2012 Bah Humbook: Virtual Gift Exchange

Happy Xmas to all my readers. This is the day that those participating in the 2012 Virtual book exchange make the announcements of their selections. Let the games begin!

For a refresher, participants select a partner, or as Emma states a copinuate for a virtual book exchange. Emma and I also planned to “exchange” virtual books with participants and  so we selected a title for each participant with both Tom and Leroy landing two apiece as they were not exchanging but still wanted to join in.

For Himadri from Argumentative Old Git, we picked Novel with Cocaine by M. Ageyev. Emma pointed out that Himadri loves Nabokov and should like this choice. There’s a theory that Nabokov actually wrote this book. I’d argue not, but let’s see what Himadri has to say on the subject.

For Brian from babblingbooks, Emma and I select Samuel Johnson’s Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia. Brian likes books that contain philosophical ideas, so he should love this novel. It’s one of my top books of all time.

For Gummie from whisperinggums, we selected Stephen Benatar’s Wish Her Safe at Home. Gummie, I think, likes the quirky, so she should really like this. Well I hope she does…

For Lisa from ANZlitlovers, it’s The Murderess by Alexandros Papadiamantes. Emma’s pick on this one, but I must say that it looks good.

For Tony from Tony’s reading list, we select Father Goriot by Balzac. No more visiting my blog and telling me that you’re going to read Balzac one of these days…

For Stu from Winston’s Dad. It’s The Pets by Bragi Olafsson. Stu reads a lot of books in translation, and he wasn’t easy to pick for. Let’s hope this one is a hit.

For Leroy, an avid reader and commenter, Emma selected: In the Absence of Men by Philippe Besson and The Chatelet Apprentice: The First Nicolas Le Floch Investigation.

For Tom from A Common Reader: A Slight Misunderstanding by Prosper Mérimée (we both loved it) and The Road to Los Angeles by John Fante (I haven’t read the latter, so that was Emma’s pick).

Emma and I also agreed to select two books for each other, so for Emma:

E.M. Forster’s Howard’s End. Selfish on my part as this is one of my favourite novels, and I’m sure Emma will love it too.

Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping.

Both of these have been made into excellent film versions, and they were both alternate choices from last year’s virtual book exchange. I’m hoping that Emma hasn’t read either of them and that she will find these two books as wonderful as I did.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who has stopped by during the year. Happy reading!

2012: It’s a Wrap

Another year over, and there’s been some great books along the way, and this brings me to the Annual Wrap-up. The categories are purely arbitrary, and since I haven’t read every book on the planet, these books are not the best of everything, but simply the best I read in 2012.

Best Classic Noir:

Black Wings Has My Angel by Elliott Chaze.

runner up: The Burglar by David Goodis

Best 19th Century Novel:

There was a lot of tough competition for this title. On one hand, George Gissing’s New Grub Street showed me how far money went in the 19th century, and just how much you needed to live like a gentleman. On the other hand, I loved The Claverings largely in part thanks to the hilarious character of Sophie Gourdeloup.

Best Australian Novel:

First place: Tirra Lirra by the River by Jessica Anderson

Runner up: Miss Peabody’s Inheritance by Elizabeth Jolley

Best New American Fiction of 2012:

Familiar by J. Robert Lennon

Runner up: Ménage by Alix Kates Shulman

Best New British Fiction:

The Last Hundred Days by Patrick McGuinness

Best New Crime Novel of 2012:

Broken Harbor by Tana French

Best Book Made Into Film:

Night and the City by Gerald Kersh

and

Man of Straw by Heinrich Mann (plus this is the best German book I read this year)

Biggest Reading Surprise:

The Dinner by Herman Koch

Two Wonderful Books in Translation:

Kafka in Love by Jacqueline Raoul-Duval

The Tunnel by Ernesto Sabata

Non-Fiction:

J.Edgar Hoover Goes to the Movies: The FBI and the Origins of Hollywood’s Cold War by John Scardellati.

Thanks to all my readers and subscribers. Here’s to some great books in 2013!

