A tiny shop in Toronto, specializing in the arcane and the absurd, may just be publishing's great new hope.
Showing posts with label Ransom Riggs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ransom Riggs. Show all posts
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Not sure how I feel about this...
On one hand, I totally want to go wander around in this bookstore and find random, awesome stuff. But at the same time, there's something that makes me slightly uneasy about the way the article, at least, makes it seem like the books here really are just stuff - cool to look at and think about, but in the same way that, say, old postcards (or those vernacular photographs from the Ransom Riggs book!), or any kind of collectible - especially offbeat ones - might be. I mean, I absolutely agree that with some books, part of their value is as an object: not necessarily what they're worth, but the way they look/feel/smell/make you feel or make you think of something. Books aren't just the stories inside them. But those matter too... Dunno. I also don't really think I buy, at least as it's laid out here, the Times' editorializing that this kind of place/model "may just be publishing's great new hope."
Monday, March 5, 2012
A "Tourney of Books"?!
Well, I am calling it a tourney, anyways, but not like a "Tournament of Books" needs to get any cooler.
http://www.themorningnews.org/article/here-comes-the-rooster
How did I not know this was a thing? And, if I was going to come to it late, couldn't I have come at least a little earlier, so I could read everything on the shortlist before the thing kicks off on Wednesday (March 7)??
Of the sixteen books
I've only ready one (Patrick deWitt, The Sisters Brothers) although most of them are on my to-read list (although that's not saying much; they're pretty representative of the books that were on everyone's to-read list in 2011, not to mention the Times' reviews), and some I've actually taken possession of.
This week is pretty busy for me, too, so I won't have a lot of time to read (although it's practically all I did just this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, whoops)...maybe I can adjust the game so part of it is anticipating the top 4, and seeing if I can get those read before they advance to the final slots in the bracket?
I just need to finish The Night Circus first, which I began last night, at long last, on my brother's recommendation. Huh. We were meant to swap that book for my copy of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, but I just realized I didn't give it to him. Oh, well. The valiant men & women of the U.S. postal service shall have that honor at some point. Maybe when I mail my friend's shirt back to him in New Jersey...that would be good to remember to do, too...
*the titles were cut & pasted from the Tournament announcement (see link above), and link to, I think, Powell's Books. I don't know how to get rid of the links easily, and since I have no problem with Powell's (quite the opposite) see no reason to waste time trying to, but if it should matter down the road...not mine.
http://www.themorningnews.org/article/here-comes-the-rooster
How did I not know this was a thing? And, if I was going to come to it late, couldn't I have come at least a little earlier, so I could read everything on the shortlist before the thing kicks off on Wednesday (March 7)??
Of the sixteen books
I've only ready one (Patrick deWitt, The Sisters Brothers) although most of them are on my to-read list (although that's not saying much; they're pretty representative of the books that were on everyone's to-read list in 2011, not to mention the Times' reviews), and some I've actually taken possession of.
This week is pretty busy for me, too, so I won't have a lot of time to read (although it's practically all I did just this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, whoops)...maybe I can adjust the game so part of it is anticipating the top 4, and seeing if I can get those read before they advance to the final slots in the bracket?
I just need to finish The Night Circus first, which I began last night, at long last, on my brother's recommendation. Huh. We were meant to swap that book for my copy of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, but I just realized I didn't give it to him. Oh, well. The valiant men & women of the U.S. postal service shall have that honor at some point. Maybe when I mail my friend's shirt back to him in New Jersey...that would be good to remember to do, too...
*the titles were cut & pasted from the Tournament announcement (see link above), and link to, I think, Powell's Books. I don't know how to get rid of the links easily, and since I have no problem with Powell's (quite the opposite) see no reason to waste time trying to, but if it should matter down the road...not mine.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
A Month's Worth of Books
The pile of books threatening to topple over and take out my laptop may be a sign that I haven't written about any books in a while. I've been meaning to, but I kept waiting to write something thoughtful, and now there might be a book avalanche and the library wants some of the books back, so I need to at least just list them out.
So, after the most awesome wedding of all time (YAY, my best friend is married!!!), I suddenly found myself with tons of free time for the first time in months, and as well as catching up on my coffee and adult beverages with other friends, and tv, and READING. Roughly in order:
Heresy S.J. Parris
Prophecy S.J. Parris
A Not So Perfect Crime Teresa Solana, translated from the Catalan by Peter Bush
Serena Ron Rash
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky Heidi W. Durrow
The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove Susan Gregg Gilmore
The Children's Book A.S. Byatt
The Sisters Brothers Patrick DeWitt
Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead Sara Gran
The Red Garden Alice Hoffman
I ALSO read Ransom Riggs' fantastic Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, but I'm not sure where in the order it goes...maybe between Serena and before The Girl Who Fell From the Sky? I know the Parris books came right after the wedding, if not during; I figured more-or-less brainless period mysteries would be nice and relaxing. Then I think I grabbed the Solana off my bookcase one day because I needed a paperback (something light) to carry with me some where (which is funny, because I totally took it on a trip to DC to visit E for the same reason, and never got around to reading it). And those all feel like they happened a while ago, but the Durrow seems relatively recent, so I think Ransom must have been before it...
In any case, Miss Peregrine's is going to get its own glowing review, just not now. And when did I read the even more awesome, although very different, River of Smoke (Amitav Ghosh)?
So, after the most awesome wedding of all time (YAY, my best friend is married!!!), I suddenly found myself with tons of free time for the first time in months, and as well as catching up on my coffee and adult beverages with other friends, and tv, and READING. Roughly in order:
Heresy S.J. Parris
Prophecy S.J. Parris
A Not So Perfect Crime Teresa Solana, translated from the Catalan by Peter Bush
Serena Ron Rash
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky Heidi W. Durrow
The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove Susan Gregg Gilmore
The Children's Book A.S. Byatt
The Sisters Brothers Patrick DeWitt
Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead Sara Gran
The Red Garden Alice Hoffman
I ALSO read Ransom Riggs' fantastic Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, but I'm not sure where in the order it goes...maybe between Serena and before The Girl Who Fell From the Sky? I know the Parris books came right after the wedding, if not during; I figured more-or-less brainless period mysteries would be nice and relaxing. Then I think I grabbed the Solana off my bookcase one day because I needed a paperback (something light) to carry with me some where (which is funny, because I totally took it on a trip to DC to visit E for the same reason, and never got around to reading it). And those all feel like they happened a while ago, but the Durrow seems relatively recent, so I think Ransom must have been before it...
In any case, Miss Peregrine's is going to get its own glowing review, just not now. And when did I read the even more awesome, although very different, River of Smoke (Amitav Ghosh)?
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