"I certainly never write a review about a book I don't think worth reviewing, a flat-out bad book, unless it's an enormously fashionable bad book." --
says, John Gardner in Conversations with John Gardner
Quoted from 'Dictionary of Library and Information Science Quotations'     Edited by Mohamed Taher & L S Ramaiah. ISBN: 8185689423 (New Delhi , Aditya, 1994) p.150. Available @ Amazon.com
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts

Thursday, August 07, 2008

OCLC Top 1000: 2005 Complete list

"This list, updated for 2005, contains the "Top 1000" titles owned by OCLC member libraries—the intellectual works that have been judged to be worth owning by the "purchase vote" oflibraries." Complete list





Sunday, February 03, 2008

Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews?


When a book gets really popular, like The Time Traveler’s Wife, then I’m sure I don’t want to read it. When I finally got over myself and read it, it was terrific. This is just probably my need to be special, or something. Thus spake: Ted!


See also: Same shelf and aisle, The Sheila Variations: Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews?
Strangely enough, I cringed from reading Harry Potter.

Monday, November 05, 2007

THE GILLER: Which book is likely to win the Giller?

Nov 05, 2007 04:30 AM Vit Wagner Publishing Reporter, Toronto Star

Winning a Scotiabank Giller Prize or a Governor General's Award is guaranteed to boost the sales of any author, with relatively unsung writers having the most to gain.
That's good news for whoever wins this year's Giller, being handed out tomorrow night in Toronto at a gala televised live on Bravo!
Last year's winning book, Vincent Lam's Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, experienced a 464 per cent sales increase in the first week after the win, while Peter Behrens' The Law of Dreams received a 360 per cent boost in the first week after its GG win for English-language fiction last fall. continue reading

The jury named the finalists. They are:

Elizabeth Hay for her novel Late Nights on Air, McClelland & Stewart


Michael Ondaatje for his novel Divisadero, McClelland & Stewart


Daniel Poliquin for his novel A Secret Between Us, trans. Donald Winkler, Douglas & McIntyre

M.G. Vassanji for his novel The Assassin’s Song, Doubleday Canada

Alissa York for her novel Effigy, Random House Canada

Friday, August 24, 2007

How to tell what I am, or What to Write Using a Life Story Template

Wonder if there is a topic more significant, compelling, or familiar to us than our own life stories as we have lived? Believe it or not, I picked up Victoria Ryce's By me, About me, in a store, and felt that this is a perfect subject that would inspire us to spell many tiny little moments that we have lived.

Moreover, this book with its templates* to write every little bit, helps ANYONE desirous of doing all-of-the-above. It also helps those who are interested in any of the following areas, such as, developing writing skills, dig the creative insights, externalize the moments to show and tell what you are, in fact. Call it autobiography or showing your true colors, to say: I am real and experienced, as well."

In short, here is an opportunity. Answer what YOU want to answer using this book's templates. There are 140+ questions at your fingertips.

*The book is full of templates or blank pages for you to fill, each page offers a question (aka clue to whatever details you could possibly add), such as:
  • My name, or names, and how I came to be called that (in the chapter: Childhood and family adventures)
  • The best boss I ever had and the worst one (in the chapter: Life as an adult)
  • The role spirituality has played in my life (in the chapter: Views of the world)
  • The saddest day in my life (in the chapter: The inner self)...

  • About the author: Victoria Ryce is a caregiver based in Picton, ON. She is also the author of Marketwise
    . And the book By me, About me is published by Raincoast Books--Raincoast Books is the Canadian publisher of the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling.