Books

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  New York Times

• Publishers Win a Bout in E-Book Price Fight

  By MOTOKO RICH

  8 Feb 2010 | 9:34 pm

  Publishers have managed to take some control — at least temporarily — of how much consumers pay for their content.

• Books of The Times: Delivering Bad News and Bearing It

  By JANET MASLIN

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:15 pm

  Sarah Blake has coaxed forth a book that hits hard and pushes buttons expertly.

• A World of Words Reinvented in Pictures

  By GEORGE GENE GUSTINES

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:52 pm

  The initial print runs for a graphic-novel adaptation of “Twilight” and a new graphic novel by Janet Evanovich are staggering.

• A Well-Written War, Told in the First Person

  By ELISABETH BUMILLER

  8 Feb 2010 | 3:25 pm

  A new group of soldier-writers explore the futility of war — but wars that they for the most part support.

• Justice Dept. Criticizes Latest Google Book Deal

  By MIGUEL HELFT

  8 Feb 2010 | 2:18 pm

  While the Justice Department did not explicitly urge a rejection of the deal, its opposition on copyright, class action and antitrust grounds is a setback for Google.

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  Publisher's Weekly Latest News

• The PW Morning Report: Tuesday, February 9, 2010

  9 Feb 2010 | 3:58 am

  A daily roundup of book and publishing news from across the Web: Shakespeare in NY; Another Kindle-Exclusive Deal; Lipsyte Serialized; Kindle’s Colorful Future; Welcome Homer.

• Macmillan, Amazon Dispute Officially Over

  8 Feb 2010 | 6:48 am

  The dispute between Macmillan and Amazon over the sale of e-books was finally resolved late Friday, when the e-tailer began restoring buy buttons to all of Macmillan's titles.

• Crumb’s 'Book of Genesis' Rules Bestseller Lists

  8 Feb 2010 | 6:16 am

  R. Crumb’s, The Book of Genesis Illustrated (W.W. Norton), a careful and scholarly comics adaptation of the first book of the Bible, has been number one on the New York Times weekly graphic books bestseller list for 16 weeks and on PW’s monthly comics bestseller list every month since its publication.

• The Nook Headed to Barnes & Noble Stores

  8 Feb 2010 | 6:15 am

  After running out of stock on the Nook over the holidays, Barnes & Noble has caught up on orders and is shipping the e-reader to stores this week.

• Bowker Acquires U.K. Research Firm BML

  8 Feb 2010 | 6:11 am

  Bowker has acquired BML (Book Marketing), a leading provider of research on the U.K. book market. The company will become part of Bowker’s Publishing Services division.

• 
  NPR

• What We're Reading, Feb. 9 - 15, 2010

  9 Feb 2010 | 2:00 am

  Three novels of past and present: Lynn Neary reviews the "perfect" novel for our down economy — written before the banks failed. Steve Inskeep reads a tale of political infighting resonant of today, but that follows events in Cicero's Rome. And Alan Cheuse celebrates The Lost Books of the Odyssey, a novel both timeless and very contemporary.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

• Doctor Works To Get Young Men Out Of 'Wrong Place'

  8 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pm

  When young African-American men showed up at Boston City Hospital with knife and gunshot wounds, most were thought to be thugs or drug dealers. But Dr. John Rich took time to interview these victims and found out what was really behind their injuries.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

• Two New Novels Based On Homer's Work

  8 Feb 2010 | 12:00 pm

  Two new novels this month are based on motifs from Homer's great poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Alan Cheuse reviews Ransom by David Malouf and The Lost Books of the Odyssey by Zachery Mason.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

• Observations Of China, From Behind The Wheel

  8 Feb 2010 | 11:24 am

  In summer 2001, New Yorker Beijing correspondent Peter Hessler got his Chinese driver's license. For the next seven years, he traveled thousands of miles through China, reporting on how the car is transforming the country.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

• Imagining 'The Next Hundred Million' Americans

  8 Feb 2010 | 10:00 am

  The U.S. population is expected to reach 400 million by mid-century. In his book, The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050, Joel Kotkin argues that future will be green, diverse and suburban. Kotkin explains how the nation's changing demographics will transform American life and communities.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

• 
  The New York Review of Books

• In Congo's Virunga Hills: Gorillas Under Siege

  5 Feb 2010 | 12:30 pm

  Jeremy Bernstein A juvenile gorilla leaning on an adult male in Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo, November 28, 2009 (Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images) When I was about eleven my father gave me James Ramsey Ullman’s book High Conquest. This was Ullman’s romantic and occasionally inaccurate account of the history of mountain climbing, published in 1941. I was fascinated by the fact that Everest, the highest mountain in the world, had not yet been climbed. But what made the most impression on me were the Mountains of the Moon, a range on the border between Uganda and the…

• The Buster Keaton Cure

  4 Feb 2010 | 10:51 am

  Charles Simic Buster Keaton in “The Love Nest” (1923) I have a collection of Buster Keaton’s films I bought in the late 1980s when they first became available on video. It’s made up of nineteen half-hour shorts and his nine full-length films, all made between 1920 and 1928. Every few years I take a look at some of them, and recently, being thoroughly depressed by our wars and our politics, I watched a dozen of his shorts to cheer myself up. Almost ninety years old, these shorts are still very funny and visually beautiful. They make the Dada and Surrealist pranks everybody was…

• In the World of Facebook

  4 Feb 2010 | 9:00 am

  By Charles Petersen The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal by Ben Mezrich Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America by Julia Angwin Facebook, the most popular social networking Web site in the world, was founded in a Harvard dorm room in the winter of 2004. Like Microsoft, that other famous technology company started by a Harvard dropout, Facebook was not particularly original. A quarter-century earlier, Bill Gates, asked by IBM to provide the basic programming for its new personal computer, simply…

• Port-au-Prince: The Moment

  4 Feb 2010 | 9:00 am

  By Mischa Berlinski My chair was on casters and began to roll. A large earthquake starts as a small earthquake. I saved my novel: Control+S. The horizon swayed at an angle. I had time to think many things--that's how long the quake lasted. I thought that I should stand under the lintel of the doorway. I took my laptop and started to leave. Then, unsteady on my feet, I wondered whether the laptop wouldn't be safer where it was. I put it back on the table. I went outside.

• The "Devastating" Decision

  4 Feb 2010 | 9:00 am

  By Ronald Dworkin Against the opposition of their four colleagues, five right-wing Supreme Court justices have now guaranteed that big corporations can spend unlimited funds on political advertising in any political election. In an opinion written by Justice Anthony Kennedy and joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas, the Court overruled established precedents and declared dozens of national and state statutes unconstitutional, including the McCain-Feingold Act, which forbade corporate or union television advertising that endorses or…

• 
  Salon

• Goodbye to people's historian Howard Zinn

  By Gabriel Winant

  8 Feb 2010 | 5:02 pm

  His work taught us that history doesn't just belong to the powerful -- and that it's ours to shape

• Salinger: "Recluse" with an ugly history of women

  By Mikki Halpin

  8 Feb 2010 | 5:02 pm

  How we've all found a convenient way of avoiding the truth about his troubled past

• Hank Paulson: A not very good improviser

  By Andrew Leonard

  8 Feb 2010 | 5:02 pm

  "On the Brink" gets panned for lack of insight. If you have stupid questions that need answering, try The Baffler

• The man who rediscovered Africa

  By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

  8 Feb 2010 | 5:02 pm

  How Achebe's novels captured the soul of a continent -- and helped me discover my own history

• "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks"

  By Laura Miller

  8 Feb 2010 | 5:02 pm

  The true story of a woman whose enormous gift to science was shamefully repaid

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  book-blog.com

• Deaver, Jeffery et al.: The Chopin Manuscript

  Debra Hamel

  2 Feb 2010 | 7:05 am

  Vanguard Press, 404 pages1st published: 2009 (released in audio 2008)Note: Review copy received from publisher. Amazon affiliate: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price.The Chopin Manuscript is a serialized novel written by fifteen different thriller writers, including some of the biggest names in the business: Lee Child, Joseph Finder, Lisa Scottoline, David Hewson, and so on. Jeffery Deaver conceived the story's characters and setting, though from what we're told in my…

• Stout, Martha: The Sociopath Next Door

  Debra Hamel

  29 Jan 2010 | 3:05 pm

  Broadway, 256 pages1st published: 2005Note: Amazon affiliate: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price.Apparently, about 4% of us are sociopaths. One in 25 people--and therefore, likely, someone we already know--has no conscience and can, without that internal bridle on their behavior, do anything at all to gain whatever their ends may be--world domination, advancement in a career, a good parking space. In her often fascinating little book The Sociopath Next Door, Martha Stout, a clinical…

• Malouf, David: Ransom

  Debra Hamel

  21 Jan 2010 | 6:15 am

  Pantheon, 240 pages1st published: 2009Note: Review copy received from publisher. Amazon affiliate: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price.David Malouf's Ransom is a re-imagining of the events narrated in book 24 of Homer's Iliad. Achilles, mad with grief over the death of his friend Patroclus at Hector's hands, has slain Hector in turn. But contrary to convention, still savage in his unquenchable grief, Achilles daily abuses Hector's body, dragging it behind his chariot…

• Shlian, Deborah; Reid, Linda: Dead Air

  Debra Hamel

  12 Jan 2010 | 4:42 pm

  Oceanview Publishing, 335 pages1st published: 2009Note: Review copy received from publisher. Amazon affiliate: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price.Dead Air, the first book in what will apparently be a  new series, features Sammy Greene as a junior communications major at Ellsford University in Vermont. Sammy hosts a call-in show on the campus radio station, and in that capacity she finds herself digging up various skeletons and generally making herself unpopular with the school's…

• Russo, Richard: That Old Cape Magic

  Debra Hamel

  8 Jan 2010 | 8:25 am

  Knopf, 272 pages1st published: 2009Note: Review copy received from publisher. Amazon affiliate: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price.Richard Russo's latest novel is organized loosely around two weddings, but its focus is on two marriages of longer duration--those of the parents and grandparents of bride number two. The first wedding takes place on Cape Cod, where Jack Griffin, Hollywood scriptwriter turned English professor, once honeymooned and where he had always summered with his…

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  Chronicle Books Blog

• Round is a Mooncake now an App—Win One For your iPhone!

  Lara Starr

  8 Feb 2010 | 2:32 pm

  One of our favorite picture books is now available as an iPhone App from PicPocket Books! Just in time for Lunar New Year—the year of the Tiger begins on February 14th—explore an urban Chinatown and discover hidden shapes: round rice bowls and pebbles, square dim sum and boxes, and rectangular Chinese lace. Special features • High fidelity, full-color illustrations that are true to the original print book. • Interactive audio “hot spots”—touch the dog, kittens, and more to hear their sounds! • High quality audio recording. • Highlighted text corresponds with audio—each…

• From the Design Desk: Happy early Valentine’s Day!

  Aya Akazawa

  8 Feb 2010 | 11:30 am

  If you remember mixed tapes, you probably have a memory or two about giving or receiving a special compilation of music recorded on a cassette tape as a Valentine’s Day gift. Valentine’s Day is less than a week away and I wanted to make a special mixed tape (well, a disk in this digital age) for our beloved Design Desk readers. Sadly, though, I quickly realized that I have no talent for doing this. So instead, I created two special Valentine’s Day color-ways of one of the label designs from Candy Orchard CD Packaging Kit. But wait, there’s more: I’ve also designed matching gift…

• Paper Goods: Getting Ready to Share your Heart

  Patti Quill

  5 Feb 2010 | 4:18 pm

  Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and while some of us love sharing the love, others, including Chronicle Books author Alissa Walker, approach it with some trepidation. She explores redesigning the holiday in this recent post on Fast Company. Either way, we have plenty to offer if you want to show your affection and still maintain your style. Hearts for Madalene This is for You The Little Box of I Love You Love Listography Love Lotto: 100 Romantic Scratch-and-Win Lottery Tickets And if you are feeling sexy: I Dare You: 30 Sealed Seductions Sex Scratchers: 100 Lottery Tickets to…

• Do you Like Johnny Cash?

  Bridget Watson Payne

  5 Feb 2010 | 10:52 am

  Here at Art+Design headquarters we’re hard at work on our forthcoming book Pocket Cash, an amazingly awesome collection of photos of Johnny Cash by legendary rock and roll photographer Jim Marshall, featuring text by John Carter Cash, Kris Kristofferson, and Billy Bob Thornton. We’re looking at various image options for the book’s cover right now, and would love to get your thoughts! Take a gander at the two covers below and let us know in the comments which of the two photos most says “Johnny Cash” to you—which best conveys the spirit of the Man in Black, which would most…

• Chronicle Craft: Valentines Crafts from Etsy

  Kate Woodrow & Christina Loff

  4 Feb 2010 | 1:13 pm

  Love it or hate it Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. Will you be making your sweet something sweet or counting the days until February 15th? If you need some last minute inspiration check out Handmade Hellos, any of the card projects can easily be adapted for this saccharine holiday. And while we’re out of stock, Amazon still has our best selling The Valentine Kit available. But if you’re like us you may just not have the time (or energy) to whip something up for the big day. So here are our favorite crafty Valentines from Etsy! The Love Cozy by Whimsie Dots White Paper Bags…

• 
  Bookslut

• The Discreet Pleasures of Rejection by Martin Page, translated by Bruce Benderson

  mschaubtx@gmail.com

  2 Feb 2010 | 8:16 pm

  page martin discreet pleasures of rejection

• Fly-Over State by Emma Straub

  mschaubtx@gmail.com

  2 Feb 2010 | 8:20 am

  straub emma fly-over state

• Girl Power: The Nineties Revolution in Music by Marisa Meltzer

  mschaubtx@gmail.com

  2 Feb 2010 | 8:05 am

  meltzer marisa girl power

• After Julie/Julia: The New Generation of Food Blog-to-Books

  mschaubtx@gmail.com

  2 Feb 2010 | 7:30 am

  Cookbookslut has been inundated with books derived from food blogs in the last few months. It makes sense. If you’re an agent or editor out there -- you find a blog with a unique voice; the author has already...

• An Interview with Iain McGilchrist

  mschaubtx@gmail.com

  1 Feb 2010 | 4:09 am

  It may surprise you -- or maybe not, depending how long you stand in front of your closet deciding what you're going to wear that day -- that you have two people inside of you. One is logical, mathematical,...

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  Powell's Books: Overview

• Review-a-Day for Tue, Feb 9: Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

  9 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am

  Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick, a review from The Wilson Quarterly by Andrei Lankov.

• Daily Dose for Tue, Feb 9: Girl in Landscape

  9 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am

  Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem Reviewed by Alison from Portland, Oregon.

• Review-a-Day for Mon, Feb 8: Azorno

  8 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am

  Azorno by Inger Christensen, a review from Rain Taxi by Douglas Messerli.

• Daily Dose for Mon, Feb 8: The Martian Chronicles

  8 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am

  The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury Reviewed by Teresa from Hillsboro, Oregon.

• Review-a-Day for Sun, Feb 7: Shadow Tag

  7 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am

  Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich, a review from Ms. Magazine by Diana Postlethwaite.

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  800 CEO Read

• Stressed out?

  Jon

  8 Feb 2010 | 1:05 pm

  2009 was a challenging year, and the challenges haven’t stopped in 2010. In fact, we all are likely working even harder to dig ourselves out of last year, or maintain our solid standing in the current one. With that work, comes stress, and unless we manage that stress properly, our hearts will pay the price. Dr. John M. Kennedy’s new book just came out. Titled, The 15 Minute Heart Cure: The Natural Way to Release Stress and Heal Your Heart in Just Minutes a Day, the book provides a preventative approach to managing stress, and taking care of your heart. This isn’t just a…

• Friday Links

  dylan

  5 Feb 2010 | 6:49 pm

  ➻ Today is the first birthday of what we call in the office “our book,” The 100 Best Business Books of All Time by Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten. Todd wrote a happy birthday post for the book, and I gave away the last of the 100 best books we have to give away today on inBubbleWrap. ➻ The new issue of Portfolio’s Business Beat is out. As usual, our dear Mr. Covert has his “Just Jack” corner. This month, he discusses Discovering the Soul of Service by Leonard Berry. You can read more about the other features of the latest Business Beat on The Portfolio…

• Elbowroom: Space the Final Frontier

  Roy

  5 Feb 2010 | 7:52 am

  The time has come for 800CEOREAD to move into their new space! It’s been a long time coming and we’re still trying out different things that work for us to get settled in nice and cozy like. Here’s a few pictures of what it’s like so far. It’s not the finished situation, yet, but it will give you an idea of the layout. It’s been a long wait – but we think it’s worth it! Happy Friday, everyone!

• Twitter gifts

  Sally

  4 Feb 2010 | 9:13 am

  I’m torn about Twitter. Most days I struggle with what to add to our company Twitter account. While I can write a haiku at a drop of a hat, I blank out when trying to create potent 140 character messages. Partially because there seems to be some kind of retweeting competition (whoever gets the most retweets wins?) and that puts all the more pressure on tweeting–cleverly–only what is relevant. Of course these aren’t limitations for everyone; there are plenty of people who are very willing to tweet about their morning bagel or their latest pet peeve. And that’s…

• “Do Cool Stuff that Lasts”

  Sally

  3 Feb 2010 | 10:55 am

  There’s a new article today on Salon titled: Healthcare Reform Rock Star, featuring one of our favorite authors, Atul Gawande. Gawande is a staff writer for the New Yorker and author of The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, and Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance, books we copiously recommended. And his first book, Complications, garnered rave reviews. Each of Gawande’s books, though stocked full with stories about the field of medicine, reach far beyond the anecdotal. Really, the ways that Gawande suggests we improve healthcare are applicable across…

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  Charles Petzold

• Pants on the Ground: The Silverlight Application

  23 Jan 2010 | 9:24 am

  ... more ...

• Dear EarthLink Customer Support

  13 Jan 2010 | 4:37 am

  Dear EarthLink Customer Support, This blog entry may seem like an unusual way to get in touch with you, but I've run out of options. You don't accept postal mail or phone calls, and your Support Center Feedback page generates an email to external_feedback@lists.corp.earthlink.net, which your email system bounces! I've considered visiting your office in Atlanta and demanding to see a corporate representative, but I suspect I'll only find myself in a crowd of many thousands of other crazed dissatisfied customers wailing in agony in your lobby. ... more ...

• 1859 Books: Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “The Minister’s Wooing”

  31 Dec 2009 | 10:26 am

  The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was perhaps the most politically explosive piece of legislation ever passed by the United States Congress. As part of the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act ostensibly did little more than strengthen a concept that was imbedded in the Constitution: that a "Person held to Service or Labour in one State" upon "escaping into another, shall ... be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due." (Article IV, Section 2) ... more ...

• Silverlight Apps that Resize Themselves

  17 Dec 2009 | 10:01 am

  Yesterday I was working on a Silverlight application that adjusted its size within the browser page when I began encountering erratic behavior. Turns out I hadn't taken account of the zooming feature implemented in recent versions of Internet Explorer (and other browsers), and now I'm not sure I should need to. ... more ...

• Experimental Embedding of Silverlight Apps in Blog Entries

  15 Dec 2009 | 8:53 am

  Commonly, blog entries that discuss Silverlight programming contain a link to a separate HTML or ASPX file that contains the actual Silverlight application. I want to start embedding Silverlight applications right in my blog entries. Since I wrote my own blogging software — it's a Windows Forms application called BlogHack and it's as sloppy as the name suggests — I figured it wouldn't be too difficult. ... more ...

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  The Millions

• Reckless and Dangerous: Justin Taylor’s Everything Here is the Best Thing Ever

  Theodore Wheeler

  9 Feb 2010 | 3:27 am

  The teenage and twenty-somethings who people Justin Taylor’s Everything Here is the Best Thing Ever face many impediments to happiness, and principal among these is debilitating self-obsession. Taylor depicts a generation raised on video games and cable-news politics, a nation where alcohol abuse and sexual discord are the main rites of passage. There’s a sense of entitlement that clouds the vision of his characters and blurs the boundaries between sex and love, faith and religion, politics and art. And while there is some hope that pervades many of these stories, the sense that this hope…

• Sam Lipsyte’s The Ask

  Edan Lepucki

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:31 am

  At FiveChapters this week, you can read an excerpt of Sam Lipsyte’s forthcoming novel, The Ask.

• Cooped up in a Bookstore, Just to Stop Reading

  Shaj Mathew

  8 Feb 2010 | 3:22 am

  The rustle of textbook pages turning, the hasty unzipping of oversized book bags hardly disrupts this venue’s overflowing intellectual energy. The pounding clatter of fingers pressed against greasy laptop keyboards – a soothing symphony to knowledge, it seems – fills the second-floor air, redolent of fresh Starbucks coffee. College students donning the ubiquitous ‘H’ logo, tourists doing likewise, a few bums clad in sweatpants, and the other denizens of Cambridge flock here, traveling up the cascading staircase past the stack of Malcolm Gladwell books to check out all three floors…

• Fuck Yeah, NYRB

  Patrick Brown

  5 Feb 2010 | 11:14 am

  Who says publishers have weak brands?  Someone loves the NYRB Classics so much they started a Tumblr blog about them.  It is called, appropriately, Fuck Yeah NYRB Classics!

