Announcing The Listener Book Club - in association with Booksellers NZ

23 Feb 2012-  Booksellers NZ today announce a bold new initiative

Everyone wants to join a book club – so Booksellers NZ and the New Zealand Listener have created one. The Listener Book Club will have an in-store, in-print and online outreach all in one package. It launches on Friday, 2 March.
“Begin a book club” was on the to-do list when Megan Dunn began as Projects Manager for Booksellers New Zealand in mid-2011. “We had support from Creative New Zealand to create a book club platform on a national scale that would increase conversation and engagement about New Zealand and international books,” she explains.

Megan approached Listener Arts & Books Editor Guy Somerset (pictured right) late last year as a possible partner for the venture, and discovered he had been gathering ideas for the magazine’s own book club using its website.
Now Megan and Guy, Booksellers NZ and The Listener are ready to announce the multifaceted Listener Book Club.
Think, talk, tweet!
Working on a four-week cycle, one book each month will be discussed in a variety of ways: the Listener will kick off with a lively interview in the magazine and online with the author of the selected book.

IMAGE: One of four Listener Book Club bookmarks.
In week two, a podcast of three booksellers talking about the book hosted by either Guy or Megan will be available online. The podcast material will live on The Listener website, but Booksellers’ site will carry links.
Carole Beu, David Hedley and Kiran Dass (Unity Wellington) are lined up for the first discussion.
That’s followed (week three) by online written conversation and commentary from a real book club.
The last week sees a reviewer’s take on the book, both in the magazine and online, plus reader comment and reaction on Twitter, other social media and the Listener Book Club webpage, hosted by The Listener with Booksellers New Zealand input. It’s a chance for readers to have a say!
Also in week four, the cycle begins again, with the announcement to the public of the next book club title... and the author interview the following week starts week one of the next month’s activity.

Our book club has big difference.
Unlike similar book clubs run by newspapers overseas, which feed sales of the book club choice to their own linked e-buying set-ups, the whole emphasis of the Listener Book Club is to encourage people to buy the book selection from their local bookstore.


Full details including the first two title selections at Booksellers NZ

Love these retro graphics. 




Note to visitors to blog - this report is from the Booksellers NZ weekly newsletter to their members so naturally is giving advice from their perspective. There will be further and full information available to prospective club members in the upcoming issue of the New Zealand Listener.
Also see their Facebook page.
The Bookman has long proclaimed that all NZ book lovers should subscribe to the New Zealand Listener; here is another reason to sign up now!

World War II in Manuscripts, Poetry and Drawings

Bonhams fine book sale takes place on 27th March atthe Montpelier Street galleries in Knightsbridge 

The sale contains several signed works by Winston Churchill each withpresentation inscriptions to Neville Chamberlain including Great Contemporaries, The World Crisis and Marlborough – his Life and Times.On the flyleaf of the final volume of Marlboroughpublished in September 1938, just prior to the Munich Agreement, Churchill haswritten with a mixture of dark wit and prophecy, "Perhaps you may like to take refuge inthe eighteenth century."

The war-poet Richard Spender was killed in action in 1943 during OperationTorch. The Observerwrote that his free style had "a passionate appetite for all lively andbeautiful things." He himself wrote concerning his work, "It is ofpoems of now, & I hope they are full of the life, urgency & wonder thatis truth… the book's net tone is one (I hope) of optimistic resolve." Thisquotation is taken from one of numerous autograph letters and other papers torelatives and friends (including his three aunts who acted as his literaryagents) to be offered in March. The lot's central items are manuscripts of thenine poems published posthumously as ParachuteBattalion: Last Poems from England and Tunisia (November 1943) anda set of unbound page proofs for his first book of poems, Laughing Blood, one withcorrections and revisions seemingly by Spender.

Ronald Searle's illustrations provide a moving pictorial record of the war inthe East. Prior to his fame for illustrating the worlds of St. Trinian's andMolesworth he documented the brutal conditions and sufferings undergone as aprisoner-of-war in the Japanese Changi prison camp in Singapore, hiding almostthree hundred sketches under his mattress. The four pen and watercolour itemson offer here are an anniversary, Christmas and two birthday cards drawn bySearle and his cell-mates (illustrated) 
Story from  Ibookcollector © -published by Rivendale Press Ltd. 
To Contact Ibookcollector

WAITING FOR SUNRISE

William Boyd - Bloomsbury  
NZ rrp $36.99 - NZ publication - March 2012

From the best-selling author of Any Human Heart and Restless comes a thrilling, plot twisting new novel set in Europe during the First World War.

Vienna, 1913. Lysander Rief walks through the city to his first appointment with psychiatrist, Dr Bensimon. Sitting in the waiting room he is drawn to a woman with strange hazel eyes and an unusual, intense beauty. Her name is Hettie Bull.
London, 1914. War is imminent, and events in Vienna have caught up with Lysander in the most damaging way. Unable to live an ordinary life, he is plunged into the dangerous theatre of wartime intelligence – a world of sex, scandal and spies, where lines of truth and deception blur with every waking day. Lysander must now discover the key to a secret code which is threatening Britain’s safety, and use all his skills to keep the murky world of suspicion and betrayal from invading every corner of his life.

About the author
William Boyd (right) is the author of ten novels, including A Good Man in Africa, winner of the Whitbread Award and the Somerset Maugham Award; An Ice-Cream War, winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and shortlisted for the Booker Prize; Brazzaville Beach, winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize; Any Human Heart, winner of the Prix Jean Monnet and adapted into a Channel 4 drama; Restless, winner of the Costa Novel of the Year, and most recently, the bestselling Ordinary Thunderstorms.

From Google's Grammarly.com

“What’s the difference between a comma and a cat? A comma is a pause at the end of its clause while a cat has claws at the end of its paws.”
— Winston Chang

RIN TIN TIN - The life and the legend of the world’s most famous dog

by Susan Orlean

Atlantic Books - NZRRP: $36.99 paperback
NZ publication:     27 February 2012


From the bestselling author of The Orchid Thief comes a sweeping and powerfully moving account of Rin Tin Tin’s journey from orphaned puppy to movie star and international icon.
From the moment in 1918 when Corporal Lee Duncan discovers Rin Tin Tin on a World War I battlefield, he recognises   something in the pup that he needs to share with the world. ‘He believed the dog was immortal…’ Susan Orlean begins in this book, almost ten years in the making, her first original book since The Orchid Thief.
Rin Tin Tin’s improbable introduction to Hollywood leads to the dog’s first blockbuster film, and over time the many radio programs, movies, and television shows that follow. The canine hero’s legacy is cemented by Duncan and a small group of others who devote their lives to keeping him and his descendants alive.
At its heart, Rin Tin Tin is a poignant exploration of the enduring bond between humans and animals. But it is also a richly textured history of twentieth-century entertainment and entrepreneurship and the changing role of dogs in the American family and society. It is a tour de force of history, human interest, and masterful storytelling – the ultimate must-read for anyone who loves great dogs or great yarns.

About the author
Susan Orlean has been a staff writer for the New Yorker since 1992 and has also written for Esquire, Vogue and Rolling   Stone. She is the author of five books including the international bestseller The Orchid Thief, the inspiration for the film Adaptation, directed by Spike Jonze and starring Nicholas Cage and Meryl Streep. Susan Orlean lives in Boston.
She will be talking to Kim Hill on Radio NZ this coming Saturday morning.

Kindle Fire owners plan to buy the iPad 3

By Dianna Dilworth on Galley Cat, February 22, 2012 

More than half of Kindle Fire owners plan to buy the iPad 3, according to a new study from TechBargains.com.
The site surveyed technology users about their plans for buying new gadgets.
The price between the two devices had only a small impact on user purchase plans. International Business Times has more: “About 58 percent of those surveyed said they plan to upgrade their current tablets, but 16 percent say the iPad 3 will be too expensive to buy, while 35 percent have not determined whether or not they will purchase one. And 74 percent said that the iPad is the ultimate tablet.”
eBookNewser has more: “The iPad 3 is rumored to come out next month, and meanwhile rumors of the Kindle Fire 2 are circulating, which could have an influence on these numbers.”

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Reading the Oscars: 'Hugo' the book vs. the movie

EW's Shelf Life - by Stephan Lee - 21 February, 2012

Image Credit: Jaap Buitendijk

Six out of the nine Best Picture Academy Award nominees this year were based on books: Hugo, War Horse, Moneyball, The Descendants, The Help, and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. Prior to the ceremony on Feb. 26, Shelf Life will read or re-read each of these books, in addition to a few others that inspired nominees in different categories, and do a side-by-side with the film version. Today, we’ll take a look at Hugo, which is nominated for 11 Oscars, including Best Adapted Screenplay. Spoilers ahead.
Hugo is one of the rare adaptations that takes a longer time to watch than it does to read the novel it’s based on. Brian Selznick’s beloved middle-grade book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, might look like a doorstop at 525 pages, but it’s actually a lean, marvelous piece of storytelling that seamlessly combines images and written word — much like one of the great silent films Hugo pays tribute to. One of the most striking aspects of the Martin Scorsese-directed film is the lush, Oscar-nominated cinematography; Selznick’s illustrations — dark, scratchy, and obviously hand-drawn — couldn’t be more aesthetically different, but they’re every bit as powerful as the expensive, high-definition imagery of the movie. The first 45 pages of the book could have been a shot-for-shot storyboard for the film’s breathtaking opening sequence.
In the book, pages of text are interspersed with long stretches of sequential illustrations, which you can turn through almost like a flip-book. The resulting effect is akin to watching a choppy, flickering black-and-white movie in a dark theater. Selznick’s drawings are intentionally a bit fuzzy, but the lack of detail only enhances the mystery of the story.
Oddly enough, the movie didn’t cut much of the novel’s plot, as adaptations typically do; it actually added a few beats, especially to the Station Master’s (Sacha Baron Cohen) storyline and Hugo (Asa Butterfield) and Isabelle’s (Chloë Moretz) discovery of George Méliès’ (Ben Kingsley) past as a filmmaker. For those who thought the movie was too obsessive about its cineaste-y themes, the novel hits those notes faster and with a lighter touch.

