Books Characters from Downton Abbey Should Read

Lady Mary--Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
Mary should have no problem connecting to the story of sisters who need to marry or find themselves penniless and homeless. She could also stand to think a bit about being too proud.

Mr. Bates--Psycho by Robert Bloch
If nothing else he'll finally figure out why The Bates Motel is a really bad idea.

Thomas--The Prince by Machiavelli
He's going to need all the help he can get if he keeps up the feud he has going with O'Brien.

Edith--Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson
Hopefully Edith would find this ugly duckling story inspiring--as long as she doesn't take it too far (she totally would). Alternate read would be Stranger In My Arms by Lisa Kleypas if that Canadian "Patrick" guy comes back.

Carson--The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
You know Carson's really a romantic at heart, but his sense of social hierarchy and propriety probably makes him a bit of pessimist. Enter Edith Wharton!



What books would you recommend for Downton characters?

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Harry Potter and the Grand Tour

US cover of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, with Roman arches and columns.

It's been a while since I wrote a Harry Potter post, and something must be done about that! Actually I was watching part one of The Deathly Hallows during Christmas, and I realized that Harry's, Hermione's, and Ron's last year of education is similar to the English tradition of the Grand Tour.

The Grand Tour started in the mid-17th century and, by the 19th, was considered a necessary part of every young man's education (at least if you were part of the upper-class). After studying the classics, the civilizations of Greece and Rome, and reading about the art of Michelangelo and Raphael, the best way to conclude one's schooling was by seeing the art and the ruins of these civilizations for oneself. Obvs, since they didn't have the intrawebs or photography back then, the only way to do this was to travel.

Like Ron, Hermione, and Harry, travelers on the Grand Tour would take EVERYTHING with them. I don't know about you guys, but when I go somewhere, even for a really long time, I pack ONE bag. If I need more clothes, I can buy them when I get there. For travelers on the Grand Tour, though, they packed like they were going to the moon and included every single thing they could possibly need, in quantities to last them the years it would take before they returned to England. Unlike the Harry Potter People, however, they didn't have a bottomless purse to stuff everything in, so they had to hire carriages and porters to carry it all. Not to mention guards to keep from being robbed by unscrupulous highwaymen!

More importantly, people on the Grand Tour had a typical set of destinations that defined it as "the" tour. They went in search of specific objects, places, and knowledge. Like, you HAD to visit Paris and sleep with a prostitute, or else what was the point? Haha. They also typically visited the Vatican, saw the Sistine Ceiling and paintings by Raphael, saw an opera, and sketched the Roman Forum. The itinerary for the Grand Tour wasn't too different from the typical modern tourist's to-do list in Italy, actually.

Of course, Harry, Ron, and Hermione don't go to Italy, but they do take a "tour" of sorts of the British Isles, and this is further emphasized in the locations of the films. They visit the Giant's Causeway, Buckinghamshire, Yorkshire, Suffolk, and Wales, among other locations. Also, although Harry isn't technically traveling to "finish" his education, he does learn a lot about himself and the past--especially the past of his hero, Dumbledore. He also collects objects (the Deathly Hallows), similarly to how people on the Grand Tour collected souvenirs.

What would a Grand Tour look like for you?

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Manet's OLYMPIA in Books and TV

Olympia, Edouard Manet, 1863, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Ahoy, mateys! Major rant ahead...

Edouard Manet is one of my favorite historical crushes. Just check out the interview I did with him if you don't believe me. A nineteenth-century avant-garde artist, Manet inspired the Impressionists and was one of the first modern artists. But he's definitely not as famous as any of the Impressionists, including his bestest frenemy, Edgar Degas. And that's perfectly fine with me. Manet is my historical crush; get your own!

It's kind of weird that in the past few months, I've seen Manet's Olympia given the art history shout-out treatment twice: once on TV and once in a book. And both times it was totally anachronistic. The first instance was on the BBC America series Copper, which is about the NYC police department during the Civil War. On the show, the wealthy Elizabeth Haverford has Olympia hanging in her drawing room. Okay, it's not the ACTUAL Olympia (I can just imagine what they'd have to pay the Musée d'Orsay to get away with that), it's just "very reminiscent of" Olympia according to the show's own blog.


Screenshot of Elizabeth Haverford's painting. C/o BBC America blog.

