The Downside of Snobbery!

Wow! It’s been quite a long time since I’ve blogged! I might be a book snob, but I guess I won’t win any awards for being a blog snob.

I’ve been thinking about being a book snob recently. Generally speaking, I think being a book snob is usually a fabulous thing. I like meeting and hanging out with my other book snob friends, I like reading books written by fellow book snobs – there’s lots of great things about it! But lately I’ve been thinking about one little negative thing about being a book snob.

I’ve started noticing recently that many of us book snobs might be taking our snobbiness a little too seriously. I’m worried we might have fallen into the book snob version of the “my-life-is-harder-than-yours” syndrome. You know what I mean. If you ever say to a co-worker or friend, “Gosh, I’m so tired this week,” you can almost always expect them to say something like, “Girl, you have NO idea what tired is! This week I’ve had to….” If you take a vacation day there’s always someone who says, “Gee, tough job!” If you have one kid, you can count on your friends with five kids to tell you how easy you’ve got it. You get the idea. All of us have heard these things from others, and we’ve all said these things, too. Why do we want to brag about how tough we have it??

The book snob version of this syndrome shows up when we hear a fellow snob tell about a book, series or author that we would “never” spend time reading. (If you’re Southern, that would be “nevah”). Maybe you’re a non-fiction lover and you think it’s a colossal waste of time to read fiction. Or you love historical biographies and you can’t imagine spending one minute on the Twilight series. (Team Jacob!!). Everyone has their favorites, but what’s with our need to high-five ourselves on how much more sophisticated our reading selections are than the next snob’s? I know I’ve done it. And if I’ve ever been a little too proud of the number of books I’ve read in the last month, I can usually count on a fellow snob to tell me that if I had a real life I wouldn’t have so much time to read. What is that??

This syndrome isn’t just for book snobs! Those who are not on Facebook congratulate themselves on being “above it all” - usually because they “have no idea who has enough time for that!” Some who are on Facebook want you to believe they only get on it once a month and would never stoop to the ridiculousness of changing their profile picture. I suspect those people check it daily, but instead of sharing their lives with their friends, they’re just spying on ours. (Confession: I understand this a little… I’ll never tweet! See… we all do it!) Our culture certainly helps those of us with a tendency toward snobbiness – Starbucks addicts snub those with Folger’s in their cups, green tea drinkers think those who like a classic cup of Lipton are “so last year.”

In light of all this, my mid-year resolution is to try to be more affirming to my fellow book snobs in their reading choices. Thank goodness they are reading anything, right?? So what if I bailed in the 4^th book of Harry Potter because I just didn’t get it? I’m obviously the one out of the loop since a gabillion people on the planet have read and loved this series. What difference does it make that Stephenie Meyer spells her name funny and started every single paragraph in Twilight with “I”? She’s not wondering how to fill her gas tank with two weeks left until payday!

So, if you’re a book snob, coffee snob, music snob, writer snob, ski-doo snob or any other kind of snob you can think of – let’s all try to reign in our snobbiness just a little and be glad there are other people in the world who like the same kind of things we do – even if they prefer a different version of it.

Unless it’s thrash metal music. That’s just unacceptable.

Read on, Snobs!

The Winter of Our... Jane

I just heard on the news that Tuscaloosa is getting 2-3" of snow later this afternoon. My first reaction? Thank goodness, I can catch up on Jane. It's my Book Snobs pick this month and I decided to choose something REALLY snobby... Jane Eyre. Problem is, I'm a wee bit behind schedule for finishing on time. I need a snow day to catch up. It would be awful if the Snob who picked the book didn't finish it before the meeting!

So... my last post was about reading in the rain, but now I'm hoping to read in the snow.

Great news for Jane Eyre fans!! I was so excited to see during the previews for another movie that "Jane Eyre: the movie" is coming March 2011. Check out the trailer here. I went to see The King's Speech (a must see, by the way) with another Snob - when the JE preview came on we were probably the only ones who audibly squealed (maybe that was just me). But I bet it will be an amazing movie - for Book Snobs and Movie Snobs alike.

