When Janet Maslin reviewed This Bright River by Patrick Somerville recently, the novelist discovered that the critic had misread a crucial and deliberately ambiguous moment in the novel.

Somerville explained the error in an essay for Salon: “I realized that Janet Maslin, who is not only one of the most accomplished critics in the world, but who is also the person who lifted my first novel, The Cradle, out of obscurity with a rave review three years before, had made a simple reading error within the first five pages of my novel. She‘d mixed up two characters. It was really important to not mix up those characters. And she never realized it.”

That could have been the end of the whole sad story, but a New York Times editor contacted Somerville through an email to one of his fictional characters. Read the whole email chain at Salon. The lovely email exchange ended with the newspaper printing a spoiler-free correction in the review.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Here are some handpicked titles from our New Books section. Want to include your book? Just read our Facebook Your New or Upcoming Book post. Don’t forget to include your title’s exact release date and a link.

The Troy Standard by A.G. Fredericks: “Through determination and hard work, Troy Mulligan had become the man he always wanted to be. He is happy, healthy, has a wonderful family and successful career. A surprise inheritance helps enlighten him to the prospect that the basic measure of the United States economy, the dollar itself, is unstable and dangerous. As the industry which he works becomes more and more oppressive through government over-regulation, he decides to change his life’s path and focus on helping people instead.” (May 2012)

Child of the Deadwood by Vincent Dublado: “A xenofiction that centers around a rhinoceros beetle that was captured from the wild for the sake of game and amusement. An allegory of the human condition with existential undertones, the story explores the nature of of being through a detailed scene of the protagonist in a set of competitive battle with other beetles.” (May 2012)

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Here are some handpicked titles from our New Books section. Want to include your book? Just read our Facebook Your New or Upcoming Book post. Don’t forget to include your title’s exact release date and a link.

The Great Peace by Ryan George Kittleman: “A small American city is under siege. A group of starving artists – led by a reclusive, sweatpants-wearing billionaire – is determined to overthrow the government by any means necessary. With little hope for peace, a neurotic young gadabout, fresh off a failed suicide attempt, takes it upon himself to save his hometown from ruin.” (May 2012)

City of Spirits by Eric Wilde: “It’s Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and French Quarter sleuth Wyatt Thomas is dealing with a new client and a very old curse. Wyatt Thomas returns in City of Spirits, the sequel to Eric Wilder’s popular hard-boiled mystery Big Easy. Get ready for a ride!” (May 2012)

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

You can read all the online book reviews in the world, but nothing beats real-world conversations between readers and authors.

In an ongoing effort to build community among readers, writers, and publishing types in real life, we are hosting our next Mediabistro Book Club on May 16, 2012 from 6:30 until 8:30 pm at Stone Creek Bar & Lounge in Manhattan.

Follow this link to RSVP for the free party. Our featured authors include:

Susie DeFord, Dogs of Brooklyn
Jane Hodges, Rent Vs. Own: A Real Estate Reality Check for Navigating Booms, Busts, and Bad Advice
Jillian Medoff, I Couldn’t Love You More

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We’ve collected the books debuting on Indiebound’s Indie Bestseller List for the week ending May 06, 2012–a sneak peek at the books everybody will be talking about next month.

(Debuted at #1 in Hardcover Fiction) Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris: “Growing up with telepathic abilities, Sookie Stackhouse realized early on there were things she’d rather not know. And now that she’s an adult, she also realizes that some things she knows about, she’d rather not see—like Eric Northman feeding off another woman. A younger one.” (May 2012)

Debuted at #1 in Hardcover Nonfiction) The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro: “follows Lyndon Johnson through both the most frustrating and the most triumphant periods of his career—1958 to 1964.  It is a time that would see him trade the extraordinary power he had created for himself as Senate Majority Leader for what became the wretched powerlessness of a Vice President in an administration that disdained and distrusted him.”

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We’ve collected the books debuting on Indiebound’s Indie Bestseller List for the week ending April 29, 2012–a sneak peek at the books everybody will be talking about next month.

