Bookmarks Subscribers discussion

Here is an area for posting questions to our fabulous editor...he has agreed to being put to work in the book group, so let's get those questions rolling!

Jon,

What are your three favorite books of all-time?

Stephanie wrote: "Jon,

What are your three favorite books of all-time? "

Ah, so we're starting with the hard question first. :-) I have a lot of complex feelings about this question ... not least of which being the fact that I'm sure I should be picking Joyce's Ulysses or some such pretentious thing.

"All-time" is tough ... all I can really pick are books that meant so much to me at the time I read them that I still feel the impact they made. I think that there are times in your life when you're more open to a book making it onto your all-time list. What's strange/interesting is that I can't say that I've read a book in the last ten years that would make it on the list. But is that because I'm so focused on my kids/family (started about nine years ago) and building the magazine (also started about nine years ago)? I'm reading a lot, certainly ... but my needs from books are different now than they were, say 15-20 years ago. I'm not looking for Answers from books right now ... I'm just trying to keep my head above water, you know?

And I'll fudge my answer to your question by picking 3 fiction and 3 non-fiction. And an honorable mention in each. Sheesh! And, of course, since they're my favorites, they feature young male protagonists ... not as interesting for this women-dominated group?

FICTION
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. The plot is frustrating/irrelevant ... but the sheer intelligence splashed across each page (all 1,000 or so of them) is thrilling. I was working for an Internet start-up at the time, and this was the kind of book that spread like wildfire among the young turks.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. I don't typically go to hear authors read, but the two I've taken the time to see were Wallace (above) and Eggers. Read in my late 20s ... if there was a book for my "generation" at the time, it felt like this was it. At the reading I went to, some of the folks in the audience asked him what he was getting at in the last chapter ... which floored me because I so "got it" at the time. Must be that I shared his messianic complex.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. Never went to see him read. :-) I'm one of the few people who like this book for the Kitty and Levin story ... and in my youthful naivete it was for how a shy boy could get the beautiful girl and find God. A happy ending! Just ignore the other half of the story and the train.

Honorable Mention: A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving.

NONFICTION
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman. I was a computer science major in college and spent a whole bunch of time around engineers and techy folks. This memoir by the renowned physicist is one great anecdote after another and shows how engineers think about life. He was a genius and lived life to its fullest.

Darwin's Dangerous Idea by Daniel Dennett. Dennett is brilliant and this is a inspiring example of patiently building a case for a concept brick by brick. Plus he takes on Stephen Jay Gould, who was pretty full of himself in my limited interactions with him.

Lost in the Cosmos by Walker Percy. I wish I loved Percy's fiction as much as I loved this book. Robert Coles at Harvard was a professor of mine (and hundreds of others ...) who introduced me to this (and Message in a Bottle. I'm not sure I agree with all of Percy's conclusions, but he's quite compelling in capturing our feelings of alienation, creativity, etc.

HONORABLE MENTION: The User Illusion by Tor Norretranders

------

Now if you had asked me when I was sixteen I would have said Dune and The Lord of the Rings. Here's hoping that I can add/substitute some on my all-time list over the next decade.

If you made it all the way to the end of this diatribe, you're too kind and patient.

J

Hi Jon,

Have you read any first time authors that have impressed you?

Patti wrote: "Hi Jon,

Have you read any first time authors that have impressed you?"

Yes, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

:-) But seriously ...

Defining "first-time" author is a tricky business ... most writers have published short stories, done freelance work, etc. Few folks come forth with a novel fully formed having written nothing else! So let's establish that we're talking about debut novelists.

Several debut novels have received a whole bunch of accolades in the past decade: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, and The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski.

My favorite debut novel of the last decade would be Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Whenever someone asks me for a book recommendation -- and I don't know them that well -- I always feel safe and good recommending that book. It's compact and terrific.

At the same time I feel I have to comment on the fact that we receive TONS of books from first-time authors ... and they're not very good. Finding the needle in that haystack is a challenge, and that's the reason there are editors, publishing houses, etc. From time to time we've gotten letters from people saying that we need to focus on undiscovered authors, or that Bookmarks readers should ban together and read a whole bunch of undiscovered authors to find the great ones. More power to that effort! But really, finding great, compelling authors is just darned hard work, because someone has to sit down and read each book, you know?