The top 5 fabulous things about a snow day:

5) Sleeping late - provided the heat is working.

4) Having a really great excuse for being behind on work email.

3) The cultural event in the South called "Git yo bread and milk" - this happens every time the word "snow" is uttered by Meteorologist James Spann, even though no one in Tuscaloosa has ever been snowed in more than about 24 hours.

2) Trying out my new rain/snow boots (the first I've ever owned, not sure why!).

1) Reading a great book written in the 19th century on a 21st century Kindle. :)

Reading in the Rain...

What's better than reading a book when it's raining outside? That's right, pretty much nothing!

Alabama has been having it's fair share of rain these days. In fact, it's been raining/icing/snowing so much that I still haven't made it to the store for my coveted rain boots!! Much of the rest of the country is experiencing the same thing. I haven't blogged much lately, so I thought I'd encourage your book snobbiness by posting some great quotes about reading, rain, and reading in the rain.

I can't wait for the weekend to start so I can continue on my journey with Jane Eyre. She just found out last night that she's off to Lowood and I especially loved when she blessed out Mrs. Reed around 9:00 pm. I'm just at the beginning of this one, but I hope it rains cats and dogs all weekend so I can stay in and enjoy hanging out with Jane.

The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading.
~B. F. Skinner

A poet is someone who stands outside in the rain hoping to be struck by lightning.
~James Dickey

Only your friends steal your books.
~Voltaire

A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted. You should live several lives while reading it.
~William Styron

Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book.
~Author Unknown

I find television to be very educating. Every time someone turns on the set, I go in the other room and read a book.
~Groucho Marx

Don't threaten me with love, baby. Let's just go walking in the rain.
~Billie Holiday

April showers bring May flowers,
I have seen rain before,
But if Sunday mornin' lets that sun in,
What are we waiting for?
'Cause love leaves an open door.
~Sugarland


















From Jane Eyre...
"I have for the first time found what I can truly love–I have found you. You are my sympathy–my better self–my good angel–I am bound to you with a strong attachment. I think you good, gifted, lovely: a fervent, a solemn passion is conceived in my heart; it leans to you, draws you to my centre and spring of life, wraps my existence about you–and, kindling in pure, powerful flame, fuses you and me in one."

Don't judge a book by it's cover??

I have to confess to being a cover girl. No, not the kind you see on tv, obviously. I'm a Book Snob cover girl - and I must confess that I regularly judge a book by it's cover. In fact, the only time I don't judge a book by it's cover is when I've read and loved the author for so long that I stop caring what the dust jackets look like on their new books. But that's rare for me.

Even though I'm a confessed cover girl, I also acknowledge that this process for choosing new books is severely flawed. I didn't know this until I started writing myself, but it's extremely rare for an author to have any input when choosing the cover for a book. I can assure you that this would kill me if I were an author with a traditional publishing house! The cover says in one glance what the synopsis of a book should tell you - and some of those covers say "Use this instead of a Tylenol PM."

An interesting fact about dust jackets is that much of the value of a book hinges on their condition. You've likely heard about how much a "first edition" book from a famous author can sell for, but did you know that the dust jacket makes or breaks that value? For example, you can buy a first edition of The Great Gatsby with no dust jacket for $10,000. The same book with a dust jacket that's even in moderate repair will jump that price to $80,000! My friend, Annelle, confessed at Book Snobs one night that she throws away all her dust jackets. I choked on my pasta dish, fell to the floor in full cardiac arrest and they had to call the ambulance. WHAT??? Keep those dust jackets, people! Even if you don't care about them, your children will care about them when they go to sell your book collection after you've kicked the bucket.

One of my favorite shows, CBS Sunday Morning, did a segment about books and dust jackets a few weeks ago. Mo Rocca (who totally cracks me up!) walked the viewers through the process of how a publisher/editor chooses the cover art for a book. Evidently, when you see an awful book cover on the shelf in a bookstore you can know that someone thought about it for more than 2 minutes. I know, hard to believe in so many cases. But for the great ones, it's obvious that the publisher took the time to tell part of the story on the dust jacket and knew people like me would buy it just because of that!

