Thank you daylight savings time for giving me an extra hour to find fluff on the internet. (Thanks for the link Sio!)
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Kate Trgovac‘s wise words are now part of the Age of Conversation, a book written by an international team of 237 bloggers from 16 different countries.
Way to go Kate!
Wow, the new Whitecap Books website is awesome. I am bias because I’ve worked with Paschal on Trading in Memories. But this is a really cool redesign. I think his specialty is Drupal sites that don’t look like Drupal sites. Love it. Looks very yummy and friendly. I want to spend time looking around.
http://whitecap.ca/
Latest News
April 29, 2009: Justice Dept. Opens Antitrust Inquiry Into Google Books Deal
Quote: The inquiry does not necessarily mean that the department will oppose the settlement, which is subject to a court review. But it suggests that some of the concerns raised by critics, who say the settlement would unfairly give Google an exclusive license to profit from millions of books, have resonated with the Justice Department.
October 29, 2008: Google Settles Suit Over Book-Scanning by MIGUEL HELFT, New York Times
Quote: Google said Tuesday that it had agreed to pay $125 million to settle two copyright lawsuits brought by book authors and publishers over the company’s plan to digitize and show snippets of in-copyright books and to share digital copies with libraries without the explicit permission.
Well that has taken a long time! The lawsuits were originally launched in September and October 2005.
According to the NYT article, the money will be used for a book registry and to resolve existing claims. The settlement still has to be approved but if it goes ahead then, I think, it means all those books will be available online and the money just goes to settling claims.
The lawsuits were brought about because Google worked with libraries to scan millions of copyright and non-copyright books. The scanning became an issue for the copyright-protected material, in particular material that the publishers or authors did not want digitized and made available.
Background as per the NYT article:
The settlement agreement resolves a class-action suit filed on Sept. 20, 2005, by the Authors Guild and certain authors, and a suit filed on Oct. 19, 2005, by five major publisher-members of the Association of American Publishers: the McGraw-Hill Companies, Pearson Education, Penguin Group, John Wiley & Sons and Simon & Schuster. It is subject to approval by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
In the long run $125 million is probably worth it. Steep and dear now, but to have digitized and to have available for in perpetuity all that content … woah!
While I was away, award season started.
The BC Achievement Foundation’s 2008 Award for Early Literacy went to author Bill Richardson and illustrator Cynthia Nugent for The Aunts Come Marching (Raincoast Books), a singalong story about a procession of musical aunts who drop in on a family for an unexpected visit. This is a very fun book and I even had the pleasure of listening to Bill read/sing it.
The Time to Read Award is a national book award honouring the author and the illustrator of a children’s book suitable for kindergarten students. The winning book is distributed to all kindergarten children in British Columbia by the Ministry of Education.
Way to go Aunts!
The Thirteenth Tale is one of those wildly popular books that I failed to read when it was first published. I wanted to but I also wanted to wait until I had only the vaguest recollections of what reviewers said. And what I recall is only that the book was considered a success in North America but not so in Britain. It was too British for the British, or some such rubbish.
It is a fine novel. Margaret Lea, book shop clerk and amateur biographer, is commissioned by Vida Winter, famous British novelist, to write her biography. Why? It’s all unclear until the end so I won’t spoil it for you.
I was pulled into the plot twists of the biography Winter was detailing for Lea, who insisted on only writing the truth. The truth is always fascinating, especially when given in autobiography.
The setting is Angelfield, a small town where twins are born to Isabelle, who’s not quite right. It’s a story of abandonment: the abandonment of children by parents who are unable to care for them, it is the abandonment of children by carefree parents who don’t understand children, and it’s the separation and reunification of the twins and their caregivers.
Lots of interesting loops and very much like a fairy tale.
As Vida Winter says, “my gripe is not with lovers of the truth but with truth herself. What succour, what consolation is there in truth, compared to a story? What good is truth, at midnight, in the dark, when the wind is roaring like a bear in the chimney? What you need are the plump comforts of a story. The soothing, rocking safety of a lie.”
The Outlander by Gil Adamson has won this year’s Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award.
At some point in my trip, I read, and loved this book, wrote a lovely review, then carried on with my day. I cannot for the life of me find that review so let me tell you, there is no doubt in my mind that this book deserves the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award. The writing is brilliant and very smart. I love books that craft images so clearly that it’s as if you are there. Gil’s writing is really tight and smart. It’s rare that I get the sense that the author is smart, clever maybe, entertaining always, but smart, wow. Gil is smart, her choice of words is wonderful.
The Outlander is the story of a young widow desperate to flee her brother-in-laws, who are out to revenge the death of their brother–the death of their brother by her hand.
