With the recent release of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" I've been thinking about some of my favorite fictional characters. Because, naturally...or not, Lisbeth Salander ranks right up there as one of my favorite female fictional characters of all time. I know that Stieg Larsson's gritty series with its share of graphically violent content doesn't suit everyone's taste. Furthermore I imagine the movie image of the dark, pierced and spiky-haired Swede might leave many folks cold, wondering what there is about her that could possibly appeal to anyone. And yet, several months after I finished reading Larsson's trilogy this married, advanced-age mother of two grown men still sometimes wonders what Lisbeth might be up to.
Yes. That's what I do. When I befriend a fictional character in a book we become bff's [Best Friends Forever]. For instance I can't recall how many years ago I read Nabokov's "Lolita" but to this day during the occasional idle moment I wonder what my old buddy Humbert Humbert is up to. Yes. I have to admit that a true rat bastard like Humbert is an odd pick as a favorite character, much less as a friend. After all, who could like a pedophile? Truth? Nobody. And maybe, in this case, friend is the wrong word. I think ours -- Humbert's and mine -- is more a student/master relationship. See, he's a terrific liar. Okay, he's a filthy, scum-of-the-earth pedophile. But he couldn't be such a scumbag if he wasn't a master of prevarication. From page one Humbert grabs and holds my attention with the utter abandon with which he lies to me. And to himself. There are times when he has both of us temporarily convinced that he's not as big a bastard as we thought.
What better month to snuggle up with a good book than February? And what better book to snuggle with than an anticipated debut!
Below are a dozen exceptional books that will publish in February, all by first time authors, including four novels, two story collections, four nonfiction works and two books for younger readers.
These books are selected from our February Preview issue, that profiles almost 90 notable books publishing next month,
Enjoy!
Davina, BookBrowse editor
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Novel, 400 pages
Publishers February 1
Reagan Arthur
Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart - he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone - but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees.... Full description & reviews
A Good American by Alex George
Novel, 400 pages
Publishes February 7
Amy Einhorn Books
It is 1904. When Frederick and Jette must flee her disapproving mother, where better to go than America, the land of the new? Originally set to board a boat to New York, at the last minute, they take one destined for New Orleans instead ("What's the difference? They're both new"), and later find themselves, more by chance than by design, in the small town of Beatrice, Missouri. Not speaking a word of English, they embark on their new life together... Full description and reviews, including 21 reviews by BookBrowse members
Red Plenty by Francis Spufford
Novel, 448 pages
Publishes February 14,
Graywolf Press
Red Plenty is history, it's fiction, it's as ambitious as Sputnik, as uncompromising as an Aeroflot flight attendant, and as different from what you were expecting as a glass of Soviet champagne.... Full description & reviews
Posted: January 19, 2012 6:09 AM
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Somewhat controversial news from Britain where McDonald's is in the process of giving away 9 million books with Happy Meals.
The six titles which are being given away (along with a finger puppet and a voucher for a heavily discounted additional book) are all from Michael Morpurgo's Mudpuddle Farm series, published by Harper Collins. Technically speaking, this will make McDonald's the nation's largest bookseller for the four week period (and the charity Farms for City Children considerably better off, as Morpurgo intends to donate all his royalties to them).
Stunning as it may seem, while eight out of ten British children visit McDonald's at least once a year, one in three doesn't own even a single book (the stats in the USA probably aren't all that different). Because of this, the promotion has been endorsed by at least two leading book related charities:
I learned to read when I was four years old and books have been a very important part of my life ever since. There were plenty of them around. My parents bought many books - cheap editions of classics available in regular bookstores, pre-war editions of books one could only get at second-hand bookstores and flea markets.
There were libraries, too, but more popular titles were hard to get and there were no holds, unless a librarian took pity on me and helped me secure what I craved.
Why did I read so much? Because books told fascinating stories and because life outside books was scary and restricted. In the Poland of my childhood, the 50s were still post-war years, with ruins lining up the streets. My parents did not like to let me play outdoors without supervision. Books were a safe passion.
