Texas Pages

Media critic Tom Maurstad tells us all about the Web site-turned-book Stuff White People Like in today's GuideLive.

I've been a fan since one of my smug, liberal, college-educated friends sent me the link a few months back. But perhaps you disagree. If so, here's your forum.

Texas Pages regulars will particularly enjoy the book's White Annotated Bibliography (which is attached to entry No. 25, "David Sedaris.")

The bibliography includes such entries as:

Here's an excerpt from Beijing Coma by Ma Jian. It's reviewed today in GuideLive.

If you read Judy Alter's column today in GuideLive and are looking for a local chapter of Sisters in Crime, you can find the Texas roster here.

And if you've got a favorite sister in crime you want to talk about ... the forum is yours.

Here's a look at the weekend's books coverage in GuideLive.

First, we'll have an interview with Christian Lander. He's the blogger-turned-author of "Stuff White People Like."

If you're looking for reviews, we'll offer:

If you're still looking for great beach reads (or just great "curled up in a chair, in front of a fan, clutching a lemonade" reads), consider Anne Cushman's Enlightenment for Idiots and/or Megan Chance's The Spiritualist.

Ms. Cushman's beautifully written, remarkably assured debut novel Enlightenment for Idiots (Shaye Areheart Books, $24) follows Amanda, a young wanna-be yoga teacher who gets sent to India to write a guide book to finding the titular "enlightenment." But at every "peace center" -- ashram, Buddhist temple, yoga/spa -- she visits, things go horribly, hilariously awry, from ripped knee cartilage to verboten guru love. Amanda's biggest hurdle, literally and physically, comes when she discovers she's pregnant and must choose: enlightenment? motherhood? are both possible?

Before everyone scatters to the beach/mountains/liquor store for the holiday weekend, are you up for a meaningless literary debate? Good, here we go.

It's an American literature version of "Beatles vs. Rolling Stones" battle for July 4: Which is the greatest American novel: Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, F.Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby or Toni Morrison's Beloved?

Huck Finn has contains the Mississippi River, a very American road trip (albeit on a raft) and a confrontation of racial issues that's still rattling us all these years later. It also has the blessing of Hemingway's quote: "All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since."

Gatsby deals with the very American ideals of excess wealth and the nature of being a self-made man. And it has the closing line most discussed by high school English teachers.

Not the fireworking kind? The Dallas Poets Community's monthly poetry reading takes place from 7 to 9 p.m. tomorrow at Half Price Books, 5803 E. Northwest Highway.

It's an open mic event. But the organizers note: "...with freedom comes responsibility --please keep you[r] language PG rated (we're right next to the children's section & lately we've heard a few overly spicy phrases). Also, plan to keep your reading to 3 poems or 5
minutes (whichever is shorter)."

Thanks to Susan Vogel Taylor for passing the information along.

I like Ernest Hemingway's advice for writers who want to avoid being bilked by Hollywood: Drive to the border of California, throw your book over the fence. When they throw the money back over the fence, collect the money and drive home.

The latest people apparently suffering the pitfalls Hollywood accounting: Heirs of J.R.R. Tolkien. As Rachel Abramowitz notes in The Los Angeles Times: The Lord of the Rings trilogy grossed $2.96 billion worldwide at the box office, $3 billion or so more in DVDs and such. His heirs have made squat.

Ms. Abramowitz asks: "Maybe I'm naive, but I find it hard to believe that not a sliver of gold could be found in all of Middle-earth for not only the aged Tolkiens but also the charitable trust that gets 50% of their fortune and distributes money to such causes as Save the Children, the Darfur Appeal, the National Campaign for Homeless People and UNICEF."

Weekend agenda: Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and ... poetry.

You're on your on for the first three, but for your poetry fix, stop by the TCU Barnes and Noble, 2950 W.Berry Street in Fort Worth, from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday for "Imagery, Ink," a poetry workshop

Helen Jones will be your host. (Susan Vogel Taylor provided the info.)

Some literary tidbits to whet your appetite this week:
* Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World, by David Maraniss (Simon & Schuster, $26.95). On the eve of the Beijing Olympics, this book examines a politically eventful yet often overlooked Olympics.
* Death Angel, by Linda Howard (Ballantine, $26). Features a woman fleeing her crime-lord lover after stealing his money. Oops.
* The Last Patriot, by Brad Thor (Atria, $26). Thriller chronicles the worldwide struggle to uncover an ancient Islamic secret. ("Where's Osama?")
* A Summer Affair, by Elin Hilderbrand (Little, Brown, $24.99). Tells the story of a Nantucket glass artist having an affair with her friend's husband.
* Chasing Darkness, by Robert Crais (Simon & Schuster, $25.95). Continues the deservedly popular Elvis Cole series.