Oscars 2012: Get the latest news, photos, and more

People who loved the movie will most likely love the novel as well. Kids will be able to flip through much of the book as they watch the movie without missing a beat. Even if you’re in the camp that thought the film dragged on and got mired in Méliès nostalgia, you might still enjoy Selznick’s tighter, gorgeously illustrated book.
Follow Stephan on Twitter
Read more:
Inside the Best Picture Nominees: A deep dive into ‘Hugo’
Reading the Oscars: The book and short story that inspired ‘The Descendants’
‘My Week with Marilyn’: How the book stacks up to the movie‘Moneyball’: Love the movie? Read the book by Michael Lewis

New historical novel that sheds light on a largely unexplored chapter of New Zealand’s wartime record

GREYHOUND - Sid Marsh
Wood Shed - NZ$39.99
ISBN: 978-0-473-20000-8
Pub. date: March 2012


ABOUT THE BOOK
Five members of a Sherman tank crew – somewhere in Italy, taking on not just Nazi paratroopers and Tiger tanks, but also each other . . .
Opening in June 1944, Greyhound is an historical novel that sheds light on a largely unexplored chapter of New Zealand’s wartime record. It follows the advance of the 2nd New Zealand Division to the Adriatic coast and eastward to the very borders of Jugoslavia. The Germans confront the advancing Allies with all of their remaining matériel, from concealed snipers to the feared Tiger tank; but by May 1945 the ‘Div’ reaches Trieste, where the Allies are caught between complex partisan factions and pitched against the communist army of Tito. And so the Kiwis leap from the flames of World War Two straight into the opening round of the Cold War.

Blending historical accuracy with a vivid sense of ‘being there’, and laced with the laconic humour typical of the Kiwi soldier, this debut novel from Taranaki writer Sid Marsh powerfully evokes the tensions of tank combat in a war zone riven by shifting political allegiances.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sid Marsh is 55 years old and lives in Taranaki, New Zealand. He has been involved in wildlife conservation for 20 years, specialising in forest birds. He is currently researching the Bengal tiger. This is his first novel.
CONTACT
Matt Turner, email: shedpub@gmail.com

a good year - Lois Daish

This charming cookbook by long-time, and much-loved NZ Listener food writer Lois Daish ,was published back in 2005 by Random House in association with the NZ Listener.Somehow it slipped me by at the time and as it has long been out of print I have been keeping my eye open for a copy.
Following comment about this on the specialist cookbook store Cook the Books website last week a kindly librarian contacted me to say she had a copy that was being withdrawn from circulation, because it wasn't in good enough shape for further library borrowing, and that I could have it if I wished. I was down to her library within the hour, made a $20 donation, and headed off home happily clutching my newly acquired copy.
Lois Daish was always a strong advocate for seasonal cooking, one of the first to cross my radar, so this book is set out in calendar sequence. I went to February and there was a recipe for oven-glazed apricots which I can warmly recommend if you own a copy of the book.
I couldn't find the recipe on-line but there are a host of others by Lois at this Radio NZ website.

Publisher Barney Rosset Has Died

By Jason Boog on Galley Cat, February 22, 2012 

The great publisher Barney Rosset has passed away. Rosset bought Grove Press in the 1950s, championing the work of countless writers, including: Henry Miller, Samuel Beckett, Jack Kerouac, Malcolm X, Pablo Neruda, Kenzaburo Oe, Kathy Acker, and David Mamet.
In the 1960s, he launched the provocative magazine, Evergreen Review. In a highly recommended interview at The Paris Review, Rosset shared his first encounter with Miller’s work as a college freshman at Swarthmore:

I read Tropic of Cancer, which I bought at Steloff’s Gotham Book Mart on Forty-seventh Street. Who told me about it, I don’t know, but I liked it enormously and I wrote my freshman English paper about both it and The Air Conditioned Nightmare … After I read Tropic of Cancer, I left—decided to go to Mexico. Because the book had influenced me so much, I left in the middle of the term. But I ran out of money. I never got to Mexico; I got as far as Florida and I came back. Four weeks had gone by. They had reported me missing to the United States government. My family didn’t know where I was. I came back, sort of sadly.

(Via Sarah Weinman)

Paperus: Ereader of the Future?

This is a very thought-provoking concept of the ereading device, designed by Paperus, Germany.
The idea restores the ancient way of navigating through the book, back to the times when papyrus was being used. The design is based on rolling (or scrolling) instead of page-turning.
Does it have chances? Would you be willing to try it and use it? Or is it just one step too far?
Via Paperus on YouTube.  (via e-book friendly)

The real life media maven

Olaf Olafsson lives two dramatically distinct lives: he’s a prolific author whose novels have won the admiration of critics and readers alike, and he is one of the top media executives in the country, now Executive Vice President of Time Warner. In his latest, RESTORATION, Olafsson delivers an epic story of a forged Caravaggio, love, betrayal and redemption, and a stunning depiction of the ravages and turmoil of war in the tradition of The English Patient and Atonement. Through “passages of haunting elegance” (The New York Times Book Review) Olafsson brings to life the breathtaking landscape of Tuscany in the 1940s, and throws readers into an emotionally searing, beautifully told tale. Start Reading now From Very Short List

Marie Colvin Killed in Syria, and the Story She Paid With Her Life to Tell

Feb 22, 2012 The Daily Beast

Journalist Marie Colvin was killed in Syria on Wednesday, reporting the horrors from Homs. Human Rights Watch director Peter Bouckaert recalls his friend’s extraordinary personality and courage—and the story Marie paid with her life to tell.

