op Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic: Ten Books That Whose Titles Or Covers Made Me Buy It. I am definitely drawn to certain titles and covers, and titles are almost always the selling point for me when it comes to short story collections (perhaps because there’s never a synopsis of every story in the collection). Anyway, a day late, so without further ado!
Ten Books Whose Titles Or Covers Made Me Buy It
October 18, 2011 9 Comments
Summer Reading
May 31, 2011 16 Comments
ith BEA behind me, and the unofficial start of summer beginning this past Monday, I figure it’s time to unveil the SUMMER READING LIST (cue dramatic music). I’ve included books I received at BEA that are due out either this summer or early fall. I’d like to get through about 20 books this summer because I’d like to tackle some longer books this upcoming fall and winter (My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me, The Blind Assassin, Skippy Dies, Jane Eyre) without falling being on my year end goal. Also would like to do a fun side project that I am calling the Summer of Tin House. Currently I own 17 issues of Tin House. I tend to read some of the stories and essays in each issue but never finish the whole thing, always saving some for later. Well, this summer, I’d like to finish and review all of them. If I begin this week, and continue until summer is officially over, I should be able to do it. That said, I just thought of this an hour ago, so I’m excited about it now, but who knows how I’ll feel in a week.
But! without further ado, here is the Summer Reading List for your viewing pleasure:
Tove Jansson – The Summer Book
Siri Hustvedt – The Summer Without Men
Jennifer Egan – A Visit from the Goon Squad
Elaine Dundy – The Dud Avocado
Penny Vincenzi – The Best of Times
Anne Roiphie – Art and Madness
Natsuo Kirino – Out
Leslie Jamison – The Gin Closet
Aimee Bender – The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
Danielle Evans – Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self
Kelly Link – Magic for Beginners
Aryn Kyle – Boys and Girls Like You and Me
F. Scott Fitzgerald – Tender Is the Night
Carmela Ciuraru – Nom de Plume
Megan Abbot – The End of Everything (July 2011)
Simon von Booy – Everything Beautiful Began After (July 2011)
Rob Spillman (ed) – Fantastic Women (Aug 2011)
Jesse Browner – Everything Happens Today (Oct 2011)
Bonnie Nadzam – Lamb (Sept 2011)
John Franc – Hooked (Sept 2011)
The Art of Fielding (Sept 2011)
Possibles (Requires trip to the library)
Adam, Even and the Serpent
Ancient Guide to Modern Life
Rereading Women
The Rest Is Noise
Pleasure Unbound
What books are you planning on reading this summer? Answer in the comments or post on your blog and leave a link here, so I can check it out! :)
A Literary Love Affair: Tin House
February 1, 2011 9 Comments
ome people collect coins. Other people collect stamps. I, dear reader, collect Tin House.
My love affair with Tin House began with Issue #33: Fantastic Women. I first spied it late Fall of 2007 in the newsstand of the Barnes and Noble where I had just started working. Day after day I would drift toward it, debating whether or not I should buy it. I was in love with the grotesque beauty of the cover as well as the magazine’s overall design. The pull quotes from each piece sucked me in and the stories seemed interesting. One line from a story stuck with me for some reason — the line wasn’t particularly deep or anything, but it stayed with me long after the issue I had ultimately chosen not to buy had gone off sale.
Not surprisingly, I regretted my decision not to buy Issue #33, but lo! I found out that Tin House offered back issues on their website. I knew one day, I would be able to turn to the site to satisfy my Tin House craving. Fast forward two years, now Fall 2009, and I finally ordered three back issues, one of which was #33. But then something terrible happened. I accidentally got a wrong issue! Instead of issue #33 I ended up with #35, an issue I wasn’t interested in at all! Even more frustrating was the fact that, if they had to make a mistake, why did it have to be with precious #33? I emailed Tin House and got back a quick response apologizing for the mistake and offering to send me #33 at no extra charge. I was overjoyed and expressed my sincere gratitude.
Fast forward another 15 months, and I have made a fair bit of progress on my goal to own every issue of Tin House:
As can be seen from the graphic above, I own 15 issues of Tin House. I don’t have to worry about future issues because I’m a subscriber and I would sooner cancel my subscription to the Paris Review than Tin House. Tin House is less expensive ($25/year vs $40) and I think with the Paris Review, I’m in it mostly for the interviews, which I can read for free it seems once an issue is no longer for sale.
But what of the back issues? Eight are sold out, which means I’m going to have to turn to Powell’s and eBay eventually if I want to fulfill my lofty literary aspiration. There’s also the issue of cost. Each back issue is $10, and I am very much committed to giving my money to Tin House directly if I can, but it’s frustrating because it means I cannot acquire them as quickly as I would like, and there’s always the risk that more will sell out. That said, I refuse to give up! It may take years of scouring to secure every issue, but victory shall be mine!
