Category Archives: Uncategorized

Sometimes a book cover is so arresting that you can’t help but pick it up and read the blurb on the  back  and/or a few  pages of the story. Publishers know this all too well. And that’s because  they know a secret: we as readers do judge a book by its cover, which is why they spend so much time and money on the design aspect of both fiction and non-fiction.

For me, the above book cover (designed by Linda Huang for Pantheon) is an example of this truism. The Globe and Mail did a piece on this today and provided some stunning pictures of book covers. To see more examples and read the full Globe article click here.

If you’re a regular to my site, you’ll know I have a soft spot for David Mitchell. His newest novel, The Bone Clocks, is officially on sale at bookstores now, and David recently answered some questions via Twitter, which Random House then posted on YouTube.

Although he’s replaced his kinda/sorta Seattle-inspired grunge look from his pre-Cloud Atlas days with a blazer and button-down, he’s still the same kick-ass guy when it comes to interviews and public speaking.

And for those of you who actually take an interest in the minutiae of editing fiction, check out David’s American editor, David Ebershoff, and his own amazing collection of writing.

Click here to see part 1 of 10 of Mr. Mitchell answering Twitterverse questions.

Man alive, has literary cover art ever changed over the years!

So in the spirit of pure silliness and Facebook-driven drivel, I took this test, which is supposed to find the classic novel that best captures your spirit (i.e. your multiple choice answers). In my case, that’s apparently The Great Gatsby. It’s kind of funny, I guess, because I’m one of those rare people who really never liked Gatsby. This was the official analysis on me based on the test:

Personally, I was always  fascinated by Fitzgerald’s life more than his writing. A self-admitted alcoholic and “drunkard,” Fitzgerald lived a hard-drinking life that saw him famous by the 1920s, forgotten by the late 30s and dead by 1940 from alcohol abuse at the ripe old age of 44. As the man himself once said, “I have lived hard and ruined the essential innocence [sic] in myself that could make it that possible [sic], and the fact that I have abused liquor is something to be paid for with suffering and death perhaps but not renunciation.”

If you’re interested in seeing which classic novel best describes your life, Take the test here yourself.

Recently, I read a thought-provoking piece in The New York Times on failure. It looked at how failure had such a different impact on people depending on the industry you worked in. For writers, as many writers themselves pointed out, it is crucial to the success of the craft.

But how does one absorb failure and not become bogged down in self-doubt and fear? It’s a good question and one which I still struggle with every day when I write and edit my own material.

For those of us who are overachievers and perfectionists (cough), failure is never an option in principle. When I completed my first book in 2000 and gave it out to friends for feedback, I was devastated to learn pretty much everyone thought it sucked the bag. Nice, I thought. You guys are all  douchebags. Whatever.

Then I penned a second book. It also received a resounding Yaaaaawwwwnnnnn. Boring!

More douchebags. Obviously. My writing was far superior than their limited intellects could handle.

So I did what Junot Díaz once said:

“In my view a writer is a writer because even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway.”

Failure sucks. Pure and simple. It makes us second-guess ourselves, and whether it’s being rejected on a date, being fired, or staring at a computer screen as a writer and watching the stupid cursor blink over and over like a dumbass playing a cruel joke on you, it’s a necessary part of success.

Personally, I’ve been rejected by agents and publishers alike for 14 years and still I soldier on. Today, my writing is better precisely because of this rejection and failure. Will I ever be published by one of the Big Five in New York? I’m not sure. What I do know is what Teddy Roosevelt said so eloquently a century ago about this very subject, and something I believe in wholeheartedly:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. 

Read the entire NYT piece here.

So how many is it? One? Three? Ten? Do you read as many books a year as your age?

Well, if you read a single book (i.e one more than zero and one less than two) then you read more than almost a quarter of Americans. That’s right, Timmy! According to data from the Pew Research Center, 23% of Americans will not read one book or listen to one audiobook in 2014. That’s almost three times as many people as in 1978.

