Busy, busy, busy week. Trying to work on a lot of different projects at once (never a good idea for me) and then I have some family coming into town for the weekend. So I spent this morning getting some work down at my desk and I spent this afternoon getting the house ready for visitors (i.e. cleaning). While I can’t say I love to clean, there is a satisfaction in seeing the house sparkle when I’m finished.

I’m still playing around with WordPress and all the cool features I can add to this blog. My priority right now is to get a Twitter plugin installed so, at the very least, you’ll be able to see my last few tweets and link to my Twitter profile. The problem is there are just too many plugins to choose from. Any suggestions?

Well the weekend is here. And that’s usually good news for most people. There’s not much more to say, other than…

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In a move to try and drum up foot traffic at bookstores across the country, Publishers Weekly is announcing the first ever National Bookselling Day, according to this article from their website. PW has partnered with several publishers, various literary publications and different bookselling associations across the country to help promote the event.

While in theory this sounds like a great idea, I wonder how they are going to get Joe Average Reader on board to actually visit his local store on November 7. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but if they are not careful, it can easily turn into an event that only PW and the involved parties care about – not the readers who are the ones who shell out cash to actually buy books.

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Whenever I read news stories about reclusive authors, like the famous J.D. Salinger, I usually just shake my head. Salinger is again in the news because another author wants to publish a sequel to the classic The Catcher in the Rye (aff link).  So, in typical Salinger fashion, he’s suing to prevent the book from being published.

However, that’s not what I’m really worried about. I have no problems with an author trying to protect his work (even though sometimes they go too far). What I do have a problem with, however, is iconic authors like J.D. Salinger, who have obviously had a huge impact on the American literary scene, shun their own fans.

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How do you turn a boring classic novel into something new and exciting? Add a bunch of brain-hungry zombies, of course. At least, that is the approach that author Seth Grahame-Smith took with his novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
(aff link). The novel takes the popular Jane Austen story and turns it upside-down with zombies.

I’m reading the book right now and find it very funny. But I should also admit that I haven’t read the original Pride and Prejudice, so I might be missing out on some of nuances of the story. Nevertheless I’m still being thoroughly entertained. You can bet that when I’m finished, I’ll write a more detailed book review here.

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