Bookish News: Opportunistic or Timely? — Comments by Chris

I love reading historical fiction and non-fiction. I love the odd thriller, even creepy ones.

What I don't like is opportunism.

Publisher Henry Holt has offered biologist Nathan Wolfe a six-figure deal for his book on viruses — during the frenzy of what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is now calling the H1N1 flu. We all have been calling it the "swine flu."

Unless you live under a rock, no one within earshot of a television or radio could have missed the breathless reports about this virus. If you missed that, your government was ready to direct you to their own sources, including flyers from Children's Hospital about how to talk to your children about this disease.

I received a briefing from my organization's infectious disease officer, who assured my co-workers and me that the H1N1 flu is less virulent and deadly than the viruses that circulate every winter. Stripped of the hype, and with added information that the healthiest people are the ones showing the highest exposure to it (without fatality) and the vaccine is plentiful and ready if needed, I wondered why the excitement.

Then the CDC confirmed the first reported death from the virus, and any hope of sanity was wiped from the horizon.

I don't doubt people need to be educated. Wash your hands, use hand sanitizer if you must, sneeze into a handkerchief or your elbow — you know, all the things we all should do to prevent infection from all airborne viruses.

However, I'm a little ill from the profiteering by publishers during a catastrophe. I'm sure that without the hype, the biologist's book would have experienced a modest success, much like Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic and The Great Influenza: the story of the greatest pandemic in history. I read the former when it was first published a decade ago, and I enjoyed it greatly. However, it wasn't purchased, edited and set to be published while people were panicking about a disease the media had convinced them was oozing under their bolted door.

I suffered through the last few elections that saw the proliferation of insta-books littering the bookstores. Both parties tried to "swift-boat" the other with books that more often than not touted not how fabulous their candidate was, but why the other candidate was not fit for the job.

I'm exhausted from hype. I fear that since the terrorist attacks in September 2001, the media and government are trying to make up for missing one of the biggest stories of our generation — and over-hyping every event for the foreseeable future might buy them absolution.

Tonight, AP News announced that the number of reported cases in the originating country is slowing, and no other countries can match those numbers. I'm grateful for that news.

However, I am not grateful for the opportunistic media. We readers deserve better.

Classics in My Queue

I'm always thrilled to discover a classic I didn't know I wanted to read. Here are five on my list:

• Giant by Edna Ferber. Carole just reviewed another of her books, and she enjoyed it. I loved the movie, and the first few pages promise a great read.

• Peyton Place by Grace Metalius. It's been half a decade since the divine Ms. M rocked the house and coined a new term for "scandalous little town." There's a sequel, and I might just read that, too. (And yes, I loved the movie as well.)

• Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. Apparently this was as much a treatise on God as it was on humanity. It also sounds like it might be a little dry — but I'd be glad to be wrong. And I'm not sure which movie adaptation would be preferable to watch (though I have a soft spot for Pierce Brosnan!).

• Rebecca by Daphne Du Marier. I loved The House on the Strand and this sounds gothic tale marvellous. Carole love it, so I'm sure I will, too. Again, lots of movie adaptations, but I am not partial to any single one, though the black and white classic sounds like a winner.

• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I've started it many times — and fallen asleep before I finished the first page. Actually, I've managed to miss reading many of Dickens' classics, like Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and Little Dorrit — and after reading Drood, I can't wait to read more Dickens (and maybe even The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins!).

And an embarrassing bonus confession:

• Dracula by Bram Stoker. Must I admit that I have read books about and based on the great Gothic novel but never the tale itself? Carole recently read it with her family and I enjoyed immensely her daughter's take on Mina (accurate in the way she was about Princess Leia).

What are some classics you've been meaning to read?

Repeat Reads

Some books are a one-time shot. Once the magic has been spent, there is none left.

Then there are the lovely re-reads that keep on giving. Here are a couple of those I keep in my library:

• The Phantom Tollbooth. This is one of my Desert Island books — you know, the one you'd want with you were you stranded on a desert island. I watched the television show when I was a child and stumbled upon the book during my first week at college. I've never been the same since. It's a book written on so many levels. It is classified as a children's book, but I assure you, it's a delight for readers at any age. Milo is bored, so he takes a trip to a fantastic land and makes a discovery that I've found to be true time and again. Every time I read it, I find something else wonderful and new.

• Good Omens. Rarely have I laughed this hard and this long. Every person to whom I have recommended this also has laughed aloud. In fact, one friend said he wanted to read the funny stuff to his wife and, well, found himself reading the entire thing aloud to her. What happens when the end of the world is nigh because an angel and a demon kind of lost the spawn of Satan? Bonus: it's written by two of my favorite authors: Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

• The Spoils of Time: The Lytton Trilogy. To be fair, the first book is my only re-read of this trilogy, but I look forward to subsequent re-reads of all three novels. The books are hefty, but worth the read. Penny Vincenzi knows how to write scandal and suspense, romance and tragedy. Celia Lytton is determined to marry Oliver, and her life is never the same — nor is the British (and, ultimately, American) publishing worlds the same. The story spans more than half a century, and it's breathtaking and sweeping and yet personal and tender. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll wonder aloud to your friends (who must also read the books) how these characters can do what they're doing.

• Lord of the Rings. I re-read these hefty tomes every year before the movies came out. I have re-read them every couple of years since. It's not the easiest read, and I have to admit I found it easier to imagine what was going on after watching Peter Jackson's vision of it. However, Tolkien is Tolkien, and his magic is more than legendary: it's sweeping and timeless.

• The Moon is Always Female. Marge Piercy is accessible and yet still mysterious. I get her poems, but in every re-read there's more to discover. And yet reading the same images are a comfort and still powerful year after year. When I read Piercy, I suspect I might have a clue.

What will you read over and over — and why?