Nancy Pearl, the closest thing American libraries have to a celebrity, unleashed something of a shockwave through the book industry yesterday with the announcement that she is publishing a series of books with Amazon.
Apparently the NPR commentator and doyenne of public libraries and independent bookstores (who even has an action figure modeled on her) plans to publish about six books a year with Amazon, branded as Book Lust Rediscoveries. The titles will be Pearl's favorite out-of-print books from 1960-2000. It is to be assumed that all or most of the titles will be ones that she has recommended in her Book Lust recommended reading series of books - books that many would say were made popular by huge word of mouth enthusiasm from librarians and independent bookstores, who saw Pearl as one of their own.
Recently, I attended a genocide conference that included a film called Beyond the Deadly Pit, produced and directed by Rwandan genocide survivor Gilbert Ndahayo. It documents confronting his father's killer during gacaca, the traditional court used to try "lesser" perpetrators of the 1994 genocide. Ndahayo said, "If one wants to be healed from the sickness, he must talk about it to the world. For 12 years, I lived with the remains of about 200 unpeaceful dead in my parents' backyard." I found the film so profoundly moving that I could not rise from my chair. Even now, writing this, I cannot prevent the tears. During the post-film q&a, I asked Ndahayo if making the film had facilitated healing. He said simply, "No."
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Ckubala said: I immediately thought of Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruif Zafon. A book about books, I think this f...
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With the recent release of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" I've been thinking about some of my favorite fictional characters. Because, naturally...or not, Lisbeth Salander ranks right up there as one of my favorite female fictional characters of all time. I know that Stieg Larsson's gritty series with its share of graphically violent content doesn't suit everyone's taste. Furthermore I imagine the movie image of the dark, pierced and spiky-haired Swede might leave many folks cold, wondering what there is about her that could possibly appeal to anyone. And yet, several months after I finished reading Larsson's trilogy this married, advanced-age mother of two grown men still sometimes wonders what Lisbeth might be up to.
Yes. That's what I do. When I befriend a fictional character in a book we become bff's [Best Friends Forever]. For instance I can't recall how many years ago I read Nabokov's "Lolita" but to this day during the occasional idle moment I wonder what my old buddy Humbert Humbert is up to. Yes. I have to admit that a true rat bastard like Humbert is an odd pick as a favorite character, much less as a friend. After all, who could like a pedophile? Truth? Nobody. And maybe, in this case, friend is the wrong word. I think ours -- Humbert's and mine -- is more a student/master relationship. See, he's a terrific liar. Okay, he's a filthy, scum-of-the-earth pedophile. But he couldn't be such a scumbag if he wasn't a master of prevarication. From page one Humbert grabs and holds my attention with the utter abandon with which he lies to me. And to himself. There are times when he has both of us temporarily convinced that he's not as big a bastard as we thought.
Somewhat controversial news from Britain where McDonald's is in the process of giving away 9 million books with Happy Meals.
I learned to read when I was four years old and books have been a very important part of my life ever since. There were plenty of them around. My parents bought many books - cheap editions of classics available in regular bookstores, pre-war editions of books one could only get at second-hand bookstores and flea markets.
There were libraries, too, but more popular titles were hard to get and there were no holds, unless a librarian took pity on me and helped me secure what I craved.
Nancy Pearl, the closest thing American libraries have to a celebrity, unleashed something of a shockwave through the book industry yesterday with the announcement that she is publishing a series of books with Amazon.
Apparently the NPR commentator and doyenne of public libraries and independent bookstores (who even has an 
Recently, I attended a genocide conference that included a film called Beyond the Deadly Pit, produced and directed by Rwandan genocide survivor Gilbert Ndahayo. It documents confronting his father's killer during gacaca, the traditional court used to try "lesser" perpetrators of the 1994 genocide. Ndahayo said, "If one wants to be healed from the sickness, he must talk about it to the world. For 12 years, I lived with the remains of about 200 unpeaceful dead in my parents' backyard." I found the film so profoundly moving that I could not rise from my chair. Even now, writing this, I cannot prevent the tears. During the post-film q&a, I asked Ndahayo if making the film had facilitated healing. He said simply, "No."