Marie Colvin, the celebrated American war reporter who died in Homs on Wednesday, together with the young French photographer Rémi Ochlik, looked every bit the part of a war reporter.

She took to wearing a black patch over the eye she lost when shot in the civil war in Sri Lanka in 2001, and always seemed to have a notepad and a pen in her hand. She was inevitably in the midst of war’s chaos before the rest of us got there, proudly filing, as she did on Tuesday, as “the only British newspaper journalist” at the scene. She was a legend to all of us who cover conflict, and universally beloved for her inspiring courage and deep commitment to the work of reporting.

On Tuesday, after she filed her horror-filled account from Homs for her paper, The Sunday Times, she got in touch on Facebook to tell me just how horrific the situation in Homs was. We had worked closely together in Libya for the past year, strengthening an occasional friendship over the years into a deep and affectionate bond. As she was preparing to enter Syria last week, we compared notes several times, looking at the routes into the besieged city of Homs and assessing the risks she would face. Her drive and determination to report—to witness—overcame all of her fears, and she was absolutely determined to get in, somehow.

Our conversation reminded me of what a unique person Marie Colvin was—an amazing journalist for sure, always first on the scene, but also a deeply caring human being who was never overcome by the cynicism and egotism that plagues the world of war reporting.

Ivor Prickett / AP Photos
Full piece at The Daily Beast

The Listener Book Club

Further to my comment yesterday about lack of information about this initiative I am now advised that there will be an announcement after 3.30pm today. Watch this space!

First ever detective novel back in print after 150 years

• Alison Flood
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 21 February 2012 
• 
  The Notting Hill Mystery by Charles Felix, dating back to 1862, preceded The Moonstone by some years.

The Notting Hill Mystery ... "The Baron came back and caught me ..." Detail from one of the original illustrations in Once a Week. Photograph: British Library Board

Poisoning, hypnotists, kidnappers and a series of crimes "in their nature and execution too horrible to contemplate": The Notting Hill Mystery by Charles Felix, believed to be the first detective novel ever published, is back in print for the first time in a century-and-a-half.

Although Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone, published in 1868, and Emile Gaboriau's first Monsieur Lecoq novel L'Affaire Lerouge, released in 1866, have both been proposed as the first fictional outings for detectives, the British Library believes The Notting Hill Mystery "can truly claim to be the first modern detective novel".

Serialised between 1862 and 1863 in the magazine Once a Week, the novel was published in its entirety in 1863 but has been out of print since the turn of the century. It stars the insurance investigator Ralph Henderson, as he works to bring the sinister Baron "R___" to justice for murdering his wife to obtain a large life insurance payout. Using diary entries, letters, crime reports, witness interviews, maps and forensic evidence – "innovative techniques that would not become common features of detective fiction until the 1920s", says the British Library – Henderson's investigation slowly plays itself out, uncovering along the way an evil mesmerist, a girl kidnapped by gypsies, poisoners and three murders.
Full story at The Guardian.

Hodder's Angie Willocks reports from London on anniversary of Christchurch quake

We had a Hodder Bake Off here,raising money  for Christchurch.   It was a great way for me to feel like Iwas doing something positive, and the generous people at Hodder to feel likethey were helping out.  

An amazing turn out ofcakes, all baked by my wonderful team mates. I went a little Kiwi madand made ANZAC biscuits, Afghans, and a Boston Bun!  Also made Pumpkin andChocolate chips in honour of my favourite muffins from the Boulevard Bakery inthe Arts Centre, which I think is sadly no longer.

I'm going to see thedocumentary When A City Falls tonight, with a few of my Christchurchfriends.  I think I'll be needing a big packet of tissues.  I can'teven imagine what it will be like back home at the moment.

Footnote:

Thanks Angie, I'll bet you needed those tissues, I certainly did. It was an emotion-packed day.

Malaysia 'bans' Peter Mayle book Where did I come from?

BBC News

Peter Mayle (right)also wrote international bestseller A Year in Provence.

Malaysian officials have ordered book shops to stop selling a sex education book by British author Peter Mayle.

Where did I come from? is banned from sale pending a review, a Home Ministry statement seen by the BBC said.
It will be banned completely if it is "if it is proven to contain elements harmful to public morals and corrupt people's minds", said the statement from a senior official on Tuesday.
The book's cover states it is "the facts of life without any nonsense".
The illustrated book aims to help parents explain to children such topics as sex, conception and birth, according to a book preview on online retailer Amazon.
Book sellers 'co-operating' Deputy secretary for safety, Abdul Rahim Mohamad Radzi, said in the statement: "The ministry has obtained the co-operation of book sellers around the country to immediately stop sales until the review is completed and the decision is made."
The statement said the ministry was taking action under section seven of the Printing Presses and Publication Act 1984.
It said that if the book was banned, anyone importing or selling it could face a jail sentence and a fine of up to 20,000 ringgit (£4,200; $6,600).

Related Stories

• Malaysia 'bans Islamic sex guide'
• Talking Shop: Peter Mayle
• Malaysia profile

Picador 40th Anniversary

Picador publishing company are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year, and to celebrate, they are re-issuing 12 of their fiction books. The titles include prize-winners, global sales hits, or controversial books. Along with the release of the new book covers, they have created some animated gifs to further promote the titles. Neil Lang, a Senior Designer at Macmillan Publishers has given us an insight into the process of the creative side behind this and his views on animated book titles.