I don't have a problem with a TV show creating its own version of a famous painting, but I do have a problem with Copper using Olympia. It's horribly anachronistic and drove me crazy. Yes, Copper is set in 1864 and Olympia was painted in 1863, but:

1. Manet didn't exhibit it--in Paris--until 1865, so how would Elizabeth have gotten her hands on it, hm?
2. Even ignoring the whole exhibition thing, seeing how the painting isn't "really" Olympia, in order to get a painting like it, Elizabeth would have had to travel to Paris. In the middle of the Civil War? I don't think so.
3. When Olympia was first exhibited it was WAY avante-garde. It took the French public nearly 30 years to accept Olympia as a masterpiece. The US was generally about twenty years behind Paris in the visual arts (at least in the 19th century), so by my calculations there is no way an American would have anything resembling Olympia until the 1910s at the earliest. BUT...
4. When I say "Americans" I actually mean American men, since if you haven't noticed there's a naked prostitute in that there picture (that's what made the painting scandalous, by the way--also, it's pretty badly painted). Not the sort of thing a respectable woman would own, let alone have hanging in her drawing room. Even William Bouguereau's Nymphs and Satyr was considered too risque for women to look at, for heaven's sakes!

For the above reasons, although I of course love Manet, I found the presence of Olympia on Copper very annoying. Whenever I saw the painting in Elizabeth's house I was thrown out of the story. Fortunately Corky got pissed off and slashed the painting near the end of the first season, so I won't have to look at it in season two. Yay!

The second instance was in The Importance of Being Wicked by Miranda Neville, which I'm currently reading. Naturally one cannot see paintings in a novel, but I'm pretty sure the portrait described at the beginning of the book is Olympia. It's of an "almost naked [later "stark naked"] woman, reclining on a satin-draped divan." The figure has short, red hair and a bold, direct gaze. Also: Caro wears a ribbon around her neck like Olympia. But most of all, the painting is modeled after a Titian. A Titian like this, for example?


The Venus of Urbino, Titian, 1538, Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

BOOM. Manet totally modeled Olympia after The Venus of Urbino. This is the only Titian where the subject is 1. a female nude who is 2. lying down, 3. a ginger, and 4. looking at viewer, so it must be the Titian Caro's husband bought and her friend Oliver later copied, using her as a model.

Again, while I enjoy art history shout-outs, this is pretty anachronistic. The Importance of Being Wicked takes place in 1811 at the latest (likely earlier), and again there's no way a woman of the time would have a painting like that hanging in her drawing room, no matter how daring she was.

What I wonder is, why Olympia? It's a pretty famous painting--even if you don't have an art history degree you've probably seen it--so it's not as if no one would recognize it. I get it, Elizabeth Haverford's a whore (like every single other female character on Copper) and that's why there's this ugly painting of her in the drawing room; but I'm pretty sure there's only about a bazillion paintings out there that could convey that fact more cleverly and effectively than Olympia AND be historically appropriate. Even a Madame X type of portrait would make more sense than Olympia.

With The Importance of Being Wicked, I don't have to look at the painting while I'm reading, so that makes it less annoying than Copper. But the characters show an anachronistic tendency towards "modern art" (term actually used in the book) by reviling the dramatic poses and allegorical works that were popular at the time. That just doesn't shake out in the context of the time period: what we consider "natural posing" doesn't make sense without photography. Not to mention, since the novel IS set in the late 18th century, that London was the Scandalous Portrait Capital of the World! For realz, it's not as if the most famous women in English history at the time had their portraits painted when they either wanted to become famous or shock their family, or both. OH WAIT they all did that, my bad. Modeling a portrait off one of the (many) paintings of Kitty Fischer, Sarah Siddons, Lady Sarah Lennox, or Lady Hamilton would make much more sense. It's not as if there isn't a lot of options to chose from.

Art is a reflection of its place and time, and thus is a great tool for writers and filmmakers to enhance the setting of their story and add depth to their characters (a great example is the use of the Bird Lady on True Blood). But not if the art used is inappropriate! In that case all one winds up with is a sad mess that doesn't mean anything to anyone, least of all to the people who might appreciate the reference the most (such as myself).


