Fridays Were So Much Better When TGIF Was On

Friday round up, Laura style:

So last week went round up-ly awry, and I apologize. I will make it up to you with compliments. Ahem: the holes in your earlobes ever make me think fondly of the pock-marked landscapes upon the lunar surface. And you blink thrice warned that I can but think of the eyebrows of Richard Nixon covering a hostess of furry Twinkies. Impressed? The Surrealist Compliment Generator comes to the rescue, saving yet another relationship!

Yes, I'm (clearly) back on the train of internet love. But where else would I get the exclusive trailer for Under the Dome? How could you get electric literature without Electric Literature? Why else would the Nook be Barnes & Noble's best seller? Reading is fun in all sorts of mediums, like Kanye West's book of illustrated lyrics (sidebar: for someone who doesn't ever want a book's autograph, he puts out a lot of books), or Ang Lee's interpretation of Life of Pi, or the animated Zeitoun. And apparently costume type period dramas sell books like crazy.

Stephen King also sells books like crazy, and is putting out a graphic novel. And while he's a celebrity who writes books, he's not the kind people have been chatting about when discussing celebrity books killing or supporting publishing. Sarah Palin, with her million plus dollar advance (at least: no one knows!) is exactly what people are talking about. And yes, it's a loose interpretation to call it "Sarah Palin's book," since she didn't technically "write" it, but hey, if Sinclair Lewis ghostwrote, there must be something to it. Question: if I refer to Palin as "Turdsworth," based on her equivalent worth to a turd, is it classy because I'm quoting Byron?

If somehow that's not classy, then I'm out of classy ideas. And I can't even fall back on having good grammar, because that would make me classist and snooty. Also not classy in the new zombie romance anthology. I'm not pleased with this, as it's a slippery slope to zombie erotica (oh God I just thought of a zombie losing a limb mid-coitus and I can't get the image out of my head). And while some people are saying vampires won't die (get it? Because they're undead?)--although Anne Rice is saying angels are the new vampires--I firmly believe the zombie problem should get more attention. That, or Sully "I am awesome at landing planes on the Hudson"'s book should get our monies. Apparently people buy more books when they're cheaper, e-book or Walmart style, but we should really spend all that money on Sully and fighting zombies.

These cheap books might be the death of publishing, book sharing might be the death of publishing, Stephen King is delaying his e-book because e-books are the death of publishing...is anyone else bored of this conversation? I'll tell you how alive publishing is. It is so alive that someone made a list of reasons the novel isn't dying. It's so alive that a whole book festival says so. It is so alive that Isaac Asimov is writing a trilogy from beyond the grave. Robert Jordan isn't technically finishing The Wheel of Time from beyond the grave, but there's a really cute video of how his widow picked the writer.

When you go to pick up your (almost almost almost) last book in the series, remember to practice good bookstore etiquette. If an author is reading, be nice--a lot of energy went into organizing the tour. And don't shove when picking up your free copy of Gregory Maguire's new book.

That's all from this end. See you next week, with more library vandalism and cheap, lazy aggregation.