There has been talk around the place about the many and varied cutbacks at major publishing houses in the New York. There’s no doubt that those cutbacks will have all kinds of effects on people working directly for those publishing houses, on people working in the field generally, and on readers. Ultimately, we potentialy face less choice, less editorial freedom and so on.
A couple people, most notably John Scalzi and Lou Anders, have suggested that readers get out there and buy books, both as a way of giving great Christmas gifts and as a way of supporting the industry. Â It’s a good idea, and it got me to thinking about a meme:
- Choose four books published during 2008 that you loved and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to others
- Write a brief description (it doesn’t have to be much – a few words, a sentence)
- Post the descriptions on your blog under the title Books for Christmas
- Link to some suitable book retailer that you’d like to support
To keep it simple, make sure you have no direct connection to the books you’re going to blog about – no books you’ve written, edited, or published (you can blog about those another time), just books you’ve loved. And link to other posts if you see ’em.
My post later today or tomorrow!
Ooh, fun!
Funny you mention Scalzi – this year I read “Old Man’s War” by John Scalzi and loved it! I first downloaded it from the TOR website when they were doing their free book a week promo, and scanned the first chapter, HAD to know what happened next, so bought the print version for ease and enjoyment of reading. Love the concept, love the execution, and for me, a non-SF reader, that’s a miracle!
Alison Goodman’s “The Two Pearls of Wisdom” – technically a YA book but exploring some fascinating elements of power and gender, this book sucked me in from the first word and spat me out at the end wrung out and delighted.
“Tender Morsels” by Margo Lanagan – horrifying, gruesome, weird and superbly executed. Take your Grimm fairytales and turn them on their heads.
Lois McMaster Bujold – anything by :) Read a couple of her books this year and was impressed by all. I have been reading in her SF world, and again, as a non-SF reader usually, impressed!
There have been loads more, but when I saw this, those sprang to mind :)
http://www.jlake.com/2008/12/06/books-books-for-christmas/
— or —
http://jaylake.livejournal.com/1656682.html
Beat you to it.