Bookburger

gregory maguire...between the buns

He wrote about the witches of Oz in Wicked--yes, the one that inspired the megasuccessful Broadway show. And now he's gone and written a novel about tooth fairies!  The world of make-believe gets all twisted and sophisticated in the mind of Gregory Maguire...and that's what we love about him. So we asked him to take our little pop quiz...

Who is your favorite writer that most people have never heard of?

William Mayne (for Earthfasts and IT); Mary Ellen Chase (for Loretta Mason Potts); Sylvia Cassedy (Lucie Babbige's House)

What kid or teen books rocked your world growing up?

Jane Langton's book called The Diamond in the Window. A fantasy set in Concord-- so persuasive that, forty years on, I am living in Concord hardly a stone's throw from where the story takes place.

Describe your ideal place to write.

Anyplace that is conveniently devoid of my own children.

Your life is a TV series. Name the theme song, one event that would be on the "best of" episode, and one that would be on the blooper reel.

My life as a TV series? Oy. Theme song, ONE LESS BELL TO ANSWER (only substitute EMAIL for BELL). "Best of" episode would be the first time I saw WICKED, in an audience of 1700 people all hysterically screaming with pleasure.  "Blooper" reel. Hmmm. The time I introduced Lemony Snickett to an audience by confessing that, despite lots of rumors to the contrary, I was not he. He then walked up to the podium and contradicted me and said I was he.

Burger-flippers want to know: have you ever had a job that required you to wear a geeky uniform? Details, please!

YES: I was a dishwasher for Friendly Ice Cream in Albany, N. Y. If you want to know more about that indignity, read a story called "Chatterbox" in an anthology called I BELIEVE IN WATER. It is a fiction but it is very much based on a real experience.

We'd like to name a burger in your honor.  What kind of fixins should it have?

The Maguire Burger would have guacamole, red onions, a small bit of melted cheddar cheese, and a frilled toothpick.

do you know the Ramones?

if you want to be at all cool, you need to....

The latest fave around Bookburger HQ

The janitor here at bookburger headquarters is a big reader. His top recommendation for creepy holiday enjoyment: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks. Says the janitor, "The best imaginable attempt to turn a zombie holocaust into a work of literary merit."

Pick it up for your zombie pals this holiday season!

winner takes all!

The signed copy of Tamar goes to...Cecilia!
Hey, Ceci, email us at dj at bookburger.com ... we'll pop your book in the mail.
Congratulations and thanks everyone else who entered...

Mal Peet...between the buns

Mal Peet. We just love his name. Mal Peet. It sounds like some delicious dutch treat, something sprinkled with powdered sugar and chocolate sauce. Anyhow, he is most definitely not a baked goodie. Nope, he's the author of Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion and Betrayal--winner of the Carnegie medal no less--and of a brand-new novel, The Penalty, which is described as "a time-shifting thriller about a vanishing soccer star, occult secrets, and the dark history of slavery." Whoa....any guy who can make those elements work together has got to be some kind of genius, right?  So we put his genius to the test and gave him our much-feared and yet beloved Bookburger pop quiz....

Who is your favorite writer that most people have never heard of?  Gabriel Garcia Marquez, William Trevor, Russell Hoban, Donald Barthelme, Geraldine Mcaughrean (check out her Not the End of the World and The White Darkness)

What kid or teen books rocked your world growing up? Back in the Stone Age when I was growing up, there wasn't really any teen writing. Between 10 and 13 I had a serious Biggles habit. Biggles (Captain James Bigglesworth) was a fighter pilot in World War I. The kind of plane he flew was a Sopwith Camel, which, incidentally, is what Snoopy flies in the Peanuts cartoon strips. After that, I guess I went straight on to adult stuff. I was into US crime fiction pretty quickly, and haven't grown out of it yet. I still love Elmore Leonard.

Describe your ideal place to write. The attic I write in now, but transported to some tropical paradise where lovely women with dark eyes bring me exotic cocktails every couple of hours and soothe my fevered brow.

Your life is a TV series. Name the theme song, one event that would be on the "best of" episode, and one that would be on the blooper reel. Good Grief! Ummm... the theme tune would have to be 'So What?' by Miles Davis. That would be a good title for the series, come to think of it. I'm struggling to think of an event that wouldn't be on the blooper reel... Nope, can't do it.

Burger-flippers want to know: have you ever had a job that required you to wear a geeky uniform? Details, please! The Lord has been merciful to me when it comes to geekwear. Worst I've had, I think, was a dinky little waiter's jacket and a bow tie (in which I looked dead cool, as I remember). Mind you, you have to remember I haven't had a proper job for thirty years.

We'd like to name a burger in your honor.  What kind of fixins should
it have? Wow. I'm not worthy, but thanks. OK, I guess it would have to be the El Gato: free-range catburger (preferably from the one that yowls in my yard at night) with jalapeno chutney and lemon mayo, with dried chili flakes on the fries. Hot!!

Win a copy of TAMAR: A NOVEL OF ESPIONAGE, PASSION, AND BETRAYAL——signed by author Mal Peet! How? Easy! Just add a comment below...we'll pick a winner at random on Tuesday, November 20.  

free iphone anyone?

we at bookburger are not early adopters. we like to wait until the kink-worker-outers have done their jobs before we jump on any new-technology bandwagon. so we feel good that (unlike our older brother) we didn't rush out on that fateful day earlier this year when the iphones first appeared in stores. we feel smug that we waited until apple dropped the price two hundred bucks. only problem: $399 is still not cheap enough for us, and we still don't have one!

Enter the great minds who publish the Gossip Girls books. They're giving away an iphone on the GG website! Go here to enter through November 14. Just don't win. We've got dibs!

book reviews--no reading required!

What do you do when you want to find out what to read next without actually having to read about what to read next? If this question has been causing you mental anguish, your lucky day has arrived, because we've discovered the new site Blue Rectangle, which posts video book reviews. They simply film people talking about books they've read--people like this hip-librarian chick who reviewed Markus Zusak's The Book Thief and a few other YA titles. It is kinda nice to lay eyes on a book reviewer, for once, and we love that the folks they've chosen to go in front of the camera are just adorably normal, ungroomed, and goofy.