Cerco il momento incustodito, l’essenza dell’anima che fa capolino, l’esperienza scavata sul volto di una persona. Dopo l’Afghanistan, ho fotografato conflitti in altre parti del mondo, ma in genere rimango attaccato all’Asia. E’ un mondo che mi attrae irresistibilmente; anche senza macchina fotografica. Semplicemente, mi piacciono le persone e la cultura. Sono affascinato dal buddismo, così finisco sempre in posti come la Birmania, la Cambogia e il Tibet. Ho in corso talmente tanti progetti in Asia, che potrei passare altri 10 o 20 anni solo a concludere quelli già iniziati.

Soprattutto, mi nutro dei colori dell’Asia: henné scuro, oro martellato, curry e zafferano, l’intenso nero della lacca e la decomposizione coperta di colore. Se ci penso, capisco che è il colore vibrante dell’Asia che mi ha insegnato a vedere e a scrivere con la luce. Entri in quel vicolo. Segui quel bambino. Scopri la luminosità della vita nell’eterno grigiore polveroso di Calcutta. Aspetti la luce, quella più profonda e intensa, con l’ansia di un contadino che aspetta la pioggia. E’ incredibile come, nel terzo occhio della macchina fotografica, la polvere dell’Asia componga tali preziose trasparenze, e in tale profusione, tali profondità sottomarine.

di Steve McCurry

Il mio approccio è molto umanistico. La maggior parte delle mie fotografie è basata sulle persone e io cerco in qualche modo di trasmettere ciò che quella persona mi sembra essere, una persona colta in un paesaggio più vasto, quello che immagino si chiami condizione umana.

Ciò che voglio che la gente capisca dal mio lavoro è questa relazione umana tra tutti noi, sia che si viva in India, in Africa o in America latina. C’è una specie di comunanza tra tutti noi. Al di là della religione, della lingua o dell’etnicità, siamo di fondo uguali.

Entro sempre in relazione con il soggetto, sia che mi trovi in un campo di rifugiati sia in un sobborgo di Bombay. Cerco sempre di stabilire una qualche specie di rapporto personale, per quanto breve. Capita anche che mi trovi a camminare lungo una strada e fotografi la gente in una frazione di secondo. E qualche volta capita che l’immagine appaia come se fosse il frutto di una lunga interazione, quando di fatto è stata brevissima.

Se dovessi smettere di fotografare, penso che continuerei a viaggiare. Viaggio e fotografia sono come intrecciati. E sono affascinato da entrambi. Così, se non mi dedicassi alla fotografia, farei il nomade di professione.

Tratto da  ”I Grandi Fotografi – Testimonianze e visioni del nostro tempo” Magnum Photos – Edizioni Hachette

When I received the offer to read and review this book it had me intrigued.  Even the title had me wondering right away what it was all about, and I have to admit, I was laughing out loud laughing, shaking my head, and open mouth shocked at some of the stories in this collection from the Heeb Story Collection.

From scoring drugs for your uncle, to spending a New Year’s Eve with porn stars (yes, you heard me correct) it was a hilarious ride into what is to be Jewish, and the stories of living anywhere in America , and what it could have in store for you.

There are 50 stories from the downright laugh out loud laughing funny to sentimental of what it meant for these people to be “Jewish”.

Strangely unique, it had me reading story after story wondering what was next in the queue.

I loved it.

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Sharon was walking back to her offices to retrieve her cell phone when at the same time someone was breaking into her offices to take whatever information she had on a case her team was working on when the intruder finds her and shoots her in the head.

Later on at the hospital, she is diagnosed as being “locked in”.  Locked in syndrome is a rare phenomenon where the person is completely paralyzed but yet can still understand and interpret the world around them without being able to communicate.
Her staff wonders if it is connected to one of their cases that they have worked in the past or if it is an active case.  As they comb their case files for clues, the thought in the back of the minds of everyone is will Sharon survive? Is she alive? Will her husband survive himself after being such a hardened and angry person before he met her? Will he have what it takes to find what and who ever did this to his wife and get the justice that they deserve?

As the case continues on, more clues are uncovered; Sharon is recovering more and more as more clues come to surface.  Will she be in this state for ever and live out her life communicating with only her eyes or will she rebound and come back to the self she once was and live her life with her husband and live happily ever after?

