Brandywine Books
Barna Says, "Americans Still Read Books"
On Tuesday, The Barna Research Group announced
the results of their study of which Americans have read at least one of seven diverse spiritual best-sellers in the past two years.
In general, "three out of four adults (73%) claim to have read at least one book from cover to cover. The people most likely to do so include women, college graduates and evangelicals." Less than half of respondants claimed to have read a book which was primarily "religious or spiritual in nature." Check the report for stats how readers from different religious backgrounds read. Readers of these books were mostly evangelicals; the least, atheists.
On American reading styles, Barna has found:
While reading has not succumbed to digital and visual technologies, the terrain has changed significantly. Americans read fewer books than they used to and, according to a study conducted several years ago by The Barna Group, people usually do not finish the books that they start to read. . . .Evangelicals are a small sector of the population – just 7% of all adults – but they are among the most voracious readers of any population group we have studied.
Phil
Is It Really a Haven?
I have a small language question from the news. If Iraq is a 'haven' for terrorists, sign me up for a tour of their 'hell.'
Personal Meme
Thanks to David Scott for this interesting subject matter.
1. What were three of the stupidest things you have done in your life?
Somewhere, I read that when a man takes a risk and succeeds, he is called visionary and brilliant. When he takes a risk and fails, he is called stupid.
So, what are 3 relatively stupid things I have done?
- I drank a milk-based protein shake when eating Ramen noodles for breakfast. The aftermath was not yummy.
- I bought my sweet wife some attire and lotion at Victoria’s Secret one Valentine’s Day and hoped it would be a very special day. But no. I don’t remember what I did exactly, but I do remember I got angry and successfully ruined it. And the attire I picked clashed with her hair, so she returned it. I am grateful that she does not remember it being as big a disaster as it seemed to me.
- I’m not sure I can describe the third event that comes to mind. I was friends with a girl who was falling for me while I was falling for the girl I would later marry. I didn’t choose my words carefully somehow (insert stupidity) and hurt my first friend’s feelings. When I described this to a third friend, she slapped me.
2. At the current moment, who has the most influence in your life?
Probably my wife, but I could be wrong. It may be the Lord Jesus, but it may be someone else.
3. If you were given a time machine that functioned, and you were allowed to only pick up to five people to dine with, who would you pick? Ooo, if I had answered this more quickly, I wouldn’t have trouble picking. Shakespeare, Milton, Hawthorne, Dorothy Sayers, and Jesus. (But man! What about Spencer, George Herbert, GM Hopkins, W Percy, O’Connor, Calvin, Knox, David . . . assuming we could all talk together.)
4. If you had three wishes that were not supernatural, what would they be?
For me: To read like the wind, and to write with mastery and imagination.
For the west coast: To be saved from its cultural and spiritual self-destruction and begin to live as if there’s more to life than money, sex, and fame.
5. Someone is visiting your hometown/place where you live at the moment. Name two things you regret your city not having, and two things people should avoid.
This is such a negative question, but now that I think about it, it may reveal some strong truths. For instance, why doesn’t Chattanooga have Wi-Fi access throughout downtown? Oh, wait. It will have that soon. But the city could make use of its riverfront properties. No, it does make use of them--the Riverwalk and Bluff View Art District are beautiful. We could at least have a decent coffee shop. Okay, we have a few great coffee shops; but what we don’t have is a presidential library! We’ve been stiffed by The Man on that one!
And the things people should avoid? Well, Ruby Falls isn’t as spectacular as you might think before you visit, but it can be pretty interesting if you’ve never been in a cave before. There’s a sinkhole on Shallowford Road you should avoid too.
6. Name one event that has changed your life.
I can’t say I’ve had many life-changing events. I know that I have felt something was going to be life-changing, but it wasn’t; that is, alone it did not change my life. Together with other epiphanies, it may have changed me, but that doesn’t answer the question.
I do remember that I decided I wanted to be a writer at age 16, and a few times in my teenage years, my teachers told me I was or could be a good writer. I distinctly remember being praised by my freshman comp teacher, and a time in 10th grade when I impressed my class with a small assignment. You could say those were life-changing.
Is there a seventh question?
The Intellectuelle
This looks like something good. A group blog composed of sharp, Christian female bloggers. They are
The Intellectuelle. New today.
