Category Archives: News

Best Worst Book Cover?

News, , , , , , ,

Two years ago, movie fans rejoiced when Simon & Schuster announced that they were going to publish Greg Sestero’s memoir in which he details his experiences as one of the lead actors in the infamous 2004 movie The Room. Well, fans of The Room rejoiced anyway. Boring people, who don’t love bad movies ironically, probably paid no attention.

It’s been a long two years, but the book, The Disaster Artist, is finally being released on October 1!  No information was released about the book since S&S’s initial announcement in 2011, and for the longest time, fans weren’t even sure if there was ever really going to be a book.

So weren’t we all thrilled when we got our first glimpse of the book cover? After seeing so many fan-created book cover concepts, we could only imagine what the actual cover would look like. This is what we got:

It’s just so, so…blah! The first thing I thought when I saw it was “That’s it?!” Just a boring stock image of a celluloid strip, that’s all they came up with? Not only does it say nothing about the movie, it looks like something an eighth grader made with Photoshop.

I wasn’t the only person who felt this way. My other Room-fan friends were also left disenchanted by this obvious and unimaginative cover. Is S&S trying to drive up sales by making this book look like any regular film criticism book? Have they never even seen the hilariously awful movie that inspired the book?

The fan-created cover concepts are infinitely better! Any one of them would be a better representation of the movie’s spirit and humor. Take a look at these fake covers:

These fans clearly get what the movie is about, and that is, when you take yourself too seriously, hilarity often ensues. Just in looking at the cover, it seems that The Disaster Artist is trying to take itself too seriously. And as Johnny taught us before his unfortunate demise, “Don’t plan too much, it may not come out right.”

Ok, maybe I’m being a little crazy. It’s just a book cover after all. I’m still dying to read it, and I’m counting the days until its release. I just hope that Sestero and his co-author Tom Bissell (because you didn’t actually think that Sestosterone actually wrote the book by himself, did you?) will live up to the fans’ expectations. And even that is a pretty easy task, because the fans don’t know what to expect!

So what do you think? Do you hate the book cover as much as I do, and are you going to read it when it’s released?

It’s True, I’m Back!

News

I’m back…for real this time!

I read somewhere a few years ago that all blogs start with the best of intentions, but that most stop after a few months. For a while, it looked like Chicks Dig Books had beaten the odds. I was going strong for over a year when then suddenly I stopped posting. So what the hell happened, and where did I go for eight months?

In September of 2012, I lost a loved one to cancer after watching her rapidly deteriorate for four months. Between the building depression, the strain that this illness and death placed on my marriage, grad school, and working at a job I hated, something had to give. I just didn’t have the energy anymore, and while I loved working on Chicks Dig Books, it started to feel like a chore.

Then from January to April I was working like a crazy person on my thesis project, while sending out resumes and going to job interviews. Now, my thesis is done, I graduated just a few days ago, and I also got a job working for an academic journals publishing company in Philadelphia. Things have finally turned a corner for me and my husband.

Maybe nobody cares, and that’s okay, but I care, and I feel guilty for having neglected the blog and for losing touch with readers, authors, books, and publishers. To anyone who sent me an email or a tweet and didn’t get a response, I apologize. Now that I finally have free time again and the willingness to do it, I’m picking up where I left off! I’ll be posting new reviews shortly, and I will be attending this year’s Book Expo America.

So watch out, Chicks Dig Books is making a comeback!

New Book Review Site Coming Soon!

News,

Are you looking for a new way to get information about what books to read?  Well I’ve got news for you!  There’s going to be a new aggregate review site going live within the next few weeks…think Rotten Tomatoes, but for books.  The site compiles reviews from professional critics and bloggers and gives each book an overall score.  Right now they have over 1200 books in their database and are still adding more.  

Here’s the best part: I’ve been given the chance to let you, my readers, visit the site before it goes live!  Just visit http://idre.am and enter the code “discover_books.”  I’ve already checked it out and it looks really promising.  Try it for yourself, I think you’ll like it too.  I’m sure it’ll help me choose a few books to review in the near future.