Filled with action, intrigue, and a bit of personal loss and suffering in San Francisco between many classes of people it was a fast paced thriller/ action/ adventure book that will be a great book to read on a rainy / snowy Saturday or Sunday covered with a blanket drinking a cup of tea or hot chocolate.

Read an Excerpt

From The Times:

After 38 years with Hodder & Stoughton, John le Carré has defected to Penguin, breaking an association that brought the publisher 16 novels and the author a sizeable fortune and a second wife.

In keeping with le Carré’s fiction, the move was unexpected, enigmatic and meticulously plotted with one eye on his literary heroes Graham Greene and Joseph Conrad.

John le Carré defects to world’s paperback superpower – Times Online

From the beginning, Spooner was difficult.  When he was born in the back office of a rural doctor’s office along with his twin who died, it was difficult even in the best of situations back in 1956.  Even after the birth, she has even thought of it being the other way around, Spooner should have died and the twin that did should have lived.

Completely opposite from his older sister Spooner was always getting into trouble.  From the break-ins at the neighbours next door with the theft of cheese, and then urinating in a pair of shoes then placing the shoes in the freezer ( yes, you can laugh) in the middle of the night undetected.  His mother had just about enough of him, and started dating a man.  His name was Calmer.

Calmer for the most part was a loner, quiet, inquisitive, smart.  He was enlisted in the Navy when one day while burying a former member of the Navy which all goes so horribly wrong; he is discharged and off on his own.

Spooner’s mother and Calmer start dating and eventually marry.  Calmer has always taken Spooner under his care and tried to show him time and time again the right way of doing things, but then again Spooner hasn’t always been the sharpest tool in the shed.  But when it came to sports – football, baseball, he was fantastic.  After being signed to play ball after high school and being seriously injured he had to stop his sports career and start anew….well, in a different place anyways.

Eventually, Spooner becomes a reporter for newspapers, and carves out a bit of a niche for himself, he isn’t a great one, but, he does as well as he can.

I think in all honesty, Spooner was one of those boys where not just one thing clicked with him.  It was a multitude of things racing around his head not knowing where or what he would do next.  His father died shortly after he was born and then Calmer entered the picture;  taking over what his real father never really had a chance to achieve given the short life.  Calmer was the patient, caring one who had Spooner’s best interests at heart.  But in the end, was Calmer just tired out from the antics? Wondering if it ever got through to him? Some have said or even if you look at the Author’s bio at the end of the book, it has some striking similarities to what the book was all about.  Somewhat true elements about both Spooner and the author?

You make your own assumptions…

Listen to excerpts

by Una Purdie

Chambers Dictionary

Staff at the Edinburgh publishers of the Chambers Dictionary are facing redundancy after last minute talks failed to reach agreement.

Proposals to close the Edinburgh office of Chambers Harrap were announced last month by parent company Hachette, threatening 27 jobs in the capital. Attempts by the staff’s union, the National Union of Journalists to force a rethink will continue but time is short. Hachette stated during yesterday’s talks that they plan to issue redundancy notices next week.

If the closure proceeds, it will be another knock to the publishing industry in Scotland. It will bring to an end a historic 180 year connection between the company and the capital. Production of the profitable Chambers titles such as the dictionary would move to Hachette’s London office, with other titles such as foreign language reference books going to Paris-based Larousse.

Scottish NUJ organiser Paul Holleran, who attended the meeting, told Napier News that he believes there could be a future for the company in Scotland but Hachette are “not interested at all” in maintaining a presence in the city. He said:

“Chambers in Edinburgh is still a viable business if they don’t take the books to London and Paris. It’s a blatant example of assett-stripping” Mr Holleran admitted the signs weren’t encouraging but vowed to continue fighting: “We’re doing everything we can to keep these jobs in Scotland and ensure a Scottish presence is maintained for this successful publisher.”

The NUJ are considering the legal options to challenge the move. The union has asked the case to be referred to the European Works Council. They believe it may have breached European legislation governing consultation procedures.

Hachette blame the rise of the internet and the subsequent demise of dictionary sales for making the closure necessary. In an earlier statement a spokesman said they had tried to find alternative options including the possible sale of Chambers, but no buyer was forthcoming.

Further talks between management and the union are set to take place early next week.

