Category Archives: recommendations

November 01, 2011   John   advice, John, prescriptive, recommendations, sports  
11

Biking, blogging, referencing, Googling

I don’t believe I’ve written before about my biking to work; odd, since a lot of my blog posts find their genesis on the ride down to the office when the traffic’s not too heavy. But this time the bike actually connects to my question for y’all—please just indulge me in a little background first:

I’ve always been a cycling enthusiast, but I didn’t start commuter biking on a daily basis until three years ago, when my wife and I hired a nanny for our newborn and discovered that it’s supposedly common practice in NYC to supply said nanny with a monthly MetroCard. Combine that with the demands of a baby, and it seemed like biking might be a good way to avoid an additional transportation expense and get some much-needed exercise. And so far, so good—I’m managing to keep my girlish figure, and the nanny shows up (mostly) on time.

Anyway. I was riding home last night, and realized my brakes were a little loose—fortunately, I was north of midtown by this point. So, when I got home I took the bike upstairs for an adjustment. Now, I’ve certainly tweaked my brakes before, but I thought I should double-check a couple of things before I dove in—and for that, I got my handy DK reference guide to bicycle maintenance off the shelf.

But as I was digging through, looking for the brakes section, I had one of those moments—why don’t I just Google it?

So, that’s the question—do we need reference guides in the Internet era, and if so, what subjects are better served by a book? Or, to put it another way—when you need to look up something, do you go to the bookshelf or the computer (or, to complicate it further, the ebook)? If you do go to the bookshelf, what books or series of books are your go-to guides? When was the last time you bought a reference guide? Would love to hear your thoughts!

August 22, 2011   Jane   Jane, opinion, reading, recommendations  
26

Those overrated books

So, last week I found a piece on Slate about books that people read because they were highly recommended by a teacher or a loved one or a friend and which were found to be incredibly disappointing.  This made me think word of mouth is traditionally a very good way of getting people to read, but how many times do books that come highly touted disappoint us?

I, for one, have been disappointed by some huge bestsellers in recent years.  Maybe it was the hype, which is usually over the top, and maybe it was actually the book itself.  I remember being away on a Christmas vacation when it seemed that everyone in the resort I was staying at was reading The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen.  And so was I.  The book was discussed and discussed some more by perfect strangers; most loved it, but I remember thinking when I came to the end, “why did I bother?”  It was so incredibly depressing. To me this was a big disappointment.

Then there was The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski.  Initially, I really liked the premise, but the book didn’t know when to stop; ultimately, despite its huge advance and huge success, I simply didn’t “get it.”

And, finally, Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann which every single one of our staff absolutely loved.  I tried; I really, really did.  And I understand what McCann was doing.  But in the end, it just didn’t resonate and I think, as a result, I was more disappointed with myself than I was with the novel.

So I wonder, what recent bestsellers have you been disappointed in?  And what about those classics that we all had to read as kids—did any of those knock your socks off?

July 08, 2011   Rachel   great books, Rachel S., reading, recommendations  
21

In between sobs

I recently finished reading Patti Smith’s Just Kids (wayyy late in the game, I know) and you’d really think I’d have learned by now not to read particularly emotional things in public. It only leads to me pretending I’m not crying in coffeeshops. Or on the subway. Or in the park. Or on a bench.

Not so. Instead I ended up just kind of putting my head real far down into the book. Which looked totally normal, I’m sure.

I never used to be a book-crier. It’s only been in the past several years that I have become acquainted (well acquainted) with this phenomenon. I’ve always been a song-crier and a movie-crier, however, so I suppose this was only inevitable. Every part—no matter how clichéd or expected—that a movie director aims for tears, I’ve got them. In both books and film, it’s not always the saddest things that make me cry, but often it’s the most profound or deeply touching in any manner. In my many readings of Harry Potter, I never cried at deaths, but lose it completely every single time in that horrible epilogue when Harry names his son after both Snape and Dumbledore. It’s a terrible and trite construct on Rowling’s part, but it never fails to trigger the waterworks. Knowing it’s far from the deepest or saddest part of the series really only makes it worse.