• How Do I Get Home? A Profile of Nick Flynn

  Rebecca Keith

  5 Feb 2010 | 3:38 am

  When Nick Flynn drives around his hometown, Scituate, Massachusetts, he inevitably passes the houses he lived in with his mother and brother—six of them within the first five years of his life. In the past few decades, unsurprisingly, money has been pumped into Scituate, a small coastal city, but amid the explosion of seaside wealth, every house Flynn lived in looks worse for the wear. “They’re all still there,” he tells me, “sort of falling apart, with the same paint I painted on them just peeling off in sheets.” It’s an image that could be lifted straight from a dream—or one…

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  The Book Publicity Blog

• NPR Books Watch — 1/29-2/4

  Yen

  5 Feb 2010 | 6:26 am

  So apparently J.D. Salinger died last week. Anyone who emails me the imprints of all the books listed (or houses if no imprint is available) will win the NPR Books Grid for the prior week that includes, in addition to the information below, interviewer, pub date, imprint, genre, post-interview Amazon ranking, pre-interview ranking (if the book was mentioned on Shelf Awareness and I was able to look up the number before the interview), and interview hyperlink. * indicates the interview is a rebroadcast. TOTAL book stories for the past week: 27 (19 last week) All Things Considered: 6 (3 LW)…

• Facebook profile or fan page? Who should set it up — author? Publisher?

  Yen

  3 Feb 2010 | 8:38 pm

  The other day I was discussing an author’s Facebook fan page with a colleague — we’d set up the page, but months after the book’s publication, we didn’t have time to maintain it.  So what to do?  Shut down the profile?  Post an “out of office” status message?  I’ve blogged about this before, suggesting that book publicists not maintain Facebook pages and profiles for authors.  And in fact, while we did establish the page, we made it clear that it was set up by the publishing house … except no one saw that. This raises two issues (at…

• NPR Books Watch — 1/22-1/28

  Yen

  29 Jan 2010 | 7:30 am

  Happy Friday. Anyone who emails me the imprints of all the books listed (or houses if no imprint is available) will win the NPR Books Grid for the prior week that includes, in addition to the information below, interviewer, pub date, imprint, genre, post-interview Amazon ranking, pre-interview ranking (if the book was mentioned on Shelf Awareness and I was able to look up the number before the interview), and interview hyperlink. * indicates the interview is a rebroadcast. TOTAL book stories for the past week: 19 (26 last week) All Things Considered: 3 (7  LW) Diane Rehm: 1 (3 LW) Fresh…

• Digital Book World: Get Noticed! How to Earn Attention for Every Book

  Yen

  28 Jan 2010 | 7:01 am

  Mere hours after the iUnicorn announcement yesterday, I spoke on the “Get Noticed!  How to Earn Attention for Every Book” Panel at Digital Book World together with online marketing / promotion pros @chapmanchapman, @debbiestier and @PeterCostanzo.  @katerados did a terrific job moderating.  At first I thought I’d try to summarize the panel, but then I realized this post would be more like a book.  (And besides, you can see the recap at #dwbpr.) So I thought I’d  pick a couple questions that came up in the Q&A session after the panel that are pretty…

• NPR Books Watch — 1/15-1/21

  Yen

  21 Jan 2010 | 8:00 pm

  Happy Friday.  Anyone who emails me the imprints of all the books listed (or houses if no imprint is available) will win the NPR Books Grid for the prior week that includes, in addition to the information below, interviewer, pub date, imprint, genre, post-interview Amazon ranking, pre-interview ranking (if the book was mentioned on Shelf Awareness and I was able to look up the number before the interview), and interview hyperlink. * indicates the interview is a rebroadcast. TOTAL book stories for the past week: 26 (22 last week) All Things Considered: 7 (1 LW) Diane Rehm: 3 (3 LW) Fresh Air:…

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  ReadersRead.com Book Blog

• Book Wars: Amazon Caves Into MacMillan Pricing Demands

  1 Feb 2010 | 3:00 pm

  The Book Wars began over Christmas when Wal-Mart and Amazon.com got into a pricing war over the sale of hardcover bestsellers. But that was nothing compared to what's coming. With the launch of Apple's iPad and Steve Jobs' announcement that he's going to sell ebooks for around $15.00 a book (Amazon.com sells them for around $9.99 or less), the Books Wars just went into a very hot phase. This particular battle started when MacMillan asked Amazon.com to raise the price of all its ebooks for the Kindle from $9.99 to $15.00. Amazon.com refused and removed the buy button from all MacMillan titles.

• Borders Lays Off 164 Employees

  29 Jan 2010 | 12:00 pm

  Publisher's Weekly reports that Borders has laid off another 164 people in its distribution centers and its corporate headquarters. In the newest round of cuts, 124 corporate jobs were eliminated at Borders' Ann Arbor headquarters and other offices with 40 coming at its warehouses and distribution centers. The downsizing is a response to poor holiday sales and the closing of 183 outlets in the Walden specialty group. A majority of the corporate cuts came in the company's finance and information technology divisions. The company said in an e-mail to employees that it is evaluating the staffing…

• Catcher in the Rye Author J.D. Salinger Dead at 91

  28 Jan 2010 | 4:00 pm

  J.D. Salinger has died at the age of 91. The reclusive author of The Catcher in the Rye was a controversial figure in his later years, refusing all interviews and claiming that he hasn't written a book since 1965. He died at his home, according to his literary agent. CNN reports: The author died Wednesday of natural causes at his home in New Hampshire, according to a family statement that his literary agent, Phyllis Westberg, provided Thursday. "Despite having broken his hip in May, his health had been excellent until a rather sudden decline after the new year," the statement said. "He was…

• Harvard Business Review Press Inks Deal With Kindle

  26 Jan 2010 | 3:25 pm

  The Harvard Business Review Press has teamed up with Amazon.com to make chapters from its books available on the Kindle. The publishers will start by offering chapters from ten of its books. The chapters offered will be sold under the name Harvard Business Review Short Cuts. Publisher's Weekly reports: "We've chosen to make HBR Short Cuts available in the Kindle Store so that our readers can easily stay up to date on the latest business books we publish, as well as reference their previous favorites," said Joshua D. Macht, group publisher, Harvard Business Review Group. "Kindle makes the…

• Ursula Le Guin to File Objection to Google Book Settlement

  25 Jan 2010 | 2:00 pm

  Bestselling fantasy author Ursula Le Guin will submit an objection to the Google Book Settlement, along with 365 other writers. Ms. Le Guin is vehemently opposed to the settlement and has been an outspoken critic of the agreement which she says takes away authors' rights. Le Guin's petition asks Judge Denny Chin to exempt the United States from the revised legal settlement reached between Google and US authors and publishers over the Internet giant's vast digital book-scanning project. Chin is scheduled to hold a hearing on the revised agreement on February 18. ***** In her petition, which is…

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  Eye on Books - Author Interviews

• Elizabeth Kostova - "The Swan Thieves"

  www.eyeonbooks.com

  1 Feb 2010 | 4:22 pm

  An apparently deranged man tries to deface a painting in a Washington, D.C. museum, in Elizabeth Kostova's new novel "The Swan Thieves." The attacker, it turns out, is himself a painter, a renowned artist, in fact. Getting to the root of Robert Oliver's mysterious attack falls to psychiatrist Andrew Marlow, who at first can't even get Oliver to talk to him. But when Oliver shows Marlow a stack of old letters, an obsession takes root.

• Len Colodny - "The Forty Years War"

  www.eyeonbooks.com

  13 Jan 2010 | 6:31 pm

  The neoconservative movement was not born in the George W. Bush era. Or even in the Clinton years that preceded "Dubya." It was born four decades ago, in the Nixon presidency, according to the authors of the book "The Forty Years War." Veteran investigative reporters Len Colodny and Tom Shachtman traced the neocons' origins back to an almost entirely unknown figure, a low-profile but high-influence German immigrant who handpicked, groomed, and mentored Henry Kissinger and Alexander Haig, among others.

• Richard Wiseman - "59 Seconds"

  www.eyeonbooks.com

  10 Jan 2010 | 6:08 pm

  Improving your life -- becoming happier, more productive, and all that -- takes a lot of time, doesn't it? And it's hard, hard work, isn't it? Well. Maybe yes. Maybe no. Psychologist Richard Wiseman has studied the studies and out-experted the experts to show us how we can make real, substantive changes in our lives in one minute or less. His book is called "59 Seconds."

• Robert Wistrich - "A Lethal Obsession"

  www.eyeonbooks.com

  7 Jan 2010 | 5:23 pm

  For two millennia there has been hatred of the Jews - from the earliest recorded pogrom in the year 38, to the widespread resurgence of anti-Semitism in our own time. For the last two decades, historian Robert Wistrich has been tracing, studying, analyzing, and putting into context the history of anti-Semitism. The result is an exhaustive 1200-page history and sociological and cultural examination he calls "A Lethal Obsession."

• Gabrielle Bernstein - "Add More ~ing To Your Life"

  www.eyeonbooks.com

  5 Jan 2010 | 6:05 pm

  She was once on the treadmill with all us other rats in the race. Then Gabrielle Bernstein had a life-changing revelation, leading her to make a transformation that's all the more remarkable for the fact that it came when she was still in her mid 20s. Eschewing the traditional definitions of success and fulfillment, Bernstein added more "~ing" to her life - rethinking, moving, receiving, for example. Now she coaches others who want to do the same. Her book is called "Add More ~ing To Your Life."

• 
  Boston Globe

• Books gather dust without librarians for teens

  Lawrence Harmon

  8 Feb 2010 | 5:35 pm

  Mattapan's new library has a teen-inspired young adult room. But despite the high computer use, without more staffing or volunteers dedicated to young adults the books will remain on the shelves.

• Tracing our roads and the bumps along the way

  Ethan Gilsdorf, Globe Correspondent

  8 Feb 2010 | 5:10 pm

  Roads bring us together. They shape where we live, and how we interact with each other. Choices are forks, decisions are paths. Robert Frost tells us this, and so does Bob Seger.

• Cells unlike any others

  Irene Muniz, Globe Correspondent

  8 Feb 2010 | 5:08 pm

  Like any other high school student, Rebecca Skloot learned about human cells in her biology class; but unlike most students, she became fascinated with the cells of one particular human: Henrietta Lacks.

• Heartbreak and hilarity in debut novel ‘Model Home’

  Kevin O’Kelly, Globe Correspondent

  7 Feb 2010 | 7:40 pm

  Award-winning short-story writer Eric Puchner’s debut novel is about nothing less than the conflicts at the heart of American life: the pursuit of all too-often illusory prosperity and what happens when people in a culture that tells them they make their own fate confront the brutal realities of chance.

• Miranda warning

  7 Feb 2010 | 6:33 pm

  It’s the late ’70s and Miranda is a sixth grader in New York City. Her best friend doesn’t give her the time of day; her mother is training to be on a game show, and Miranda gets a note: “I am coming to save your friend’s life, and my own.’’ Curious? Rebecca Stead won a 2010 Newbery Medal for “When ...

• 
  The Book Deal: A Publishing Blog for Writers and Book People

• Ask the editor: Tips for blending in the backstory

  Alan Rinzler

  8 Feb 2010 | 10:35 am

  Q:  There’s some background information I need to include so my narrative makes more sense.  How can I do that without breaking the flow of the story? A:  Many writers struggle with blending in historical context and a who’s who of key characters from the past whose influence has led up to their protagonist’s current dilemma — and how to do it seamlessly, without creating confusion or burdening the reader with too many details. They grapple with how to explain about the immigrant ancestors. Or the bra-burning grandma or the parent with no boundaries.  Or the moody…

• YA is red hot: Tips from 3 top agents

  Alan Rinzler

  30 Jan 2010 | 2:46 pm

  Psst!  Wanna write a scorcher for the booming YA market? OK, here’s the secret: The first thing you need to do is create an authentic, quirky, true-to-life voice. The story and characterizations in Young Adult fiction are crucial too, of course, but the most important element is that distinctive narrative personality. The strongest and most powerful voice is a first person “I” narrator that draws the reader right inside a young character’s head. Third-person can also work. Always go for an honest voice that captures how teens really think and talk to each other. Never…

• Hooks that snag great book deals

  Alan Rinzler

  17 Jan 2010 | 9:48 pm

  I can’t help smiling when I read a good hook.  When it happens, it’s a rush, a little like falling in love. The hook — those critical initial sentences of a query letter from an author, or the opening of the book proposal itself — are the first and most important words that agents and acquiring editors read. Hooks that capture and delight us If the hook doesn’t capture our attention, delight us with sparkling prose, enlighten us with fascinating news, or make us laugh at your wit and surprising twists and turns, then the rest of what you’ve sent is in…

• Writing a memoir: 7 tips for defeating your inner critic

  Alan Rinzler

  10 Jan 2010 | 10:01 am

  “Writing a memoir is an act of courage. Be brave. It means exposing who you really are, which is hard to do, even to yourself.” That advice comes from a conversation I had recently with Linda Joy Myers, Ph.D., President of the National Association of Memoir Writers. She’s the author of a new book, The Power of Memoir: Writing Your Healing Story, which we’re publishing at John Wiley & Sons in February. Scroll down for Myers’ great tips for writers. Memoirs are hugely popular “Memoir writing is a grass-roots movement sweeping the country,” says…

• Ask the editor: Help with transitions and bridges

  Alan Rinzler

  28 Dec 2009 | 10:35 pm

  Q: Someone in my writers group complained that my plot is hard to follow. Can you help? A: You might need to work on the transitions — the glue that makes a seamless narrative.  You might need to add a few words of clarification or entire new passages to bridge the gaps. Your reader could be bewildered because those critical transitions  between the scenes and events of the story are missing or insufficient. The narrative could read along pretty well but suddenly there’s a bump in the road, a jarring hiccup from one scene to the next that leaves the reader perplexed, confused,…

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  Personanondata

• Media Week 4 (Vol 3): Google Wave, Reed Elsevier, Lexis/West, Elsevier,

  PersonaNonData

  8 Feb 2010 | 2:53 pm

  Google Wave could be part of Google's plan to enter the educational market: eSchool NewsRaymond Schroeder, director of the University of Illinois’s Center for Online Learning, Research, and Service, said an instant replay of students’ waves answers “the age-old question posed to faculty members: How do you know that everyone contributed to the project?” “With playback, you can view the wave in time-lapse, blip by blip—even those that are deleted. You can see who contributed what at what time to the wave,” said Schroeder, adding that free access to Wave could be a fiscal godsend…

• Munich: February 6th 1958 - Repost

  PersonaNonData

  4 Feb 2010 | 10:50 pm

  Originally posted on 2/6/08.Today is the 5oth anniversary of the air crash that killed eight members of the Manchester United football team among 23 who died when a plane they were on crashed on take-off. It was the aircraft’s third attempt to gain altitude but the snow and ice that had accumulated on the plane and slush at the end of the runway ensured it never achieved the lift necessary for take-off. The plane clipped a fence at the end of the runway and split open on impact. The team members who died were Roger Byrne, Billy Whelan, Tommy Taylor, Duncan Edwards, Mark Jones, Eddie Colman,…

• OnCopyright 2010: The Collision of Ideas - Conference

  PersonaNonData

  3 Feb 2010 | 11:11 am

  Hosted by Copyright Clearance Center is an upcoming conference in NYC On Copyright. Here is their spiel:The debate over copyright—its value, its limits, its virtues and its future—is raging as never before. Technology innovation is creating new models for content distribution and disrupting the economics of entire industries. Ad-based media companies are wondering what the future holds and are questioning whether high-quality content is still a viable commodity. Artists are exploring new forms of creativity and pushing the edges of rights and ownership ever outward. And there are new…

• Beyond the Book: Does Piracy Improve Book Sales?

  PersonaNonData

  1 Feb 2010 | 12:32 pm

  At the Digital Book World conference last week, founder and principal of Magellan Media Brian O’Leary discussed research his firm has conducted that shows that eBook sales are boosted by pirated copies of eBooks. Brian discussed these findings with Chris Kenneally, host of Copyright Clearance Center’s Beyond the Book (http://bit.ly/d2w2TY). Brian explains that the publishing industry has always given away content in order to sell content by citing examples like book readings, signings, etc. For more details, you can see the transcript of the interview here:…

• Media Week 3 (Vol 3): Elsevier, Gale/Questia, Legal Improvements,

  PersonaNonData

  31 Jan 2010 | 6:45 am

  Elsevier Launches Next-Generation Digital Learning Platform (Elsevier Press Release):Accessible offline or online through Elsevier's market-leading Evolve portal, Pageburst is Elsevier's new platform for accessing a much wider array of features and functionality for its digital textbooks. Pageburst is easy for faculty and students to access and use and is delivered through the device most college students already have - a computer. Elsevier's community of health education experts designed Pageburst to enhance the way health professions students think, learn, and study. For example, students…

• 
  Ghost Word

• Bay Area Literary Tidbits

  Frances

  4 Feb 2010 | 10:01 am

  There are lots of exciting writing possibilities in Oakland these days:The library system is putting on a series of writing workshops in three branches. People can learn how to write short fiction, poetry, or memoir or teens can take a course on blogging.More interested in journalism? The Community Media Access Center in the West Oakland branch is hosting a six-month course to train community journalists. The good news? It pays a $1,000 stipend.Over in Berkeley, things are a bit different. New York Times blogger Michelle Quinn visited the main branch of the Berkeley Public Library and was…

• Larry King Picks Towers of Gold for his Book of the Week

  Frances

  2 Feb 2010 | 9:19 am

  Imagine my surprise when I heard from a Larry King producer that the very popular CNN talk show host wanted to list Towers of Gold as his book pick for the week starting February 1, 2010.I guess King wants to showcase responsible bankers for once.

• Amazon has called "uncle" but the truce is really just the beginning

  Frances

  1 Feb 2010 | 12:09 pm

  On Sunday evening, Amazon came to its senses and decided to allow Macmillan to set a price of $12 to $15 for new e-books. As of Monday afternoon, the buy links for Macmillan had not yet been reactivated, though.The more I read, the less I understand about this issue. There are so many pricing points and percentages and sales models. I have never worked at a bookstore or in a publishing house, so the finer points elude me.Lots of other people have interesting things to say, though. Here are a few:Andy Ross in his Ask the Agent blogThe Shatzin Files  Author Charles…

• Who Cares About the Authors?

  Frances

  30 Jan 2010 | 12:36 pm

  What a rude shock to wake up this morning and find that Amazon has stopped selling all books published by Macmillan, including the new paperback release of Towers of Gold.Macmillan has told Amazon it wants to set its ebook rates at $15 rather than Amazon's standard $9.99. In an attempt to pressure Macmillan, Amazon has removed the "buy button" from every Macmillan books. (This also has a lot to do with the new iPad and Steve Jobs comments' that lots of publishers are unhappy with Amazon.)This is disturbing. What is equally disturbing are all the comments left on the New York Times website…

• The World of Wine and Isaias Hellman

  Frances

  29 Jan 2010 | 9:52 am

  I’ve been poking around the world of wine recently, both for some stories I have done for the New York Times and a book I am contemplating. Two things have come up this week that bring together my work on Isaias Hellman and Towers of Gold and winemaking.First, I got a chance to tour Pt. Molate in Richmond, the place where Hellman and other members of the California Wine Association built the world’s largest wine processing facility in 1908.The CWA, which controlled about seven-eighths of California’s wine production (everything from growing grapes, making wine, bottling and shipping it)…

• 
  The Guardian (UK)

• Does literature of the homeless exist?

