I'm baaaack.

Yes, yes I've been neglecting the blog. So sue me. Or cut my blog pay in half. Does that feel better? Besides you should really use this blog the same way I do -- as a handy set of links to the more responsible bloggers in the blogroll. That said, I have been reading -- quite a bit. Not as much as I hoped over the Thanksgiving break, but something. I read "The Last Queen," a historical novel about Juana of Spain, sometimes referred to as Juana the Mad, known to us devotees of Tudor Trash as the older sister of Katharine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife. It wasn't great art but it was a good read and provided a plausible explanation for why she never really inherited the throne she should have inherited.

But the best reading I've done recently has all been set in the 19th century -- The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue, another work of historical fiction using real people as characters. The novel centers on a scandalous divorce and it pulls off a nice trick -- multiple perspectives, all of them plausibly providing the individual characters' motives and feelings.

The Sealed Letter is in the collection at the FKCC Library and they've got it at the Monroe County Library too.

The other thing I've been doing is Christmas shopping and this year I'm trying to do as much as possible at my local independent bookstore, Voltaire Books. I'm sure Amazon will get some traffic in my family -- those wishlists are awfully handy for faraway relatives -- but these days anything we can do to keep the remaining indies with us is well worth it.

Heading north

In today's Miami Herald, my story about Dennis Lehane and his new book "The Given Day," a big historical epic which I strongly recommend. It's set in Boston in 1918-1919, leading up to the Boston Police strike -- lots of real people figure, including Babe Ruth, although the main characters are fictional. It's a big book, at 720 pages, but an absorbing read. And it gets you into the historical fiction groove, which I hope many people are already, with the upcoming Literary Seminar. Right now, I'm reading Gore Vidal's Burr, a book I read many years ago -- closer to 20 than 10, yikes! It's a great one, too, funny and surprising, all the stuff that made Vidal the man of letters we love (and fear). Sounds like he was on his game at the Book Fair last night; can't wait to hear what he has to say at the Key West Literary Seminar, on the eve of Obama's inauguration in January.

Tomorrow I'm heading up to the Book Fair, where I hope to see Lehane and many, many other writers -- because, gosh, I just don't have enough to read already.

It's Book Fair Time!!!!

Yes, it's that time of year -- Miami Book Fair time! I don't make it to this event every year but I always regret it when I don't. For avid readers, it's an amazing opportunity to hear all kinds of writers, including old favorites and new discoveries, live and in person and at an insanely reasonable cost -- it used to be free; now they charge a whopping $5 for the whole weekend. Sure, there's the cost of getting to Miami for us outlanders but gas has come way down (thanks, global recession!) and I, at least, have no shame in freeloading off friends for the sake of great literary access. Now if only I can keep the book purchases to a bare minimum ...

New this year is a requirement to order tickets ahead of time for all events in the Chapman auditorium -- you can find out about that and lots more at the Book Fair website, above.

Random cool book-related stuff from the web

Couple things that washed up onto my screen this morning: MobyLives, a book blog that's been on a two-year hiatus, according to the daily Shelf Awareness email -- looks like a fun and interesting compendium of litry stuff. It's the newest addition to our list of links and it doesn't take long to read back through the archives of its current incarnation. Maybe it's because I'm from Massachusetts but I particularly appreciated the blog's inaugural post. 

The Guardian runs the results of a funny contest to recast books in bestseller genres (chick lit, fantasy etc.).

You have a little more than a day to decide whether this year is the year you'll write a novel in November -- those wacky folks at National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) are at it again -- 50,000 words, no one says they have to be great art -- organized on the web with local get-togethers. More details at their website; we're working on hosting a write-a-thon at the college library; watch here for details.

This isn't really a web thing but if you've never been to the Miami Bookfair and you're in the South Florida region and you like books -- you should go. The number of writers who show up and talk is unbelievable and the street fair is like something out of a dream. Get details at their website and get yourself to Miami the weekend of Nov. 15-16.

Historical fiction ... it's hot!

This year's National Book Award nominees have been announced -- and an astounding three out of five in the fiction category are panelists who will be appearing at the Key West Literary Seminar in January. Wow. Peter Mathiessen, Marilynne Robinson and relative newcomer Rachel Kushner all made the short list. That's impressive. And there are still spots open in the second all-star weekend, so check it out. In other KWLS-related news, check out Littoral, the seminar's blog, if you don't already do so. Arlo Haskell has managed to do what many have tried and none fully pulled off before: he's publishing a high-quality Key West-centered literary journal. Single-handed. The web is a good thing, at least when it's being used for good and not to propagate thinly veiled racist political slander.

Update: Even as I was writing the above post, the New York Times' excellent book blog, Paper Cuts, was linking to Littoral. Yea Arlo! Yea Key West! We're in the big time now.