Catching up on some recent literary happenings ... here's Rick Barrick's photo of Janet Evanovich signing Fearless Fourteen at Barnes & Noble, Park at Preston in Plano. (Click for an excerpt from her Web site.)

Rick reports that 90 people were in line to get tickets when the store opened at 9 a.m., and "hundreds" showed up for the June 20th signing. (The Fresh Fiction blog was on the scene as well.)

Multiply that by the six other stops on her tour, and you'll understand why she was in a hand brace by the end, USA Today reports.

Oliver North is one of those names that's guaranteed to liven up a dull family picnic. Just mention it when your uncle Jed, the Marine veteran, and aunt Sunshine, the one who lived in the commune near Austin, are both within earshot, and then watch the sparks fly.

When it's time to break things up, tell your uncle he can run off and see Mr. North when he signs his new book, American Heroes, at noon Saturday (July 5) at the Lifeway Christian Store at the Parks Mall, 3811 S. Cooper St., Arlington.

I've dipped into the archives for a piece Michael Granberry wrote about an earlier visit Mr. North made to the area.

Here's an excerpt from Say You're One of Them, by Uwem Akpan. It's reviewed today in GuideLive.

Here's an excerpt from Made in the USA, by Billie Letts. It's reviewed today in GuideLive.

After reading today's story on beach reads, you can find additional suggestions from the Washington Post .

And you can see our own discussion of summer reading right here on Texas Pages.

Then tell us your own favorite summertime reading experiences.

Here's what your weekend books coverage in GuideLive will look like.

On Saturday, look for a story on authors and their favorite beach reads -- then come back to the blog and suggest your own.

On Sunday, we'll serve up reviews of:

Made in the USA, by Billie Letts. (We'll have an excerpt, too.)

What Was Lost, by Catherine O'Flynn

Doris Day: The Untold Story of the Girl Next Door, by David Kaufman.

Say You're One Of Them, by Uwem Akpan. (With an excerpt, as well.)

Plus -- Si Dunn's Texas and Southwest roundup.

See you Sunday.

The folks at the University of North Texas' Mayborn Institute have just launched their own magazine. In the online version, you'll find an essay on the unromance of the writerly life by Bob Shacochis, and an interview with N. Scott Momaday,
both of whom will be at the Mayborn Conference, which is coming up July 18-20.

Having written about the dancing, the statistics and some practical advice from the Writers' League of Texas Agents and Editors Conference, let's wrap up the coverage with some of the better bits of commentary I heard:

Kimberly Cameron warned writers against self-publishing and then expecting to find an agent. Unless the book has sold well, publishers won't be interested -- and that means an agent won't be either. She and others at the conference noted that editors can check Bookscan data to quickly see how an author's previous material has sold. And if the numbers are low, the author is out of luck.

(The exception to this rule, said Diane Fanning, a fellow member of the Birth of a Book: From Idea to Bookshelf panel, might be somebody who has regular speaking appearances and can rack up big numbers selling their book at engagements.)

Independent editor Jerry Gross was a font of one-line wisdom. How does an agent know when he or she has a book and author that's worth investing in?

"The only thing more subjective is sexual attraction."

The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators will offer a workshop by Marilyn Scott-Waters at their monthly meeting from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday at First United Methodist Church, 313 N. Center St. in Arlington.

The fee is $15 for members, $25 nonmembers. Click on the Web site above for details.

Continuing the posts from the Writers' League of Texas conference -- you don't need me to tell you what Sara Nelson thinks about the state of publishing. She does a pretty good job herself each week in Publishers Weekly. But she gave the 350 or so attendees some straight talk in her keynote address. Her comments about e-books might encapsulate her views on the future:

"I think that electronic books are not going to siphon off readers of real books," she said. "I think that at most ... they will be an adjunct in the same way that audiobooks are." She noted that her sister is the family expert on audiobooks, and "there are certain kinds of books that lend themselves to be listened to. It has to do with the complication of the plot, the ease of the language, the energy of the reader, all that. And then there are certain books that are too serious, in her mind, to be listened to.

"And I think it's going to be the same thing with the e-books. I think that certain kinds of books, particularly that provide straight information -- reference books, textbooks, travel books -- will probably make a good showing in the electronic format. But I don't think it's going to cannibalize the other."

And here's the encouraging part, for the writers: