Mailbox Monday: The I'm grateful it's not snowing here edition!

Major snowstorm in October--that is one of the signs of the apocalypse, right?  I'm sorry, New York!

So, the past week wasn't as productive as I might have hoped in a variety of ways.  The one thing I did accomplish was attending the Northern California Independent Booksellers' Association Trade Show over the weekend.  I've been attending NCIBA for about a dozen years now, so none of these trade shows are really that exciting at this point.  But it's still nice to see friends in the industry.  I especially enjoy chatting with the publisher's reps about what they're excited about.  Obviously, their job is to sell titles, but you can tell when there's a book they're genuinely excited about.  And as you get to know them, they'll give you the straight dope.  They're just great people to talk books with.  No one works in publishing for the money.  They do it for love.

Speaking of talking (and talking and talking) as the show was winding down Saturday afternoon, trade journalist Bridgette Kinsella wound up sitting down beside me, and the two of us got into the most epic conversation of all time.  What a delightful lady!  Seriously, the highlight of the show for me.  The other highlight was grabbing a galley of Lauren Groff's forthcoming sophomore novel, Arcadia.  It's the single book that I'm most excited about, but is only one of many, many galleys I grabbed.  I'll post a full accounting here once I have one.  Maybe next Monday?

I'm not sure how much literary stuff I have coming up this week.  The Bay Area Festival of Science is going on right now, so science may trump art this week.  One exception may be a midweek appearance by novelist Hillary Jordan.  Her new novel, When She Woke, a near-future dystopian take on The Scarlet Letter, scared the hell out of me.  In it, the US has basically become a fundamentalist Christian theocracy--literally my worst nightmare.  I may have to go hear her speak.

Oh, you'll notice below that I finished 1Q84--late last night as it happens.  Wow.  It's an amazing (and yes, weird) achievement for Murakami.  Nearly 1,000 pages of Murakami in the course of a week was a lot more challenging than 1,000 pages of Neal Stephenson over a long weekend.  By the end, I was taking mental breaks with a YA novel, which worked well for me.  Now I must make one of my friends who has lived in Japan read the novel so we can discuss.

And on that note, even without NCIBA, this was an awesome week for books!

Sacre Bleu
by Christopher Moore
Release date: April 3, 2011
Source: the author

I'm such a big fan of Chris's.  Even though I've already read an unbound galley, I just love having a bound galley of each novel in my collection.  Of course, I will purchase a first edition of the hardback as well.  The finished book will be especially exciting in this case.  I can't wait to see the color reproductions of all the artwork in this book!

The Mirage
by Matt Ruff
Release date: February 7, 2012
Source: Gift from Chris Moore

Chris and I have been discussing Matt Ruff's novels for years.  Chris thought that I would really enjoy this thought-provoking novel.  He warned me not to expect Ruff's typically comic tone.  I can't wait to read it!  Sewer, Gas, and Electric has been a favorite satire for years.

The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde
by Oscar Wilde
Release date: January 28, 1900
Source:  my book group

I forgot to include this lovely hardback edition on last week's list.  The book group that I run likes to bring books to give away and share with each other at every meeting.  The lovely Valentina brought this one, I think.  I've really been wanting to read The Portrait of Dorian Gray, so this is perfect!

Smut: Stories
by Alan Bennett
Release date: January 3, 2012
Source: Electronic galley from publisher

Alan Bennett is an awesome playwright, and I loved his novella "The Uncommon Reader."  This slim volume is made up of two novellas entitled, "The Greening of Mrs. Donaldson" and "The Shielding of Mrs. Forbes."  This is going to be a pleasure to read!

The Innocent
by Taylor Stevens
Release date: December 27, 2011
Source: Amazon Vine program

Ms. Stevens' debut was impressive, but I was left uncertain whether I liked her protagonist enough to want to read a continuing series.  This is the novel that's going to help me decide.  Based on her own childhood being raised in a nomadic cult, it should be fascinating regardless.

