Real books vs. ebooks

I love to visit The Strand bookstore when I visit NYC:  so many books, so many choices.  And I’ve bought OOP and used books from the online store.

Having said that, I must confess that their marketing slogan, “Real books lower priced than ebooks!” seriously irritates me.  Whenever I see it in the store, I roll my eyes and walk past.  It appeared in the subject line of an email yesterday, and has really stuck in my mind since then.

The Strand makes money selling paper books, rare and common, old and new.  Ebooks aren’t something they sell or deal in at all.  I understand why they want to grab potential book buyers and their attention and their spare cash.  But calling paper books “real” implies that ebooks aren’t.  The nature of an ebook is a philosophical and legal question that can be debated for hours.  But what this slogan says, in so many words, is that the medium of the story being told is more important than the content.  Is that really the message an advocate of books/reading/literacy wants to send?

IMO, it will alienate ebook readers while pandering to readers who value the object over the content and who feel superior for their paper choice.  I don’t know, maybe their market research tells them that their customer base is not composed of ebook readers, so the slogan will work.  (It must be working — it’s been in use for several months at least.  Maybe The Strand is a brand that doesn’t need technology, or maybe its customer base is made of hipsters who love the retro aspect of reading paper books?)

There are always going to be people who want paper books.  And other readers who prefer ebooks.  And people like me who read both.

Disconnected

Back when Net Galley was newish, I signed up and got the occasional ARC for review.  Then my reading ennui struck and nothing appealed, not even ARCs.  Cleaning out my email folders (why do I have so many? why did I save some of that stuff?), I found my account information and thought I’d give Net Galley another try.  So I requested a few books:  one downloaded immediately, one was denied by the publisher based on my profile, and the other was approved.  The first up is a category-type romance from an Australian publisher.  I liked the opening chapter:  it reminded me in a good way of a Harlequin Presents.

The book purge has slowed a little bit now that I’ve visited the library and brought books with limited shelf life into the house.  Technically speaking, borrowing library books is a violation of the “no new books brought into the house before finishing the purge” policy but since I can’t keep them permanently, it’s not like I’m *adding* to the backlog.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Also on the purge:  I think I got rid of my copy of The Reluctant Fundamentalist.  Or maybe it was a library book?  Either way, I can’t find it on my shelves or in any of the overflow bins.  The movie is playing at the independent theater near me, and I am curious to see how faithful the adaptation is (and whether I feel as ambivalent about the film as I did the book) but I can’t find my old copy for a quick re-read in anticipation of viewing the movie.

Hurriedly presses the back button

Somehow I missed the announcement that Tigers & Devils, one of my favorite books, was being released in audio. I hurried over to Audible to download a copy. Good thing I stopped long enough to listen to the sample. No, no, a thousand times no. Why on earth did the publisher select an American narrator for a book set it Australia and people entirely by Melbourne natives? I clicked away even more quickly that I’d gone to Audible in the first place.

Shame. I’d love to hear an audiobook of T&D with properly accented narration.

More victims of the Great Book Purge

Jinx by Jennifer Estep.  Paranormal romance.  I get that this is supposed to be fun and funny but the 50 pages I read just made me roll my eyes.

Minion by L.A. Banks.  Urban fantasy.  If I had read this when it came out, when it was new and original, before vampires were so done, I might have loved it.  But at this late date my patience for vampire hunters is nil and the opening was so over the top melodramatic that it was easy to set it aside for the donation box.

Beast by Donna Jo Napoli.  YA fantasy.  Liked the idea, but Napoli’s voice/style didn’t work for me.

An Experiment in Treason by Bruce Alexander.  Historical mystery.  Tedious set up of the mystery, so bored.

Dead North by Sue Henry.  Mystery.  I like the idea of an Alaskan set mystery and a dog-sledding protagonist.  But the details about settling into an RV and driving from Idaho to Alaska? Not so interesting.  The material may have improved once she got further down the road, but I didn’t hang around to find out.

I’m most of the way through Death in Hyde Park by Robin Paige (Edwardian mystery).  If I had realized that Paige was the pseudonym or Susan Wittig Albert and her husband, I would not have started this book:  her books have never worked for me.  This one isn’t terrible — mostly because I find the secondary characters interesting — but the irritating footnotes to remind readers that they can purchase the books covering the Sheridans’ other mystery adventures come across as a “BUY ME” arrow that is really off-putting.

Once it’s finished, my reward will be the new Carla Kelly historical.

Also, I read Undeclared by Jen Frederick.  It was…less than impressive.  In dire need of content and copy editing, and a heroine who wasn’t spineless.  The characters were nominally in college, but that setting seemed to be selected primarily to remove any parental supervision and give them freedom to drink and have sex (which, okay, college — but in no other way was college life involved in the plot).  I had problems with the set up of the relationship between the h/h, mostly the unconvincing backstory or the way they were MFEO — there was a lot of telling but not much showing.  It was a C- book at best for me, closer to a D+.  I kept reading for the train wreck factor.

Heirs for titled heroes

Last night as part of The Great Book Purge, I picked up Tallie’s Knight by Anne Grace.  It’s an older HH Regency (2001) that was pretty well-reviewed when it was released, which is perhaps why a used copy made it only my shelf.  This passage on page 10 jumped out at me:

The issue of getting an heir was, in fact, the last thing on his mind, even though he was the last of a very distinguished name.  Until his journey to Yorkshire it had been a matter of utter indifference to Magnus if his name and title ended with him.

