ClumpRoll

My picks from tomorrow's Times' Sunday Book Review with a bent for the other, miscellaneous and alternative. Hopefully this will be a recurring linkroll that I can keep up with each week. This week of November 11 (11/11!), I choose you, Pikachu! I mean, the Children's Book section reviews of Shaun Tan's "The Arrival" -- graphic novel, a wordless, timeless meditation on "not an immigrant's story, but the immigrant's story," and Sherman Alexie's "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian", his first young-adult title. Also Adrian Tomine's "Shortcomings," another graphic novel, about 30-year-old "anti-hero" Ben Tanaka, dealing with his career-driven girlfriend that leaves Cali for NY, a lesbian Korean graduate friend, sprinkled with his penchant for blondes. "The Arrival" has also been picked as one of the Times' ten Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2007. Link to slideshow gallery

And finally, despite all the other notable books written about in this weeks section including a Picasso biography, an elaborate Star Wars pop-up book, a new translation of Dante's "Paradiso"... just for kicks... get ready for it... I would like to write about a book review I read today in the review section, of a book written about "How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read", and want you to keep in mind that I haven't read the actual book, but rather only the book review. Translated from French, psychoanalyst and professor of lit Pierre Bayard gives reason and thought to why he "doesn’t blame us for fudging [about books we haven't read], and he doesn’t want us to blame ourselves." He apparently says it's okay!

Just one more reason I think starting up this recap section on books we haven't read yet could become a nice record and incentive to do just that -- read more.

All right. Now, choice quotes from each of the above New York times reviews after the jump, plus pretty books covers for you to judge by(!) And just how to talk about that book you haven't read.

Summer of '07 is turning out to be quite the party for Harry Potter fans -- the 5th movie, Order of the Phoenix, opened today just a few minutes before as I write this across theaters nationwide, and now it's only a week more until the 7th and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is unleashed and children of all ages stay up past bed-time for yet another night. By that I mean just like the movie, booksellers are having wild midnight events for the book's release and the big apple has a handful of 'em.

US publisher of the series, Scholastic, is turning their headquarters in New York City (Mercer St. between Prince and Spring) into Harry Potter Place where fans will be able to see a 20 ft. Whomping Willow and the Knightbus along with magicians, street-performers, joining in the unveiling of the first author J.K Rowling-signed U.S. edition of the book and the countdown to July 21, 12:01 AM.
Barnes and Noble has Jim Dale, narrator of the audiobooks in Union Square, and children's bookstore Books of Wonders has real live owls(!) mixed in with the usual magicians and jugglers.
The New York Magazine pointed out one certain bookshop in Greenpoint for their "adult-only" book release party, and apparently there's much more of that flavor elsewhere too.

Looking back, you realize that the first book was released in 1997, and that for some kids who've been following the series loyally, they are now adults -- some of them are over 18, 21 and the like.

So, it all begs the question, are you one of them? And if so, which one will you be at? I intend to check out at least two of these parties that crazy Friday night. We'll see. Me, I only started reading the books five years ago, when I was in college. Still pretty weird to think it's been that long since, and now it's almost RLY over. sad.

via Gothamist