'It is unusual to read a story that is so confrontingly real, and yet so profoundly uplifting' Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
Heath Ducker grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. He couldn't even see the tracks from where he lived, in dilapidated government housing, with shattered windows and holes in the floor that let the weeds climb through. He lived with his emotionally fragile, single mother and nine siblings, conceived with half a dozen different fathers, none of whom ever moved in. Most days, there was nothing to eat but breakfast cereal.
Just when it seemed things couldn't get any worse, soon after Heath's twelfth birthday, he was sexually abused by the father of his only real friend.
However, Heath was determined, from the outset, that he would not let his circumstances beat him. As a teenager, he was so committed to passing his final exams that he lugged his books up a mulberry tree and onto the roof of his house to study in the only quiet spot he could find.
Now, at 25 years old and as a result of extraordinary courage and resilience, Heath Ducker is a lawyer with a passionate commitment to improving the lot of underprivileged kids. He lobbies politicians on their behalf, gives his weekends over to voluntary work at camps for teenagers in trouble and he leads treks for young people along the notorious Kokoda Track in the highlands of New Guinea.
In May this year the Prime Minister of Australia, The Hon Kevin Rudd MP, presented him with ADC's Leadership Award 2008, presented to only 26 people from across Australia.
When Heath appeared on ABC television's AUSTRALIAN STORY in 2006, he provided inspiration for thousands of viewers. His life story has continued to inspire as one of the most frequently viewed episodes on the ABC TV website.
Now, in A Room at the Top, Heath Ducker, for the first time, tells his story in his own words.
'Heath Ducker has overcome enormous obstacles and challenges to become a leader and role model for young people' JOHN HOWARD
'What makes us human is our ability to spark a burning desire for a better life, as Heath Ducker did.' Jeff McMullen
'This is a story of hope and inspiration ... It is a beautiful read and by the time you have finished, you will want to rush out and support every child in the land to help them realise what is rightfully due to them.' Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York
'I like the idea of a dedicated 16 year old who has to climb onto his roof to find a quiet place to study. Heath Ducker's story is an inspiration to every youngster who thinks the odds are stacked against him or her but has a burning desire to crash through.' Bob Carr
It's impossible to talk about new trends in young-adult fiction without considering the wildly popular supernatural fiction - much of it terrible knock-offs of the "Twilight'' series by Stephenie Meyer. One surprising fact remains: Meyer can write beautiful prose, and she creates characters that young people care passionately about.
But why vampires? Why so many books for teenagers about the dead and the undead - about ghosts, ghouls, fairies and werewolves?
Like all speculative fiction, that of the supernatural allows teenagers to grapple with ideas. In this it's kin to science fiction, though that genre tends to be social and political - "Stranger in a Strange Land'' by Robert Heinlein or "A Clockwork Orange'' by Anthony Burgess - while the supernatural inclines toward the psychological and personal. Not always, of course. The original "Dracula,'' published in 1897 by Bram Stoker, comprised a socio-political commentary on the desiccated, blood-sucking upper class. Mary Shelley's 1816 "Frankenstein'' is a work of philosophy and science far closer to Heinlein's work than to Meyer's series, though both came to the authors in dream form.
But in the 1960s, a TV show called "Dark Shadows'' introduced a new kind of soap-opera vampire: sexy, darkly comic, and doomed. The notion of eternal love and desire entered in, while writers like Anne Rice and "Cirque Du Freak's'' Darren Shan updated and refined vampire literature. Of course, vampires are great metaphorical teenagers anyway. They stay up all night and sleep all day. They hunger for what they can't have, and are never satisfied. They are the original emo-goths, dressing in black, going without sleep, exuding a brooding, outsider sexiness. Vampire literature allows teenagers to think about sex and violence without censorship. It appeals to young men, because vampires are dangerous, super-fast and super-strong. It appeals to the romantic in young women, though the passivity of many female characters in vampire literature is a bit troubling. But the newest supernatural teen books aim to end all that.
Consider Madison Avery, murdered on prom night - sort of. She's the feisty teenage heroine of "Once Dead, Twice Shy,'' by Kim Harrison, author of the best-selling "Hollows'' series. Madison evades her dark reaper by stealing his amulet, and spends much of the novel bouncing between spheres, getting herself, her handsome prom date, and guardian angel into misadventures. "Once Dead, Twice Shy'' has more plot holes than a slice of Swiss cheese, yet it's compelling reading. Harrison knows how to keep her story moving - with time-keepers and arch-angels, the fated and the doomed.
Like most paranormal young-adult literature, it ricochets between teenage realism and wild fantasy. Being mostly dead, Madison doesn't sleep much, doesn't eat much, but her perspicacious eye and sassy sense of humor teeter between laughter and grief. Here she looks with an outsider's eye at her own father's kitchen: "the white-and-yellow-tiled splashboard and the cream-colored walls looked tired . . . There was a small lazy Susan with napkins, salt and pepper, and a dusty ashtray sitting right where it would be in my mom's kitchen - whispers of her still in my dad's life though she'd been gone for years.''
Black wings cluster around the doomed, and dark reapers chase Madison all over town, but she prevails.
At the heart of "Once Dead, Twice Shy'' is an argument about free will versus fate, yet it's the idea of the idea that takes center stage.
If there's a taste of the paranormal here, there's also the sustenance and comfort that many teenagers are seeking in books.
It's hard not to discuss anything vampire-related without comparing it to "Twilight." Even the star of the upcoming "Vampire Diaries," Ian Somerhalder, admits they probably owe the show's green light to the popularity of those other vamps. But I think it's reckless to instigate yet another rivalry by saying Smith's novels, the first four of which were published in 1991-1992, are better or worse than Stephenie Meyer's creations.
Here are five reasons why both Twilighter fans and foes will enjoy "The Vampire Diaries."
1) Elena Gilbert kicks ass. The 17-year-old headstrong, popular, blue-eyed blonde is introspective enough to keep the titular diary, but she doesn't waste any time moping about her crush on the school's new Italian import, Stefan. And when he seems determined to ignore her skillful flirting, she makes her friends swear (in blood) that they'll help her conquer him. You almost hate her for being so perfect, but then you remember that a) her parents just died, and b) once Stefan does give in to her, she's willing to become ostracized by the whole town when they suspect him of murder. Like Bella, she's self-sacrificing and brave. Unlike Bella, she knows her own worth, and she's got a team of close friends who do, too. Speaking of which .
