Giveaway Coming!

Yesterday afternoon I received a box full of books to giveaway to you lovely readers. Super exciting, yes? I'll have three copies each of The Memorist and The Reincarnationist by M.J. Rose available for a giveaway that will begin on Nov. 13 when M.J. Rose stops by my blog for a little chit-chat. I'll be posting my reviews of the books the day prior to give you all a little reminder, but I'm super excited to be a part of Rose's blog tour and I can't wait to get started on these books. Oh, and to get you excited too, here's a little preview of what The Memorist is about:

International bestseller M.J. Rose has written a gripping and unforgettable novel about a woman paralyzed by the past, a man robbed of his future, and a centuries old secret. The dreads are back. As a child, Meer Logan was haunted by memories of another time and place, always accompanied by the faint strains of elusive music.

Now the past has reached out again in the form of a strange letter that sets her on a journey to Vienna to unlock the mystery of who she once was. With each step, she comes closer to remembering connections between a clandestine reincarnationist society, a lost flute linked to Ludwig van Beethoven, and David Yalom, a journalist who understands all too well how the past affects the future. David knows loss first hand--terrorism is a reality that cost him his family. He's seen every solution promised by security experts around the world--and he's seen every solution fail. Now, in a concert hall in Vienna, he plans to force the world to understand the cost of those failures in a single, violent act. Because those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it...

Book Club Announcements: New Release and Read Wicked for FREE

So, thanks to The Book Pirate, I learned that our book of the month has a new sequel being released today so if you've already read Wicked and Son of a Witch, you really have no excuses not to participate this month. Actually, I should say especially if you've read these books because I know you won't be able to resist getting the next in the series if you've already read the others. I started reading Wicked on Friday night and then shirked all of my real responsibilities in order to continue reading. I'm almost finished but have been forced to put it down because I have so many upcoming deadlines (I bribe myself by saying if I get one assigment completed I can read one chapter before starting the next). This is Harry Potter for me all over again.

Erm, sorry to go off on a tangent. I just wanted to point you all toward A Lion Among Men, the latest release by Gregory Maguire. I also wanted to let you know that if you're super poor like me and you somehow can't find someone to borrow this book from you can read Wicked for free by going here.

Roald Dahl's Granddaughter Releases First Novel

My first ever love affair with an author happened in 4th grade when I read Matilda by Roald Dahl. I had always loved reading prior to this, but Roald Dahl's imaginitive tales set me over the top. I devoured each and every one of his books within weeks of discovering him. His books are also the only books I can ever remember reading time and time again. Most books get read once and set on the shelf never to be looked through again (this is why I'm such a firm believer in the library, but that's for another blog).

So today when I read that Sophie Dahl, Roald Dahl's granddaughter has just released her first novel, I nearly peed my pants with excitement. Granted, she's not the master himself, but having something new from the Dahl family makes my heart smile in a big way. It brings back all those days of reading when I was a kid, and the excitement of having a new book to read. I'm not sure how much I'll love her book, but I still plan to read it in the near future. I have to give her a try at least.

So, from Amazon, this is the description of Playing With the Grown-ups:

"The full-length debut by the granddaughter of Roald Dahl and Patricia Neal centers on a dreamy, romantic English woman who hasn't quite escaped the thrall of her fabulous mother, Marina. When Kitty, now married, pregnant, and living cozily in New York City with her financier husband, receives the call that her mother has been hospitalized after a breakdown, Kitty flashes back to her magical youth, revolving around her Swedish grandparents' Never-Neverland of a country home, Hay House, shared by her mother and aunts.

"When Marina's guru insists Marina move to New York City to pursue her painting, Kitty eventually joins her on Park Avenue, and her mixed-up adolescence begins. Wearing her mother's clothes, flirting with her handsome boyfriends and swept into parties where her mother chops the cocaine, Kitty comes through a number of charming yet troubling moments, as well as foreshadowings of Marina's future breakdown. There's plenty of texture to Kitty's remembrances, but the result reads more like a fictional memoir than fully plotted novel."

Authors paying out-of-pocket for book tours

It used to be almost expected that a new author would go on tour with his or her book as a way to get the word out and promote the book. Publishing houses often paid for this considering they were getting the major money out of the deal, but it seems like today more and more authors are looking for creative ways to promote their books without having to go on tour.

Part of the reason is that if you aren't already famous, your publishing house won't pony up the cash for you to go on tour. For them it's a matter of making money on their return, and, although it pains me to say it, they're right. I've been to quite a few book signings and the lesser known authors definitely are lacking in crowds. Little to no crowd equals small sales at the end of the signing.

Some authors are doing internet tours. Others phone in to book club meetings or create a blog to raise awareness about their book and their goings-on. But there are those who still want a real connection with their audience (and there are those of us who crave those opportunities), such as Michael Steers and Stanley Trollip, who write under the pen name of Michael Stanley and will be taking an international book tour using money from their own pockets.

On April 1, the two authors released their first book, A Carrion Death, but if their book tour does well, they may indeed be seen more often. And maybe their next book tour will be paid for by their publishers. I'm not a huge fan of murder mystery or detective novels, but I think I might just buy this one to show my support. To learn more about the tour or the book, visit the authors' Web site here.

The Real Ellis, and A Place to Belong

I'm not a huge fan of Bret Easton Ellis, but I know plenty of people who are. I read my first Ellis book last year. It was also the first Ellis book ever written, which I found out in this article that he wrote when he was 21. Because of this discovery I feel I owe him another chance. I plan to pick up one of his other books sometime this year, although I'm fairly certain he's just not my type of author. However, his life is really interesting and I suggest reading this great article about him in the Los Angeles Times.

