Bookish thoughts 27 Aug: buying reviews, self-censorship, what the snobs are reading more!

RIASS stuff:

Interview: JI Baker on whodunnits, cultural myths and Marilyn Monroe

Book Review: Crowned by Julie Linker'Rating:

Giveaway: Pearl Verses the World by Sally Murphy'(open to all)

Other bookish stuff:

An interesting review article looking at the work of Kazuro Ishiguro (whose The Remains of the Day Ill be reviewing tomorrow). The writer of the piece looks at how each of Ishiguros books has grown out of its predecessor, and at the shift in tone from Ishiguros highly ambiguous, often incomplete-feeling early work to his more commercially available later work.

Deane Taylor, art director of Tim Burtons Nightmare Before Christmas, has started a blog

On the purchasing of book reviews'Opening with the eerie note that roughly 1/3 of all reviews on the internet are false, this ones all about people shelling out for reviews and star ratingswhich is astonishingly rife. Its (obviously) ruffled some feathers around the internet, but I suppose I exist in a higher state of cynicism, as Ive been aware of this for yearsand typically assume that any review on the internet, particularly those on any sort of consumer reviews site, is suspicious until proven otherwise. Ive seen so many ads soliciting for five star book, restaurant and product reviews that I always err on the side of guilty until proven innocent. But yeah, its a depressing state of affairs.

Stephanie Laurens may not be a household name in her native Australia, but her sales (at some 20 million) put her up there with Bryce Courtenay. One of the reasons why shes not well-known is that Australia ranks well down (40th) on her list of countries in which her books sell; theres also no appropriate genre publisher here.

Not bookish, but Melbournes Astor Cinema has been saved. Hooray!

Felix Barrett: On Pushing the Limits of Curiosity and Comfort Zones'Barrett is the founder of Punchdrunk, a UK theatre group known for pushing narrative and experiential boundaries. Forcing viewers to step outside their comfort zone is important if the performance is going to resonate with the audience for weeks to come, and is a way for the performer to get closer to the audience, says Barrett. (And I do love the sound of his next project, which is an interactive travel agency)

Is self-publishing is no longer a vanity project?''Penguin CEO John Makinson says that self-publishing has moved into the mainstream in a statement following Penguins purchase of self-publishing company Author Solutions. Certain individuals might argue that projects such as Author Solutions and Harper Collinss Authonomy are perhaps more about attempting to get the public/other aspiring writers to slush through the slush-pile for free. Rather like how ebook buyers are being used as proofreaders. Perhaps (and yes, I did eat a big bowl of cynicism for breakfast) its less of a sign that the public is really open to self-publishers and more of a sign that publishers are slashing editorial and production budgets and want to see just what they can get away with before the public balks?

and while were at it, are publishers no longer publishers, but multimedia content producers?

Patrick Ness on self-censorship'What we disallow ourselves to discusssometimes for good reason, yes, but sometimes for badcan curtail our voices as effectively as any government or corporation ever could.

What should we expect from JK Rowlings The Casual Vacancy (other than that lurid cover)?'Basically, according to this article, ve know nussink.

With the demise of all the big weekly publications, what exactly are socially elite readers reading now?'Well, as it turns out,'The Economist, which has cleverly positioned itself as a cross-country publication, enabling it to tap into not just the US or British markets, but also other English-speaking markets around the world.

Contemporary authors as adjectives.'Mine would be Campisian: characterised by hypercommerisation, ridiculous coinages, hedges and parenthetical asides.

An interview with Toni Jordan'Jordans take on balancing the local right brain with the passionate and dreamy left brain when writing is an interesting onetoo often, she says, one wants to think ones way out of a problem when its best to go with ones instincts.

The top 20 books to argue about. Right. Lets go.

Could the Australian publishing industry (and readers at that) benefit from a first-novel imprint?''The idea is to encourage risk-taking by both publishers and readers. A lower price point can encourage readers to shell out for an untested author, while the relative security of the imprint would encourage publishers to try something new by local authors. (And who knows, we might see something thats not fan fiction of fan fiction of fan fiction!) Actually, Momentum books is doing quite a good job of this at the moment.