Here are some examples of horrible book covers from the New Releases page on barnesandnoble.com:
I heard about this book on the news and it actually seems kind of interesting. It's supposedly about how Chinese mothers raise their children more strictly than moms in other cultures. The author was engaging and upbeat in her interview. But this book cover is b.o.r.i.n.g!

Can't you imagine how fabulous this cover could have been with a colorful Chinese image of a tiger - like something you'd see at Swen? This book cover is an epic FAIL in my opinion.




Here's another thing I hate: Book covers that have the author's name 10x larger than the book title. At first glance, it looks like the title of this book is Susan Elizabeth Phillips. I don't understand this at all.









And check this one out! This is not a textbook - it's a new release on BN.com. Thomas Sowell is a syndicated columnist and has now published the 4th edition to this book. It's supposed to be a book for the common folk so they can learn about economics in a "relaxed and even enjoyable way." Well, look, Mr./Ms. Editor, if you want people to think economics is enjoyable, find a cover for this book that does not scream, "This is the most boring book ever written!"



On the other hand, here are some book covers I love!

Cassandra King's Same Sweet Girls - you can tell a lot about the basic plot of the book just from this cover.
















Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants kept catching my attention in the book stores and I finally read it!











I think this is a great cover for Rick Bragg's Prince of Frogtown. I love "real" photos on memoirs and this one is perfect. You can almost see what kind of story Rick is going to tell about his dad.









And then there's my own book's cover. Is it terribly conceited to say that I think my book cover is gloriously beautiful?? (Yes, it's larger than the others so you can so how fabulous it is!) I had in mind what I wanted it to look like long before I had finished writing it. I spent HOURS paging through stock photos to find the right one. My friend and computer guru, Adam Miller, took the picture I had in my head and made it a reality. Check this out - Adam was even able to change a couple of the gems on this book cover because I didn't like how they looked. THAT's how much time and thought I put into my book cover. Surely other authors must do the same!

In my next life, I'm either going to be a country music diva like Faith Hill or I'm going to be a book cover editor. I'm thinking the latter is more probable. My mission in life would to be abolish boring book covers for all publications except textbooks - there's nothing you can do to make those more attractive.

In the meantime, this cover girl can be found browsing the shelves for the next great read - based solely, of course, on the cover art. It's worked pretty good for me so far!

Read on, Snobs!

The Brothers K

I went through this fabulous phase a few years ago of reading "classics." I read Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Great Expectations, Anna Karenina and A Passage to India, among others. I bought all my classics from Everyman's Library. Joseph Dent, a London bookbinder, founded Everyman's Library in 1906 so that all people could enjoy reading the classics. From the website: "Dent promised to publish new and beautiful editions of the world’s classics at one shilling a volume, ‘to appeal to every kind of reader: the worker, the student, the cultured man, the child, the man and the woman’, so that ‘for a few shillings the reader may have a whole bookshelf of the immortals; for five pounds (which will procure him with a hundred volumes) a man may be intellectually rich for life."

I'd like to be "intellectually rich for life" - maybe that's why I first started reading the classics from this particular publisher. This photo is of a few of my EL books. (http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/classics/)

I took a break from the "classics" in recent months, but have been inspired to revisit them through EL. I thought, in the words of my cousin Chad, "If you're gonna be a bear, be a grizzly" and decided to be a grizzly. I ordered The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Wow, this book is big!

I've heard respected Book Snobs mention this classic at various times and have wanted to tackle it. Evidently, it was Dostoyevsky's last work. Some smart people think it's one of the greatest pieces of literature ever written. It's covers many philosophical topics including free will. The story follows a Russian father and his three very different sons. That's about all I know at this point, but I'm looking forward to it.

Maybe I'll be a little snobbier after I read this book. Maybe I'll have to take another break from the classics after it - I'm not sure. Mostly, I'm wondering what snobby classics you've read and if you have any recommendations. Tell me about your favorite Snobby classic!

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.

~Mark Twain

LogOFF!