Shelby Foote, 1916-2005
One of the Southern writers I admire and want to learn from, Shelby Foote, died yesterday at age 88. He had a strong mind and good literary voice, being compared to William Faulkner in positive ways.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports:
Foote worked on the Civil War history for 20 years, using his skills as a novelist to write in a flowing, narrative style.
"I can't conceive of writing it any other way," he once said. "Narrative history is the kind that comes closest to telling the truth. You can never get to the truth, but that's your goal."
Though a native Southerner, Foote did not favor South in his history or novels and was not counted among those Southern historians who regard the Civil War as the great Lost Cause.
Jim Auchmutey, writing for
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, says, "Foote's career was a wry commentary on fame. A promising young novelist in the early 1950s, he turned his back on it all for a lingering conversation with the past. It took him 20 years to complete his opus; it took TV 11 hours to make him a folk hero.
"Foote was the star of the show, . . . looking like Lee and sounding like sippin' whiskey as he spun his yarns of courage and character. For the 14 million viewers who watched the series, he became the face of the South."
For more on Foote, Google Print has a collection of interviews with the author called
Conversations with Shelby Foote, published in 1989 by the University Press of Mississippi. The first interview, which is from 1950, reports on a tempting idea for me. It says Foote didn't launch his writing career "until he decided that the only way to write was to settle down and write." He quit his copy-writing job and began fiction writing. He may have lost weight in the process. "I didn't have nickels for coffee," he said. That would hurt, but I wonder if cutting all ties in order to write is The Right Way
TM to do it.
Reading the New and the Old
You may know the popular quote from C.S. Lewis on reading an old book between each new or modern book you read so that you retain your perspective. He wrote that in an introduction to
Athanasius' On the Incarnation. Here's another quote from that introduction which has been repeated in many ways by Bible teachers and students who may not remember Lewis said it too:
It has always therefore been one of my main endeavours as a teacher to persuade the young that firsthand knowledge is not only more worth acquiring than secondhand knowledge, but is usually much easier and more delightful to acquire. This mistaken preference for the modern books and this shyness of the old ones is nowhere more rampant than in theology. Wherever you find a little study circle of Christian laity you can be almost certain that they are studying not St. Luke or St. Paul or St. Augustine or Thomas Aquinas or Hooker or Butler, but M. Berdyaev or M. Maritain or M. Niebuhr or Miss Sayers or even myself. Now this seems to me topsy-turvy.
Book-Related Sites
Before I link to a few book sites, did you hear that
Snapple tried to erect the world's largest ice pop in Union Square the other day?
They didn't. The 35,000 lb., 25 foot tall Kiwi-Strawberry pop melted too quickly in the hot June 21 sun--all over the streets. Certainly not as bad as the
whale that exploded on the streets of Tainan, Taiwan last year. But Americans can't excel at everything.
So, I learned about a couple book-related site this week
- One A Day Books, a site and email service which appears to give a brief comment after a book notification.
- Connect Via Books, which appears to be a friendship or dating service focused on books.
Hey, would you have learned of those sites anywhere else but here? You can't this kind of thing with
Phil Johnson. (You can get many things more worthwhile, but not This Kind of Thing
TM). But I have failed to draw attention to another book site which is worth our repeated attention and may be a good opportunity for you. Mind & Media Publicity, which is at
blogforbooks.com, is a network of book review bloggers hoping to draw attention to some of those good books which go unnoticed by other outlets. I'll have to write more about it later.
- phil
Collected Miscellany Story Contest
There's about a week left in a story contest offered by Collected Misc. The prize? An autographed copy of Michelle Herman's little book,
Dog.
In honor of our focus on Michelle Herman, and her new book Dog, we are asking for submissions of a short story (800 words or less) that centers on a dog or dogs. The distinguished panel of judges (me, Phil, and whoever else we can rope into this convince to join us) will pick the winner and any honorable mentions. The winner will receive a free autographed copy of Dog and have their story published here (and hopefully linked to by the literary blogosphere thus insuring Internet immortality). Those honorable mentions picked by the judges can also have their entries posted here if they so choose.
Here are the details:
- Only one entry per person please.