2) Elena's friends often surpass Elena in their awesomeness. Psychic Druid descendant Bonnie can be slightly whiny, but she's often able to save the day with her channeling powers. Meredith is so darn practical and protective, she even makes vampires quake in fear of her. And Elena's sweet ex-boyfriend Matt is always ready and willing to help, like an overgrown, heartbroken puppy.
3) "Good" vampire Stefan has a whole lot in common with Edward Cullen. He's from a more romantic time and place (Florence during the Renaissance), dreamy (piercing green eyes and "a mouth to keep you awake at night"), wants to live a normal life among humans (he's even sworn off indulging in human blood) and snaps a tree in two to prove to Elena that he can hurt her. And he's moral to a (rather frustrating) fault, so .
4) You can see why Elena's also drawn to his dangerous brother, Damon. He doesn't pander to her "delicate" nature and wants to show her a good time, away from the weak, insipid small-town humans that surround her. OK, so he threatens to suck her baby sister's blood and won't lift a finger to prove his own brother's innocence, but nobody's perfect. And you get the feeling that deep down, he's a softy, too.
5) The town of Fell's Church, Virginia, has some seriously scary, evil magic going down. A little vampire sibling rivalry starts to look pretty trivial compare to the other threats to Elena and her friends, and the more danger they face, the harder it is to put these books down.
Have you read "Vampire Diaries" yet? If so, what did you think?
We're usually not quick to judge a book by its cover, but this goes to Team Jacob! The wolf gets the girl, but Edward's clearly the one ready to howl at this image.
The snuggle pic, depicting Kristen Stewart's Bella all wrapped in Taylor Lautner's well-toned arms as copper-eyed Robert Pattinson moons over them, is the brand new cover to Stephenie Meyer's New Moon. In case you hadn't heard, it's the sequel to Twilight.
The revamped book jacket may not be as cryptic as, say, a flower or an apple or a ribbon or a chess piece, but it's a bit more swoon-inducing (or should it be seducing?).
You even get a free poster if you choose to pick up the movie-promoting paperback for your 10th read-through. Now that should surely tide you over until Nov. 20.
Claims by bookseller Dymocks about UK and Australian prices for Tim Winton's award-winning book Breath are deceptive, say Australian book publishers. The CEO of the Australian Publishers Association, Maree McCaskill, was responding to a news release today from the CEO of Dymocks, Don Grover. She said Mr Grover had claimed that Winton's Miles Franklin Award-winning novel was more than 30% cheaper to buy from a UK website than from Australian bookshops because of Australia's book copyright rules.
"Mr Grover quotes the UK website price for Breath as equivalent to A$14.70, including delivery, and compares this with an Australian recommended retail price of $25 and an unattributed discounted price of $19," Ms McCaskill said. "What he fails to mention is that the same title is for sale in Australia at BigW for $16.21, which minus GST (there is no VAT on books in the UK), is a few cents more than the UK website price. BigW is a member, with Dymocks, of the so-called Coalition for Cheaper Books. If Dymocks wanted to, it could sell the same book for the same price. In fact, it is selling the book online for $24.95, plus $5.50 delivery. The fact that Dymocks is not selling it for the same price as BigW and the UK website says more about the Dymocks business model than copyright rules for books. It appears the Coalition for Cheaper Books is really the Coalition for Bigger Retail Profits," Ms McCaskill said.
Decline can be avoided. Decline can be detected. Decline can be reversed.
Amidst the desolate landscape of fallen great companies, Jim Collins began to wonder: How do the mighty fall? Can decline be detected early and avoided? How far can a company fall before the path toward doom becomes inevitable and unshakable? How can companies reverse course?
In How the Mighty Fall, Collins confronts these questions, offering leaders the well-founded hope that they can learn how to stave off decline and, if they find themselves falling, reverse their course. Collins' research project more than four years in duration uncovered five step-wise stages of decline:
Stage 1: Hubris Born of Success Stage 2: Undisciplined Pursuit of More Stage 3: Denial of Risk and Peril Stage 4: Grasping for Salvation Stage 5: Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death
By understanding these stages of decline, leaders can substantially reduce their chances of falling all the way to the bottom.
Great companies can stumble, badly, and recover.
Every institution, no matter how great, is vulnerable to decline. There is no law of nature that the most powerful will inevitably remain at the top. Anyone can fall and most eventually do. But, as Collins' research emphasizes, some companies do indeed recover in some cases, coming back even stronger even after having crashed into the depths of Stage 4.
Decline, it turns out, is largely self-inflicted, and the path to recovery lies largely within our own hands. We are not imprisoned by our circumstances, our history, or even our staggering defeats along the way. As long as we never get entirely knocked out of the game, hope always remains. The mighty can fall, but they can often rise again.
Australians sinking their teeth into vampire books
Australian readers getting their teeth into vampire fiction, with booksellers ordering 16,000 copies of the latest offering by US author Claudia Gray.
The demand for Stargazer - a sequel to Gray's bestselling Evernight - follows the runaway success of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series and film.
Stargazer continues the doomed love story of teenage supernatural enemies, Bianca and Lucas, now in their second year at the eerie Evernight Academy, which turns out to be hiding more than vampires and vampire hunters.
Ghosts known as wraiths are attacking the school, singling out Bianca and leaving her to uncover the reason behind the attacks while also keeping her relationship with Lucas alive.
"Bianca is put in much the same position Lucas was the year before - living a dual life, hiding the truth - and it brings out some of her flaws that she has to wrestle with," the author reveals.
With a promise of new surprises, Gray adds, "Her relationship with her parents suffers under the strain of a secret they've been keeping too long."
Rather than being annoyed by constant comparisons to the Twilight books, Gray says she's grateful Meyer's books have left fans hungry to sink their teeth into more vampire fiction.
"But I think as the Evernight series unfolds, the comparisons will become fewer. Our series diverge pretty widely by the end."
The New York-based writer says it's no surprise that vampire fiction is the latest literary fad.
"I think they've been very popular for a long time - ever since Dracula!" she says.
"The modern era of the sexy, romantic vampire probably began with Barnabas Collins of Dark Shadows and of course the Anne Rice books."