The EU on Sunday (18 October) used the book fair in Frankfurt to launch its online digital library of official documents issued in the last 50 years. The EU’s so-called digital bookshop puts more than 12 million scanned pages online, to be downloaded for free by anyone interested. The oldest document is a 1952 speech by Jean Monnet which inaugurated the High Authority of the Coal and Steel Community, later to become the EU.

“The digital library frees the memory of the European Union tied to paper since its beginning,” EU commissioner for multilingualism Leonard Orban said. “The millions of pages now accessible to everyone in the 23 official languages demonstrate the continued commitment of the European Union to preserve and encourage the history of the Union in its linguistic diversity,” he added. Apart from the bloc’s 23 official languages, some publications are also available in Chinese, Russian and around 20 other languages.

The equivalent of four kilometres of bookshelves were scanned from February 2008 at a cost of about €2.5 million and will also be included in Europeana, a mammoth project aimed at digitising several national libraries and arts museums all over the EU. The move comes also amid fierce opposition by European publishers to the free online books project of US giant Google.

Also at the Frankfurt book fair, French publisher Editis announced the development of an online book distribution system.

By creating their own digital bookstore, comments The New York Times, French publishers reckon they might be able to keep Google and Amazon at bay, or at least extract better terms in any French settlement modelled after the proposed US deal. But apart from the Editis project, big French publishers such as Hachette, Gallimard or Flammarion are developing their own online projects, making it hard to provide a united front against the US company.

http://euobserver.com/9/28846

En partenariat avec les Éditions Hachette et Lecture Academy le site “Songe d’une Nuit d’été ” est heureux de vous annoncer son premier grand concours  de l’année en l’honneur de la sortie du film “Twilight Chapitre 2: Tentation”, le 18 Novembre 2009 et plus prochainement de son guide en français.

Le Thème : Vous devez écrire une lettre soit à Jacob Black, soit au Cullen de votre choix( Edward, Carlisle, Alice…)

*** ***

Cette lettre ne devra pas faire plus de 600 mots et moins de 200 mots. À l’intérieur vous devrez y exprimer votre souhait le plus cher concernant le personnage choisi.

Cette lettre peut être sous la forme que vous le souhaitez ( document Word, photomontage… tout est permis).

Le jeu se fera en deux étapes.

*** ***

1ere Étape:

Le concours commence ce jour même soit Dimanche 18 Octobre 2009.

Vous avez jusqu’au Mercredi 28 Octobre Minuit pour nous envoyer vos lettres à cette adresse impérativement ( les lettre envoyées ailleurs ne seront pas prises en compte) :

sagatwilight.jeuxconcours@yahoo.com

Une première délibération se  fera entre les membres de l’équipe du site “Songe d’une nuit d’été”

2eme Étape

Vos votes !

Dès le 30 Octobre nous mettrons en ligne les 10 plus belles lettres et c’est vous qui voterez pour élire celle que vous préférez le plus.

Les résultats finaux seront donnés le Lundi 2 Novembre dans la soirée !

*** ***

Les cadeaux à gagner  sont :

Des exemplaires de Tentation le Guide du film en français édité par Hachette (qui est notre Partenaire avec Lecture Academy), des portes clefs New Moon et différents goodies et le grand gagnant  aura (en plus de tout cela) droit à une discussion privée sur le site avec 3 personnages de son choix !

J’espère vous voir nombreux et nombreuses à y participer !!!!

Bonne chance à tous !!!!

**Le concours est valable pour la France Métropolitaine et la Belgique uniquement

La editora Condé Nast no se conforma con tener a Vogue. La semana pasada cortó cabezas, cerrando cuatro de sus publicaciones: Gourmet, Elegant Bride, Modern Bride y Cookie y piensa poner en venta a la pequeña Glamour. De acuerdo a Fashion Week Daily, el imperio Condé Nast quiere tener el talismán de la editora Hachette la prestigiosa revista Elle.

¿Por qué? El artículo menciona que  Condé Nast está maravillado por la excelente forma de mercadearse de Elle y de tener los suficientes fondos para enviar a sus editores a los fashion shows de Europa.