So there's my diatribe about the undiscovered grass being greener! :-)

Speaking of To Kill a Mockingbird, there's a list that must exist on the Internet somewhere, right? Not just great debut novels ... but great "only" novels. Let's see, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (not counting efforts to posthumously publish Juneteenth), A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (though I'm on record not thinking that one's 'great') ...

J

I recently read Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock and thought it was great. I consider him a first-time author. He's not for everyone, but the writing is so sharp. I hear he is working on a novel about a serial killer. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for that one.

Jenn wrote: "I recently read Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock and thought it was great. "

Ah, good call, Jenn. We liked that one too:

Bookmarks review of Knockemstiff.

As you say, DEFINITELY not for everyone ... and I guess my recommendations were somewhat "one size fits all."

We got a complaint or two about reommending another debut novel, Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn:

Bookmarks review of Sharp Objects.

If only we could please everyone ...

Jon, what did you do before becoming the editor of the best magazine ever?

Christine wrote: "Jon, what did you do before becoming the editor of the best magazine ever?"

Where's that blushing emoticon when you need it? Thanks for the kind words about the magazine, Christine. So far I've never talked about life before Bookmarks ... isn't it better that way? Or less boring? No?

Well, I certainly was completely unqualified to start Bookmarks. I'm one of those folks who did a life "reboot." I was a computer science guy who went into business consulting who then went back for an MBA who then worked in technology for a few years. In 2000 I quit all that, realizing that I was pretty miserable. Miserable enough to make those around me kind of miserable too.

So I thought long and hard about what I loved and wanted to do. I was a lifelong reader ... my mother was a librarian ... my grandmother was a librarian. I was the guy who enjoyed poking around library reference sections on weekends, reading author profiles and book reviews. And I loved, loved magazines. So I thought that I might be able to do something a little different in the book world ... when I started Bookmarks, Book magazine and Pages magazine were still around. So I wrote the entire first issue of the magazine, we printed a few thousand and sent them out to random folks. We were lucky and got some good attention and some kind reviews, and it was on and up from there!

What's in the works for the magazine in the future? Any new features? Anything being sent to pasture? I realize you're probably not at liberty to divulge things like that but I just thought I'd throw it out there.

Personally, I'd love more reviews. Or, perhaps, short stories or fiction in installments. Maybe literary teasers from upcoming - not as yet published - works.

...just typing out loud...

Jami wrote: "What's in the works for the magazine in the future? Any new features? Anything being sent to pasture? "

Thanks for asking, Jami. I'm happy to be very straightforward about how we think about the magazine ... and very happy for suggestions and feedback!

So, as the owner of Bookmarks, two main parts of my job are 1) to make sure we've got great content and articles to fill you with joy and 2) to keep an eye on costs. The best way for me to do the latter is to try to keep our page count under control. We try to keep it around 64 pages, though we get excited sometimes with gusts up to 80. (As "editor," I'm the key offender on this. I hate cutting great articles, so I run them. As "publisher" I give myself a dirty look for doing so.)

[An aside on costs ... We know that Bookmarks isn't as cheap as some other magazines. We're so grateful to our subscribers and newsstand buyers for your willingness and interest to invest and pay for what we do. Really. So it's my commitment to you to make sure we're running a magazine that's here to stay. Other magazines have come and gone, but we're here for the long term. That's the MBA talking ... :-)]

SO ... given that we've got a set amount of pages to play with, the question is what do we want more of ... or different of ... and what do we want less of? We did a big reader survey last year -- thousands of responses -- and figured out, lo and behold, different people like different stuff. So as a MIX of things, we came away thinking that we're in good shape. The magazine's like a cocktail party ... you have to have a good variety to keep everyone happy.

Many people LOVE the book group profiles and other HATE them because they can get a little cheesy. Our "What One Book" column can be hit or miss with individual folks depending on the topic of the issue.

Here's some thoughts that I go around and around on. Let me know what you think.