  Ben Myers

  9 Feb 2010 | 6:09 am

  Writing in a warm room is hard enough, let alone when you've no food or money. No wonder there is so little authentic literature of the homelessI used to see a homeless man perched on a curb out the back of Safeway in Camberwell. Although it looked as if he hadn't had a bath or a square meal in a while, I'm ashamed to say the thing that always elicited the most sympathy from me was that he was a passionate reader. His head was always buried in a book. Any book. Horror, science fiction, romance – he was always reading.Writing while homeless, however, may be tougher to sustain. Doing it at a…

• Radical reading at the Israeli-Arab book club

  Chris Cox

  9 Feb 2010 | 12:00 am

  A groundbreaking new literary event offers new paths to understanding in what often seems an intractable conflictThe Middle East generates huge amounts of news coverage, but as the New Yorker pointed out last month, only recently has literature documenting people's daily lives in the region started winning western readers. In the case of the Israel-Palestine conflict, while some writers (Amos Oz and David Grossman spring to mind) are closely associated with it, many more authors don't make it onto the radar. A new public book club recently took some small but heroic steps towards addressing…

• In theory: Mimetic desire

  Andrew Gallix

  8 Feb 2010 | 9:00 am

  Nearly 50 years on, René Girard's theory remains a powerfully illuminating insight into both literature and the worldMany thanks for your insightful comments on "The Death of the Author" and interesting suggestions concerning future discussion topics – please keep them coming. All this feedback confirms the utility of a debate on the purpose of literary theory at a time when critics have all too often retreated into academia or become appendages of publishers' marketing departments. Talented critics can do so much more than just test-drive the latest products for consumers. They can shape…

• Take your seats for the great Station Bookswap

  Nancy Groves

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:10 am

  An enterprising soul has started a scheme that could enliven the journey into work for thousands of freesheet-weary commutersGod bless South West Trains. Not a phrase you'll often hear in London's leafier southern suburbs – but without one of their seasonal delays in service last week, I wouldn't have stumbled into the waiting room at Wimbledon Station and discovered, joy of joys, the Station Bookswap.It was the poster pinned to the door that pulled me in. "Never be bored on a train journey again!" And there, propped up on the window sills, a smattering of books, their covers tantalisingly…

• Second world war winning in the battle of the bestsellers

  Robert McCrum

  8 Feb 2010 | 3:05 am

  There seems to be an unquenchable appetite for stories of British derring-do in the face of the Nazi menaceI have often been tempted to write about the British bestseller lists as a symptom of a declining literary culture. Most of the time, unlike their counterparts in the US, these lists are dominated by TV – celebrity memoirs, tie-ins, books-of-the-series and so on. In one week just before last Christmas, every single top 10 slot could be attributed to the power of the small screen. In that sense, these lists accurately mirror a society in whose popular culture television plays a pivotal…

• 
  Ready Steady Book

• Josipovici's 'Everything Passes'

  5 Feb 2010 | 4:22 am

  In a fleeting fit of energy midway through last year, I proposed to some fellow bloggers that a symposium, hosted here at RSB, on Gabriel Josipovici's superb novella Everything Passes would be a jolly good thing. Well, as I've discussed (in my recent Hamlet and Lear pieces) it quickly became obvious to me that, last year, I didn't have the energy to organise anything. So, I owe a sincere apology to those friends who wrote some wonderful pieces (which will soon see the light of day here on the site -- hopefully, next week) expecting the symposium to go ahead. Happily, several bloggers have…

• Tom McCarthy on Jean-Philippe Toussaint

  5 Feb 2010 | 4:04 am

  Via Sponge! (the new name for our friend Lee Rourke's Scarecrow blog) I note that Tom McCarthy has been writing in the LRB about Jean-Philippe Toussaint: For any serious French writer who has come of age during the last 30 years, one question imposes itself above all others: what do you do after the nouveau roman? Alain Robbe-Grillet, Claude Simon et compagnie redrew the map of what fiction might offer and aspire to, what its ground rules should be – so much so that some have found their legacy stifling. Michel Houellebecq’s response has been one of adolescent rejection, or, to use the…

• Notes on 'One Dimensional Woman'

  4 Feb 2010 | 1:21 am

  Richard has been reading Nina Power's excellent and provocative (if far too short) essay One Dimensional Woman (a recent Book of the Week around here): I like Power's focus on work and the changes to work. And I agree with much of what she says about today's "feel-good" feminism, and in particular with her point that we need to address how "'feminism' as a term has come to be used by those who would traditionally have been regarded as the enemies of feminism". For example, those who defended the invasion of Afghanistan in the interest of "women's rights", among other allegedly Western values;…

• Howard Zinn R.I.P.

  4 Feb 2010 | 12:38 am

  The American historian, playwright and author of the bestseller A People's History of the United States Howard Zinn has died aged 87. Lots more info via howardzinn.org.

• Mitchelmore on David Shields' 'Reality Hunger'

  3 Feb 2010 | 1:54 am

  You'll be hearing a lot about David Shields' supposedly iconoclastic Reality Hunger over the next few weeks (it publishes at the end of the month). It will be touted as the "one book of literary criticism" (or some such) that you absolutely must read and is, in the words of its publisher, an "audacious stance on issues that are being fought over now and will be fought over far into the future." Actually, it's a dog's breakfast that deserves a really robust response -- happily, Mr Mitchelmore is already on the case: Reading David Shields’ new book – but in what way is it a book? – is a…

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  ABA Blogs

• A quick aside, then Wi5 information

  Sarah Rettger

  30 Jan 2010 | 10:48 am

  How is ABA different from Apple? There are a lot of answers to that, but the relevant one this week is that our marketing officer - who, among other things, oversees all our branding - is a woman. Apple, with its unfortunate name for the Unicorn Tablet, not so much. Sara Zarr deconstructs it beautifully. Wi5: It's next week. No Omnibus posting, and an abbreviated Bookselling This Week (BTW's coverage will appear in the 2/11 issue), so the #Wi5 hashtag on Twitter is your best bet for information, whether you're there or playing along at home. (Speaking of playing along at home, this week's…

• Paywalls, advice, and covers (plus a few other things)

  Sarah Rettger

  22 Jan 2010 | 12:19 pm

  Several topics of notes this week (and I'm not counting the Unicorn, which will appear or not, as it sees fit, next week): The New York Times announced that it will resume charging for online access, using a paywall-by-any-other-name, in 2011. There are questions of method and timing that will sound uncomfortably familiar to people who are looking to charge for other forms of digital content (say, e-books), so all eyes will be on the Gray Lady for a while. Clay Shirky, after amusing himself by telling independent bookstores what they need to do to succeed decided to try telling women what to…

• Testing profanity, disappointing customers, and other news of the week

  Sarah Rettger

  15 Jan 2010 | 2:03 pm

  Because it doesn't have to be one or the other: "Without question, print galleys will rightfully live on, but the digital galley can go further, faster, at less cost, and bulging with supporting materials that would be cost-prohibitive in print." The unglamorous side of publishing: "The content supply chain is a dirty, ugly, frustrating, and expensive part of the business that facilitates the movement of money and product. Ordering, billing, shipping, status, returns, and product information movement, are things that publishers and readers simply take for granted. But without…

• A mountain of links

  Sarah Rettger

  10 Jan 2010 | 10:22 am

  I will not overwhelm this post with links. I will not overwhelm this post with links. I will... Oh, who am I kidding? It's been two weeks since Omnibus saw an update, and my list of cool things to share just keeps growing. I'll try to keep it organized by theme, at least. Tech stuff: A developer-driven publishing conference? Namastechnology delves into e-commerce. More than you really want to hear about e-readers, courtesy of CES. Why "enhanced e-books" won't appear out of thin air. Margaret Atwood on some of the less common p-vs-e arguments. Industry stuff: Predictions. Lots of…

• Reindeer. (Pause.)

  Sarah Rettger

  21 Dec 2009 | 2:01 pm

  Since I've linked to all the rest of this story, it's only fair to end with the thank-you: "Very late in the evening -- actually, very early in the morning -- one gentleman, immediately after getting his books signed, stood slightly off to the side, opened his copy of Sandman, and for several minutes stared at what you had written with an expression of deep bliss and contentment. I am certain many hundreds of other people shared those same emotions last night." (see also) Are non-linear narratives the future?: "All those boys who struggle reading novels for school but could…

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  Litopia

• Word Wars for Fun and Profit

  Litopia Writers' Colony

  7 Feb 2010 | 12:10 pm

  You'd think it was hard enough just being a writer, wouldn't you? However, an increasing number of writers are voluntarily choosing to make their lives even tougher - by choosing to vanquish their own, personal, real-life nemesis. Could your writing improve with a nemesis? Listen to Philippa Ballantine, one of our star guests tonight, and decide. It's all ashes and sackcloth tonight as our other star guest, Graham Marks, takes writers to task for being lazy. Well, not all writers - just a few prosperous ones, such as Elmore Leonard - maybe he needs a nemesis? With regular panellist Dave…

• Book Launch: Zero Moment by MG Harris

  Litopia Writers' Colony

  3 Feb 2010 | 4:59 am

  It's launch time! Scholastic Children's Books are publishing the latest book in the bestselling children's series The Joshua Files: Zero Moment by novelist - and Litopian - MG Harris... and we're all invited to the bash. In fact, one dedicated Litopian has journeyed all the way from Germany just to be at the event! So grab your VIP invitation and let's cross the velvet rope to a chilled glass of bubbly and some very special cake... as Litopia Daily goes on location courtesy of the wonderful staff of Blackwells in Oxford, where some very keen young fans are eagerly waiting to grill the…

• The Debriefer: Amazon Attacks Big Mac

  Litopia Writers' Colony

  31 Jan 2010 | 9:11 am

  From the hush-hush world of the publishing insider... with the scandals and scuttlebutt – the rumours and rumbles – the leaks and lowdowns... it's time fror your Monday-morning dose of The Debriefer's insight, analysis and fun. Presented by Donna Ballman and Peter Cox. Got an inside tip for us? Then send it to debriefer [AT] litopia.eu

• Will The iPad Save Publishing?

  Litopia Writers' Colony

  31 Jan 2010 | 4:32 am

  In what is arguably the most significant week in publishing this decade - maybe even this century - we're giving Apple's newly launched iPad a rigorous examination - and coming to a surprising verdict - in this week's edition of Litopia After Dark. Will Steve Jobs' multi-function e-reader succeed in changing our lives in the same way as Gutenberg's movable type did in the 15th century? The stakes could hardly be higher. The iPad is almost certainly his enduring legacy to the world - and his personal bid for historical immortality. Many in the publishing industry itself are fervently hoping…

• Nemesis Is Coming

  Litopia Writers' Colony

  25 Jan 2010 | 11:24 pm

  Do you know where the Isle of Man is? It's a small island (32 miles long, 14 miles wide) in the Irish sea, about half way between Britain and Ireland. Not part of the United Kingdom, nor even part of the European Union, it has a curious relationship with the UK, having its own parliament and government, but dependent on the UK for foreign relations and defence. It has a population of just 80,000 people. Litopia's own John Quirk, a regular voice on Litopia After Dark, is a Manx man born and bred, and in this edition of Litopia Daily, he tells us about his plans to set up a publishing business…

• 
  Omnivoracious

• Old Media Monday: Reviewing the Reviewers

  Tom

  9 Feb 2010 | 1:44 am

  New York Times: Sunday Book Review cover: Leah Hager Cohen on Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich: "An introductory note that accompanied early copies of the novel declared that Erdrich wrote this book 'straight on,' as 'a single, gripping narrative,' and it does have a headlong quality.... But what to make of the publisher’s claim, which isn’t intrinsically positive? To be sure, in places, 'Shadow Tag' seems more like notes for a novel than fully realized fiction.... Elsewhere, though, Erdrich’s unbridled urgency yields startlingly original phrasing…

• Omni Daily News

  Lauren Nemroff

  8 Feb 2010 | 1:19 pm

  The Book Behind Brad's Beard:USA Today reveals the "inspiration" behind Brad Pitt's grizzled goatee. Apparently, his facial hair has something to do with the film adaptation of David Grann's bestseller The Lost City of Z. Only his barber knows for sure. Neil Gaiman on the Small Screen: The Guardian UK reports that the bestselling fantasy author will write an episode of Doctor Who, the BBC's hugely popular sci-fi series.  Taylor Prize for Nonfiction Announced: Author and journalist Ian Brown has won the 2009 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Nonfiction for The…

• Literary Super Bowl Counterprogramming: Louisiana vs. Indiana

  Tom

  6 Feb 2010 | 10:00 am

  The mayors of the two Super Bowl cities often concoct a symbolic wager of the fruits of their hometowns, but what I'd love to see them bet instead would be a box of local books. A few days ago, I ran across (via American Fiction Notes) Chauncey Mabe's entertaining assessment of how Indiana's literary legacy stacks up against Louisiana's (since limiting it to Indianapolis vs. New Orleans would be a rout from the opening whistle). He makes a valiant case for the Hoosiers against the more lauded lineup from the Big Easy, noting that both Vonnegut and Dreiser called Indiana…

• Graphic Novel Friday: Copper by Kazu Kibuishi

  Jeff VanderMeer

  5 Feb 2010 | 11:58 am

    Kazu Kibuishi is the mastermind behind the Flight fantasy comics series and his own great fantasy adventure series, Amulet. Copper is less ambitious, even more oriented toward kids, and quite lovely all on its own. Basically, the comics contained herein are vignettes following the exploits of Copper and his dog Fred. Copper's always plunging into new experiences without a care while Fred's there to anchor him in reality. Sometimes they're jumping through a waterfall. Other times they're just trying to make a purchase at the local grocery store. It's hard not to…

• Omni Daily News

  Jon Foro

  5 Feb 2010 | 11:26 am

  The smart money's on Governing Lethal Behaviour in Autonomous Robots: The highly anticipated longlist for the 2010 oddest book title prize (a contest conceived in 1978 on "a particularly dull day at the Frankfurt book fair") has been announced. Sleeper pick: Schoolgirl Milky Crisis.Maybe they're trying to make it even more prestigious: The West Australian Government drops its $110,000(A) Australia-Asia Literary Award after one year. (via the Literary Saloon)Recalling an era of savage readers: The Millions traces the origins and ponders the future of the deckle edge:The…

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  FreshFiction...for today's reader

• Fresh Pick | HUSH, HUSH by Becca Fitzpatrick

  Fresh Fiction

  8 Feb 2010 | 9:01 pm

  January 2010On Sale: January 5, 2010Featuring: Nora Grey352 pages ISBN: 1416989412EAN: 9781416989417Paperback$15.99Young Adult Paranormal, Young Adult Buy at Amazon.com Hush, Hushby Becca FitzpatrickIn Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush, Hush sixteen-year old Nora finds forbidden love.For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how much her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch came along.With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Nora is drawn to him against her better judgment.But after a…

• Ciji Ware | Can You Name That Theme

  Fresh Fiction

  7 Feb 2010 | 9:19 pm

  I think perhaps one of the hardest things for a budding novelist to master is determining what the "through line" is and meaning of the book you are writing.In other words: what is its theme? I am not talking about the book’s "message," though there certainly may be one by the time the story ends. Think, for a moment, about the Wizard of Oz. Sometimes there is a line in a book that states the theme loud-and clear, as when Dorothy says, "There's no place like home!" That same theme also holds true for the film Apollo 13. At the heart of both stories is the idea that we humans long for and…

• Fresh Pick | ECSTASY UNVEILED by Larissa Ione

  Fresh Fiction

  7 Feb 2010 | 9:10 pm

  Demonica #4February 2010On Sale: February 1, 2010Featuring: Lore; Idess384 pages ISBN: 0446556823EAN: 9780446556828Mass Market Paperback$6.99Romance Paranormal Buy at Amazon.com Ecstasy Unveiledby Larissa IoneDEMON ENSLAVEDLore is a Seminus half-breed demon who has been forced to act as his dark master's assassin. Now to earn his freedom and save his sister's life, he must complete one last kill. Powerful and ruthless, he'll stop at nothing to carry out this deadly mission. AN ANGEL TEMPTEDIdess is an earthbound angel with a wild side, sworn to protect the human Lore is targeting. She's…

• Sandi Shilhanek | How Far Is Too Far?

  Fresh Fiction

  6 Feb 2010 | 9:10 pm

  When I originally thought about this week’s blog I thought I would write about how far a reader would travel to “meet” a favorite author. I was thinking about that because I was going to attend a function in Ft. Worth in which Robyn Carr was going to be the phone in author. However, fate decided to give me a sick husband and I had to cancel. (We won’t even discuss how disappointed I was about that!)I’m lucky in that I live in a large area that has many interconnected highways, so if the traffic fates are smiling upon me nicely the commute between sites is smooth, and good for…

• Fresh Pick | COVET by J. R. Ward

  Sara Reyes

  6 Feb 2010 | 9:01 pm

  Fallen Angels #1October 2009On Sale: September 29, 2009Featuring: Jim Heron; Vincent Di Pietro496 pages ISBN: 0451228219EAN: 9780451228215Paperback$7.99Romance Paranormal Buy at Amazon.com Covetby J. R. WardRedemption isn’t a word Jim Heron knows much about—his specialty, both personally and professionally, is revenge, and to him, sin is all relative. But everything changes when he becomes a fallen angel and is charged with saving the souls of seven people from the seven deadly sins. His weapon: the power of love. His enemy: the darkest of evil. And failure is not an option.Vincent Di…

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  Young Adult (& Kids) Books

• Winners: The Wish Stealers

  Kimberly Pauley

  8 Feb 2010 | 2:06 pm

  Here are the winners of The Wish Stealers by Tracy Trivas!Christy HawkesAllyson Foleyrae norsworthyBethany FetzerPatty MagyarNancye DavisChristina SapytaRenee WelchCathy  McMahonDongyi ChenCongrats to all the winners!

• Best of the Best: Author and Blogger Cheryl Rainfield

  Kimberly Pauley

  8 Feb 2010 | 1:26 pm

  I'm pleased to announce this week's winner of the Best of the Best from YABC: Cheryl Rainfield! Do you have a site (author, book blogger, whatever) you'd like to nominate as one of the Best of the Best? Comment here or e-mail it to me and I'll check it out.

• Winners of Dream Life!

  Kimberly Pauley

  8 Feb 2010 | 10:59 am

  The winners of Dream Life by Lauren Mechling are...Kellie ConklinAshley ForeAmanda TempelSabrina HorandeEmily LehmannCongrats to all the winners!

• Winners of Evil? !!

  Kimberly Pauley

  8 Feb 2010 | 10:32 am

  Congrats to the following winners of the Evil? giveaway on YA Books Central held last month!Lisa VanceKayla PotegaAmanda M. PadgettKenna McKee (who had the BEST entry ever)Shirley QiuBe sure to enter this month's current giveaways, as well as the monthly Kindle giveaway!!

• Dirty Little Secrets

  Kim Baccellia

  5 Feb 2010 | 5:32 pm

  Lucy's mother has a secret. She's a hoarder. Lucy has lived in shame fearing others will find out about the junk and trash that is inside her home. The one time she was careless, someone at her private school found out and she ended up with the title 'garbage girl'.Now she only has two more years till she graduates. She can't wait to get out and start her own life. Then a horrific event happens that changes everything. Dirty Little Secrets is sure to generate discussion on hoarders and the children that live in that situation. Read more of my review at YA Books Central.

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  Top Shelf Reading Picks

• Common-Sense Sales in 120 Seconds

  Diane

  2 Feb 2010 | 4:15 pm

  I recently took on a role that’s more “salesy,” so I went through my stacks of books and found a really short one called The Golden 120 Seconds of Every Sales Call: A Fresh Innovative Look at the Sales Process by Peter G. Dennis.  Now, I’m not so sure I took away anything fresh and innovative, but it was a nice, quick reminder that a lot of sales is plain, old common sense. Basically, the Golden 120 Seconds of any sales pitch is that critical juncture when you make the sale.  This can happen at any time: before the presentation, at the end of a call or afterward in…

• The Political Entrepreneur Pt. 2: Social Media & Scott Brown’s Campaign: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

  Diane

  22 Jan 2010 | 8:03 am

  Yesterday I looked at how the Coakley campaign ignored social media to their detriment.  Continuing my deconstruction of social media and the Massachusetts US Senate race, today I’m focusing on the Brown campaign.  Why am I writing about this in an entrepreneurial column?  In this election, Scott Brown was a true entrepreneur and used social media to throw out the traditional campaign playbook. Disclosure:  I was closely monitoring the Brown/Coakley online race, as well as volunteering my time on behalf of Martha Coakley. I’m not going to cover the specific stats that show Brown had…

• The Political Entrepreneur: Social Media Lessons From Inside the Coakley & Brown Campaigns

  Diane

  21 Jan 2010 | 7:44 am

  I know this is a book review column, but I haven’t read much lately, as my past three weeks were usurped by the wacky campaign for U.S. Senate here in Massachusetts.  We had a perfect storm of internal and external forces that changed the face of politics in Massachusetts–and possibly the country.  Social media was one of the elements that enabled national involvement, making the campaign unlike any that had come before. Many lessons can be learned from both the Martha Coakley and Scott Brown campaigns with regard to social media for both politicians and entrepreneurs. Full…

• Connectors Are the Best Networkers

  Diane

  2 Jan 2010 | 5:15 pm

  I’m reviewing The Connectors: How the World’s Most Successful Businesspeople Build Relationships and Win Clients for Fife by Maribeth Kuzemeski, for two reasons: I liked the idea that it’s not about “networking” but about “connecting.”   2010 is a decade where connecting and engaging will be far more important than collecting names (see my 2010 Networking Ins and Outs list). The request to review this book was such a good example of PR done well that I just couldn’t say no. But to get to the book:  The focus of The Connectors is on getting referrals.

• Top Shelf Book Picks for 2009

  Diane

  21 Dec 2009 | 10:04 am

  Reposted from the Downtown Women’s Club womensDISH blog. One of our Downtown Women’s Club members tagged me on a Facebook note re: my favorite book picks for the year.  “Favorite books” is sometimes tough to decide.  However, I use this term when I find myself referring to a book or recommending it to others long after I’ve read it. (As opposed to a few books that I might have stayed up way to late to finish but a week later can’t remember the name or author.) This year there were seven books that met this standard.  So just in case you’re looking…

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  Kristina's Book Blog

• Outlander –Diana Gabaldon

  Kristina

  1 Feb 2010 | 2:59 am

  Recently, An Echo In The Bone, the latest book in the Outlander series was released, and I found myself thinking, wow, it’s been a long time since Gabaldon wrote an Outlander novel, and… where did I leave off in this series? I couldn’t remember enough about it, so I thought the best way to remedy [...]

• Arch Enemy — Frank Beddor

  Kristina

  1 Feb 2010 | 2:22 am

  The last book in Beddor’s Wonderland trilogy is the best of the bunch. King Arch has taken control of Wonderland, after WILMA, his Weapon of Inconceivable Loss and Massive Annihilation has rendered the Heart Crystal inert. Creativity throughout Wonderland and to worlds far away, including Earth, has dimmed — writers are unable to write, inventors [...]

