Thursday, June 26, 2008

Hard-boiled recovered meat product and the bottom of the can

Lost in the supermarket, something catches my eye and imagination: the Chicken Soup for the Soul stable of 'inspirational' books (that shifts millions of units a year although nobody you know will ever admit to ever having bought one) has diversified into, uh, pet food.

A few thoughts trickle through: the old-school literati complaint about retailers 'selling books like baked beans'; wondering whether, say, Paulo Coelho is furious at having missed a trick; but above all, the idiocy of punters who react with Pavlovian inevitability to the clicked fingers of the brandmeister. I like the books with their inanely heartwarming platitudes: therefore my cat will enjoy the food, with its bits of reconstituted chicken.

And then I read about the 2009 Murakami diary and I'm horrified at the depths to which the publishing industry has fallen, and at the same time, y'know, I kinda wouldn't mind one...

8 comments:

Rog said...

I was pleased to see "Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul Dog Food has earned the prestigious designation as one of the approved dry dog foods by the Whole Dog Journal." They will be hearing from my solicitors!

When you look at the Yuletide best sellers you must think "Is everything shit or is it me?".

Rosie said...

i read After Dark on a plane last week. that makes me sound much more cosmopolitan than i actually am.

patroclus said...

>>I'm horrified at the depths to which the publishing industry has fallen, and at the same time, y'know, I kinda wouldn't mind one...<<

Ooh, like those Penguin mugs. I've wanted one of those for years, but can't bring myself to buy one for fear of looking like an insufferably pretentious twat.

This hasn't stopped me buying seven (seven!) Pantone mugs, though.

Fat Roland said...

My shop sells Penguin and Pantone mugs. 239C is my fave.

And I have just emailed the nice chap who looks after our gifty things about getting the Murakami calendar.

It's wrong.

But it feels so right.

It's Tim's fault for even mentioning it.

Tim F said...

Murph: I think the definition of 'prestigious' may have become a little fuzzy.

Depends what language the book was in, Rosie, and where the plane was going (if anywhere).

Passed on the Penguin mugs, Patroclus. But did get a t-shirt. And damn, those Pantone mugs are cute.

Roland: definition of 'gifty things' - stuff you wouldn't buy for yourself.

Rosie said...

english (-10 cosmopolitans) and bilbao (+10 cosmopolitans).

evens.

Tim F said...

Ah, but being you, Rosie, surely adds at least 5?

Rosie said...

if we're talking liquid quantities, then probably.