- Please submit the story in the body of an email to contest[at]collectedmiscellany.com and include your mailing address so we can ship the book to you if you win.
- The story must be an original unpublished work but the author retains all the rights, etc.
- The deadline is midnight Monday, July 4 (Just in case you want to spend your holiday weekend writing an "award winning" short story).
So there you have it. A chance for fame and fortune - well at least a few minutes of passing notice - and literary achievement. I know it isn't much time but it is only 800 words after all. So get writing and send in your entries.
That's right, folks. Step right up and give us a dog story. True, false, or urban legend (which is in the truish falseness category). - Phil
Poetry
The great poet Czeslaw Milosz has a final collection called
Second Space. From Publishers Weekly:
The title's second space comprises heaven and hell, which have "vanished forever"; without them the blessed cannot "meet salvation" and the damned "find suitable quarters." In mourning, the poet exhorts: "Let us implore that it be returned to us,/ That second space." The Nobel laureate, who died this past summer in Kraków at 93, is preoccupied in this collection with establishing that space through words, but also finds it in carnality and in "the unattainable Now."
One Amazon reviewer quotes this line from a poem called "The Old Women": "May the day of your death not be a day of hopelessness,/ but of trust in the light that shines through earthly forms."
Jared has copied some good poetry on
Thinklings.org. First,
this poem from Bach (I didn't know he wrote any verse) on worshiping the Lord while smoking. Heh, heh. Then, a quote from Psalm 31:
How great is your goodness,
which you have stored up for those who fear you,
which you bestow in the sight of men
on those who take refuge in you.
This is followed by a strong quote from a great theologian. "If, thinking of your frailty, you hold yourselves cheap, value yourselves by the price that was paid for you." - Augustine
posted by Phil
Are Newspaper Book Reviews Worthwhile?
Stephanie Merritt of The Observer's World of Books contest
a column by Scott Pack which says book reviews in newspapers are pointless. "Don't get me wrong," he says. "Reviews can sell books, and should do. When you get several positive reviews of a book around publication it can help to stimulate interest and hopefully sales. The problem is that this so rarely happens."
Merritt replies that she loves positive reviews and hopes The Observer's reviews promote sales. "I would add," she goes on, "that they should also cut through hype and act as a filter for literary culture, offering an objective appraisal of what is good and what is not. That books pages - and individual critics - very often fail in these noble aims is an ancient complaint, and there is never any shortage of new literary magazines being founded in the name of 'pure' criticism to counter the vendettas and hidden agendas perceived to exist in the mainstream reviewing culture."
Her final point is strongest, in my opinion. If Pack, who is a buying manager for
Waterstone's, wants to promote better reading, he could stock and display more diverse books, like those which have not won awards or been seen on TV.
But what about those "vendettas and hidden agendas" believed to taint newspaper reviewers? Maybe those are not the best words to describe it, but reviewers do have a point of view and so do editors. And to hear the complaints about the NYTimes and LATimes, if they are not vendettas themselves, those viewpoints do not inspire readers. Thus, we blog.
But what if "mainstream reviewing culture" doesn't have a hidden agenda? What if they are thoughtful readers like many who don't review books? I suggest it does not matter. Influential book reviewers have the trust of their readers. If that trust is lost, regardless the reason, their reviews will be just another drop of rain in the field. Ignorable. - Phil
The Book as Art?
Maybe it should be Art as the Book.
This exhibit at The Israel Museum offers many works in the theme, "Beauty and the Book."
Book-lovers know that a considerable part of the experience of reading has to do with the liberation of the imagination. Holding a book in one's hand, one can soar towards unfamiliar lands, or plunge into the labyrinth of the hero's very soul.
[by way of the
Literary Saloon]
Binding of the Blade
While you're waiting for
Harry Potter #6 to be released (and
Books-a-Million claims you will not get it faster than to pre-order through one of their local stores), you may want to dive into the latest fantasy in the Binding of the Blade series from L.B. Graham. Book #2,
Bringer of the Storms came out this month from P&R Publishing. The
JollyBlogger called Book #1,
Beyond the Summerland, "one of his favorite books." Sample chapters are available
on the book's website.
Spotted: On Becoming an Artist
As seen elsewhere,
Ellen Langer's book on creativity and awareness may be worth notice.
All of us can express our creative impulses — authentically and uniquely — and, in the process, enrich our lives. Why then do so many of us merely dream of someday painting, someday writing, someday making music? Why do we think the same old thoughts, harbor the same old prejudices, stay stuck in the same old mud? Who taught us to think "inside the box"? No one is more qualified to answer these questions than Dr. Langer, who has explored their every facet for years.
"Langer encourages her readers to recognize how fear of judgment, unnecessary self-comparisons and preconceived notions about talent impede artistic expression. Art, in her view, is a process rather than a product." Publishers Weekly
Alternative Reading
Jared has a fun literary post today, which asks for alternatives to nonficiton books from the Inspirational shelves: "So you know those music charts CCM used to put out where they'd say something like, 'If you like Nine Inch Nails, then you might like Christian alternative Circle of Dust'? Think of this as that the literary version of that, only this time both options are ostensibly 'Christian.'"
Read onPhil Wade
Interviews and Other Links
I think it's a common blogging practice to post a series of links. Bloggers who are better than I am do it, but unless I am linked in the list, I generally dislike it. I mean,
I like it when it's
done well, but I'm still reluctant to do it myself. I know I don't blog often, but I still feel I should give you something readable, something which does not entire rely on you linking to the source article.
Regardless, here's a bunch of links:
- Catez interviews Nancy Pearcey, author of an excellent worldview book called Total Truth. She says that Francis Schaeffer's L'Abri was a rich experience:
The ideas taught at L'Abri were reinforced by the presence of a genuine community where the ideals of Christianity were clearly lived out. Jesus says people will know that the gospel is true when they witness visible love in the Body of Christ. L'Abri addressed the whole person - both the intellectual quest for answers and the emotional longing to participate in an authentic community. . . .
L'Abri also encouraged the arts, nurturing artistic and creative people, who sometimes sense that they are on the margins of the church. In the Swiss chalets where we lived as students, even everyday events were done with an aesthetic touch, like putting a small vase of wildflowers on the dinner table. Because we are made in the image of the Creator, we are called to be creative in everything we do. You might say that at L'Abri I witnessed a very rich form of Christianity that included the True, the Good, and the Beautiful.
- Christianity Today interviews Eugene Peterson on Christian living and spirituality. They ask him, "How should we visualize the Christian life?" In honor of my guest blogger, let me quote his full response:
In church last Sunday, there was a couple in front of us with two bratty kids. Two pews behind us there was another couple with their two bratty kids making a lot of noise. This is mostly an older congregation. So these people are set in their ways. Their kids have been gone a long time. And so it wasn't a very nice service; it was just not very good worship. But afterwards I saw half a dozen of these elderly people come up and put their arms around the mother, touch the kids, sympathize with her. They could have been irritated. Now why do people go to a church like that when they can go to a church that has a nursery, is air conditioned, and all the rest? Well, because they're Lutherans. They don't mind being miserable! Norwegian Lutherans!
And this same church recently welcomed a young woman with a baby and a three-year-old boy. The children were baptized a few weeks ago. But there was no man with her. She's never married; each of the kids has a different father. She shows up at church and wants her children baptized. She's a Christian and wants to follow in the Christian way. So a couple from the church acted as godparents. Now there are three or four couples in the church who every Sunday try to get together with her.
Now, where is the "joy" in that church? These are dour Norwegians! But there's a lot of joy. There's an abundant life going, but it's not abundant in the way a non-Christian would think. I think there's a lot more going on in churches like this; they're just totally anticultural. They're full of joy and faithfulness and obedience and care. But you sure wouldn't know it by reading the literature of church growth, would you?
- Faithfulreader.com interviews author David Murrow on his recent book, Why Men Hate Going to Church. Murrow argues that the church tends to lean toward feminine expressions of the faith and should work to give men the challenges they want.
For my part, I'm sure he has a point. Having not read the book, I don't know if how much junk we have to sift through to get to that point, but I'm sure there's a bit of insight to be found. For instance, in the interview he mentions what he calls the 11th Commandment, "Do whatever you want, as long as you keep the peace." That's not biblical leadership no matter what denomination you're in or what you're motives are.
- Rebecca shares a recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Pie.
