The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake - Aimee Bender

Admittedly, I was lured into this book by the title.  However, after I judged the book by its title, I looked into the premise and it sounded really interesting.  Essentially, the main character is able to taste people's emotions through the food that they've prepared.  Sounds interesting, right?  The problem is that the book didn't really pursue this concept.  In fact, it didn't really seem to go anywhere at all.  It vaguely followed the main character as she moved from childhood to early adulthood.  Despite the lack of focus, it was easy enough to read and entertaining enough.  Just don't expect a great plot.

3/5 Stars.

Closing the Book

Books

(a Guest Post)
I just listened to a CBC Ideas podcast regarding the future of books called Closing the Book.  In the program, they talked about the meteoric rise of eBooks and the slow decline of the dead tree version.  They talked about how eBooks are changing (and will continue to change) publishing, they interviewed people that believed that the printed book would be dead in 15 years, and they had people stating that print would never truly die.  The latter group of people are starting to sound like old cranks to me.  "I don't want to be a part of this new fangled eReading!  You'll have to pry these books from my cold dead hand!"

OK, nobody actually said that, but to me, that is how they are coming across.

I don't believe that the world will convert fully to eBooks in the very near future as I think there will always be a niche market for the physical book.  I do believe that over the next few years however, the eBook will far out pace sales of physical books, just as some of the people interviewed on the Idea's program.  Many of them also think that this will be the end of your local book shop as there will be no need for a bookshop in an ebook world.  This is where my opinions diverge with those who were interviewed in Ideas.

I think that it will be the big chains that will feel the squeeze from the eBook revolution.  Stores like Chapters/Indigo, Borders, or Whitcoulls will lose out because their one advantage over the traditional local bookshop, low prices, will no longer be a factor.  With the high overhead that these book superstores have, they simply will not be able to compete against the likes of Amazon.  This is where I think the local bookshops will gain the upper hand.

Local bookshops have virtually always been owned and operated by book lovers; voracious readers who have, over many years, developed a wealth of tacit knowledge over everything about the written word.  These type of people not only know about the literature itself, but they also delve into various tangential  aspects of literature: author biographies, digging into source materials, learning the ins and outs of the publishing business, etc.  These people are the curators that we will need in the new eBook world; people who can use their knowledge to direct me to new types of literature I may be interested in.   That is one area where I see a need for the local book shop.

Another area that the local bookshop can excel at is in the procurement of real books.  As I said earlier, the written word will never totally go away, so it will be the the responsibility of the local bookshop to acquire the physical books no longer available through the large chain stores: the signed first editions, the ancient leather bound copies, or simply a normal hard cover instead of the virtual book.  Looking into the future, I can also foresee local bookshops providing print-on-demand books for patrons that simply want a physical keepsake.  There is also a benefit that current bookshops do that will never be available in a virtual format, that is having authors give personal readings during their book tours.  Barnes & Nobel is really good at this!

Finally, I can envision a local bookstore partnering with the ebook distributers themselves.  Have you ever tried to get a feel for a book you've never read through an online bookstore?  Some sites will let you read a the first page or two, or sometimes even a random page or two from the book.  I don't know about you, but for me, I often can't get a read (pardon the pun) on the author's style from a couple of pages.  This is where the local bookshops can help out.  Picture a bookshop that has a bunch of eReading devices with virtually every book you can possibly think of.  These devices would be available to all of the bookshop's patrons and would be licensed for in store use only; this would help avoid piracy.  All of the books available on the device would be either free to the bookstore, or at a ridiculously reduced price.  Now, if the consumer wishes to purchase the eBook, based on what he has read while in the bookstore, they can wirelessly purchase the book through the bookstore's network.  The purchase itself would be through a partnership program similar to Amazon's partnership program currently in place.

I've got a Kindle.  I love my Kindle.  I still like books too, and I don't think they're going anywhere...for a while.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot

I wanted to love this book and parts of it I really did.  Perhaps because Rebecca Skloot is a science journalist, it was really the description of the science behind the HeLa (Henrietta Lacks) cells that grabbed me.  It was interesting to learn how HeLa has been used in AIDS and cancer research, as well as how they have helped to advance the field of genetics.  The story of Henrietta herself was actually also well done.  It was when Skloot started to write about Henrietta's children that I struggled a bit more.  There was little to no science here and it read almost like an average fiction book in these parts.  That said, I think this book tells an important story and is worth picking up.  It's a very accessible book that teaches readers a great deal about bioethics.

4 out of 5 Stars.

Little Face - Sophie Hannah

This book was okay and I certainly enjoyed it more than the aforementioned Liars and Saints.  I put it into the category "it is what it is".  In essence, it's a fairly good crime drama that keeps you on your toes.  It tells the story of a mother who returns home only to find her daughter has been replaced with a baby that she doesn't know.  The story is then devoted to solving the mystery through the eyes of two characters: the mother and the police detective.  It was a well written and well paced book.  The only fault is that the characters themselves didn't seem overly well developed.  Nonetheless, a good one to pick up for a plane ride or beach read.

3 out of 5 stars.

Liars and Saints - Maile Meloy

My desire to do this blog post seems to match the feeling I had while I was reading this book.  Ugh...just don't want to do it.  However, in the interest of completeness, here goes.  This is a multi-generational family saga, which in theory sounds fine.  I've read and enjoyed many a book of this ilk.  Mercy Among the Children comes to mind.  My problem with this book seems to have been the religious undertones.  They took me right out of the story.  I didn't find a lot of joy in any of the characters and the incest thing was just plain creepy.  All in all, glad it was a short book and I have it behind me.

1 out of 5 stars.