"They have all the things we're told to crave (beauty, immortality, strength) and yet are tragic figures, forever separated from the full joy of existence.
"We can envy them and pity them at the same time."
Gray came back to a long-time passion for telling stories after a succession of jobs including disc jockey, lawyer, journalist and waitress.
"For the longest time, I lacked the confidence to try for publication. I'm glad friends encouraged me to give it a shot!"
Currently, she's still working a day job and writing evenings, but she says she hopes to get into full-time writing by the end of the year.
Her projects of the moment include the fourth book in the Evernight series, Afterlife, which will follow the third, Hourglass, and a stand-alone spinoff for the Evernight character, Balthazar.
Also in the works is a three-book witchcraft series, Spellcaster, which will also sit in the Young Adult (YA) category.
Despite also being YA, Evernight has successfully appealed to all kinds of readers, raking up sales of 30,000 copies in Australia.
"I get email from much older readers (including a few grandmas) and some guys, too."
AAP
Claudia Gray is the pseudonym of New York-based writer Amy Vincent. She has worked as a lawyer, a journalist, a disc jockey, and an extremely poor waitress. Her lifelong interests in old houses, classic movies, vintage style, and history all play a part in creating the world of Evernight.
Book 3 in the Evernight series 'Hourglass' is coming soon!
When Tim Winton won his first literary award, The Australian/Vogel Award in 1981 for his first book, An Open Swimmer, he borrowed a pair of elastic-sided boots - Cuban heels, square toes and all - and boarded a plane for the first time in his life to travel from his West Australian home to Sydney to accept it.
Last night, he was announced the winner, for a record-breaking fourth time, of the Miles Franklin Award for his novel Breath, but was nowhere near the gala dinner at the NSW State Library in Sydney.
Winton has shunned award nights since his first Miles Franklin, in 1984, for Shallows.
"I was overawed that first time," he said yesterday, using a borrowed phone, talking from near his beloved Ningaloo Reef, off Western Australia's North West Cape.
"It was odd and strange and I think I was almost as surprised as everybody else, but I haven't been to an award night since then, once I realised you don't actually have to go.
"I don't go to many festivals either, I've just usually got other things to do and I'm not good in a crowd."
Winton also won the Miles Franklin Award in 1992, for Cloudstreet, and 2002, for Dirt Music.
Breath, his 12th book of fiction, is about a young man's initiation into the twin dangers of sex and surfing.
It begins with a traumatic scene of death by self-strangulation, setting the scene for Winton's exploration of what happens when personal morals are subjugated to the desire for physical sensation.
It is a novel, Winton said, about how people have "no moral compass about the consequences of living".
"We live this bizarre abstract life," he said. "We think someone can come in with therapy or analgesia, that can relieve us of the consequences, and it's about not taking the flesh seriously, as though there's no discomfort in corporeal existence, as though someone - your mum, the state or your lawyer - will fix you up."
Winton, 48, has spent the past week on a boat travelling to the Montebello Islands, 130km off the Pilbara coast and the site of 1950s British nuclear tests. He recorded a speech for the Miles Franklin Award announcement dinner, in which he made the point loud and clear that he is against changes to the territorial copyright laws.
"It's been quite difficult for the labourers in our industry to get their voice across," Winton said, "so you would feel a bit derelict just saying I'd like to thank my mum and dad and agent.
"I came of age during the new Australia, in cultural terms, and I've experienced the difference of us having our own territorial copyright.
"If we change the laws, the odds are we will lose things because it's essentially ceding power to larger foreign traders - rights they aren't asking for, but if there is an open door, they will come in.
"We are potentially training a new generation of literary exiles and that's bitterly disappointing."
The Tipping Point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller, in which Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon, is already changing the way people throughout the world think about selling products and disseminating ideas.
I do love reading fiction but there's something reassuring and concrete about nonfiction books. They're real and tangible. Reading this book, I felt that I was learning something that would be of some benefit to me at some obscure later date and in doing so, improve me as an individual. There are definitely many fiction books that can have this effect but after reading The Tipping Point, I've recognised different scenarios that are described in the book prevalent in my day-to-day life which is something that can't be said about many fictional book that I've read.
The most interesting about Malcolm Gladwell's research is the little insights about human interactions and human nature. For example, there are three influential types of people, the Mavens, the Connecters, and the Salesmen. These are the people that make things happen, who wield a great deal more power than most others in society. Gladwell gives examples of people he knows who are in those groups and in doing so, makes you think about the people around you that may belong to these groups, how much they affect your life and the lives of others.
Gladwell explains the drastic decline in the New York crime rate several years ago and compares it to other cities around the world. The NYPD used the "Broken Windows" effect to improve the subway system by way of cleaning up the graffiti and arresting those who were loitering atround the turnstyles. They thought that if the environment was clean and secure then fewer people would commit crimes. They determined that the state of the facility and the behaviour of some people gave licence to those who wanted to engage in anti social behavior.
Malcolm Gladwell was able to take these complex business and social theories and break them down into simple terms. His descriptions and narrations were both funny and intelligent and this book was simply a joy to read. I will definitely be picking up another Gladwell book.
Buying Books Online: A Different Browsing Experience
Some book lovers are not as comfortable with buying books online as they are with buying it from a traditional bookstore. They feel like the digital version would deprive them of stumbling onto a new discovery. But if you've never tried to buy books online, you maybe missing out on a lot.
The best buy for books are often found online. Listing them in classifieds or online stores cuts the cost of the seller. As such, they can price their inventory lower. The Book Abyss takes the initiative of giving standing discounts that even let you save more.
Related items are another feature you might discover in most online sites that let you buy or browse available books online. It can lessen your time when looking for books of the same topic.
Over the past few years we have found that consumers are becoming more comfortable buying their books online. A major advantage to the customer is the range of books you can browse at an online bookshop. In a conventional bookshop you may have immediate access to a few thousand titles, however some online stores have a database of over one million titles and although its true that these books are also available at conventional stores, they simply don't have the space to display them like an online store does.
Finally, one thing that a traditional bookstore cannot offer you but The Book Abyss can is easy access to consumer reviews, book reviews and author biographies. If you want to find out if a lot of people like the book, its now possible to get that information with a click of your mouse. Some online stores even have their own star ratings to help guide you with your purchase.
