A Progressive on the Prairie » A Reading Life

February Bibliolust

Tim — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:19:03 +0000

Very little progress made on the lust list this year — but it’s not my fault. First, two of the books from last month won’t be released until next week. Another I just got from the library after the person who had it kept it two weeks past the due date. This means there were two books that would be on this list that I was able to get through the library and read before the month ended. And while I again somewhat pooh-poohed the NBCC award nominations, two of the finalists are on this month’s list (one of which I started reading before this month but I’m using it to balance out the two I already read that would have been here).

Guilt: Stories, Ferdinand von Schirach — A year ago this month Schirach’s collection of short stories based on his time as a a criminal defense attorney in Berlin, Crime: Stories, was on the Bibliolust list. I read and enjoyed the book enough that his second collection appears this month.

The Memory Palace, Mira Bartok — I heard bits and pieces about this memoir of growing up with and becoming estranged from a schizophrenic mother when it was released a year ago. I feared, though, that like others I’ve seen in this area it might be a bit exploitative. An NBCC award nomination for autobiography changed my mind — at least until I’ve read it.

The Orphan Master’s Son, Adam Johnson — Near universal praise for this mystery, set in North Korea of all places, lands it on the list. And although I placed a “hold” on it at the library more than three weeks ago, I am still third on the reserve list.

To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918, Adam Hochschild — When I read a couple reviews of this book when it came out last spring, I was almost intrigued enough to grab it. I got distracted by other things but it making the nonfiction finalist list for the NBCC awards resuscitated that interest.

Report Card:

Calendar Year 2012

Total Bibliolust books: 4

Number read: 1 (25%)

Started but did not finish: 0

Cumulative (September 2008-January 2012)

Total Bibliolust books: 207

Number read: 163 (78.7%)

Started but did not finish: 14 (6.8%)

Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren’t.

Julian Barnes, Flaubert’s Parrot

An updated snapshot of the book-buying public

Tim — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:00:25 +0000

A survey conducted by an advertising firm at the end of last year seeks to give us a picture of book buying in America. I can’t vouch for the statistical validity of the internet-based survey, which had 2,200 respondents, It claims to have a 1.5 percent margin of error.

So what did the survey results show?

Avid readers (those who buy 10 or more books a year) tend to be female (64%), wealthier and better educated. Estimated to constitute about 70 million people, the avid readers represent 30.2% of the U.S. adult population.

Older Americans (45 and older) represent 60% of the avid book-buyers.

The principal reason avid readers buy a book is entertainment/relaxation (32%) followed by education/self-improvement (22%).

Ereader owners have reached 15.8 percent, more than double what the survey showed a year ago. Among avid readers, that rises to 22.3 percent.

There is, though, still strong resistance to ereaders. Some 52% percent of those surveyed and 49.7% of avid readers said it was “not at all likely” that they would buy an ereader this year.

Ereader and tablet owners plan to buy as many print books as ebooks in the coming year.

When it comes to ebook piracy (downloading a book via a bit torrent site), 43.5 percent of ebook reader and tablet owners surveyed said they’ve done so. That rises to 56.5% among males between 18 and 34 — I’m guessing more than a handful of the 15.9% who said “Prefer not to answer” have probably done so.

Somehow 10.6% of ereader and tablet owners surveyed “don’t know” if they’ve downloaded an ebook from a bit torrent site. Yeah, right.

The difficulty is that publishers who can market are most often not the publishers with worthy lists.

Olivia Goldsmith, The Bestseller

Pretty much 0-fer again

Tim — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:47:35 +0000

Last year I read nearly 150 books, with fiction (74) slightly exceeding nonfiction (67). In the latter category, about one third of the books were biographies or autobiographies. So how did I do in voting for the National Book Critics Circle awards? Once again an 0-fer in the finalists in four main categories: fiction, biography and autobiography. Not only that, I didn’t read any of the 20 books making the list in those categories (although I have two on my Nook).

Only one book I read made the finalist list, and it also happens to be one I voted for. Out of the Vinyl Deeps: Ellen Willis on Rock Music is one of the five finalists in the Criticism category. Yet it isn’t really new. It is a collection of articles she wrote as pop music critic for The New Yorker in the late ’60s and ’70s.

I consider myself relatively well read. Perhaps I am wrong. My record in voting for the NBCC finalists (a process in which my vote actually means little or nothing) is dismal — and that’s being kind. I prefer to think, though, that rather than having no taste in books, the NBCC and similar awards reflect the views of a certain close-knit group. Call them literary elites, if you want, but ultimately it seems that “quality,” whatever that means, is dictated from a NYC publishing house viewpoint.

Now I’m not panning any of the finalists and certainly don’t have a right to since I haven’t read any of them. But it still strikes me as odd that you can probably count on one hand the number of books I’ve voted for in my five years as a member that made the finalist list. Maybe I truly am just an ignorant illiterati who wouldn’t know a good book if it hit him upside the head with a two-by-four.

The bottom line is that, in the end, cultural relevancy is decided by the public, not by critics[.]

Jason Pinter, “Death of the Literati”

Fighting the urge

Tim — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:48:19 +0000

Remember my “nonresolution” to read what I want when I feel like it? Given that I posted it just 10 days ago, temptation has already reared its head. It sneakily arrived in the mailbox.

When I got home last night there were two catalogs from a major publishing house of forthcoming books on a number of its imprints. Talk about baiting the trap. I was proud of myself, though. Because requesting review copies pretty much dictates not only that I have to read a book but when, I tried to adhere to my nonresolution. It means, of course, that five books have been added to my library reserve list or my Amazon/B&N wishlists. And that was from just one catalog.

I still haven’t decided if I’m going to request review copies from the other catalog but those books come out later in the year, giving me time to ponder. This way if I want to read one of those five added books I can — when I want. It also means there isn’t the concomitant obligation to write a review, a process that takes time. It doesn’t mean none of the books will be reviewed, just that I may have more time to read what I want when I want.

I make no promises or forecasts for how long I can behave in like fashion with other offers.

Those who flee temptation generally leave a forwarding address.

Lane Olinghouse

My nonresolutions

Tim — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:57:03 +0000

The only New Year’s resolution I think I’ve ever kept is the last one I made. Years ago, I resolved to not make New Year’s resolutions and have been very good at it since. (I don’t remember if that was before or after I decided that each Lenten season I would give up giving up things for Lent.) I do, though, have a few ideas I might pursue in the coming year.

First, I am thinking of striving more to read what I want when I feel like it. That would perhaps mean cutting down on reviews as they tend to dictate my reading schedule and habits. But it seems that with each year there are more books I read because “I have to” as opposed to because it’s the one calling to me at the time. This likewise means no reading challenges or the like. If reading is going to be true enjoyment, it requires whimsy and fortuity, not a road map.

That relates to another potential development. If I don’t do as many reviews, I may do more reading diary-type entires. These would lean toward shorter entries with my general thoughts or impressions of a book. I’m not quite sure if that will happen — what will be will be.

I’m also hoping to purge the TBR bookshelves. Seeing many of the same books on those shelves for months now, I figure it’s time to decide if I’m going to commit to a relationship with those books. If not, off they go to the used book store, the library or elsewhere. Any such commitments, though, will also likely stem from fortuity, not premeditation but or not.

As you can see, these are nonresolutions in more ways than one. No commitments or obligations. What could be better?

A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good.

Samuel Johnson, quoted in Boswell’s Life of Johnson