The Written Nerd

Folks, let's not forget tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day ! Click on the link and enter your zip code to find a shop giving out yummy cartoon goodies near you. And in honor of that (and because I've had an astonishingly good run of comics reading lately), I'd like to present my take on three great recent graphic novels. (Please note I'm starting a new convention of linking to the publisher pages for books I review. That way you can take a look and find out more about the book, and you don't even have to go to Amazon. If you want to get yourself one AND make me happy, I recommend clicking over to Booksense.com to find your local indie bookstore.) American Elf: Book Two by James Kochalka (Top Shelf Productions, February 2007) At the panel on comics and interstitiality at MoCCA the other day, the question of web comics came up (they do kind of fall between your traditional publishing categories, yeah?) and I realized that two of my favorite comics of the last year st...

Guys, I promise I'm gonna try to post later today -- have to run out the door, but I've got a stack of graphic novels waiting to be reviewed if I can find some time later. In the meantime -- happy Friday!

I've got books to review, too, but I'm behind on my links, so let's try to keep up! - In big book world/blog world news, the National Book Critics Circle led by John Freeman has launched a campaign to save the newspaper book section -- specifically, to keep the Atlanta Journal-Constitution from firing its book review editor and eliminating the section. The campaign has sparked interest everywhere, including this article in the New York Times positing that reviews may be moving from mainstream print media to blogs (and everyone's got an opinion on that one). The Times article mentions a bunch of my fellow Litblog Co-Op members -- major congrats, guys! I think many folks ultimately agree that newspaper book review sections and amateur literary blogs both are (or can be) vital parts of the nation's literary culture and conversation -- it's not an either/or thing. There's something to be said both for the professional editorial "filtered" atmosph...

We were making rather merry yesterday (sampling 5 different kinds of bubbly to pick which one to serve at our wedding), so I'm playing hookey this morning. I'm taking an impromptu vacation from daily responsibilities, and there ain't a thing you can do about it. So I suggest you head over to the LBC , where it's the week of The Cottagers. There's a great post up about suspense in the novel. And you can start thinking about the question of the worst vacation you ever had -- or a great bad vacation story -- for the contest later in the week. Enjoy!

Just one more PEN Festival event this morning (a last-minute add-on, as the incredible panel yesterday for high schoolers with Ishmeal Beah and Uzodinma Iweala was over capacity), and I'll be done for the week. But I'd just like to tell you: - The New York Inquirer has published my blog post "In Defense of Author Events and the Conversation" on their website in response to Mik Awake's article against them. I wish I had time to go back and edit the piece now, as I've discovered Awake is a friend of a friend and we've emailed a bit, and I now think we're actually much more in agreement than it seems (I think we both agree that author events need to evolve from the staid read-from-the-book model, though I think in many cases they successfully have done so). In any case, you can read my piece on the Inquirer and chime in on the comments for the public record. - The Litblog Co-Op now has all the content on Mark Binelli's SACCO AND VANZETTI MUST...

Just a brief review today, though this one deserves much more. WHY WE BUY by Paco Underhill (Simon & Schuster, 1999) I heard Paco Underhill speak at Book Expo last year, and my coworkers and I left the room gasping. A professional "shopping scientist," Underhill's insights into how customers actually interact with the bookstore sales floor had the astonishment of something that's been right under your nose all along. We did some serious rethinking of some of our displays and placements after that presentation, and have continued to keep his principles in mind when making changes in the physical bookstore. But I'm lazy when it comes to reading anything other than fiction, so it took me until this past month when I found myself with a spurt of interest in practical nonfiction to finally pick up Underhill's most famous book. (The ALP had read both, and told me he preferred this one to its sequel, THE CALL OF THE MALL.) And I was utterly enthralled all the...

I've got to rush off to work early this morning, so no time for link madness. But that's just as well, because all the action this week is over at the Litblog Co-Op , where we'll be spending the entire week discussing Sacco and Vanzetti Must Die! by Mark Binelli, one of my favorite books of the past year. The author will be guest blogging on Wednesday and Ed Champion will air his podcast interview on Friday, while in the meantime LBC readers will be posting on aspects of the book from anarchy to silent film to the myriad historical references. Head on over to read up on the discussion, and perhaps even enter the contest to win a free copy of the book. Here, I'll give you a head start with the contest question: What historical "couple" would make a great slapstick comedy team, a la Sacco & Vanzetti, and why? Best answer posted in the comments here by end of the day on Friday wins a signed copy of the book AND an original publicity poster. Best of lu...