Look for the site to go live around the end of June or beginning of July!

BEA Blogger Conference 2012

News, , ,

I just got back from this year’s Book Bloggers Conference!  This year was the first time the conference was fully integrated with Book Expo America, and my first time attending.  Despite my exhaustion, I’m feeling totally excited to read all the new galleys I got today, and totally inspired by the amazing speakers I heard.  I attended the event with my comrade-in-arms Jenn N. from the Booksellers Without Borders NY blog.

The day started off with a networking breakfast and a keynote speech by bestselling author Jennifer Weiner!  Ms. Weiner shared her experiences as a blogger and an author trying to defy the stereotype of being a “chick lit” writer.  She was a brilliant speaker and a perfect choice to give the conference keynote speech.  Plus I was pleasantly surprised at what a dirty mouth she has! I received a copy of her book Then Came You, and having heard what an intelligent person she is, I’m excited to read it.

The morning continued with a Q&A panel entitled “Blogging Today,” and then a networking lunch featuring up-and-coming authors from several different genres.  I met the corset-wearing, extremely energetic author Leanna Renee  Hieber, who wrote The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart and other Victorian-era inspired titles.  I also chatted with Emma Koenig, author of Fuck I’m In My 20s!  We talked about her book and about the hardships facing young people today.  I’m looking forward to reading both these upcoming titles.

After lunch I sat in on two hour-long seminars, one on how to monetize a book blog, and another on developing a relationship between bloggers and publishers.  The second seminar was the highlight of the entire conference.  It featured blogger Jenn Lawrence, Lindsey Rudnickas from NetGalley, and Lucille Rettino, the director of marketing for Simon & Schuster.  They offered a ton of practical advise on book blogging, from how to reach out to publishers for reviews to how to increase traffic to your blog.

The day’s final event was a closing speech by Jenny Lawson, whose book Let’s Pretend This Never Happened I received today and can’t wait to read.  Ms. Lawson explained how her blog led to a book deal and shared her experience of blogging about her most personal issues.  Like Jennifer Weiner, she also has a filthy mouth, and she was also a commanding speaker.  Incidently, my maiden name was Lawson, so it was nice to see another member of the “clan,” especially such a successful one.

It was a day filled with information, camaraderie, a ton of humor, and one or two weirdos.  It is New York after all, and when New York weirdos are weird, they are WEIRD…but mostly harmless.  If you have a book blog, it’s definitely worth the trip and worth the money.  So print out some business cards and look for me at the 2013 BEA Bloggers Conference.  Jenn and I will be there representing our blogs and looking for some amazing new books to read!

 

Oh Hai, Mark!

News

Get ready to “mark” your calendars, because I just found out that Greg Sestero, who played Mark in the cult classic film “The Room” is writing a memoir of his experience!  The pub date will be sometime in 2013, but no word as to if it will be released in Spring or Fall of that year.

I enjoy watching bad movies for fun, and I am a HUGE fan of “The Room.”  It has to be seen to be believed.  Since its limited theatrical release in 2003, its cast has been condemned to cinematic obscurity, unless you count Sestero’s performance in “Puppet Master 7.”  Still the film has enjoyed a rabid cult following, and now it seems that Sestero is going to cash in on the film’s popularity.

It seems that there will be a co-author on this book, which is a shame, because I would love to find out if Sestero’s writing is any worse than his acting.  And I can only speculate as to how truthful the memoir will be; since “The Room” is now self-aware I hope that Sestero doesn’t exaggerate events just to placate fans looking for funny stories about director Tommy Wiseau.  Though given everything I’ve seen and read about the movie and about Sestero’s relationship with Wiseau, I’d be willing to believe almost anything! 

I hope there are other “Room” fans out there as excited as I am to read this book.  I don’t care if it sucks, I’ll be first in line to pre-order it!  What would really be nice is if the publisher would let the fans choose the title.  I’d go with “Stupid Comments From My Pocket.”

For more information, visit http://shelf-life.ew.com/2011/05/26/greg-sestero-the-room-tommy-wiseau/