In her useful new book, Gillian Tett of The Financial Times writes that the global financial meltdown, which economists estimate could result in total losses from $2 trillion to $4 trillion, was "self-inflicted." Unlike many banking crises, she adds, "this one was not triggered by a war, a widespread recession, or any external economic shock." Rather, the "entire financial system went wrong as a result of flawed incentives within banks and investment funds, as well as the rating agencies; warped regulatory structures; and a lack of oversight."
Australia's largest annual promotion of books and reading, Books Alive, will encourage everyone to get reading this September with a give away of '10 Short Stories' OR'grug Learns To Read' and a national television campaign.
The 50 Books You Can't Put Down guide will continue to be the centrepiece of the campaign. The list of 50 of the years best books - including 26 fiction, 14 non fiction and 10 children's titles - will be available soon!
readers who purchase any of the 50 books you can't put down from The Book Abyss Online Bookshop will receive a free copy of the specially commissioned '10 Short Stories You Must Read This Year' written by some of Australia's leading authors in Robert Drew, Anita Heiss, Toni Jordan, Tom Keneally, Kathy Lette, Monica McInerney, William McInnes, Melina Marchetta, Jack Marx and Peter Temple.
Alternatively buyers may choose to receive a free new children's book from the popular GRUG series, also especially commissioned for Books Alive 2009.
A series of television commercials is being produced featuring several high profile ambassadors, including the inimitable TV great Michael Parkinson and iconic author Tom Keneally.
Books Alive 2009 will run in the first month of spring with some fresh new developments. Now in it's eighth year, books Alive has directly resulted in an estimated extra 1.4 million books being read!
Watch this space for further details as they come to hand.
Aussie Chef Donna Hay knows about culinary success but don't expect the bestselling writer and editor to embrace online social networks to reach a new network of fans.
"I'm not a Face booker at all," she says.
And she teases her staff, who would love to see her sign up for Twitter, so she can post updates for the world about what she's doing. It's not that she doesn't love her readers. The problem is, she says, she just doesn't have anything exciting to say.
"Twitter alert! I'm just going out to get some lunch! Twitter alert--ladder in my stocking," she says with a laugh. "I'm a working mom. What am I going to Twitter about? 'Oh, hi, I just ran into Kylie Minogue having breakfast'?"
What's more likely is that she's flat-out working. She's the author of 17 cookbooks, which have sold more than 3.3 million copies in nine languages around the world. She has an eponymous magazine, which has more than 373,000 readers.
Last month, she opened a shop, Donna Hay General Store, in Sydney, where she sells her own line of dishes, cookie and brownie mixes, as well as pretty aprons, tea towels, cleaning products and other "things I love."And she has two boys, ages three and six. So it's probably not surprising that her just-released new book is titled No Time to Cook: Fresh and Easy Recipes for a Fast For-ward World.
"This book is probably the biggest reflection on my personal life, having two young boys and still liking to cook when I get home," she says. "Even though I do it for a job, I still really love it, and I want to cook great meals that taste fantastic."
In fact, many of the recipes in the book have become family favourites. Her husband loves the Chinese chicken hot pot ("I have to make that one at least once a week") and her boys love the zucchini pasta pictured on the cover. As for the flourless chocolate cake?
"It's to die for," she says. "The trick is it was tested 50 times. Before you put it in the oven, you cover the whole thing with tinfoil so it cooks evenly. It gets this velvety gorgeous, mousse-y, fudgey taste."
Hay, 39, has been cooking since she was eight years old. By the time she was 25, she was the food editor of Marie Claire magazine, where she carved out a reputation for both her tasty recipes and her elegant styling --lots of white backgrounds, fresher-than-fresh vegetables and simple, fast dishes.
Yes, even when she started her career, she recognized the value of eating well when you haven't much time to prepare. And these days, time is even more precious. That's why she recommends cooking as much as you can in one pot; you'll have fewer dishes to clean after dinner. Use your barbecue; again, that means "one less thing to have to wash when you're watching the kids jump off the back deck," she says with a laugh. Prepare in advance, and use fresh ingredients.
That, she says, is what makes so much Australian cuisine so outstanding. " The thing that stands out to me most here (in Australia) is that the base produce that you have to start out with is amazing. That's what makes the difference, really...the fish markets, fresh herbs, fresh produce, great meat and delis." And, one could add, a great cookbook or two, as well.
Do you know the true identity of your favorite author?
What do Mark Twain, Ayn Rand, Jack Higgins, Lewis Carroll, George Orwell, John le Carre and James Rollins have in common? First, they're all great writers. Second, those are all fake names.
Many authors take up "pen names", or pseudonym, but why? Throughout history, some authors have chosen to write under a pen name or pseudonym for a variety of reasons. French philosopher Francois Marie Arouet (1694-1778) wrote under a number of pen names, his most famous one being Voltaire. He used a pen name because his political views kept him in constant threat of imprisonment and exile from France.
Women like Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson, better know as Henry Handel Richardson or the Bronte sisters Anne, Charlotte and Emily who wrote as Acton, Currer and Ellis Bell did so in order to get published in what was then a male dominated industry. Female writers were not taken seriously and in some cases refused publication all together.
Over the years the reasons for adopting a pseudonym has become wide and varied. Authors like Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski may have wanted a simpler, more memorable pen name when he chose to write as Joseph Conrad. Others like Nicci Gerard and Sean French who pen british crime fiction wanted to write under one name, thus 'Nicci french' was created.
Stephen King, C S Lewis or Nora Roberts may have been trying to escape their genre when they published as Richard Bachman, N.W. Clerk and J D Robb respectively.
The French author Romain Gary is the only author to win the Prix Goncourt twice, once under his real name, and once under his pen name Émile Ajar.
No matter the reason, Pen names are here to stay. Check out the list below to see if your favorite author is leading a secret life.
