Saturday by Ian McEwan takes place over the course of one day in London on the day of a protest march against entry into the Iraq War. The main character is a neurosurgeon, and we follow him as moves through his day, witnessing a plane crash, having a run-in with thugs and preparing for a reunion dinner at home with his wife and children. I read one review which compared the book to something from Jane Austen--and the author captures the modern English professional class and the subtle manners present in an Austen novel. It was published in 2003, and it was interesting to read it now in 2007 and watching some predictions about the course in Iraq, and both US and Britain's part (given what happened to Tony Blair).

If only we could turn back time.

Via John Kremer's book marketing blog, this link to Mellisa Lion's article to authors on How to Talk to Bookseller. As a former bookseller, the entire article is spot on--especially Step #1 "Don't treat the bookseller like the help" and Step #10 "Don't treat the bookseller like the help."

Number 10 also applies to editors. You could substitute the word "editor" for "bookseller" and "creating a book" for "bookselling" and the paragraph is still spot on.  

John P. told me about this today. I took a look, and I don't know about this one--Media Predict. It is an online "prediction market" game where you can read book proposals and bid on whether you think the book, music or television concept will be a hit. The purpose is to help media companies find stuff people really want.

I took a look at a few of the proposals for non-fiction titles. If you are an author, I wouldn't suggest putting your intellectual property out in the open like this. What is to prevent another author or publisher coming in and taking your book idea?

If you are an acquiring editor at Touchstone Books, you might want to start looking for another job.

Interesting thread and argument on Amazon blog about Mark Helprin's recent op ed in the New York Times about copyright longevity. There is also a link to Lawrence Lessig's site and a wiki set up to argue against Helprin's arguements.

Did anyone catch the season ender for the Office with the special sneak peek at Evan Almighty? Steve Carell's character was reading Ark Building for Dummies.

WSJ reports that the Beatles are close to a deal to sell their music at online retailers.

I've been reading with some interest the blog posts and articles that were sparked by the elimination of the book review editor for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and have now ballooned into a nasty spat between literary reviewers in print and those upstart blog literary reviewers.

On the Amazon blog, they had a post and a link to an excellent article in the LA Times. You have to register to view the article, but registration is free. From the LA times article...

"This may be a counterintuitive thing to say, given all the gloom and doom we keep hearing about the future of books, but I think we're entering a very robust period for publishing," publisher James Atlas said. "For me, the big problem is not that no one pays attention to books, but that no one pays enough to the books that I publish. There is intelligent book talk going on at so many levels. It includes much more than reviewers and bloggers."

I can relate to that statement--how do I get enough attention for my books?

Of course, the print reviewers don't really concern me much in the technology book business. I'd rather have 10-five star reviews on Amazon from technology readers than one review in a paper by a professional. The only time I've seen the dial move from print was an author profile not a book review.

Just curious...what moves you to purchase a novel? I do take a look at what the NY Times is recommending. However, I usually don't read the very long articles--I would rather spend my time reading the book. Seattle Times also has a good review section in the Sunday paper. What I like about their review section is the lay-out makes the reviews digestible and they do have some local focus.

I find myself wanting short reviews, and recommendations from people I trust and who read the same whacky stuff I do. If I see a title that looks interesting, I add it to my Amazon wish list. I want more Nancy Pearl lists and less long boring essays on books I haven't read yet. I am interested, though, in reading essays about authors I've read. Right now I'm reading books by George Eliot, and I enjoy reading the forewords by professors in the editions I'm reading. I plan on eventually reading a book that talks about her works and literary career and puts them into context.

Holy canoly! Look at this new site for book lovers from Nancy Pearl, the Book Lust Wiki. And don't forget your Nancy Pearl action figure. Mine sits on my bookcase shushing my Ben Franklin action figure.

It has been many, many months since I blogged about my quilts. With the Office and Vista launch I've been pretty busy this year. I have managed over the past few months to finish three more quilts. I pieced all of these, and then Sally Howard machine quilted them.

