After spending years over on this side of the pond, Bill Bryson has gone back to merry old England and got himself appointed to some committee to preserve something out in the rural parts of somewhere.
I just hope the new job doesn’t keep him from putting pen to paper. Hmmmm, maybe this is just research and his next book will be an expose on the inner workings of small town British city councils! ooooo! ahhhhh! You may think that lame, but Bryson could make it funny.
Is this just marketing? He kind of seems sincere. Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi, is taking a stand for the arts. And it’s a stand that will expand Canada’s Prime Minister’s book case.
Martel says he’ll keep the world up-to-date, via a website, on all the books he sends to the PM’s house.
This little new tidbit has just moved Life of Pi to the top of my TBR pile. I know, I know… I’m probably the only person on the planet who hasn’t read this yet.
The Chicago Tribune is blazing a new trail for its Books Section (via GalleyCat). While most papers are downsizing their book sections, the Trib is moving theirs to Saturday, which will allow the section to expand. They are also backing up the move with a renewed online webpage and books blog, all to be unveiled soon.
I hope this move turns out to be profitable for them and other papers start to take note. This would be a great model for other newspapers to emulate.
Looks like the national “can your book section” trend has spread south of the Mason Dixon with the Atlanta Constitution “realigning” their books page and editing out the newspaper’s books editor.
It won’t be long until everyone is just running wire copy from New York. Can you imagine? Thousands of newspapers all covering the same 6 books every day. How sad.
Here’s a link to a Georgia bookstore trying to do something about it.
And the fade theorist has a post about a group of self appointing “prose pros” getting on board with letters and petitions. While I do agree with the theorist that the NBCC needs to wake up and participate in the world of new media (to quote her “Traditional print media, by comparison, is flat”), I do have to say that I would miss having the “professional” reviews in my newspapers. As much weight as I give my friends’ recommendations and suggestions, I’ve always been glad that there is a “filter” out there. Someone with enough skill and experience separate the junk from what might actually be worthy. And that, I think would be worth fighting for.