También se habla de cambios en otras publicaciones, como el caso de la revista W. The Daily también cita que W planea reducir la frecuencia de sus tiradas  a seis ediciones por año. Pero esto “is just talk”, de acuerdo Patrick McCarthy, Director Editorial de la revista. El tiempo dirá.

Harry Bosch is on the job again.  Once again he doesn’t disappoint.

Assigned to a suspected robbery homicide that involves an Asian family business in an area they don’t  usually cover, they arrive to discover the owner was shot dead behind the counter.  Could it have been personal? Who could have done it, Gangs? Thinking about this there is only one gang that would have done this – The triads.

While doing surveillance, Bosch receives a video message from his daughter who lives with her mother in Hong Kong.  She has been abducted, presently is nowhere to be found. He had contacted his ex wife, and found out that she doesn’t know where she is either.

Bosch has a question in his mind; could the two incidents be connected??

In Michael Connelly’s latest thriller he shows that he hasn’t lost his touch.  Keeping you on the edge of your seat until the absolute last moment till the cases are solved; unless something else happens in this book, it is no exception, Bosch is on the case until the last clue is solved, and the bad guys are behind bars.

Going from Los Angeles to Hong Kong and back again in a matter of hours, Bosch navigates the crude slums, poorer areas of Hong Kong gives the novel not only the authenticity,

but the necessity of having to get there right away.  Time is being the ultimate barrier to both cases being solved in a very short matter of time being the ultimate demon; will Bosch be able to solve both cases at once simultaneously?

You will only know if you go out and read it.

Author Q and A

Listen to an excerpt

I am simply speechless.

All of us know Marilyn Monroe was one of the most famous actresses in her day, who is still as iconic as she was before her death – her natural beauty, her tumultuous relationships with men,  the men she married, her controversial link to powerful and influential men who include the Kennedy brothers, who died way before she should have.

In her young life, it started to go wrong very early.  Her mother, who was thought of as having something wrong with her – erratic behaviour, which left Norma Jean with neighbours as an infant never knowing who her real biological mother was, or even who her father was.

Being shuffled back and forth from her mother to her foster parents to orphanages and back again certainly displaced her and displaced her sense of who she really was, with not knowing specific details which would haunt her as if a puzzle always had a few pieces missing where in fact it should have been filled.

On her way to becoming a Hollywood star in the 50’s, the people which surrounded her seemed to hang off her like they could get something from her, or just be there in case that she needed something from them.  The mood swings, the drugs, the alcohol, and the seamless illusions of her being perfectly sane, but at times the exact opposite – depressed, lifeless, not being able to take care of herself.  The mental illness which was like her mother and grandmothers; said to be paranoid schizophrenia also known as manic depression, then the mysterious nature of her death at the age of 36.

I think there was just something about Marilyn that had everyone wanting to get to know her – her complete transformation as soon as she hit the stage, or was in the company of people that she wanted to be around.  The women who were jealous of her, and made men intimidated with her poise and intelligence.  (She was actually quite intelligent).  But behind the confidant exterior it was quite clear she was because of her childhood, her intense therapy sessions, who she was or where she came from.  It was said that she used her not knowing who her father was or her childhood to draw from during dramatic scenes in the movies she acted in.

It seems as though she was very much living a double life, the one in public, and then the one in private.

Hachette / Grand Central

The Marilyn Monroe Collection

Listen / Download a Podcast

Listen to an excerpt

In the area I live in, there has been a shift in the type of nationalities that are living here.  When I was younger it was a mix of mainly Ukrainian, Polish, Italian, and like nationalities that lived and worked in the area.  Since I have returned that has shifted more to French, and Spanish like nationalities, as well as many from the Caribbean.  The diversity is just amazing; I learn new things every day, as is my son who goes to a catholic school.

Now, imagine if you will you are one of these families who are far away from all of your family and close relatives in a new country where everything and everyone is new.  Scary isn’t it just thinking about it.  But the main reason, in my honest opinion is that they come here for a better life, one filled with opportunities that they wouldn’t be able to experience in the countries that they came from.

This latest book release is exactly about that and so much more.  The differences these families experience between generations, what the older generations pass onto the younger; the nuances that change and add to the old to make it new and of course to evolve to be passed on to the other generations to learn and live by.

It is also about the sacrifices that are made to be able to do something like this, the distance from family, the isolation of being all alone all to be able to realize your dreams no matter how small or large.  To be able to experience a new culture whether Canadian or American.