- What should the balance of reviews and other articles be? Would people rather have ten more pages of reviews and forgo ten pages of articles?
- Are our author profiles too long? Do they take up too much space ... or is the detail very much appreciated?
- Do we need more short (1-page) pieces up front? People have suggested we profile an independent bookstore in each issue. Is that truly interesting ... or just a "that's nice" article that people will glance at and move on? We've thought about profiling literary scenes in cities and towns ... is that interesting or only to a very small subsection of people? [It's like when I'm reading Food & Wine and they have an article on the food scene and hot restaurants in Tulsa. I'm not going to Tulsa anytime soon (no offense Tulsonians!), so do I care?:]
- Jami, it's not my inclination to have short stories, fiction, teasers ... I think that there's a lot of that out there already (New Yorker, Harper's, Atlantic, many small literary journals). But tell me I'm wrong!

I'm rambling now, but ... here's how I've always thought about Bookmarks:

1) We want it to be USEFUL. We don't want you to look through a whole issue and think, well, nothing there for me this time. The reviews are the core of the magazine and, we hope, give you real information you find helpful.

2) We want it to have the feel have browsing a good indpendent bookstore or library ... that you can turn the (virtual) corner and spot a book on a shelf that you weren't looking for or might not have first considered ... but that looks really interesting.

So, I know it would be fun to hear "big changes afoot!" ... "great new stuff coming!" ... but I hope that what we've got is a solid foundation and I'm always open to new ideas and approaches around the foundation. Feel free to type out loud and let me know what you think.

J

My quick thoughts:

I like reading the author spotlights, but sometimes I think the books and the descriptions included in the spotlight get a little long. Maybe a short listing of their works with only one or two of their major works described.

I like the book club page; yes, it can be cheesy, but we live in a time that I think some cheese can be good. I like the photos of happy readers.

I would not be interested in reading about random independent bookstores or the literary scene in various cities (no offense to anyone). It doesn't apply directly to me, so I wouldn't read it.

I am touch-and-go on the "What one book" section specifically for the reasons Jon mentioned. I usually skim it over and keep reading, unless the topic really grabs me.

I love the section where people submit their book recommendations and the reviews at the back.

I think a neat feature would be a book-movie comparison article. So many book people are movie people, and I am one to always read the book and see the movie (I don't care in which order).

I think the magazine is a good mix. Oh, one section that I don't care for (and I can't think of the heading and am at school so I can't check a magazine) is in the beginning where the page lays out the books reviewed in the magazine based on theme. I can figure out themes when I read the reviews.

Jon,

Are you willing to answer the poll questions we have posted on the page? I would be curious to see your answers. I am about to check the polls now, so if you have already submitted responses, disregard this posting.

Stephanie wrote: "Oh, one section that I don't care for (and I can't think of the heading and am at school so I can't check a magazine) is in the beginning where the page lays out the books reviewed in the magazine based on theme. I can figure out themes when I read the reviews."

You know, a couple other people have said that. Perhaps it's not as clever as I thought and can be a bit redundant. Hmmmm ...

Stephanie wrote: "Are you willing to answer the poll questions we have posted on the page? "

I'm enjoying seeing the results of those polls and didn't want to contaminate them with my own opinions!

Contaminate away!

The magazine is great and my biggest wish is that it could be published monthly. I know, I get all the reasons that it can't, but in a perfect world...

I rarely read the What one book section. And if I do it's only because it is of interest. I also don't read the page in the beginning that lays out the books by theme, I figure that out in the actual review. I love the book group page. As a leader of two book groups I am always looking to see what others in the country are reading. And yes, sometimes it is a little cheesy, but at this time in life a little cheese with wine is a good thing. The author profiles are good, but I agree with Stephanie about the back list of books, sometimes a little long.

Bookmarks is the best magazine on books I have ever read. And having been in the book business I have read a lot. It helps me broaden my reading horizens and when I get it, I hurry up and get everything done so that I can read it.

Thanks Jon for doing such a great job and for listening to our comments. You run a wonderful magazine. Keep up the excellent work.

Bookmarks, for me anyway, is one of the few things I can't honestly say I'd change too much. The only section I do not read is the letters to the editor. I realize you cannot appeal to everyone with every issue so even if there's a profile of an author I don't care for, I know in the future there will be others I do like.

