i readers!  We all have moments when we finish a chapter or difficult section and want to put the book down for a bit.  It’s always great to have something fun and relaxing to do during those times and I’ve recently discovered that games can be a great way to unwind after a good novel.

I’m a fan of Foxy Bingo, which allows you to play bingo competitively online with other users.  It’s pretty simple and you can actually make money if you win, which is cool too.  I actually just played bingo for the first time in a while this past weekend and it was surprisingly relaxing and fun at the same time–a great way to unwind.

What are you favorite activities for when you need a break from your book?

ussell Smith writes some interesting editorial on the state of sex in the publishing industry inspired by the firing of Penguin Canada’s CEO David Davidar for sexual harassment.

“Despite the staggering ratio of brainy beauties to tweedy egotists in this industry, you would be surprised by how little sex there really is. It’s not exactly rock ’n’ roll. A guy who really can’t resist acting on every romantic inclination is in the wrong business.”

–Mark Twain, Austen Hater.  More author-on-author throw downs can be found here.

“And whenever I pass the ball to Lido–fully aware that it is going to be miskicked and wasted–I have a pleasant, tingling sensation of being connected with something bigger and better than me, the sensation wholly inaccessible to those who think soccer is about exercise.”

I’m so glad I decided to–finally–start reading my copy of Granta 108: Chicago last night.  Aleksandar Hemon’s essay, “If God Existed, He’d be a Solid Midfielder” really put me in the mood for my Sunday morning soccer league; even at 8:00 a.m.

Saturday afternoon visit to Primitive has left me craving antique asian furniture.  Chicago publisher Art Media Resources specializes in books about all aspects of Asian culture, but they are particularly known for their fantastic books about Chinese antique furniture.  Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties is a fantastic example of one of these books–it’s printed well, bound well, and well researched.  Until recently, it was on display at the Chicago Publishers Gallery–more recently, some asshole decided to steal it.  Regardless, Art Media Resources (and their sister, Serindia) are big supporters of Chicago art projects and produce extremely high quality art books.  We approve.

uh.

Somewhat deliberately, I’ve avoided reading news reports about the drama between Amazon and MacMillan until now.  I don’t own a kindle (or any other e-reader) so I’m not personally invested in this in any way, so I figured it might be best to ignore it.

This morning I finally read a few articles on the subject and was surprised by what I found.  If you’d like a good summary of the whole debacle, I’d suggest reading David Parkman’s “Weighing in on Amazon/Macmillan Pricing Debate,” (it’s the most factually relevant article I found on this subject, though you might find it slightly skewed toward the pro-Amazon side).
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lright. I’ve got to admit it. Twitterature bothers me.

You can read my original post about it here.

I’ll admit that the book could be funny, after all there’s clearly a bit of humor that has gone into its production, however I dislike the way this book was put together and marketed.  It seems to me in poor taste that a couple of undergraduates will make money off of what are essentially low-quality CliffsNotes.  It also seems in poor taste to me that Penguin’s website for the book only hints at the comedy, while also strongly pushing the notion that shortened, comedic, and easy-to-read blurbs about literary classics are more accessible and enjoyable for the modern reader.

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hanks to Dominique Raccah, Sourcebooks CEO, for this.

was lucky enough to attend the Chicago Book Clinic’s “University,” a.k.a. day-long seminar, this week.  The meeting was in Glenview and was comprised of five different seminars and lectures that had to do with publishing (in various ways).  The event was in Glenview, so I hopped the Metra, walked through a bit of suburbia (where they apparently don’t believe in sidewalks) to get there. ¶ View In Entirety… →

esterday, Gapers Block made a post about Ewan Morrison’s list of the top ten literary threesomes.  Apparently the list contained two Chicago author’s books.  The Volcano Lover by Susan Sontag, a University of Chicago Alum, came in at #7 while Ernest Hemingway took the cake with The Garden of Eden placed at #1.  Apparently he was born in Oak Park.  (I should brush up on my Hemingway trivia, I ’spose).  Anyway, today I was rereading the post and discovered that a comment that asked the simple question, “what makes an author a Chicago author?” The commenter, Pete, found it ridiculous to call these two Chicago authors based solely on their limited experiences with/in the city.