In this fictional account, there are 2 families that are featured trying to do this very thing.  Moving to America from Argentina, they find solace in a club, The Argentine Club, where they can be with people from their own culture, to revel in things that they enjoy where others are interested in or miss the camaraderie and the joyfulness in their culture; Sharing stories, food, making new friends and enjoying life.

The older generation passes on and tries to preserve the traditions from past generations, and the newer generation wants to embellish more of the westernized ways into the mix.  When this happens, disagreements, and people clash.

I liked this book, I know even for me it was difficult even moving across the country to a new province.  Everything was different, learning new things albeit, the same, but a different way of going about it.  I enjoyed the way the closeness of the 2 families who from the outside wanted to make a better life for their families on the sacrifices they made to be able to move to a new country.

Even at times they didn’t agree there were still lessons to be learnt on both sides of the spectrum.  The characters were full of more than just being themselves; they gave and asked for nothing in return except for respect and camaraderie with their fellow Argentinian; as well as their ability to persevere, to succeed even when they had their doubts.

I have also talked with Julia, and will be posting a Q and A with her tomorrow, so stay tuned !

Hachette / Grand Central

Julia’s Website

Reading Group Guide

Patrick and Margaret who were recently married move to Kenya for Patrick to continue his research as a Doctor.

Moving for anyone even to a new country or across the country for that matter is one of the most stressful things that anyone can experience.  Everything is new and unfamiliar, at times scary.  But their landlords have invited them to climb Mt. Kenya with another couple, so how can they really refuse.  As the trip starts, it is all great, but shortly after it turns tragic.

The tragedy is always at the back of Margaret’s mind, as she goes through her days.  She thinks it will always affect their marriage.  She is also at a crossroads of her career as well, and ventures out and lands a job as a newspaper photographer at a somewhat rebellious newspaper that has her going on all sorts of assignments, where she meets a reporter that she realizes that she has feelings for and grapples with.

Margaret and Patrick are at somewhat of a crossroads of sorts, she is feeling vulnerable about what had happened, and Patrick sloughs it off as being not so important.  Will they continue the marriage or work through the hard times ahead and make a go of it.

In Anita’s latest book, I really wasn’t feeling Margaret’s character as much as I thought I would.  From the start she seemed off, and disconnected from not only her husband, and the other characters other then the servant who was raped in the book.  The characters Margaret and Patrick were more connected to the outer characters in the book then they were to each other even being newly married.

It was well written in Anita’s usual style of writing, with me however, it was a miss from her previous book Testimony, which was far better.

Hachette / Little Brown

Listen to an Excerpt

Reading Group Guide

This latest debut of James Patterson’s latest non fiction thriller is nothing short of pure gold.

As James came up with the idea, pitched it to his agent, editor, and then started researching it thinking would it be believable or plausible to somehow piece the death of King Tut.  Rumours and speculation have been circulating for as long as his death has been made public, and the most important answer of all would be, who and what would they gain by killing him.

King Tut was only 9 years old when he became King of Egypt.  There were people in his inner circle that were his own trusted advisors, but yet, some of these people were rivals and jealous of what he had, achieved at such a young age.

10 years later once he married his step sister and could not produce an heir, he was dead, and buried in what was considered a paupers tomb gone and forgotten when these same people erased or attempted to erase every last known trace of him.

Howard Carter was intrigued with the stories coming out of Egypt when he was a teen living in England.  Sent to be an assistant, he eventually became one of the better known lay Egyptologists and unlocks the 3,000 yr old mystery of what may have happened to King Tut.

For as long as I can remember, anything that had anything to do with Egypt, or the mysteries that surrounded all of the kings, their tombs, and the lore associated with it has had me intrigued as I am sure that you have been as well.  When I come across a documentary, or a program that shows Egypt, I am always yearning to go and visit this mysterious place to get a glimpse into the tombs, the ruins and just image being back in that time.

This book for sure has heightened that desire with James’ non fiction thriller account of what may have happened to the young king.

Listen to an excerpt

Broadcasting live from Central Park under sunny blue skies, Oprah Winfrey announced that Say You’re One of Them by Nigeran author Uwem Akpan is the first story collection to be featured in her book club. Each of the five stories in the collection “left me gasping,” Winfrey said, in explaining why she chose the book.

