Delighting in Italo Calvino

When Italo Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveler ... came out many years ago, I remember picking it up but never reading it. Recently I noticed a copy at a used book store, so thought it was time to finally take the plunge. I'm most happy I finally did. the back cover explains that the novel actually involves ten different novels, all by "different" authors with varying styles, each story getting interrupted at a climactic point. But it's the way this happens, with an omniscient uber-narrator who addresses the stories, then becomes part of them, then addresses the character of a reader, who is and isn't you, all with a terrific and subtle sense of humor that makes If on a winter's night so enjoyable. If you've never read it before, it's worth picking up a copy.

Simpson Ex-Agent Accomplice After Fact?

The New York Observer reports that O.J. Simpson's former sports agent, Mike Gilbert, is coming out with a book called How I Helped O. J. Get Away With Murder:

According to a brief announcement published this afternoon on industry Web site Publisher's Lunch, the book will "detail O.J.'s late-night confession" and offer new evidence showing that Simpson did kill his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her boyfriend Ron Goldman. The book also promises "information on Gilbert's crucial role in obtaining the not guilty verdict and why he stayed silent for so long."

I have a dozen words: What a pig. Murder accomplice after the fact. Don't buy his book. Oh, and then there's this:

Some of the proceeds from the book have been pledged to the Make-a-Wish foundation, according to the posting on Publisher's Lunch-- a commitment most likely motivated by the public outcry sparked back in November 2006 when HarperCollins announced plans to publish O. J. Simpson's kinda-sorta confession, If I Did It.

Let's add two more: blood money.

Seducing Readers

The London Times online books section has an interesting promotion. Readers can sign up to receive letters from famous authors. The plaintive missives are excerpts from a book called Four Letter Word: Invented Correspondence from the Edge of Modern Romance, a fiction collection in which the editors asked over 40 authors to contribute a love letter. It's a new twist on the romance genre.

Rosie O'Donnell Flips Over Book Flap

Rosie O'Donnell is not happy with the publishers of her new book, Celebrity Detox. Apparently the publishers got some milestones of her life wrong:

On her official blog, she writes, "So i just got my first hard copy of my new book CELEBRITY DETOX there on the front flap in print 'when rosie odonnells mother was diagnosed with cancer in 1968, ten year old rosie thought fame could cure her,' i was born in 1962 my mother was diagnosed in 1973 WTF!"

Rosie, I don't know how to break it to you, but authors have been going through this for a long time. Over the years, I've come to the point where I'm happy if they at least get my name right.

Ophrah's Father to Write Memoir

Oprah Winfrey was apparently "stunned" to learn that her father was writing a memoir, but hadn't told her:

"I said, `That's impossible. I can assure them it's not true,'" she said. "... I called him and it turned out he is writing a book. The worst part of it was him saying, `I meant to tell you I've been working on it.'"

I can see how it could be a surprise to learn second hand that your own father was writing about his live - and yours, as an extension. But let's consider for a moment that few people have helped promote the surprise tell-all to the degree that Ms. Winfrey has. Much of her career, and that of her talk-show colleagues, is built on the heart-rending personal reminiscences of those who give up their privacy for notoriety, or at least 15 minutes worth.

Life is often unfair, but it makes up for that with irony, so that the eventual payment is in the same currency. My question is whether her father will be promoting his book on her show. After all, if everyone else can undergo embarrassment for the sake of ratings, it only seems right that she can as well.

Ronald Goldman Family Looks to Buy OJ Book

The Associated Press reports that the family of murder victim Ronald Goldman hopes to bid on the OJ "If I Did It" book to publish their own version. There's no clear indicatio that this will happen, but, to bend a title, if it did, I can only start to imagine what they might do to it - all with the name of O.J. Simpson on the cover. Sometimes I think that the pen is mightier than the sword and sometimes not, but it certainly has a longer and more bitter memory.