...and it's now worth $50K.
Jumat, 16 September 2011
Senin, 12 September 2011
Selasa, 06 September 2011
What's a Book Track?
It's an e-reader that "brings movie quality sound tracks to books". As in, the books you read on this Kindle-esque tablet have sound effects and a musical score - the sound is activated by the turning of a page (and you enter your "general" reading speed so it knows what pace to keep). I'm not sold. But then I still buy paper books. Want to know more?
Here's a sexy explanation starring James Frey...
And here's one that actually tells you something...
A book in a box (without a beginning a middle or an end)
Composition No. 1 is a re-imagining of a book originally published in the 1960s. It's literally a box of loose pages. Each of them has a self-contained narrative, so it's up to the reader to decide the order they read it in, or how much or how little of the book they want to read before they begin again.
"In so many ways, Composition No.1 was published ahead of its time: the book raises all the questions we ask ourselves today about user-centric, non-linear screen driven ways of reading. Ultimately, our re-imagined Composition No.1 asks readers to consider: what makes a book a book?"
Senin, 05 September 2011
The Corrections gets a HBO make over
Exciting news today via Lee Tran, via Indiewire, via Daily Mail (phew); Joanthan Franzen's The Corrections, once slated to be made in to a movie by (friend of Wes Anderson's and he of the perfect hair fop) Noah Baumbach, is now rumoured to be being prepped to become a mini series for HBO. Still in the hands of Baumbach it's rumoured that both Anthony Hopkins and Donald Sutherland are interested in taking the lead role of Alfred Lambert, the family patriarch who suffers from Parkinson’s-induced dementia. Seems like it's in safe hands, looking forward to more casting rumours.
Noah and Wes (right) wrote The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and The Fantastic Mr Fox together
Minggu, 04 September 2011
The reader: Peter Giugni
I was introduced to Peter Giugni by my friend Jac at the East Village Hotel last summer. He spoke enthusiastically about Sodoku for an almost uncomfortably long period of time. Beyond Sodoko Pete enjoys camping, drinking XXX and talking about gendercide and despite all this we get along super well. Pete is a big-hearted, muesli-eating humanitarian who works for the Australian Red Cross. He’s the kindest, loveliest most joyful person I know and I feel extremely lucky that I get to spend so much of my time with him. These are his three favourite survival stories.
Guantanamo: My Journey by David Hicks
"People have a lot to say about David Hicks. Everyone has the right to tell their side of the story, and I for one am glad David has finally had the chance to give his. David spends the first half of the book detailing his misspent youth, which resulted in him hanging out with some pretty whacked out types in Pakistan and Afghanistan (I identify with this a lot, however I didn't get to that stage until adulthood). The remainder of the story is about David's time in Guantanamo Bay. Guilty, innocent, stupid or naive, what he was put through was truly horrible and I do find it remarkable that he has survived. A very important perspective for the West to understand in its attempts to win the "Global War on Terror".
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
"Yann Martel's incredible story of young Pi set adrift with all sorts of marauding animals on a tiny raft whom he manages to tame and get along with. How he did this I will never know. I was devastated when I found out this wasn't a true story (which was several months after I read the book)."
A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
"I'm not actually that much of a Nick Hornby fan, but this book had me laughing out loud on the tram on the way to work for several weeks. A bunch of losers who are so pathetic that they can't even kill themselves make a pact to refrain from suicide for six weeks to see if they feel happier at the end. Their hilarious story not only had me in stitches, but also reminded me of how great life is, even when everything isn't going your way."
Senin, 29 Agustus 2011
New Murakami
It's not out until November 11 (thats' 1.11.11 - sounds like a very auspicious date to me) but I got lucky and scored an advance of Murakami's IQ84 this week. Its first printing sold out the day it was released in Japan. It's a big book, and was first published in 3 volumes over there.I don't expect the rush will be quiet so big here but clearly it's best enjoyed without indulging in too many overseas reviews first - reclusive Murakami didn't share any details about the book prior to it's long awaited release day - he said he felt doing that had "diminished the novelty" of his previous books.
The Rum Diary (Diaries)
Even though Johnny Depp has been working on this since 2007 I didn't realise it was on the way. Looks fun...
Selasa, 23 Agustus 2011
Infinite Jest
I'm reading: You'll be Sorry When I'm Dead
Marieke is one of my favourite local writers. Like a lotta people I discovered her via Frankie magazine. Though you may also know her from her notorious (now defunct) blog Reasons You WIll Hate Me or from her stint on Triple J or her work on First Tuesday Book Club. Man, she's so funny and provocative and cool and clever. And her first book is a blissfully good collection of stories. It opens with her childhood ambition to become a prostitute and closes with her awkward and confronting encounters with her idol, Bob Ellis. There's heartfelt, sad stuff like her best friend's ongoing battle with cancer but all of it, even the cancer, is laced with her salty wit and sense of humour. Love.
Jarvis in print
Jarvis Cocker is releasing a book of his lyricsin October. While there's not a lot of detail available about what will be in the book (beyond, obviously, his lyrics) Jarvis said this in an interview that was released with the announcement...
[my lyrical breakthrough came about]
"by falling from a window and being in hospital for about a month ... my gaze shifted to the normal everyday things, things that I thought 'oh that's too everyday to be bothered with' ... I had the realization that that's actually what I was quite interested in ... I was interested in how people lived their lives because I didn't have a clue how to live mine."
Selasa, 16 Agustus 2011
Minggu, 14 Agustus 2011
Her side of the story
After much wrangling Random House have secured the tell-all memoir of fashion legend/icon/Anna Wintour's punching bag Grace Coddington. It's costing them $1.2 million which is about the average price of one of her shoots. It'll be written by Vanity Fair's style director Michael Roberts.