Bam Humbook 2012

It’s December the first and time to get things rolling for the Virtual Book Gift Giving Extravaganza. So here’s the line up for those few brave souls who decided ‘what the hell’:

Himadri who hangs out at The Argumentative Old Git selected Brian from Babbling Books.

Lisa and Tony will be exchanging books. This will be interesting….will they stick with books from Down Under?

Emma and I decided to pick on select Tom from A Common Reader, so we’ll pick two books for him. In addition, we will choose one book for each participant, and since this is all about give and take, Emma and I will also select two books for each other.  All selections will be announced Xmas day.

Thanks to everyone who decided to take a chance and join in.

Bookshops & the internet

I came across an article, written by Elaine Sciolino in the New York Times which included a number of facts and figures regarding some of the differences between the publishing industry in America and France. One of the main differences is the Lang Law–a law which addresses the discounting of books, and due to this law, book prices cannot be discounted more than 5% below the publisher’s list price. Another point the article makes is that e-book sales in France are 1.8% of the market compared with 6.4% in America. Apparently 13% of French books were purchased from the internet last year. On another note, an article in the Telegraph says that the number of bookshops in Britain halved in the years 2005-2011 shrinking from 4,000 down to 2,178.

Interesting reading which of course raises the question: is the demise of the independent (or even chain) bookshop (thinking Borders here) inevitable? Amazon often comes out as the villain in these ruminations, and I’m sure that if I owned and operated a bookshop, I’d feel that I was fighting in a price war I couldn’t match. But as a reader there are other considerations.

Before the arrival of the internet, I liked nothing better than to head my car towards a book-friendly town and spend the day browsing through the shelves of a number of used book shops. Santa Monica had the added attraction of the British pubs, of course, and I always came away from these forays with a decent amount of plunder. Some of the titles I bought came from the continually overhauled list of books I wanted, and some titles were a complete, delightful surprise as I stumbled across books on the shelves by pure accident. At the time (pre-internet), I typically read books by favourite authors, books recommended by friends or work colleagues, and the occasional unexpected title excavated at a bookshop. I also picked up names of books from magazines such as The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books.

Then came the internet…. I came across more and more obscure titles, books from small publishers, and the trail led deeper and deeper off the beaten path. Then came blogging, my reading community expanded, and now I’m reading recommendations from all over the world, including: Australia, Canada, Britain, France, and the very multi-cultural Caroline. I still love book shops, but they simply cannot stock the vast number of titles available via internet outlets. Here’s an example, I recently visited a used bookshop sure that I’d find at least one title by John O’Hara, but alas no. I ended up buying a book for someone else so that I wouldn’t leave empty-handed.

All this reminds me of the days when video shops were the only way to go for VHS and then DVD rentals. I remember picking over the sad little foreign film section at a local Blockbuster and then learning about Netflix….

It’s not that I don’t want to buy from bookshops. I love bookshops. But they simply cannot offer the inventory of online book sellers. It’s not all about pricing and discounting and cut-throat tactics. It’s also about selection. I recently read a review of a Peter Stamm book on Tony’s Reading List. Fat chance of my local used bookshop having that in stock.

E publishing

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I own a kindle, initially for the ease of reading long-out-of-print Balzac, and I’ll admit that I don’t leave home without it. Years ago, someone gave me an electronic reader and I hated the thing. Loathed it with a passion, and so I was surprised by how quickly I became inseparable from my kindle–and bear in mind that I am NOT a gadget person at all.

I get a lot of comments about the kindle. Positive, of course from other kindle owners, as we recognise a fellow user like some lost tribe member: “so how do you like your kindle?” “Love it,” but most of the comments still tend to be derisive, negative and snotty: “I prefer books.”  (emphasis on “I”) and ”I refuse to have one in my home.”  I’ve given up explaining that I haven’t stopped buying books, or that it’s not an either/or situation. Instead I chalk the reader debate up to a matter of taste. But of course, that’s not the only issue at stake here.

I came across a post called Talking Shop written by Lee Goldberg on his blog in which he discusses e-publishing, and how the publishing world is changing. In particular, he discusses how the “ebook revolution” is empowering authors–especially “mid-list authors” (and this was a point made by John Barlow when he decided to take Hope Road directly to kindle). Another very important point that Lee Goldberg raises is that it’s not easy to get the rights of out-of-print books back from the publisher.