That said, If I absolutely had to change something, I would take out the 'bookmarks selections' and the 'between the covers' sections as they are a bit redundant since the books are featured elsewhere as well as in the index.

Again, thank you for the quality work you do, it's greatly appreciated.

As I use Bookmarks Magazines as a selection tool for the library where I work, one of the things I'm ever so grateful for are the "Also by the Author." Please don't get rid of those! Also, I love the "Year in Books" which helps identify important works from the past that we don't have but we should. The "What One Book" and "Awards" sections have also been very helpful. I really wouldn't change a thing about the magazine.

Don't change a thing ... done! :-)

Again, I do appreciate the feedback on that theme page we have at the front of the magazine. Perhaps we can put that space to better use ...

I really like those Also by the Author bits too, Christine. Those are here to stay.

I like those too. I usually add the titles in that section to my reading list as well.

I really enjoyed the feature on books in translation and the Three Percent site. I'm always curious as to what sells in other countries, what people in France and Italy like to read, who are their top authors, etc. I added a bunch from your list to my list. As you had mentioned before when I contacted you about international fiction, I realize this will not be a regular feature, but a shout-out to all the international writers once in a while would be great!! Thanks for putting that together. It's inspired me to think about learning Italian.

I can't get enough of Bookmarks, if only it was every month! I love the magazine as is, however I would love to see a page devoted to novelty gifts for the book lover. (Maybe that would bring in more advertising $$$ to expand the magazine.) I enjoy the themed book sections, like historical fiction or seafaring novels. I love reading about things I like, but also the exposure to new writings and authors. Your magazine is a feast to the mind and eyes.....beautifully done.

Monday morning ... last week's book reviews are safely linked in our database:

http://www.bookmarksmagazine.com/book...

and this week's book assignments have been handed out. Oh, and the July/August issue left the printer in Ohio on the mail truck last Friday. A good feeling.

Thanks to everyone for the continued kind words about the magazine. Of course, I don't think our detractors would bother joining this group, would they? :-) Instead, those people leave bizarre reviews on Amazon.com. Why does that person get to affect our star rating?!?!?

Joycenclyde wrote: "Two questions ..."

Joyce, I don't *think* that we included any 3-star books in our year end "best of 2008" books in our Nov/Dec issue. If we did, I'd be curious to know which they were! There were, if memory serves, some 3-star books in our big round-up of everyone else's "Best of 2008" lists in our Mar/Apr 2009 issue. Checking now ... The American Wife was on three critics' best-of-the-year lists, but we had it as a 3-star book. Perhaps that page's title is a bit misleading, as it's really based on a tally of the other critics' lists.

As far as Selections goes, our writers offer up their nominations, then Jessica and I sit down and pick our final 10. We do try to go for a mix of books, both in terms of genre and style, so it's good to the final decisions centralized. Plus I'm a control freak, so there's that. :-) Think of it as a curated, consensus-oriented, "staff picks" list. As long as Jessica and I pick it too.

I received my latest issue today, and I already went through with my highlighter. There are SO many interesting titles in this issue. Good thing I am OFFICIALLY ON SUMMER BREAK as of today! And GOOD THING my MA project was accepted on Friday, so now I am done with EVERYTHING! The library better look out!

Hi Jon - I LOVE Bookmarks and have subscribed since soon after it began. This is one subscription that I won't be stopping soon! As to your earlier questions about the magazine...

I'm not very interested in reading the author spotlights and mostly skim this section. Maybe have only a short listing of their works.

I like the book club page. I find it interesting what other groups are reading. I'm in two groups myself, so I occasionally mention at those meetings things that other groups are reading/doing.

I'm not interested in reading about the literary scene in various cities, but a short article on an established great bookstore would be good...as long as they were spread around the country and not just east coast! Perhaps by state or something... I'd surely nominate Powell's in Portland, OR! When traveling, I'd try to check into some of these stores.

"What One Book" is a section I either read thoroughly or skip, depending on the topic. So I vote for keeping that one.

"Year in Books" is interesting and so is "Have You Read?" Of course, the "New Books Guide" is the best!

The "Bookmark Selections" and "Between the Covers" are ok, but redundant. And I like "Coming Soon", and like when you note that a book is coming out in the theater.

