BOOKS BOUGHT:
BOOKS READ:I'm letting this section go. I discovered the library and really, I don't buy that many books anyway
Here's a big problem for me. As I try to write this semi-monthly column about the books I've read (or tried to read at least), it's becoming increasingly hard to fit the titles into the space at the top of each post. Every book title now has a long description about itself after the ":" mark. It's useful for marketing and selling purposes I'm sure, but it's killing my blog.Adverbs - Daniel Handler Seven Seconds or Less - Jack McCallum Friday Night Lights - HG Bissinger The Sword and the Chain - Joel Rosenberg The Heir Apparent - Joel Rosenberg The Black Swan - Nassim Nicholas Taleb McDonald's - John F. Love The Search - John Battelle The Chess Artist - J.C. Hallman Out of Control - Kevin Kelly Cultural Intelligence - Thomas/Inkson Soon I Will Be Invincible - Austin Grossman
I mean, Jack McCallum's "Seven Seconds or Less" is actually supposed to be "Seven Seconds or Less: My Season on the Bench with the Running' and Gunnin' Phoenix Suns." I had to check that twice over just to make sure I got the wording and punctuation right. Try fitting all of that on one line.
For aesthetic reasons, I refuse to let a book/author pairing go over their allotted space. If I wasn't so anal, here's what this month's list would look like:
Ridiculous right? It's like trying to run the 100-yard dash with a huge wedding train flaring out behind you. Actually, I even cheated a little because the copy that I have of "Out of Control" is actually sub-titled "Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, & the Economic World." Which is, to be sure, much more explanatory than "Out of Control: The Rise of Neo-Biological Civilization." But which one sounds cooler?Adverbs: A Novel - Daniel Handler Seven Seconds or Less: My Season on the Bench with the Running' and Gunnin' Phoenix Suns - Jack McCallum Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, and a Dream - HG Bissinger The Sword and the Chain - Joel Rosenberg The Heir Apparent - Joel Rosenberg The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable - Nassim Nicholas Taleb McDonald's: Behind the Arches - John F. Love The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture - John Battelle The Chess Artist: Genius, Obsession, and the World's Oldest Game - J.C. Hallman Out of Control: The Rise of Neo-Biological Civilization - Kevin Kelly Cultural Intelligence: People Skills for Global Business - Thomas/Inkson Soon I Will Be Invincible - Austin Grossman
While this long title problem is more prevalent in the non-fiction world -- where the abstract titles sometimes do need a bit of an explanation and a hook -- take a look at "Adverbs: A Novel." I'm not sure why that's there; the book is fiction and clearly adding "A Novel" doesn't help explain anything. I mean, Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) is a wonderful writer but I'm trying to figure out if it was his idea to add the appendage or if it was something tacked on by mistake. Check out the cover for Alice Sebold's "The Lovely Bones." It clearly has "A novel" printed on it, which is semi-helpful I guess, but it's not part of its official name.
Perhaps my book should have been "The Rough Guide to Blogging: A Guide about Blogging." Or maybe with my next book I can incorporate " : A Book" into it somehow to create "My Brand New Book: A Pretty Decent Book (if you don't mind me saying)."
Anyway, what I've decided to do in the interest of beautiful blog posts is to shorten any title that is way too long, leaving only the essential bits for your consumption -- or just little ditties I make up. I figure if you're really interested in one of these books, you're only a few clicks away from Googling it. Also, that's my rationale for not listing full names of multiple authors and editors. So here's what my list this month should look like:
Adverbs - Daniel Handler Seven Seconds or Less: The 2005 Phoenix Suns - Jack McCallum Friday Night Lights - HG Bissinger The Sword and the Chain - Joel Rosenberg The Heir Apparent - Joel Rosenberg The Black Swan - Nassim Nicholas Taleb McDonald's: Behind the Arches - John F. Love The Search: How Google... - John Battelle The Chess Artist - J.C. Hallman Out of Control: The Rise of Neo-Biological Civilization - Kevin Kelly Cultural Intelligence: People Skills for Global Business - Thomas/Inkson Soon I Will Be Invincible - Austin Grossman