The standard situation for title romance heroes is that they must have an heir in order to pass their title/property/what-have-you.  I suppose the logic is that if you are inherently better and deserving of your class or station, it is your duty to continue the family line, protect the assets, etc.  There are the occasional heroes in Romancelandia who aren’t obliged to continue the family tradition, but they are generally not dukes or lords.  The big exception I can think of off-hand is Simon in Julia Quinn’s The Duke and I.  I don’t know, maybe Magnus has a valid reason to be indifferent to the ultimate disposition of his estates and its dependents; but that indifference seems to me like a violation or negation of the social contract underlying his position in Society, which he does seem to enjoy otherwise.

One of these things is not like the other ones

In my on-going skim of the In Death series, the book as object is something I’m more conscious of than I used to be:  the cover art, the author photo(s), the blurbs, or recommendations.

I find the Stephen King quote (“JD Robb is cool.”) on the cover of Strangers in Death to be too personal, directed toward the author rather than the work and also just a little weird.

Salvation in Death has blurbs specific to the book from Lisa Scottoline, Andrew Gross, Linda Fairstein, and Kathy Reichs.  Plus a general endorsement from Janet Evanovich…which seems out of place in context, both in terms of content and author-type.

Why do the back covers of some books have passages from the book, while others have author photos?  And the author photos themselves — has anyone ever done a survey of the evolution of NR/Robb’s author photos?  Because they are fascinating and say a lot about the content of the books and the marketing approach (even without the brouhaha of Robb possibly trying to look Dallas-ish in a long leather duster).

I have (had) the entire series but for the most recent book; I’ll be keeping about a dozen early books in the series that were originally published in mass market paperback, plus two later books following the move to hard cover. The rest of the hard covers and a few paperbacks will be heading to the donation bin.

What to read next?

Water, water, every where,

Nor any drop to drink.

Well, that’s exaggerated.  But the sentiment holds:  despite having a plethora of books, including a gigantic pile to skim in order to keep or discard, I feel like I have nothing to read.  Or to put it more accurately, nothing that I *want* to read right now.

The new Carla Kelly western historical is waiting on my Kindle and a paper copy of Roberts’s Whiskey Beach is sitting on my kitchen table (better than 50% off with various B&N discounts and coupons!) but neither book appeals at the moment.

I’m about halfway through Scahill’s Dirty Wars but need something lighter to offset it for the moment.  Surely there is something — anything – in the massive paper and electronic TBR that would appeal?

April’s reading

These are the books I read all the way through.  The categories, In Death, and other books that I put to the 50 page test weren’t recorded.

It’s actually not a bad tally, given my preoccupation with packing and moving.

1.  Nightfall by Ellen Connor.  Post-apocalyptic romance.

2.  Third You Die by Kevin Conner.  Mystery, gay fiction.

3.  Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah.  YA, set in Australia, narrator is of Palestinian descent.  Enjoyed it.

4.  Once Bitten, Twice Shy by Robyn Donald.  Category.

5.  Fettered by Lyn Gala.  M/m, BDSM.  Ambivalent about the plot and the instalove, as well as the punctuation abuse.

6.  Beautiful Sacrifice by Elizabeth Lowell.  Romantic suspense.

7.  Far in the Wilds by Deanna Raybourn.  Novella teaser for her new post-War Africa-set book.  Okay but not enough to get me to read her again — the Lady Julia series went so far off the rails for me that I’m not sure I’ll ever  be willing to try her again.

8 – 10.  Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Dearly Devoted Dexter, and Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay.  Started well but tailed off for me.

11.  The Millionaire’s Virgin Mistress by Robyn Donald.  Category.  Meh.

12.  Steel’s Edge by Ilona Andrews.  Fantasy romance.  Liked it better than the previous Edge book.

13.  Innocent Mistress, Royal Wife by Robyn Donald.  Category.  This plot made absolutely no sense, even for a Presents.

14.  The Princess of Burundi by Kjell Ericksson.  Mystery.  DNF.  Too slow, set it aside.

15.  Unwanted by Kristina Ohlsson.  Enjoyed this debut mystery from a Swedish writer (new to me).

16.  Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill.  Urban fantasy.  Meh.

17.  The Cubicle Next Door by Siri Mitchell.  Inspirational chick lit.  Re-read.

18.  Bad Attitude by K.A. Mitchell.  Contemporary m/m.  Liked it.

Chelsea Cain & Laura Lippman

Possibly of interest to mystery fans: last week’s podcast at Bitch Media includes interviews or other participation with Chelsea Cain and Laura Lippman.

Two Sweden-set mysteries

Awhile ago I bought a copy of Kristina Ohlsson’s Unwanted because the first few pages grabbed me…but before the writing caught my attention, the cover art did.

 

One mistake changes everything…

In the middle of a rainy Swedish summer, a little girl is abducted from a crowded train. Despite hundreds of potential witnesses, no one noticed when the girl was taken. Her distraught mother was left behind at the previous station in what seemed to be a coincidence. The train crew was alerted and kept a watchful eye on the sleeping child. But when the train pulled into Stockholm Central Station, the little girl had vanished. Inspector Alex Recht and his special team of federal investigators, assisted by the investigative analyst Fredrika Bergman, are assigned to what at first appears to be a classic custody fight. But when the child is found dead in the far north of Sweden with the word “unwanted” scribbled on her forehead, the case soon turns into the investigation team’s worst nightmare—the pursuit of a brilliant and ruthless killer.

 

The rest of the book lived up to the cover and the first impression.  The scene that matches the cover art is important, but the shoes themselves are not integral to the story…which is a shame because that is some lovely footwear.

Another impulse purchase based on cover art was The Princess of Burundi by Kjell Ericksson.  Its winter landscape reminded me of Ansel Adams in a way.  But I lost patience with the writing after about 100 pages, because the pace was just so slow.

Next up:  Clarissa Dickson Wright’s Spilling the Beans or Caridad Ferrer’s When the Stars Go Blue.  Or maybe a reread of Siri Mitchell’s The Cubicle Next Door.