Sad news in the writing world

Sad news for the writing world, in the past month two prolific writers died. Michael Crichton and Tony Hillerman. Michael Crichton, author and movie director lost his fight against cancer, and died on November 4th. Tony Hillerman, author, journalist, teacher and World War II hero, died October 26th of pulmmonary disorder. I have enjoyed reading both of these authors, and their passing saddens me.

Nobel prize for literature

This past Thursday the Nobel prize for literature was awarded to Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio. A French author that writes international stories with a social theme. I have not had the opportunity to read him, so I can not provide you with much information. To quote the judges, he is "an author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilisation." Few of his works have been translated into English, and are not readily available in the United States. But now that he has one the Nobel, I imagine that will change.

Odd Thomas, Dean Koontz

While at the American Library Association in Anaheim last summer I had the opportunity to listen to Dean Koontz. He was promoting his latest Odd Thomas novel Odd Hours. I have always equated Dean Koontz with scary and horror, but his talk had me laughing from start to finish. So does his Odd Thomas series. While dealing with the supernatural Odd comes across as an ordinary fellow with unusual acquaintances. He can see the dead, but he can’t talk to them. Instead of ignoring them, he tries to help them, and maybe bring them justice. Odd also approaches life with a strong streak of the ironic. This mixture has inspired a large fan club of followers. Odd has his own myspace page with mini-webisodes. To view these go to http:www.myspcae.com/deankoontzoddthomas

Character growth

I have just finished Raise the Titanic by Clive Cussler, and posted a review on the website. This is the fourth book in the Dirk Pitt series and the earliest book in the series that I have read. I noticed a distinct difference between the earlier character and the character I am familiar with. Although I liked Raise the Titanic, it was not as much fun as later books. It is a more serious espionage novel than later books. The mark of a good book series is that the characters evolve. Nothing turns me off more in an author than lack of character growth. I can only read so many books in a series where the character continues to make the same mistakes time after time. I applaud Cussler on his character growth of Dirk Pitt over the years.

I have also added an Amy Tan profile to the web site, and an author index to the web site.

CarpeBiblio.com updates

I posted two new book reviews on the website yesterday - Janet Envanovich's Metro Girl and Stuart Pawson's Shooting Elvis.

update

I have not been very active on this blogsite. I have been mucking about in other areas. I have taken up residency on myspace at seaside11. I have also just returned from a trip to Lake Superior. I have posted some pictures of the trip on myspace. Fall semester has just started for us also, and we are in the peak of hurricane season, so things have been rather busy along with the travel.

In the last blog I mentioned that I had purchased Randy Wayne White's cookbook Gulf Coast Cookbook. I have only tried a couple of recipes so far. I tried his curry chicken recipe and his summer squash recipe. I enjoyed both of them. It is my turn to cook this weekend so I plan on trying his red beans and rice recipe.

Sarasota

This past weekend I visited Sarasota. While there, I stopped by an independent bookstore, Circle Books. I enjoyed chatting with the staff, and they were very knowledgeable about there merchandise - a nice change from the chain bookstores. They had a great Florida author collection. I picked up an autographed copy of Tom Corcoran's Key West in Black and White, and a copy of Randy Wayne White's Gulf Coast Cookbook. They also informed us that Doc Ford's Sanibel Rum Bar & Grille had received some good recommendations from their customers. I will have to try it out on my next trip down that way.

BGS

Introduction

During the American Library Conference in Anaheim last month, my friend CB recommended I add a blog to the website. So here it is, this blogs for you CB.

My website carpebiblio.com offers book reviews, and other items of interests for individuals looking for a good book. On this blog I will discuss books that I am reading, and that I don't intend to review. I will also discuss trips taken to book fairs, conferences, and other items that may be of interest to book lovers. For instance, during the American Library Association meeting I attended several author talks, and talked to some of the authors. In upcoming posts, I will write about some of those talks.

BGS