While there’s a consensus that the publishing world is changing, it’s difficult to predict just where it’s going to go. With newspapers folding and downsizing, professional book reviewers are dwindling even as we see the rise of the non-professional (like me)–someone who’s just an obsessive reader and gets some sort of cheap thrill from passing on posts about the books I’ve read. The literary world has been managed by gatekeepers–publishers who select what is going to be published and then managed by literary journals which tell us which of those books are worth buying and reading. While this structure isn’t exactly collapsing, it is undergoing a metamorphosis. Scary if your livelihood depends on it, and exciting f0r someone like me whose major pastime is reading.

An interesting fact is that crime readers are early adopters of the kindle, and along with that goes the idea that the world of crime reading isn’t subject to the same gatekeeping (the gatekeepers of culture and taste–such as literary journals). You’re not going to see the TLS or NYRB stuffed with reviews of crime novels–although there are sites such as The Rap Sheet, edited by J Kingston Pierce, a self-described “labour of love,”  which survey the world of crime and inform readers of new and upcoming books. So I speculate that it’s perhaps no accident that crime readers were early adopters of the kindle–there were underlying factors at work–including the fact that we don’t rely on gatekeepers of culture and tend to be more fan-based.

And from that last point I’m moving on to the issue of what it’s like to be a reader who wants to read out of print books or just books that are no longer hot-off-the-presses. Amazon shipping is 3.99, and it’s possible, as we all know, to get a book for a mere penny. Many crime authors seem acutely aware of this pricing, and so they price their work accordingly.   Lee Goldberg’s  4 novel Jury Series is a mere $5.99. Allan Guthrie has several titles for $1.99 and $2.99 –including his oop Two-Way Split which is available used in traditional print form for .02 (plus 3.99 shipping) and $2.99 on the kindle. He gets a big fat zero if you buy a used copy, but he gets a percentage if you buy a kindle version.

And this brings me to my another observation, and one I don’t see often. If the publishing world went 100% electronic reader, and I don’t advocate that, by the way, and neither do I think that is the future, but let’s just say that happens, eventually the used book market would dry up. Let’s argue that this happens in the year 2030 and from that point on, only e-books are released (nook, kindle). The used book market after 2030 would be non-existent, so publishers who get zero for used books would still get a chunk of the action via the e-book version if and only if they were involved in the contractual process.

Finally, the oldest surviving cheque was written in 1659, and in Britain there’s a phase-out date of 2018 for check-writing. Ten years ago, most consumer transactions were cheques but now it’s debit cards or credit cards–a system which apparently works great for the credit card industry since they’ve managed to get themselves in between the merchant and the consumer for almost every transaction. There was a time when not having a checkbook would have been unimaginable, and now cheques seem to be the fading into the past. Something to think about….

7×7 A Blog Chain Mail

Caroline from Beauty is a Sleeping Cat selected this blog for a 7×7 blog award. Basically, once tagged those selected may decide to respond to a series of questions:

1) tell everyone something about yourself that nobody else knows

pass

2) link to a post that fits the following categories

Most beautiful Piece

Most helpful piece

Most popular piece

Most underrated piece

Most pride-worthy piece

Most surprisingly successful piece

Most controversial piece

3) Pick on select 7 other bloggers to tag.

This is much more difficult than I first thought. For one thing, I don’t consider any of my posts ‘beautiful’.

Ok, what about helpful? For that I’ll pick the first in a series of posts I wrote about A Hero of our Time. I can’t say whether or not it’s helpful but it gets a lot of hits.

Doing a stat run on the most popular post isn’t exactly accurate as some posts have been up for years–others for a few weeks. But even with that disclaimer, I’ll have to say that Lolita 2010 appears to win–although given the search terms that pop up, I suspect most of those who arrive here are looking for something on the wild side.

The most underrated piece would be all the posts no one ever looks for. Too many to connect to.

My most pride-worthy piece would have to be the series on posts on the Rougon-Macquart books by Zola. There’s a whole page devoted to those.