I'm reading: A Small Book About Drugs
It's by (ex-Sydney Morning Herald journalist) Lisa Pryor. Who I know, but I say without bias, it's really great. You know how rare it is to read something that you truly feel is a refreshing, new point of view? And then agree with it and relate to it completely? Rare I say! Rare indeed. And this is it exactly.
Lisa Pryor, Jon Ronson (!!) and Jonathan Safran Foer (!!!) are all appearing at The Festival of Dangerous Ideas. You can buy tickets here. My anticipation levels are high.
Lisa Pryor, Jon Ronson (!!) and Jonathan Safran Foer (!!!) are all appearing at The Festival of Dangerous Ideas. You can buy tickets here. My anticipation levels are high.
A Visit from the Goon Squad
I'm back from my time out. While I stopped blogging I didn't stop reading or buying books I'll never have time to read. So there's catching up to be done.
I chose Jennifer Egan's A Vist from The Goon Squad for book club because it seemed like a no-brainer. They basically down sized the title font on the cover so they could fit in all of the glowing reviews from highly respected print publications.
So, I was genuinely surprised when I didn't like it. It's not that there's a lot wrong with it. Egan is a gifted and clever writer and there are some fascinating stories but the book takes the non-linear format to the extreme. In each chapter a new character is in the drivers seat and just when you think you've worked out how they may or may not have fitted in to the lives of the previous character a new chapter begins. I spent much of the book wondering if I drank too much in my 20's and that's why my brain couldn't keep with the book or if she'd just made it overly-overly-overly complicated for the reader. It seems to be referred to as "genre-bending" in all those fancy reviews but I like to call it "bewlideringly confusing".
The thing is while you are "in" the stories, and not trying to work out how they relate to each other it definitely is great story telling; dark and funny (at times unbelievable), plot lines inhabited by outlandish, unpredictable characters (Sasha a compulsive thief and liar, Scotty who blinded himself staring at the sun as a child and a woman who does PR for a foreign dictator). Sadly though, none of these fascinating characters are particularly likeable. And many of their tales end abruptly. There's a lot of loose ends.
It's hard to say exactly what this book is about but it revolved loosely around two characters; Bernie (an aging record company exec) and Sasha (the thief and Bernie's PA). As both of them work in the music industry - there's a kind of tragic 90's rock n roll back drop to the story. And there's a lot of focus on how our lives and relationships change as we age (aging always seems to hurt the rocknrollas most, yeh?)
It's experimental, it's fun, it feels modern and cool but over all I just thought... meh.
If you're going to take it on I recommend using the character map over at Ready When You Are. Side bar here: Egan (below) has made a deal with HBO to turn it n to a TV series, She says she's very inspired by The Sopranos.
If you're going to take it on I recommend using the character map over at Ready When You Are. Side bar here: Egan (below) has made a deal with HBO to turn it n to a TV series, She says she's very inspired by The Sopranos.
Senin, 04 Juli 2011
I need to talk about Kevin
There's been many a time I've opened this book in a store, read a few pages and then put it straight back down again. I avoided it because of its dark content (a mother recalls the difficult childhood of her son who eventually goes on a killing spree in his high school) but I knew (because of all those good reviews and prestigious awards) that one day I would follow through, make the purchase and take it home.
That repellant sensation is something I felt throughout all 468 pages of Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin. "Penetrating" is how I would best describe it. You can feel the book hanging over you even when you're away from it. You're equally compelled to pick it up as you are to put it down.
This is all because of Kevin, who from birth creates a deep sense of unease that is so intense it affects all those he comes in to contact with. In letters to her absent husband Kevin's mother, Eva, charts his progress from infant to inmate. She strongly believes that the signs where always there, that he was on a path to evil from conception and that it could never be derailed or avoided.
(Tilda Swinton as Eva - a master stroke of casting)
I once watched an interview with Shriver where she said the central character was hard to like. I imagine she meant the book's narrator (Kevin's mother) Eva rather than Kevin himself. I loved Eva. Sure she could be distant, selfish and elitist but she was also smart, fiercely independent, opinionated and successful. She met her husband at 33 and after four indulgent years together when they couldn't quiet decide if to do the "baby thing" - they, on a whim, gave it a shot. Surely, they thought, it'll answer the Big Question ie why are we here? They got a lot more than they bargained for.
When Kevin arrived the maternal bond she so longed for and expected never appeared. Kevin was from birth a difficult, complicated and acutely intelligent creature and so began a childhood marked by deceit and manpulation. Or was it? We only hear Eva's side of the story and some might argue (though, not me personally) that Eva played role in why Kevin became... Kevin.
Overall it's just brilliant and would make the ultimate book club book. There's so much to say! I finished it a few hours ago and I'm just desperate to talk to someone about it!
Senin, 13 Juni 2011
The Psychopath Test
I've just started The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson and I'm hooked. It's the exact combination of fascinating and frightening that will almost certainly cause sleep deprivation (to put this on context I often sleep with the lights on after episodes of Law and Order). You may have heard part of this story before on an episode of This American Life or read his previous book, The Men who Stare at Goats. I have a good feeling about my bad feeling about this.
Pretty as a picture
I love this new illustrated Mexican cook book by Melbourne designer Daniella Germain.
See more of her beautiful work at her blog
Selasa, 31 Mei 2011
Before they were big...
Malcolm Gladwell (right)
Truman Capote
Agatha Christie
Sylvia Plath
Roald Dahl
Salman Rushdie
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Zadie Smith
Mindy Kaling
Virginia Woolf
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