Quilt #20 I actually finished a few months ago. I made this scrappy tumbler block quilt based on a feature fabric with blues, greens and purples in it. I started the quilt for no particular reason (except I like working with the colors and I wanted to try a scrappy tumbler after buying a tumbler template). Midway through the quilt one of my work colleagues announced she had breast cancer. She went out on leave with chemo and surgery. The colors reminded me of the River and summer nights--she and I grew up in the same town. I'm happy to report she is doing great, back at work, and she beat her cancer before I even finished binding the quilt which I gave her on her return.

Quilt #21 Anna's Quilt. This is for my newest niece and is a scrappy pink, yellow and orange quilt. It came out bright! I've decided I really enjoy making scrap quilts (and luckily I seem to produce more scraps with each quilt I finish). Each center has a seasonal scene or object--Santa, Hearts, Easter eggs, etc. The squares are pieced on top of a muslin base and I learned how to do this stitch & flip method in Jean Wells' book, Patchwork Made Easy. I hope my niece and her big sis will have fun pointing finding the objects.

Quilt #22 I Spy Quilt #2. At some point, I decided instead of making just one quilt at a time, I'd make two similar ones. My goal was to get ahead of my to do list so I can pull out a pre-made quilt for any new occasion--baby shower, graduation, etc. So far, people keep having more babies so it hasn't worked out that way. This is almost the same as a quilt I did for Tayton. It is an I-Spy quilt made up of smaller and larger squares of scraps with scenes and objects. I may just keep this one since my daughter was very partial to it while I was making it. I had a hard time keeping her off of it. I love the bright blue larger border against the cow print small border. Someday I would like to do this with a red border.

I blogged about Endless.com, Amazon's new shoe and handbag service.

I ran into another satisfied customer the other day. One of my friends tried the service and raved about it. "Do you realize what Amazon's done with shoe shopping? This is like internet porn but for women!" 

I learned a number of cool new tricks from taking a read through So That's How: 2007 Microsoft Office System.

Here is one cool trick that Tiffany Songvilay and Evan Archilla must have written just for me.

"Have you ever created a fake appointment just to check on your coworkers' availability? Save time and keystrokes by creating a Group Schedule for quick access to everyone's free/busy information. In Outlook's Calendar view, click Actions, then select View Group Schedules. Click New, name the group, and enter the names into what looks like the scheduling tab of an appointment. When you finish adding the names, click Save And Close. To open the group schedule anytime, click Actions, then View Group Schedules, and open the desired schedule from the list. This is also a great tip for keeping track of all your conference rooms and resources."

I must check calendars several times a day, and I've always done the fake appointment move!

Tiffany and Evan will be giving a free Webcast to promote the book on May 31st.

You can also check out Tiffany's blog here and the book blog here.

Doug Mahugh, a technical evangelist at Microsoft specializing in Office Open XML file formats has some good things to say about Stephanie Krieger's latest book here.

And here is where you can go to find out more about Advanced Office Documents Inside Out.

Check out the magazine Good if you have a chance.

On my first job interview at a publishing house, I was asked what I was reading at the moment. I was reading a book about Hollywood and mentioned that I loved reading books about movies and how they are made. The interviewer asked me if that meant I might want to pursue a career in Hollywood. Uh, no. I like movies and I just like to observe and read about Hollywood, that place is too crazy. Publishing is more me. I enjoyed the Player, but never felt compelled to take a serious part in that sort of lifestyle.

I've always liked reading books about the film, music and even the publishing industries because I'm interested in how the creative process works from start to finish. That is probably why I really enjoyed the book, The Man Who Heard Voices: Or How M. Night Shyamalan Risked His Career On a Fairy Tale.

The book was written by Michael Bamberger who also happens to be a sportswriter. He had unlimited access to Shyamalan during the process of filming Lady in the Water. Being a sportswriter he is a bit removed from the subject, and that outside voice serves the book well.

