Good piece about a successful independent bookstore in Miami that specializes in mysteries called, appropriately enough, Murder on Miami Beach. Check it out:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/lifestyle/sfl-limurderstoreapr10.story

April 10, 2002

"Online Sales of Used Books Draw Protest
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

Authors are rebelling against new efforts by Amazon.com to spur sales of used books, a practice that has become a major source of revenue for Amazon but pays nothing to writers or publishers."

Read the entire article at the NY Times online, subscription (free) necessary.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/10/technology/10BOOK.html?todaysheadlines

More on Oprah...

For the legions of fans who are sorry she is ending her book club, hope is at hand. There is a website set up to help fans send emails to Oprah, thanking her for the book club and begging her to reconsider. Check out: Oprah, Don't Pull the Plug on Your Book Club! http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/action.cfm?itemid=13108&CFID=1134690&CFTOKEN=71988688

Read more about it at Holt Uncensored
http://holtuncensored.com/members/index.html#goodbye

On a brighter note, the Today show jumped right into the fray, announcing they are starting a book club. It will begin in June, hosted by Katie Couric and Matt Lauer. They are planning on asking the big name authors for suggested titles by lesser known authors, hopefully avoiding the already popular bestsellers and Franzen-like debacles. They will start in June and have a thirty minute discussion once a month at 8:30 a.m. Get more details:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/735977.asp

Sounds like a winner to me.

Interesting Blogs

Moby Lives: Weekly news and commentary about books and writers. In-depth articles with a point-of-view. Intelligent. Interesting. Posted daily. http://www.mobylives.com/

Ex Libris: an E-Zine for Librarians and Other Information Junkies. http://marylaine.com/exlibris/

Library Stuff: Steven Cohen's daily weblog of ... library stuff. Brief commentary, mix of news stories and useful websites for librarians, readers, researchers. http://www.librarystuff.net/

I am thrilled to report that Richard Russo won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for EMPIRE FALLS, and David McCullough won his second Presidential Pulitzer for biography for JOHN ADAMS! Here's the news report:

Pulitzer Announces 2002 Winners in Letters and Drama

On Monday, April 8, winners of the Pulitzer Prize in literature were
announced, recognizing work in fiction, drama, history, biography, poetry,
and general nonfiction. Among those honored were Richard Russo, whose
novel, Empire Falls (Knopf), a poignant story about a "decent man encircled
by history and dreams" in a down-and-out town in Maine, was recognized for
distinguished fiction by an American author. Also winning was David
McCullough, for his epic biography of the second president of the U.S.,
John Adams (S&S). It was McCullough's second presidential-related Pulitzer;
previously, he had won for Truman in 1993.

Also cited for this year's prizes were Topdog/Underdog (Theatre
Communications Group), by Susan-Lori Parks, for drama; The Metaphysical
Club: A Story of Ideas in America (FSG), by Louis Menand, for history;
Practical Gods (Penguin Books), by Carl Dennis, for poetry; and Carry Me
Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights
Revolution (S&S/Touchstone), by Diane McWhorter, for general nonfiction.

Been meaning to post this for a few weeks. From the NY Times report on the Rock 'n Roll
Hall of Fame induction:

" Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers introduced Talking Heads, saying that hearing the band gave him a new sensation:

"I wanted to have sex with a lot of librarians." "

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.