Oprah had flown Akpan from Ilasmaja-Lagos, Nigeria to New York for the announcement at the end of the show, yet his appearance was brief. While interviewing pop star Mariah Carey on the show, Oprah devoted more airtime to Precious, the movie releasing November 6 that’s based on the novel Push by Sapphire, published by Vintage. Oprah, who is executive producer on the film with actor Tyler Perry, showed a clip of Carey as a “glammed down” social worker to the illiterate schoolgirl protagonist, and told her audience “you are going to want to have Precious screenings in your homes – it is something special.” Previously, Oprah mentioned the film and book in an interview with the actress Mo’Nique.

The book club pick, which Oprah acknowledged was leaked yesterday, extends Hachette’s long-running hot streak. The house went back to press for 650,000 copies of Say You’re One of Them, in a major leap for the book, which has sold 21,000 hardcovers since July 2008 and 10,613 trade paperbacks since last July, according to Nielsen BookScan. (LB has a combined 75,000 copies in print of the two formats). The hardcover was helped by an enthusiastic review from Janet Maslin in the New York Times, as well as the PEN/Beyond Margins Award 2009 and the first story’s appearance in the New Yorker in 2005.  

Akpan, an ordained priest who was born in Nigeria and received his MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan in 2006, writes in English, as do many authors in the former British colony, where conflicts over oil, AIDs and the environment threaten social stability. His stories fuse “a knowledge of African poverty and strife with a conspicuously literary approach to storytelling, filtering tales of horror through the wide eyes of the young,” observed Susan Straight in her Washington Post review.

In an interview after today’s show, the author told PW he was “humbled” by the selection and that he was happy that more people would read the book. Asked how he felt as the first Nigerian author to be selected for the book club, he beamed and said that he believed he was actually the first living African fiction author to be featured.

Say You’re One of Them is Oprah’s first selection in a year, since David Wroblewski’s The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, a New York Times bestseller that sold 300,000 copies before Oprah’s selection helped it sell a million more. Though publishers welcome, and even court, Oprah’s selections, some privately grumbled over the timing of her book club revival this fall, when there are already more big name authors than in any other season in recent memory, instead of earlier in the year, when the industry was in greater need of Oprah’s help in pulling customers into stores. Then again, in a year like this one, they admit, any windfall is welcome.

In the early 1980’s Lindwie Bishop is growing up in Rhodesia now called Zimbabwe amid growing unrest of a country trying to realize what it is like without communism, war and upheaval.

Next door, a terrible and almost impossible thing happens.  A fire erupts in the house and a woman is burned to death, where the police suspect that it was the step son Ian who did it.  After a while since they cannot find enough evidence against him, he is released and has the imposition of him being guilty that hangs off of him for a very long while.

When Lindwie notices him out and about, she doesn’t know if she should be afraid of him or not. The curiosity is there, as well as  some fear, uneasiness of Lindwie at least, but as she gets to know him, she cannot get him out of her mind, and they stick together more and more as the upheaval of the country is happening more and more and most likely inevitable.

They both travel away from their small town and meet up again years later when Lindwie is in university, and Ian is somewhat of a rogue photographer.  They start to go out, as the feelings they both share for one another, which they don’t talk about it is palpable, it is in the air.  Ian takes Lindwie out for a birthday dinner and a weekend away; this is when she tells him how she feels about him, and about the child they had that he doesn’t know about.

The Issues of race, class, war, and upheaval surround these two people in as much as their love for one another envelopes them in a security blanket, trying as it may to separate them when they need each other the most.

This is Irene’s debut novel.  All I can say about it that she makes the topic and background sizzle with raw emotion and intrigue as not only her and Ian fight for what want, but the other characters, the steps they take to right what was wrong in their lives amidst such chaos, the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, war and death that surrounds them.

