The AbeBooks’ Avid Reader book club is currently reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. We’re having a lively conversation on the AbeBooks’ community forums. It’s a great work of English literature and there’s so much to discuss. New-comers are always welcome.
AbeBooks.com is seeing major interest in JMG Le Clézio books as the majority of his books are hard to find or out-of-print. People are snapping up used copies very fast and the majority of buyers are coming from the United States. Who says American readers are insular? Our booksellers are offering more French language versions of his books than English translations but we’re expect sellers to upload more copies over the weekend.
The bestselling Le Clézio books on AbeBooks are….
1 The Interrogation (Le Proces-Verbal)
2 Fever (La Fiévre)
3 The Round and Other Cold Hard Facts (La Ronde et Autres Faits Divers)
4 The Flood (Le Deluge)
5 Onitsha (same title for English translation)
The Guardian writes about Nobel Prize-winning author JMG Le Clézio. His books are mostly out-of-print but, of course, we have plenty.
The Times has the 20 best children’s picture books. In my house, Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill is only being held together by the dried porridge that’s been smeared across the cover. Both children adored that book.
If you happen to be in the Pacific Northwest this weekend, or if you happen to live here, you can visit the Seattle Antiquarian Bookfair. All the details on how to get there can be found here, but here are the basics you need to know.
The 21st annual fair runs from:
Saturday October 11th - 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday October 12th - 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Seattle Center Exhibition Hall
(on Mercer St just east of 3rd Ave N)
Seattle, Washington USA
TICKETS: $5.00 at the door (good for both days) - under 12 admitted free.
It’s a good event with over 100 book dealers and art exhibitors, and even if you’re not planning on buying it is well worth the $5 to get a chance to see some of the amazingly beautiful books they have on hand.
Earlier today in Stockholm The Swedish Academy announced the winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize for Literature. This years winner was the French Writer Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, who has written more than 40 books, 12 of which have been translated into English.
His Collectable first editions are currently selling for up to $850, which if you compare to past winners, ie Dorris Lessing at $8500 makes Le Clezio a comparative bargain right now.
Most people have never heard of Alfred Russel Wallace. The British naturalist and biologist had a successful 
scientific career, yet never rose to mainstream appeal or fame. That being said, 2009 looks to be a very good year for Wallace, who died almost 100 years ago. Alfred Russel Wallace is the little known genetic researcher who published a theory on natural selection in the mid 1800s. While his theory received little widespread attention, several years later a similar theory was proposed by another English naturalist who is much more of a household name – Charles Darwin. The Origin of Species, Darwin’s paper on the topic proved to be the basis for the entire theory of evolution. Darwin was born in 1809, and The Origin of Species was published in 1859. Preparation for the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the theory of evolution has caused much attention to be given to how the theory progressed, and, finally, some further recognition for Alfred Russel Wallace. In particular, comedian Bill Bailey has been working on a film script about Wallace.
Despite the lack of mainstream appeal, the works of Alfred Russel Wallace are both valued and collectible. His writings form a major
part of the creation of evolutionary theory. Of particular significance is the scientific article On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection, a journal article written jointly by Darwin and Wallace in 1958, just one year before The Origin of Species. This piece of scientific history is worth an astounding $112,860.
Another collectible item of Wallace’ is The Geographic Distribution of Animals. With a study of the Relations of Living and Extinct Fauns as Elucidating the Past Changes of the Earth’s Surface. Original 1876 editions of this paper are worth upwards of $4500 – although newer editions are available for as low as $30 for those wishing to familiarize themselves with Wallace’s research. Other collectible scientific publications by Wallace include Natural Selection and Tropical Nature, as well as Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection. A Series of Essays. With a bit of luck, 2009 could be the year when Alfred Russel Wallace get some of the credit he deserves, even if it comes a full century late.
Canada’s prestigious Scotiabank Giller Prize announced its short list of finalists on Tuesday, after reviewing 95 books submitted from across the country.
The top prize of C$50,000 goes to the author of the best Canadian novel or short-story collection published in English. Each of the four other finalists will receive C$5,000.
Joseph Boyden for his novel “Through Black Spruce”
Anthony De Sa for his collection of short stories “Barnacle Love”
Marina Endicott for her novel “Good to a Fault”
Rawi Hage for his novel “Cockroach”
Mary Swan for her novel “The Boys in the Trees”
The winner will be announced on November 11
From Reuters Canada
Some of you might have already found this new feature but AbeBooks now has a podcast roundup. We have taken all our favourite podcasts from around the world and made them easily accessible for you, we call it Shelfsound.
One of our favourite podcasts involves librarian Nancy Pearl and her (who we recently interviewed in our authors corner).
Politics are on the mind of everyone in North America at the moment. We are in the midst of a financial crisis that at least matches the recessions of the 1980s (or possibly the 1930s) and elections in both Canada and the US. So it not surprising to find out one of the most searched for and bestselling books is Fareed Zakaria’s Post American World.
A few months back Barack Obama was seen reading a copy of the book and now it is being touted by foreign affairs analysts as the wake up call that America should take heed to.
This article in the Seattle Times echo’s the sentiment of the books first line:
How could this be? The United States remains the singular world power, even with a battered and bruised economy. No other country is a match for this nation’s military might. Turns out the resounding global chorus is, “So what?”
Sens. Obama and McCain are receiving this sober assessment from an equally sober source, Thomas Fingar, the top analyst in the U.S. intelligence community. His report, “Global Trends 2025,” argues the erosion of U.S. leadership in political, economic and even cultural areas is accelerating.
Fingar, who will brief the new president, shared his findings with an organization of intelligence analysts last month, and The Washington Post covered his speech. His talk echoed a book that is a must-read, “The Post-American World,” by Fareed Zakaria. The first sentence in the slim but powerful volume sets the tone: “This is not a book about the decline of America, but rather about the rise of everyone else.”
In Comic Book form? It seems that IDW Publishing has released graphic novel biographies for both presidential candidates, they look pretty fun and if they end up getting more people to vote I’m all for it. The publishing house has also published the Presidential Material Flipbook.
Last Saturday’s Globe and Mail had an interview with British spy author, John Le Carre aka David Cornwell. I’m telling you this now because I don’t read the weekend papers until the following week and I spotted it last night.
A Most Wanted Man, his 21st novel, centres around Issa, a young half-Chechen of enigmatic background who flees a Turkish prison and ends up in the care of an idealistic German lawyer, Annabel. The novelist specializes in these beautiful lady dreamers — Tessa in The Constant Gardener, Charlie in The Little Drummer Girl. Accuse him of it, and he says with a disarming laugh, “That’s the joke about my writing — that I can’t write women. It’s because I grew up so late.”
A very strange and rather scary story from the UK. Girls Aloud are a manufactured pop group along the lines of the Pussy Cat Dolls. There are two scary bits - the weird sex and violence stuff, and the fact the obscene publications act could be resurrected from the grave.
The Chicago Tribune has an article about a couple who read, who read a lot and who love their books. It’s a simple well-written article that’s very readable in itself. It’s great to see 500 words devoted to the art of reading and a passion for books.
But hang on, what’s wrong here? The very nature of journalism is to highlight the bizarre, unusual and the newsworthy. The Tribune seems to be saying ‘look at these oddballs - all they do is read.’
People who love to fill their spare moments with literature are not freaks. Reading is a worthy pastime, not unusual in the least and I can’t believe a major newspaper in major metropolitan city allowed this article to be printed.
(By the way, I read this morning the Chicago Tribune is merging its book review into a section called ‘books and media’. It’s as if books aren’t strong enough to standalone. What’s happening in Chicago?)