The Book that Reads You

In January, a new publisher called Coliloquy appeared on the Kindle.   Coliloquy’s books are a little different — at certain pre-defined moments, readers are asked to make a choice. Which character should the protagonist date? What event should they go to? In which narrative direction do you want to travel?

Then, Coliloquy collects data about your decision and uses them in one of two ways; they either commission authors to write serial narratives, and the writer agrees to follow the narratives that the majority of readers have chosen to follow, or the author writes multiple versions of a narrative, with readers receiving different tales depending on their decisions.

Best Fiction: 1966 versus 2012

The Daily Beast is in a retro mood this week, comparing the best-selling novels of the Mad Men era with today’s.

They compare the best-selling works of James Michener, Louis Auchincloss, Irving Stone, Graham Greene, John O’Hara, Helen MacInnes, Len Deighton, Jacqueline Susann, Adela Rogers St. Johns, and Bel Kaufman with those of Clive Cussler, David Weber, Patricia Briggs, Vince Flynn, William Landay, J. D. Robb, Randy Wayne White, Jonathan Kellerman, and James Patterson.

Which do you think is better?  Read more…….

TheDailyBeast

Technorati Tags: Free online books

Audiobooks are going Hollywood

Samuel L. Jackson is part of an all-star cast of actors who have signed on with Audible.com, the 17-year-old Amazon-owned company, to bring classic novels to life for a fast-growing population of audiobook fans worldwide.  Other participants include  Dustin Hoffman performing “Being There;” Susan Sarandon performing “The Member of the Wedding;” Kate Winslet performing “Therese Raquin;” Nicole Kidman performing “To the Lighthouse;” and many more.  Jackson, Sarandon and Winslet’s efforts are part of the initial release, along with Anne Hathaway’s performance of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”

Erotic Novel setting American Women Abuzz

“Fifty Shades of Grey,” an erotic novel that has been described as “Mommy porn” and “Twilight” for grown-ups, has electrified women across the country, who have spread the word like gospel on Facebook pages and school functions.

The novel is introducing women who usually read run-of-the-mill literary or commercial fiction to graphic, heavy-breathing erotica. And in the cities and suburbs of New York, Denver and Minneapolis, the women who have devoured the books say they are feeling the happy effects at home.

The Greatest Fiction Ever Told?

Are the gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John a historical account of the life of Jesus, or the greatest fiction ever told?

Renowned Bible scholar John Dominic Crossan answers this question unequivocally in his new book,”The Power of Parable:  How Fiction by Jesus Became Fiction about Jesus.”

Crossan asserts that the gospel writers never intended for the gospels to be taken literally; they were not recounting history. Instead, the gospels are parables meant to communicate Jesus’ meaningful and important teachings.

The Beauty and Danger of the Sea Draws Writers to It

From “Moby-Dick” to “Spartina,” nothing has captured the Odyssean spirit of the American story — or the splendor and ravages of testosterone — like a boat traveling through open waters.

Amber Dermont’s debut novel, The Starboard Sea,  follows Jason Prosper, a senior in a New England academy.  After Jason finds his best friend and sailing partner, Cal, hanging from a hot-water pipe in their dorm room, Jason doesn’t want to sail anymore.  Instead, he takes up a quiet friendship with Aidan, an intense, mysterious girl.

New Fiction is Putting on Weight

Some great books have no more than 200 pages, so why do we now think that big is best?

Three new novels are chunky.  Nick Harkaway’s second novel, Angelmaker, weighs in at 576 pages.  Capital, by John Lanchester tips the scales at 577.  The Bellwether Revivals,  by Benjamin Wood is a 420-page debut.  Even the Costa winner, Andrew Miller’s Pure is 352 pages.

When last year’s Booker winner, The Sense of an Ending, was first shortlisted, there were some who said that, at 150 pages, it wasn’t really a novel. Whatever happened to the slim volume?  Read more……

Pirate my Book….Please

Best-selling Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho has been a longtime supporter of the illegal downloading of his work.

Now, he’s joining forces with The Pirate Bay, calling himself “The Pirate Coelho,” and asking readers to download everything that he has ever written from the file-sharing site.

Coelho explains, “ The more people ‘pirate’ a book, the better. If they like the beginning, they’ll buy the whole book the next day, because there’s nothing more tiring than reading long screeds of text on a computer screen.”

Why is Coelho is doing this?  Read more…

Guardian

Technorati Tags: free audio books

Is Chick Lit Dead?

Some say chick lit is dead while others insist there’s some life in the old girl yet.

As the first species of popular fiction to treat its heroines’ professional aspirations as seriously as their romantic prospects, chick lit flourished at a time when ambitious young women poured into a robust job market, seeking both love and success but a visit to any chain bookstore will testify that its heyday has definitely passed.

Perhaps the generation of women who spent the late ’90s and early 2000s reading about publicists flirting with their handsome bosses and hitting sample sales with their girlfriends has moved on to unfettered fantasies of supernaturally endowed lovers.

J. K. Rowling to Write Novel for Adults

Publisher Little, Brown startled the book world Thursday by saying it would publish the book, Ms. Rowling’s first title aimed at adults. Otherwise, the work is shrouded in mystery, befitting an author whose seven tales of wizards and sorcery have sold more than 450 million copies world-wide.

The title, the world-wide publication date, and even the subject material won’t be revealed until later this year.

Whatever the new book’s subject, Ms. Rowling’s past success ensures it will be a publishing event. The last title in the series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” published in July 2007, sold 11 million copies in its first 24 hours in the U.S.