People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks is worth the praise. Hanna Heath, an Australian rare book expert and conservationist, is called upon to analyze and conserve the famed Sarajevo Haggadah.
The Sarajevo Haggadah was created in the middle of the 14th century, the golden age of Spain. There are many theories about its creation and the identity of the artist who illuminated it. What is known is that there are two coats of arms, one representing a rose and the other a wing. The book is beautiful and has the mysterious history of a beautiful, unidentified woman. It is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is a fantastic read. I thought the writing for Kite Runner was also strong but I hated the protagonist. Mariam in A Thousand Splendid Suns, however, is much more likable. Born to unwed parents, Mariam is disappointed by her mother and disillusioned by her father, who eventually sells her to a despicable man many times her age.
Hmm, more background required right?
A Thousand Splendid Suns is set during the volatile events of Afghanistan’s last 30 years. We see through Mariam’s eyes the Soviet invasion, the reign of the Taliban and the post-Taliban rebuilding. Our second main character is Laila, younger than Mariam and the second wife. She joins the family due to a series of unfortunate events.
Khaled Hosseini’s second novel is exceptional. The violence and fear is barely in balance with the hope and faith. The story is intimate, disturbing, jarring and remarkable in its representation of the personal lives of those who suffer at the hands of others.
A tightly written story for sure and definitely worth reading.
New Think for Old Publishers panel at SXSW drew a lot of frustration from the crowd of book lovers and supporters.
The official description of the session was:
This is not a discussion of whether ebooks are killing treebooks, or whether it’s possible to get cozy with an Amazon Kindle. It’s about how participatory culture and the online world interact with good olde book publishing.Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody, Deborah Schultz, and fellow panelists will share with the audience a variety of perspectives on what’s going right and what’s going wrong in publishing, assess success of recent forays into marketing digitally, digital publishing, and what books and blogs have to gain from one another. Penguin Group (USA), which houses some 40 plus imprints and publishes an extremely broad variety of physical and digital products everything from William Gibson’s first ebook in the 90’s to Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food to Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse novels (the source for HBO’s True Blood) is deeply involved in exploring ways that old and new media might better collaborate. Audience members are invited to speak up about what they think book publishers could/should be doing to better provide relevant information and content to blogs, websites, and online communities. Come tell old media what you want and how you want it.
Clay Shirky ITP
John Fagan Mktg Dir, Penguin Group (USA)
Deborah Schultz Founder/Chief Catalyst, deborahschultz.com
Peter Miller Dir of Publicity, Bloomsbury USA
Ivan Held Pres GP Putnam’s Sons, Penguin Group (USA)
They certainly told publishers what they think. The summation was “you suck at this is the biggest way possible.”
I think it’s unfair to attack the folks on that panel but as representatives of the industry they do have to go back to their houses and understand that they need to convey, not that bloggers are an unruly bunch, but that publishers need to get off their asses and get involved with social media. Enough is enough.
BookSquare says
If you’re going to hold a session called “New Think for Old Publishers”, you gotta come with some new thinking. Either that or tell the audience that it’s a research session…and the audience is supposed to bring the new thinking. Good idea, needed better execution. Nobody read the panel description to mean “we want the audience to tell us what we’re doing wrong and how we can fix it”.
...
The publishing people on stage said, essentially, tell us what we’re doing wrong and how we can fix it. You have 300 people who give up an hour of their lives to hear the cool things the traditional publishing business is doing…and you can ask them to consult on your business?
Monique’s summary
What went wrong is this:
* Publishers have not listened to the crowd for a long time.
* The crowd is restless.
* Publishers wring their hands about the web.
* The crowd offers options publishers don’t like.
* Publishers weep into their hands.
* The crowd wants to help and offers other suggestions.
* Publishers act like deer in headlights.
* The crowd plows down publishers and reinvents the industry without them.
What this panel really came down to is that the wisdom of the crowds is not being tapped. The crowd is now sick and tired of trying to help people who won’t help themselves.
Hold me to this: I’m going to organize a panel in Vancouver. We’re going to create a model for publishing and marketing books. We’re going to move forward as an industry. Leaders will be identified. Roles will be assigned. If you’re not open to totally change everything you’re doing, then you are not ready for this revolution. Don’t come.
Who’s in?
UPDATES
Peter Miller Glibness. “Do As I Say, Not As I Do: Tips from a panelist who barely survived” in Publishers Weekly. Read the article.
Michael Tamblyn of BookNet Canada on 6 Things That Revolutionize Publishing
Yay! Congratulations to Joseph Boyden, author of Three Day Road, who is a fantastic writer and a swell guy. His latest Through Black Spruce won the Giller Prize.
I like books and am always on the lookout for new books.
I subscribe to a bunch of email newsletters, in particular business newsletters and technology newsletters.
GrokDotCom is one of the newsletters and last week they wrote about the Johnny Bunko video.
I clicked on the link and watched the video, which is pretty cool.
Here’s what hooked me. I read and loved What Colour Is My Parachute? I religiously avoided Who Moved My Cheese? because it was the career book of business books for a time. The video nicely positions Johnny Bunko as THE career book of its time—the book for the new generation of employees entering the workforce.
Now I’m curious and want to read the book.
So mission accomplished. Effective video.
(Plus, I’m interested enough to write about the book and video here.)
What do you think of the video? Do you have another example of marketing unpacked?
SoMisguided is my external brain. I like to post things here about clever online marketing campaigns and the book business but the first part of the year has totally had it’s way with me.
If you have a clever online campaign or if you’ve seen one your really liked, please let me know what I’ve missed. In turn, I promise to pay attention.
Here are 2 big ones I failed to write about in a timely fashion.
Harper Collins Canada March Mystery Madness
6 weeks, 64 books, 4 conferences, tonnes of “games,” and 1 winner. Deanna from Harper says, “essentially, it’s the NCAA basketball tournament only with mystery books.” A perfect description. I’ve totally missed on this one, but I understand there are 2 books left and you can still vote for your favourites in the poll here: http://www.harpercollins.ca/marchmysterymadness/poll.html
One person wins 64 books.
Know about a clever online marketing campaign involving books? Let me know.
