Yeah, I used to love the smell of cigarettes and pipes. I hung out with my late mother when I was a little kid going to see the reporter and sucking in the smoke.
Last book I read was a great one: “The Wright 3” by Blue Balliott. For kids but great fare for a 49 year old, too. The one before that I got for free at PLA in Boston: “How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved my Life” by Mameve Medwed. It was amusing. The ultimate best read in years is “The Deafening” by Frances Itani. “Fashion is Spinach” was really good, too. 1938. I’m a huge fan of Ivan Doig and I’m looking forward to reading his new book. He writes slow and well.
-Rowena in Newport, Rhode Island
]]>>>>>>>>>>Kaavya is much too young to understand the stigma of being caught cheating.
You’re kidding???!! That’s an excuse on which she will heavily rely. She has put out this image of a very bright and her attendance at Harvard supports that — so I’m confident of her understanding. Her youth may have bolstered her hope that she wouldn’t get caught.
It’s unfortunate that her family has to go through this with her in such a public way, but that happens when anyone does something idiotic or criminal and gets caught and/or publicized. But they didn’t do anything and that’s their out: We’re sad she did it, don’t know why, know we raised her better, but bottom line, she chose to do it.
DA
]]>I’m afraid that my cynical take on the whole thing is even worse: those editors and others involved have such a low opinion of readers that they will forge ahead with anything that bodes to become a cash cow. If a reader thinks that she has read it before, will she care? Further, will she care enough to try to remember where she read it? In the rush and hustle of work and play, will she remember wondering about it? Alas…
I am a native Seattleite who is happily ensconced in Cannon Beach at the Cannon Beach Book Company.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing: Valerie has been a bookseller for 26 years. The Wicked Witch has been to Cannon Beach many times via cafe racer! What a fabulous place.
]]>By the way, Maxine Clarke’s blog Petrona and David Thayer’s blog Booksquare for two views of Kaavya Viswanathan that are well worth reading.
]]>I’ll be there because I have to–my wife is president of the Southern Independent Booksellers’ Alliance board, and I’m on the ABA’s Bookseller Advisory Committee. So let us know if you plan on making it down. You do get some decent swag on the show floor, but it’s also completely overwhelming. Getting caught in human traffic jams in the bigger booths is common. I myself find our regional trade show to be a lot more fun.
]]>Is it cherry blossom time in Washington that week, too?
]]>As far as incomes, it’s all lights and mirrors. The average US cop pulls in 55,000 a year, the firefighter about 48, and both are stripped of most of their Social Security because of their occupations. The average CEO limps along on 11.75 million. Hank McKinnell of Pfizer is trying to survive on a pension of 6.5 million–and gets his full social security, bless his heart.
Our priorities are wrong all over, including in the writing and publishing industry. Part of the problem for young Kaavya is the publishing industry’s hunger to find brilliant young prodigies from five years old and up, put out tripe of any kind–the penny arcade of publishing.
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