The Inkblotter at The King’s English

One of the greatest feelings in bookselling is discovering a brand new author to obsess over read, and Carol Wiley Cassella is one of my most recent finds! Her debut novel Oxygen was a completely unexpected pleasure to read. Fans of Grey’s Anatomy, House, and ER MUST pick this one up — it’s an operating room drama that does not disappoint.  Cassella manages humanity’s heights and flaws exquisitely; there are no ‘tragically flawed’ characters or heroics, only people at their best and worst. Main character and doctor Marie’s struggles to understand what happened in the operating room and her doubts about her personal life are poignant and heartfelt, and will be immediately recognizable to other women who have put their careers first. As a reader, I’ll be following Cassella’s career with interest; as a bookseller, I can’t wait to introduce her to others!

Shelf Awareness ran an entertaining interview with Cassella today as well; how can you not love an author whose favorite sentence comes out of Lolita?

Our very own Ann Cannon (a.ka. A.E. Cannon) is making waves with her new teen novel, The Loser’s Guide to Life and Love. What kind of waves? Well, if they continue at this pace, they will soon be tsunami-sized. She’s being interviewed by the illustrious (Shannon Hale and Powell’s!) as well as the media and has lots of fans on Goodreads. The book has been blurbed, at least in our store, by every single one of us who has read the book: The Inkslinger, our store newsletter, has a VERY LONG review (you will notice the proliferation of initials after it; I have a feeling that JM actually wrote the review in question, but I’m not 100% positive). AND, last but not least, we are having a PAR-TAY for her next week!

Loser’s Guide (or Sergio, as it is fondly known in our store) is a modern-day retelling of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, told in alternating viewpoints by each of the four love-struck protagonists: Ed (a.k.a. Sergio), Scout, Quark, and Ellie. It’s set in Salt Lake (which, as far as I know, makes it the second YA novel in history to be set in Utah; shout-out to Sara for being the first!), and is so fresh and funny that, when I was re-reading it recently to prep for the event, I laughed out loud, all over again. Currently we are fighting over who gets to introduce her; the book is dedicated to Betsy, so that just might put her out of the running…

May is just TOO MUCH! Starting out the month with a bang — Sarah Burningham, Jessica Day George, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee at the Library, Storytime Extravaganza with Rick Walton, Sharlee Glenn, and Kristyn Crow all before May 4 — and then continuing right on from there with Ed Lueders at First Unitarian, Ted Kerasote and now the UCCR (coming to you live from the SLCC Miller Conference Center!) has left so little time for other things, which sadly include blogging.

In the midst of all this, things manage to converge — they usually do, somehow — in a rather odd way. Ted Kerasote, who wrote the amazing, thought-provoking, and tear-jerking Merle’s Door and who I highly recommend meeting in person if you have the chance, came to the store on Monday night and gave an incredible reading. His theory is that, instead of having to completely dominate our relationship with our dogs, we should give them a little more freedom and be alpha-pairs. He had the good fortune to be living in a tiny Wyoming town with lots of dog-friendly open space, of course, so this is easy for him to say. But when I asked him what us city-folk could do to help our dogs have more freedom in our world of fenced yards and leash laws, he gave a simple answer: Get yourselves to open space as much as you can, where dogs can be off leash and investigate the world on their own terms.

This seems to me to be great advice on so many different levels. Dog parks, city parks, hiking trails, et al are great places for dogs because of all the interesting smells, sights, and sounds. They’re also great places for us; dog parks, because of all the fun social time with other dog owners, hiking trails because (let’s face it) who of us couldn’t use a good hike now and then, and there’s nothing better in my mind than a good excuse to be outside, whether or not it involves exercise.

Then, while the UCCR folks were in their sessions yesterday, I picked up Cesar Millan’s Be the Pack Leader to skim through. End of the conference came around, and to my shock I had finished it! It was a fascinating read. While the focus is on dealing with “problem” dogs, Cesar’s tips on “calm-assertiveness”, emotional cues, and energy management are applicable to pretty much anything you can think of — personal relationships, work relationships, pet relationships, you name it.

