters (for his next book): “They’ve still not consented to be the main character. I’m still waiting for their approval, but I’ve got my fingers crossed, I’m hoping.”

List! You’re probably just back from your holiday, so my question to you is: what book(s) did you leave behind and why? Here are the Top 10 Abandoned Books in Travelodges across the UK. John Prescott, Ian McEwan, and the ubiquitous Katie Price/Jordan get a mention.

Unbelievably, there’s no award to post about! I probably didn’t search hard enough. No matter, I think I’m going to celebrate this momentous occasion by creating the Sophie Sound of Silence Award, to be given every first week in September to the book I’ve finished most recently. The prize consists of a completely unnecessary mention in the Bookbits. Congratulations to Friday’s Child by Georgette Heyer for winning the inaugural award!