Further Reading:

• I Interview Edouard Manet
• Judging a Failure
• The Male Gaze
• True Blood Art History Shout-Out
• Elizabeth Haverford's Painting (BBC America blog)

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Review: ICED by Karen Marie Moning

It's the Ryodan Show! Welcome to the Ryodan Show, where the world revolves around Ryodan, the most interesting man in the world. Ryodan knows mostly everything, but there's one thing he doesn't know: who, how, what, and why is freezing Unseelie in his club. For some reason he thinks Dani Mega O'Malley, a fourteen-year-old who fancies herself a superhero[ine], will be able to help him figure it out.

I was kind of excited about Iced, the first novel in a new series that takes place in the same world as the Fever series, Karen Marie Moning's über-successful PNR novels about a post-Apocalyptic world in Dublin. I loved the Fever series, which concluded last year. Dani, supposedly the main character in Iced and a supporting player in the Fever books, wasn't the most interesting person, but I wasn't opposed to her getting her own book.

Guys, I had so many problems with this novel. Whereas the Fever series felt like it knew exactly where it was going, and I could relate to the characters, Iced seemed like Moning was making it up as she went along. And I could not connect to Dani at all. Let's break it down a little, shall we?

• Dani--First and foremost, Iced does not feel like Dani's story. I'm honestly not sure whose story it is (Moning switches points of view a lot), but even though Dani gets most of the page time, I never got the sense I was reading her story. Secondly, she was completely unbelievable as a character. I was annoyed by Mac sometimes, but I was able to buy into her emotions and predicament. With Dani, I was just annoyed. She was way too OTT, from her crappy childhood to her reactions to EVERYTHING, to the fact that she didn't act like a believable fourteen-year-old. I can see where Moning was trying to make her *seem* like a teenager, but it didn't work for me. And speaking of age, this may be a stupid question, but why is Dani fourteen? Normally I don't care about characters' ages, but Moning makes a point of mentioning Dani's age (or lack thereof) every ten pages, and it doesn't contribute to the story at all. In fact, it works against the believability of the story pretty severely. 
• Chapter titles--All of the chapter titles are song lyrics. Now, quoting song lyrics in novels is generally a bad idea (they never mean the same thing to you as they do to other people, trust me on this), but using them as chapter titles wouldn't bother me if it wasn't symptomatic of the central problems with Iced. None of these characters are musicians. OR EVEN LISTEN TO MUSIC. There's no music in this book, which is set in an alternate world *in Dublin* anyway, so why are the chapters referencing contemporary and classic American rock? Makes absolutely zero sense.
• Ryodan and Christian--Ryodan was an okay character in the Fever series. I didn't give two shits about any of the Keltars, but that's probably because I didn't read that series by Moning set in Scotland, whatever it was. ANYway. My point here is this: Ryodan in Iced is boring. The way he ended every question with a period drove me bonkers. And the way he kept petting Dani was P R E T T Y creepy, almost as creepy as Christian stalking her. Especially considering she's four freaking teen. 
• Story and pacing--You know how I'm always harping on when the pirates go back to the island in Pirates of the Caribbean? Now imagine the entire movie where they just keep going back to the island. Iced is kind of like that; except instead of an island, Dani keeps going back to Chester's. It's like this: Chester's, plot; leave Chester's so we can get adventures and pointless backstory; go back to Chester's so we can get back to the plot. FOR THE LOVE GOD, this book could have been wrapped up in 250 pages if Dani'd just stayed in Chester's!

Basically I really did not get Iced. At all. It just seems like a really weird, meandery book where the author didn't fully think everything through and then the editor didn't ask the right questions. But obviously that's just my personal opinion. And on the plus side I don't have to buy any more books in this series, yay!

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TSS-The Most End-iful Time of the Year

Hello, everyone! I hope you all had a nice holiday and that you're ready to celebrate the end of the year. If you were thinking of reading during New Year's Eve, Jenn from Picky Girl is hosting a NYE Readathon that you should sign up for! I'll be participating so will Becky from One Literature Nut and our friend, brut cuvée.

I feel like 2012 was a really good reading year for me. I started the year off with a great book that blended mystery and romance--The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley (review here)--and I just finished an AWESOME classic spy novel called The Man Who Was Thursday by GK Chesterton. My review for The Man Who Was Thursday will be posted in January on The Project Gutenberg Project, but I can say right now that I definitely think it's a novel everyone should read, especially if you like stories that are quirky and clever. If you're looking for a classic to read for a Readathon, The Man Who Was Thursday would be perfect--it's about 200 pages, funny, entertaining, creepy, mysterious, and it goes by really fast.

