Just spotted by me (remember I’ve been kind of off the radar for a year) – a couple of intriguing looking books around the whole weblogging thing. First off there’s a kids book called The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez by Judy Goldschmidt, which looks like it’s supposed to be a kids book for nine year-olds. I’m kind of delighted and slightly horrified by the way that authors are picking up on the concept of weblogs and incorporating them into their narratives. Can’t quite tell if I think it’s about reflecting the reality of children or if it’s more about trying to look cool and hip for the young-folk. Who – if I recall correctly from the pre-cambrian period when I was a child – tend to think that trying to look cool for the young-folk is pretty much the lamest thing any human being on earth can do. Anyone read it?
The other book is called Blog by Hugh Hewitt. I have absolutely no idea what it’s like, but I guess if you wanted some slightly alarmist context, he’s also the author of In, But Not Of: A Guide to Christian Ambition and the incredibly subtly named If It’s Not Close, They Can’t Cheat: Crushing the Democrats in Every Election and Why Your Life Depends on It. I have this sneaking feeling that I might not agree with many of the opinions of this man on – say – pretty much anything ever. But if someone out there goes and buys it and informs me that it’s not about how you can burn gay people with your weblog, then I’ll probably still give it a shot…
5 replies on “Two books around weblogging…”
I suspect this review may cool any curiosity you have towards Hewitt. It’s not just that he’s a mendacious wingnut; he’s also an idiot when it comes to discussing blogs.
Oh, and speaking of silly right-wingers talking about blogs, Iain Duncan Smith has served up an editorial proclaiming blogs the future of the British right, with all the brilliance he brought to the Tories as their leader.
Let’s just hope and pray there is no Harry Potter and the Black Blog of Hex Despair, or Blogcic: The Gathering, or the Garage Blog Band.
By the time the mainstream schmucks get into blogging, we’ll already be beyond them, into Wikis, Glogs, and Virtual Humachine Lifestyles.
Children’s books with blogs in the story lines? Heaven help us.
I found this short thread fun because my new book, CLICK HERE (To Find Out How I Survived Seventh Grade), also contains a blog by a young girl.
Children’s books have always used different formats to tell a story–diary and journal forms have been around for a long time and are still very popular. Now we’ve got children’s books told completely in e-mail, IM, and now blogs, which reflect the times we live in. My book is not entirely a blog like RAISIN, but most chapters begin with a blog entry. For me it wasn’t a gimmick but a way to get into my character’s head and was a natural extension of her love of computers.
I loved Steven’s examples–Harry Potter and the Black Blog of Despair, etc–and can see many books, both adult and children’s, using blogs until this, too, shall pass and we’ll be on to the next thing. 🙂
Denise Vega
Author, CLICK HERE (To Find Out How I Survived Seventh Grade)
http://www.denisevega.com
I hate Harry Potter the satanist. Screw him, even though he’s a fictional character.