Books in 140 Seconds: Y: The Last Man

It’s Thursday at 1:40 p.m. and time for another dose of the book club concentrate that is Books in 140 Seconds. To jog your memory that’s what happens when Erin Balser and I climb into each other’s laps in front of a computer and try to give you a book club in double-time. Two weeks ago we talked about Leanne Shapton’s Important Artifacts, and this week we’re keeping up our love of all things graphic with a discussion of the Y: The Last Man comic book series by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra. So fasten your seat belts ladies and gentleman, cause here we go!

Did anyone notice how I accidentally called Yorick Brown Warrick Brown? (I knew the CSI bender I had in second year would have a lasting impact on my brain.) Also, I apologize for sort of yelling at you. I JUST GET OVEREXCITED SOMETIMES!

Books in 140 Seconds will be back on May 6th at 1:40 p.m. with a discussion of Fear of Fighting by Stacey May Fowles and illustrated by Marlena Zuber. Get more out of your 140 seconds by reading my review and replaying today’s Book Madam Book Chat with the author and publisher. Oh, and read the book. Definitely do that too.

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Books in 140 Seconds: Important Artifacts

Welcome back to another installment of Books in 140 Seconds, in which Erin Balser and I try to make your fortnight by running a book club in just 140 seconds. Not very much time, folks. Not much at all. So really, we’re just starting the conversation, and if you’ve read the book feel free to join in by commenting here.

We kicked off our book club series with a discussion of Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld, and this week we’ve turned our attention to a cool little number known as Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including, Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry by Leanne Shapton. You may remember this book from my review a couple months ago. It’s a book that Erin and I both love (oops, spoiler!), and so we decided to channel our inner Material Girl to discuss this loving curated collection of everyday objects. 

KIRBC presents Books in 140 Seconds runs every second Thursday at 1:40 p.m. Tune in on April 22nd as we go graphic with a discussion of Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s Y: The Last Man.

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Breaking news on Important Artifacts the movie: Greg Mottola to direct and turn it into a rom com, and Brad Pitt and Natalie Portman signed on to the project. More details here: http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/04/19/greg-mottola-to-writedirect-brad-pitt-and-natalie-portman-in-important-artifacts/

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Books in 140 Seconds: Prep

As we announced a couple weeks ago, Erin Balser and I have decided to run a book club in a mere 140 seconds, and we’re taping it for your viewing pleasure. Just watch the video and then join in the conversation here. Books in 140 Seconds runs every second Thursday, and we’ll give you a heads up on the next fortnight’s book at the end of every post, so the overachievers among you can get reading.

For our first foray into digi-micro-bookclubbing, we decided to go with the frequently recommended boarding school classic, Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. We read the book, I donned my pearls, and here’s what happened:

140 seconds isn’t much. We still had a lot to say, and we’d love to discuss it here. There are a lot of big ticket issues at play in Prep — including race, class, sexuality, some fascinating characters, and Lee exposes herself to the same dissection she applies to others. I’ll be posting a review next week, but this is a great place to discuss ideas and reactions as well.

A quick note on the method to our madness when it comes to selecting our next book: like at the KIRBC, there isn’t really one. We’ll aim for a variety of formats from a variety of publishers, but those are the only rules. So basically, anything’s fair game.

On that note, the next book to receive the book club blitz is: Leanne Shapton’s Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including, Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry. As an intro to the book, check out my review, and by all means, pick up the book itself — cause like all of the ephemera the book so lovingly catalogues, I think this one’s a keeper.

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