One of the things I miss most from bookselling is the joy of sharing a book that you love with other people. I’m going to try to start writing occasional reviews here to share books I’ve truly enjoyed. I just finished Mona Awad’s Rouge, and here’s the review I wrote for Goodreads: We all know […]
Apparently I read 68 books in 2022 (that’s a StoryGraph link because the stats are fun, my Goodreads list is here.) I started the year reading The Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny, and am ending it reading Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo (I’m only halfway through it as I type, so it’ll be the […]
You’ve seen the ads, haven’t you? On the internet, in magazines and newspapers, sometimes even in publishers’ catalogues? The ones that promise to publish your novel for FREE (this word is important) and are peppered with testimonials from authors, all of whom are brimful of joy and talking about a revolution. A revolution that takes […]
Back in 2010, I was a bookseller, and had learned a lot about what goes in behind the scenes in publishing. How James Patterson can be so prolific, for one: He readily admits that his co-written books are largely written by the co-author. Patterson himself provides characters and a lengthy plot outline, the co-writer actually […]
I finished reading The Circle the other day, zipped through it in fact, which was unexpected. I know the standard techie’s response to the book is to complain that the central premise is outlandish and could never happen, and to sprinkle criticism with guesses at who each of the principal characters may be based on. […]
