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Odds & Ends On the Web: September 29th Edition

9/29/2012

12 Comments

 
o&e logo
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling is OUT, in case you haven't noticed the intense media coverage of this event. The reviews so far have been pretty meh - both from professional critics and regular reviewers who complain about poor quality and high prices ($17.99!) of the ebook  version and are also disenchanted by the novel's very dark and crass content. Entertainment Weekly helpfully supplies examples of crassness here, proving that the intended audience of Harry Potter books should definitely stay away from Rowling's latest.

Here you can read some more additional info from J.K. Rowling herself
. The most interesting part of this post is that the auth0r considered publishing her adult novel under a pseudonym, but then changed her mind, saying - “But in some ways I think it’s braver to do it like this." However, here is a question, would The Casual Vacancy have received as much attention and, let's be frank here, a sure bestselling status without Rowling's name attached to the project? Bravery vs. definite financial success? Here is some food for thought.

In other news, book bloggers are ruining LITERATURE (and here we thought that we, adult YA-  and genre fic- lovers, have ruined literature for everyone already), as lamented by Booker head judge and proud reader of 20 books a year, Peter Stothard. One might wonder, why is Mr. Stothard so concerned? It's not like we are taking bread out of his mouth reviewing the high-brow lit that he seems to cherish. Surely people interested in shortlisted Man Bookers and Pulitzers know not to check The Readventurer for opinions? Plus, someone has to give attention to the "low-brow," readable books he and people like him would never touch, right?

Positions such as Stothard's always bring to light the ever-going-on debate about worthiness of literary fiction and worthlessness of any genre fiction (and, consequently, the importance of the professional criticism of literary fiction over pedestrian reviewing of everything else). A few articles this week touched upon various aspects of this issue of literary snobbishness:

Book View Cafe had not one, but two articles that explore the relationship between literary and genre fiction: 
“Oh, but *I* write literature . . .” (why is literary considered to be better than any genre fiction? when does "literary" become just another genre category? and does "literary" categorization guarantee longevity in literary history?) and Distinguishing Between Literary and Other Genres (what makes a book "literary" and why?)

Over at Salon Jeffrey Eugenides, a beloved darling of literary critics, gave an interview in which he briskly dismissed any concerns of gender bias in the world of literature. NPR cleverly dissects his responses on the subject here.

In random news, Penguin sued several prominent authors who failed to deliver books for which they received hefty contractual advances. It's an interesting article and it can get one thinking - with quite a few YA authors receiving massive 6- and 7-figure advances these days, what happens if their novels just don't sell as well as expected? Do the authors have to return their advances?

just one day cover
As you know, Flannery and Catie and very fond of attending and covering various author events, but how do authors feel about participating in such events? An interesting perspective here. Poor authors!

And, in conclusion, a couple of links about our favorite authors:

Stephanie Perkins (cryptically) answers questions about her much anticipated third novel Isla and the Happily Ever After.

EW reveals the cover and offers an excerpt from Gayle Forman's upcoming Just One Day. If you are lucky, you might be able to snag an eARC of the book on Edelweiss. 

12 Comments
Heads Up Workout Mix link
9/29/2012 09:30:29 am

I thought the bloggers ruining literature article was interesting - or rather, the responses were. I guess he must believe bloggers are mighty powerful!

Reply
Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
9/30/2012 10:43:22 am

Or these professional critics are mightily insecure. I personally believe their audience didn't significantly diminished, it's just there is much more visible conversation about books and reading. Now not only critique of "serious" literature gets publicized, but the critique of "lowlier" kind of books.

Reply
Andrea
9/29/2012 01:08:50 pm

Authors don't have to return their advances if they fail to sell sufficiently. The contract is based around delivering the manuscript and licensing rights, not any guaranteed sales figures.

Reply
Flannery (The Readaventurer) link
9/29/2012 02:59:53 pm

Fixed. Thanks for the heads up.

Reply
Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
9/30/2012 10:44:36 am

Thanks, Andrea. This book advance game can be really risky then...

Reply
Belle link
9/29/2012 11:21:07 pm

Awesome round up. Thanks especially for the Stephanie Perkins Q&A - can't wait to read Isla! Though I was disappointed by Lola, I still love her writing.
The blogger hate article made me headdesk. How can people talking about books ever be a bad thing?

Reply
Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
9/30/2012 10:46:41 am

Hopefully, now that Stephanie has an opportunity to take a little bit more time with Isla and not rush it like she did with Lola, maybe she will produce a better book?

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Belle link
9/30/2012 03:30:46 pm

Good point! Here's hoping.

VeganYANerds link
9/30/2012 07:12:40 pm

You make a good point about J.K, her name has definitely helped with the popularity of her new book, I highly doubt it would be a best seller if she'd published under another name

Reply
Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
9/30/2012 10:02:03 pm

I also think the book would have gotten better reception with only people interested in this sort of story (not me) reading it. The average ratings of it are abysmal right now because of a myriad of BUT-IT'S-NOT-HP 1-star reviews written by people who only bought the book because of her name.

Reply
Heidi link
10/1/2012 06:38:32 am

Yeah, the boyfriend and I had the same discussion about J.K. Rowling a couple of days back. Really, it makes zero sense to me why she didn't publish under a pseudonym. She has to be about the wealthiest author alive, so I have a hard time believing she needed the money granted from using J.K. Rowling. I feel like she had more to lose based on the reaction to her book. I don't know, maybe she was worried no one would read it otherwise. At any rate, I was a bit surprised to see copies of it at a children's bookstore on Sunday.

Reply
Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
10/1/2012 07:12:14 am

I understand the argument about bravery, but I feel like she would have gotten a more objective response to and assessment of her new work with a pseudonym, especially assuming that financial success of this novel wasn't her ultimate goal. For some reason I am pretty sure there were many people on her publishing team who pushed for the real name option - you know, to get their cuts of the monetary proceeds that are certain ONLY with her real name attached.

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