It’s 1903 and not easy for a woman to travel alone. She is definitely saved by the generosity of others, but her fate is always in question. Gil Adamson’s novel is heart-pounding, gripping, and full of grief, love and wild characters.
Perhaps my favourite book this year.
Thank you to John MacKenzie and Selina Rajani–John for saying go ahead and Selina for packaging it up so nicely.
The Idea of Beauty is one of my most favourite poems (and it’s featured in Sledgehammer, published by Polestar). I heard John read this in the hallway at Raincoast Books and it has stuck with me.
The Idea of Beauty (Spoke Itself) by John MacKenzie
I have been waiting here for you since
the stars first leapt into the sky
since before there was water sprung from fresh rock
(its first & longest music a metronome —
beat after unvaried beat falling like hammers of zombied blacksmiths)
I have been waiting here where
there were no flowers & the rocks were sharp
the soil odorless & dense,
no air pockets, no tunnels of worms winding
under roots of grass
I have waited here as minerals & salts turned to algae & coral
in the factory din of water & wind
as the assembly-line sun flung super-cooled windsurfing dimetrodons
among giant treeferns & monochrome blossoms,
as prototype blood shifted towards red & DNA began its fall
from beautiful flux into fixity and self-replication
I have waited here glacially for you
as the whispery respiration of trees built air
while whole forests fell into peat bogs, became stones
while the beaded sweat of ancient lives accreted into diamonds
& the idea of beauty spoke itself in the lush green syllables of your eyes
Kitty Lewis is one of the publishing folks that I love talking with and following online. She is the phenom behind the Brick Books Facebook page and a tireless promoter of the press’ titles.
And, now they have a new website:
Good work Kitty!
Disclaimer: I’m in a hurry so this is a bit of a brain dump for prosperity.
Although the internet is cheaper in Egypt (6 LE per hour, $1.20 per hour), I have been running around trying to see as much as I can. The first day, I walked all around Zamalek, I like this neighbourhood very much. It’s like an expensive version of Commercial Drive. Lots of coffee shops, restaurants, colourful characters and strange stores.
Day two, we went to the Khan Khalili bazzar and spent too much money. We were caught up in lovely things. That night we went on a night trip to the pyramids of Giza. These are the 3 famous pyramids of Egypt because they are in good condition and close to Cairo. There are 110-133 pyramids in Egypt, in fact there are 9 at Giza, but aside from the 3 big ones, the others are smaller queen pyramids. The sound and light show was ok, a quick history of Egypt with the pyramids lit up. There are 3 million blocks, the pyramids are at a 52 degree angle, they are aligned with the sun, all interesting things. Then we had dinner at a restaurant across the street (thankfully not the KFC–lots of development around the pyramids).
Day three, we hired a guide from the hotel to take us to the pyramids during the day. Moheb was great. His name means beloved and his was lovely explaining hieroglyphics and the tombs. I crawled all the way down a tunnel into one of the tombs. There are vertical hieroglyphics and horizontal. The horizontal can be read left to right or right to left depending on the way the figures are facing.The tomb was really cool. This was at Saqqara, which is the oldest site. First we went to Memphis to see the huge status of Ramses II, then to Saqqara, next to the Pyramids of Giza.
I learned about Upper and Lower Egypt, and upper was the lotus flower, the top of the Nile, lower was the delta and the marshes with papyrus. These symbols are everywhere. I love the stories of daily life in the hieroglyphics.You can see the humour, there are fisherman, with the fish jumping out of the basket. There are hippos, lions, crocodiles.
At the end of this very long day, we went on a Nile cruise for dinner. I think we circled this one block, nothing changed outside the windows, but the food was ok, and the 2nd entertainers were excellent dancers. I danced with the belly dancer and was complemented but most I loved the tuntoura, who is a guy that spins like the dirvishes but makes designs with these drums that he holds in different patterns and with his layered skirt. That was by far the best.
Day four, Sherif was our excellent guide for the Citadel, Egyptian Museum and the mosque. It was a fantastic day visiting different churches, the synagogue, the mosque (all in the same block), the crypt where Mary hid, the citadel, …
The museum is huge and thank goodness Sherif was able to show us the highlights and most important things otherwise I would have been overwhelmed and missed the best parts. The mummies were also creepy and excellent. I understand why there are depicted in horror movies now. I can’t imagine going and discovering a tomb and finding a mummy. They are ok in the museum but really, to see the bottom of someone’s foot and see their facial expression in death–willies.
Day five, bookshop, coffee and trying to pack. My bag ripped so I have to find a luggage shop. Weird day to come.
Tomorrow London, then eventually back to Vancouver. I can’t remember my office phone number so it’s been a good holiday.