RIASS stuff:
Giveaway: One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf'(open to US/Canadian readers)
Book Review: Revenge of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz'Rating: 
Book Review: One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf'Rating:
Other bookish stuff:
Which books from your childhood have influenced you the most?
My readerly thoughts: Oh dear. My reading history says a lot about what I was like as a teen. The gothy emo nerdy kid who went on to major in Russian and Linguistics? Yep, totally shows in my teenage passion towards Dostoyevsky, William Gibson, Oscar Wilde, China Mieville, M John Harrison, Poe and Margaret Atwood. Of course, that says nothing about my tweenage love of Sweet Valley High, Nightmare Hall, and Fear Street. Basically, if it had pages I read it. Oddly enough, now Im going back to all the books I'should have read as a kid, and middle grade books are easily among my favourites (I note also a shift from male writers towards women writers): LM Montgomery, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Frances Hardinge, Laura Ruby, Diana Wynne Jones and so on. Reading this books now is a wonderful way to reflect on who'I was as a teen, and who I am now.
Of course, I do have a few favourite memories that cemented my desire to become involved in all things bookish. First, a visit from Terry Denton to my primary school, where my story was picked out as the one Denton illustrated. Second, in high school, a lovely email from Justina Robson, complete with a smiley face with a nose and encouraging me to go and to the whole writing/linguistics/publishing thing. Third, a lengthy chat, also in high school, with Erica Wagner from Allen & Unwin in which she told me that I reminded her of a young Isobel Carmody. I think she meant in dress sense rather than in skill, but hey, Ill take it.
Anyway, what say you about your bookish/reading influences?
Fact-checking and historical fiction, or why you need to know when tissues were invented
My unchecked thoughts:'You know, this is why so many books are presently set in an alternative London. Authors, particularly newbie authors, are under tight deadlines, and getting stuff wrong is embarrassing. Why not go the cheap way towards verisimilitude by co-opting somewhere cool and bustling and waving off all those historical missteps as a oh, not in my alterna-London!
Dont tell my agent that this is totally what Ive done for all of my latest work. (Venice is another contender) Lalalalala
Andrew Hadfield on the intertwined history of gossip and the biography'Put another way, the history of biography and the history of gossip are closely intertwined. When gossip is recorded we start to obtain details of personalities, choices, quirks, likes and dislikes, the weird and the dull traits that make up an individual. Paradoxically, the more trivial and ephemeral reports of our ancestors became, the more seriously we could think about them.
My gossipy thoughts: I had a long discussion about my husband about the nature of todays biography not so long ago. He, as a techy, nerdy kind of guy, feels that biographies and autobiographies must be one hundred per cent accurate, and not contain any sort of recreation or editorialising by their authors. The more footnotes the better. Conversations should be verboten unless they are quoted verbatim from some sort of transcription.
I, as a creative, writerly type, am all about biographies that take a little bit of narrative licence. After all, its those little gossipy tidbits that help round out a character and help them become real. To me, a biography that quotes letters at length may certainly be factual and accurate, but it doesnt necessarily feel'real. I want to feel as though Im reading about real people, rather than about an historians efforts to regurgitate some facts and dates. Theres a reason we all love Orlando Figes. And its no wonder that Ramona Koval, in her recent talk at the State Library, picked out the gossipy stuff from her readings of Suetonius.
Readers dont want interactivity ' its words that count'Weve lived through a troubling time when the authority of the text has wavered, when critics and publishers were tempted into thinking that literature needed new formsBut it is becoming clear that readers are quite happy with the text, thank you, and they would like publishers to give it to them.
My thoughts, with all the bells and whistles: Ive long questioned the value of the book trailer. Films and books are such different media, with such different audiences, that it seems so very odd to appeal to one group by using what appeals to the other. If Im going to see a video tie-in, Id prefer it to be an interview, or some sort of behind the scenes look at what goes into creating a book.
Cross-platform tie-ins, however, are something else altogether, and I do think that were going to see a lot of interesting development in augmented reality books and so forth as our access to these technologies and our ability to use them improves.
I want this dictionary for my birthday'Its a madly unruly and idiosyncratic work, says poet Daljit Nagra.Not so much an orderly dictionary as a passionate memoir of colonial India. Rather like an eccentric Englishman in glossary form.
Ally Carter talks to her baby author self'Keep that list.' Remember that list.' Because in this business the finish line is constantly moving.' One day you really just want an agent.' Then it's a book deal.' Then it's a bestseller.' Then it's a movie.' Then it's a castle next to JK Rowling's.
Rude stuff people say at book signings
WSJ Recommends Books About Newspapers
Should you feel bad about reading Stephen King? Some critics seem to think so (Not I, said the fly!)
The top ten literary quotes from the Simpsons
Pelican book covers from 1930s to 1980s organised by decade & year
Would you call your kid Katniss? Popular baby names influenced by Hunger Games and Game of Thrones
Hannah Richell on side-stepping the loaded chick-lit label: (see also our review of Hannahs debut)