Aside from The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie (review here) and The Man Who Was Thursday, some of my most favorite books of 2012 were Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini (review at PGP), The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart (review at PGP), The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey (review here), and The Amorous Education of Celia Seaton by Miranda Neville (review here).

This has turned into the Year of Reading Mysteries for me. I knew it would when I blew my 2011 Christmas gift card entirely on mysteries at B&N. Mysteries were the first genre I loved as a kid and I definitely returned to the fold this year, especially when it comes to classic mysteries. Last year I read so few mysteries they didn't even show up on that little pie chart thing on GoodReads; this year, I read the first detective mysteries ever written, The Dupin Mysteries by Edgar Allan Poe; some Sherlock Holmes stories, Agatha Christie's first novel, reread a few favorites by Barbara Michaels, and many others.

As for blogging, I started two new blogs (Liquid Persuasion and The Project Gutenberg Project), which is kind of crazy considering that in December of last year I honestly wasn't sure Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and Books would survive 2012. The new blogs have offered me different creative outlets and new things to learn about, though, so I think branching beyond the single blog was a good idea.

Next year, I'd like to focus more on recent releases here. I fell really behind on that in 2012 (I think I can count on one hand the number of books I read that were released this past year), and I'd like to actually post reviews of books in the same month they're released in 2013, as well as peruse NetGalley for upcoming releases. We'll see how that goes--it's nearly January already and I have no idea what's coming out next month.

That's why I need your help! Since I'm planning on to focus on new releases next year, please recommend some upcoming books--fiction or non-fiction--you think I should put on my TBR list. And I hope you all have a great new year!

What were some of your favorite books in 2012, and what are you looking forward to in 2013?

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Guest Post: 5 Most Anticipated Books

I was brainstorming with Colette from A Buckeye Girl Reads on silly end-of-the-year lists the other day, and we thought it would be fun to list our most anticipated books of 2012 and what we thought of them. This is Colette's list; to see my list, go to A Buckeye Girl Reads!

Colette's Most Anticipated Books of 2012

I didn't realize that I read quite so many Urban Fantasy books until I made this list out. All of the books except for one are from that Genre. I think I like Urban Fantasy's so much because while there is romance, it's secondary to the plot and doesn't take over the whole story line. The guys are tough, the women are tougher and the battle of wills gets me every time. Why must all UF books end in a cliffhanger?? I think that reason alone is why most of these books are on my most anticipated list of 2012.

5.  Chasing Magic by Stacia Kane #5 in the Downside Ghosts series (Urban Fantasy)
If you had told me that I'd like a series that features a drug addict for a heroine two years ago I'd have laughed you out of the room. However, Chess is one of my top five favorite heroines. I think it's because she's not perfect, has flaws, tries to do the right thing but doesn't always succeed. The love interest in this series isn't your typical alpha male, and Terrible has won a place in my heart because he's just not what you expect. These two make an unlikely pair, and I love it. The world is one where the ghosts had an uprising, and the goverments have failed, and The Church of The Truth rules everything. They keep the ghosts in check, and if a family or business should find themselves being haunted the church sends someone to see if it is in fact being haunted. That's where Chess comes in. She tries her best to prove or disprove a haunting. I love how her cases always revolve around other subplots and I love seeing them all come together in the end. In this book Chess is more vulnerable then before, and we get to see more of her role in the church. This series isn't religious, but it is dark, gritty and raw. I love how it pulls me out of my reading comfort book. Each book in this series is better then the last.

Magic-wielding Churchwitch and secret addict Chess Putnam knows better than anyone just how high a price people are willing to pay for a chemical rush. But when someone with money to burn and a penchant for black magic starts tampering with Downside’s drug supply, Chess realizes that the unlucky customers are paying with their souls—and taking the innocent with them, as the magic-infused speed compels them to kill in the most gruesome ways possible.