The most surprisingly successful piece has to be The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone. Given the age of this book, I am surprised by the number of hits this post gets.

The most controversial piece: easy Peter Kocan’s The Treatment and the Cure. Kocan was locked up for attempting to assassinate a politician, and the book is a fictionalized account of his life in an Australian asylum. I get obscene comments about this book and the author. Curious really as even Kocan’s victim forgave him.

Now for my seven victims… apologies in advance.

This is tough:

Gummie at Whispering Gums

Kevin from Canada

Reading Matters

Seeing the World Through Books

Journey to Perplexity

The Argumentative Old Git

After the Dinner Party

2011–It’s a Wrap

It’s never easy to whittle a year of some truly great books down to just a few personal preferences, but here goes my completely arbitrary categories anyway (in no particular order):

Novels that continue to haunt me: Little Monsters by Charles Lambert and My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

Perhaps the best Simenon I’ve read to date: Dirty Snow

Best of the seven Jim Thompson novels read for my noirfest: Pop 1280. The Killer Inside Me came a very close second, but the nasty sense of humour in Pop 1280 ultimately won the day.

Speaking of nasty sense of humour, the award has to go to Henry Sutton’s FABULOUS Get Me Out of Here and The Pets by Bragi Olafsson

For crime, it doesn’t get better than Drive by James Sallis.

Best classic noir: Build My Gallows High by Geoffrey Homes and Hell Hath No Fury by Charles Williams (both made into films, btw).

Best 20th C American: The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone by Tennessee Williams

Best Classics, French: Gobseck  by Balzac. Russian: The Duel by Chekhov and The Eternal Husband by Dostoevsky. British: The Trumpet Major by Thomas Hardy.

Best new American release: Calling Mr King by Ronald de Feo

Best new British Fiction: The Old Romantic by Louise Dean, King of the Badgers by Philip Hensher–both of these were the second books I’d read by these authors and the reading enjoyment firmly sealed me as a fan of both.

Best non-fiction: The Man in the Rockefeller Suit by Mark Seal

So thanks to all my readers and all those who left comments, and also thanks to the authors who sweated blood and tears over the novels that enriched my life beyond measure in 2011.  With a good book, life is never boring.

Moonlighting and Raving on Gummie’s blog

Regular readers of this blog know that I am a fan or Australian author, Max Barry. Gummie from Whispering Gums asked me to write a guest post about Max, so go here to read the article which includes links to reviews.

“All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.”

Me, waffling on about books and noir over at Kimbofo’s blog.

2010–A Year in Books

It’s not easy picking just a few books to mention at the end of the year. I have a list of all those read (107) and with any luck, I’ll get another couple finished before the end of the year. On the down side, I meant to read more crime fiction but was Shanghaied. On the positive side, I finished reading Zola’s 20-volume Rougon-Macquart series this year. I started back in 2007 and took it slowly reading a novel every couple of months.

Looking back over all the 2010 titles read, I can see that I’ve re-read quite a few old favourites including:

A Hero of Our Time by Lermontov –one of my favourite novels.

The Black Sheep by Balzac. A reminder, once again of exactly how nasty, cruel and petty people can be. This is one of my all-time favourite Balzac novels, and this year I was driven back to it.

The Merry-Go-Round by Maugham. One of my favourite Maugham novels.

Anyway, here are the new-to-me-favourite-2010 books :

Three Crimes by Simenon. Ok so I’m crazy about Simenon. Before reading this book, ask yourself this question: How many people do you know who are murderers? I’m hoping that you say NONE. Simenon knew two. Three Crimes is not selected for this year’s list due to its artistry (it’s certainly not the best thing ever written by Simenon), but for its insight into the author’s experiences, his psychological make-up and his fascination with crime. It’s autobiographical but doesn’t read that way, and I still argue that the THREE crimes includes the mysterious death of Simenon’s acquaintance (and not the four murders committed by the two murderers Simenon knew). If you want to understand Simenon and his work, this book is a must. It’ll blow you out of your socks.

 Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter. This is the post WWII tale of the hard-luck Jack Levitt, an unwanted teenager who grifts his way through life until he ends up, inevitably, in a reform school. Powerless, friendless and mired in relentless poverty, this is just the beginning of Jack’s slide downwards through the ‘justice system’.  Yet in spite of all the bad things that happen to Jack, this hard-boiled novel somehow escapes the throes of depression and maintains a hint of optimism. A stunning book.

Money by Zola. I had to include at least one Zola for the year. I chewed over the question of whether or not Debacle is the superior novel, and came to the conclusion that I have no idea. I preferred the character-driven Money, however, of the two, and that explains my selection. Money is the eighteenth novel in the Rougon-Macquart series, and it’s the story of how Aristide Saccard sets out to swindle the country. Great stuff here–Saccard’s insanely obsessive drive to control the financial markets of Paris, and the greed of the herd willing to follow Saccard over the precipice into catastrophe.

Alien Hearts by Maupassant. Maupassant takes his cynical view of relationships to another level in Alien Hearts. This psychologically complex story explores the relationship between a man and a woman as they pass through all the stages of love–or at least the sort of love that they are capable of. 

A Funny Old Year by Alan Brownjohn. This British novel is the story of a retired professor who has had a long-standing affair with the wife of a colleague. The colleague dies, and then the professor is in the embarrassing position of having to marry his mistress. Sensing his reluctance, she sets up a pact. They will live separately for a year and see whether or not they can do without each other or whether they want to commit to marriage. Not a lot happens here, but it’s an excellent tale.

The Doctor’s Wife by Brian Moore. The Doctor’s Wife is the story of a woman who ends up going on what is ostensibly her second honeymoon without her husband. This triggers a chain of events and brings on some long-overdue analysis of a stifling marriage. I’m still pondering why this book is so powerful. Moore is highly recommended by John Self at Asylum. I meant to read another Moore novel in 2010 and didn’t. I’ll have to correct that in 2011.

Becoming Strangers by Louise Dean. Another novel by Dean was reviewed and recommended by Tom at A Common Reader. Becoming Strangers is the story of man who’s dying of cancer and his appallingly selfish wife who are given tickets for a Caribbean holiday. Funny, poignant, bittersweet,and all too human. 

Post Office by Charles Bukowski. Do you ever have fantasies of saying exactly what you think at work? If so, then Post Office is for you. Bring your work frustrations but leave your tired old PC notions behind when you pick up Bukowski’s book and read about Henry Chinaski and his ‘shackjob.’ Hilarious. Thanks to Max at Pechorin’s Journal for this one. Sometimes you just need a laugh.

Notes from Underground by Dostoevsky. A hilariously funny ramble by a nutcase. Yes, it’s that “dialectic of isolated consciousness” again. It’s pathetic, sad, nasty and mean.

On another note: I’m a contributor for Mostly Fiction where I review new books (or reprints) that are provided by publishers for review. Here’s a mention of a few wonderful titles I read for Mostly Fiction:

A Kind of Intimacy by Jenn Ashworth. A great first novel about a nutcase who moves into the neighbourhood.

The Alternative Hero by Tim Thornton–a first novel about a man who tracks down the reclusive rock star he worshipped in his misspent youth. Lots of 80s nostalgia.

Evening’s Empire by Bill Flanagan–a novel that spans about 40 years in the life of a rock star manager. Loads of nostalgia for rock fans and those with a weakness for books about the music biz.

In A Strange Room by Damon Galgut–A hard one to classify, but Kevin loved it too. This is a three-part novella which tells the story of three journeys. I’ve yet to review this one, but it’s really incredible in its seemingly simple take on travel, relationships, avoidance and commitments.

Concrete by Thomas Bernhard–reminded me a great deal of Dostoevsky’s rambling narrator in Notes from Underground.

Anyway, a lot of good books and it wasn’t easy to narrow it down to a handful. New York Review Classics appeared on my list twice, so I’ll be scrutinizing their titles in 2011 (and buying the Manchette).

On a final note, one of the best things about blogging is exchanging ideas with like-minded readers who can nudge me towards books I may not have discovered on my own, so thanks to all the readers & commentors for the past year. And Book Around the Corner, I have Novel with Cocaine right here in front of me….