WWW Wednesday – January 10

WWW Wednesday is hosted by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz — be careful what you wish for

Title: The Plot
Author: Jean Hanff Korelitz
Publication: Celadon Books/Macmillan, hardcover, 2021
Genre: Suspense
Setting: Present-day United States

Description: Jacob Finch Bonner had always wanted to be a writer, that is to say, a published author, admired by readers. He did manage to produce The Invention of Wonder, which got mentioned in the New & Noteworthy section of The New York Times Book Review and generated some nice reviews but only modest sales.

My First Reader's Report

When I took the Radcliffe Publishing Course a number of years ago, one of our assignments was to read a manuscript and write a Reader’s Report, just as Editorial Assistants do.  We had to submit the report before the course began.  Unfortunately, I did not like the book (although  I was intrigued that it was set in Peekskill, NY where my mother had lived briefly as a child) and was baffled by the denouement. There was a pivotal scene near the end so I shrugged and wrote something like, “This story could only end in unequivocal death . . .”

Weeks later, we were very excited to have a real editor come from New York to talk to us about the manuscript.  She mingled with us at lunch and seemed very elegant and knowledgeable.   Later we sat outside, clustered around her attentively, and she read the first sentence aloud with great pleasure:

On the day he lost his right foot, Walter Van Brunt had been haunted, however haphazardly, by ghosts of the past.

She waited for us to tell us how brilliant it was but, having read and analyzed it, we were sure she had provided a manuscript from the slush pile to trick us and the intervening weeks had not convinced us otherwise.   I think my classmates piled on the criticism while this pleasant woman grew more and more annoyed with us.   Finally, Lindy Hess, the beloved director of the program turned to me, perhaps hoping I would smooth the waters.  “What did you think?” she asked.   Nervously, I said, “Well, the ending was abrupt but I felt that the violent death was . . . inevitable.”

The editor stared at me, both annoyed and puzzled, and said there was no violent death at the end of the book.  Someone else said, "Yes, there was!"  Then she lost it and told us this book was written by a very talented author and we were all lacking in good taste.  We hung our heads.  It turned out her assistant had sent us an incomplete manuscript: there was a whole missing section/conclusion in which the character in question made a speedy recovery!

The Hating Game (Book Review)

Title: The Hating Game
Author: Sally Thorne
Publication: William Morrow, trade paperback, 2016
Genre: Fiction

Plot: When two publishing companies merge, the co-CEOs manage to hide their hostility and disdain for each other but their executive assistants do not. Wildly competitive and sniping at each other all day, Lucy Hutton is emotional and passionate about the industry while her counterpart Josh Templeton is a disciplined numbers guy. Once a coveted new management position is created and both decide to apply their “hating game” becomes even more intense. But after Lucy and Josh get to know each other outside the office, she wonders if she really hates him - and vice versa . . .

Audience: This is chick lit with dimension and reminded me of books by Kathleen Gilles Seidel and Susan Elizabeth Phillips.

What I liked: I loved The Hating Game from the first page. Hasn’t everyone had a rival at work who, accurately or not, you suspected of watching and sabotaging your every move? Lucy is warm and funny, obsessive about documenting each offense made by Josh, with whom she shares an office (and somehow notices the shade of every shirt he wears as well). She gives him a hard time and he promptly responds to every snide comment; their banter is pretty entertaining. Josh appears to be a genuine villain until, following a corporate game of paintball (ugh, I had to do laser tag once and that was bad enough), Lucy gets sick and he refuses to abandon to her to her misery. Although the reader certainly wants them to get together, I liked that there were genuine obstacles, including not just their work rivalry but complicated family situations to deal with. Both Lucy and Josh are appealing characters (I liked him before Lucy admitted she did) and author Thorne provides some good supporting characters to distract from the fact that the outcome is never in doubt.
ate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

 What I disliked: A small quibble but Bexley & Gamin is not a very convincing publishing company, and Lucy and Josh seem overqualified to be executive assistants, yet not sufficiently experienced to become Chief Operating Officer.

Source: I received a copy of this charming debut novel from TLC Book Tours in return for an honest review. I really enjoyed The Hating Game and can’t wait to see what this talented Australian author writes next.  Follow her on Twitter for news.

