Review by Alex Shephard Graduation is supposed to signify an end and a beginning, the transition between the ivory tower and the “real world.” But in The Marriage Plot, his first novel since Middlesex won the Pulitzer Prize almost a decade ago, Jeffrey Eugenides follows three newly-minted graduates to question the idea of a clean break between these two periods. In the process, he renders familiar insecurities, frustrations, and transformations into the most convincing and authentic portrait of post-graduate life in recent memory. Like the thousands of students who are receiving their diplomas in June 1982, the trio of students […]
Eisler’s Next John Rain Novel to Amazon’s Thomas & Mercer
At our Publishers Launch Conference Wednesday afternoon, Barry Eisler announced that, rather than self-publishing, his next John Rain novel THE DETACHMENT will be published by Amazon’s new mystery/thriller imprint Thomas & Mercer in both digital and print formats. “What Amazon has offered is everything that was so great to me about self publishing on the one hand, but everything you want from traditional publishing,” including marketing and distribution. “I get the best of both worlds,” he added. Amazon is also paying Eisler an advance, one “that was comparable to what St. Martin’s was offering in the deal I ultimately decided didn’t […]
Buzz Reviews: The Boy in the Suitcase, by Lene Kaaberbol & Agnete Friis
Review by Sarah Weinman The Scandinavian crime boom, which started with Henning Mankell and exploded thanks to Stieg Larsson, shows no sign of abating. Jo Nesbo’s now bestselling authors, James Patterson folded Liza Marklund into his team of co-writers, and publishers are pinning high hopes this summer and fall on books from Jussi Adler-Olsen, Lars Kepler, and Mons Kallentoft, among (so) many others. But the sleeper of the bunch, and among the best crime novels of the year, comes from the collaborative alchemy of internationally bestselling fantasy writer Lene Kaaberbol and children’s book author Agnete Friis, scooped up by Soho […]
Amazon Wants You To Know It Has a New Kindle, Too
With Kobo and Barnes & Noble having announced actual new models of ereaders, Amazon announced a new offer of their own on Tuesday night. For people who need their “special offers” on the go, now there’s a Kindle 3G version priced at $164. Kindle director Jay Marine said in the release that the 3G Special Offers, ready to ship on the day of the announcement, was created “in response to customer requests.” Among the forthcoming offers is “$1 for a Kindle book, choose from thousands of books including Water for Elephants and the Hunger Games trilogy.” In other Amazon news, the company […]
Layoffs at Barnes & Noble Distribution Warehouse; Big Q1 Earnings Drop for BAMM
Barnes & Noble laid off an unspecified number of employees at its distribution warehouse in Monroe, NJ earlier this week. In addition, the Social Security Administration is looking into possible discrepancies in employment information at the center, though a BN spokeswoman said “the reduction in workforce … has nothing to do with the Social Security inquiry,” and declined to say how many employees were being questioned in the matter. MyCentralJersey.com Sales for Books-A-Million’s first quarter dropped 11 percent to $104 million, with store comps falling 13.2 percent from last year (when the company reported a 3.6 percent drop from 2009.) […]
ABA’s Teicher Calls For “New Business Practices” to Sustain Stores
At the ABA’s annual general meeting CEO Oren Teicher noted the already announced gain in membership – with 105 new members, it’s the biggest increase in some time – but didn’t mince words about how independents “are living through a period of unprecedented change and staggering challenges” and that running a bookstore “can no longer be business-as-usual.” The challenge facing indies in the wake of Apple selling almost 20 million iPads in the past year is that “each of those iPads is also a full-color, live demonstration of the tug-of-war between books and competing media for a consumer’s attention.” The […]