Why We Do This.

I was in Costco today getting new tires on my mother's car. I had to make a quick stop on the way in to town and the tires squealed. In the dry. Unacceptable. New tires. It is what my father would do. So I had time while waiting to browse the entire Costco in that pathetic, single-person-in-Costco manner. In my cart: salt and a box of wine. I was there so long that I got an email from Costco about their fall specials on my iPhone.

I had a chance to look at the book tables three times. They do carry some good things. I had read the good things. On my second pass a girl was searching the other side of the table; she was maybe fifteen. Suddenly she says, shouts: "They have it!" I don't notice that she's with anybody, so I smile for her happiness. She's grabbed, is hugging, a book. I think it's the last book of the Hunger Games trilogy, but I'm not sure of titles or order. She says, "I can finish it today!" She dances around. I smile. Because this is great.

Dream of this, writers. This is why we do this.

Don't Do This.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/08/07/comedian-joan-rivers-protests-outside-costco-in-burbank-over-alleged-book-ban/

Past Due Review.

If you in any way enjoy mysteries, reading, books, Ireland, and being completely engrossed in a fantastic story with great, complex characters, proceed immediately to your nearest purveyor of fine literature and purchase Tana French's Broken Harbor. What a spectacular read! And if you also like Irish accents, get the audiobook. This book exceeds all possible expectations of possible goodness.

I think that about sums it up.

Kindle.

An idle thought, but if one does not own an e-reader, one does have an excuse for not purchasing the e-book that everyone one meets seems to have "published" on Amazon. Just sayin'.

Plus, here is an excellent way to destroy a valuable and interesting career:

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/jonah-lehrer-resigns-from-new-yorker-after-making-up-dylan-quotes-for-his-book/

Hope he knows how to make fries.

Man Booker Longlist.

It's out! The longlist for the 2012 Man Booker, and for once I haven't read any of them. Research to be done:

http://manbooker.co.uk/news/2012-longlist-announced

Oboy!

New Tana French book out today! Broken Harbor! Plus, simultaneous audiobook release. I'm already four hours into it. Great story, great mystery, great writing, Irish narrators. So much win!

Vague Late-Night Idea.

Hey, I'm old. 9:15 p.m. is late to me.

What if all writers and would-be writers pledged a certain page count of reading to be done every day? Not my hundred pages, necessarily, because other people have jobs and children and pets and friends, but fifty or twenty or ten. A good thing, I think.

Oh, and the book I was on about and finally finished was James Patterson's (via Mark Sullivan) Private Games. I think this book was written in a month and Mr. Sullivan did not enjoy the process. I think this book must have been written to sabotage Mr. Patterson's book mill— much as the plot involves the demolition of the modern Olympic games— out of contempt for what the games have become.

I refuse to believe this book was written this way on purpose.