I have a wonderful photo of my mom when she was about 11 or 12 years old. She's laying on her stomach in the middle of a blanket spread out in the yard, chin propped on her hands, feet in the air behind her head, reading the book laid out flat in front of her. In those days she would go to the library once a week, check out 5 or 6 books, read them all and then do the same thing the next week. How fabulous is that?

My mom would have been a bibliophile (book snob) if she had been a kid in any decade, but in 1950s Ozark, Arkansas it might have been easier to be one. Nobody had even dreamed up something like the internet or Facebook or blogging. She wasn't texting her friends or playing video games. If she wanted an adventure there were only three ways to have one: go to the movies, read a book, or climb the mountain behind the house. She did all three. When my mom was a teenager she could shoot a pistol as accurately as any boy (still can, by the way), drive the stick shift farm truck all over creation, climb an Ozark mountain, ride a horse bareback, set up her own tent, bait her own hook, and tell you all about the 7 books she read that week. What can your kid do? ;)

I started thinking about these things as I was sitting in my living room flipping channels on the television while there was a really great book waiting to be read laying on my bed. Why am I watching this box? Why am I writing this blog?? One of my favorite authors (Mary Alice Monroe) has a story to tell me and I'm in here giving this insanity my attention. Has technology ruined my attention span?

I often wonder if my niece and nephew (Dani and Nicholas) will love books as much as I did. Dani is just learning to read and she loves it - so far. Nicholas always asks to read a book before bed - but he might be trying to stay awake as long as possible. They'll certainly have a tougher time being book snobs because there are so many other distractions. Faster moving pictures, louder sounds. I wonder if Dani will be able to read Anne of Green Gables and imagine having a friend like Diana Barry to sit with beside the Lake of Shining Waters before someone texts her about setting up a "play date" for a Wii marathon.

I don't usually make new year's resolutions, but I think it's time for this one. Even a Book Snob like me can get distracted by all this technology. I resolve to spend more time with my nose in a real book and less time staring at some kind of screen. Even if I can't drive a stick shift, ride a horse bareback or bait my own hook, I can do all these things and more on the pages that are just waiting for me to logoff. After all, if I don't read more books, I won't have anything to blog about!!

Read on, Snobs!

To Kindle or Not To Kindle (or Nook, or whatever...

It's snowing outside. In some parts of the country, that's not really news, but in Tuscaloosa, Alabama it's pretty unusual. The list of business and school closings on the television screen is getting longer. So what's the best thing to do when the weather's bad outside? Curl up somewhere warm and read a book! And when you get a chance to do that, do you want to curl up somewhere warm with a rectangle piece of plastic and lots of buttons to push? No! You want a real book - with real pages to turn.

Having said that, I also have to be honest and say that it was love at first sight for me and Kindle. The first time I saw one, I was beside myself. What a fabulous thing! They were really expensive at first and I started to scheme about how I could get one - take on an extra job, turn off some utilities, rob a bank? (Ok, scratch that last one - they probably don't allow Kindles in jail!) Lucky for me, I had a big birthday on the horizon (25, right??) and my mom surprised me with one. I told her I would have squealed and attempted back flips, but we were in this

super fancy restaurant in Charleston, SC and I opted not to embarrass us all.

I charged it up and downloaded my first book - wonderful!! Did you know that you can download "classics" and the Bible for free? I wonder if someday at church my pastor will say, "Ok, everyone, fire up your Nooks and Kindles and let's read Psalm 120"? Maybe my pew will have a place for me to recharge if I need it. Who knows?

People will often ask me - and you may be wondering the same thing - "So now that you have your Kindle will you quit buying books in the bookstore?" NO WAY!! Heresy!! As much as I love, love, love my Kindle, it will never be as good as a real book. I don't think I'll ever download books from my favorite authors on my Kindle instead of buying them. I love having books around me in my home. "Gadgets" don't make a house feel homey like books do! Henry Ward Beecher said, "Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house." Amen.