My only problem (if you can call it that)with this magazine is that it gives me too many "to read" books and not enough time. Can you add time to the clock? ;-) That would really be great.

Lynn wrote: "Can you add time to the clock? ;-) That would really be great. "

Thanks a lot for the kind words and your thoughts, Lynn. As far as time on the clock goes, I tried getting less sleep ... that seems to be counterproductive over the long run.

OK, I think for the next issue I might drop that "Between the Covers" section and see if anyone cares. Everyone would rather have an extra review, right? I originally put the "Selections" section in there because I wanted something that would be easy for bookstores and libraries to clip out and post up somewhere. Good for them, good for Bookmarks awareness! I don't know how often that actually happens ... but I'll fantasize that it does and keep the page around :-).

Just picked up the new Kindle DX ... haven't played with it enough to have a real opinion how it compares to the smaller Kindles. The PDF support is disappointing, though ... you can't seem and a lot of PDF text is still to small, even though the DX has a bigger screen ...

Jon,
I read those bizarre reviews on Amazon and was rather surprised. How could someone make it through an entire issue without seeing anything they want to read? Talk about picky!
My husband and I LOVE Bookmarks and we are thrilled when it arrives. Like most people, we love the reviews, but we also read the book club profile every time. Lots of magazines publish book reviews, but no one profiles book clubs. It's a great addition. Most people don't ever get to see themselves in a national magazine or to just see average, ordinary people who love to read.
I think the author profiles get a little long and I rarely read them (this is so shallow, but sometimes I think it's the HUGE photos that put me off a bit too).
I would love to see profiles of bookstores or novelty items for readers. Eventually, I think you'll have to cover the Kindle/e-book issue in a longer article.
But even if nothing changes ... we'll keep reading.

-Kelly

Kelly wrote: "sometimes I think it's the HUGE photos that put me off a bit too"

Thanks for the kind words, Kelly - and you're the second person who recently told me the author photos were too big. That's funny for me to hear with fresh ears ... we were trying to be very "magazine-like" by featuring those big photos, though I used to think Book magazine made a mistake by putting authors on their covers. They're not necessarily the most photogenic folks ... not that there's anything wrong with that. So maybe we're making a similar mistake, echoing celeb magazines in a way we shouldn't be... hmmmm ...

You know, I didn't really think about this topic until now, but I don't care for the large author photos either. Since we subscribe to the magazine because we are all obsessive readers, I can see how too many photos/too large of photos would be off-putting. I would rather have more to read than more to look at, although I do like the small cover photos for reference (which are throughout the magazine).

I agree on the big pictures. It seems so...obtrusive. The magaine is not a tabloid. That being said, I LOVE the magazine. I cut out and put in an envelope the books I want to read. I like the also by the author for that reason. I don't use the between the covers section. Even when I am too busy to read, Bookmarks keeps me in touch with books!
I enjoy looking through old issues just as much as I like new ones. Depending on life at the moment, different books catch my interest. Because I read most of them on the Kindle, I am not able to browse as easily as in a bookstore or library. Bookmarks is my tool for browsing, then I can quickly find it for the Kindle.

Jon -

Have you ever considered featuring young adult lit that adults would really enjoy? As a high school teacher, I have seen my students read a lot of fluff, but there are some genuinely fantastic YA titles coming out. I have been eating them up and I know many other adults have as well - both CherylAnn and I run YA reading groups for adults (hers is more free-form, mine is a challenge based off of the book The Ultimate Teen Book Guide, but many of the books overlap.

I think the key to what makes YA lit so enjoyable (and I refer to the good stuff, not the fluff) is that YA books are fast-paced and often deal with difficult subject matter. They are hard to put down. Those of you that have read The Hunger Games know exactly what I mean. I can breeze through a YA book in a night or two and feel good for adding another book to my read list. Nerdy, I know.

This comes from someone who didn't really read YA lit as a YA, but now loves it! (The Hunger Games is a recent favorite. I also loved The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Speak, Crank, and Glass just to name a few more.) I have also been hearing amazing things about The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.

Just a thought!