- The Standard Bible Society runs a blog for its English Standard Version. That's seems a little funny to me, but who am I to question the use of technology. In this post, Scripture translator Bill Mounce is asked about the Internet in relation to the ESV. "One of the things I've been very encouraged about is the publisher's willingness to share it."
- The Diet of Bookworms is a collaborative reviewing effort led by Tim Challies. This week, Tim called for volunteers to review books. There are qualifications, such as "You must be willing and able to read a lot. A bare minimum of a book a week seems appropriate." I can't make that cut. . . . and I'm not going to complain about it.
John Piper in Chattanooga for the First Time
Piper's message tonight was wonderful. You can read notes from it
here and the
webcast should be available soon.
I learned this week that
John Piper was born in Chattanooga, TN. Tonight, he said this was the first time he had spoken here, as far as he could remember. My take-away is to rejoice in the fullness of God through knowledge and prayer.
Da Vinci Code May Have Changed Christian Evangelism
Dan Brown's
The Da Vinci Code is at 17 on this week's USA Today bestselling list, having been on the list for 117 weeks though has yet to make Human Events' most dangerous books list. What do readers like most about it? Apparently, it's the scandal of Christianity. Could it be true that Jesus didn't die on the cross, but lived on in secret with Magdalene? Don't be ridiculous. But whether they are believing what they're reading, people keep buying the book.
So at this week's PCA General Assembly,
Author Peter Jones held a seminar on the book and suggested that
The Da Vinci Code has sown seeds of doubt in the Bible.
Blogger Rebekah Forman reports, "the most undermining is its challenge to the claims of the Bible as the truest and earliest form of Christianity. If we accept Brown's claims (following the line of those in the Jesus Seminar and those who study the Gnostic texts), the Bible no longer can be trusted."
I'm still not sure how this has changed a believer's witness of Christ in his life, though I can see that it may be encouraging a swell of neo-paganism. Haven't people doubted the Bible's accuracy for years? Perhaps this doubt is more popular because of Brown's book.
Heresy Quote
"Calvin has caused untold millions of souls to be damned" - Jimmy Swaggert
I just read this quote on the
blog for the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, which is being held in my home town this week. Author and Pastor John Piper is speaking tonight. Now I don't feel any remorse whatsoever when I call Charles Finney a heretic.
New: Jared noted this post and augmented it with a
long quote from Warfield. You know, Christian, grace is a gift, not one that must be received in order to be called a gift, but an act of God free from any obligations.
Following the Leader
Ok. I'll play along, sort of . . . though this is very similar to
a meme I passed by earlier this month.
1. The total number of books and movies I own:
Books? Um, 200 or so, I guess. I've given dozens of them away over the years, so in a sense, I still think of those sent books as mine. Movies? 21
2. The last movie I bought:Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom. Is there a good reason I often want to spell 'phantom' with another 'n' as in 'phantomn'?
3. The last movie I saw: I think it was The Aristocats. Now, what was the last TV show I watched?
The Next Food Network Star!4. Last book I read: What do you mean by 'read'? Finished?
5. Five movies/DVDs that mean a lot to me, in no particular order: Um, uh, five . . . movies . . . 1.
To End All Wars is worth seeing. 2-5. I don't know which Doctor Who DVD will mean a lot to me. I need to research that. hmm, mean a lot to me . . . you know,
In America is a good drama, and it has Irish immigrants in it.
6. Five Books what mean a lot 'o me: 1. My collection of N. Hawthorne novels and stories 2.
Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper is growing in meaning for me 3. I have a leather-bound collection of Shakespeare plays and poems. I doubt it's more valuable than the text, but it's nice to have. 4. Orthodoxy by Chesterton 5. World Poetry anthology
. . . I need to hit the sack. Thanks for dropping by. I'll brew some coffee next time, and if we plan ahead, I can make some biscotti for us.
Why the Sky is Blue, by Susan Meissner
Meissner begins this pleasant debut novel with an intriguing idea. Her lead character, Claire Holland, is remembering the first time God spoke to her audibly. That memory carries Claire through a difficult trial which would dismantle some women. After being raped, she discovers she is pregnant. She wrestles with her emotions, her family’s fears, her husband’s denial, and cutting away the past while holding onto it. In the years the follow, Claire and her small Minnesota family learn to trust God whole-heartedly because of who he is alone.