I love M. Night Shyamalan movies. Even thought the last couple, including Lady in the Water, haven't been among my favorites, I know that this man is going to have an incredible career. Anytime a Night movie comes on cable or other channel, my family stops and watches. I did have to put the kibosh on Signs, though, because for a while it was ALWAYS on cable and my husband ALWAYS watched it. Of course, I loved the Sixth Sense (and I hate ghost stories) and I love Unbreakable. His movies are so spectacularly original.

That is probably why I liked this book so much--it was a great way to get behind the scenes and understand how Night works from start (writing alone and struggling with that process) to turning into the leader/director of the film, always maintaining his vision through.

An interesting touch in the book. The author writes about the dissolution of Night's relationship with Disney over the script for the film. Night walked. The author went back after the film had been shot (with Warner) and talked with the Disney executive. It was very interesting to get Night's POV at the front of the book, and find out what was going on from the Disney side later.

If you are a shoe fan, check out Amazon's latest venture at Endless.com.

I bought a couple sandals including this Clark's pair a few weeks back--and they overnighted them giving me back $5.

Since I know which brands I like and I really hate clothes shopping, this is going to save me time!

The good folks at Take Back Your Time are launching a campaign to get us all a little more time off. Did you know that last year 25% of Americans had no paid vacation and that 43% didn't even take a whole week? You can read the press release here.

"We need to ask a simple question: What's the Economy for, anyway?" said John de Graaf. "Is it just about the Gross Domestic Product or is it to help us lead happy, healthy and sustainable lives? If it's the latter, then vacations are essential. There's no present like the time."

We all need some time to unplug and rejuvenate and vacations are so important.  

I worked for a number of employers when I was younger and each time I moved from job to job--the vacation clock started over. Working retail was the worst. Worst pay, worst benefits including health and vacation. My husband used to be an auto mechanic. Mechanics tend to move from dealer to dealer, and each time they also start over.

Think about this--did you know that in China people get three weeks of vacation? Maybe, like me, you have good vacation benefits. But think about that in terms of the other Americans you run into today--your hair stylist, your teller, your childcare provider, the drive-thru worker, the greeter at the front of big box store. Chances are they don't get three or even two weeks.

Don't we all deserve a vacation?

Congratulations to Mark H. Walker and the team here at Microsoft Press on the publication of Microsoft Office Visio 2007 Inside Out! I believe Mark and I have worked together since 1995 when we did game books together at Prima. Really? Really.

Check out Mark's web page--he is a retired Navy Commander, sci fi author and game designer as well as an author of many Visio books. I just learned from his web site's resume that he has experience in bomb disposal. You think you know someone for over 10 years! :-)

Congratulations to Olga Londer, Penelope Coventry, Todd Bleeker, Bill English and the Microsoft Press team on the publication of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Step by Step!

It is no coincidence that a book on collaboration product could itself be created across boundaries of countries and time zones. Olga and Penelope were in the UK, Bill and Todd in Minnesota, Val, Sandra and the team here in Redmond, our production vendor, CEP is in Ohio.

The previous edition of this book was very successful and as of today this new edition is already #90 on the computer bestsellers on Amazon!

Here's a book that has been climbing up the bestseller charts the past week or so--Send: the Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home by David Shipley and Will Schwable. 

Guy Kawasaki called the book "the Elements of Style" of email. I don't believe I'd go that far. It isn't exactly a reference you can pick up again and again. There is some how-to, but don't expect to learn how to manage your email or how to use an email program. Once you read the book through, you are done. I am impressed with their blurbage on the book--Bill Bryson says, "This is just the book I've been waiting for."

There is some good information here about when to send email (and when to phone), how to write an email, the pitfalls of emotion in email, and how to avoid legal trouble. But as an experienced email user, I didn't learn anything new in the book--except that maybe I'm guilty of being a little casual in my communications. Hey! Hey! Hey! That's who I am. :-) :-) :-) :-P