‘The main aim of the project was to create ... something distinctive that would shout out when sat next to the latest thriller with its silhouetted figure. Something that was desirable and hopefully you would like to collect and keep, as these books have already sold thousands, and you still want the old fans to pick them up again yet also capture the attention of new readers.’
With many different titles and genres, the challenge for Lang was to make them look part of a set whilst still depicting the main story behind the individual books. ‘The picador 40th design initially started before any titles were confirmed, which while not an ideal way of working, enabled me to concentrate on creating a series style....By using black and white you get a series look but it still enables you to be creative on each individual title with a strong graphic image that also works well online’

---

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‘I’ve easily done over 200 designs doing this series... and I always started trying to create something different whilst staying true to the book, but all the covers evolved in a different way. All the covers had to be shown in a cover meeting with around 20 people and like it or not that does shape the design as ultimately you are trying to please everyone whilst being creative.’
The designs have also been created as Gif animations, Neil explains the reason behind this. ‘Once I’d finished the designs for the Picador 40th series I wanted to see if I could push the designs any further and create extra interest specifically for displaying them online. Publishing is constantly changing and so I think its important we try out new ideas and capture the attention of as many people as we can.’
Full piece here.

repurposed phone booth library in NYC

the phone booth library installed by john locke in new york city

on the streets of new york architect john locke has repurposed phone booths into communal libraries or book drops,
installing bookshelves within the structures filled with books for residents to take, borrow, or exchange.
the phonebooth shown here, 'DUB 002', is part of his 'department of urban betterment' interventionist project.
adopting the same concept as james econs's 'phoneboox' in the UK, locke's project consists of a machine-cut
and assembled plywood shelf, designed with indents to hang securely to the interior of the phone booth
without the need for any additional fasteners. the pay phone and all signage remains completely viewable
and operable, nestled within the frame of the bookshelf. installed in manhattan valley and morningside heights,
the design is easily replicable in phonebooths throughout the city.
More pics and story here.

Pottermore - what's going on? A Harry Potter fan's quest for answers

Whatever is going on at the much delayed Pottermore? As one of JK Rowling's biggest fans I want some answers

Shoshana Kessler - guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 21 February 2012 

JK Rowling announces Pottermore. It was glitzy and exciting but what now for Harry Potter fans? Photograph: Akira Suemori/AP

Ever since JK Rowling's Harry Potter series ended in July 2007, millions of fans have been waiting for something, anything, to fill the Harry-shaped hole in their lives.
And what could be better than more Harry? JK Rowling's Pottermore seemed to be the answer - an interactive website for fans.
The truly enticing thing about the site was not just the beautiful website and artwork, but the promise of new Potter material. It was stated that JK had written over 18,000 words for the site.
For an indescribably obsessive Harry Potter fan like me, it was the Holy Grail.
Then, disaster struck. I was on holiday, without an internet connection, so couldn't sign up when the offer of trial access was made for a million lucky fans last July!
I was only consoled by one thing, the promise of the general opening in October. Now it is late February, and I, along with millions of other fans, am still waiting.

The million Potter fans who have been accepted are only a small fraction of the huge fanbase salivating to get inside the website. So what's going on? What could possibly be taking so long? Whispers and doubts are being cast about, with some questioning if it will ever open.
I've tried to get in touch with JK's Pottermore people directly, but they say they you can only contact them via the site. It's not obvious how to do that but I gave it a go, and my request went into a queue to be answered. To their credit, they responded the next day and told me that "we have decided to further extend the beta period so we can improve Pottermore before giving more people access. This means the site will not be opening to new users in the immediate future".
Full piece at The Guardian.

Indian book market in "rapid growth"

22.02.12 | Charlotte Williams - The Bookseller

The Indian book market grew by 45% in volume and 40% in value over the first half of 2011, with adult fiction the fastest-growing area of the market, according to Nielsen BookScan India figures as the panel marks its first full year of sales monitoring.
The panel now covers about 35% of the total trade retail market and has signed up over 70% of organised book retail chains. In 2011, it measured 13 million book purchases, worth Rs 3.28bn, covering more than 286,455 different titles.
Adult fiction was the fastest growing area of the market over the first half of 2011, growing by 82% in volume and 49% in value, with Nielsen reporting fiction titles also showing "steep growth in volume during the second half of 2011", attributed mainly to the release in the fourth quarter of Chetan Bhagat's title Revolution 2020 (Rupa & Co) which had volume sales of more than 280,000. Jeffrey Archer's title Only Time will Tell (Pan Macmillan), took fifth position in the charts, selling more than 48,000 copies.
Fiction as a whole was up 49% in value terms over the first half of the year, with adult non-fiction growing by 36% in value terms and 41% in volume. Rashmi Bansai's title I Have a Dream (Westland Books) and Walter Issacson's Steve Jobs biography (Little, Brown) took the two top spots in the 2011 charts, selling more than 49,000 and 44,000 copies respectively.
The Children's, Young Adult and Educational sector has also shown growth, up 27% in volume and 38% in value over the first half of 2011. The number one slot for the bestselling title was taken by Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney (Puffin) which sold more than 17,000 copies, followed in second position by Inheritance: Book Four: Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini (Doubleday Children's) which sold more than 16,000 copies. The third, fourth and fifth positions in the chart were also taken by Wimpy Kid titles.
Full piece at The Bookseller