-----------Real Name----------- ---Pen Name---
John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris --------------- John Wyndham Agatha Christie --------------------------------------------------------- Mary Westmacott François-Marie Arouet ------------------------------------------------ Voltaire Pauline Phillips and Jeanne Phillips ----------------------------- Abigail Van Buren (Dear Abby) Samuel Langhorne Clemens --------------------------------------- Mark Twain Alice Sheldon ------------------------------------------------------------ James Tiptree, Jr Daniel Handler ----------------------------------------------------------- Lemony Snicket Paul M. A. Linebarger ------------------------------------------------ Cordwainer Smith Theodor Seuss Geisel ------------------------------------------------ Dr. Seuss Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson ---------------------------- Henry Handel Richardson Leonard Knapp ----------------------------------------------------------- Lester del Rey Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum -------------------------------------- Ayn Rand Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore ------------------------------------ Lewis Padgett Eric Arthur Blair --------------------------------------------------------- George Orwell Robert Beck -------------------------------------------------------------- Iceberg Slim Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, and Victoria Holmes ------------ Erin Hunter C. S. Lewis --------------------------------------------------------------- Clive Hamilton and N.W. Clerk Isaac Asimov ------------------------------------------------------------- Paul French Nicci Gerard and Sean French ------------------------------------- Nicci French Cecil Smith ---------------------------------------------------------------- C. S. Forester Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski ------------------------------- Joseph Conrad Tony Karayianni and Lori Schlachter Karayianni ------------ Tori Carrington Charles Dickens ------------------------------------------------------- Bozz Emily Brontë, Charlotte Brontë & Anne Brontë -------------- Ellis, Currer & Acton Bell Stephen King ----------------------------------------------------------- Richard Bachman
Packaging says a lot about an online book seller. The care taken in packaging a book tells the customer that the item was cared for and has value.
We start with a final inspection. We flip through the pages to ensure that there are no obvious production faults and take care of any sticker residue that may have been on the cover. It's important that the book match the description on the website. If the cover design is different to the one shown we contact the customer to let them know. It's better to deal with any discrepancies or inaccuracies sooner than later. Customers appreciate that you are forthcoming and it is an opportunity to establish trust.
I know the majority of online book sellers don't bother, but we wrap the book/s entirely in bubble wrap. This serves two purposes, the first being an added cushion against rough handling, the second as a waterproof cover in case the book is delivered on a wet day. You would be amazed at the number of times we have ordered items from an online store only to have them damaged or destroyed by rain.
Then, depending on the size of the book, we use a padded bag or a purpose made cardboard book box to package the book/s in.
We care about the books as much as the customer and know what it's like to receive a much anticipated package only to discover its damaged. As yet (touch wood), in all our years of operation we have not had one book returned because it was damaged in transit.
For a so-called dying industry, publishing looked pretty alive at this year's BookExpo America (BEA) in New York City. Somebody must have forgotten to tell the attendees who often crowded the aisles and booths, and packed LJ/SLJ's Librarians' Lounge, or many of the exhibitors who reported the show was better than they'd expected. There's barely a confab around (and certainly not an American Library Association conference) in which exhibitors don't complain about bad location, low traffic, and more. And given the state of the publishing industry, with poor book sales, high returns, layoffs, and other grim news, though that could describe any number of sectors in our current dysfunctional economy, the show seemed remarkably upbeat. That was due to a robust combination of the books themselves and the many formats in which they're now available.
'It is pointless to say that this or that night was the worst of my life. I have so many bad nights to choose from that I've made none the champion'.
This is the line that reverberates around my head from Yann Martel's masterpiece 'The Life Of Pi'.
Piscine 'Pi' Molitor Patel is an Indian boy from Pondicherry who after exploring issues of religion and spirituality, has to draw on what he has learned to survive 227 days in a lifeboat after the ship he was travelling on suddenly sinks at sea.
Pi is not your average Indian teenager. The son of the Pondicherry zoo keeper, Pi spends his days learning about working with and raising exotic animals. He has an insatiable appetite for learning and concurrently explores and converts to Christianity, Islam and Hinduism, taking what he need from each to help him understand his life, his family and himself.
According to Kim Terakes, when it comes to cooking, the needs of the Great Aussie Bloke are simple. He wants food that tastes great, makes him look good and doesn't take all day and numerous trips to the shops to prepare.
With over 120 tried-and-true recipes, this is a book for every man at every stage of this life: the 20-year-old who's just left home; the family man whose wife is busy running a small nation; the divorcee whose spare cash is going in maintenance; or the sports fiend wanting to feed his mates while watching a Significant Sporting Events on the telling.
Kim takes us on a whirlwind tour around the kitchen. We start with the basics - survival food for home-leavers, comfort food for hangovers, quick and tasty numbers for school nights - before moving on to the sort of sophisticated offerings (think souffles and beef fillet) that will impress Aunty Mavis as much as they will the gorgeous girl from Accounts who amazingly agreed to a date. Other useful tips include how to use a knife without ending up in Emergency, the rules of matching food with wines (there are none) and reasons to avoid tablecloths.
Beautifully photographed and written with wit, warmth and the odd tasteless quip, this book will help you, or the man in your life, experience the fun and adventure of cooking and the pleasure of serving good food for others to enjoy.
Abercrombie returns to the blood-drenched arena of the First Law trilogy (The Blade Itself, etc.) with this skillfully crafted and bleakly humorous sword and sorcery adventure. Duke Orso imagines that he can become king by ending the civil wars that have devastated Styria, but he errs by trying to kill his overly popular general, mercenary Monza Murcatto. Recovering from her massive injuries and mourning her murdered brother, Monza vows vengeance on Orso and half a dozen of his accomplices. Employing her own motley crew of death dealers, Monza gets her revenge, but it's neither simple nor satisfying; each target requires fresh strategy, and each death has unexpected effects. Abercrombie is both fiendishly inventive and solidly convincing, especially when sprinkling his vivid combat scenes with humor so dark that it's almost ultraviolet.
The Road - A searing, post-apocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy's masterpiece.
Read the book before you go to see the Movie!
Winner of The Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2007, this is the story of a father and son walking alone through burned America, heading through the ravaged landscape to the coast. It has been hailed as: 'the first great masterpiece of the globally warmed-generation. Here is an American classic which, at a stroke, makes McCarthy a contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature...
An absolutely wonderful book that people will be reading for generations' Andrew O'Hagan Harvey Weinstein's film is to be released on 16 January 2009 with an all-star cast including Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Robert Duvall and introducing major new young talent, Kodi Smit McPhee with a soundtrack by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.