The Orphan Master's Son
by Adam Johnson
Release date: January 10, 2012
Source: LibraryThing Early Reviewers

Yes, a third copy of this galley that I still haven't read.  (I'll get to it before January!  I'm thinking over Thanksgiving.  It'll make me thankful for my life in this country.)  The good news is that I'll have a copy to give away here.  I have to tell you, I heard raves about this title from a bookseller over the weekend. 

In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination
by Margaret Atwood
Release date: October 11, 2011
Source:  Paper galley from publisher

I was so delighted to see this galley show up because the book hadn't really been on my radar yet.  It looks very interesting, but also kind of dense and intellectual.  I will probably read it one essay at a time between other books, but I'm really looking forward to it!  I love Margaret Atwood.

The Devil's Elixir
by Raymond Khoury
Release date: December 22, 2011
Source: Electronic galley from publisher

You know I love a good thriller and I've never read Khoury.  This could be a pleasant holiday diversion.

The New Republic
by Lionel Shriver
Release date: March 27, 2012
Source: Electronic galley from publisher

I was shocked to learn, over the weekend, that this is a satirical novel.  It's not what I would expect from the author of We Need to Talk About Kevin.  I think Shriver is awesome, and I look forward to seeing a different aspect of her writing.  I doubt I will wait til next year before reading this.



Books finished this week:

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (It was a marathon, not a sprint!)
Crossed by Allie Condie (I liked it a lot better than Matched, actually.)


Currently reading:

Why Read Moby Dick? by Nathaniel Philbrick


So, what have you guys been reading?  What awesome books have you acquired over the past week?  Please let us know in the comments!

Lisbeth Salander meets Sydney Bristow in the heart of darkness

The Informationist
by Taylor Stevens

Positive word of mouth is a double-edged sword. Take The Informationist, for example. Positive reviews in the publishing trades are what first caught my eye and made me want to read this debut by an unknown author. But those same reviews significantly raised my expectations, perhaps unrealistically. I note this, because while ultimately I enjoyed The Informationist, it took me a while to get into the book. While undeniably a plot-driven action-adventure thriller, it’s really so much about character.

Specifically, it’s about Vanessa Michael Munroe, the eponymous Informationist. When asked about her work, she replies, “I go into developing countries and gather information—usually abstract and obscure—and turn it into something a corporation can use to make business decisions.” That would be a highly sanitized version of what she does. Munroe is a chameleon, changing back and forth from Vanessa Munroe to Michael Munroe as identity and gender suit her needs. She’s a harsh character, and really took some getting used to. Even now, I couldn’t describer as the least bit likable. She has no warmth, no apparent humor, and makes few attachments. Her code of morality is… situational. So much of my response to this novel had to do with my response to her, and as my attitude became more accepting, my interest in the tale being told expanded.

The core of the story is simple. Emily Burbank disappeared in a remote area of the African jungle four years ago, when she was in her late teens. One of her traveling companions turned up catatonic in a European mental institution. The fate of her other companion is unknown. After all this time, there is little hope of finding Emily alive. Nonetheless, her oil billionaire step-father has spent millions on the search. This is not Vanessa Munroe’s area of expertise, but she knows the region and the languages and is a brilliant analyst. Munroe is a last ditch effort for the closure that Richard Burbank seeks.

Of course, there’s more to it than that, but that’s enough to know going in. Most of the action takes place in Africa. Some locations were so off-the-beaten-path that I wasn’t sure they existed before a Google search. Stevens does a great job of rendering the setting, but don’t expect a jungle adventure full of exotic natives and deadly beasts. No, the scariest creatures in this book are the men. In that respect, it’s probably more realistic than many an African adventure. The story moves well enough and is plenty engaging once you get into it, but I can’t say it had that breathless, can’t-turn-the-pages-fast-enough quality that I do so love. On the other hand, I think this is a smarter, more substantive tale than many of those books.

In the end, it really does come back to character. Munroe is cut from a bit of the same cloth as Steig Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander with a dash of Alias’s Sydney Bristow. She’s impressive as hell, more than a little scary, and deeply flawed. It was interesting meeting her, but the jury is out on whether I want to spend more time in her company.