The Accident (Book Review)

Title: The Accident
Author: Chris Pavone

Publication Information: Crown Publishers, Hardcover, 2014

Genre: Suspense 

Plot: When New York literary agent Isabel Reed receives the manuscript of a potentially bestselling book, it causes incredible danger for anyone who reads it because it reveals a damaging secret of a powerful media mogul.  For Isabel, in addition to fearing for her life and those she has involved, an added element is that she guesses the identity of the anonymous author. 

B&N at Lincoln Center

Having spent many years working with Barnes & Noble, several of my closest friends are people who were or are employed there and my years in NYC are inextricably connected to it and them. Even if I didn't love books and worry about their future, I would be concerned about the tumult going on in the industry and at B&N in particular. But I wasn't prepared for the acute pang of distress I felt several days ago when I heard the Lincoln Center store will close in January.

It is a store I have spent a lot of time in, and where I have met many authors, including Philip Pullman. I was there the night it opened on Oct. 20, 1995 (with Karen Patterson, and I think our friend Helen), and I remember I saw one of my worst enemies coming up the escalator and hoped she wouldn't ruin my night (she left quickly, too cheap to buy anything). I found a faced out quantity of some classic book on tractors published by Motorbooks, and complained indignantly that whatever car book I had at that time was woefully underrepresented. That was when I learned that tractors are very popular in New York! I never figured that one out - could they all have been gag gifts?

It makes me very sad. Am I the only person up late and worrying about books?

Bargain Hunting for Books

This NYT article about book bargain hunters points out that no industry undermined by its greatest partisans will thrive long. It's true - gone are the days when I happily spent $1,000/year on books (and I don't think that included my law books, which were certainly expensive) and who could love books more than I do?

I alternate between thinking I left publishing at the right time and wishing I were still at Wiley where I could do my job in my sleep - and some of my colleagues surely did. It was a great place in many ways but definitely one of those companies where 10% of the people (mostly sales and editorial) did 90% of the work. And don't even try to get something done on Fridays when quite a few individuals said they were working from home. This would have been more convincing if they ever responded to email. It always annoyed me that my ability to get my job done was negatively impacted by their laziness or desire to spend time with their kids.

My friend Charlotte was interviewed on NPR on the state of the industry.

Buy books for Christmas

It appears I left the publishing industry at the right time (although I can't say that law firms are doing well - half the associates in my office don't have enough work to meet their billable goal this month) but it is very disturbing to read about all the layoffs at publishers that have always been very stable. I hope all my colleagues at Wiley are safe (well, except for anyone who ever dissed me, which - luckily - was few).

Please buy someone a book for Christmas! Make that several someones...

Reading Group Guides

I enjoyed this essay on the Reading Group guides found at the end of the book from last week's NYTBR.

It reminded me of many discussions about said guides over the years, particularly at Avon. Back then, I was the only one in a book group, and I remember explaining to the publisher (an individual with decided ideas and little tolerance for those of others unless they were rock stars he had admired growing up) that whether or not people actually use the guides, they are influenced by their presence when selecting books for their groups. He did not want to copy Ballantine's concept - perhaps admirable but shortsighted. It was not long before everyone was doing it.

I think if the publisher is really trying to grow the author it is likely they will pay for someone to create the questions (which, as seen in the article, may be incredibly obvious or absurd but may be thought provoking) so I was surprised to see that for a while author Julia Spencer-Fleming was somewhat plaintively asking readers on her website if they'd be willing to create one for her! It seemed odd to me that St. Martin's wasn't willing to organize this, and failing that, why couldn't she do it herself? I am a huge fan of her books, and even got distracted while studying for the bar exam when someone at B&N thoughtfully gave me one that was hot off the press. Knowing that JSP is a lawyer herself, I sent her an amusing letter thanking her for giving me a few hours of pleasure during a miserable three months; however, she did not reply, simply added me to her mailing list! Oh well, I am still a fan, and eagerly awaiting I Shall Not Want, coming in June, although I recommend that new readers begin with In the Bleak Midwinter.

Happy Third Birthday to my godson, Nicholas!