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2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalists announced

What do Michael Ondaatje, Manning Marable and Stephen King have in common? They're all in the running for 2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. The finalists -- five each, in 10 categories -- were announced Tuesday. The 32nd annual prizes will be awarded at a public ceremony April 20 at USC's Bovard Auditorium.
The Robert Kirsch Award for significant contribution to American letters will be presented to Rudolfo Anaya, it was also announced. Anaya's 1972 bestselling coming-of-age story, “Bless Me, Ultima,” is a seminal work of Chicano literature; in 2002, for this and subsequent books, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
Figment, a collaborative digital writing community for teens, will receive the third Innovator's Award. Its previous winners are writer and publisher Dave Eggers and Powell's Books.
Awards will be presented in current interest, fiction, first fiction, biography, history, mystery-thriller, science and technology, graphic novel, poetry and young adult literature. King's book about time travel and the JFK assassination, “11/22/63,” is in the running in the mystery-thriller category. His competition includes A.D. Miller's “Snowdrops,” which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
Two National Book Award finalists are competing in the fiction category: Julie Otsuka's “The Buddha in the Attic” and Edith Pearlman's short story collection, “Binocular Vision.” Among the books they'll be facing is Michael Ondaatje's “The Cat's Table.”
For the second year in a row, veteran author Jim Woodring is a finalist in the graphic novel category. Woodring is the only graphic novelist to be a two-time finalist for the award, now in its third year.
The young adult category boasts 2004 National Book Award winner Pete Hautman for his latest, “The Big Crunch,” and Printz Award winner Libba Bray, for the book “Beauty Queens.”
The finalists for biography include Manning Marable, who died just days before his long-awaited “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention” was published, and Alexandra Styron, who in “Reading My Father: A Memoir,” writes of her father William, best known for “Sophie's Choice.”
Other notable finalists include Bruce Smith in poetry, James Gleick in science and technology, Ioan Grillo in current interest, Adam Hochschild in history and Chad Harbach for first fiction. The complete list of finalists is after the jump.
The L.A. Times Book Prizes are awarded the night before the weekend's Festival of Books, which will take place at USC. Tickets for the Book Prizes ceremony will be available for purchase on March 26; check the Festival of Books website for details.

Fiction

“Ghost Light” by Joseph O'Connor (Frances Coady Book/Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
“The Cat's Table” by Michael Ondaatje (Knopf)
“The Buddha in the Attic” by Julie Otsuka (Knopf)
“Binocular Vision: New & Selected Stories” by Edith Pearlman (Lookout Books/University of North Carolina Wilmington)
“Luminarium” by Alex Shakar (SoHo Press)

2011 LA Times Book Prize Finalists complete lists of all categories at the LA Times.

Miffy joins digital age with iPad app

Author Dick Bruna, 84, cautious about 'too much interactivity' with his multi-million selling children's books

Susanna Rustin - guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 21 February 2012 

Miffy in her traditional print incarnation. Photograph: Martin Godwin

Her distinctive silhouette is recognised around the world. The classic children's books about her have sold tens of millions of copies and in the Netherlands she has her own museum. But as Miffy the rabbit joins the digital age with the launch of her first app on Wednesday, her 84-year old Dutch creator Dick Bruna says children should start with old-fashioned board and paper books before they move on to tablets.
"I think babies and toddlers need to get used to books first, feeling the covers and turning the pages, this is part of their learning," he said. "I wouldn't want too much interactivity – something to do on every page for instance – as I think that would make it too complicated for a young child."
He said children get attached to their favourite books and he is often asked to sign chewed and battered copies kept for years. "I don't think you would get the same feelings after playing with an app on a computer. Maybe that is a very old-fashioned view. I hope not."
The Miffy's Garden app for iPad, for age two and up, lets readers join in with digging, raking and watering, and record their own voices telling the story. Annemiek van Bakel, digital publisher at Sanoma, the Dutch media company that produced it, says "they are not very fast-moving books so the app is not fast-moving either. We really wanted an interactivity that fits with the style of Miffy."
Full story at The Guardian

Why I’ve Learned Many Languages by Aravind Adiga

Feb 19, 2012 - The Book Beast

For many Indians the world is experienced through several languages, as Aravind Adiga writes here about his own linguistic journeys and how each has taught him a new way of seeing.

I grew up, as many Indians do, in an archipelago of tongues. My maternal grandfather, who was a surgeon in the city of Madras, was fluent in at least four languages and used each of them daily. He spoke Tulu with his wife, Kannada with his daughters, Tamil with his patients, and English with his grandchildren. In my hometown of Mangalore, on India’s southern coast, it was common for a boy of my generation to speak one language at home, another on the way to school, and a third one in the classroom. These were not just dialects or variants, either. Kannada, which I spoke at home, and Hindi, which I had to learn in school, belong to different linguistic families and are as dissimilar as, say, Spanish and Russian.

Columbia University, where I went to study in 1993, insisted its undergraduates learn a foreign language, so I discovered French. I remember the thrill of sitting in the Hungarian Pastry Shop on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and working my way, over the course of a week, through an entire André Gide novel in the original French. In England, where I studied in the late 1990s, I took a class in German, having heard that its peculiar syntax and word structure posed not just a linguistic, but a cognitive, challenge: German speakers apparently thought about the world in an entirely different way.