(Debuted at #1 in Hardcover Fiction) The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King: “Roland Deschain and his ka-tet—Jake, Susannah, Eddie, and Oy, the billy-bumbler—encounter a ferocious storm just after crossing the River Whye on their way to the Outer Baronies. As they shelter from the howling gale, Roland tells his friends not just one strange story but two . . . and in so doing, casts new light on his own troubled past.” (April 2012)

(Debuted at #2 in Hardcover Nonfiction) Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlen: “From childhood memories to manic motherhood to middle age, Quindlen uses the events of her own life to illuminate our own. Along with the downsides of age, she says, can come wisdom, a perspective on life that makes it satisfying and even joyful.” (April 2012)

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Here are some handpicked titles from our New Books section. Want to include your book? Just read our Facebook Your New or Upcoming Book post. Don’t forget to include your title’s exact release date and a link.

A Death at the White Camellia Orphanage by Marly Youmans: “A bright, unusual boy who is disillusioned at a young age, Pip believes that he sees guilt shining in the faces of men wherever he goes. On his picaresque journey, he sweeps through society, revealing the highest and lowest in human nature and only slowly coming to self-understanding.” (March 2012)

What Happened to Tom by Christopher Taffen: ”An allegorical horror story. A psychological/philosophical thriller. A must-read for every man.” (April 2012)

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We’ve collected the books debuting on Indiebound’s Indie Bestseller List for the week ending April 22, 2012–a sneak peek at the books everybody will be talking about next month.

(Debuted at #3 in Hardcover Fiction) The Innocent by David Baldacci: “America has enemies–ruthless people that the police, the FBI, even the military can’t stop. That’s when the U.S. government calls on Will Robie, a stone cold hitman who never questions orders and always nails his target.
But Will Robie may have just made the first–and last–mistake of his career…” (April 2012)

(Debuted at #4 in Hardcover Nonfiction) Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson: ”For fans of Tina Fey and David Sedaris—Internet star Jenny Lawson, aka The Bloggess, makes her literary debut. Jenny Lawson realized that the most mortifying moments of our lives—the ones we’d like to pretend never happened—are in fact the ones that define us.” (April 2012)

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Here are some handpicked titles from our New Books section. Want to include your book? Just read our Facebook Your New or Upcoming Book post. Don’t forget to include your title’s exact release date and a link.

Vamplayers by Rusty Fischer: “When Lily and her two Sisters, Alice and Cara, are called out to their latest assignment, she figures it’s just another run-of-the-mill gig: spot the Vamplayer (part vampire, part player), identify the predictably hot, trampy girl he’s set his eyes on, and befriend her before the Vamplayer can turn her to do his bidding.” (February 2012)

Whole Latte Life by Joanne DeMaio: ”Sara Beth Riley never dreamt she’d walk straight out of her life. Actually she’d never dreamt a lot of things that had happened this year … From being kidnapped by her own best friend, to throwing her wedding rings into the Hudson River, to calling an old love in France, to getting inked with said best friend, painting the passionate constellation of these choices into permanence. But mostly, she could never have dreamt what started it all. How could it be that her mother’s unexpected death, and the grief which lingered painfully long, turned her into the woman she was finally meant to become?” (March 2012)

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We’ve collected the books debuting on Indiebound’s Indie Bestseller List for the week ending April 15, 2012–a sneak peek at the books everybody will be talking about next month.

(Debuted at #1 in Hardcover Fiction) Calico Joe by John Grisham: ”In the summer of 1973 Joe Castle was the boy wonder of baseball, the greatest rookie anyone had ever seen.  The kid from Calico Rock, Arkansas dazzled Cub fans as he hit home run after home run, politely tipping his hat to the crowd as he shattered all rookie records. Calico Joe quickly became the idol of every baseball fan in America, including Paul Tracey, the young son of a hard-partying and hard-throwing Mets pitcher.” (April 2012)

(Debuted at #10 in Hardcover Nonfiction) A Natural Woman by Carole King: “A memoir by the iconic singer-songwriter chronicling her story from her beginnings in Brooklyn through her remarkable success as one of the world’s most acclaimed musical talents, to her present day as a leading performer and activist.” (April 2012)

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.