Helen's Reads » Book World

‘Reading’ the Downton Abbey Wave

helen — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:36:49 +0000

Fans of Downton Abbey, the UK-produced drama about the Crawley family and their servants that PBS imported for Masterpiece Classic, will be happy to know that NY publishers have taken notice. In addition to the companion book, The World of Downton Abbey by Jessica Fellowes, dozens of 20th century novels about the British aristocracy are being rushed to print in hopes of cashing in on what one New York editor describes as the Downton Abbey wave. According to the New York Times “Mad for Downton?” , the last time this much interest in the British aristocracy was shown by the book buying public occurred in the 70′s when “Upstairs, Downstairs” was the PBS darling. Booksellers are also looking to push titles about the Titanic and World War I as well.

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For an inside peek at the real Downton Abbey, the Countess of Carnarvon has written a biography of Lady Almina and Highclere Castle, the setting for the series. As Bookbeast so aptly puts it,

Despite the fact that Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle contains no references to Downton Abbey beyond its sales-friendly title, it is a fascinating insight into how the seriously rich once lived.

The British online Daily Mail suggests the following Downton inspired literature on shelves now.

1. New paperback edition of Parade’s End by Ford Madox Ford

2. The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy by David Cannadine

3. Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford

4. A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd

5. Rose: My Life in Service to Lady Astor by Rosina Harrison

2012 Reading Trends

helen — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:58:26 +0000

Happy 2012 readers! Even tho’ I can’t predict what new titles will become this year’s hot reads, I did run across a few note worthy trends that book insiders are betting on and buzzing about.

Contemporary dilemma-type titles, sequels of classic tales, YA/adult crossover titles and short story collections are just a few of the fiction trends that Bookseller editor Alice O’Keefe reflects on in Looking Ahead to 2012.

“There’s a strong showing for unreliable narrators—always an intriguing read. Three of the best I’ve read so far are Alys, Always (W&N, February), a debut by Harriet Lane and a Barbara Vine-esque tale about a lowly newspaper sub-editor who sees an opportunity to upgrade her social circumstances. The heroine of Charlotte Hogan’s The Lifeboat(Virago, March) relays her experiences of three weeks on the open sea—was she innocent or complicit in the events which took place? And In When Nights Were Cold (Mantle, March) by Susanna Jones, a young Edwardian lady escapes her stifling upbringing to pursue her mountaineering dreams, with tragic consequences.”

Dystopias and steampunk will remain hot Teen Reading Trends “…especially with the Hunger Games movie coming out in March.” says Sarah Flowers, president of the Young Adult Library Services (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). Fantasy is also trending up.

Book Clubs are here to stay, but even well run ones often look for new and interesting ways to experience a good read. Online College Courses has put together a terrific list of 20 Cool Book Club Trends . Love idea #12 Blend Books with Crafts.

Published writer wannabes take note. Apparently publishers believe there is a reading thirst for knowledge and understanding of the crazy world we live in. Nonfiction will rule this year as book agents focus on themes of war, survivor stories, fall of the empires, and demise of dictators, revolt and rebellion in the countries (and politics I assume, this being an election year). Publishing Trends For 2012 via The Direct News is a must read for anyone connected to the business of books.

Read A Book This Week – Banned Or Not

helen — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 17:10:45 +0000

Was Banned Book Week invented by the American Library Association (ALA) as a way of using reverse psychology on reluctant readers? Don’t laugh. I can see why a book listed as ‘subversive’ might be an attractive read for an adolescent. Earlier this month, I read USA Today contributor Jonah Goldberg’s opinion piece Column: Banned Book Week is just hype. Goldberg argues that what the ALA terms “banned” are really “challenged” books.

“For starters, as a legal matter no book in America is banned, period, full stop (not counting, I suppose, some hard-core illegal child porn or some such out there). Any citizen can go to a bookstore or Amazon.com and buy any book legally in print — or out of print for that matter.”

He goes on to point out that the number of challenged books is down from an average 400-500 a year to just 348 last year which is the equivalent of having less than one parent for every 200 public schools or 100,000 students even registering a challenge at all. Goldberg is all for encouraging reading in young people but wonders about Banned Book Week’s less desirable themes.

“As an educational enterprise, it denigrates the United States as a backward, censorial country when it’s anything but. It demeans parents and other citizens who take an interest in the schools. And it attempts to elevate the judgment of professional librarians to unimpeachable heights — the same librarians who’ve sometimes pushed to allow nearly unfettered access to porn in public libraries. Fighting mythical censorship with real propaganda hardly seems like a worthwhile trade.”

I personally like Banned Book Week and all the hoopla surrounding it. For one, it gets students, parents, libraries, and schools on the same band wagon…your First Amendment rights as an American citizen. And consider this, taken from a 2007 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) compendium titled To Read or Not to Read.