Read an Excerpt

Reading Group Guide

Le voilà, tout frais dans les rayons des libraires ! Si vous avez généralement les genoux qui flanchent dans les musées et le dos chouineur à force de piétiner d’oeuvre en oeuvre, ceci devrait vous aider…

Ces jeux de piste, c’est un moyen de parcourir les musées en sachant quoi regarder, et en ayant tout le long quelques anecdotes historiques qui valent bien les “suppléments crânerie” de ce blog…

Arc de Triomphe, Champ-de-Mars et Trocadéro, Musée d’Orsay, Conciergerie, Sainte-Chapelle, Louvre, Muséum d’Histoire naturelle, Centre Pompidou, Notre-Dame de Paris, l’opéra Garnier, le musée du quai Branly, les Invalides, Montmartre, le Père-Lachaise et les jardins du château de Versailles… je crois que je n’ai rien oublié ! Sur les 15 parcours, 5 sont des balades à l’extérieur.

Et vous pouvez encore essayer de gagner l’un des 70 exemplaires offerts par Hachette et le site des Journées du Patrimoine en participant au concours !

Today was one of the days when the universe was nice to me (I may have been extra good over the weekend, although I can’t quite think when), and I got to sit down to lunch^* with Jeff Lindsay (Dexter’s dad). Also along for the ducktacular entrée, sticky pork belly, and vanilla crème brulee were the superb Brendan Fredericks (publicist extraordinaire with Orion), the lovely John of Hachette Australia, and the too-wonderful-for-words Ron  of Pulp Fiction Press http://www.pulpfictionpress.com.au/.

Jeff’s been working his ass off at the Brisbane Writers Festival and making a lot of readers very happy with highly amusing, thought-provoking panels and lovely penmanship when signing books (hundreds and hundreds of books). He also graduated summa cum laude from Author 101. You can tell Jeff’s background is in writing for the theatre because his prose is elegantly tight and the dialogue is pitch perfect – the man gives good dialogue. He’s also extremely funny, a seasoned raconteur, teller of dirty jokes and an intelligent conversationalist and very charming indeed.

If you’ve not gotten into the dark delights of Dexter, then off you go … find them, buy them, read them (http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/dexter/). I’ll wait. Put the kettle on, shall I?

* Admittedly, I also had dinner with him and some other writerly-type escapees from Brisbane Writers Festival on Thursday night, post-cocktail party.

Deborah Knott just had an argument with her husband.  She is glad to be going away for a few days to the hotel where she is staying before her judicial conference is being held so she can get a few days of rest and relaxation in before it starts.

Shortly after she arrives, a fellow judge is murdered, left for dead in the surf of the ocean where he is found with a dog’s leash around his neck, presumably which was used to strangle him.

The only others at the hotel are judges and other people that weren’t known to the group of judges and the staff.  But then again the Judge who was murdered has a history of his own, and given that fact, anyone could have murdered him.  And it wasn’t for being a honest and law abiding judge either.

Deborah is being inquisitive.  She thinks about who would want or be able to do such a thing.  Then the police are investigating this murder another judge is nearly killed in the parking lot of the hotel a few days later.  He now is in ICU recovering.

As she thinks back to who was at the initial welcome dinner, it cannot be any of her colleagues, but then again he had more then just one skeleton in his closet concerning his courtroom and his private life.  But Who?

Hachette / Grand Central

This is relevant to anyone working with publishers, on e-books and on copyright.

The National Federation of the Blind testified that the Google Books settlement will make millions of titles available to the blind and other Americans with print disabilities, providing more access to the printed word than the blind have had in all of human history.

 http://bit.ly/lt5v0 (Courtesy of www.reuters.com)

Meanwhile, Hachette UK and its parent company Hachette Livre have objected to the Google Settlement, urging the US court to reject the proposals because they would have “significant unfair and inequitable effects . . . on all non-US authors and publishers”.

http://bit.ly/26c2QU   (Courtesy of www.thebookseller.com)

Publishers Weekly noted that James Patterson just inked a deal with Hachette to produce 17 — yes, that’s SEVENTEEN — books by the end of 2012. That would be 11 adult titles and six young adult titles in three years. Let’s see, if we start from today, that would be a total of 40 months, which means that each book would take approximately 2.36 months. Now, that’s what we call cranking them out.

Makes those authors who take two or three years to write one book look downright unproductive.

Is James Patterson the superhero of the literary world or just really good at  literary math? No, he uses the TEAM Patterson approach, also known as the “James Patterson Business Model”!

Hey, if it works for Thomas Kinkade, why not try it in books? I’d say Patterson is one smart cookie! He knows his brand. After all, how many authors are the subject of a Harvard marketing class?