Bieber Take Note! Tina Fey’s Bossypants Proves You’ve Got to Stay in Character in Your Celebrity Memoir

Justin Bieber fans where were you?? Despite 10 million Twitter followers, the teen heartthrob has been called out as a bad luck charm for magazine publishers. WWD Media revealed that Bieb’s cover story for Vanity Fair resulted in the worst selling edition of the magazine in 12 years.  What’s more, Galley Cat reported that his Teen Vogue cover (should have a more ideal demographic, right?) sold 12% below the magazine’s average, and  that even People is complaining, saying that their “ALL ABOUT JUSTIN BIEBER” headline resulted in a 25% dip below average sales.

So what does this have to do with book publishing and Tina Fey’s Bossypants?

Book Review: That Mad Ache

That Mad Ache by Françoise Sagan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Françoise Sagan is the French Jane Austen of the 1960s. Interested now?

Sure, there are a million books about love affairs and dull or bored people with too much money or not enough money at parties, but Sagan always lends a fresh tone, new observations, and it is apparent that she deeply loves even her smallest characters.

Sagan’s usual, knowingly irresponsible, girlish protagonist is fun to read here as long as you aren’t annoyed by the type, and the ending rings true without being overly melodramatic or trite.

BONUS: Flip the book over and you’ll find a bonus book, a 100-page essay from the translator, Douglas Hofstadter, which provides compelling insight into the art and frustration of translating That Mad Ache. It’s absolutely worth reading.

View all my reviews

The Death of the Book Club? The Upside to the Imminent Demise of the Bertelsmann Book Club Division

When Harold Camping predicted the rapture earlier this year, do you think he was referring to the impending demise of the book club? I mean, c’mon people. Let’s do the math. Only a few days later The Oprah Winfrey Show, the show that made book clubs the stuff of good television, aired its final episode. Now, less than a month later, Bertelsmann, owner of Random House, Inc., has announced that it’s closing its book club and direct marketing division, effective June 30 (PaidContent.org).   AND (biggest blow of all) the book club to end all book clubs, my own two-member “Salon” (yeah, recruitment never went well for Amy and me) has officially folded its blog counterpart, The Salon and Other Finer Things (if the title sounds a wee bit familiar, then maybe you’re a longtime fan of The Office).   ANYWAYS…

What’s wrong with this world?  What could the upside to these book club closings possibly be??  Well, let me offer up this little nugget…

Follow This Blog: Yard Sale Pending

Okay, I know this is my blog and I’m engaging in some shameless self-promotion. Still, if you’ve ever looked in your closet and felt daunted by the sheer amount of stuff you should have thrown away long ago (gifts from ex-boyfriends, mementos from your youth, clothes that don’t fit anymore) then this is the blog for you. You know what it’s like to hold on to the things that hold your memories. Maybe you, too, would benefit from the telling the stories behind your stuff.

Yard Sale Pending

Hello world!

This is the new home for my portfolio and résumé, but also a place to discuss my research, publishing news, and the books I love.  Welcome, and get comfy.  I plan to keep you for awhile.