• Seeing Redd — Frank Beddor

  Kristina

  14 Dec 2009 | 9:53 pm

  The second installment of Frank Beddor’s Wonderland trilogy finds Queen Alyss learning that defeating her Aunt Redd for the role of Queen didn’t mean everything afterward would be easy in comparison. Her Aunt Redd may be gone, having leapt into the Heart Crystal with The Cat and disappearing, but no one knows if it’s for [...]

• Children’s books, part 25

  Kristina

  7 Dec 2009 | 2:57 pm

  Wow, I’ve been reading a lot of children’s books with my 17 month old, and I’m behind on posting reviews for them. So, in time for Christmas, I thought I’d post reviews of some of my favorite books to read with my son at the moment, including some of the books I’ve bought him for [...]

• The Looking Glass Wars — Frank Beddor

  Kristina

  22 Nov 2009 | 10:42 pm

  I enjoy reading books that take a well-known story and twist it into something new, such as Gregory Maguire does for the land of Oz in Wicked and Son of A Witch. Which is why I’ve started reading Frank Beddor’s series of books based on the stories of Wonderland, from Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland. [...]

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  Read Roger

• Great minds

  Roger Sutton

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:46 am

  Our Fanfare choice Button Up: Wrinkled Rhymes by Alice Schertle and illustrated by Petra Mathers has been awarded the 2010 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award. Congrats, Alice!And now, to paraphrase Nicki Grimes on Jerry Pinkney, just give Petra Mathers the damn Caldecott medal, already.

• How do you buy books?

  Roger Sutton

  4 Feb 2010 | 9:45 am

  I'm perplexed by Amazon's statement about their showdown with Macmillan, where, after pulling that publisher's print- and e-books from Amazon.com, they (paradoxically) go on to defend the free market as the best friend to the little guy:We have expressed our strong disagreement and the seriousness of our disagreement by temporarily ceasing the sale of all Macmillan titles. We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan's terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe…

• Who will read about who?

  Roger Sutton

  4 Feb 2010 | 4:35 am

  Whom? I never get that right.In either case, J. L. Bell has posted one of the smartest things I've yet read about color and reading. Much of the current blogging discussion about the "whitewashing" of covers, etc., assumes that if evil publishers and ignorant librarians would only change their ways and open their eyes they would see a world of unprejudiced young readers eager to devour books regardless of the color of skin on the cover or on the main character. But as Bell asks, do we know this to be true or do we simply want to believe it?I've been working on an essay about the last ten…

• March/April starred reviews

  Roger Sutton

  2 Feb 2010 | 11:00 am

  The following books will receive starred reviews in the March-April issue of the Horn Book Magazine:My Garden, by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow)Once by Morris Gleitzman (Holt)Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs by Ron Koertge (Candlewick)The Dreamer by Pam Muñoz Ryan; illus. by Peter Sís (Scholastic)Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick (Roaring Brook)The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork (Levine/Scholastic)A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner (Greenwillow)One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia (Amistad/HarperCollins)Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse by Marilyn Singer;…

• Count 'em, 669

  Roger Sutton

  2 Feb 2010 | 8:20 am

  Previewing the Spring 2010 print edition of The Horn Book Guide, that's the number of new reviews just added to the Horn Book Guide Online. Check it out.

• 
  The Fine Books Blog

• Hit by a train: St. Paul bookshop faces death by light rail

  Christopher Lancette

  8 Feb 2010 | 2:24 pm

  As if independent bookshop owners aren't getting run over by enough trains already, a planned light rail line may spell the end of the line for Thomas Stransky in St. Paul, Minn. "We'll probably have to go out of business," Stransky says from behind the cash register of Midway Used & Rare Books on University Avenue, where a series of recent developments make it all the more likely construction will eventually start on a transportation project aimed at moving commuters between downtown St. Paul and its twin city Minneapolis on the other side of the Mississippi River. Stransky and…

• February Book Give-away!

  Rebecca Rego Barry

  8 Feb 2010 | 6:54 am

  We're running a fun little contest on our Facebook page, so be sure to pop by and check it out. If you're not already one of our "fans" on Facebook, come on over!

• Paper Flicks

  Nicholas Basbanes

  5 Feb 2010 | 5:05 pm

  Well, we've had some pretty interesting responses to my open request earlier this week for movies that have had something to do with paper, the only stipulation being that they have some basis in fact. For those who need to be brought up to speed on what's going on, here's the link to my column. I will present the films in the order that they arrived.I heard first from Pradeep Sebastian, a literary columnist in India, who offered the following dozen--count 'em, twelve--first-rate suggestions: The Hoax (2006), a film about Clifford Irving, and the fake Howard Hughes biography; F For Fake…

• Friday's Folio

  Rebecca Rego Barry

  5 Feb 2010 | 9:50 am

  To celebrate the publication of The Folio Society's new edition of The Canterbury Tales, with illustrations by Eric Gill, the company posted a podcast that features UK stage and screen actor Simon Callow reading from the deluxe edition. Limited to 1,980 copies and bound in Nigerian goatskin, this edition is a facsimile of the The Golden Cockerel Press edition of 1929-1931 (an original is on the market at Maggs for about $10,000). Fun Friday viewing!

• Chasing Tiger Woods and Rare Books: Hemingway Collection of Barry Levine

  Brian Cassidy

  4 Feb 2010 | 5:00 am

  New York Times today has a nice profile of National Enquirer editor Barry Levin and his exceptional Ernest Hemingway collection:  Mr. Levine's collection includes bullfighting programs Hemingway used for his research, check stubs for routine things like car repairs, and letters by Mary Hemingway, the author's widow. Among those: a carbon copy of a typed note to the sheriff in Ketchum, Idaho, where Hemingway committed suicide in 1961, asking that the shotgun he used be returned. It's a nice look at the creative approach smart book buyers use to assemble their collections. My one quibble…

• 
  Joe Wikert's Kindleville Blog: All Kindle, All the Time

• Too Little, Too Late

  Joe Wikert

  7 Feb 2010 | 10:57 am

  The iPad isn't even available yet but I've already decided it's time to ditch my Kindle and switch to the Apple platform. Why? In short, I'm disgusted with Amazon's glacial pace of Kindle innovation. The device's functionality is pretty much the same as it was when it launched more than 2 years ago.Anytime I've suggested Amazon open their platform up to third-party developers, just like Apple's done with the iPhone App Store, most folks questioned the idea. They asked what kind of cool apps could really be developed for an ereader. These are probably the same people who figured all a cell…

• Here comes another one

  Paul Higginbotham

  5 Jan 2010 | 11:20 am

  How many "Kindle-killers" have been announced or released in the past two years? I've lost count. Yet despite the flood of killers on the market, the Kindle is still doing quite well, thank you. As you've no doubt heard, Amazon announced that for the first time ever, Kindle book sales surpassed physical book sales on Christmas sales. Of course the rallying cry of Kindle scoffers has been "B-B-B-But just wait until Apple comes out with an e-book reader!" It would appear that very day is near. January 26, to be precise. That is the date that Apple has (allegedly) reserved at the Yerba Buena…

• A Christmas gift from The Book View Cafe

  Paul Higginbotham

  15 Dec 2009 | 7:03 am

    Sue Lange, one of the authors from The Book View Cafe, is offering one of her stories for free for your holiday reading pleasure.  Head over to BVC to download a free copy of "Jump" from Lange's sci-fi satire short story collection Uncategorized.  It's only available for a limited time so grab it soon. You can get the whole collection of stories for $1.99 via the BVC. It's good, bawdy sci-fi fun from start to finish.  If you like your science-fiction with a little cheek (or a lot, even), you'll dig Uncategorized. 

• Book View Cafe embraces the Kindle

  Paul Higginbotham

  24 Nov 2009 | 6:49 am

  When you read a lot of news about the Kindle it's easy to get discouraged about the attitudes of publishers and authors, some of which are finding themselves being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Ebook is a four-letter word to many in the business, and digital distribution is seen as the road to piracy and bankruptcy. Fortunately there are those who "get it" -- who see the benefits of delivering their books via ones and zeros as opposed to pulp and ink. One such group is The Book View Cafe. Part online publisher, part bookstore, the BVC consists of a group of best-selling…

• Francis Hamit: An Author's Point of View

  Joe Wikert

  2 Nov 2009 | 8:27 am

  Author Francis Hamit emailed me recently about a major frustration he recently ran into with Amazon. Although Amazon generally offers a terrific customer service experience, Francis' story sheds light on the challenges faced by authors and other content providers. I asked him to write a guest post about his experience and here's what he had to say:I’ve pulled the Kindle edition of my novel “The Shenandoah Spy”. Although it was priced at six dollars less than the print version, it sold less than one percent as well as that edition. I saw a post from another author who said he was selling…

• 
  Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

• Ongoing Series and Happy Ever After

  sarah@smartbitchestrashybooks.com

  9 Feb 2010 | 1:48 am

  “Love, he thought as he held her to his heart, was an agony beyond compare.” -Raphael Archangel’s Kiss by Nalini Singh There are two series I follow and cannot get enough of that focus on one couple in subsequent books. Rather than having related protagonists in each book, these series follow the same protagonists. Many of you are huge fans of J.D. Robb’s in Death series, which follwos Eve and Roarke. My two are Julia Spencer-Fleming’s Miller’s Kill series, which features Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne, and Nalini Singh’s Archangel series, with Raphael and Elena. While…

• Urban Fantasy: What’s Weird, What’s Next?

  sarah@smartbitchestrashybooks.com

  8 Feb 2010 | 11:05 am

  Sonya Bateman and I want to know: what do you want to see in urban fantasy this year? I don’t mean vampires and werewolves, Battle Extreme round XVII. Urban fantasy has expanded to include a whole mess of folklore and mythology, and it shifts rapidly to include things I’d never heard of before. So what are you interested in, and what are you tired of? You like genies, dislike faeries? Dig selkies living in the Central Park pond (they’d be very green) but are tired of crouching gnome, hidden leprechaun? What weird thing would you never expect to see in an urban fantasy? (I am personally…

• Winner Winner Video Games Over Dinner!

  sarah@smartbitchestrashybooks.com

  6 Feb 2010 | 12:40 am

  Thanks for your comments and suggestions to Darek from OrchidGames for our Solitaire giveaway. Behold, a message from Derek: Thank you, thank you! Your response was wildly beyond my expectations. I learned so much from your comments. I knew before that many of you play games, but I had no idea that some are so hard core! Impressive. Also, thanks a lot for all the books recommendations. I’ll be looking them up on Amazon and ordering a few. Few direct comments: - BevQB: I might just take you on that dare, who knows! - Kelly S: yeah, it was supposed to say “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”—bad…

• Winner Winner, Baseball Dinner

  sarah@smartbitchestrashybooks.com

  6 Feb 2010 | 12:14 am

  Thanks to Jill for picking the winners, here are the folks who get a spanky copy of Jill Shalvis’ upcoming book, Slow Heat: 1. Sharon 2. Wendy 3. Peggy P 4. Kara 5. Melody 6. Carolyn 7. Sandy H 8. Liz M 9. Lil¹ Deviant 10. Chris. 11. Tina C 12. Lisa Hendrix 13. Carrie. 14. Theresa 15. Francesca If you’re a winner, please email me at sarahATsmartbitchestrashybooksDOTcom with your mailing address and “Shalvis” in the subject line. Thanks for playing - and happy reading!

• Friday Videos Like a Good Pat

  sarah@smartbitchestrashybooks.com

  5 Feb 2010 | 1:30 am

  Kathy sent this in and I was grinning like a fool. The best part starts at 0:45. May your weekend be excellently spanky!

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  Booksquare

• Amazon, Macmillan, Agency Models, and Quality (Oh My)

  Kassia Krozser

  31 Jan 2010 | 6:44 pm

  Be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it. Consumer expectations will rise if prices do Over the weekend, we rode a rollercoaster as Macmillan laid out its demands for ebook pricing to Amazon, and Amazon responded by pulling (nearly) all Macmillan titles from its store. Late Sunday, Amazon announced they would “capitulate” to Macmillan’s demands on pricing. It almost goes without saying that this will be the go-forward model for all major publishers, and maybe their independent brethren as well. Publishers have gotten what they want. Man, it seems like a…

• What Are Enhanced Ebooks?

  Kassia Krozser

  19 Jan 2010 | 12:33 pm

  Short answer: nobody knows. Longer answer: the magic elixir publishers are injecting into ebooks in hopes they will entice people to pay higher prices. As you might guess, I am a bit of an “enhancement” skeptic. I have a few reasons. First, they feel like an attempt to skip the walking phase. Right now ebooks are crawling, technical quality-wise, and enhanced ebooks will be (theoretically) leaping and pirouetting. Second, what is being proposed in some publisher statements sounds a lot like standard print material (reader guides) and marketing fluff. Finally, I’m not sure…

• On Facts and Piracy

  Kassia Krozser

  18 Jan 2010 | 9:23 am

  Brian O’Leary on the major problems surrounding today’s discussions about piracy. More facts, less breathless assumptions. At this point, there’s not much clarity in the debate. If this is an inflection point, we need data to establish trends. Declaring the answer limits discussion. Grounded in reality

• Tools of Change, or The Future of Publishing Isn’t What You Think It Is

  Kassia Krozser

  11 Jan 2010 | 9:58 am

  Today is the final day for early registration for the Tools of Change for Publishing conference, to be held in New York, February 22 – 24, 2010. Recently, there have been a lot of conferences dedicated to the magical world of digital publishing, but this is the only conference focused on looking forward. It may be the greatest of ironies that the problems facing publishers today have nothing to do with finding people who want to read. People are reading (and writing) like never before. They’re publishing like never before. The pace of publishing innovations tells me this trend…

• William Styron and Droit de Seigneur

  Kassia Krozser

  4 Jan 2010 | 9:55 am

  Over the New Year holiday, Jonathan Galassi, president of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, published an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times titled “There’s More to Publishing Than Meets the Screen”. I think he started with the intent of justifying the cost of ebooks — something publishing has handled abysmally — but he took a wrong turn. Into some very interesting territory. Let’s break it down. The first line of the article is “What is an e-book?” This is never answered because Galassi moves on to discuss the decision by William Styron’s heirs…

• 
  carpelibrisreviews.com

• The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist

  When Dorrit Weger enters the Second Reserve Bank Unit, she knows she’s there to stay; not by choice, mind you.  She’s hit that magical age where, without children and loved ones in need of her, she’s become what has been considered “dispensable”.  While it’s true the dwelling is luxurious beyond what she’s ever obtained for [...]

• David Pritchard Guitar Quartet Music Videos

  You may recall that not too long ago I featured the guitar music of David Pritchard.  The music is astoundingly beautiful and complex, something to feed your brain and get your creative spirit flowing.  Here now are a couple of videos from the David Pritchard Guitar Quartet.  You can find available CD’s of David Pritchard [...]

• “Bialetti Moka Express” Stovetop Coffee Maker Giveaway

  Click Here for More Giveaways Is ‘Italian” synonymous with “design”?  Perhaps my husband could help answer that question.  A proud European to the core, he practically shuddered with delight when a Bialetti Moka Express arrived in our home.  Was I excited too?  Yes, I adore coffee, especially any with a European preparation involved, but for my [...]

• “Cairo – Dancas Egipcias” by Nomad

  Click Here for More Giveaways One thing I truly desire to do through this blog is to entice people to explore our world through music and literature.  We sometimes get a little shortsighted in our selections, falling into the ruts of what is set before us through television and radio stations.  But what if you branched [...]

• Marianni – Vai Saber CD Giveaway

  Click Here for More Giveaways When sitting still is just not an option, it’s time to pop in Marianni Ebert’s CD Vai Saber.  This Brazilian Jazz singer puts on quite a show at the Zinc Bar in New York City, and fortunately you can hear a live performance anytime you like when you have Vai Saber [...]

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  London Review of Books

• Toril Moi: Beauvoir Misrepresented

  In the short space of time since the Liberation, Beauvoir had established herself as a writer and intellectual. Her first philosophical essay, Pyrrhus et Cinéas, had been well received, and in 1945, her second novel, The Blood of Others, had been praised as the first novel of the Resistance. In the public realm, her name was firmly linked to Jean-Paul Sartre’s, and to existentialism, which was becoming so fashionable that Sartre had to hire a secretary. No longer a beginner, no longer unknown, Beauvoir had nothing to prove; she could write about anything. She decided to write about…

• Stephen Smith: Françafrique

  ‘Sorry, but it’s no longer the way it used to be. There’s nothing more I can do for you. Under Bongo Senior, this would have been unthinkable. But Bongo Junior doesn’t have the same grip on the situation – and nor do I, nor does France. We go through the motions but we’re no longer in control.’ I received this text message on 9 August 2009 from Robert Bourgi, known in Paris as ‘the attorney of la Françafrique’. It’s probably not the last word on France’s incestuous relationship with her former colonies in sub-Saharan Africa, but it put an end to my four-day wait at a…

• Tom McCarthy: Toussaint

  For any serious French writer who has come of age during the last 30 years, one question imposes itself above all others: what do you do after the nouveau roman? Alain Robbe-Grillet, Claude Simon et compagnie redrew the map of what fiction might offer and aspire to, what its ground rules should be – so much so that some have found their legacy stifling. Michel Houellebecq’s response has been one of adolescent rejection, or, to use the type of psychological language that the nouveaux romanciers so splendidly shun, denial: writing in Artforum in 2008, he claimed never to have finished a…

• August Kleinzahler: Selling Up

  In a couple of days I’ll sit down in a small, noisy, cluttered room with lawyers, the realtor, my sister and brother-in-law, and hand the keys to this house over to a very pleasant young Chinese couple who will begin their own lives together here. They are very excited. I am not. I like it here. This is home, even if I haven’t really lived here for 42 years, my psychological redoubt: red brick, slate-roofed, sitting on a 500-foot basalt sill that reaches down to the ‘lordly Hudson’. It is what is most solid about me and what has allowed me to live the sort of life one might not…

• Inigo Thomas: The Hudson Plane Crash

• 
  Podiobooker

• Purgatory is COMPLETE!

  Evo

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:18 pm

  Tim Dodge has loaded up the final two episodes in Purgatory. Get it while it’s hot!

• Now releasing: Beneath by Jeremy Robinson

  Evo

  7 Feb 2010 | 10:50 pm

  Jeremy Robinson is back from the deep and headed to space in Beneath: Three thousand years after a chunk of iron the size of Khufu’s pyramid collides with Europa, Jupiter’s sixth moon, an asteroid borne of the collision crashes into Earth’s Arctic ice shelf carrying extraterrestrial microbial life. The first man to come into contact with the microbes hears voices—and then dies. After determining the meteorite originated from Europa, the Global Exploratory Corporation sends oceanographer and biologist, Kathy Connelly, and her crew to the moon aboard the Surveyor, an experimental…

• Time Crystal is COMPLETE!

  Evo

  6 Feb 2010 | 10:34 am

  Wyken Seagrave just added the final chapter to the first book in his series. The sequel to Time Crystal starts next week, so get caught up!

• Alibi Jones is COMPLETE!

  Evo

  6 Feb 2010 | 10:25 am

  Stick a futuristic fork in Mike Luoma’s Alibi Jones, kids. He’s just uploaded a slew of episodes to cap off the journey. If you’ve got a default feed, you’ll have to release them manually. But if you were wise enough to take a custom feed, they’ll all come down to your just fine on their own. No extra steps required!

• Now releasing: Paraffin Winter by Peter Chowney

  Evo

  4 Feb 2010 | 11:01 pm

  Please welcome Peter Chowney to the site, as we begin releasing the serialized audiobook version of his novel, Paraffin Wintercom: The winter of 1963 was the coldest winter of the century in the UK, at a time when post-war austerity and social class divisions made for a miserable life for many people. These were the days of back boilers, bubble and squeak, paraffin oil stoves, gas works, steam trains, and starting handles. The 1960s technological and social revolution hadn’t happened yet. Ronnie and Jenny Delaney live in the south coast town of Poole, close by the gas works. They get by…

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  Bookshop Blog

• Bookstore Speak: Words of the Trade

  Louis Gereaux

  7 Feb 2010 | 6:15 pm

  Bookstore Speak: Words of the Trade By Louis Gereaux All booksellers of used books will have at one time or another come across the word dog-eared.  What does that word mean anyway, and where did it come from?  Dog eared pages are less common in today’s fast turn around of used books. Many used book are almost new.  It might be that more readers are using the bookmarks we stick in our books for sale, who knows?  But the term dog eared means a turned down corner of a book page.  The term originated in the trade because these turned down pages look like the ears of dogs which do not…

• Is your book stock a reflection of yourself?

  HeeJin Lee

  5 Feb 2010 | 3:20 am

  Must-haves in Your Stock (I) By HeeJin Lee (Laertes/Flickr) As an aspiring bookshop owner, I’ve been spending my free time fantasizing of the books I’d like to have in my stock. I’ve been inspired by Shakespeare and Company by Sylvia Beach, the owner of that legendary bookshop in Paris. Beach carried the works of the Lost Generation and their contemporaries from the United Kingdom. In addition to providing a meeting place for these writers in Paris, Beach’s bookshop is perhaps most famous for publishing James Joyce’s Ulysses. While not all of us may be fortunate enough to…

• The Harsh Reality of Amazon

  Bruce K. Hollingdrake

  4 Feb 2010 | 4:15 am

  [Editor's Note: Here is an email from one of our readers concerning selling books on Amazon and how lower cost items can be very difficult to make a margin on. We completely agree and now very rarely sell anything worth less than $20.00.] After reading the entry on how to open a bookshop that is sure to fail, for which I really appreciate the candor of Bruce Hollingdrake, I wanted to add this comment. I have been reselling my books on Amazon for about a year, and in that time have realized that at such a small volume, the amount of profit one makes from each sale is hardly worth the effort.