Who the what the France?

Now, for those of us who did actually digest the written word in some form over the last year, 31% of people read 1-5 books, 17% read 6-10 books, and 28% read 11 or more. So, in a nutshell, if  you’re in a monthly bookclub, you read more than every single American put together. Ever. In the history of the world.

Or something like that. Stats weren’t always my thing.

Pew also discovered who exactly was reading based on socioeconomic data. If you’re wondering who reads the most, it’s a white female over the age of 30 who graduated from university, makes at least $50,000 a year, and lives in the country.

The lesson? If you’re a single male looking for a smart rich woman, move to Butthellnowhere, USA.

Read the full article I learned all this information from here in The Atlantic.

Traditionally, big publishers (who were all in big bookstores before the advent of the Internet) would have tended to say cover design and title.

Today, it would seem, things have changed a little. A sample of the book (maybe a few pages), its cover and a short blurb (perhaps a few sentences) tend to lure the majority of her sample pool. And while reviews still have an important influence on buying patterns, the rise of social media has allowed Facebook, Twitter and blogs to also play a role in shaping purchasing habits.

For the full post, complete with impressive charts and graphs, click here.

Does it make a difference whether you’re reading something in a physical book or from a computer screen? Will it affect your ability to retain information if you scroll down your smartphone/tablet/computer screen or flip a page made of a substance made from wood pulp, rags, straw, or other fibrous material, usually in thin sheets, and used to bear writing or printing (otherwise known as paper)?

The answer in both cases, according to an article published online in The New Yorker on July 16, is both yes and no.

Traditionalists like me swear by the almighty book, especially for pleasure reading. Although some evidence points to people being able to retain information more effectively from a book, recent studies have shown that with the proper training, people can recall important facts from a screen just as well.

Click here to read the full article in The New Yorker.

Who would have thought me and good ol’ Benny F. had anything in common. Not I, says I.

When I first read this piece on The Good Men Project site, I couldn’t help but chuckle and chortle. More often than not, when people ask about my “writing,” they don’t ask about the content as much as they do about the routine. People are fascinated that I wake up at 5 a.m. (sometimes earlier) and head straight to a coffee shop (sadly, not on the Left Bank, though within spitting distance of the world-famous TTC!). I tend to write creatively until around lunchtime, unless I have an emergency problem to deal with concerning a corporate client. Which tends to happen frequently. Like, once a day. Maybe more. You know, because what would happen if a sentence weren’t translated or edited in the next five minutes? The world would obviously self-immolate.

Before the “Hundred-Dollar Man” and the rest of the world had heard of terms like “circadian rhythm,” which was only coined in the late 1950s, he knew the score when it came to peak cognitive abilities, something outlined in this WSJ article. As for writing, I can back up what other, more famous, more prolific authors such as Stephen King and Murakami Haruki have said countless times: wake up at an ungodly hour and get cracking.

It’s true. If you want to achieve your best creative work, get out of bed super-duper early and bear witness to how much more productive (and awesomely awesomer) you are. You might be hurts for the first week or so as your body adjusts to this new sleep schedule, but I can assure you that at the end of the day you’ll be grateful for the lifestyle change and pat yourself on the back.

Read the full article here at TGMP.

Congratulations to Terry Fallis, whose most recent novel, No Relation, made the Huff Po’s “9 Books That Will Start Conversations With Strangers” list. Not only is Terry a genuinely great guy, but he has quickly become to fiction what Rick Mercer is to TV. His keen, unwavering eye for satire and the ironic has vaulted him into unique company. Terry, good on ya, eh!

In the spirit of this same theme, I have decided to put together my own list of 9 books which could potentially be great conversation starters with people you don’t know while travelling or just hanging out in a public place. Should you wish to read the real Huffington Post article and its 9 selections, click here.