'A work of such terrible beauty that you will struggle to look away' - Tom Gatti, "The Times".
'So good that it will devour you, in parts. It is incandescent' - Niall Griffiths, "Daily Telegraph".
'You will read on, absolutely convinced, thrilled, mesmerized. All the modern novel can do is done here' - Alan Warner, "Guardian".
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged, nuclear landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is grey. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food - and each other.
The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, "each other's world entire", are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.
In the Sanctuary of Outcasts - A Life Changing Memoir.
Daddy is going to camp. That's what I told my children. A child psychologist suggested it. "Words like prison and jail conjure up dangerous images for children," she explained. But it wasn't camp . . .
Neil White, a journalist and magazine publisher, wanted the best for those he loved. Nice cars, beautiful homes, luxurious clothes. He loaned money to family and friends, gave generously to his church, and invested in his community, but his bank account couldn't keep up. Soon White began moving money from one account to another to avoid bouncing checks. His world fell apart when the FBI discovered his scheme and a judge sentenced him to serve eighteen months in a federal prison.
But it was no ordinary prison. The beautiful, isolated colony in Carville, Louisiana, was also home to the last people in the continental United States disfigured by leprosy. Hidden away for decades, this small circle of outcasts had forged a tenacious, clandestine community, a fortress to repel the cruelty of the outside world. It is here, in a place rich with history, where the Mississippi River briefly runs north, amid an unlikely mix of leprosy patients, nuns, and criminals, that White's strange and compelling journey begins. He finds a new best friend in Ella Bounds, an eighty-year-old African American double amputee who had contracted leprosy as a child. She and the other secret people, along with a wacky troop of inmates, help White rediscover the value of simplicity, friendship, and gratitude.
Funny and poignant, In the Sanctuary of Outcasts is an uplifting memoir that reminds us all what matters most.
If anyone opens a vampire bar, they better name a drink after Charlaine Harris. Heck, they better ship the profits to the author, who for the last decade has been penning the Sookie Stackhouse series about northern Louisiana's undead.
Harris' series (a.k.a. Southern Vampire series) has been adapted into HBO's "True Blood" by "Six Feet Under" creator Alan Ball. The story is set in Bon Temps, a fictional northern Louisiana town near Shreveport. A minor portion of the first season was filmed locally.
Sookie is a telepathic barmaid who falls in love with a vampire named Bill Compton. Their relationship stands on the brink of two worlds: one of mundane rural Louisiana drenched in sweat, fear and superstition, and the other of mysterious bloodsuckers torn between ancient tradition and mainstream assimilation. (If your taste in mythological creatures is more varied, rest assured the books include werewolves, shape-shifters, witches and quirky humans.)
Some of the details are pretty witty too. Vampires and mortal drinks at Merlotte's, the Bon Temps bar where Sookie works. Vampires order synthetic blood, bottled under the brand TruBlood, and have it served warm. (Fifteen seconds in the microwave tastes best.)
Though writers have long capitalized on New Orleans' supernatural mystique, Harris surprisingly doesn't find much that's gothic about northern Louisiana.
"That's what's fun about it," Harris said. Sookie "is pretty much my imagination."
Harris has invented a world where vampires are becoming part of the fabric of American life. The cross-creatural conflicts are laden with mystery, power struggles, blood, betrayal, equality themes, violence, and, sometimes, sex.
Vampires have become so "outed" in Harris' world that Sookie begins the ninth and latest book in the series ? "Dead and Gone" ? by watching a reality TV show about vampires
Observes the narrator in "Dead and Gone," "I paused in the act of tying my shoe to watch what happened next as the two vampire fashionistas burst in the on the hapless victim ? oh, excuse me, the lucky vampire who was about to get an unsolicited makeover."
The modern re-imagining of the vampire legend earned Harris some serious attention. "Dead and Gone" spent a week in May as No. 1 on the New York Times hardcover bestsellers list. (It's now No. 3, while three of her titles are on the mass market paperback list.)
"I never expected to make the list," Harris said modestly. "To be No. 1 is real significant."
The series wasn't always so popular, though. It wasn't easy to get a publisher to bite on the first book.
"I had a very hard time selling that. Editors just didn't get it," Harris said. Was it mystery? Was it romance? Was it fantasy? They couldn't find a shelf for it. "It took a long time for somebody to realise that it was something really new and different."
The series has introduced Sookie to a new pack of readers, and Harris has noticed a difference in tastes. TV fans are dirtier.
"They are a little more interested in the sexual aspects, because that's played up so much more in the TV series than the books," Harris said. "They are fixated on who Sookie is going to end up with."
While the TV series celebrates the sultry, Harris doesn't fault it for it.
She's pretty overwhelmed to see her imagination adapted for the small screen.
"I trusted Alan to retain the spirit of the book and I think he certainly has," Harris said. Season one was based on book one, "Dead Until Dark." Season two loosely follows book two, "Living Dead in Dallas."
What impresses Harris is the show's vision and meticulous set dressings, especially as seen in Merlotte's bar where many scenes take place. "I was completely, so astonished at the richness of it."
If you're coming to the Sookie Stackhouse books anew, Harris has some advice for strict genre readers.
"If they are coming from the romance field, they need to know that not all my books have sex in them, though all the books do have relationships," Harris said. "Almost all of them are pretty violent. "» It comes from someplace inside me."
As this Times story was based on a phone interview, we could not verify the author's pulse. Get your books signed Saturday at your own risk.
Vampires have become so "outed" in Harris' world that Sookie begins the ninth and latest book in the series ? "Dead and Gone" ? by watching a reality TV show about vampires.
Observes the narrator in "Dead and Gone," "I paused in the act of tying my shoe to watch what happened next as the two vampire fashionistas burst in the on the hapless victim ? oh, excuse me, the lucky vampire who was about to get an unsolicited makeover."
The modern re-imagining of the vampire legend earned Harris some serious attention. "Dead and Gone" spent a week in May as No. 1 on the New York Times hardcover bestsellers list. (It's now No. 3, while three of her titles are on the mass market paperback list.)
"I never expected to make the list," Harris said modestly. "To be No. 1 is real significant."
The series wasn't always so popular, though. It wasn't easy to get a publisher to bite on the first book.