I would also love to see novels from around the world featured in issues. India. Spain. China. Latin America. I could name about a dozen more. I love the author spotlight, but I think this would be a neat spotlight too. Maybe I am alone in this, I don't know. Just throwing stuff out there tonight.

Stephanie wrote: "Just throwing stuff out there tonight."

Throw away, Stephanie! :-) I appreciate all the suggestions, and not just in a "thanks so much for your feedback" way.

Young Adult: Yes, I like this idea. We used to do more Younger Reader coverage ... but frankly not a lot of people cared. So this might be a fun way to combine audiences.

By the way, we just finished up our Guilty Pleasures article for the Nov/Dec issue and will be sending it to the printer next week. Thanks to everyone in the group for the help!

Country Idea: I like this idea too and I want to think more about where to put it. Does it take the place of an author feature? Or is it a nice way to spice up our What One Book topic feature ... hmmmmmmm

That's the great thing about this group and a small magazine ... you will see your ideas in print! eventually ... :-)

J

Hi Jon -I just wanted to throw in my two cents to agree with Stephanie and say that I'd like to see some Young Adult books that cross over to adult. The idea about different countries -- perhaps books from other countries or books set in other countries?

I'm participating in "The Seasonal Reading Challenge" group, which includes several tasks to read books either written by foreign authors or set in other countries. I enjoyed looking for books to meet these tasks. For instance, one task was to celebrate Octoberfest and read a book by a German author or set in Germany. Another was to celebrate Hispanic heritage and read a book written by a Latin American author. I think topics like these would make great regular feature articles. Introduce a little bit of foreign trivia and follow it with some suggested reads.

Another idea would be to do an alphabetical list of countries with writers from each country represented. I think this could be similar to your greatest historical, mysteries or seafaring books articles.

Another task requires me to read books which take place in countries that correspond to my initials. One of my initials is "H", so I researched books that take place in Hungary. (I hosted a Hungarian exchange student last year, whose dream is to play college basketball in the states.) I found a popular Hungarian novelist, who happened to write about two Hungarian boys who played basketball. I can't wait to read the book. It's exciting to discover new authors and books this way. I remembered there was a Hungarian novelist featured in a fairly recent Bookmarks issue and was set on choosing that book until I came across the basketball novel and chose it for sentimental reasons.

There are lots of ways to incorporate the different countries idea.

Lisa wrote: "I'm participating in "The Seasonal Reading Challenge" group, which includes several tasks to read books either written by foreign authors or set in other countries. I enjoyed looking for books to ..."

I really like those ideas, Lisa!

OK, we're finalizing the Nov/Dec issue and have a bunch of pieces already written for Jan/Feb 2010. So we targeting this for Mar/Apr 2010. I think I'd like to look at one country in a 2-page or so article. We'll start with that format and see how it feels.

Hungary is interesting ... any particular countries that people would like to see?

India and Africa, any country.

While many of my students don't realize Africa is a continent, I just want to make it very clear that I do, and I love reading books about any part of Africa. ;)

In my search for Hungarian authors or books set in Hungary, I came across Tibor Fischer and Sandor Marai. Both have written novels that interest me, but I'll probably read the one about the basketball players. A former patient of mine, wrote a book about his experiences in Budapest during World War II. It was a deeply moving book and put me in awe of this quiet, unassuming man.

Under the Frog A Novel by Tibor Fischer - short listed for the Booker prize
Embers by Sándor Márai
The Kid From Budapest by J.A. Somori - I have written the only Goodreads review of this book.

I would be very interested in Eastern European countries, especially Polish and Czech authors. Milan Kundera is great, but I would enjoy getting to know other authors from this region.

Sweden. In recent fame of Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I have been reading a bunch of swedish crime/suspense authors. Might be a good tie-in to all the Steig Larsson press. Henning Mankell and Asa Larsson are 2 great Swedish authors, but there are tons more.

Any of the Scandinavian countries, elsewhere in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Mexico, South America, Central America.... any of those would be good ;-) That's a bit facetious, but I do really like reading stories set in locations or by authors from many different countries.

Hi Jon!

First, let me start by saying how much I love your magazine. It is such an awesome resource and I look forward to and savour every issue!

