The Misplaced Fears of Jonathan Franzen; Michelle Obama's Garden Book Delayed
Today in books and publishing: the flawed logic behind Jonathan Franzen's Twitter unease, another Next Harry Potter is crowned, and Michelle Obama's gardening book is now coming out May 29.
RELATED: Jonathan Franzen Signs a Kindle; Pottermore To Launch in April
When Jonathan Franzen doubled-down on his distaste for e-books by calling Twitter "unspeakably irritating" and "the ultimate irresponsible medium" in a speech at Tulane earlier this month, it looked like an open door for one of those tiresome, largely one-sided online discussions about how Jonathan Franzen Just Doesn't Get It. And there's been some of that, but also very interesting and thoughtful essays about literature, Franzen's books specifically, and what it is that makes Twitter so engaging, especially for writers. At Salon, culture editor David Daley suggested Franzen was trying to start a conversation about "the way people should read, for the very meaning of honesty and expression and truth." In a New Yorker blog post, music critic Sasha Frere-Jones admires the fact that Franzen quickly christens Franzen "the Kanye West of fiction: popular, gifted, influential, and willing to make unpopular statements without the intervention of handlers." (The Gary Sheffield of Fiction also would have worked.) But Frere-Jones argues Franzen's logic for distrusting the medium is flawed, because he is "pitching Twitter users against serious readers/writers." That's not the dynamic. The experience is what you make of it, and plenty of authors enjoy sharing their insights and opinions in 140 character chunks. GIFs, fake Twitter accounts, and tumblrs of people looking at things are great, but these voices are "insufficiently similar" to novels and essays -- Franzen's domain -- to render long-form writing obsolete. "You might overdose on unicorn GIFs and go to bed too tired to read Freedom," Frere-Jones explains, "but unicorn GIFs will never replace Freedom." [The New Yorker]
RELATED: An E-Book Armistice; S--- Editors Say
Michelle Obama is a star on the talk show circuit, but when it comes to publishing a book on time, she's a regular Tom Wolfe. For the second time this year, Crown Publishing Group has delayed the release of American Grown, the First Lady's book about the White House organic garden and also "gardens across America." The book was originally scheduled to come out April 12, but Crown bumped it to May 1 back in January. At the time, Crown spokeswoman Tammy Blake tactfully explained that "the production process" was taking longer than anyone anticipated. Now comes word it won't be available until May 29. Said Blake of the latest change: "We just wanted to make it as beautiful as possible." Usually we would take that to mean, "We still need copy from our very busy celebrity author," but the book is 256 pages long and reportedly very photo-heavy, so the need for a last-minute prettifying is certainly plausible. [Obama Foodorama]
RELATED: Frederick the Great Also Wrote Erotic, Overwrought Poems
A joker in San Diego tried to send St. Martin's Press 11 pounds of marijuana, but drug-sniffing dogs identified the contraband before it shipped. Who would do such a thing, and perhaps more intriguingly, why would someone do such a thing? As of now, it's still a mystery: the return The package came was shipped from ABTBooks, a fake company with a phony address. The intended recipient at St. Martin's was one Karen Wright, but The Smoking Gun reports there's nobody there by that name. We suppose it could be some sort of interactive book proposal (one with 11 pounds of pot), but it's moving pretty slowly. The only way it makes sense is if the hypothetical potboiler concerns the high-stakes world of mail fraud. If that's the case, St. Martin's might want to take a look, particularly if there's s a roguish Postmaster General character who plays by his own rules. Could be the start of a series. [The Smoking Gun via Page Views]
RELATED: More Things Jonathan Franzen Hates; Happy Birthday, James Joyce
Today, in the search for The Next Harry Potter™: Puffin paid a rumored seven-figures to acquire a "major new trilogy" of young adult novels from Rick Yancey, author of the well-received Albert Kropp trilogy. The publisher describes the first novel in the series, The Fifth Wave, as "I Am Number Four meets The Hunger Games." Popular thing meets other popular thing comparisons aside, the books are about an alien invasion, and how the teen set responds. [The Bookseller]
RELATED: A Y.A. Lover's Summer Reading List, by Judy Blume, R.L. Stine, and Others
Italian newspaper La Stampa is reporting that Captain Francesco Schettino, captain of the ill-fated Costa Concordia, has landed a book deal with an unnamed American publisher. Terms were mentioned, and we haven't heard an announcement yet from any publisher, American or non. Which means he's either still in talks, or would just very much like someone to give him a book deal. [via Sky News]