Meissner has a journalism background, and that reporting-feel delivers this quiet story. As I read, I wanted it to overcome the current obstacle in order to stumble on a new one. I don’t mind slow-moving plots, but slow-moving, straight-foward plots are dull to me. If the characters or prose was more complicated, I would have been more interested.
But I must praise the theme. Why is the sky blue? Claire’s mother explains: “I knew that sometimes God’s reasons for doing things or not doing things are as deep as His character,” she says. “Being supplied with a reason when maybe I wouldn’t have been able to understand it might have made it worse for me. . . . Sometimes asking God for a reason for something is like asking Him why the sky is blue. There is a complex scientific reason for it, Claire, but most children, including you, are content with knowing it is blue because it is.”
Meissner has two more books from Harvest House.
The Remedy for Regret is due out in July.
A Window to the World, her second novel, came out in January.
What Would Evelyn Waugh Do with the News?
Roger Kimball asks what would the wonderful satirist Evelyn Waugh do with the recent hub-bub over Koran handling at a terrorist prison camp.
He knew first-hand about bureaucratic blundering, about absurd face-saving directives that intervene in a bad situation and make it worse. How Waugh would have loved the story of how the Koran is handled at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay. He would have snorted when he read Michael Isikoff's preening fantasy in Newsweek about how nasty, insensitive interrogators were flushing Korans down the toilet. He would have chuckled when, lo and behold, it turn out that no Korans were harmed in the making of this morality tale: it was all part of Newsweek's effort to be fair and balanced, i.e., anti-Bush. Waugh would have smirked when, after the Isikoff story turned out to be false, other members of the Fourth Estate, their pride wounded, rallied around to disclose that, even if the Koran hadn't been flushed down the toilet at Guantanamo Bay, it was placed near a toilet, at least in the same building with a toilet, and moreover a prison guard had urinated near an air shaft that vented somewhere in the vicinity of a room in which a Koran was placed or might be placed or was once placed . . . What contortions we have been treated to in the Koran Abuse Fantasy. (Yes, there has been disrespectful treatment of the Koran at Guantanamo Bay--almost exclusively meted out, as John Hinderaker explains, by the detainees themselves.)
I should point out that Christians have not reacted after the fashion of Muslims upon hearing the news that Bibles are shredded by the Saudi Arabian government or disrespected by others in other ways. I remember old stories of pages of the Bible being used as toilet paper in Vietnamese prisons. In retaliation to such outrages, Christians print more Bibles.
Popular vs. Literary? How About Both?
Mr. Holtsberry of
Collected Misc. has done a remarkable job of focusing on an author living in his area of our grand and beautiful country, that area not being New York City. Michelle Herman has written a few interesting books, each of which have been reviewed over the past several days on the blog. And something a little more interactive may be coming there too, so watch for the news.
In
a two-part interview, Herman talks about the way we categorize fiction.
Q: Your writing doesn't include much in the way of plot and seems to focus on the prose and inner though process of your characters. Do you see a bright line between "literary fiction" and "genre fiction?" Where do you see yourself? A: I hate the term "popular fiction" because everybody wants to be a popular writer. I mean, what would make me happier than look around and see everyone reading Dog right now? I do think that--and I kind of hated it when Jonathan Frazen said no to Oprah and said "I see myself entirely in the high art tradition"--I think there is a difference between artful writing and in-artful writing. Words that are careful chosen and shaped--it is art in the same way that any other art is artful, crafted and thought about and meditated on, really made as opposed to just getting stuff down on a page at its lowest level. You can go back to Aristotle who said that reading at the lowest common denominator was to find out what happens next. He was talking about epic poetry; but still you read to find out what happens next. And as you can tell, I have stripped that almost completely from my work. What happens is really pretty much beside the point. It is just a hanger; it is just a frame for me to hang my characters on . . . So in that way I think there is a difference.
On the other hand I think there are a lot of writers who are artful writers but who are popular, easily accessible, widely read. Nick Hornby, for example, Nick Hornby is a writer I love. And I think in Nick's case, he is interested in beautiful, artful writing, he works very hard at it, but the stuff that interests him, the stuff that compels him, also happens to be interesting to a lot of other people. I think it is true of Ann Tyler too.