Concerning the possibility of profiling a different country or countries in an upcoming issue, it is a great idea. I am also doing the reading challenge (mentioned above) but have been actively seeking out international fiction for the past several years. Any feature that expands the TBR list is cool with me.

Now, being Canadian, I would certainly endorse the previous poster's suggestion to shine a spotlight on Canadian writers and Canadian fiction. We have a tremendously deep pool of talented writers producing amazing works. We are so much more than Margaret Atwood and Alice Munro (who totally rock in their own right, of course). Our literary successes are celebrated each year through such awards as The Giller Prize, The Governor General's Award for Fiction and The Writer's Trust Awards.

I am currently enamoured with Lisa Moore - check out her novels Alligator, Open and February; Michael Crummey's new book Galore, along with a couple of his previous works The Wreckage and River Thieves; and Joan Clark and her novels: An Audience of Chairs, Word For Home and Road to Bliss. Clearly I am having a thing for writers from "The Rock" (Newfoundland) at the moment, but the national possibilities are endless. We're vibrant, diverse and eclectic here in Canada. Plus, we tell great stories!


Pick Canada, eh?

PS ~ I don't know any of the writer's I've mentioned, nor do I live in Newfoundland. Just going through a regional phase and a bit excited about it!

Hi Jon,

I'd love to see Bookmarks sell logo coffee mugs, sweatshirts, reading journals,etc... I'm sure some of us book nerds would love to buy it and advertise for you!

Jennifer wrote: Pick Canada, eh?

And I'm assuming the fact that we're covering Margaret Atwood in Nov/Dec doesn't count as she's huge already? :-) That's fair, actually. Yes, we don't do a great job seeking out Canadian fiction. The Giller Prize longlist was just announced. Hmmm ....

Lisa wrote: "Hi Jon,

I'd love to see Bookmarks sell logo coffee mugs, sweatshirts, reading journals,etc... I'm sure some of us book nerds would love to buy it and advertise for you!"

Walking advertisements ... I'll take that! Back when we first started, I was excited about doing a line of shirts/bags advertising fictional businesses from novels. We did make up and sell a shirt for "Dr. T.J. Eckleburg Optometry" from The Great Gatsby. We only sold a few, and I couldn't tell whether

* Our female readers weren't the t-shirt wearing crowd
* It was a bad idea
* The design didn't work
* We were too small at the time
* Some combination of all of the above

We did make it available on canvas bags too. Hmmm ... I'll noodle on this. Bring on the ideas as they come!

Jon

Bookmarks Magazine wrote: "The Giller Prize longlist was just announced. Hmmm ...."

Hmmm... indeed! The Giller short list is being announced tomorrow. And no, Atwood doesn't count. She is always profiled somewhere and might, possibly, be too huge for her own good. Let's hear it for the lesser-knowns, the underdogs, the newcomers!! :)

Thanks for the consideration Jon.

Jon,

I discovered Bookmarks at Barnes & Noble several years ago and have been an avid fan ever since. My collection began at Issue 17. I recently ordered back issues of the first 16 issues, or what you had in stock, and was thrilled when they arrived to my home yesterday. WOW! That was quick service. It makes no difference to me if these book reviews are now of older books, I still enjoy them. This was an early happy birthday to me treat.

I wonder if you plan to archive issues: Premier, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11, and 12? They are the only ones not presently on your website. Selfishly, I'm most interested in the Premier and Issues 3 and 4, since these are the only ones I don't have some access to. In the meantime, I'll keep scouring the web to see if someone has the few issues I don't own.

Thanks for making my day yesterday!
Lisa

Jon,

I, too, would change little about the magazine. I would buy Bookmarks-specific "stuff"; I'm a shopper and to have trinkets around reminding me of what I love. I would read literary-scene news -- details of worthwhile places to travel to if only to sip coffee and visit bookstores! A lot of used/independents have websites now; you could expand their markets, even, by listing their website along with their profile. I missed the Brooklyn Book Festival but hope to head to the Boston Book Fair -- might you profile or preview events like that? Finally, I, too, am looking for many of the back issues Lisa is missing; will they become available? For now I've asked Santa for a bunch of the ones you do have available for order. I only had to leave a few copies of the order form around the house to make my point!

Rambling. . . must sleep!
Katie