I say worse, but I suppose I don’t really mean that. A book that can trigger that kind of emotional response, for whatever reason should be lauded. As much as it’s mildly embarrassing to tear up in front of a roomful of strangers, there’s always a bathroom to hide in. Too often people aren’t affected enough by the humanity in everything—life, literature, music—it doesn’t matter, so when the waves come over me, I always kind of love it. Simply being able to feel things in a world where people have come to pride themselves on their thick skins and jadedness makes me just fine about being a weeper.

In case anyone else shares in this, here are a few books that have made me well up satisfactorily lately: Just Kids by Patti Smith, There is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper and The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Do you have any to add?

June 21, 2011   John   galleys, John, libraries, opinion, questions, reading, recommendations  
5

What to read?

One of the blessings of working in the publishing industry is that you’re given plenty of books for free. Right now, I’ve got three stacks of books and galleys on my desk, plus another tower on my night table at home, none of which I actually bought. And it’s not like they’re all cast-offs or remainders, either. We’re talking front-list, big-book titles here—in other words, good stuff!

Yet, as much as I appreciate the swag, I find that sometimes it’s a curse as well. The constant availability of books means that I often procrastinate on reading what I actually want to read—or worse, I don’t get to them at all. I’m a huge fan of the Hunger Games books, but it took me months to get around to Mockingjay, not because of the reviews or word-of-mouth, but because I simply had other stuff that looked intriguing at hand.  And I still haven’t gotten around to A Visit from the Good Squad. Or Freedom.

Are the freebies books I would have sought out and purchased? Probably not. But in most cases I was glad to read them, and certainly there’s an educational benefit to reading books on subjects I’d never consider while browsing in the store. On the other hand, it’s been years since I read any classics, because that would mean actually going out and getting the books—and I do worry that my sense of perspective has become limited to what’s contemporary.

I know, it’s pretty obnoxious to complain about having too many free books… and okay, when it comes to book shopping I’m remarkably lazy, too. But still, I’m curious: do you ever put off reading what you want for what’s at hand? Or are you always more focused in your reading choices? If so, do you have a varied reading list? Any strategies for mixing things up?

June 09, 2011   Michael   fun, music, recommendations, suggestions, writing  
31

Music on the brain

I go through phases of working with music on in the background. I’m currently in a music-all-the-time phase, rotating through Holy Ghost!, Foster the People, The Sounds, and some Hall & Oates (their greatest hits was on sale!). I find that depending on my mood, having music on can keep me extremely focused, blocking out the background noise and honing my attention. (The only issue is that I obviously turn the music off for calls, and I find myself forgetting to press play when the call is over!) Other times, I find it terribly distracting, and I will work for weeks without any music at all.

I know that authors all work in different ways, and I’m curious to know if you all write with music going. Do you listen to music when you write? If so, what do you listen to? And are you headphone or speakers people? (And anyone I should be listening to?)

April 15, 2011   Michael   advice, book fairs, Michael, recommendations  
2

A random collection of thoughts

I couldn’t come up with any great way to tie some of my random thoughts from this week together, so bear with my bullet point list here. And maybe one of you writer-types will know how to organize this into something more cohesive!

  • First, some advice: Unless you’re being referred to me by someone I know, whether it’s an author, editor, colleague or friend, you are not a referral. And saying you’ve been referred when in fact you haven’t is worse than not having a referral. We read everything that comes in, and it’s obvious quickly when someone is playing games. So don’t!
  • Am I the only one who gets super tense when my schedule is thrown off? It’s strange, because while I thrive on change (one of the reasons I love my job is that each day is different), I do not like to deviate once something is planned. I had to change some travel dates today, and boy was that stressful. But now that I’m all set again, I’m totally relieved. I guess what I really don’t like is the unknown–the part where I know that one plan is off but I’m not sure what the replacement plan is. As writers, do you like to have plans? Do you plan your writing, both content and schedule, in advance? Does it stress you out when those plans are thrown off?
  • The London Book Fair was this week, and the Bologna Book Fair was just a couple of weeks ago, and I keep calling and emailing people who are off gallivanting across Europe. I have to say, I’m eager for everyone to be back next week! But from various reports, it sounds like both fairs went very well (you can read about them here and here), and I’m glad to hear that people are generally more upbeat than in the past couple of years.
  • Is anyone else reading Bossypants by Tina Fey? I’ve been sneaking chapters right before bed most nights, because a good laugh is the perfect way to end the day. As with all things Fey, I recommend it highly!

That’s what’s running through my head at the moment. Anyone else have some random thoughts?

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