Kenneth Taylor, 1917-2005
Author and publisher
Kenneth Taylor died on Wednesday at home near family. His son-in-law, Tim Bayly, talks about him and his passing on
his blog.
"We were in the room around his bed singing 'Holy, Holy, Holy' when Gretchen noticed his breathing had stopped. We sang the Doxology, read Psalm 91, and prayed together. Mom had been out with Becky at an audiology appointment. When she returned and was told, she responded 'Well, he got home before dark.'"
"Making Scripture accessible for all people was my father's passion," said his son and Tyndale President Mark Taylor in
a press release. "Many, many people have told him, 'I became a Christian when I read The Living Bible,' or 'My first Bible was the green padded Living Bible.' Even at 88 years old, his enthusiasm and fervor for his work never waned."
Tim plans to write more, but for now he posts
a tribute by Mark:
Ken was known around the world as the translator of The Living Bible, which sold more than 40 million copies. He began his translation work in the early 1950s, when he would paraphrase portions of Scripture for use in the family’s daily devotions. Much of this work was done on the train as he commuted between Wheaton and Chicago. The result of that early work was a book called Living Letters, which was a modern-language paraphrase of the New Testament epistles.
Taylor was partially inspired to paraphrase the Bible by a discomfort with the King James, both for himself and his children.
He couldn’t find a publisher who was interested in the project, so he decided to publish it himself. Living Letters went on to sell millions of copies after Billy Graham began giving copies to his television audience. Ken paraphrased the rest of the Bible over the next nine years, and The Living Bible was published in 1971. It was the best-selling book in America in 1972 and 1973.
Not finding a publisher for his paraphrase also lead Taylor to found
Tyndale House. He also founded the Christian Booksellers Association in 1950.
Give It Forward Or Just Scare Them With It
British author
Robert Chalmers (
Who's Who in Hell, and
East of Nowhere) has written critically acclaimed books which have gone on to unremarkable sales. So he decided
to give his book away to anyone who will accept it. "I've always wondered whether 'ordinary people' with no influence or literary connections would actually like my books - I mean, it's not like they're Dostoyevsky or something," he confessed. He recruited a few chaps to help him distribute his latest,
East of Nowhere.Here's how the book plays on
Amazon.co.uk: "This is the story of how a bad man called Edward Miller lost his job, his house, his wife, his hair and his front teeth, but in the process becomes good. It is the story of how, in his only ever truly selfless act, Edward risks all to save the woman he loves. In
East of Nowhere, Robert Chalmers has created a dazzling ensemble cast of characters in a unique fiction for our times. It is as mordantly funny as it is breathtakingly true."
To distribute this, Chalmers asked a local musician for help who asked a tattoed man named Skum and an axe-welding friend named Stuart. The two men went through their part of town, shouting, "We've got something to give you!" They gave away six bags full.
The Independent asks, "But won't all this generosity be lowering the intrinsic value of his book? 'Of course!' Chalmers laughs."
A Little More Publicist Interview
A while ago, I published
an interview with Kelly Hughes of
Dechant-Hughes & Associates, Inc. I emailed her a few more questions just after her first response, and she was able to get back to me this week. Publicists are more busy than I think I have ever been. Here are a couple questions from that first part with the other following:
How do you define a successful campaign? Is it totally subjective to perceived sales? Are there certain specifics, like a mention or review by select publications, which add up to success despite sale numbers?
KH: A successful campaign secures coverage in the media that reaches the potential audience for the book, and spurs the kind of word-of-mouth that can be so important to a book's success. Publicity is just one factor, however. Several other factors affect sales, such as distribution, availability, cover, other marketing efforts, competition and price, among others. There are some books that get excellent media coverage and still don't sell. Some books would have been better as magazine articles -- people will spend the time to read a long article about it, but that's all they feel they need to know, and they're not willing to shell out $25 for the book.
Do you care about Amazon.com ranking?
KH: Yes, but I take it with a grain of salt. I don't obsessively check it. I understand how unpredictable the ranking is--a sudden bump may reflect the sale of just one copy. It's all relative to how the other millions of books are doing. It is fun to see the ranking jump after an interview; it's nice to be able to trace it do some specific media coverage.