RICHARD’S LIST

(NOTE: All of these books are real and have been published.)

1. The Best Laid Plans (Terry Fallis)

M1: Hey, does that book really teach you how to get laid?

M2: …

M1: You think you could borrow it to me, dude?

M2: Sure…you are literate, though…aren’t you?

2. Quilt in a Day: Still Stripping after 25 Years (Eleanor Burns)

M: How’s the book?

W: So enlightening! I can’t believe the author’s been doing this for 25 years and her hands are still so nimble.

M: Well, you know what they say: you can quilt for a day or strip for a lifetime.

3. Why Cats Paint: A Theory of Feline Aesthetics (Heather Busch & Burton Silver)

M: Wow, looks like a really interesting book. Do you have any cats?

W: Does the Pope shit in the woods?

M: I think it’s a bear that–

W: I actually run a cat farm and séance service up at my abandoned farm. You should drop by. It’s only a short flight north of Timmins.

4.War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy)

M: God, I hate how the Russians are so indecisive.

W: What do you mean?

M: Well, is it war or peace? Only Messrs Tolstoy and Putin could fool themselves into thinking the two can coexist simultaneously.

5. are women human? And Other International Dialogues (Catharine A. MacKinnon)

W: What the f*&@ are you reading?

M: Me? Well, I’ve been curious about this question for years.

W: Seriously? Seriously! Were you raised in a f&*#@$% cave with wolves and other assorted brain-dead animals?

M: No, no. Think about it. The word “human” doesn’t contain the word “women” in it, right? Right?

6. The Missionary Position: Mother Theresa in Theory and Practice (Christopher Hitchens)

M1: How’s the book?

M2: Pretty sweetass. Mama T really knew how to throw out a Hail Mary.

M1: Nice. What exactly was her missionary position?

M2: I think it was a little left of centre, but don’t quote me on that.

7. Castration: The Advantages and the Disadvantages (Victor T. Cheney)

W: I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help noticing your book title. Are there really advantages to…you know…

M: (laughing confidently) Wow. You’re stupid!

W: Excuse me?

M: (shakes head) You’re excused. But let me tell you, get yourself a healthy eunuch and you’ll never go back to the other team.

8. What’s Your Poo Telling You? (Josh Richman and Anish Sheth, M.D.)

M: I don’t mean to be too forward, but may I ask what your poo is telling you?

W: Funny you should ask. Just last night it told me to quit my job, move to the country and open up a cat farm.

M: And…how exactly did it tell you that?

W: Through ESP, silly. It sent me an encrypted message which I easily deciphered.

9. Eating People Is Wrong (Malcolm Bradbury)

W1: Why is it wrong to eat people?

W2: Because they don’t taste good. The meat is too tough, like a moose or a crocodile.

W1: That’s a sound, cogent argument. So why is the book 300 pages long?

W2: Oh, ’cause the author included a lot of illustrations. They’re kind of thought-provoking, actually.

“Books are much more. They are a way of being fully human.” — Susan Sontag

This marks the second highly investigative news report that will shock readers. Yesterday we learned that authors are poor as sin. Today, I will shock the world by declaring that reading makes you a better person.

I know, I know, I know.

THE OUTRAGE! THE AUDACITY! THE IDIOCY!

Please forgiving me. I am hurtful and apology. But, reading makes me right good. Also, it makes my brains sort of mushy, but electric. Calm, but fiercely. Can you understand? Maybe not. Why? Because you are not read enough books.

Seriously, Emerson University carried out a brain study and discovered some very interesting things. As the lead researcher on the project said, “The neural changes that we found associated with physical sensation and movement systems suggest that reading a novel can transport you into the body of the protagonist. We already knew that good stories can put you in someone else’s shoes in a figurative sense. Now we’re seeing that something may also be happening biologically.”

To end this post, I will conclude with something that the great French writer Gustave Flaubert once said: “Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live.”

Check out the full article here.