By the time I returned to India in 2003, I had been speaking, reading, and writing almost exclusively in English for more than a decade. Nothing much changed after I moved back.
The international success of novelists such as Arundhati Roy and Vikram Seth (right) meant that most younger Indians in the big cities wanted to read and write in English. There were novelists, such as Kiran Nagarkar, who worked in both English and an Indian language, but bilingual proficiency of this kind was increasingly rare. The glamour, acclaim, and money were in English; why read or write in anything else?

My life is now divided between the cities of Bangalore and Mumbai. About a year ago, I decided to read only in Kannada, the dominant local language, whenever I visited Bangalore. My reasoning was partly pragmatic. Regional-language newspapers in India have a richness of local detail that is often absent in the country’s English media. A friend tells me of the time he was on holiday in Nainital, a lake city in India’s north. He was about to take a walk around the lake when an article in a Hindi newspaper reported that a man-eating leopard was on the loose. The English dailies had not reported this. He now buys the Hindi paper whenever he visits Nainital. Some of India’s best writers, such as playwright Girish Karnad and novelist U.R. Ananthamurthy, work in Kannada, and I keep discovering excellent writers who will probably never be translated into English.

David H. Wells / Getty Images
Full story at The Book Beast

Google to Sell Display Glasses

Google is set to debut its most futuristic technology yet. Several Google employees say the company will begin selling augmented reality glasses by the end of the year. The glasses will have a small screen and a camera that will monitor the world in real time and overlay information about locations, nearby buildings, and friends who might be nearby. They’ll have a 3G or 4G data connection. The price tag is surprisingly cheap: $250 to $650. Google says the first glasses will be an experiment, and if consumers like them the company will then explore possible revenue streams.

Read it at The New York Times

February 22, 2012

Mark Lennihan / AP Photo

Amazon Removes Kindle Versions of IPG Books After Distributor Declines to Change Selling Terms

 PublishersLunch

President of the second-largestindependent book distributor Independent Publishers Group (IPG) Mark Suchomelsaid in an e-mail alert yesterday, "I am disappointed to report thatAmazon.com has failed to renew its agreement with IPG to sell Kindletitles." As of yesterday, Suchomel says, Amazon has taken down all IPGebooks from its site, though they continue to sell print books from thedistributor's clients. (Our own check confirms that Kindle editions are missingfor IPG titles, complete with the standard box to "tell thepublisher!" you would like to read this book on Kindle. Individual Kindlehyperlinks now result in error messages.)

Suchomel writes: "Amazon.com is putting pressure on publishers anddistributors to change their terms for electronic and print books to be morefavorable toward Amazon. Our electronic book agreement recently came up forrenewal, and Amazon took the opportunity to propose new terms for electronicand print purchases that would have substantially changed your revenue from thesale of both. It's obvious that publishers can't continue to agree to termsthat increasingly reduce already narrow margins. I have spoken directly withmany of our clients and every one of them agrees that we need to hold firm withthe terms we now offer. I'm not sure what has changed at Amazon over the lastfew months that they now find it unacceptable to buy from IPG at terms that areacceptable to our other customers." Suchomel reiterated to us that thecompany's terms of sale for ebooks have not changed.

Suchomel suggests to clients that they help spread the word to consumers anddirect ebook customers to the accounts that still sell the titles. "Thereis no better way to show our valued customers how much we appreciate doingbusiness with them than to send orders their way."

He suggests that other accounts should be reminded of their "favorablecompetitive position on our electronic titles." And he reminds accounts to"practice what you preach. Support accounts that support your business.Ask the organizations you support to do the same." Also "remindfamily and friends of the value to our society of independent voices and ideas,and that independent publishers and bookstores need to be supported or theywill go away."

At the same time, Suchomel writes: "Remember that Amazon continues to bean important account that sells a lot of units. This is a business decision onAmazon's part, and hopefully they will soon decide to reverse it and buy at ourstandard terms."

In the meantime, here are links to Nook versions of a few titles that IPG sayson their website are among their digitalbestsellers:

BoardwalkEmpire, by Nelson Johnson
ChernobylMurders: Book One in the Lazlo Horvath Thriller Series, by Michael Beres
I'mwith the Band, by Pamela Des Barres
AllIn: From Refugee Camp to Poker Champ, by Jerry Yang
SnowBlind: Book Four in the PI Julie Collins series, by Lori Armstrong

Publishing Perspectives

PP Appreciation: Jennifer Brown, Children's Book Crusader The latest in our occasional series of profiles, Publishing People We Appreciate, looks at Jennifer Brown, critic, editor, and children's book crusader.  Read more »

