Month: May 2005
The Daily Telegraph ran a piece about lit blogs a couple of weeks ago, and now it’s finally online. It features several popular and deserving blogs, among which The Elegant Variation, Maud Newton, Edrants, and, of course, The Complete Review, whose proprietor I’ve had a huge online crush on for a while.
Over at the Lit Blog Co-Op site, editor Reagan Arthur talks about the selection of Case Histories for Read This!
So, no, CASE HISTORIES was not lurking shyly in the corner, waiting for someone to notice it but I can tell you that despite all that good news and good fortune, it has not hit the New York Times bestseller list, and its sales, while certainly respectable, are not so stratospheric that the Read This! recommendation is the blog equivalent of sending coals to Newcastle. I get the sense that some readers are disappointed enough in the book’s success and its corporate publisher that they’ll give it a miss on principle, and that old maternal stand-by comes to mind: don’t cut off your nose to spite your face! Borrow it from a friend, or the library — I’m not interested in boosting our sales figures, only, like the estimable folks behind the LitBlog Co-Op, in sharing the rare satisfaction to be found in reading a great book.
Agree? Disagree? Hit the thread with your comments.
BTW, while this doesn’t have the same weight as the hallowed NY Times bestseller list, the selection seems to have at least some impact on online sales. Over at Powells.com’s bestseller list, Case Histories is currently at #21.
Please take a moment to visit FreeThemNow.org, a new website that seeks to bring world attention to the plight of more than 408 Moroccan POWs–the world’s longest-held prisoners of war. Captured in the early days of the conflict in Western Sahara between Morocco and the Polisario Front, these people have been held for nearly 30 years. Senator McCain, a former POW, has recently joined the Free Them Now group.
Frequent Moorishgirl contributor Dan Olivas has joined La Bloga, a group of kick-ass Chicano bloggers posting on all things literary. Something to add to your bookmarks.