"I had a very hard time selling that. Editors just didn't get it," Harris said. Was it mystery? Was it romance? Was it fantasy? They couldn't find a shelf for it. "It took a long time for somebody to realise that it was something really new and different."
The series has introduced Sookie to a new pack of readers, and Harris has noticed a difference in tastes. TV fans are dirtier.
"They are a little more interested in the sexual aspects, because that's played up so much more in the TV series than the books," Harris said. "They are fixated on who Sookie is going to end up with."
While the TV series celebrates the sultry, Harris doesn't fault it for it.
She's pretty overwhelmed to see her imagination adapted for the small screen.
"I trusted Alan to retain the spirit of the book and I think he certainly has," Harris said. Season one was based on book one, "Dead Until Dark." Season two loosely follows book two, "Living Dead in Dallas."
What impresses Harris is the show's vision and meticulous set dressings, especially as seen in Merlotte's bar where many scenes take place. "I was completely, so astonished at the richness of it."
If you're coming to the Sookie Stackhouse books anew, Harris has some advice for strict genre readers.
"If they are coming from the romance field, they need to know that not all my books have sex in them, though all the books do have relationships," Harris said. "Almost all of them are pretty violent. "» It comes from someplace inside me."
As this Times story was based on a phone interview, we could not verify the author's pulse. Get your books signed Saturday at your own risk.
US author Marilynne Robinson has been awarded the 30,000-pound ($61,000) Orange Prize for Fiction, which honours work by female writers from around the world.
At a ceremony in London, the judges described the Pulitzer Prize winner's latest novel Home as "exquisitely crafted."
The novel - Robinson's third in nearly 30 years - tells the story of Jack, the prodigal son who returns home after 20 years looking for refuge and hoping to make peace with his past.
"A kind, wise, enriching novel, exquisitely crafted. We were unanimously agreed - it is a profound work of art," said panel chairwoman Fi Glover.
Robinson fought off competition from first-time novelist Samantha Harvey, Americans Ellen Feldman and Samantha Hunt, Irish writer Deirdre Madden and Pakistani-British author Kamila Shamsie to win the 14th Orange Prize.
Robinson won the Pulitzer and the National Book Critics Circle Award for her novel Gilead in 2004.
Her first novel, Housekeeping (1981), was also critically acclaimed.
She has in addition written two works of non-fiction, Mother Country and The Death Of Adam.
Asked about the value of a woman-only prize, Robinson said it could act as a "corrective to a tendency to treat books written by men more seriously than books written by women."
This was less of a problem now than in the past, she said, adding that the quality of the Orange Prize meant "good attention is brought to good books."
Adapted by Anna-Maria Monticelli from the Booker Prize Winning novel by Nobel Laureate J.M. Coetzee, Disgrace is directed by Steve Jacobs and features Academy Award® nominee John Malkovich as Professor David Lurie. The film was partly funded by the SAFC and did its sound post production in Adelaide.
In 1999, Disgrace won the second Booker Prize for Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee. The novel, set in post apartheid South Africa, struck a chord around the world as a powerful work, dealing with complex characters, emotions and sexual encounters. The film won the International Critics Award at the Toronto Film Festival.
Writer/Producer Anna-Maria Monticelli sees the novel as "extraordinary, brave and real". Having been born in Morocco herself, Anna Maria always wanted to make a film in Africa, and read widely among African writers. Her response to Disgrace was "organic and immediate".
Director Steve Jacobs enthuses "Anna-Maria felt this would make a powerful film, and I agreed it was a fantastic novel, so we set about securing the option and rights".
Born in Tangier, Morocco. Anna-Maria migrated with her family to Australia from Rome in the early sixties and grew up in Whyalla (her family now live in Adelaide). She started her film career as an actress and appeared extensively in film and television, winning the Best Actress AFI Award for Silver City in 1984. She then moved on to writing and producing and this is her second collaboration with director Steve Jacobs: their first feature was La Spagnola in 2001.
Disgrace will be released throughout cinemas on June 18, 2009.
Alice Munro wins 2009 Man Booker International Prize.
Canadian short story writer is third writer to win prize
Alice Munro is today, 27 May 2009, announced as the winner of the third Man Booker International Prize.
The Man Booker International Prize, worth £60,000 to the winner, is awarded once every two years to a living author for a body of work that has contributed to an achievement in fiction on the world stage. It was first awarded to Ismail Kadaré in 2005 and then to Chinua Achebe in 2007.
Best known for her short stories, Munro is one of Canada's most celebrated writers. On receiving the news of her win, she said, ?I am totally amazed and delighted.'
The judging panel for the Man Booker International Prize 2009 is: Jane Smiley, writer; Amit Chaudhuri, writer, academic and musician; and writer, film script writer and essayist, Andrey Kurkov. The panel made the following comment on the winner:
?Alice Munro is mostly known as a short story writer and yet she brings as much depth, wisdom and precision to every story as most novelists bring to a lifetime of novels. To read Alice Munro is to learn something every time that you never thought of before.'
Her latest collection of short stories, Too Much Happiness, will be published in October 2009. Alice Munro will receive the prize of £60,000 and a trophy at the Award Ceremony on Thursday 25 June at Trinity College, Dublin.
Author Will Elliott reveals psychotic side in memoirs
Australian author Will Elliott got tired of telling people that his first novel, about a schizophrenic clown, was not autobiographical, so he wrote about what it's really like to deal with the illness in a memoir.
Filled with dark humor and honest insights, "Strange Places" details the 30-year-old's journey through the drugs, the delusions and insights that psychosis, and recovery, bring. The book was published in May.
Elliott, who has won several awards for his fiction, had to drop out of law school at the age of 20 after being diagnosed with schizophrenia.
He wrote his critically acclaimed debut novel, "The Pilo Family Circus" which was published in Australia in 2006, while recovering from a psychotic episode.
Elliott says he hopes his memoir will help people newly diagnosed with schizophrenia and those who care for mentally ill patients. He spoke to Reuters recently about why writing is a form of therapy.
Q: Why did you chose to write about schizophrenia?
A: "Early on, when I was diagnosed and before I considered writing, it occurred to me that I would have enjoyed seeing what someone who had been there say what it was like. The only people I was talking to were doctors and case workers, people who mean well, but put it into terms that are foreign and sound strange to someone just coming out of the chaos of a psychotic episode."
