Morning Thoughts, Sharp Teeth-- Toby Barlow-- Comments

Anyways, good morning to all of you. I was reading, Bookselling this Week, from the ABA-- American Booksellers Association website. They have a nice little article on Green Bookselling written on March 20, 2008. http://news.bookweb.org/5916.html Gary Hirshberg, once again, the CE-YO of Stonybrook Farm is featured in the article.

I read Searcher magazine today. There was nothing which stood out in the articles today, but it still gave me a chance to get a better idea of what is happening in the world of search. There is a new kind of database in the world called Freebase, an open source database of the worlds information. I think it is like Wikipedia in some ways. http://www.freebase.com/

I read a piece of the Alchemist. I am finding the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho to be a mediocre book. It is not a bad book. It has a positive message and uses some very pleasant imagery which many people will like, but it is not exceptional writing. If you want something comfortable and reassuring to read with a message of both gratitude and tolerance this book would be a nice book to read. It is like a drink of fresh water for the spirit. I can understand why it became a bestseller. The messages in it are fairly simple and clear. Everyone has a purpose which they seek in life, there is beginners luck, take the time to follow your dreams.

I read some more of the Alchemist on the train finishing it. It is a syncretic work drawing from alchemy and mysticism to create a simplified story of enlightenment and following ones dream. It is too easy to accomplish the goal in the end of finding a treasure and learning the deeper power of listening to the world. I have mixed feelings about the way the book is written. When he is describing the Emerald Tablet it is like he is describing something drawn with childrens crayons. While it popularizes and opens the world to deep insights, it also creates easy unrealistic wish fulfillment.

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I spent some time last night submitting my site to various blog directories to increase traffic. Hopefully, it will make a small difference. I also submitted my site to a free search engine service. My understanding is that every couple of months you should resubmit your site to search engines. Things change rather quickly in the SEO world.

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I finished reading Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow on the train this morning. It is really fantastic. The book is free verse poetry written in the style of an epic. It is broken into five parts. I think the writing is fantastic. The imagery is striking. The story is funny, sexy, and poignant. It should be put up for the World Fantasy Award, even though it is a first novel. I could not get enough of it. I think that it should be made into a feature film.

I am not going to criticize it a huge amount. I added two promotional videos from youtube for the book. One is funny, the other is an excerpt from the book. The excerpt speaks how the book is written. The writing is consistent throughout the entire work. I am having a bit of difficulty posting the two videos from Youtube right now. I contacted technical support, but they have not gotten to the problem.

I tried something different. I embedded the first video, an excerpt from the book, Excerpt #1 from Sharp Teeth.

Here is the second video, Is Your Dog A Werewolf?, a promotional video for "Sharp Teeth." I think it is funny because one of the main characters is an animal control officer.

Thoughts for Today

I've been reading Superclass The Global Power Elite And The World They Are Making by David Rothkopf. It is about the elite of the elite, the 6000 or so most powerful, richest people on the planet earth.

Oddly enough, the author, David Rothkopf talks about chatting with Paulo Coelho at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Apparently, Paulo Coelho seems to have quite a bit of influence in world affairs. This strikes me as kind of odd. It is kind of like saying, Stephen King likes to visit with the United States Federal Reserve.

It made me want to get one of Paulo Coelho's books. After all, I am supposed to be tuned into what people are reading. I picked up The Witch of Portobello at my local library. It was translated from Brazilian Portuguese in 2007. I am hoping that it will be an interesting read. With the importance of biofuels and economic changes, Brazil is becoming much more significant culturally and politically in todays world.

I also paid my library fines for my local library. Yes, I actually do this. Sometimes, I return books late. Library fines go to your credit rating eventually if you don't pay them.

I spent about half an hour on the library computer as well. I know I have a computer at home, but library computers are different. They have a different IP address than my home address so the search results will be different from a public terminal than a home terminal. Google localizes its searches and often tailors searches to individuals, so does Yahoo.

I did a decent amount of walking today. I enjoy walking. I also got my haircut. I know this has nothing to do with books. I feel pretty good today. Better than most days.

I am going to do my laundry later. I will try to read in the laundromat. I know I keep on promising to do this. This time, I went shopping at the produce store and the Walgreens already so I won't be distracted by them.