• Tread lightly…..this is Holy Ground

  William Hammond

  3 Feb 2010 | 4:30 pm

  Thursday 28th January was an extraordinary cold day. The snow, intermittent throughout the morning, started to fall rapidly around mid-day and immediately settled onto the wet road. The playing field of the elementary school opposite my first floor residence, revived by another cloak of snow, distracted me from the radio and drifted me into a moment of reverie. There is something redemptive and mesmerising about looking out onto a freshly blanketed snow-scape. The snowstorm’s heavy presence mollified and cocooned the senses; the large snowflakes whirled and meandered in the sky assimilating…

• Selling online can be a solitary occupation but you can still make friends

  Suzie Eisfelder

  2 Feb 2010 | 8:55 pm

  Selling online One of the challenges of selling online is the lack of people contact.  It’s something I really notice.  One of the things I do to combat this is to volunteer at an Op Shop (Charity Shop) for half a day a week.  I was very careful when I chose the op shop, I looked at the volunteers who all seemed very nice and were quite happily talking to who-ever walked in.  I liked this so I promptly volunteered.  I was feeling particularly bold that day as I had recently shaved my head for the Leukaemia Foundations Shave-For-A-Cure and so it was easy to bite the bullet and speak…

• 
  Issues in Publishing

• Digging Deep

  Fran Toolan

  19 Jan 2010 | 12:47 pm

  Many of you who know me know, I’m rather proud of my twin sons for their participation in Karate. This email came in over the weekend, and I found it quite inspiring: Dear Dojo Family, It's only been a couple of weeks since so many people gave themselves to long, sweaty, dusty hours to make our new dojo a reality. But already, circumstances have moved me to ask you all to mobilize yourselves to an even more profound undertaking. You certainly don't need to me tell you about the massive humanitarian crisis going on just a few hundred miles off the shore of our country. The Red Cross…

• Why Scott Lubeck will be good for the future of the Book

  Fran Toolan

  11 Jan 2010 | 3:05 am

  In my opinion, one of the bigger pieces of news in the book industry last week, passed by very quickly and very quietly. The appointment of Scott Lubeck as the new Executive Director of BISG barely made a ripple in Twitter and the Blogosphere. But, I'll bet that two or three years from now, when we look back at this appointment, we'll all understand how important a date it was.In this huge industry transition that we are all feeling, many of my colleagues in the industry have attempted to define what publishers are and why they are important. Most of these arguments center around editorial…

• Is BEA Reinventing Itself?

  Fran Toolan

  20 May 2009 | 9:01 am

  Lance Fensterman's blog post this morning came to my attention as I was writing this. It seems interesting to me that the people running the show are concluding that the show needs to change even as it is changing right before our eyes.The industry is in transition - duh. The economy is down - duh. The internet is changing everything - duh, duh, duh.BEA is a giant Sales Conference, why not just acknowledge it and take advantage of the venue to use it that way?The past two months have been among the most interesting and exhilarating in my professional career. Via twitter, we have tapped into…

• Blogger Signing

  Fran Toolan

  8 May 2009 | 2:06 pm

  (An update to this post 5/20/09: For a complete listing, please see the Follow the Reader Blog entry or simply click here. There are now 44 bloggers registered!) As of Friday afternoon, we have 26 Bloggers signed up for our signings at booth 4077, including: Name URL Book Reviews by Jess bookreviewsbyjess.blogspot.com Beth Fish Reads bfishreads.blogspot.com Booking Mama bookingmama.blogspot.com Booksquare booksquare.com Janicu's book blog janicu.livejournal.com Jenn's Bookshelf jennsbookshelf.blogspot.com Literary License litlicense.blogspot.com Personanondata personanondata.blogspot.com…

• Blogger Signings at BEA

  Fran Toolan

  6 May 2009 | 2:14 pm

  Because of our interest in the professional reading community, we decided to try something new and fun this year at BEA. We are going to holding "Blogger Signings" at our booth (#4077). "Blogger Signings" is a bit tongue-in-cheek, as it is meant as a parody to the many "Author Signings" that are hosted either by BEA directly, or by individual publishers in their booths each year.People that review books and blog about them are enjoying a significantly growing voice in influencing book buyers. And those that blog about the industry in general are having a strong influence on the rate of change…

• 
  Berkeley Heights Public Library Book Blog

• Questions of the Day

  Ellen

  3 Feb 2010 | 12:50 pm

  Q: My friend and I have a bet about who ran the fastest mile in 1948 or 1949. My friend says it's Roger Bannister and I can't remember the name of the guy who I think it was. His nickname was the Flying Preacher and he was from Kansas.A: The name this person was looking for was Glenn Cunningham, a.k.a. the Kansas Flyer (although we still have no idea if he ran the fastest mile in 1948). Cunningham's legs were burned in a fire at age 8. His parents refused amputation and it took Glenn two years to even try to walk again.How I found this:I had no luck with almanacs or googling "Flying…

• The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue

  Ellen

  3 Feb 2010 | 6:34 am

  On Friday the library's morning book group is discussing The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue. The book follows the lives of Aniday (a boy who was stolen by a band of hobgoblins and then lives in the woods as one of them) and Henry Day (the changeling who takes his name and place in the world). Henry Day is on a search for his real self, trying to remember a century earlier before he was kidnapped by the hobgoblins from his German-speaking parents. Donohue, whose Ph.D. is in modern Irish literature, was inspired by William Yeats' poem The Stolen Child,Come away, O human child!To the waters and…

• The Diagnosis of the Acute Abdomen in Rhyme

  Anne

  2 Feb 2010 | 12:49 pm

  Using mnemonics as an aid for learning vast quantities of information is often employed in medical education. Taking it a step further, the author of the textbook Cope's Early Diagnosis of the Acute Abdomen, later turned his book into 88 pages of doggerel which explains how to diagnose and treat patients with belly pain: The Diagnosis of the Acute Abdomen in Rhyme by 'Zeta,' (aka: Sir Zachary Cope.) This small volume has been sitting on my bookshelves at home for many years and what made me think about it is it turns up in Abraham Verghese's Cutting for Stone which I am currently reading.

• 50 Days Till Spring

  Ellen

  29 Jan 2010 | 7:33 am

  If mail order catalogs filled with model families wearing short sleeves and flip flops are making you long for mild spring breezes & green grass, perhaps some library books will get you through the last of the cold? Click on the collage if you'd like to read the titles of the books more clearly.

• Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indridason

  Ellen

  27 Jan 2010 | 10:41 am

  This is not the first time I've posted about my favorite mystery series, but there's something I just love about a detective who goes home at night and reads true cases of people who disappeared out on the Icelandic moors during a blizzard. Each book in Arnaldur Indridason's series gives us a bit more of the story of the disappearance of Erlendur's own brother when they were children. The narration is fantastic: impersonal and succinct, but recording every important detail, as if the books were films meant to be played in your head.Arctic Chill revolves around the stabbing of a half-Thai,…

• 
  Joe Wikert's Publishing 2020 Blog

• eReaders & eBook Prices

  Joe Wikert

  8 Feb 2010 | 6:03 am

  I considered opening with a snarky comment about the Nook ereader.  Something about how it's destined to be the RC Cola of ereaders seemed appropriate.  And when I went looking for a graphic to insert, guess what I found?  Amazon is actually selling the Barnes & Noble device on their own site!  Whodathunkit? Nevertheless, how would you like to have been B&N these last couple of weeks?  There you are, trying to get some enthusiasm for your newly-released Nook while Amazon is fighting for any sort of attention amidst the biggest announcement in years: Apple's iPad.  Good…

• Why Publishers Should Jump on the iPad Bandwagon

  Joe Wikert

  1 Feb 2010 | 5:12 am

  The worst-kept secret in recent tech history, Apple's iPad, was unveiled last week.  Some folks were wowed by the announcement while others were left asking, "is that all there is?"  I was somewhere in between. A buddy called me that day and said he bet Jeff Bezos was..., well, requiring an undergarment change.  I told him I doubted it.  Not because the iPad won't have a significant impact on the Kindle...it will...but because Wednesday's announcement was the confirmation of something Amazon, like the rest of us, already knew about.I'll get to the Kindle…

• Adding the Word "Free" to Your Marketing Dictionary

  Joe Wikert

  28 Jan 2010 | 6:19 am

  Today's post is courtesy of Ben Richter, eReader enthusiast and owner of Best-eReaders.com, a review site for eReaders, tablets and ebooks.  Ben wrote this as a follow-up to my earlier plea for Amazon to share the data related to free Kindle content.  Here's what Ben has to say:In today's marketing world, both online and offline, it's getting harder and harder to put your product in front of potential shoppers. The internet has turned the world upside down, and although there are more ways today to promote your product, the competition is getting tougher. So, how can…

• Amazon, Share the Data! (Please?...)

  Joe Wikert

  25 Jan 2010 | 5:30 am

  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that free books are popular on the Kindle.  Take a look at the Kindle book bestseller list on any given day and you're likely to find a bunch of zero-priced items.  Even as I write this post I see that 14 of the top 25 titles are free. "Selling" these free titles is easy and their publishers/authors obviously have something bigger in mind than just giving away content.  Many are hoping to be discovered, thereby broadening their audience so that these new fans will actually pay for the next title in the series, for example. …

• Has the Magazine Industry Heard of the iPhone?

  Joe Wikert

  18 Jan 2010 | 12:02 pm

  What is the magazine industry waiting for?  The iPhone is now 3 years old and there appears to be little to no interest in creating paid apps with their content.  Go to the App Store, search for "magazine" and look at the hodgepodge results. Many of the ones that actually have apps treat them more like news feeds than new ways of rendering their magazine (e.g,. see the Sports Illustrated app, for example).  Hey, I've got plenty of news apps already.  If I'm taking the time to download your app it's because I want the magazine content, not another news feed.I…

• 
  The Journal of Electronic Publishing

• How the Media Frames "Open Access"

  Davis, Philip M.

  The Journal of Electronic Publishing Vol. 12 Issue 1, 2009-02-15. Framing has its roots in how journalists construct news in a way that makes sense to lay audiences. Frames capture the essence of an issue. They define what the problem is, and how to think about it. Often they suggest what should be done to remedy a problem (Kinder 1998).

• Two Scenarios for How Scholarly Publishers Could Change Their Business Model to Open Access

  Björk, Bo-Christer

  The Journal of Electronic Publishing Vol. 12 Issue 1, 2009-02-15. In scholarly publishing as in many other industries, the Internet has also opened innovative new ways of doing business. A grass-roots movement of scientists advocating the publication of scientific journals openly on the Web, which they called “open access,” started in the mid-1990s (Guédon 2001). Open access can be seen as part of a larger Web-enabled phenomenon of peer production, user-generated content, and open-source development (Benkler 2002, 2006). The open access advocates propose two partly complementary…

• Toward the Design of an Open Monograph Press

  Willinsky, John

  The Journal of Electronic Publishing Vol. 12 Issue 1, 2009-02-15. The cellulose-based engine of academic life in the humanities and social sciences, otherwise known as the monograph, is being increasingly displaced not by MacBooks or FaceBook but by its long-standing junior companion, the journal. After playing a supporting role for centuries as a place for trial runs, interim reports, reviews, and updates, the journal article has become the principal measure of academic achievement in many disciplines. The journal does bring a measure of precision to the academy’s reputation economy, with…

• Open Access in 2008

  Suber, Peter

  The Journal of Electronic Publishing Vol. 12 Issue 1, 2009-02-15. A staggering amount of energy was poured into implementing open access (OA) in 2008. This is an attempt to show its depth and breadth, while admitting that the full story can’t be captured in one article. There’s a lot of detail here, but it’s selective and I’ve tried to present just the highlights of 2008 in nine categories, with a 10th section for highlights of the highlights. To keep it within bounds, I’ve omitted some sections I’ve formerly included, such as open education, open access for public-sector…

• Current Models of Digital Scholarly Communication: Results of an Investigation Conducted by Ithaka Strategic Services for the Association of Research Libraries

  Maron, Nancy L.

  The Journal of Electronic Publishing Vol. 12 Issue 1, 2009-02-15. The networked digital environment has enabled the creation of many new kinds of works that are accessible to end users directly, and many of these resources have become essential tools for scholars conducting research, building scholarly networks, and disseminating their ideas and work. The decentralized distribution of these new model works can make it difficult to fully appreciate their scope and number, even for university librarians tasked with knowing about valuable resources across the disciplines. In the spring of 2008,…

• 
  First Book Blog

• Curl Up With Great Books from the First Book Marketplace

  Katie B.

  9 Feb 2010 | 6:14 am

  It’s another snowy day along the East Coast, perfect for staying indoors and curling up with a cup of cocoa and some great books. This month,  the First Book Marketplace is highlighting some excellent books in honor of African-American history month as well as sweet seasonal titles to read with your valentine. Browse through the Marketplace’s African-American Interest section to find a wide range of award-winning titles including stories of musical legends like Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald, baseball hero Jackie Robinson: Bravest Man in Baseball and stories from the past…

• Snowed In? Read On!

  Joan S.

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:12 am

  In case you haven’t watched the news, all of us at First Book here in the Washington DC area are under about 2 feet of snow, with more expected on Tuesday. The government is closed, the roads are covered and many places have lost power. If you are snowed in, bored or just tired of winter, we suggest now is the time to try a time-tested, perfect power-free alternative to computer games and all those electronic ways to bowl, dance, serve an ace or hit a home run. Settling in to enjoy a GOOD BOOK doesn’t require electricity or a wireless connection. Satellite dishes may be covered with snow,…

• Odds and Bookends: February 5

  Katie B.

  5 Feb 2010 | 11:15 am

  Caldecott Confidential: What’s next year’s best picture book for kids? Please, don’t ask. Nell Colburn, chair of the 2009 Caldecott committee, revealed some very interesting insights into what goes on behind closed doors when she recently spoke to this year’s incoming band of judges. Read what she told them. From book to film and on to the Oscars It’s Oscar Nomination time again and this year, four of the 10 Oscar nominees for best film come from books. See how many you’ve read! Side Effects of Reading: Unbridled Books PSA This clever PSA from Unbridled Books…

• Our Trip to Harrisonburg

  Becky H.

  3 Feb 2010 | 2:24 pm

  Last week, I left my position as a Strategic Alliances intern and officially joined the First Book staff as a Recipient Group Coordinator.  After trading in my 10th floor office for a new office on the 9th floor and saying farewell to the Strategic Alliances team, I headed to our warehouse in Harrisonburg, VA for my very first First Book assignment: hand-packing a special book order for doctors’ offices and medical clinics in greater New York.  As a Strategic Alliances intern I spent the fall learning about First Book’s corporate partnerships, so I was thrilled to be able to see our…

• Navigating Nonfiction

  Rachael Walker

  2 Feb 2010 | 2:47 pm

  Guest Blogger Rachael Walker is the Outreach Consultant for Reading Rockets, a national multimedia initiative which aims to inform and inspire parents, teachers, childcare providers, and others who touch the life of a child by providing comprehensive, accessible information on how to teach kids to read and help those who struggle. Rachael began her career in children’s literacy at Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), has also served as a consultant to the NEA’s Read Across America campaign, and was most recently the Executive Director of Reach Out and Read of Metro DC. At my son’s elementary…

• 
  Publishing Insider

• debut thrilla out today!

  publishinginsider

  9 Feb 2010 | 5:55 am

  I spoke about marketing at the Book Passage Mystery Conference two summers back, and I met a most delightful fellow: Steven Gore. He had decades of experience as an int’l fraud investigator, and would I look at a few pages of his thriller. Long story short, we signed him up for 3 books in paperback, and the first Graham Gage thriller – Final Target – is out today! Check out Steven’s great website and what other thriller writers are saying about him already!!

• Wi5

  publishinginsider

  8 Feb 2010 | 5:47 am

  Very productive and intense days of bookseller pow-wows in San Jose. I'm still digesting it all, but our friends of Shelf Awareness have done a lot of that sorting out.

• big easy

  publishinginsider

  29 Jan 2010 | 3:02 pm

  One of my favorite stores around – Octavia Books - in one of my favorite cities – New Orleans – has a neat video posted. Check it out!   And Go Saints!!!!

• Stewart and Colbert

  publishinginsider

  29 Jan 2010 | 5:32 am

  I'm not watching them as much, alas, due to the early airing movnig up to 7. But did catch Kati Marton on the other night; amazing interview about her childhood in Eastern Europe.

• an extraordinarily good use of a machine

  publishinginsider

  27 Jan 2010 | 4:48 am

  From Shelf Awareness:  Harvard Book Store "had an unusual opportunity" to assist with the post-earthquake relief efforts "thanks to Paige, our in-store book-making machine. At the request of Google, we rush-printed dozens of copies of an English/Haitian Creole Medical Dictionary to be sent to medical aid workers in Haiti. When disasters strike so far from home, it's gratifying to have a hands-on, albeit small, way to help," the bookshop's e-newsletter observed.

• 
  Publishing Talk

• If the Digital Economy Bill fails, we’ll all pay

  Danuta Kean

  8 Feb 2010 | 4:52 am

  Danuta Kean is a journalist and publishing analyst whose work appears in national newspapers and specialist magazines. Follow her on Twitter at @Danoosha. In a year when the iPod moment for books looks increasingly likely to happen, failure to pass the Digital Economy Bill isn’t a lost opportunity, it’s a tragedy. Opposition is growing to the UK government’s Digital Economy Bill, which includes a “three strikes and you’re out” clause to deal with Internet piracy. The Guardian reports “strong criticism” within the House of Lords to the plan to cut the…

• How to be a Rock Star

  Anna Lewis

  2 Feb 2010 | 3:44 pm

  Anna Lewis is the co-founder of CompletelyNovel.com. Follow her on Twitter at @anna_cn. Should you find a publisher or publish yourself? Why not be a rock star and do both, asks Anna Lewis. A frequent question that crops up from writers on my website is: “Should I self-publish or should I send my work to agents and publishers?” The writers are aware of how competitive the traditional route is, but still want to give it a shot. Yet, at the same time they feel like it could be time to take things into their hands. How should they choose which path to take? My answer is – why not do both?

• Celebrity Big Book Club – Day 14

  Jon Reed

  31 Jan 2010 | 3:54 pm

  So has TV Book Club combined formats with Celebrity Big Brother now? Do we get to evict one each week? If so, judging by this evening’s Twitter comments, it seems a popular move. But it’s not just the Gok-shaped gap on the sofa that improved things this week. It was having fewer presenters discussing the chosen book more enthusiastically – and being allowed the time to do so. The first two shows were pre-recorded back-to-back, so this is the first chance they’ve had to respond to feedback. And they have. Nathaniel was great, and Laila was allowed to get a word in. This…

• Publishing Talk relaunch

  Jon Reed

  29 Jan 2010 | 1:45 pm

  Just a quick announcement to let you know that there will be a bit of disruption to normal service for a few hours on Sunday. We’re finally ready to re-launch Publishing Talk! As well as a new look, we’re adding new features, more contributors, a better jobs section and a new events section – which will include details of our new tweetups, the first of which will be at the London Book Fair in April. There will also be further resources and a podcast to come later this year. Here’s a sneak peek at the new design: Since Twitter is such an important part of the Publishing…

• Do iPad or do I Kindle?

