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Janet Maslin reviews John Leake’s Entering Hades: The Double Life of a Serial Killer in today’s New York Times. It’s a pretty critical review and since I haven’t read the book, I can’t agree or disagree with Maslin’s complaints. But what caught my eye was her insinuation that a lack of a blurb equates to an [...]

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So most of you know that while I’m not writing books (or writing about books) then I’m daydreaming of rock guitar stardom. Never mind the fact that I don’t really play… that little detail doesn’t matter in my fantasies. But for those of you who do play, and who think you’ve got the licks to [...]

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Uzodinma Iweala reviewed Matthew Eck’s The Farther Shore in yesterday’s New York Times. It’s not a complete homerun of a review. Iweala praises Eck’s “ability to bring us straight into the devastation, all its sights and sounds whirling around us as they whirl around Stantz and his comrades” and points out that his “writing is best when [...]

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I spent part of the holiday weekend catching up on the towering stack of magazines that threatened to fall over and crush my cat. Which would be no small feat since my boy is uhhh, how can I say it politely, big-boned. But in my magazine reading, I came across an interesting article in the [...]

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In a book proposal, it’s always challenging to strike the perfect balance between being excited and positive about your work and going over the top. Here’s a case of where someone might have gone too far. GalleyCat discussed a book proposal making the rounds that raises eyebrows with it’s outlandish claims. The unnamed literary agent claims [...]

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And while we’re talking book design, I should mention that I finally picked up a copy of Chip Kidd’s Chip Kidd: Book One: Work: 1986-2006 recently when I was at AJ Jacobs’s book signing. Kidd is the associate art director at Alfred A. Knopf and flipping through this book, it’s utterly breathtaking to see just [...]

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I’ve always enjoyed the design of Chronicle Books. They’re generally fun, visually intriguing books. Yeah, I know… we’re writers and we’re concerned with words. But I do believe there’s something to be said for publishing companies that make books an event, that make them more than just words on white paper. So I was thrilled [...]

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Bestselling author Clive Cussler is scheduled to appear at Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon. The appearance is at 7pm at their 3415 SW Cedar Hills Boulevard location. Call 1-800-878-7323 for more details.

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I can tolerate hearing Christmas carols in early November. I can tolerate the tinsel and snow decorations in stores appearing already. But what this particular Grinch has one thing that he can’t stand, can’t stand in the least.  If I have to suffer through another month of those freaking jewelry store ads, I’m going to [...]

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A number of writers and artsy folks received honors at the White House yesterday. But I’m most excited about guitar pioneer Les Paul’s award. Modern Guitars reported that “The 2007 National Medal of Arts to Les Paul for his innovation as a musician, his pioneering designs of the electric guitar, and his groundbreaking recording techniques [...]

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The Associated Press is reporting that Denis Johnson won the National Book Award for Tree of Smoke earlier this evening. Sherman Alexie, Tim Weiner, and Robert Hass were other winners.

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  More than a hundred people showed up last night on a cloudy evening to reading/signing with A.J. Jacobs. Maybe it was in hope that his famous biblical beard had returned. Jacobs turned out to be clean-shaven, but put on a great show. He read from his newest book The Year of Living Biblically: One [...]

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