You may want to read all your books on the Kindle, but here's how I'm using mine for now:

Travel: This is the very best perk for me. I travel a lot. In years past I would have taken 4 or 5 books with me on a trip. They take up too much precious space and they're too heavy. The last time I went to Brazil (pre-Kindle), I missed my flight and was stuck in Rio de Janeiro over night. I had finished the books I

took with me, so I bought the only two decent looking English paperbacks in the Rio airport bookstore. They were $23 EACH! Yes, I paid $46 for two paperbacks and was glad to do it because it took me 3 days to get home. With my Kindle, I can take 1000 books with me on the plane if I want to. I can also purchase books on my Kindle from almost anywhere in the world and it takes up virtually no space. This is the best part for me, by far.

At the gym: I love taking my Kindle to the gym. I use it on the treadmill and on the elliptical machine. Lots of people say they can't read while doing these exercises, but I've never had any trouble. I read my Janet Evanovich novels at the gym. No disrespect to Janet, but her books don't take a lot of brain power and her characters are hilarious.

Waiting: My Kindle is fantastic for those times when you know you're going to have to wait. At the doctor's office, before meetings, waiting on the friend who's always 15 minutes late - all these situations and others are great opportunities to catch up on a little reading.

Do I think the day will come when we are no longer publishing books? I don't think so and I certainly hope not. There's nothing like the feel, the weight and the smell of a real book. Most importantly, your favorite authors can't sign your Kindle! Here are two of my own prized jewels. I'd trade my Kindle any day for either of these books signed by the author. But I'm lucky I don't have to!

Fun story about this autograph

ed Rick Bragg book (a fantastic writer, if you haven't read any of his books). I went to hear him talk about this book when it came out at The University of Alabama. He's an entertaining speaker and story teller. He said his publisher was encouraging him to write the next book and told him to write about something he was interested in. "Well," he said, "I'm interested in majorettes.... and midgets." While the crowd laughed Rick started telling some crazy story about a circus and midgets - I'm kind of glad that book hasn't come out yet. When it was my turn to have my book signed I leaned over the table and quietly said, "I used to be a majorette!" He laughed and said, "Oh! Where's your boots?" and that's what he wrote in my book with his signature. The most uniquely autographed book around, I'm sure!

Read on, Snobs!

Precious Stones & Alabaster

I always thought that it would be really cool to write a book. I found out that it was, indeed, really cool... and really hard! I finished and published Precious Stones & Alabaster: Gifts of Advice for Christian Women Starting College in May 2007. It's a 12-week devotional for a student's first semester in college. The book has both spiritual and practical advice for women about starting college.

What an experience! I'd say the editing was tougher than the writing, by far. Having someone edit your writing is like having someone criticize your children (I assume). My editor was my mom - LOL! Is that a plus or a minus?? Both! My mom is the best editor in this hemisphere so that's an obvious plus. But both of us would admit that there were times we had to separate or risk severing our relationship. :) I'm a much better writer now for having had that experience. I find myself catching mistakes in my writing now that I know The Editor will definitely not accept.

I'm sure some people think writing a book must be a breeze. I'd recommend trying it sometime, if you do. I had enormous respect for the talent of writers before I ever attempted to write a book myself - and 100x as much now. Writing surely must be 10% raw talent and 90% gut-wrenching, hard work.

If you need a gift for a graduating high school senior who is college bound, check out my book's website at www.PreciousStonesBook.com.

Mind The Gap!

Check out my article in the January edition of Birmingham Parent Magazine. I love writing for this publication - the editor, Carol Muse Evans, is so nice to work with. If you're in the Birmingham area, look for this publication around town.

Here are the links:
This one is text only for the tech-unsavvy, like me: http://bluetoad.com/display_article.php?id=597683

And here's the link to the online version of the magazine - you'll find the article on page 8 of the current issue: birminghamparent.parenthood.com/

Happy reading, fellow Snobs!!

What's a Book Snob?

