So, What Do You Read?

Author Dani Shapiro penned an essay in the LAT about how writing is now supposed to be profitable.

She writes:

If they were enrolled in medical school, in all likelihood they would wind up doctors. If in law school, better than even odds, they'd become lawyers. But writing school guarantees them little other than debt.

And:

The 5,000 students graduating each year from creative writing programs (not to mention the thousands more who attend literary festivals and conferences) do not include insecurity, rejection and disappointment in their plans. I see it in their faces: the almost evangelical belief in the possibility of the instant score. And why not? They are, after all, the product of a moment that doesn't reward persistence, that doesn't see the value in delaying recognition, that doesn't trust in the process but only the outcome. As an acquaintance recently said to me: "So many crappy novels get published. Why not mine?"

We'd put money on this being a panel at the LAT Festival of Books now.

Huffington Post senior editor Willow Bay and co-founder Arianna Huffington hosted a book party for Morning Joe co-anchor Mika Brzezinski's new book All Things at Once last night at Ms. Huffington's Brentwood home. Arianna, perhaps one of the most charming people on the planet explained her role in encouraging Mika when her galleys came out. We don't know why Joe Scarborough was there...also selling his book released in June of last year. But he was. They're not married to each other right? Did Alan Colmes have to book tour with Sean Hannity? Somehow Joe made it about him,"It was in this room a few years ago that I predicted Barack Obama would never win against the Clinton machine," he told the swanky LA literati. "Glad it wasn't on TV."

Mika, was finally given the microphone and noted she was warned against writing this book because it was too honest and could "damage her brand." She seem genuinely impressed with the caliber of the crowd.

We spotted Larry David, yes that Larry David. Sherry Lansing was there. Journos James Rainey from LAT, Tina Daunt now of Huffpo LA, Sandra Tsing Loh, Mickey Kaus of Slate.com and of course Lawrence O'Donnell from MSNBC.

We will post more pictures later today.

The LAT obit is here. The NYT obit is here.

And AJ was the character on the Sopranos reading his book (h/t Greg Mitchell)

From AP:

NEW YORK (AP) - J.D. Salinger, the legendary author, youth hero and fugitive from fame whose "The Catcher in the Rye" shocked and inspired a world he increasingly shunned, has died. He was 91.

Salinger died of natural causes at his home on Wednesday, the author's son said in a statement from Salinger's literary representative. He had lived for decades in self-imposed isolation in the small, remote house in Cornish, N.H.

"The Catcher in the Rye," with its immortal teenage protagonist, the twisted, rebellious Holden Caulfield, came out in 1951, a time of anxious, Cold War conformity and the dawn of modern adolescence. The Book-of-the-Month Club, which made "Catcher" a featured selection, advised that for "anyone who has ever brought up a son" the novel will be "a source of wonder and delight - and concern."

Read the whole post here.

LAT doesn't have their obit up. We'll post more as we get them.

Photo via TJ Sullivan

John Burnett at NPR's All Things Considered did a story about the Haitian earthquake celebrating bravery, heroism and fortitude. Not for the rescue workers or doctors but for the employees at the only operational radio station, Signal FM 90.5.

Listen/read the whole story here.

In an eerie twist Burnett reports:

When the quake struck at 4:53 p.m. on Jan. 12, Signal FM was playing "Hotel California." The Earth groaned and the building shuddered, but just before the DJ ran out, he had the presence of mind to hit the "repeat" button.

So for the first 30 minutes of Port-au-Prince's descent into hell, the only thing you could hear on the radio was the Eagles' standard - over and over and over.

Chilling.

When we first saw the headline we thought,"They need to get new hobbies in Texas." But alas, it's Riverside County, which is like Texas only backwards and Sierra Nevada adjacent. But no, it's Riverside County. The last national story about the area east of LA, was when a Republican women's group president sent out a picture of then candidate Barack Obama on food stamps with watermelon and Kool-Aid in their monthly newsletter.

Now, they've pulled dictionaries for - wait for it - having a word in it.

LAT David Kelly writes:

"The dictionaries have not been banned," said Betti Cadmus, a spokeswoman for the Menifee Union School District in conservative southwest Riverside County on Monday. "There was a growing concern by parents that some of the words were not age-appropriate."

A panel of parents, teachers and administrators will meet later this week to comb the dictionary for potentially graphic words or definitions and issue a report within a month.

"They will determine the extent to which the dictionaries support the curriculum, the age appropriateness of the materials and its suitability for the age levels of the students," Cadmus said. "It's not going to be an arbitrary decision."

Read the whole story here.

continued...

Daniel Akst, a former columnist and technology editor at the Los Angeles Times puts some perspective on the Apple Tablet in the LAT:

It is important to bear in mind that technology is not the sworn enemy of literature as Apple prepares (according to frantic rumor) to unveil its much-anticipated new tablet computer on Jan. 27. Still, the collision of technology and literature in this case may well prove explosive.

A well-designed Apple tablet, embedded in the right business model, has the potential to blow up the book business as we know it, ultimately upending the whole rickety edifice of publishers, booksellers and agents, much as the digital revolution (and Apple) have done to the music business.

The whole opinion piece is here.

And for all things eBook follow our sister blog eBookNewser.

West Hollywood bookstore Bodhi Tree recently announced plans to shutter the business in a year's time. The little book shop, which specializes in spiritual and metaphysical works, has enjoyed tremendous popularity and acclaim during its 40 year history. But the changing times have taken their toll. From the LA Weekly:

"Twenty years ago we felt like it was an expanding situation," says [store co-founder Stan Madson]. "We were concerned the store was getting too big. We had a staff of 100. Publishing was expanding. Spirituality was expanding. But what changed was that the market became widely dispersed."

Books on Wicca and Astrology and Native American shamanism used to be tough to find. But now every Borders and Barnes & Noble carries a significant selection of religious, spiritual and New Age literature. And what can't be bought at a bricks and mortar shop can undoubtedly be found online at Amazon. For cheap.

The Bodhi Tree in the early seventies. More photos can be found at the Bodhi Tree website.

Look out, Harry Potter. Move over, Twilight. The Green Man is here.

Adults Go Wild Over Latest In Children's Picture Book Series

Landline Television answers the question: What happens to a book that has 2.5 million copies meant for people who don't read, written by someone who can't write and published by a company that didn't fact check?