Are Vampires dead?

Many of us are sick of the vampire craze in books.  There are countless series available, television shows based on the books, movies…and now, more books. (Insert big sigh here.)  Yes, many people are still asking for books abut the popular creature, but for those of us ordering and trying to fill our library shelves with great (and popular) reads, the vampire trend is getting a little stale.

If you aren’t aware of how the book publishing business works, it can take an author anywhere from a year or more to see their book published. So, the books that are coming out now, were actually written a year ago or more…when the trend was at its peak.  It makes you wonder how worried authors who came in on the end of it might be about how well their books will sell. So what’s coming out now?

If you followed the Twilight books by Stephenie Meyer, her latest installment called The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner is now available on shelves and available to read online for free until July 5th. You can’t download the book or print it out, but it really is like reading the book.  You can flip pages and the formatting makes it look like a genuine book.

Another hotly anticipated book this summer just arrived on shelves yesterday called The Passage by Justin Cronin.  This is vampires, very evil ones, for the adult market. You can read an interview with the author right here. There are two more books planned in this series, slated to be released in 2012 & 2014.

We have the Stephenie Meyer book available now (although there is a bit of a waiting list), and the Justin Cronin book is still on order, but we’re hoping to receive it soon and get it out for our patrons.

What do you think the next trend in books should be?  What do you want to read?

Need more Stephenie Meyer?

Reuters Photo courtesy of this webpage

If you haven’t had enough of the Twilight Saga, your prayers have been answered.  Author Stephenie Meyer has penned a novella that picks up a character from the third book in the series, Eclipse.  The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner tells the tale of a secondary character featured in the third book upon her transition to becoming a vampire.  Meyer says she originally started this novella as a short story, to find some back story to the character, but it became too large to include in The Twilight Saga: The Official Guide, so she is releasing it as a novella.

The really interesting thing about this is that you can read the English language version online between June 7 – July 5 at www.breetanner.com I’m sure after that point it will be published in paperback format (or something of the sort) so that you’ll be able to own your own copy if you absolutely must have it to complete your collection. You can also read a special message on Stephenie Meyer’s website regarding the book.

Makes you wonder why J. K. Rowling didn’t do something like this with Harry Potter. It seems that the Twilight fascination is endless.

Confused about Twilight or New Moon?

Yes, I’ve read the Twilight series.  Did I love it?  Not exactly.  Did I hate it?  Not exactly.  The first two books (Twilight and New Moon) by Stephenie Meyer were far better than the last two, in my opinion.  But I understand the draw of the series for young readers.  The books have everything they’re looking for : adventure, romance, beautiful people, you name it, they’ve got it.  And without any bad language and very little sexual content (until the last book, which only uses flowery references), the series is appropriate for a wide variety of ages.

Now, if you’re over 40, you probably haven’t caught on to the excitement of it, but with the release of the second movie this past weekend, you’re bound to be seeing lots of Bella, Edward and Jacob everywhere.  So, I came across a fabulous blog by Dan Bergstein of SparkNotes, who was challenged to read the books and blog about the content as he sees it, chapter by chapter.  He is hilarious in his descriptions and not that far off the truth for the most part, so even if you’ve read the books, you’ll enjoy reading his take on them. If you haven’t, yes, there are spoilers, but if you haven’t read them by now, you probably have no plans to do so and will like this blog regardless.  He has completed the first two books and is well into the third, and you can find his blog posts chapter by chapter here.

Maybe Stephenie Meyer should read his blog before writing the next book.  It might be enlightening!

Is this necessary?

Are publishers so desperate to market old books to new readers that they have to change the covers so that they will appeal to new readers?  On most fronts, I would say this is a great idea.  I’ve seen countless examples in the library of older books being released with a new cover, one which might appeal to more people in the current day.  Book covers are generally artistic now, bright and appealing with fresh artwork or photography.  People will pass on a dingy cover for a new one everytime.  But what do you think about this:

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The success of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series and the stylistic artwork on those covers makes them instantly recognizable.  So, it’s not surprising that HarperCollins decided to release Pride and Prejudice in paperback with a “brand new” cover.  It will draw the young adult readers, especially if it is placed near the Twilight books on displays.  Notice the new tagline at the top “The love that started it all”.  This will also certainly catch any readers that might not be aware that this is a classic work of fiction.

But is this really the right way to do marketing?  Will it sell more books?  Probably, but it’s cheating, in a way.  Maybe we should think about changing the outside of the library building to make it look like a famous landmark or a hot nightclub (might get in the young adult readers?). 

I guess it’s the old adage, “Never judge a book by its cover”, but it certainly is an interesting new tactic from publishing companies to try to revive interest in older books.  What do you think?

Twilight Graphic Novel

For those Twilight fans out there, Entertainment Weekly is just about to reveal that a graphic novel version of the first book in the series is being created.  If you are a fan of graphic novels, this will not disappoint and author Stephenie Meyer is said to be heavily involved in the process.

Artist Young Kim is working on the story and has chosen to illustrate the characters closer to the description in the book, so if you are looking for an exact copy of Kristen Stewart or Robert Pattinson, you’ll be disappointed.  However, a quick peek at one of the panels shows that it is very well done.

So, we’ll wait to see how well this novel does, but if the past dictates any sort of pattern, this should be a new and fantastic way for fans to immerse themselves into another part of Forks.  Enjoy!

What are we reading?

What are the top five books we’re reading at the Carleton Place Public Library?  According to our statistics, these are the top five books being checked out.  Any surprises?

#1. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

#2.

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

#3.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

#4.

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

#5.Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich

Of course, many of these books have long waiting lists, but we have multiple copies of many of them so the wait isn’t too long. Feel free to put a hold on something using your library card number and PIN that was given to you at the library, or drop by and we’ll place a hold for you.

Happy Reading!

What are we reading?

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Those of us who work at the front desk of the library know that the books being requested most over the last few months are the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer. We seem to have requests at least 3 – 4 times each day for one of the books, and although we have several copies of each, there is usually a waiting list.  And even though we are aware of the excitement over these young adult books, it is interesting to note that they have been the top 4 books requested over the past three months, according to the stats on our library catalog website.

It seems that the teen vampire series has struck a chord with our readers and they can’t get enough.  Of course, these books are aimed at Young Adults, but many adults have been reading them as well.  Meyer decided to try her hand at an adult novel after this series, and The Host has become almost as popular.

Many people have written about the success of this series and the author, who has successfully become the “next J. K. Rowling”, and it makes me wonder if someone shouldn’t be starting an adult series right now.  The kids who read Harry Potter are the same ones who are now reading Twilight, so maybe they are a generation of series readers?  What’s next for these teen readers?  I think they’ll need a fresh voice, a new series to charm them and a breakout author.  Who will it be???