Viral reading: A case study

I just read this blog post on the Powell's blog by Chelsea Cain and really enjoyed the author's style. The third sentence is a bit crass, if funny, but then she calls attention to it later, which mitigates the crassness. I'm investigating her books on Amazon now.... Oh, dear. This one looks interesting: Confessions of a Teen Sleuth: A Parody. It looks like something Leila over at Bookshelves of Doom would like, too. (Moments later: okay, book may be en route.)

So, I've often thought it would be interesting if one could trace the viral path of a book recommendation.

For example, I read Scott Smith's The Ruins because of this blog post about it on the Powell's blog. Specifically, it was this paragraph that made me get a copy:

"I was sitting at my desk last week when Georgie bounded up behind me, in that Georgie way of hers, and said, 'Bolton, I thought you might want to have a look at this.' I swiveled in my chair to see the A.R.C. in her hand. My eyes fell on the author name — Scott Smith — and the byline, 'Author of A Simple Plan' — and I had to stop my hands from shooting out and snatching it away from her, Gollum-like, hissing 'My precioussssss.'"

I read The Ruins and reviewed it and because I liked it I read Smith's earlier book, A Simple Plan--which I also reviewed. (I subsequently watched the movie made from the book, which was rather different from the book, and which I blogged about here. I watched it because Paul, the crossing guard at my daughter's school, told me about it.) Because I liked A Simple Plan I selected it as one of my BAFAB recommendations this past BAFAB Week. I threw a BAFAB contest in which the winner would get their choice of the 6 books recommended for the week, and the winner, Booklogged, opted for Smith's book. There's a copy en route to her now.

Chances are she'll blog about the book when she reads it. And, chances are, she'll infect somebody else with the urge to read it. Which I think is pretty neat.

Tags: Powell's Books, BAFAB, The Ruins, Booklogged, A Simple Plan, Scott Smith, puppy

Comments

[Maxine]

My ex-CEO, Richard Charkin, posted on his (now defunct) Charkin blog about Heartsick by Chelsea Cain when Macmillans announced they were going to publish it. I wrote about it on Petrona at the time.It sounds a sick book. I mention it because he also posted a promotional video of the book -- sadly his blog is defunct but you can probably find it on the Macmillans site if you are interested in sick things ;-). I could not bear to watch it but my friend CrimeFicReader (of the blog It's a Crime) did watch it and blogged about it -- I think she was more sanguine than me about it, if memory serves. I can't say the subject matter of Heartsick tempts me to read it, but if you do, let us all know what you make of it.

[Debra Hamel]

Thanks, Maxine. I think I saw the first part of that video way back when, but I just watched the whole thing. Certainly disturbing. It's possible that the book isn't as bad--in the sense of disturbing--as the video. Someone in your comments (http://petrona.typepad.com/petrona/2007/02/heartsick_by_ch.html) likened it to Red Dragon, which I read. I don't remember which book is which, but Harris's books are certainly disturbing--the eyeballs, the guy with the lidless eyeballs. I still don't like thinking of it.

[Maxine]

On the other hand, what she gets up to on aeroplanes is pretty darn hilarious.
I did enjoy Red Dragon, though -- although I have mercifully forgotten about the eyelids. The original movie (manhunter) is excellent.

[Debra Hamel]

I loved the airplane piece!

I may have the wrong Harris book. I'm thinking of the one where there's a guy confined to bed with a special mask that keeps his lidless eyeballs moistened--Hannibal did this to him. It was horrific.

I love Hannibal Lecter as a character, but I could do without as much gore as appears in those books.