“Less than one-third of 13-year-olds are daily readers, a 14 percent decline from 20 years earlier. Among 17-year-olds, the percentage of non-readers doubled over a 20-year period, from nineteen percent in 1984 to nine percent in 2004. On average, Americans ages 15 to 24 spend almost two hours a day watching TV, and only seven minutes of their daily leisure time on reading.”

photo via The Lisa Simpson Book Club

Kirkland Hosts Northwest BookFest 2011

helen — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 16:58:41 +0000

Save the date! Northwest BookFest 2011 is only a few weeks away…and for the first time ever, the Eastside will host. This year’s theme (giving us hope there will be many more years to come) is It’s Raining Books! By the looks of the program schedule there is lots to choose from. Readers can pick from panels of thrillers, romance, young adult, mystery, literary fiction, memoirs and even steampunk. Would be writers and authors can listen to publishing professionals talk about book development, small press publishing, marketing, and more. The weekend festival is billed as a family event so parents, plan on stopping by before or after that soccer game.

Happy Fourth & Happy Reading!

helen — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 15:01:44 +0000

What do some bookish folk do
To help them escape when they\’re (red, white &) blue?

Apparently, some of them stage their private book collections. I love this American Flag book look created by Thatcher Wine of Juniper Books. ~via Decorno

Spring Flings: Books That Disappointed

helen — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 21:46:11 +0000

Reviews of the new spring titles are starting to pour in but what about the not to be missed books of last fall and winter? Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken, Emma Donoghue’s Room and Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom certainly have lived up to their hype but others, alas, have not. Take for instance Ingrid Betancourt’s Even Silence Has An End. Last fall, The Daily Beast proclaimed it “the memoir of the season”. I salute Ms. Betancourt’s courage and political convictions, but after 150 plus pages of jungle captivity and detailed descriptions of her physical and emotional deprivations, I needed to move on. After all, I knew she had survived her ordeal and was well and alive on the book tour circuit. Another book that I finished but only because I wanted to find out if a snake really caused her demise (the jury’s out) was Stacy Schiff’s Cleopatra: A Biography. This book made one member of my book club proclaim “Why?”. And then there is Tony Blair’s A Journey. Weighing in at nearly 700 pages, my husband mused that the title must have come from his proof reader. The book sits dusty and half read on our nightstand. If anyone out there reading this is interested in tackling any one of these books, I would be happy to send.

Marking Royal Wedding Time Page By Page

helen — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 20:35:34 +0000

Just six more weeks until William and Kate tie the knot. For those Anglophiles out there (and you know who you are) that can’t bear the wait, here are some literary suggestions to help you while away the hours.

READ:

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The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

Who can resist a quirky family novel set in the mid west about a scholarly English professor who has brought his three daughters up to communicate by spouting Shakespearean dialogue.

Publisher’s Weekly says you don’t have to be a fan of the Bard to enjoy, but it wouldn’t hurt either.

WATCH:

The latest film adaption of Jane Eyre is slowly being rolled out to theaters nationwide.

KNIT:

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Throw on a pair of wellies and knit your own Corgi. There are 24 other breeds to choose from including English Bulldog, English Bull Terrier and Old English Sheepdog. This activity alone should bring you right up until wedding eve.

Literary Tattoos

helen — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 21:15:37 +0000

Just had to share this photo of a tribute tattoo sported by a librarian in honor of Seattle’s own Nancy Pearl and her Book Lust series. It was part of a piece promoting the book The Word Made Flesh: Literary Tattoos From Bookworms Worldwide by Eva Talmadge and Justin Taylor on Earlyword‘s website.

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More about literary tattoos? Check out how some Boomer’s are soothing their midlife crisis angst.

This CD Just Happens To Be Pure Poetry

helen — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 23:29:21 +0000

Music is something I profess to know nothing about, but I couldn’t let April, which is National Poetry Month, slip by without mentioning this wonderful new CD by Natalie Merchant. Leave Your Sleep, Merchant’s first album since 2003, is ‘literally’ poems set to music. The CD’s official website reads

I chose works by both well-known and obscure poets, ranging from anonymous nursery rhymes and lullabies to poems by British Victorians, early and mid 20th Century Americans, and a few contemporary writers.

Two versions of Leave Your Sleep will be available April 13th on Nonesuch Records: a 26 song version with deluxe packaging and a 16-track “selections” version with abridged liner notes.

Merchant preformed for the TED conference earlier this month. Here is an edited version of that show.

April Is National Poetry Month

helen — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 17:48:07 +0000

It’s National Poetry month people. So get out there and celebrate. Not sure how? Poets.org lists 30 ways that you can slip poetry into your daily activities. I’ve posted before about the heart healthy benefits of reading poetry. Other studies suggest that reading poetry can boost the immune system and also reduce the severity of symptoms in arthritis and asthma sufferers. So do your body AND soul some good. Read a poem, share a poem, write a poem. You owe it to yourself and the ones you love.

Open A Book
by Jane Baskwill

Open a book
And you will find
People and places of every kind
Open a book
And you can be
Anything that you want to be:
Open a book
And you can share
Wondrous worlds you find in there
Open a book
And I will too
You read to me
And I’ll read to you.

Via Reading Lady