Also, I just read about A Place to Belong, a memoir type book about a boy who grew up too quickly and began a life on the road at age 14. It seems as though this is author Paul Miller's first book, but it has gotten great reviews. It sounds like an interesting book that I'll definitely be picking up soon. If you'd like to read a review of it go here.

Author News: David Sedaris, Kanye West

A couple of little tidbits for you today.

First, David Sedaris has renamed his new book yet again. It is now expected to be called When You Are Engulfed In Flames, but Publisher's Weekly reports that the title is likely to change again. What isn't expected to change is the release date, which is scheduled for June 3, followed by a 29-day book tour of 29 cities. You can check if your town is on the list here. I'm super excited about this, as I've loved the two Sedaris books I've read. The only disappointment is that I still haven't gotten to Dress Your Family In Cordouroy and Denim, and he's already got another book to add to the list! Yikes!

Second, I saw that Kanye West is going to be releasing a book and I had to wonder: Is anyone going to actually buy this book to read it? I think it's interesting that now if you're famous, no matter what you're famous for, you have to have a book about you. Really? Are you that interesting? I doubt it. Oh, and he also is going to have his own search engine called searchwithkanyewest.com. How hilarious is that? Sorry Kanye, but I don't think you'll be beating out Google anytime soon, especially with a name as uncatchy as that.

This Just In: Frey Writes Fiction, Banned Book Author Held in New Zealand

There are two things that caught my eye in book news today. The first was an article in The New York Post about James Frey's new book, which is scheduled to be released in May. Frey hasn't really released any details about the book, but there seemed to be an overemphasis on the word FICTION. Coincidence? I think not.

The second was an article about the author of an assisted suicide guidebook, who was detained in New Zealand after being caught at the airport carrying a copy of his book, which was banned there because it could be used as a how-to guide for suicidal readers. After being held at the airport for more than two hours, Phillip Nitchske (AKA Dr. Death) was allowed to leave carrying his copy of The Peaceful Pill Handbook. According to the Waikato Times story, the book had been altered and therefore was not considered a copy of the book banned by the Australian government. My questions: Do they have this guy on terrorist watch or something? Or do they just have extremely good airport security there and check the titles of every book being carried by passengers?

P.S. Apparently the book has been banned on Amazon as well because I had to look up Nitschke's own site in order to get the image of the book cover.

Isn’t the story the important thing?

After reading Ishmael Beah’s account of his time in Sierra Leone, A Long Way Gone: The true story of a child soldier, I began looking through the internet for more information about him and where he is now. In this search I came upon this article (oh, and here's another one) in The Australian, calling Beah out for mistakes in his book. I also found this blog, which questioned Beah’s use of quotations and dialogue within the book. And it got me to thinking: How accurate does a memoir really need to be?

A memoir, as its name denotes, is based on memory, therefore I don’t think an author is expected to get every date and age correct. I think this is especially true when the author is displaced from his homeland and has lost every record of who he was before writing the book. If the only record he has to go off is his memory then I can see how some mistakes could have been made. For instance, him writing that he was 13 when he joined the Sierra Leonean army, when The Australian would put his age more around 15, does not surprise me. I make similar mistakes all the time when I’m thinking back on things, and can only get it correct when I actually get out my old journals or look through back entries in my blog, then do the math. I fully believe Beah would have used those tools to double-check his age as well, had he had them available to him. Although I haven’t talked to the author directly, I’m pretty certain he did not have a journal with him as he was walking around killing RUF soldiers.

I think it’s interesting that this is coming into question, when I have read a number of other memoirs that have glaring errors. A specific author that comes to mind is Augusten Burroughs, who gives two different ages for his first sexual interaction in two different books. In Running With Scissors, I believe he put his age around 12, while in Dry the age is significantly lowered to age 8 (I don’t have the books with me so I can’t verify these ages, but I remember specifically that it bothered me at the time I read them). Perhaps the media didn’t notice these mistakes because they didn’t read the books in direct succession as I did, but the mistakes were there. And Burroughs claims to have journal records dating back to his early childhood so surely he should have gotten this correct?

As for the quotes brought into question by One-Minute Book Reviews, I have often asked myself about quotes in memoirs. I have also had a number of discussions with other journalists on what type of creative license is allowed for quoting in novels, memoirs, etc. The thing is, it’s not an autobiography. Very few people, especially your normal everyday person, has enough newspaper print spent on them that they can actually quote what other people have said and done regarding them. Their lives are not lived out in the newspapers and tabloids, despite what the media would have us believe. Yes, Beah could have easily left out the dialogue in his book, but then how exciting would that have been to read? This is his account of what happened to him and what the war was like in Sierra Leone. I have no doubt in my mind that he witnessed the atrocities he wrote about in this book and I will give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to giving an account of those things from memory.

What I think is important to remember here is that it’s the story that matters. No, I don’t think authors should go around writing fiction and try passing it off as a memoir (Ahem), but I think we should allow a little leeway when it comes to writing something from memory. For me, getting this story out and making a difference in Sierra Leone is more important than Beah not releasing the book because he wasn’t sure if his family was killed when he was 13 or 15 years old. And, in the book itself, Beah notes that he wasn’t sure of the amount of time that had passed, nor about his exact location on many occasions he speaks about in the book.

What do you think? When it comes to memoirs, how important is it to get every detail correct?