As if the streets weren’t scary enough, the looming war between the two men in her life explodes, taking even more casualties and putting Chess squarely in the middle. Downside could become a literal ghost town if Chess doesn’t find a way to stop both the war and the dark wave of death-magic, and the only way to do that is to use both her addiction and her power to enter the spell and chase the magic all the way back to its malevolent source. Too bad that doing so will probably kill Chess—if the war doesn’t first destroy the man who’s become her reason for living.

4. Keeping Secret by Sierra Dean #4 in the Secret McQueen Series (Urban Fantasy)
 This series has a love triangle that actually works, a heroine that is tough, witty, sassy and doesn't take crap from anyone yet is still really likable and vulnerable. Just as soon as you think you know where the plot is headed something happens that leaves you saying "Wait, what just happened here???" The ending was a cliffhanger that made me want to shake some sense into the heroine, and wanting the next book in the series immediately. This book did not disappoint me at all!

It's a nice day for a white wedding. At least that's what Secret McQueen is hoping for, with her poofy-princess-dress marriage to a werewolf king looming closer and closer by the day. But as ever, nothing can be that easy for a vampire/werewolf hybrid for whom someone still harbors a death wish. 

Summoned to the south by her werewolf uncle, who makes no bones about the fact her mate bond with Lucas doesn't pass muster, Secret learns her furry heritage looks more like a tangled vine than a family tree. Getting her royal uncle s blessing hinges on finding one of the missing twigs. Even with vampire sentry Holden Chancery at her side, she manages to land up to her neck in a swamp of trouble. As an assassin s scope zeroes in, family dramas boil up and a fast-collapsing love square threatens to bury her alive, making it to the church on time could be the least of Secret s problems. Warning: Contains a grumpy bride who shouldn't be wearing wedding white, a motley crew of bridesmaids, a dangerous scenic drive in the woods and a smoking-hot trio of suitors who might be too scorching to touch

3. The Ripple Effect by J.A. Saare #3 in the Rhiannon's Law Series  (Urban Fantasy)
This series made like vampires again. These vampires aren't sparkly and Rhiannon isn't an angst ridden teen. She isn't afraid to get out of the trouble she's somehow landed herself in, and this is another series where anything can and will happen when you least expect it.  This is one of the few series where I like a secondary character more then the main love interest, and like the nice, good guy rather then the super alpha male who is too jerkish for his own good. Each book in this series has been better then the one that came before, and I'm so glad this one didn't disappoint me. I was worried that it had been so long since I read book two, that I wouldn't remember anything that happened and would be totally lost. However, while I was a little shaky on the details from book two, they all came back to me while reading this one, and loved how the recap of what happened in previous books was nicely merged in with the story line instead of taking up all of one chapter by itself.

There is always a price to pay... Rhiannon Murphy visited the future, witnessed hell on earth and made choices to change things for the greater good. Unfortunately there are consequences for her actions, the penalties for her interference possibly more than she can bear. Determined to sever her debt with a fallen angel, she pushes everything aside, focusing on locating Marigold Vesta's resting place. Until death comes knocking at her door. When Disco's maker arrives in New York, he resents Rhiannon on a level she can't begin to comprehend. Yet Marius isn't her most dangerous adversary, not by a long shot. Marius's sire -- a half-demon -- is determined to see the necromancer who stunned the vampire world on her knees. If she won't bend, he'll do everything in his power to make her break. No price is too high, meaning no one is safe -- including Disco and Paine. Dealt a blow from which she can never recover, Rhiannon turns to the only person who can help her: the fallen angel who is relying on Rhiannon to save her soul. Bartering with a creature from Heaven is probably just as dangerous as starting a war with a demon from Hell, but with nothing to lose it's no longer about life or death. It's about getting even

2. The Prince by Tiffany Reisz Book #3 in the Original Sinners Series (Erotic Fiction)
This is the lone none Urban Fantasy book to make it on my list. This book left me breathless. This entire series is one where anything can and will happen. Nothing is safe. If you are thinking this series is just another copy cat of the fifty shades book then you'd be wrong. While there is romance in this series, it's not what it's about, and it's not all about sex either. It has a plot, characters to love and hate, and is one of the freshest series I've read since I started blogging.

