I’m no different than you. When I go to the movies, I don’t like to sit through thirty minutes of coming attractions before getting to the film I actually came to see. It’s the same with DVDs, where one or two trailers are kind of fun but eight or ten are just plain annoying. Still, I do like trailers as a genre, in the same way I really enjoy a well-crafted television commercial. They’re art forms all their own. When done right, they can be easily as entertaining (if not as fulfilling) as longer works.
I also enjoy trailers and commercials for books, like this one for Douglas Clegg’s The Attraction:
Part of my enjoyment comes from the trailers themselves, part from the little thrill of seeing books elevated, however briefly, to the status of films, TV programs and laundry detergent. When you see one of these little gems, or flip on the TV and catch a commercial for the latest paperback bestseller, it almost makes you feel that reading has once again become a mainstream activity. Sure, it may be just an illusion, but it’s fun while it lasts.
While you can find lots of book trailers on sites like YouTube, and scattered around other places on the Web, I wish someone would create a central repository. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of places to find movie trailers, sites like this one and this one and even this one. But I’ve never seen anything similar for clips and commercials and trailers based on books. Is there one? Have I missed it? If you know of something, please let me know.
Oh, and if the Doug Clegg trailer caught your interest, be sure to check out the book itself. Also, you can find more information about Doug and his work, sign up for his newsletter, and find free goodies and other fun stuff at his very cool Web site.
I seem to be overwhelmed with good reading lately.
Just for starters, there is Kim Stanley Robinson’s amazing alternate history, The Years of Rice and Salt, which I waited far too many years before reading.
Then there’s Gregory Frost’s brand new novel, Shadowbridge, a thing of beauty that also happens to be the first of a two-book series.
And I haven’t even gotten to Duma Key yet — although even now it is staring at me from across the room, crying to me, taunting me, urging me to pick it up and dive in.
It’s an embarrassment of literary riches, really. I am a lucky reader indeed. I feel blessed.
Since I haven’t been blogging (among other things) as faithfully as I should, I thought I’d take a few minutes to suggest some other sites for you to visit. This is a small sampling of the book-reading-writing-publishing-related blogs that I check in with on a fairly regular basis. It is, in tech-speak, my own “literary blogroll.”
This is only a partial list, but it’s more than enough to get you started. Some of these sites are independent, some commercial, some very information-and-detail oriented, some rather casual, some quite witty, some just weird. But all of them help feed my addiction for reading about reading. They help me keep up with new releases, old favorites, industry trends, new and established writers, and different ideas.
Undoubtedly, not all of these will be your cup of tea. Like me, you might find a few that you only want to visit once a month or so (or never again), but there may be others that will make it to your daily surfing list or your RSS feeds. Best of all, most of them offer their own lists of links, so that you can drop in on one site, find a few good suggestions, and head off for hours of fascinating blog visits.
Some day, I might plow deeper into my bookmarks file and list even more blogs, but this should be enough for now. In the meantime, feel free to share your own literary blogroll by e-mail or in the comments.
A video of the Gregory Maguire event that my daughters attended last month has now been posted at the spiffy Borders Media site. You get to see a pre-interview, the reading, the audience Q-and-A, and a few seconds of the book-signing. Oh yeah, you might catch a glimpse or two of the girls, as well.
While you’re at the site, you might want to check out a few of their other productions. The Ann Arbor Borders (Store 01) has hosted an awfully eclectic selection of authors and musicians. It’s nice to see their brief visits preserved as first-rate video productions.
As a fan of Christopher Moore, I’m kind of partial to this one.
Last weekend, my wife and I ventured downstate for our first visit with the girls since dropping them off at the University of Michigan in late August. It was a good time, and of course went by far too fast. It was reassuring to see them doing so well — mostly adjusted to dorm life, mostly settling into their classes, mostly well on their way into this new stage and this great adventure in their lives.
We had the grand tour, ate some wonderful food and saw a football game that was … well, not a good game, not precisely. In all honesty, Notre Dame looked as if they’d struggle to beat a decent high school football team. But after U of M’s rocky start, a win was a win.
On Tuesday, back home and back at work, I was very envious that the girls had the chance to attend a reading and signing with Gregory Maguire, who ranks right near the top of my personal “favorite writers” list. The author of Wicked, Son of a Witch, Lost, Mirror Mirror, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister and a passel of children’s books, Maguire was visiting Borders’ flagship store in Ann Arbor to promote his newest, What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy.
I would have happily let a fairy, rogue or otherwise, take away a few of my own teeth for the chance to attend this event, but I’m so pleased that my daughters now have such great opportunities available to them, just moments away. A signed book is a marvelous keepsake, no doubt, but an evening spent listening to a world-class writer discuss his work is truly a lifetime gift.
, which I waited far too many years before reading.
I would have happily let a fairy, rogue or otherwise, take away a few of my own teeth for the chance to attend this event, but I’m so pleased that my daughters now have such great opportunities available to them, just moments away. A signed book is a marvelous keepsake, no doubt, but an evening spent listening to a world-class writer discuss his work is truly a lifetime gift. 