50 Most Brilliant and Beautiful Coffee Table Books

This article was sent to me by the people at Online Colleges. They discovered my blog (wow! someone discovered me? :) cool) and thought I might find the article to be of interest.

Now, I don't print every suggested topic that comes my way (and I do get my share of suggestions), but I thought this list of the 50 most brilliant and beautiful books for your coffee table was actually interesting.




















(Image owned by Thames & Hudson)

Check it out. Maybe you'll recognize a title or two.

I suppose coffee table books represent one of the last great hopes for the print publishing industry. I can't imagine them being converted to ebook format. Seriously, they're coffee table books, so they're intended to be displayed. What would be the point?

'Drink the Tea' is a Hardboiled Tale of a Poor DC Boy Who Does Good

Review: DRINK THE TEA (Minotaur Books 2010)
Author: Thomas Kaufman

Willis Gidney is a man who started life off on the wrong foot. He was raised in the Washington, D.C. area – the product of years in foster homes and detention centers, as well as the subject of juvenile proceedings as an "at risk" youth. (Unsure of his real identity, he acquired his name from two cops who arrested him.) When the story starts, Gidney is an adult and a private eye, who walks the mean streets where he once ran.

Gidney is hired by jazz musician Steps Jackson to find his missing daughter. Although the daughter has been missing for 25 years, making for a pretty cold trail, Steps is one of Gidney's closest friends, so he feels compelled to take the case.

Gidney manages to track down various people who know the daughter. The investigation takes him all over D.C., which is described with just enough detail to make you feel you're there.

The more Gidney investigates, the deeper he gets in over his head. Little does he know he's dealing with powers much higher than he's ever handled. The dangers become more evident as the story progresses and people start dying.

Gidney is a welcome departure from the usual private eye protagonist, in that he comes from such a poor background. The story is told from an ever-so-slightly jaded point of view, as a result. And the book delves into Gidney's background in enough detail and with enough suspense about his past to keep readers turning the pages to learn more. And Kaufman has a gift for telling Gidney's backstory without bringing the main narrative to a screeching halt.

Kaufman does follow the hardboiled tradition of making Gidney a wise-cracking detective. The narrative is laden with Gidney's clever, sardonic views, which make him even more likable. Gidney's friends also make a compelling cast of characters.

To read the entire review, go to: http://detective-fiction.suite101.com/article.cfm/review-of-drink-the-tea

Book Review Bingo--Bring on the Cliches

This hilarious look at book review cliches goes beyond merely identifying a few--it makes a game of them. Namely, Book Review Bingo.

Now, you can have fun with such book review cliches as "gripping," "lyrical," "nuanced," "haunting," "tour de force" and "fully realized."

And, much to my shame, I'm guilty of actually having used some of these.

Paperbacks and Ebooks

This fascinating article about the creation and history of the paperback novel is a great illustration of how everything old is new again.

Note how the paperback was created to be affordable compared to hardcover books of its day. Also note how profit was made on these books based on sales volume.

Hmm ... anything sounding familiar here?

Decades later, we have ebooks being sold at lower prices than their print counterparts. The lower the price on fiction books, the better, though publishers are balking. However, low price and high sales volume are what publishers should shoot for.

Hey, if you don't believe me, check out my informal study on this matter.

Any questions? :)

The Bookstore of the Future?

I ran across this intriguing video, depicting what may be the bookstore of the future, in a blog post written by someone who feared bookstores would disappear as iPads and other devices supplanted the printed book. (The video and subtitles get cut off on the right, but it's pretty clear what's going on. However, if you'd like to see the full-screen version, just click on the link to the post.)



Interesting concept, isn't it? (And did anyone else notice the brief Harlan Coben product placements? Perhaps he was a silent partner on this project. :)) What's even more interesting is that the video shows bookstores and authors (as well as editors and reviewers) surviving, but mentions nothing about publishers. Hmm ...

Amazon Reviewers Can Be A Tough Audience

As an author who's actually suffered the heartbreak of a one-star Amazon review (ouch! was it really THAT bad??), I couldn't help but be somewhat heartened to see that classic books and authors have suffered at the hands of Amazon reviewers, too. (Of course, most of the authors are dead and don't care. Even so.)

And, OMG--check out this list. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is derided as "sappy" and "cliched." CHARLOTTE'S WEB is dismissed as an "[a]bsolutely pointless book to read," which "should be banned from every school, library, and bookstore in the Milky Way." (Jeez!)

Then the one for THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL by Anne Frank--you'd think this was sacrosanct material here, but you'd be wrong--said: "I didn't like this book because it was boring. That's all that needs to be said. It was very very very very very very very very very very very boring. If you have to read this book shoot yourself first."

Well, damn.

There are even a few one-star reviews of THE BIBLE. Example:

"Man, this book is boring. All this weird stuff happens and it's harder to get into than Lord of the Rings. And what's up with the red writing and the LORD says stuff. All caps = rude, peter paul and mark, whoever the heck you are. And this is just badly written. James Patterson could do better. These apostles need to get a clue and hire a ghost writer. Even Miley Cyrus's manager was smart enough to do that. Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ, indeed."

The article ends on a downbeat note. However, I'm starting to feel a lot better about that one-star review.

'Russian Roulette' Will Spin You Around with Plot Twists

Review: RUSSIAN ROULETTE (Intrigue Publishing 2009)
Author: Austin Camacho

In RUSSIAN ROULETTE, Hannibal Jones is a private eye with problems. A Russian assassin named Alexandr Ivanovich is forcing Hannibal to work for him, by threatening harm to Hannibal's girlfriend Cindy if he doesn't comply. Hannibal takes the case – investigating the background of Dani Gana, an Algerian man engaged to Viktoriya Petrova (the love of Ivanovich's life).

Hannibal's efforts start with Viktoriya's mother, who seems happy with Gana (or, maybe, happy with his money). The closer Hannibal looks into Gana's life, the murkier matters become. Although, at first, Gana appears to be the man he claims to be, Hannibal runs across other sources who seem to suggest otherwise.

As matters progress, the story introduces more Russian characters than a Tolstoy novel. And sultry women who throw themselves at Hannibal from time to time. Complications pile up, and Hannibal must unravel each twisted new lead.

Ultimately, this leads to connections with the Red Mafiya. Things get messy when people start dying and Hannibal must figure out why.

Meanwhile, Cindy is looking at new houses (along with a male realtor who may or may not be trying to move in on her). This development gives Hannibal further incentive to solve the case, get all these Russians off his back and set things straight with his girlfriend.

Read the entire review at: http://detective-fiction.suite101.com/article.cfm/review-of-russian-roulette-a-hannibal-jones-mystery

Ebooks: I'll Miss the Book Covers

One nice thing about print books is they have covers. From a reader's perspective, it can lead to small, serendipitous encounters with people you see on public transit or reading in coffee shops. You see them reading a book you've read before and really liked. You might say something to that person like, "Isn't that a great book?" Or you might be the recipient of such a question.

Another person might have a book you've been thinking about reading. It might spark your interest to see someone (or someones) reading that book. From an author's perspective, it's free advertising. People see someone with your book, they ask about it, the reader gives their opinion (you hope it's a good one :)).

Anyway, covers seem to play a part in spreading word of mouth about a book. But ebooks don't have covers. So how much do people talk to each other about the ebooks they're reading? Frankly, this worries me. (Maybe they blog, Facebook or tweet about it instead? Plus there's online book review sites like GoodReads, Shelfari and Library Thing. Maybe people are posting their opinions to these places. A hopeful thought ... and not quite as casual and easy as simply seeing someone with a book and having a conversation about it.)

This concerns me from both perspectives. As an author, I'd like my books to be visible. As a reader, I like to know what other people are reading.

And then there's the whole author signing thing. What happens to book signings when ebooks become the norm? Not to mention book launches, a subject I've blogged about before.

Oh, brave new world that has such a lack of book covers (and pages to sign) in it.