At first glance, it might seem pretty easy to define a Book Snob: someone who loves books and is snooty about it! That’s a pretty good description, but for me, being a Book Snob requires more explanation. I’m proud to be a founding member of the book club formally known as The Book Snobs - some of my favorite Snobs on the planet! We’ve been together for years and our name evolved through two personal stories that we still laugh about. I apologize in advance that both of these stories involve funny things that men said… it’s just a coincidence, I promise! :)

Story #1: Years ago I went out on a date with a man who was very nice, as I recall, but his name escapes me. He did make an impression, though! He took me to see the movie Conspiracy Theory starring Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts. In this movie, Mel’s character is obsessed with two things – conspiracy theories and buying copies of JD Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. Repeatedly throughout the movie this book comes up in discussion and is seen on the screen. Mel’s character has copies of the book stacked in his apartment, for example. Toward the end of the movie, my date leans over and whispers in my ear, “What’s Catcher in the Rye?” Oh, my. In the words of my niece, Dani, “Take me home! Just take me home right now!” I should clarify this story by saying that I’m not a fan of Catcher – I totally don’t get it – but I absolutely cannot date a man who has never even heard of it. First date, last date.

Story #2: Not long after that (do you see a theme in my life?), I was going out with a nice young man who was not much of a reader. I know, I know – why am I dating him? (I was just trying to keep an open mind, people!). Every single person in my immediate family reads as a hobby – all of us. It has long been the case that the first question asked by my parents when my sister or I were seeing someone is, “Does he read?” They don’t mean “Can he read?” They mean, “Does he read for fun?” So it was not unusual for my mom to ask this particular young man at dinner one night, “Do you read?” Evidently, I had already asked this question or maybe we had talked about it before. I’m sure I had told him about how important books were to me and probably mentioned the same about my family. The guy said something to my mom like, “Not really” and we just went on with the evening. In the car after dinner, this guy said to me, “Y’all are just a bunch of book snobs!” Yes. Yes, we are. He’s married to someone else.

So as you can see, the title of Book Snob should be taken in jest. I’m actually not very snobby about my books. I read what I like. I’m not the least bit swayed by what literary society thinks is a “good” book. In fact, I often disagree with “them.” There have been many “classics” that I have loved – The Count of Monte Cristo, Jane Eyre, Huckleberry Finn and anything by Jane Austin, to name a few. Then there are others for which I can’t fathom the attraction (like Catcher in the Rye). My snobbery does, however, manifest itself in the fact that I think everyone should read – at least occasionally. I can’t imagine why anyone would pass up the opportunity to go on a great adventure, travel the world, become acquainted with famous and influential people or understand more fully their own belief system without having to leave their warm, comfy home.

Get snobby, People - read a book! (And then tell me all about it!)

Who'd a thunk it??

I'm blogging???? What? I really never thought I would do this! My main - only? - motivation for starting a blog is to list and talk about the books I'm reading. Mostly for my own entertainment, but also for anyone else who is interested in discussing books. I read A LOT and many folks ask me to recommend books for themselves or for gifts. I'm not the most well-read person you'll meet, but I certainly aspire to be so!

My love of books was passed on to me from parents who loved books and from grandparents who loved books. My great-grandfather, Walter C. Harris, wrote a book published in 1961, Short Stories by a Pioneer Teacher. Maybe he's the one who gave me the love I have for books. (That's his book I'm reading in the photo!)

The first books I remember being completely in love with were the Anne of Green Gables books. I called them "Anne Books." I'm sure I loved them mostly because Anne was a redhead. I remember sitting on the floor reading Anne Books with my friend, Shary Kooistra, for hours in her house in Brookside. I've been a Book Snob ever since.

I'll definitely have to explain what a Book Snob is in a later blog. For now, I'm starting on a whim and let's just see where this goes!

And, by the way, I'm reading Pat Conroy's My Reading Life to start the new year. If you're a Book Snob you would love this book. Not only is Conroy's writing a work of art, but it's just plain fascinating to learn about how books influenced this great writer. The chapter on Gone With The Wind is fabulous. I might be inspired to read it again!

For now... read on, Snobs!! Make it a goal in 2011 to crack open a book. It's an adventure waiting to happen - and one you don't even have to pack a suitcase to enjoy!!