  Tom Evans

  29 Jan 2010 | 6:58 am

  Tom Evans is an author, author mentor, writer’s unblocker and e-publishing wizard. Follow his memes and musings on Twitter @thebookwright The debate is not about which device is better than the others. It’s about authors and publishers embracing a whole new world of opportunity. Much has been written over the last 48 hours or so about Apple’s new iPad. Some think it’s the best thing to hit the planet this decade and that it will change the face of publishing. Others are moaning about its bezel and that it doesn’t have a camera. Some are obsessed with the…

• 
  University of Nebraska Press

• Off the Shelf: In Trace of TR by Dan Aadland

  Erica

  8 Feb 2010 | 5:30 am

  Read from Chapter One, "Pronghorns on the Powder" from In Trace of TR: A Montana Hunter's Journey by Dan Aadland: "“Hold on, horses,” she cried, but, of course, they couldn’t hear her and in any case they lacked the tools to comply. I had been aiming the Dodge down the two-track, squinting through a windshield not yet wet enough to let the wipers mop up streaks of Powder River dust, the big gooseneck trailer bouncing behind us. We were doing our best to keep up with our hosts’ pickup, trying to beat the rain that would turn this Jeep trail into the sort of gumbo…

• Two February sales

  nebraskapress

  5 Feb 2010 | 10:30 am

  Valentine’s Day is less than two weeks away. And to celebrate the University of Nebraska Press is offering a discount on Ted Kooser’s poetry collection Valentines through next Friday, February 12. You may already know how Ted came to write a Valentine’s Day poem each February, which he would have printed on postcards, and then sent to Valentine, Neb., for its special “Valentine” postmark, before the postcards found their ways into the mailboxes (and hearts) of women across the country. Or you may not. To learn that story, click here. In other sale news, the University of Nebraska…

• UNP in the news: A recent roundup

  nebraskapress

  4 Feb 2010 | 11:23 am

  It’s been quite a week at the University of Nebraska Press, as all sorts of our authors are all over the Web this week. I’ll cut right to the chase: A review of Taste of Cherry (winner of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry), interview with author Kara Candito and original poem by Kara Candito are featured on The Rumpus, in what the Web site calls “a super-sized combo.” It’s a beautiful review of Candito’s vivid book of poems. And in the interview, Candito discusses what it’s like to read aloud from the racier passages of her book, among other topics. Nancy Lord’s Rock,…

• Guest blogger: Fleda Brown

  nebraskapress

  21 Jan 2010 | 1:31 pm

  New this month from the University of Nebraska Press is Driving with Dvorak, an essay collection by Fleda Brown. This collection examines a broad spectrum of themes: Feminism, education, the treatment of the developmentally disabled in the 1950s and 1960s, and the author’s father’s likely autism. In this guest post, Brown discusses why she decided to write about her father, and how the book came together: You can track the events in Driving With Dvořák by my father’s age, which I mention in a number of essays. He ages almost ten years during the book. I thought I might change the…

• Off the Shelf: From the Hilltop by Toni Jensen

  Erica

  18 Jan 2010 | 6:00 am

  Read the beginning of "Chiromancer" from From the Hilltop by Toni Jensen: "The redhead in the poodle skirt grabbed me up from where I hid between two giant palm fronds, dragged me to the stage, told me I was the rockabilly Indian, here to save them all. I told her I wasn’t him, was just myself. That there would be no saving, that the band wasn’t that bad, anyway. By the time I moved my eyes from her, to the exit, back to her though, I was up on the stage, the drummer saying, Yeah, man, and keeping time with my steps. The redhead had her hands all over the front of my shirt,…

• 
  Up The Mast

• The Well-Traveled Journal by Lexie Lessing

  Doug Lessing

  5 Feb 2010 | 4:05 am

   Note from Doug: The following story was written by my 12 year old daughter Lexie, now in 7th grade.  This was an extra credit creative writing assignment for Ms. Coffey's Honors English at Bayport-Blue Point.  I love the way she abandoned the carefully fostered structured writing and ignored conventional grammar to write partly in prose.  Drove Grace crazy!  It is essentially a preface to a novel or series.  I post it hear simply for the joy of reading, and simply for pride in my daughter's enthusiasm. As a father, I am entitled to do so.The Well-Traveled…

• Taking the Long View

  Doug Lessing

  20 Jan 2010 | 5:35 am

  I love our country, and I love our culture.  The United States, to me, stands for a country which has always encouraged achievement, innovation, advancement, generosity and community spirit.  Reading about our history, it is always profound how our founders built this country from nothing.  We take for granted and assume that a coast-to-coast USA was manifest destiny, but it wasn't.  The early years were touch and go, and it is possible that the success or failure hinged upon a single gathering, a single battle, a single document cobbled together by a few individuals in a…

• OK, So I Was Wrong. Who's Complaining?

  Doug Lessing

  7 Jan 2010 | 7:50 am

  I guess I stink at predicting how the black hole of Christmas vacation will turn out, which I usually work through. In my last post, I posited that I would get done a bunch of side projects that had been on permanent hold. Well, I did get one major project done, to revamp how we manage our project budgets in our new ERP system. But the pleasant surprise was closing two new deals with two different companies in the final moments of 2009.So we start 2010 with two new projects: at Gospel Light in Ventura, California and Bookmasters Distribution Services/Atlas Books in Ashland Ohio. Both…

• Geared up for Working Through the Christmas Vacation

  Doug Lessing

  21 Dec 2009 | 6:29 am

  I will be working during the Christmas holiday weeks (don't feel too bad for me) and am actually looking forward to it. This fall has been a little difficult for me work-wise as I geared up for the Wolters Kluwer Health project that was then delayed a couple of months as the legal stuff was finalized. In the past, I have been able to adapt to these shifts better, but not this time. I found myself in reactive mode which annoys the hell out of me, and struggled to get into proactive mode. There were a few brights spots, like the Firebrand Community Conference, which gave me some much needed…

• All You Have To Do Is Listen

  Doug Lessing

  26 Oct 2009 | 7:01 am

  My prediction: Ebooks are here to stay and will be an accepted and even assumed part of publishing forever. I find it fascinating that for several years, devices and technology have been improving, and the quantity of ebook content increasing, yet we are still surprised when wide scale adoption actually begins. Which it has.I am not ashamed to admit, even though I am thoroughly embedded in the book publishing world, that I am already tired of the endless analysis and statistics on ebooks. I just don't understand why everyone is so surprised that tomorrow is now and regular people are buying…

• 
  will work for books

• E-books, pricing, availability, frustration, redux

  Jana

  8 Feb 2010 | 6:00 am

  Lifehacker has a poll up asking How Much Would You Pay for an E-Book? I chose the answer, "Like dead-tree books, it completely depends on the book." Sure, I like paying less for books, but I'm not stuck on the $9.99 price. The way I think about it is if it's a book that I would be willing to pay hardback prices for in print, I'm willing to pay more for the e-book. If it's something I'd read as mass market in print, I want to pay less. Other things that matter to me are quality (I hate to see a badly formatted e-book, no matter what I paid for it) and I'd love to be able to lend e-books.The…

• Robert Parker/Jesse Stone on TV and in audio

  beth666ann

  5 Feb 2010 | 1:42 pm

  Title: High ProfileAuthor: Robert B. ParkerReader: Scott SowersPublisher: Random House AudioISBN-10: 0739318683ISBN-13: 978-0739318683CBS's Jesse Stone series: Thin IceTVUsually, I don't get the TV my mom chooses to watch. When I was in Ohio one time minus the last time, we saw an episode of Gray's Anatomy in which all plot lines were sad and everyone was dying or failing at their job, and I kid you not, I believe every single character cried at one point or another. The whole thing was just so very, very depressing that at the end of the episode, I was moved to yell, though tears, "Why do…

• E-books, pricing, availability, frustration

  beth666ann

  1 Feb 2010 | 2:14 pm

  Here. Amazon wants its publishers to continue to offer all new e-books for $9.99. Macmillan decided it needed to charge more, from 12.99 to 14.99. Initially, Amazon took Macmillan titles off its site and stated that it would stay the course and not raise its prices--but ultimately, Amazon capitulated.I am not going to lie. One big reason I went with Kindle over nook was because I preferred the lower prices offered by the Kindle. It is very frustrating to me when new books (such as The Swan Thieves, as I mentioned before), are not available electronically on their pub dates. (You have to wait…

• How do you decide which sites you link to?

  Jana

  1 Feb 2010 | 6:00 am

  A recent tweet from @booktweeting inspired some thoughts about how I choose which online selling sites I link to on this blog. But first, I'm curious about how you decide. Is it based on brick & mortar stores you like? Do you always choose indies? Do you prefer going directly to the publisher? Do you make your decision based on how you feel about the website itself?Here's what I typically do:1. Google the title and look at various sites to find a cover image I can use -- I want the front cover only, cropped (no white space around it), at a decent size/resolution. This is where Amazon…

• J.D. Salinger

  Jana

  31 Jan 2010 | 9:27 am

  I don't even know what to say about the death of J.D. Salinger. The Catcher in the Rye is one of my all-time favorite books and has been since I read it in my freshman year of high school. I like what John Hodgman saidI prefer to think JD Salinger has just decided to become extra reclusiveAnd here are some links to people who are more articulate on the subject than I:From the Washington Post: Publisher Roger Lathbury recalls book deal with J.D. Salinger that went south From the Guardian's Books Blog: JD Salinger: A tribute roundup From The New York Times: J. D. Salinger, Literary…

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  Pub Rants

• You Are Invited!

  Agent Kristin

  8 Feb 2010 | 5:57 pm

  STATUS: Too busy a day to even mention here.What’s playing on the iPod right now? IF I COULD WRITE A BOOK by Harry Connick, Jr. Thrilled to pieces that links are back on at Amazon. Not because I don’t value independent bookstores but because it’s hard not to include possible sales from the largest online bookseller.Any author would want ALL venues available when launching a debut literary novel in this current economy.So to celebrate, Nelson Literary Agency is throwing a pre-Tattered-Cover-Highlands-Ranch book party for Denver client Paula Reed—Friday, February 19, 2010.Click on play…

• Opening Pages--Action

  Agent Kristin

  5 Feb 2010 | 4:43 pm

  STATUS: Heading to the mountains to ski. It’s supposed to snow. Fresh PowderWhat’s playing on the iPod right now? VERTIGO by U2Because we’ve been talking about openings, what works, what doesn’t, I wanted to show you an example from an author who is the master of action in the opening pages. Nobody does it better than Linnea Sinclair.I would also recommend reading this author, even if this isn’t your genre, in order to learn about escalating conflict. Beginning writers often suffer from the fact that they don’t have enough conflict to drive their stories forward in a meaningful…

• The Latest On Macmillan-Amazon

  Agent Kristin

  4 Feb 2010 | 2:58 pm

  STATUS: A bit frustrated with all this Amazon stuff.What’s playing on the iPod right now? NEVER THERE by CakeWhich is to say the latest is not much. The links are still not on. February 16 is fast approaching for my author Paula Reed and the debut of HESTER.As authors, if you are impacted, I think it’s important to have your voice heard on the Amazon Kindle forum where there is a lot of chatter going on. The average everyday customer really doesn’t know much about the ins and outs of publishing and what the hoopla is about.This in from John Sargent earlier today….To: Macmillan Authors…

• Why Prologues Often Don’t Work

  Agent Kristin

  3 Feb 2010 | 3:52 pm

  STATUS: Not happy. Still no Amazon links to Macmillan client books.What’s playing on the iPod right now? HUNGRY FOR YOU by The PoliceKristin’s incomplete list of why prologues don’t work:1. When the sole purpose of the prologue is to fill the reader in on the back story so the real story can begin.This is so easy to point out but harder to explain.In the example of UNDONE, Brooke needed a prologue to show how it all started. To juxtapose who the girls were when they first “meet” versus who they are when chapter 1 begins. The prologue also serves a strong purpose. It sets tone,…

• Opening Pages (While We Wait For Amazon To Quit Shooting Themselves In Foot)

  Agent Kristin

  2 Feb 2010 | 6:25 pm

  STATUS: It’s 7 pm so I’m ready to head out the door and to home.What’s playing on the iPod right now? SAILING by Christoper CrossSince I’ve been obsessively checking about every hour, the answer is no, the links to my Macmillan client books have not been turned back on. In talking with an editor at Macmillan this afternoon, she said she had no new news to report. Nor had John Sargent made another company-wide announcement. I hope for news tomorrow.However, I did derive lots of enjoyment out of reading John Scalzi’s posting on the issue.Meanwhile while we wait for Amazon to get head…

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  The Rejecter

• An opinion on e-Readers

  The Rejecter

  5 Feb 2010 | 12:45 pm

  My boss said something interesting that I think bears repeating. She does not own an e-Reader (I do) and she really feels that publishing companies are shooting themselves in the foot in a variety of ways in getting in these huge, confusing fights with Amazon, Sony, and Google over eBook rights.Until the technology vastly improves and the price drastically drops, she doesn't see e-Readers as a viable format and therefore a threat to publishing as we know it. Amazon claims to have sold 500,000 Kindles, a very impressive number until you realize there's 308,618,000 people in America, so if my…

• Foreign Authors, Local Agents

  The Rejecter

  27 Jan 2010 | 9:58 am

  I'm in the process of finding a suitable agent for my completed novel (and hopefully my future career as a writer). I was wondering how important location is. My predicament is that I am Norwegian living in Norway, but my novel is written in English (having lived overseas most of my life, this is my preferred language). Finding an agent in Norway is futile (writers go directly to publishers here and there is no real market for Engish books). To complicate matters further, I expect to relocate overseas again within a couple of years (location unknown). My question then is: should I seek…

• Cutting Down a Book

  The Rejecter

  20 Jan 2010 | 6:01 pm

  I'm back from what was a ridiculously prolonged illness, not helped by a lot of traveling. Also, I don't get a lot of emails asking questions, or not a lot of emails asking questions I haven't answered already in the blog, so that cuts down on the posts.I wrote a YA/Paranormal novel, but am having an issue with it's length. I know the accepted length is around 80K-100K words for this genre, but the readers who have read mine say it reads well and should be left in tact. The novel is well over twice the accepted word count, though. Is it in my best interest to cut the book down before I seek…

• Vacation and Oh Yeah, the Industry's Collapsing

  The Rejecter

  28 Dec 2009 | 7:10 pm

  The title of this post may be exaggerating, but I am going on vacation and disabling comments as a result. I'll be back in mid-January. Here are some random articles on the industry crisis - eBooks are selling and no one knows how to make money off it so they sue Google instead. Google settles, continues doing what they're doing, that Amazon guy gets really rich as people continue to underestimate him. Enough said.E-Books blah blah blah industry being inane blah blah blah Kindle will eat us all blah blah blah.E-Books Spark Battle Inside the Publishing IndustryE-Books Beat Regular Books on…

• I Stand Corrected

  The Rejecter

  15 Dec 2009 | 7:08 pm

  My boss has informed me that she really likes getting cards in the mail. My previous boss was the one who didn't care for them. So, take that into account. It couldn't hurt, but again, it's not expected. But it's nice.

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  Kate's Book Blog

• Working at the Speed of E-mail

  Kate S.

  5 Feb 2010 | 4:49 pm

  John Freeman on how e-mail has changed our working lives:Working at the speed of e-mail is like trying to gain a topographic understanding of our daily landscape from a speeding train--and the consequences for us as workers are profound. Interrupted every thirty seconds or so, our attention spans are fractured into a thousand tiny fragments. The mind is denied the experience of deep flow, when creative ideas flourish and complicated thinking occurs. We become task-oriented, tetchy, terrible at listening as we try to keep up with the computer. The e-mail inbox turns our mental to-do list into…

• Virgina Woolf Speaking on the Radio

  Kate S.

  3 Feb 2010 | 7:37 am

  I borrowed this marvelous clip from Condalmo. It's Virginia Woolf speaking on a 1937 BBC radio program.

• "...the short story and the novel have completely different DNA"

  Kate S.

  26 Jan 2010 | 1:49 pm

  Gil Adamson on the short story and the novel:Keep in mind that the short story and the novel have completely different DNA. The reader's experience of the two forms might be similar. But at the nuts-and-bolts level, they share almost nothing. This, in my opinion, will explain why Alice Munro has never made the "obvious" jump to novels. The two forms are not as similar as they seem. To steal a joke from Mitch Hedberg (who was asked to write sitcoms just because he was a funny guy) it's like someone saying: "Oh, you're a chef? Well, can you farm?"

• The Austere Pleasures of Nordic Crime Fiction

  Kate S.

  16 Jan 2010 | 10:48 am

  Laura Miller on Nordic Crime Fiction:Despite the existential malaise that frequently afflicts the characters of Nordic noir, the stern, bare-bones simplicity of its problem-solving methods is one of the form's austere pleasures. Like the arctic cold, the rigor is bracing. It transports us to a world where charm and glamor barely exist and count for little when they do, a world refreshingly free of flimflam, hype or irrational exuberance. What matters is putting one foot in front of the other and not stopping. There's something reassuring about this faith in sheer perseverance when your…

• The Girl Who Hated Books

  Kate S.

  9 Jan 2010 | 7:26 am

  I saw this marvelous animated short over on Kerry's blog, and couldn't resist posting it here as well. It's about ten minutes long, and well worth watching.

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  800 CEO Read

• Stressed out?

  Jon

  8 Feb 2010 | 1:05 pm

  2009 was a challenging year, and the challenges haven’t stopped in 2010. In fact, we all are likely working even harder to dig ourselves out of last year, or maintain our solid standing in the current one. With that work, comes stress, and unless we manage that stress properly, our hearts will pay the price. Dr. John M. Kennedy’s new book just came out. Titled, The 15 Minute Heart Cure: The Natural Way to Release Stress and Heal Your Heart in Just Minutes a Day, the book provides a preventative approach to managing stress, and taking care of your heart. This isn’t just a…

• Friday Links

  dylan

  5 Feb 2010 | 6:49 pm

  ➻ Today is the first birthday of what we call in the office “our book,” The 100 Best Business Books of All Time by Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten. Todd wrote a happy birthday post for the book, and I gave away the last of the 100 best books we have to give away today on inBubbleWrap. ➻ The new issue of Portfolio’s Business Beat is out. As usual, our dear Mr. Covert has his “Just Jack” corner. This month, he discusses Discovering the Soul of Service by Leonard Berry. You can read more about the other features of the latest Business Beat on The Portfolio…

• Elbowroom: Space the Final Frontier

  Roy

  5 Feb 2010 | 7:52 am

  The time has come for 800CEOREAD to move into their new space! It’s been a long time coming and we’re still trying out different things that work for us to get settled in nice and cozy like. Here’s a few pictures of what it’s like so far. It’s not the finished situation, yet, but it will give you an idea of the layout. It’s been a long wait – but we think it’s worth it! Happy Friday, everyone!

• Twitter gifts

  Sally

  4 Feb 2010 | 9:13 am

  I’m torn about Twitter. Most days I struggle with what to add to our company Twitter account. While I can write a haiku at a drop of a hat, I blank out when trying to create potent 140 character messages. Partially because there seems to be some kind of retweeting competition (whoever gets the most retweets wins?) and that puts all the more pressure on tweeting–cleverly–only what is relevant. Of course these aren’t limitations for everyone; there are plenty of people who are very willing to tweet about their morning bagel or their latest pet peeve. And that’s…

• “Do Cool Stuff that Lasts”

  Sally

  3 Feb 2010 | 10:55 am

  There’s a new article today on Salon titled: Healthcare Reform Rock Star, featuring one of our favorite authors, Atul Gawande. Gawande is a staff writer for the New Yorker and author of The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, and Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance, books we copiously recommended. And his first book, Complications, garnered rave reviews. Each of Gawande’s books, though stocked full with stories about the field of medicine, reach far beyond the anecdotal. Really, the ways that Gawande suggests we improve healthcare are applicable across…

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  Used Books Blog

• The Automatic Detective by A. Lee Martinez

  Used Books Blog

  17 Jan 2010 | 6:14 pm

  The Automatic Detective by A. Lee Martinez is a smart, entertaining science fiction romp that satisfies even though initial brilliance fizzles into mediocrity. Mack Megaton is a robot or ‘automated citizen’ of Empire City, who has evolved because of a freewill glitch in his programming. Mack’s not like other automated citizens since he was created by a mad scientist of sorts who was hell bent on taking over the world. The government and his psychologist keep a close eye on the nearly indestructible robot as he integrates into society. The beginning sequences, as we are…

• The Lemur by Benjamin Black

  Used Books Blog

  22 Nov 2009 | 7:06 pm

  The Lemur by Benjamin Black is a tidy, atmospheric novel that delivers on a tense and satisfying who-done-it plot. The story follows John Glass, an Irish journalist who is living a comfortable physical life in New York. But Glass isn’t really a journalist anymore. He’s essentially a kept man, living in a loveless marriage and embarking on the authorized biography of his father-in-law. Though his surroundings are plush, his emotional and spiritual life are far from it. Glass battles self-loathing for the biography he’s been commissioned to write, and seems to be in a state of…

• The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde

  Used Books Blog

  31 Oct 2009 | 3:08 pm

  The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde is an entertaining, inventive read but doesn’t quite measure up to the Thursday Next series. Reduced down to a simple scale, The Big Over Easy is very good, while most of the Thursday Next series (including The Well of Lost Plots) are great. Fforde is a victim of his own creativity. The Big Over Easy is a mystery novel that follows detective Jack Spratt of the Nursery Crimes Division (NCD). Yes, he’s that Jack Spratt and in this alternate world nursery characters are real and live among us. The NCD is under the microscope after Spratt fails to…

• Arthur & George by Julian Barnes

  Used Books Blog

  3 Oct 2009 | 10:41 am

  Arthur & George by Julian Barnes is an interesting blend of history, biography and mystery. Rich in description, Barnes is able to provide a compelling biography for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle through his relationship with the George Edalji case. In doing so, Barnes creates both a tense mystery and a personal account of a historic event. Arthur & George succeeds on many levels. It is an intricate character study, a period piece, a mystery and a biography. However, it does fall short in some areas. At times Arthur & George takes a turn into Jane Austen like territory. The incessant…

• A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore

  Used Books Blog

  15 Aug 2009 | 5:07 pm

  A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore is a quick, engrossing, macabre and hilarious novel. It is everything that Moore’s next novel, You Suck, is not. A Dirty Job remains original while still drawing on many characters from previous Moore novels. Where You Suck felt like a recycled paint-by-numbers affair, A Dirty Job feels fresh and is brimming with ideas and unique insight. Moore is a master satirist and combines his satire with blazing creativity and a healthy dose of the absurd. Be forewarned, Moore is not for the easily offended. Nothing is out of bounds and he’ll regularly write…

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  Duffbert's Random Musings

• Book Review - The Art of War for Writers: Fiction Writing Strategies, Tactics, and Exercises by James Scott Bell

  Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:07 pm

  Because I do a few (HA!) book reviews, I generally don't end up buying too many books as I'm often overwhelmed with reading material.  But this book is one that I couldn't NOT purchase, as I start to think about moving into some fiction writing... The Art of War for Writers: Fiction Writing Strategies, Tactics, and Exercises by James Scott Bell.  Modeled after the Sun Tzu book The Art of War, Bell offers up a wealth of tips and techniques to improve the quality of your writing, as well as increasing the chances of actually seeing your work make it to print.  In short, I love…

• Book Review - Christianish: What If We're Not Really Following Jesus at All? by Mark Steele

  Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff

  6 Feb 2010 | 9:37 am

  Now this is a book that is all too timely in today's culture... Christianish: What If We're Not Really Following Jesus at All? by Mark Steele.  Based on the behavior of far too many who call themselves "Christian", we've allowed the term to be turned into something negative, something it was never intended to be and stand for.  The aspect of a relationship with Christ has been replaced with a set of rules and regulations (applied with little love or care) that isn't appealing to anyone.  And it's all due to too many people trying to live a "Christianish"…

• Book Review - What's Next . . . For You?: The Gussin Guide to Big Changes, Big Decisions, and Big Fun by Robert and Patricia Gussin

  Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff

  6 Feb 2010 | 8:12 am

  I'm not *quite* to the stage of retirement, but it's definitely getting to the point where I can make it out on the horizon.  And my thoughts have started to wander to the "and what will I do next?" series of questions.  Robert and Patricia Gussin have a book titled What's Next . . . For You?: The Gussin Guide to Big Changes, Big Decisions, and Big Fun that walks you through what they went through to answer that question...  life decisions that weren't expected, but that they had the courage to embrace and run with.  I can only hope that I'm willing to be open to…

• Book Review - Think Twice - Lisa Scottoline

  Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff

  6 Feb 2010 | 6:31 am

  I normally don't end up reading Lisa Scottoline's books when they first come out.  No real reason... just don't tend to pick up on them early.  But when Amazon Vine had her latest, Think Twice, up for review, I figured I'd get an early jump on this one.  Think Twice is an interesting concept using twins to show how low someone might be able to go to regain their identity.  I probably lost a bit of the impact given that the characters have a history from other books that I didn't read, but it was still an enjoyable book nonetheless. The plot revolves around Bennie Rosato…

• Beautiful story of a bagpiper who was late for a funeral

  Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff

  2 Feb 2010 | 5:41 pm

  As a bagpiper, I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man who had no family or friends. The funeral was to be held at a cemetery in the remote countryside and this man would be the first to be laid to rest there. As I was not familiar with the backwoods area, I became lost and being a typical man, did not stop for directions. I finally arrived an hour late. I saw the backhoe and the crew who were eating lunch but the hearse was nowhere in sight. I apologized to the workers for my tardiness and stepped to the side of the open grave where I saw the vault…

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  Three Percent - Article

• "In the United States of Africa" by Abdourahman Waberi [BTBA 2010 Fiction Longlist]

  Chad W. Post

  8 Feb 2010 | 1:43 pm

  Over the next eight days, we’ll be highlighting a book a day from the Best Translated Book Award fiction longlist. Click here for all past write-ups. In the United States of Africa by Abdourahman Waberi. Translated from the French by David and Nicole Ball. (Djibouti, University of Nebraska Press) Below is a guest post from Monica Carter, a member of the BTBA fiction committee, bookseller at Skylight, and curator of Salonica. She’s going to be helping out this week with a couple other posts so that we can be sure to cover all 25 books before 2/16’s announcement of the…

• "Op Oloop" by Juan Filloy [BTBA 2010 Fiction Longlist]

  Chad W. Post

  7 Feb 2010 | 10:03 am

  Over the next nine days, we’ll be highlighting a book a day from the Best Translated Book Award fiction longlist. Click here for all past write-ups. Op Oloop by Juan Filloy. Translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman. (Argentina, Dalkey Archive) I waited years for this book to come out. Years. Back in the early 2000s I went on an editors trip to Germany that was organized by the wonderful Riky Stock and included stops in Munich, Berlin, and Frankfurt. During one of these visits (my memory! I assume now that I’ve been in publishing for 10 years, I can start forgetting some…

• "There's Nothing I Can Do When I Think of You Late at Night" by Cao Naiqian [BTBA 2010 Fiction Longlist] [1]

  Chad W. Post

  6 Feb 2010 | 7:00 am

  Over the next ten days, we’ll be highlighting a book a day from the Best Translated Book Award fiction longlist. Click here for all past write-ups. There’s Nothing I Can Do When I Think of You Late at Night by Cao Naiqian. Translated from the Chinese by John Balcom. (China, Columbia University Press) Below is a guest post from translator and librarian Wendy Hardenberg about Cao Naiqian’s entry on the 2010 BTBA fiction longlist. All thanks to Wendy for helping me get through all of these write-ups before the 2/16 announcement of the ten finalists. Back in November, as I took…

• RTW Podcast on iTunes [1]

  Chad W. Post

  5 Feb 2010 | 9:15 am

  When we were launching the Reading the World podcast the other day, iTunes was all jacked and couldn’t accept our feed, etc., etc. (It just works! Sometimes. I suspect Apple IT employees were too busy watching TV on their souped-up iPads to bother with something so low-tech like iTunes.) Anyway, it’s up there now, so you can subscribe by clicking here. There’s a logo and everything!

• Latest Review: "Tales of a Finnish Tupa" adapted by James Cloyd Bowman and Margery Bianco

  Chad W. Post

  5 Feb 2010 | 8:45 am

  The latest addition to our Reviews Section is a piece by Larissa Kyzer on Tales of a Finnish Tupa, adapted by James Cloyd Bowman and Margery Bianco from a translation by Aili Kolehmainen with illustrations by Laura Bannon. I know we’ve been a bit slow about getting new reviews online, but now that the BTBA fiction longlist posts are winding down (to be replaced by posts about the BTBA poetry finalists), I swear we’ll be getting everything back on track, with reviews of the new Oe and Ugresic books coming in the next few weeks, along with some reviews my students wrote last…

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  HBR.org

• Entrepreneurs: Beware of Vanity Metrics

  Eric Ries

  8 Feb 2010 | 9:10 am

  In previous posts, we discussed the common challenges that entrepreneurs face — from those in the garage to innovators inside large companies. In order to tell if we're making progress, we turned our attention from the outputs of models — from things like gross revenues and profits — to the inputs, insisting that the path to successful innovation is to prove the viability of the concept in micro-scale. The idea is simple. Establish baseline metrics by building the minimum viable product — the minimum required to measure the response of early adopters. Then, in each…

• Would You Have Chosen an Onside Kick?

  Andrew O’Connell

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:55 am

  What drives a leader to make the kind of creative, game-changing decision that New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton came up with in the locker room last night while The Who were cranking out 12 minutes of the same-old, same-old during the Super Bowl half time show? It's hard to be sure in Payton's case, but, strangely enough, ambivalence may play a key role. As in: The greater a leader's ambivalence toward a strategic situation, the greater the likelihood he or she will respond by taking action in a novel, risky way. Payton's decision was definitely both novel and risky: When the Saints came…

• Using Crisis Response Factors in the Absence of a Crisis

  Ron Ashkenas

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:23 am

  While the earthquake in Haiti has brought indescribable devastation and horror, it has also reminded us of the incredible ability and willingness of individuals and organizations to respond to a crisis. What is it about a crisis that causes people and organizations to step up to new levels of performance? Having looked at crisis situations for many years, there are three factors that are always present in the human response to them: Urgency, empathy, and innovation. Urgency is the realization that time matters — that there are clear goals and even clearer consequences if they are not…

• Why Winning Streaks End

  Rosabeth Moss Kanter

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:08 am

  That crashing sound you hear is not an accident caused by sudden acceleration of your hybrid car; it is the continuing toppling of idols, such as hybrid car companies, off their pedestals. Listen hard, lest you be next. Toyota, the world's leading auto company, faces a series of product problems causing a $2 billion recall, an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and a galling loss of face for a company from face-conscious Japan. This follows its first annual financial loss in 50 years, with profitability regained partly through cost-cutting. Sayonara for a…

• Reinventing Invention

  Harvard Business IdeaCast

  5 Feb 2010 | 2:43 pm

  Featured Guest: Nathan Myhrvold, CEO of Intellectual Ventures and author of the HBR article Funding Eureka.

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  Books on the Nightstand

• BOTNS Books Podcast #63: How’s that sabbatical reading, Michael?

  Ann Kingman

  2 Feb 2010 | 7:32 pm

  BOTNS #63 - How's that reading going, Michael? (click the PLAY button to listen, or right-click to download) It’s an abbreviated episode this week as Michael is winding down his sabbatical and spending time at home with 4-month-old Finn. Finn provided his own contribution to this week’s podcast, as you will hear. In an unplanned moment, Ann asks Michael how his plan of reading nothing but graphic novels is working out. If you have children of your own, you will likely not be surprised by Michael’s response. We want to know: if you had a month off from work, with pay, how…

• A Ready-Made set of Links on the Nightstand

  Michael Kindness

  1 Feb 2010 | 6:26 am

  Lots of bloggers create posts filled with interesting links from around the web. I always read them with interest and usually find a few great sites. It’s unheard of for me to love every link someone posts. Then came Susannah at the Algonquin Books Blog. Her recent post, January’s Why-I-Love-Books Roundup, is just great. Check out the post and the rest of the blog, you won’t be disappointed. I love it when someone else does all the work for me! [p.s. Susannah, recommends Book Mooch for trading books. It's a good idea as long as you continue to support your local bookstores!]

• BOTNS Books Podcast #62: Found in Translation

  Michael Kindness

  26 Jan 2010 | 7:52 pm

  BOTNS #62 - Found in Translation (click the PLAY button to listen, or right-click to download) We begin today’s podcast hearing from three of our listeners. Shannon, from Ohio, called our voice mail line to weigh in on some of Ann’s E-book comments from episode 60, and to share a favorite novel inspired by a classic. Nicky from Bicester, England wrote to tell us about a book group she started for people with fibromyalgia, a condition that can often make it hard to finish a book. And finally, Kerry told us about two things she’d like to hear more of on Books on the…

• The only e-book I want

  Ann Kingman

  22 Jan 2010 | 10:48 am

  I want it. I don’t own a MacBook or MacBook Pro. I may buy one just so I can get this cover. Go get yours at Twelve South. They come in red or black. (We have no affiliation with the company, just severe object lust).

• BOTNS Books Podcast #61: Big Ideas

  Ann Kingman

  19 Jan 2010 | 6:00 pm

  BOTNS #61 - Big Ideas (click the PLAY button to listen, or right-click to download) We begin our episode with a discussion of the recent Moby Dick Marathon that took place at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Several of the marathon readers read from a Nook, Barnes & Noble’s e-reader. E-readers were also big at the recent Consumer Electronics Show, where several new models debuted. Ann begins our discussion of “Big Idea” books – books whose scope goes beyond any one section in the book store – with You Are Not a Gadget, which is a look the internet and digital…

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  Omnivoracious

• Old Media Monday: Reviewing the Reviewers

  Tom

  9 Feb 2010 | 1:44 am

  New York Times: Sunday Book Review cover: Leah Hager Cohen on Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich: "An introductory note that accompanied early copies of the novel declared that Erdrich wrote this book 'straight on,' as 'a single, gripping narrative,' and it does have a headlong quality.... But what to make of the publisher’s claim, which isn’t intrinsically positive? To be sure, in places, 'Shadow Tag' seems more like notes for a novel than fully realized fiction.... Elsewhere, though, Erdrich’s unbridled urgency yields startlingly original phrasing…

• Omni Daily News

  Lauren Nemroff

  8 Feb 2010 | 1:19 pm

  The Book Behind Brad's Beard:USA Today reveals the "inspiration" behind Brad Pitt's grizzled goatee. Apparently, his facial hair has something to do with the film adaptation of David Grann's bestseller The Lost City of Z. Only his barber knows for sure. Neil Gaiman on the Small Screen: The Guardian UK reports that the bestselling fantasy author will write an episode of Doctor Who, the BBC's hugely popular sci-fi series.  Taylor Prize for Nonfiction Announced: Author and journalist Ian Brown has won the 2009 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Nonfiction for The…

• Literary Super Bowl Counterprogramming: Louisiana vs. Indiana

  Tom

  6 Feb 2010 | 10:00 am

  The mayors of the two Super Bowl cities often concoct a symbolic wager of the fruits of their hometowns, but what I'd love to see them bet instead would be a box of local books. A few days ago, I ran across (via American Fiction Notes) Chauncey Mabe's entertaining assessment of how Indiana's literary legacy stacks up against Louisiana's (since limiting it to Indianapolis vs. New Orleans would be a rout from the opening whistle). He makes a valiant case for the Hoosiers against the more lauded lineup from the Big Easy, noting that both Vonnegut and Dreiser called Indiana…

• Graphic Novel Friday: Copper by Kazu Kibuishi

  Jeff VanderMeer

  5 Feb 2010 | 11:58 am

    Kazu Kibuishi is the mastermind behind the Flight fantasy comics series and his own great fantasy adventure series, Amulet. Copper is less ambitious, even more oriented toward kids, and quite lovely all on its own. Basically, the comics contained herein are vignettes following the exploits of Copper and his dog Fred. Copper's always plunging into new experiences without a care while Fred's there to anchor him in reality. Sometimes they're jumping through a waterfall. Other times they're just trying to make a purchase at the local grocery store. It's hard not to…

• Omni Daily News

  Jon Foro

  5 Feb 2010 | 11:26 am

  The smart money's on Governing Lethal Behaviour in Autonomous Robots: The highly anticipated longlist for the 2010 oddest book title prize (a contest conceived in 1978 on "a particularly dull day at the Frankfurt book fair") has been announced. Sleeper pick: Schoolgirl Milky Crisis.Maybe they're trying to make it even more prestigious: The West Australian Government drops its $110,000(A) Australia-Asia Literary Award after one year. (via the Literary Saloon)Recalling an era of savage readers: The Millions traces the origins and ponders the future of the deckle edge:The…

• 
  Avon Romance Blog

• Voting Ends Soon!

  29 Jan 2010 | 9:34 pm

  THE SEASON BLOG is running a contest HERE for their readers’ Top Historical Romance pick of 2009.Voting ends Sunday, January 31st. Please cast your ballot (or, rather, click your button) to make sure your favorite Avon title wins!

• Be Careful What You Pray For

  27 Jan 2010 | 9:34 pm

  New York Times bestselling author Kimberla Lawson Roby is back with the latest installment in her extremely popular Reverend Curtis Black series, BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PRAY FOR.The last time we saw the Reverend’s daughter Alicia Black, she had learned some very valuable lessons about herself and marriage...or had she?Alicia’s now married to Pastor JT Valentine, a handsome man of the cloth who resembles her charismatic but morally flawed father in more ways than one. In fact, Curtis himself sees the similarities and tries to warn Alicia, but she’s too much in love with her new husband--and…

• Taming The Highland Bride

  26 Jan 2010 | 5:55 am

  Merry Stewart, the “bride” in Lynsay Sands latest Scottish historical TAMING THE HIGHLAND BRIDE(on sale January 26th), has a tough time of it. She’s been waiting for her betrothed for quite some time, and, when he finally makes an appearance, she mistakenly believes he’s a drunk. Then, when she takes the reins on his clan, she’s labeled a shrew!Poor Merry can’t catch a break. So, we decided to ask Lynsay for some advice: what should a modern woman do (or not do), if she should suddenly find herself in Medieval Scotland...1) You should not train the men in battle techniques while…

• It Happened One Season

  25 Jan 2010 | 9:26 am

  Four stories, four authors, one theme: that was the idea behind the bestselling anthology IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT. Now, Stephanie Laurens, Mary Balogh, Jacquie D’Alessandro, and Candice Hern return to write four stories ultimately chosen by you, the readers, in IT HAPPENED ONE SEASON.Visit www.ItHappenedOneSeason.com to suggest your story. It must take place during the Regency social season. You must include three specific plot points (such as these used for the anthology IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT: (1) a couple meets at an inn 2) they had met before but not within the past ten years 3) the whole…

• Please Vote!

  20 Jan 2010 | 9:57 am

  THE SEASON BLOG is running a contest HERE for their readers’ Top Historical Romance pick of 2009.Please cast your ballot (or, rather, click your button) before January 31st, 2010, to make sure your favorite Avon title wins!

• 
  mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

• Rosalind Wiseman's Sponsored Book Tour

  9 Feb 2010 | 6:23 am

  As writers around the world struggle with evaporating book tour budgets, one writer has uncovered a unique solution--corporate sponsorship. This week, Rosalind Wiseman will partner with Family Circle magazine and Dove "Go Fresh Deodorant" for her ten-stop Girl World Book Tour. The author is selling $40 pairs of tickets (for a mother and daughter) to each two-hour event. Attendees will receive a 12-month subscription to Family Circle and a Dove gift bag. They will also get copies of three books: Queen Bees & Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and the New…

• Author and Congressman John P. Murtha Has Died

  8 Feb 2010 | 2:23 pm

  Congressman John P. Murtha passed away today, leaving behind a legacy of more than 30-years worth of legislative work and writings on national security. The Pennsylvania State University Press published his 291-page work, From Vietnam to 9/11: On the Front Lines of National Security. In 2006, he wrote the forward to Presidents at War: From Truman to Bush, The Gathering of Military Powers To Our Commanders in Chief. Here's more from his official obituary: "Murtha, 77, was Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. First elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in…

• Brainstorming Kindle Apps

  8 Feb 2010 | 1:23 pm

  This morning Amazon.com (AMZN) made its Kindle Development Kit available for software developers, opening the door for new applications to expand the functionality of the device. Developers can apply here. Our digitally obsessed sibling has all the details: "The KDK comes with a simulator, as well as permission to test apps on up to three Kindles before submitting to Amazon ... As far as pricing goes, Amazon promises at 70%/30% share, minus $.15/MB for download. And, Amazon also points out 'that unlike smart phones, the Kindle user does not pay a monthly wireless fee or enter into an annual…

• Bud Light Super Bowl Ad Offends Book Clubs, Literary Bloggers, and Readers

  8 Feb 2010 | 1:23 pm

  Nobody ever expects high-culture Super Bowl ads, but a Bud Light advertisement irked some literary football fans. Bud Light released the beer ad embedded below, mocking book clubs, male readers, female readers, and book reading in general. The ad shows a couple fun-loving beer drinkers crashing a book club, playing with all sorts of stereotypes about American readers. As this Twitter search shows, America's reaction was mixed. Literary blogger Edward Champion has led the online backlash against the ad. He described the message: "Let women have their 'little' book clubs, which can be easily…

• HCI Books Launches Reality-Based Romance Imprint: Reality TV and Romance Novels Collide

  8 Feb 2010 | 1:23 pm

  Today HCI Books announced the new Vows imprint, publishing what they call a brand new "subgenre" of romantic literature--reality-based romance, or "RB Romance." The series will match romance writers with real life couples, turning the wedding column into steamy nonfiction. In the words of the press release, it's "Life...Romanticized." Romance novelist Julie Leto will write the first book, a retelling of a real life romance in New York City. The series will launch in 2010. Here's the juicy description of the first reality-based romance: "New York lobbyist Michael Davoli feels like he's been…

• 
  Chronicle Books Blog

• Round is a Mooncake now an App—Win One For your iPhone!

  Lara Starr

  8 Feb 2010 | 2:32 pm

  One of our favorite picture books is now available as an iPhone App from PicPocket Books! Just in time for Lunar New Year—the year of the Tiger begins on February 14th—explore an urban Chinatown and discover hidden shapes: round rice bowls and pebbles, square dim sum and boxes, and rectangular Chinese lace. Special features • High fidelity, full-color illustrations that are true to the original print book. • Interactive audio “hot spots”—touch the dog, kittens, and more to hear their sounds! • High quality audio recording. • Highlighted text corresponds with audio—each…

• From the Design Desk: Happy early Valentine’s Day!

  Aya Akazawa

  8 Feb 2010 | 11:30 am

  If you remember mixed tapes, you probably have a memory or two about giving or receiving a special compilation of music recorded on a cassette tape as a Valentine’s Day gift. Valentine’s Day is less than a week away and I wanted to make a special mixed tape (well, a disk in this digital age) for our beloved Design Desk readers. Sadly, though, I quickly realized that I have no talent for doing this. So instead, I created two special Valentine’s Day color-ways of one of the label designs from Candy Orchard CD Packaging Kit. But wait, there’s more: I’ve also designed matching gift…

• Paper Goods: Getting Ready to Share your Heart

  Patti Quill

  5 Feb 2010 | 4:18 pm

  Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and while some of us love sharing the love, others, including Chronicle Books author Alissa Walker, approach it with some trepidation. She explores redesigning the holiday in this recent post on Fast Company. Either way, we have plenty to offer if you want to show your affection and still maintain your style. Hearts for Madalene This is for You The Little Box of I Love You Love Listography Love Lotto: 100 Romantic Scratch-and-Win Lottery Tickets And if you are feeling sexy: I Dare You: 30 Sealed Seductions Sex Scratchers: 100 Lottery Tickets to…

• Do you Like Johnny Cash?

