A quick heads up: Just heard that the guests to UAlbany in the next few months are likely to include Richard Ford and Norman Mailer, among many, many others.
Category: News
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Events on Tuesday, Dec. 19
Author J. Stanley Yake signs and discusses his book “Toshiko Takaezu: The Earth in Bloom” at 5 pm at The Bookmark, 594 New Loudon Rd., Latham NY. 785-7869 -
Audio books actress dies
Kate Fleming voiced more than 250 audio books, including an award-winning performance for Ruth Ozeki’s “All Over Creation” in 2004. She was killed during the recent flooding in Seattle. You can read her obit here.
And you can learn more about her company, Cedar House Audio, here. -
Jeff Shaara reads from his most recent work, “The Rising Tide”
From Wednesday’s Times Union:
GUILDERLAND – More than 325 people – including a number of World War II veterans – packed the main reading room of the Guilderland Public Library last Friday to hear bestselling author Jeff Shaara read from his latest work, “The Rising Tide.” Shaara is most famous for historical novels set in the Civil (more…) -
An interesting blog
Here’s an interesting blog dedicated to the art and practice of translation. It even includes an excerpt from a book review I wrote.
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An interesting link
One of the best blogs out there for bibliophiles is the National Book Critics Circle’s Critical Mass (full disclosure, I am a member of the NBCC).
That blog includes an interesting series of interviews with book reviewers from around the country. Take a look if you are interested in how book critics think.
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Steven King on audio books
I’m not alone in my enjoyment of audio books! Here’s Steven King’s take on them from an October Entertainment Weekly.
Some critics — the always tiresome Harold Bloom among them — claim that listening to audiobooks isn’t reading. I couldn’t disagree more. In some ways, audio perfects reading. One friend of mine likes to tell the story of how she got so involved in Blair Brown’s reading of Sue Miller’s Lost in the Forest that she missed her turnpike exit and ended up in Boston. Another swears he never really ”got” Elmore Leonard until he listened to Arliss Howard reading The Hot Kid and heard the mixed rhythm of the dialogue and narration.
The book purists argue for the sanctity of the page and the perfect communion of reader and writer, with no intermediary. They say that if there’s something you don’t understand in a book, you can always go back and read it again (these seem to be people so technologically challenged they’ve never heard of rewind, or can’t find the back button on their CD players). Bloom has said that ”Deep reading really demands the inner ear…that part of you which is open to wisdom. You need the text in front of you.” Here is a man who has clearly never listened to a campfire story.
He even includes his top ten.
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Events on Wednesday, Dec. 13
Paul Rutherford on Wednesday, December 13, 6-9 p.m., will sign his new novel “The Bahama Triangle” at the Tri-City Latham Tennis Club, 944 New Loudon Road, Latham NY.ACC Lecture Series December 13: Lale Davidson and Laying the Groundwork for Novel Writing – QUEENSBURY – Dr. Lale Davidson, Professor of English at Adirondack Community College, will discuss different methods for novel writing on Wednesday, December 13, as part of ACC’s Lecture Series.The program will be held in Eisenhart Hall, Room 118 from 12:45 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. The lecture is free and the public is invited. Light refreshments will be served.Davidson’s presentation – “Laying the Groundwork for Novel Writing” – will include a discussion of two different writing styles, the intuitive and the (more…)
