The book blogs are in a tizzy! One second, it doesn’t look good for literature. The cancer has spread. The postmortem is imminent. But then all of the sudden they are saying everything is fine and pointing us in the direction of some really cool stuff, like kids who read and write and stories embedded in web sites!
So which is it, book blogs? What they’re saying, plus an Agatha Christie serial killer, a great conversation about writing child characters, and Charles Dickens fruit corners, all below the fold.
Dave Eggers says all is not lost and invites depressed authors and publishers to email him for support when contemplating the end, citing the hope he gets from the kids at 826, “The written word—the love of it and the power of the written word—it hasn’t changed. It’s a matter of fostering it, fertilizing it, not giving up on it, and having faith.” (The Book Bench)
Hungarian publishing is about to throw in the towel: “Let’s just dump our books into the Danube.” (via Literary Saloon)
TOR talks up Tumbarumba, a new Firefox extension that will put a non sequitur line of text in every web page you open. If you read carefully enough to find it and click on it, you get a whole story.
Elizabeth Sifton writes in The Nation about the future of book publishing, “I, for one, don’t trust the book trade to see us through this.” (via Largehearted Boy).
On The Millions, it appears Murakami’s new book release is reminiscent of Star Wars, Harry Potter and Star Trek film openings. What costumes do Murakami fans wear?
In the Daily Mail, 80% of Britons can’t recite a verse of poetry. (via Bookslut)
And on Conversational Reading, a new Wiki with the promise of listing all literary events the world over.
In other news, Paper Tiger Blogs reports that Agatha Christie inspires a serial killer, writing child characters with Pasha Malla and Stephany Aulenback on Maud Newton, and a stupid/hilarious video about Charles Dickens fruit corners (via Bookslut).