Do you think literary blogs or blogs in general are influential for book publicity? Are they just another part of traditional word-of-mouth marketing, if I can call it that?KH: Blogs are a growing area of interest for book publicists. There are even firms dedicated to arranging "blog tours." The word-of-mouth is immediate, and snowballs because links pop up all over the place. I think blogs are a good way to reach people who read books and care about ideas. People who visit literary blogs -- whether active participants or lurkers -- obviously are interested in books.
Is there anything some publicity agents do which you think is close to, if not entirely, useless for increasing a book's readership?KH: I don't think fax blasts or "spamming" press releases is an effective way to approach media.
What do you think about publishing the first few pages of a novel in a subway car? Would a teaser like that promote the book better than a straight-forward advertising poster? (tip o' the tam o'shanter to Mad Max)KH: I ride the el in Chicago, and I think that would definitely pique my interest!
Finally (and again thank you very much) what do you like most about your job?KH: I get to talk about books. I love that. And I get to meet and work with and talk to many, many wonderful people - writers, scholars, thinkers, people with compelling personal stories, editors, publishers, reporters, media. I love that too!
Blogs Tend to be Superficial
Terry Teachout writes on blogs and culture in
this month's Commentary:
When newspapers do become obsolete--which will happen sooner rather than later--it will be because their functions have been taken over by a variety of web-based media that can do them better. (Blogs, for example, are already superseding op-ed pages.) A few existing papers will rise to the challenge and transform themselves into online publications, reconceived in such a way as to take advantage of the unique properties of the web. Most, however, will not, since established institutions rarely if ever transform themselves, least of all in response to external threats to their survival. Instead, they are replaced by new institutions that spring up in response to those same threats, seeing them as opportunities for long-overdue change.
But . . . blogs alone [are not] capable of replacing newspapers, or even magazines, notwithstanding the triumphalist fantasies of certain bloggers with overactive imaginations. Blogs, after all, have their own built-in limitations. Chief among these is a tendency toward superficiality. While a blogger can write at any length, few seem inclined to post the kind of full-length essay that is the stock in trade of an intellectual magazine like Commentary. Most favor brief, suggestive postings that imply more than they state, and they no less typically prefer hit-and-run assertion to detailed argument, verbal slugfests to coolly reasoned refutations. Moreover, for all the contempt in which they affect to hold the mainstream media, too many bloggers remain in their thrall, complaining about what the media do wrong instead of figuring out how to do other things right.
These limitations, however, matter only to those who see the blog as a substitute for an existing medium, rather than as a new medium that does new things in new ways.
I believe brevity is the soul of blogging, but it need not be superficial or make drive-by accusations. It's always good to speak plainly and reference sources where possible when making a case. And it's always better to argue logically and civilly than to slap down a reaction as if your blog is a mere discussion board. But with the barrier to writing a blog the same as reading them, shouldn't we assume the worst for most blogs? Most people are not writers, newsmakers, journalists, or sound critics. They may have sound opinions, but can they communicate them? Have they thought them through clearly enough for public consumption? Do they care to?
Read Collected Miscellany
I've been blogging at
Collected Misc. lately. Naturally, each post is the same sort of timeless phttpht you read from me on this wonderful blog, so I encourage you to
click this link, read and comment on the lst several posts. Be sure to note
this account by a young Malcolm Muggeridge on seeing the great G.K. Chesterton.
I also put together
some information on the announcement from W. Mark Felt that he is the Deep Throat who leak sensitive and sealed information to the Washington Post. That announcement has brought
some high bids on eBay for an autographed book written by Felt in 1979, according to the AP. A seller in Oregon bought Felt's book,
The FBI Pyramid: From The Inside, at the FBI in 1981.
It's currently selling for $2750.01.
USAToday reports that publishers are asking about new Watergate books now that Felt is an identified principle player. Reportedly, Bob Woodward, who co-wrote the book which blew the lid off of White House corruption and perhaps more importantly obstruction of justice, "had prepared for Felt's death by writing a short book about what he described in the
Post as their 'intense and sometimes troubling' relationship."
Some think that if Felt wanted to tell his story in living color, he could make a good bit.