Who Do You Appreciate Most in Publishing? Is there someone you think is particularly special in publishing, who improves the lives of others, who has accomplished something extraordinary? Let us know.  Read more » Earthquake Inspires New Zealand Author to Launch Own Press Following New Zealand's tragic Christchurch earthquake, YA author Jill Marshall was inspired to start her own publishing company, Pear Jam Books. Read more » Israel's Castle Builders Brings Top Kids Brands to Book Apps Israel's Castle Builders is working with top companies, such as DreamWorks and Sanrio (Hello Kitty), to bring their character-based brands to book apps. Read more » Parragon Books Licenses Australia's Popular Trash Pack Toys Parragon, the largest illustrated non-fiction publisher in the world, announced a new multi-territory license for range of books featuring the popular Australian toy line, The Trash Pack. Read more » Pricey James Joyce Kids Story "Cats" Sparks Copyright Fight The recent publication of a previously unpublished James Joyce children's story by Dublin's Ithys Press sparks an ugly feud over copyright and public domain. Read more » How Author Christopher Herz Connects Kids Across the Globe Author Christopher Herz, who used social media to promote his books, now plans to use social media to create an online community of young readers and authors. Read more »

Summer 2012 Enews from The Michael King Writers' Centre

The Signalman's House has beenfull of the delicious smell of baking bread over the past few weeks as ourlatest writer in residence Whiti Hereaka carries out research for her new play.Whiti is here for the Summer Residency to write a one-woman play about makingrewena, traditional Maori bread. The play will be set in a kitchen and theactor will make a loaf of rewena during the show. The length of the performancewill be determined by how long it takes to cook the rewena. Whiti is using theidea of making bread and breaking bread to explore ideas of colonisation,hospitality and the relationship between Maori and Pakeha. While she has beenstaying at the centre during her eight-week residency, she has been refiningher recipe for rewena, so the kitchen has been put to good use.

Whiti will speak about the craft of writing scripts and plays ata free event at the Devonport Library on Thursday evening (February 23) from7.30 pm. Organised by the Devonport Library Associates, it will be a greatopportunity to hear from this talented young Wellington dramatist, scriptwriterand novelist, whose first book TheGraphologist's Apprentice was shortlisted for First Book in theCommonwealth Writers Prize (Asia/Pacific region) in 2011. We hope to see youthere.

Warmregards
Karren Beanland, Manager
February 2012

The rights and wrongs of writers wronged by copyright

Ava Hubble, a freelance journalist, writes on Crikey:

Gus O'Donnell would be 100 this year. For years he worked to enable Australian writers, including freelance journalists, to be paid photocopy royalties. The royalties are still being paid, but with digital technology taking over, for how much longer? Journalists were among the first victims of digitisation. As a result of changes to Australia's copyright law, negotiated in 1998 between the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance and media proprietors, the rights for the use of journalists' work from a digital source were granted to publishers, not writers. In 1967 O'Donnell, a public servant and writer, joined the Australian Society of Authors and the next year was appointed to the society's management committee and given responsibility for copyright. He protested that the creators of material being copied were entitled to compensation for their loss of book sales. When the education establishment gave that idea the flick, a furious O'Donnell set up the Australian Copyright Council and instituted legal proceedings. He was also the driving force behind the establishment of Australia's Copyright Agency Limited. The council, founded in 1968, is primarily concerned with providing advice about copyright law and pursuing changes to the law in response to changing times, while the agency, established in 1974, pursues, collects and distributes royalty payments to writers and artists, including Aboriginal visual artists and recording artists. O'Donnell, then a senior officer at the Housing Department, used his office phone to lobby politicians about the exploitation of writers and artists. His correspondence with the likes of Gough Whitlam and Arthur Calwell is now at the National Library. Yet it took 12 years of litigation before Australian copyright law was amended to make it mandatory for educational institutions to pay a licence fee for the right to allow copyrighted material to be photocopied on their premises. Even so, high-level attempts to stymie the legislation continued. More court battles ensued until the cheat sheet was eventually ordered withdrawn and destroyed by Federal Court appeal judges. It wasn't until 1986 that the first photostat royalty cheques began to lob. But there was renewed controversy about the matter of Copyright Agency payments to publishers. A couple of years ago The Australian's Luke Slattery reported publishers were receiving CAL payments of about $76 million a year, while payments to writers were in the region of $9 million. It was noted in a headline that even CAL's administrative staff were receiving more money than the writers. Comment on Slattery's story included a letter to The Oz from literary agent Lyn Tranter. She advised that a contract she had then recently perused had stated that 100% of the royalties collected by CAL was to be paid to an international publisher. When she attempted, on behalf of the authors, to negotiate a 50-50 split she said the publisher threatened to drop the project. She suggested that writers are not being so well looked after by CAL and that although most of the agency's income continues to be collected from taxpayer-funded Australian education institutions, the lion's share goes to major publishers. Read the full story on Crikey's website Crikey is a lively daily news/comment digital publication to which I subscribe. Subscription Queries: Click here. A free trial sub is available. To submit a story for publication please email  boss@crikey.com.au.

New Zealand Listener Book Club

• 

  Coming soon to the New Zealand Listener and independent bookstores up and down the country ... The New Zealand Listener Book Club, in association with Booksellers New Zealand. We launch on Friday, March 2, with an interview with SJ Watson, author of our first book, Before I Go to Sleep (Text, $19.95). 

  Go, buy, read and join the conversation here, on Twitter (@nzlbookclub, #nzlbookclub) and at www.listener.co.nz.

  Footnote:

  Just found the above on Facebook, posted by Helen Heath from VUP.

  I guess sooner or later someone will tell The Bookman about it so I can share it with the 2200+ daily visitors to my blog? Or is this all that is being said meantime?