Multinational, multimedia

It’s been a week of proofs, previews and photos which don’t quite fit the page in my publishing world. It’s also had a touch of the multinational: celebrating American Independence Day, organising a Chinese translation, finishing my read of ‘The Italian Wedding’ (Nicky Pellegrino) and attempting to learn a little German for the upcoming Frankfurt Book Fair. So far I can say: “I’d like a glass of wine. I have brown shoes. Where is the soap? It is cold and windy”.

All this after eight hours of a singing German audio CD.

So, I’m a poor auditory learner. This confession leads into another: I have never listened to an audio book. I see their place and purpose. I just….don’t see how I could be enthralled in the same way as that addictive page-turning joy of the “traditional” book. A book is more than the words: it is the size, the feel of the paper stock, the spacing of typography, the font combinations. I have been known to bore many an unsuspecting dinner party audience with this passionate discussion.

However I am captivated by the way multi-media formats will shape the future of the book. I may cling to my paper stock and debossed covers, but I welcome the opportunities digitalisation offers. I am a firm believer the “book” as we have historically known it will never become extinct in it’s entirety. There is too much history, status and meaning. But there is also space to utilise technology and turn the book into a truly interactive experience.

That said, my missions for the next week:

1. Read ‘The Book is Dead: Long live the Book’ by Sherman Young
2. Listen to an audio book
3. Learn a few German phrases that extend beyond wine, the weather and footwear. (As essential as these topics are).

And by the way, ‘The Italian Wedding’ by Nicky Pellegrino is well worth a read. I easily fell into the world of the Martinelli family and the drama and discoveries that procure as they piece together where they all come from and where they all stand. A book to curl up with under the winter duvet. I am now pining for a trip to Italy to indulge in melanzane alla parmigiana and lounge about the piazza.

Einen schönen Tag allerseits…

Renee

“once upon a time: starting a blog

This all began for several reasons. First and foremost, I have been harping on about starting a blog for an age. Over the weekend, whilst sharing a glass of sauvignon with friends, the topic of blogging came up and I pronounced with excess enthusiasm “Oh, I’m going to start blogging!”. The friends looked at me with a tired, here-we-go-again look, the same way they do when I say I am going to sit my full-driver’s license test or drink less coffee or say more positive things about Auckland’s public transport system. That is, they looked at me as if to say, “It’ll never happen”.

But that isn’t the only reason I am starting blogging. (If it were, I’d have to go and sit my drivers license in a caffeine-deprived state and make nice conversation about buses, and that isn’t going to happen). Recently, I was chosen as one of 16 young publishers to be part of the 2009 Frankfurt Fellowship. Thus far I have done a couple of interviews on the upcoming fellowship… and I realised I have a lot to say about the book world.

So I should, it has been my life for the past five years.

Finally, my partner (Scott) came up with the ingenious blog title of “Reading Reneessance”.  If that isn’t reason to start blogging, I don’t know what is.

Seriously though, I’ll be utilising this space to share my perspective on life from inside the publishing world, upload a few book reviews and link to anything exciting happening in the book world.

And everynow and then I’ll probably have a rant about Auckland public transport.