Q: Have attitudes toward schizophrenia changed?
A: "I believe so, in a big way, especially as far as treatment goes. I think we understand the illness a lot more now than we did back in the days of electric shock. It's still a very mysterious phenomenon."
Q: Have you ever felt discriminated against?
A: "I actually haven't. I might have been lucky in that I just had people around me that were very understanding. However it's not something I'm very comfortable talking about it.
"It was always a fear of mine, if I was ever meeting parents of a potential girlfriend, that I would have to disclose this fact at some point, and that it would be a deal-breaker kind of thing. But I think I've been extremely lucky in that sense."
Q: When you were writing "The Pilo Family Circus" you had just been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Do you think the psychotic episode influenced the characters in the book?
A: "I do think some of the more delirious aspects of psychotic symptoms probably did help attribute to aspects of the book."
Q: Why did you write your memoirs so early in your life?
A: "I could get hit by a bus tomorrow and not get a story out and I think this one is more important than any fictional story. I wrote of a lot of the content for this book before I became an author, but I thought people would take a lot more notice if there would be something to latch on to, otherwise I would just be some anonymous mental patient, and who cares."
Alright all you Twilight fans! The official board game based on the Stephenie Meyer smash hit is here!
Now you and your friends can live the experience the excitement of being vampires and werewolves when you play the Twilight movie board game. Play as Bella & Edward or James & Victoria as Bella is hunted by the nomads through the woods of Olympic Peaks. The Twilight game is available NOW!
Players will roll the dice and play in different scenes with the eventual goal being to reach the prom.
The studio has picked up the movie rights to the popular children's book series from Classic Media with the aim of making a live-action family film.
Created by illustrator Martin Handford, the books featured Waldo dressed in a red-and-white shirt, wearing glasses and carrying a walking stick as he popped up in crowded full-page scenes.
The books began in the late 1980s in the United Kingdom - where the protagonist is called Wally - before becoming a worldwide sensation.
The books became more thematically complex over the years, with Waldo travelling through time or landing in supernatural settings, and a nemesis was introduced - an anti-Waldo named Odlaw.
The film project will be produced by Chris Meledandri's Illumination Entertainment.
The material previously was set up at Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon, where John Schultz planned to direct a script that had been worked on by screenwriters Adam Rifkin, Adam Cooper and Bill Collage.
The plot of that project revolved around a 30-year-old Waldo who travels through time after accidentally activating a malfunctioning travel machine.
Paramount recently ended its involvement in the project and the rights to Waldo have been bouncing around, with several studios in the running.
Meledandri spearheaded the push to bring it to Universal, where Illumination, which has an animation bent, is based.
The trailer for "New Moon," the next movie in the "Twilight" series, premiered on Sunday night's live telecast of the MTV Movie Awards.
So, here we go with the "New Moon" trailer. The movie hits theaters in November.
A smart move by the "Twilight" franchise people, albeit an interesting one. They capitalized on their market by dropping it while everyone in their demographic was fixed to their televisions. MTV also wins here, with presumably higher ratings. The only loser here is whichever "Meet Joe Black" movie the studio would have hooked this trailer onto.
THIS IS WATER, subtitled Some Thoughts, Delivered On A Significant Occasion, About Living A Compassionate Life, is a publication of the address David Foster Wallace delivered to students at Kenyon College, Ohio, in 2005. It is the first of Wallace's posthumous works - he hanged himself in September, aged 46 - but not the last. Already his unfinished novel, The Pale King, is slated for publication next year. Who knows - Wallace's output, like Jimi Hendrix's, might end up being larger post- than pre-demise.
The Kenyon College address has been distributed feverishly since September. The author of Infinite Jest is widely regarded as the greatest writer of this generation and his loss is felt so keenly - in the sense of having lost the works readers were anticipating - that it is only natural that publishers would seek to staunch the bleeding with "new" works.
This Is Water, as a publication, is unWallace-like. One of the distinctions of his writing is its resistance to compression. His sentences are flowing and convoluted and often spin off a hypertext of footnotes and asides. Infinite Jest is famously long, and even his short stories feel lengthy and hard-packed. Wallace rebelled against conciseness: he ran from glibness or sound bite. His writing challenges readers to go with him for the long haul, enter the full complexity of his processes, and finally enjoy the rewards. It is irreducible.
His Kenyon College address, as printed here, is reformatted at one sentence a page - almost like a commonplace book or a desk calendar. The reader is invited to sit back and digest and reflect, as if Wallace were delivering a set of aphorisms rather than a speech.
The kneejerk reaction is one of protective outrage. How could they have done this to him? Are they trying to repackage him as Mitch Albom? How can his wife and parents have allowed this travesty? The reaction lasts about 20 pages, or as long as it takes to realise that Wallace's speech was targeted at kneejerk reactions or, as he called them, "default settings". He begins:
"There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, 'Morning, boys. How's the water?' And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, 'What the hell is water?' "
In this speech Wallace picked away at the obvious - the things that are too large in our lives and too close to notice. He argued that our blindness to the obvious, our assumptions, our default settings and our reflex reactions, are what deprive us of the full richness of living. He urges his audience to be conscious - to question everything they think and not allow themselves to slip into habitual emotions and rigidity of thought.
He gives an example: the frustrations of crowded after-work shopping, catching himself sliding into a morass of misanthropic assumptions about people getting in his way - and asking if perhaps his assumptions are wrong.
"If I don't make a conscious decison about how to think and what to pay attention to, I'm gonna be pissed and miserable every time I have to food shop, because my natural default setting is that situations like this are really all about me . and it's going to seem for all the world like everybody else is just in my way ."
Compassion relies on imagination, an empathetic leap into why someone else pushes into the queue in front of you, what is going on in their life that causes them to take an extreme step. Perhaps they're not just created for the purpose of obstructing you. Compassion relies on not seeing yourself as the central actor in the human drama. But it costs effort to do so and this is the effort Wallace exhorts.
The effort, in this case, is to fend away the reflexive outrage and take the words for what they are. Where the speaker is a rare genius, cavils about the manner and motive of the particular publication fade. The same questions will be raised and the same tussle fought when The Pale King comes out. But in the end all we have left of Wallace is the words and when the words are golden the attitude that comes over this reader is less defensive than grateful.