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer...preferably in bed. That's always been Kingsley Edge's strategy with his associate, the notorious New York dominatrix Nora Sutherlin. But with Nora away in Kentucky, now it's Kingsley's chance to take her place at the feet of the only man he's ever wanted -- Søren, Nora's on-again, off-again lover -- until a new threat from an old enemy forces him to confront his past.Wes Railey is still the object of Nora's tamest yet most maddening fantasies, and the one man she can't forget. He's young. He's wonderful. He's also thoroughbred royalty and she's in "his" world now. But Nora is no simpering Southern belle, and her dream of fitting into Wesley's world is perpetually at odds with her dear Søren's relentlessly seductive pull. Two worlds of wealth and passion call to her and whichever one Nora chooses, it will be the hardest decision she will ever have to make... unless someone makes it for her..

1.  Iced by Karen Marie Moning (Urban Fantasy)
I loved the MacKayla Lane books something fierce, but when I heard a spin off series was being started with a secondary character, Dani O'Malley I was a little hesitant to read this book. I was afraid it wouldn't live up to the standards I had set for the other series because Dani is young. (just 15) She was one of those characters that were annoyingly endearing. I have to say though, that this book while slow in parts, totally won me over. I enjoyed Dani as a lead character much more then I thought would be possible, and Ryodan was just as mysterious and hot as Barrons was. I didn't think that was possible!! Karen Marie Moning has mastered the art of cliffhangers and always makes me forget that there was a part of the book I didn't like by the time I get to the ending. This world continues to fascinate me and I can't wait to see where the next two books will go.

The year is 1 AWC—After the Wall Crash. The Fae are free and hunting us. It’s a war zone out there, and no two days are alike. I’m Dani O’Malley, the chaos-filled streets of Dublin are my home, and there’s no place I’d rather be. Dani “Mega” O’Malley plays by her own set of rules—and in a world overrun by Dark Fae, her biggest rule is: Do what it takes to survive. Possessing rare talents and the all-powerful Sword of Light, Dani is more than equipped for the task. In fact, she’s one of the rare humans who can defend themselves against the Unseelie. But now, amid the pandemonium, her greatest gifts have turned into serious liabilities. Dani’s ex–best friend, MacKayla Lane, wants her dead, the terrifying Unseelie princes have put a price on her head, and Inspector Jayne, the head of the police force, is after her sword and will stop at nothing to get it. What’s more, people are being mysteriously frozen to death all over the city, encased on the spot in sub-zero, icy tableaux. When Dublin’s most seductive nightclub gets blanketed in hoarfrost, Dani finds herself at the mercy of Ryodan, the club’s ruthless, immortal owner. He needs her quick wit and exceptional skill to figure out what’s freezing Fae and humans dead in their tracks—and Ryodan will do anything to ensure her compliance. Dodging bullets, fangs, and fists, Dani must strike treacherous bargains and make desperate alliances to save her beloved Dublin—before everything and everyone in it gets iced.

Have you read any of these novels? What did you think?

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TSS-Some Bookish Trends I Hope Will Die 2013

Even Jamie Oliver liked Fifty Shades of Grey!


I was toodling around the internet last week, as I do, and I ran across a post titled "Five Trends I Hope Will Die in 2013". I think it was about celebrities or something, but I can't find the original article. Sorry! Anyway, I thought it would be fun to do a similar list about books.

• Fifty Shades-alike covers--Okay, I get that this is a marketing thing, but the cover wasn't that great to being with and I don't think Fifty Shades was a success based on its cover. So can we please stop creating lookalike covers for every contemporary novel with sex in it?
• Drama llama--Remember at the beginning of 2012 when every week some author would fly off the handle and attack a reviewer, or write a post about how reviews "should" be written online (favorably, of course)? And then there was the GR Bully site (created by, ironically, bullies). Wouldn't it be weird if nothing like that happened in 2013? Just imagine how easy it would be to enjoy reading! 
• Consolidating publishers--Not that I know anything about the publishing industry aside from observation, but in the long term I think the merging of the bigger publishing companies (e.g., Random Penguin) will wind up hurting the Big 6 5 4. To me it seems like the big publishers' problems lie in being slow to adapt to a changing market. Turning themselves into bigger companies is NOT going to help that; publishing is becoming more decentralized and personally I'd like to see more publishers and more variety in the market--that's not self-pub'd--not less. But of course breaking into smaller companies is not only more expensive in the short term, but more difficult to manage.

What are some bookish trends you hope not to see in 2013?

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