While Millan focuses more on the alpha role of humans in dogs’ lives, put his tips next to Kerasote’s and there’s not much of a difference. Both advocate lots (LOTS!) of stimulation, not just physical but mental as well, for dogs and their people; I know that in my dog-owning past (currently on hold for renting reasons) I often forgot about that bit. And both advocate taking dogs seriously, instead of succumbing to the knee-jerk “Oh my god! This dog is so cute!” reaction that is so very hard for us to suppress.

So, as I head off to a week on the East Coast (vacation! wedding! plane travel!), a little bit mournful that I will be missing out on all the event fun (Mameve Medwed! Stephenie Meyer! Peg Hevel! Jack Todd!), what am I thinking about? Missing work? Vacation plans? BEA? Next month’s ever-lengthening To Do List? Nope: Dogs.

I’ve been excited about Audrey, Wait! since last October. Last October! That is how early we get ARCs sometimes, folks — 7 months ahead of publication. Actually, sometimes we get them even earlier that. The moral of the story? It is great to be a bookseller, since you get to read things before they come out, but it is hard to be a bookseller, because you are then tortured with not being able to talk about the books that you just read, no matter how great they are, without customers wanting to throw things at you in frustration. Ahem.

In Audrey, Wait Robin Benway turns every girl’s dream (to have a song written about them) on its head in a laugh-out-loud, bright, sharp novel. Audrey is the voice of a generation. She is alternatingly air-headed and bitingly intelligent, angsty and insightful, but always genuine — a refreshing change from the chic clique girls that overrun much of the YA genre.

And, as if it weren’t enough to publish an amazing and fun book, Robin Benway’s publisher is sponsoring a contest! Since the novel revolves around the song that Audrey’s boyfriend writes after their break, they have put together a competition for the best music video of the song. All you have to do is download the lyrics, set them to a tune, and make a music video out of it. Ok, that’s actually a lot. I think I will content myself with voting. But for those of you that have time, you stand to win either the Grand Prize ($1,000 American Express gift card) or the People’s Choice Award ($250 Best Buy gift card).

If my recommendation isn’t enough for you (oh ye of little faith!), you can read the first chapter online. Also, there’s a soundtrack for the book (once I finish downloading iTunes, I may even be able to listen to it)! Conclusion? I love books, and I really love books that love music.

Andi hit the nail on the head in this comment. Even though she’s talking about Ulysses, I feel like it applies to Proust as well. In the hour and a half a day I have to read (before bed, no less), there is just not enough time or energy to get through Swann’s Way on my own. I need external motivation! I need encouragement! I need a book group!

But then again, see above as to time to read. I don’t have time to be in a book group, not really. Which does not necessarily mean I will never have time for Swann’s Way — it definitely means that I don’t have time now. Also, the library wants their copy back…

But I am still committed to the idea of reading books that scare me — just maybe slightly shorter scary books. I’m thinking that I might switch gears and head for Northanger Abbey. As a confirmed Austen fan, who lectured not two weeks ago on her fabulousness, I am ashamed to admit that I have not yet read (or even seen the movie of) it.

Why does it scare me? Well, I’ve been told that it requires a lot of knowledge of the period. What I know of the period, I learned from novels, primarily Austen’s. I have never read Mrs. Radcliffe, for example. Will I get the jokes? Will I like the characters, even though it is a very straight-forward satire and pretty far from her other novels? Of course, all of these fears are founded on hearsay. Who knows! Maybe it’s as bitingly witty as all of her other amazing books, and I don’t need to be a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism to get the jokes. And it’s significantly shorter than Swann’s Way, so that fits it well into my time-crunched schedule.
Will I manage to finish a dangerous book? Will I like it? Stay tuned for more!