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success has occurred in the continuing saga of parents trying to ban books they find too risque from schools.  Antioch Community High School has decided to keep Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian on it’s required summer reading list for its 400 incoming freshmen. Parents have complained about the book containing bad language and frequent mentions of masturbation (which is, as Michael Shaub over at Bookslut said, “a practice which God knows no 14-year-old is familiar with”).

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aureen Lipinski, author of A Bump in the Road, recently sat down for an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times.  One of the most interesting things we found in the interview is the fact that she decided to write a novel about a woman going through an unexpected pregnancy while she herself had never had any children, and subsequently during the book’s production found herself unexpectedly pregnant.  Even more interesting, though, is the fact that her main character’s life seems to match her own to an almost uncannily autobiographical degree (for fiction).  ¶ View In Entirety… →

he names of prominent Chicagoans are engraved in stone throughout newly constructed Pritzker Park, on the corner of State and Van Buren Streets.  One of those Chicagoans happens to be Sandra Cisenos.

Wait, …what?

The author’s name is actually Sandra Cisneros. An error seems to have occured somewhere between the Chicago Public Library and Speedy Gonzalez Landscaping, the company who did the engravings. This may shed a little more light on Cisneros’ recent negative comments on her experiences growing up in Chicago as a Latina.  Given that her name has been spelled incorrectly, etched in stone, and displayed in a public space in downtown Chicago, I find it hard to blame her.

orgive me for posting about Printer’s Row again, but the Tribune’s review of the event screams to be shared.  Phil Vettel seems to have enjoyed the event, praising its success despite the weather.  His review is mostly a list of highlights.  There are authors, there are booksellers, and there are “picture perfect moments.”  He writes:

“Picture-perfect moment: A strikingly attractive woman in jeans leaned up against a building, taking occasional photos of the goings-on, while a fellow in a baseball cap, as discreetly as possible, lined up his camera to capture the good-looking girl leaning up against the building. Had I brought my camera …”

What is this stalkery creepiness doing in a Tribune article?  Go to Printer’s Row, you might buy some books, but you might also get to take pictures of cute, unsuspecting girls?  It’s sad to me that women can be turned into objects even in the middle of a Tribune article on a book fair.  I expect a higher level of journalism from them.

In other news, if you’re interested, the Tribune also has an article praising Dalkey Archive Press that is thankfully free of information about how many attractive women work there and the author’s, or anyone else’s desire to take pictures of them.

his post is in response to a comment from C-Check on my AWP post.

As I understand it, like anything, there are advantages and disadvantages to both self-publishing and publishing through a publishing house. Self-publishing is a method of publishing that rose as a backlash to the increasing difficulty of getting a manuscript published by a publishing house. Many publishing houses these days won’t even accept unsolicited manuscripts–manuscripts without a literary agent, or manuscripts from an unknown author–which is something that authors should always keep in mind in order to seem professional. Always check to see if a publisher accepts unsolicited manuscripts before you send yours off, otherwise you could end up wasting your time and looking unprofessional.

Getting a literary agent can sometimes be costly, and can almost always be time consuming. In my research on self-publishing, one of the main things people cited as a plus to self-publishing is that it’s immediate, or nearly so, whereas going through a publisher will always take months, if not years for new authors.

Of course the advantage of putting up with soliciting your manuscript and waiting for responses is that the publishing and advertising of your book is all taken care of by the publisher. The publisher will design your cover, front the money for the printing, find you bookstore space, and sell copies of your book (while taking a chunk of the profits, of course). This is the conventional way to make it big, and though the allure of controlling everything and self-publishing can be strong, it’s hard to deny the benefits of having a publisher to get your book on the shelves.

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