Big news of the day:

"To the Dismay of Publishers, Oprah Winfrey Ends Her Book Club

Oprah Winfrey announced today that she would no longer host monthly "book clubs" on her television talk show, saying that she could no longer find enough compelling books."

Read the rest of the article from the NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/05/business/media/_05CND-BOOK.html
Subscription (free) required.

Bel Canto Wins 2002 PEN/Faulkner Award
Ann Patchett has won the 2002 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for Bel Canto. The prize awards the writer $15,000, making it the largest juried award for fiction in the U.S.

Congratulations to Dennis Lehane! MYSTIC RIVER won the 2002 Dilys Award from The Independent Mystery Booksellers Association (IMBA) as the book member bookstores "most enjoyed selling" this past year.

Heard some rave reviews on the advance copy of THE BLUE EDGE OF NOWHERE by Jonathan King. Publication date is March 28...

From Publishers Lunch, 03.18.02

"Feast and Famine at Libraries
Two articles paint a contrasting picture on the state of libraries. Cerritos, CA prepares to join a wave of cities with high-tech new libraries that also serve as gateways to the electronic world and even community centers, as they celebrate the opening of a "$35-million futuristic building clad in titanium and hard-wired for interaction." Meanwhile, though, the Boston Globe laments how "funding shortages are keeping Massachusetts near the bottom of state-by-state rankings of school libraries." Many schools have no librarian at all and collections are aging and even outdated. Plus, "Research published in this month's issue of American Libraries magazine shows that based on 1990 Census data, 57 percent of professional librarians (including those in schools and in public libraries) will reach retirement age between 2005 and 2019."

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/076/metro/School_libraries_lacking+.shtml
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-000019493mar17.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dpe%2Dcalifornia

There is a great website that one of my readers steered me to called The Readers Refuge:

http://www.geocities.com/lettore59/index.html

There are lots of reviews and interesting essays. Go check it out!

Found an interesting article entitled "Public Hanging: the Death of the Book Review " from a Canadian website called The Danforth Review. It's long but very interesting reading to anyone who has wondered about the credibility of a review and/or a reviewer.

http://www.danforthreview.com/features/essays/death_of_the_book_review.htm

Maybe this is a good place to address the whole "BookBitch" thing. A lot of people think "bitch" has a really negative connotation, and maybe it does. This is from Merriam-Webster's, the dictionary of choice on the Internet:

Main Entry: [1]bitch
Pronunciation: 'bich
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English bicche, from Old English bicce
Date: before 12th century
1 : the female of the dog or some other carnivorous mammals
2 a : a lewd or immoral woman b : a malicious, spiteful, or domineering woman — sometimes used as a generalized term of abuse
3 : something that is highly objectionable or unpleasant
4 : Complaint

Yikes! I don't think I'm any of those things and I sincerely hope that those that know me would agree. I chose the name "BookBitch" for a couple of reasons, but mainly because it is memorable. And maybe, subconsciously, I am trying to re-define it.

I recently added the lyrics to the song "Bitch" by Meredith Brooks to the Poetry page of the site. If I could have a theme song that wouldn't slow the website down to a crawl, "Bitch" would be it.

The following was sent to me by a friend. It was written by that infamous Internet author, Anonymous. If anyone knows the author, please let me know so I may give her the appropriate credit, and say thank you. I'd like to share it in hopes of casting a more positive light on this BookBitch.

I'M A BITCH, ARE YOU?

When I stand up for myself and my beliefs, they call me a
bitch. When I stand up for those I love, they call me a
bitch. When I speak my mind, think my own thoughts, or do
things my own way, they call me a bitch.

Being a bitch entails raising my children to be strong
people who have a solid sense of personal and social
responsibility, who are not afraid to stand up for what
they believe in and who love and respect themselves for
the beautiful beings they are.
Being a bitch means that I am free to be the wonderful
creature that I am, with all my own intricacies,
contradictions, quirks and beauty.

Being a bitch means I won't compromise what's in my heart.
It means I live my life MY way. It means I won't allow
anyone to step on me. When I refuse to tolerate injustice
and speak up against it, I am defined as a bitch.

The same thing happens when I take time for myself instead
of being everyone's maid, or when I act a little selfish.

I am proud to be a bitch! It means I have the courage and
strength to allow myself to be who I truly am and won't
become anyone else's idea of what they think I "should" be.
I am outspoken, opinionated, and determined.
By God, I want what I want, and there is nothing wrong
with that!

So try to stomp on me, try to douse my inner flame, try to
squash every ounce of beauty I hold within me. You won't
succeed. And if that makes me a bitch, so be it. I embrace
the title and am proud to bear it.

Welcome to the BookBitchBlog...thoughts as they occur to me.