Book Boo-boos

I like to listen to podcasts when I'm walking or biking and naturally some of these are book related. Go figure! My current favourite is Book Riot, however recently I listened to a couple of World Book Club presentations from the BBC. An author is interviewed and then answers questions from either the studio audience or callers from around the world. The last one I heard had Marian Keyes as the guest. I guess I'm a day late - I should have written about this well-known Irish author when it was St. Patrick's Day!

In any event this blog post isn't really about the author. I read and enjoyed a couple of her books several years ago. With this in mind I picked one up to leaf through during one of my all too frequent trips to B&N. This is what I found:

"What the heck is this?", I said to myself, "Some newfangled print designed to further vex sight challenged senior people like me?". I then took the offensive book up to the counter to ask a bookseller if this were some sort of printing error. "I believe so", she said. "I've never seen anything like it before." I asked permission to take a photo and so there it is above with the Ruth Reichl book I eventually purchased that day. As I left the counter I couldn't help but think there are probably more of those misprints lurking unnoticed in bookstores and libraries. 

As to the Ruth Reichl book, My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes That Saved My Life, it also turned out to be a book boo-boo. I wasn't aware of this until I got it home and started to read. There is nothing wrong with the content. I loved Ms. Reichl's earlier memoirs, Tender at the Bone, Comfort Me With Apples and Garlic and Sapphires. This recent endeavour does not disappoint. The problem is it is actually a cookbook as well with some beautiful accompanying photos, but, the book itself does not open like a proper cookbook should. Very frustrating! I wouldn't be surprised to see this publishing error addressed in future reprints. I still recommend it but perhaps one should wait for a better edition?

Penny

E-Readers

In case you haven't noticed the age of technology is upon us. New gadgets appear regularly. There are many e-readers on the market.  I have used the Sony e-reader, the Kobo and the Kindle. The Kindle is my favourite mostly because of its built-in 3G feature which means even in the absence of wifi I can still instantly download a book. This has come in handy at the beach and at airports before wifi was widely available. I also prefer being hooked up to Amazon rather than a bookstore. I suspect Amazon will be around longer plus I can sync with audible.com.

For me personally I don't think anything will ever replace the feel of a real book but I concede there are some advantages to reading electronically and they are as follows:

E-readers are environmentally friendly - No trees need be sacrificed for an e-book, however, the worst thing is knowing how many books are thrown away with gay abandon!

Text can be enlarged to a comfortable font - think of the savings on cheaters!

You can buy books almost immediately - this might be a curse? Instant buyer remorse anyone?

You can lighten or darken the screen according to the conditions - no turning on the bedside light and disturbing the snoring spouse who is probably disturbing you which is why you are awake in the middle of the night reading.

They are lightweight and portable - I'm looking at you, War and Peace. You can take 100's of books on vacation with you, of course why would you want to?

You can carry them easily in a purse or pocket - very handy for waiting rooms where the most up-to-date magazine is 1987 Family Circle.

They are probably more sanitary than a pawed over library book - let's have a Gordon Ramsay Hotel Hell black light on them - yuck!

No bookmarks required - some people use odd scraps of paper, or, horror of horrors, they fold down corners on books!

The e-reader cover hides what you're reading - why should that be an issue for you? Hmm....

A lot of e-books are cheaper than the printed versions - Did you know you can buy the entire Tarzan of the Apes collection for $1.99? - how do I know that?....someone told me, honestly!

You can add notes and highlights without defacing anything - I am a bona fide defacer but I use pencil to do so. Does that count?

Happy E-reading!

Penny

Future museum artifacts?

Herman Wouk at 100

My favourite reading place

When I was a teenager or young adult there were a few books I read that I have since revisited because they left such an impression on me the first time. Gone With the Wind, Dr. Zhivago, Winds of War and its sequel War and Remembrance, are a few of those.


I was browsing the local Barnes and Noble the other day when I came across Sailor and Fiddler, Reflections of a 100 Year-Old Author, by Herman Wouk. I'm not sure I knew he was still alive, let alone how old he was.

It's a very short memoir, especially considering his long life, but what a treat it was to read. It doesn't contain much personal detail, focusing mostly on his literary career. He started out wanting to write comedy but says the war years influenced him to take on more serious subject matter. Wouk refers to literature as a "mug's game". One tidbit I found interesting was that he worked on more than one book at a time. For me, that's a validation that it's okay to read more than one at a time!

He talks about the TV mini-series based on Winds of War and War and Remembrance and how he and his wife Sarah, ( also referenced as BSW or Betty Sarah Wouk, who was also his agent!) wanted approval over what got advertised during its broadcast. They also did not want anything added to the films that couldn't be found in the novels. They would never have endorsed a Hollywood movie as they thought there was too much content for one film. I wish Herman Wouk had expressed his opinion on Robert Mitchum as Pug who was considered at the time to be a little long in the tooth for the role. I loved Robert Mitchum in anything so it worked for me!

The author briefly mentions his first born son, Abe, who drowned in a swimming pool when he was 5. He's never written of this incident before. Not surprisingly he says that he and Sarah never really did get over it. Abe is a "radiant memory" to his father and when Wouk dies he will be buried on one side of Abe. Sarah is already on the other side, having passed away a few years ago at age 90.

Wouk considered writing an autobiography at one time but Sarah told him he wasn't "that interesting a person". I think she was wrong. Thankfully he has journals going back to 1937 and has given permission to his surviving sons to use them as they see fit after he is gone.

In the book's conclusion Wouk refers to himself as a "cheerful centenarian". What a blessing to achieve 100 years and still be cheerful! And he has written this book. Amazing! I wish you many more cheerful and productive years Mr. Wouk.
Penny