  Bridget Watson Payne

  5 Feb 2010 | 10:52 am

  Here at Art+Design headquarters we’re hard at work on our forthcoming book Pocket Cash, an amazingly awesome collection of photos of Johnny Cash by legendary rock and roll photographer Jim Marshall, featuring text by John Carter Cash, Kris Kristofferson, and Billy Bob Thornton. We’re looking at various image options for the book’s cover right now, and would love to get your thoughts! Take a gander at the two covers below and let us know in the comments which of the two photos most says “Johnny Cash” to you—which best conveys the spirit of the Man in Black, which would most…

• Chronicle Craft: Valentines Crafts from Etsy

  Kate Woodrow & Christina Loff

  4 Feb 2010 | 1:13 pm

  Love it or hate it Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. Will you be making your sweet something sweet or counting the days until February 15th? If you need some last minute inspiration check out Handmade Hellos, any of the card projects can easily be adapted for this saccharine holiday. And while we’re out of stock, Amazon still has our best selling The Valentine Kit available. But if you’re like us you may just not have the time (or energy) to whip something up for the big day. So here are our favorite crafty Valentines from Etsy! The Love Cozy by Whimsie Dots White Paper Bags…

• 
  The PlanetEsme Plan: The Best New Children's Books from Esme's Shelf

• GROUNDHOG WEATHER SCHOOL (PICTURE BOOK)

  27 Jan 2010 | 7:31 pm

  PICTURE BOOKGROUNDHOG WEATHER SCHOOL by Joan Holub, illustrated by Kristin Sorra (Putnam)When a rabbit hears a weather report that spring has arrived, he is chagrined to find snow outside his abode. The good citizen writes a letter suggesting a more regional approach, thus inspiring a nationwide search for talent and the best newspaper ad since art schools asked wanna-be's to sketch Tippy Turtle. "Have you got what it takes to be a weather forecaster? Take this quiz and check all that apply: Are you a mammal?...Are you furry?...Do you live in a burrow?...Are you a rodent?...Are you an…

• AROUND THE WORLD WITH MOUK (PICTURE BOOK)

  26 Jan 2010 | 7:57 pm

  PICTURE BOOKAROUND THE WORLD WITH MOUK by Marc Boutavant (Chronicle)Take your eye for a walk! And what a walk it is, from continent to continent accompanied by a restless little brown bear who bids au revoir but not adieu to his friends in a French café while he goes off to collect some more comrades. Mix the Asian-influenced, almost unnerving cuteness of Gyo Fujikawa with the eager, overpopulated animal world of Richard Scarry in a new wave trip-hop blender, and wah-la! The result is a book to look at repeatedly, and with wonder. The animals that inhabit these pages are not trite children's…

• ALA YOUTH MEDIA AWARDS ANNOUNCEMENT

  18 Jan 2010 | 8:30 am

  ALA Youth Media Awards were announced this morning! It's like the Oscars for the American children's book world. And the winners are...Newbery (for writing)Gold:WHEN YOU REACH ME by Rebecca Stead (Random House)Silver:CLAUDETTE COLVIN: TWICE TOWARD JUSTICE by Philip M. Hoose (Farrar Straus Giroux)THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE by Jacqueline Tate (Henry Holt)WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON by Grace Lin (Little, Brown)THE MOSTLY TRUE ADVENTURES OF HOMER P. FIGG by Rodman Philbrick (Scholastic)Caldecott (for illustration)Gold:THE LION & THE MOUSE by Jerry Pinkney (Little, Brown)Silver:ALL…

• A POP-UP BOOK OF NURSERY RHYMES and AWARD PREDICTIONS

  17 Jan 2010 | 10:06 pm

  POETRYA POP-UP BOOK OF NURSERY RHYMES by Matthew Reinhart (Little Simon) One of the masters of the movable book puts some spring in the step of classic verse with scenes that are as much sculpture as illustration. Besides the dramatic pop-up splays on every spread, a bevy of insets brim with small surprises such as a black sheep that transforms into three bags full of wool before our eyes, a tiger caught by the toe who really gives jumping off the page a college try, and some glittering lenticular stars to wish upon. The palette borders on the nursery-friendly pastel, but is bumped up with…

• TODAY I WILL (NONFICTION)

  14 Jan 2010 | 12:00 pm

  NONFICTIONTODAY I WILL: A YEAR OF QUOTES, NOTES AND PROMISES TO MYSELF by Eileen and Jerry Spinelli (Knopf)This page-a-day book feels like getting to peek at the genius scribblings on napkins or the secret "stuff drawers" from the desks of two brilliant authors (and husband/wife team), with a little goodie to pull out for every day of the year. Highly conceptual, each page contains the date (without a year named), a quote taken from children's literature, a brief reflection on the quote and a sort of junior "self help" suggestion for the reader's improvement or affirmation. Each page is…

• 
  The Writing Life

• Free Marketing Insight from an Expert

  Terry Whalin

  18 Jan 2010 | 10:19 pm

  It is hard to get sound advice in publishing. Yes you can easily get advice but how about counsel that is filled with experience and wisdom. In my view, obtaining that advice can be a challenge at times.This Wednesday, you have an opportunity to obtain wise marketing insight about the Christian market from Sally E. Stuart. For the last 25 years, Sally has produced an annual book which is a necessity for almost any Christian writer called The Christian Writer's Market Guide. I've convinced Sally to let me grill her on Wednesday, January 20th for a 70-minute live teleseminar. You can sign up…

• Starting Is Easy but Finishing Another Story

  Terry Whalin

  17 Jan 2010 | 8:59 am

  There is something inherently exhilarating about a new year. It's a chance for a fresh start. It's the chance to do something different and turn in a different direction. Many people make resolutions for the new year. I gave up on resolutions many years ago because most of the time they are not lasting and only survive a few weeks. Instead, I look at resolutions with a twist. During the end of December and the first portion of January, I take some thoughtful time to consider what was accomplished in the last year. What succeeded and what failed? If we are honest, each of us have things that…

• A Fresh Look at An Ancient Tradition

  Terry Whalin

  22 Dec 2009 | 9:55 pm

  I did not grow up in a church tradition which celebrates Advent each year. In the last fifteen years of my life, I've belonged to churches which do celebrate Advent. Recently I learned about a new book from Paul-Gordon Chandler who formerly was the CEO of the International Bible Society. Now Chandler is the Rector of the Church of St. John the Baptist/Maadi in Cairo, Egypt, within the Episcopal Diocese of Egypt & North Africa.Songs in Waiting provides fresh insight about the significance of the season. In the opening pages of the book, Paul-Gordon writes, "Advent was seen as a time to…

• 21 FREE Audience-Building Ideas

  Terry Whalin

  14 Dec 2009 | 10:42 am

  Many times over the last several years, I have encouraged writers to start a regular newsletter as an audience building tool. If you don't have a newsletter, then start one. I've pointed out this free 150-page resource to help you start a newsletter. Today I want to introduce another free resource to build your audience--an e-course from Jimmy D. Brown. This Internet expert is known for his no nonsense, straight-forward approach to creating and selling products online.If you go to 21 Email Success Tips and scroll down to the bottom of the page, you can sign up for this free E-course. In a…

• Climb Out of the Routine

  Terry Whalin

  13 Dec 2009 | 2:12 pm

  Are you a routine person? In many ways my writing life falls into a regular rhythm. I suspect that my preference for the routine isn't too unusual. Every now and then it's good to climb out of your rut and break your routine. Try something different. Several weeks ago, my long-time publishing friend Judith Couchman asked me to read and write some words about her new book, The Mystery of the Cross, Bringing Ancient Christian Images to Life. I wasn't sure what I would learn but I agreed to read the book. It is out of the realm of the normal sort of nonfiction and fiction that I would choose but…

• 
  The Kindle Reader

• Kindle Genre Watch: Sci-Fi, Romance and Western Fiction (8 Feb 10)

  Jan

  8 Feb 2010 | 6:59 am

  Genre fiction - as opposed to nonfiction, graphic novels and picture books - lends itself to enjoyable Kindle reading because when you pick up a book of fiction you don't necessarily expect it to be illustrated. Authors of mysteries, science fiction, fantasy, romance novels and westerns paint word pictures and their readers use their own imagination to picture the scene of the crime or the stare of a vampire or the track of an alien space craft hurtling towards earth. Spend less time searching for new genre fiction and more time reading it as I watch for newly-released genre fiction in the…

• Kindle Genre Watch: Fantasy and Mystery Fiction (6 Feb 10)

  Jan

  6 Feb 2010 | 6:52 am

  Genre fiction - as opposed to nonfiction, graphic novels and picture books - lends itself to enjoyable Kindle reading because when you pick up a book of fiction you don't necessarily expect it to be illustrated. Authors of mysteries, science fiction, fantasy, romance novels and westerns paint word pictures and their readers use their own imagination to picture the scene of the crime or the stare of a vampire or the track of an alien space craft hurtling towards earth. Spend less time searching for new genre fiction and more time reading it as I watch for newly-released genre fiction in the…

• A Week of Entertainment: Books Reviewed in Entertainment Weekly 5 Feb 10

  Jan

  4 Feb 2010 | 7:05 am

  Each week Entertainment Weekly reviews a small selection of popular new books. Titles available for the Kindle reviewed in the February 5th issue include:Alice I Have Been, by Melanie Benjamin. Delacorte. NOVEL. EW's slant: "...works valiantly to conjure up the real girl behind the Wonderland myth, and finds glints of genuine magic..." Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (53 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled."Alice Liddell Hargreaves’s life has been a richly woven tapestry: As a young woman, wife, mother, and widow, she’s experienced intense passion, great privilege,…

• Savoring the Past: New Kindle Books for History Buffs (2 Feb 10)

  Jan

  2 Feb 2010 | 7:26 am

  History is a kind of introduction to more interesting people than we can possibly meet in our restricted lives; let us not neglect the opportunity. - Dexter Perkins.The American philosopher George Santayana is quoted as saying that those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. With more than 27,000 books in the Amazon Kindle bookstore "history" category, Kindle-owning history buffs will not run out of reading material any time soon. Recent history nonfiction includes:The Intimate Lives of the Founding Fathers, by Thomas Fleming. HarperCollins. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars…

• Books They're Talking About: Kindle Books in the Media (31 Jan 10)

  Jan

  31 Jan 2010 | 7:28 am

  Media interviews are a popular way for writers to introduce new books they hope will catch the viewer's eye and open their pocketbooks. Here's a selection of forthcoming Kindle books by authors scheduled for interviews on TV and radio programs. Books are arranged in chronological order by the date of the scheduled interview.ON NBC'S TODAY SHOW (02 FEB 10):I'm Still Standing: From Captive U.S. Soldier to Free Citizen - My Journey Home, by Shoshana Johnson. Touchstone. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled."In March of 2003, when Operation Iraqi Freedom was only days old, world…

• 
  Storytellers Unplugged

• Scaling The Rat-Hole

  Brian Hodge

  9 Feb 2010 | 12:59 am

  Early last month I had the agonizing good fortune of cracking open a notebook from the mid-1990s. In one section I’d spent several months following some advice whose source I’ve since forgotten: keeping a log of daily writing progress. One day per line, bonehead-simple entries: date, project(s), page numbers, tally. Cue reaction, January 2010: Holy hell! Look at those totals! Comparing then and now, I felt I should’ve scribbled a note to accompany the final entry: “I will diminish, and go into the West.” It wasn’t that I was no longer making progress on anything. Just not this…

• Nope, I’m not Contemporary

  mortcastle

  7 Feb 2010 | 8:58 pm

  As I’ve hinted in recent UNPLUGGEDs, I have been encountering difficulties in writing fiction. I fear I’ve discovered the reason. If the Prime Rule of Writing is WRITE ABOUT WHAT YOU KNOW, then I cannot write contemporary fiction because I do not know … contemporary. For a time, I thought I was keeping up. I was able to tell you that Heath Ledger was not a candy covered version of a Franklin Planner and that RUN-DMC was not a command in DOS ver 6.06. But then, somehow, I lost it. Didn’t realize that SMALLVILLE was all about super-you-know-who because if that were the case,…

• I suppose you’re all wondering why I’ve called you here today . . .

  Sarah Monette

  7 Feb 2010 | 1:02 pm

  Last week, I finished the first draft of The Goblin Emperor (::wild cheers::), and in the last five to ten thousand words or so, I gained a new appreciation for why mystery writers so frequently resort to the last chapter In Which The Great Detective Explains It All. And so today I’m going to talk about ending a novel. Ending a novel is harder than it looks. For one thing, how do you figure out where the story ends? How do you choose where to stop? For another, unless your novel is exceptionally spare and stripped down, you’re not finding an ending point for one monolithic story,…

• RUSSELL’S RULES FOR PUBLISHING SUCCESS?

  Alan Russell

  4 Feb 2010 | 9:35 pm

  Over the President’s Day weekend I will be teaching at the Southern California Writers Conference.  Because I am no stranger to this conference, its director rarely consults with me regarding what courses I will be teaching.  This week I learned that one of my classes is, “Russell’s Rules to Publishing Success.” Given a choice, I wouldn’t have picked that title.  In previous years I taught a course titled something like “Russell’s Riting Rules” (clever alliterative touch, right?), which provided writing tips for the pre-published.  The new course title suggests I know…

• The Heart of Love and Hate

  Gerard Houarner

  4 Feb 2010 | 12:22 am

  Hate is a relatively simple emotion. Stupid, but simple. Oh, people can cook up extensive mythologies to fuel the engine of hatred. And the mechanism itself can be elaborate – really, pick any brutal, self-destructive regime, past or present, and sift a while through the careful orchestration of grandiosity and paranoia. That’s not intelligence. No critical thinking involved, really. That’s just a flailing need from the ego to justify actions that appear, relentlessly, sometimes inescapably, to be inhuman. But when it comes right down to it, hate doesn’t need…

• 
  Paulo Coelho's Blog

• Quest of the Sword

  Paulo Coelho

  8 Feb 2010 | 12:54 pm

• Quote of the Week

  Paulo Coelho

  8 Feb 2010 | 2:55 am

  Be careful. You can hurt with your words, but you can also hurt with your silence. (36)

• Friendship

  Paulo Coelho

  7 Feb 2010 | 1:40 pm

  Once upon a time there was a poor but very brave man called Ali. He worked for Ammar, a rich old merchant. One winter’s night Ammar said: “nobody can spend a night like this on top of the mountain without a blanket or food. But you need money, and if you can manage to do [...]

• La amistad

  Paulo Coelho

  7 Feb 2010 | 1:35 pm

  Era una vez un hombre pobre pero de mucho coraje que se llamaba Ali. Trabajaba para Ammar, un viejo y rico comerciante. Cierta noche de invierno dice Ammar: “Nadie puede pasar una noche así en lo alto de la montaña, sin frazada y sin comida. Pero tu necesitas de dinero y si consigues hacer eso, [...]

• A amizade

  Paulo Coelho

  7 Feb 2010 | 1:31 pm

  Era uma vez um homem pobre mas corajoso que se chamava Ali. Trabalhava para Ammar, um velho e rico comerciante. Certa noite de inverno, disse Ammar: “ninguém pode passar uma noite assim no alto da montanha, sem cobertor e sem comida. Mas voce precisa de dinheiro, e se conseguir fazer isso, receberá uma grande recompensa. [...]

• 
  Condalmo.

• DFW biography, of sorts.

  Condalmo

  6 Feb 2010 | 5:19 pm

  Thanks to the fine folks at Longfellow Books, I got a copy of the forthcoming Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace, by David Lipsky. Lipsky’s a writer with Rolling Stone magazine, and the two of them spent four days together during DFW’s book tour supporting Infinite Jest. I started it yesterday; mixed opinion so far. I’m not sure how much of that ambivalence comes from the odd presentation – it’s looking like a 300+ page interview transcript.  Lipsky’s contributions are a sometimes confusing mix of…

• Excerpt from THE THOUSAND AUTUMNS OF JACOB DE ZOET.

  Condalmo

  5 Feb 2010 | 10:01 am

  I want to put the whole thing here. Can I do that? No, I guess not. Go here. (via, in the comments) Filed under: Books Tagged: Books, Forthcoming

• Why blog?

  Condalmo

  4 Feb 2010 | 9:56 am

  I found my way to a new (for me) blog, Corresponding Fractions, which has a sensible answer to the what keeps me blogging question. Over to you, Ralph and Daniel: This [blog] is my Savings Bank. I grow richer because I have somewhere to deposit my earnings; and fractions are worth more to me because corresponding fractions are waiting here that shall be made integers by their addition. —Emerson, Journal (1834) You must collect things for reasons you don’t yet understand. —Daniel J. Boorstin Filed under: Internet Tagged: Existential, Internet, Quote

• Typical blog post.

  Condalmo

  3 Feb 2010 | 9:05 am

  This is where the “author” copies and pastes a representative paragraph, links to the rest, and calls it a day: This sentence contains a provocative statement that attracts the readers’ attention, but really only has very little to do with the topic of the blog post. This sentence claims to follow logically from the first sentence, though the connection is actually rather tenuous. This sentence claims that very few people are willing to admit the obvious inference of the last two sentences, with an implication that the reader is not one of those very few people. This sentence…

• Ruland v. Hunt.

  Condalmo

  3 Feb 2010 | 7:35 am

  Part two (with a link to part one) of an interview with Laird Hunt (author most recently of Ray of the Star) is available now at Hobart’s website. Filed under: Books, Interviews Tagged: Books, Interviews

• 
  ReadersRead.com Book Blog

• Book Wars: Amazon Caves Into MacMillan Pricing Demands

  1 Feb 2010 | 3:00 pm

  The Book Wars began over Christmas when Wal-Mart and Amazon.com got into a pricing war over the sale of hardcover bestsellers. But that was nothing compared to what's coming. With the launch of Apple's iPad and Steve Jobs' announcement that he's going to sell ebooks for around $15.00 a book (Amazon.com sells them for around $9.99 or less), the Books Wars just went into a very hot phase. This particular battle started when MacMillan asked Amazon.com to raise the price of all its ebooks for the Kindle from $9.99 to $15.00. Amazon.com refused and removed the buy button from all MacMillan titles.

• Borders Lays Off 164 Employees

  29 Jan 2010 | 12:00 pm

  Publisher's Weekly reports that Borders has laid off another 164 people in its distribution centers and its corporate headquarters. In the newest round of cuts, 124 corporate jobs were eliminated at Borders' Ann Arbor headquarters and other offices with 40 coming at its warehouses and distribution centers. The downsizing is a response to poor holiday sales and the closing of 183 outlets in the Walden specialty group. A majority of the corporate cuts came in the company's finance and information technology divisions. The company said in an e-mail to employees that it is evaluating the staffing…

• Catcher in the Rye Author J.D. Salinger Dead at 91

  28 Jan 2010 | 4:00 pm

  J.D. Salinger has died at the age of 91. The reclusive author of The Catcher in the Rye was a controversial figure in his later years, refusing all interviews and claiming that he hasn't written a book since 1965. He died at his home, according to his literary agent. CNN reports: The author died Wednesday of natural causes at his home in New Hampshire, according to a family statement that his literary agent, Phyllis Westberg, provided Thursday. "Despite having broken his hip in May, his health had been excellent until a rather sudden decline after the new year," the statement said. "He was…

• Harvard Business Review Press Inks Deal With Kindle

  26 Jan 2010 | 3:25 pm

  The Harvard Business Review Press has teamed up with Amazon.com to make chapters from its books available on the Kindle. The publishers will start by offering chapters from ten of its books. The chapters offered will be sold under the name Harvard Business Review Short Cuts. Publisher's Weekly reports: "We've chosen to make HBR Short Cuts available in the Kindle Store so that our readers can easily stay up to date on the latest business books we publish, as well as reference their previous favorites," said Joshua D. Macht, group publisher, Harvard Business Review Group. "Kindle makes the…

• Ursula Le Guin to File Objection to Google Book Settlement

  25 Jan 2010 | 2:00 pm

  Bestselling fantasy author Ursula Le Guin will submit an objection to the Google Book Settlement, along with 365 other writers. Ms. Le Guin is vehemently opposed to the settlement and has been an outspoken critic of the agreement which she says takes away authors' rights. Le Guin's petition asks Judge Denny Chin to exempt the United States from the revised legal settlement reached between Google and US authors and publishers over the Internet giant's vast digital book-scanning project. Chin is scheduled to hold a hearing on the revised agreement on February 18. ***** In her petition, which is…

• 
  Joanna Campbell Slan

• Roasted Butternut Squash with Apples

  10 Feb 2010 | 10:48 am

  This is sooo good that I had to share it:Roasted Butternut Squash with Apples20 oz. container butternut squash (peeled, cubed & seeded)1 large onion (peeled and diced)1 T. olive oilsea salt to taste3 T. red wine vinegar3 T. low calorie maple syrup1 apple (peeled, cored and diced)1/4 C. chopped walnuts1/4 C. dried cranberriesToss oil, onion and butternut together and spread on cookie sheet with silk liner. (Or foil lined.) Sprinkle on sea salt. Roast for 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven.Remove. Whisk together vinegar and syrup. Pour liquid over the squash and onion mix. Add in apples, nuts and…

• Smitty the Walmart Doorman

  8 Feb 2010 | 11:26 am

  Here's a great little story that's bound to bring a smile to your face. Maybe the next time you walk into a Walmart, stop a minute and actually interact with the greeter. It might be the highpoint of your day.Smitty the Walmart Greeter. (You might have copy and paste this. For some reason Blogger isn't co-operating today!)

• SnowFall of 2010

  7 Feb 2010 | 10:39 am

  Make a Smilebox slideshow

• The Proof is in the Book

  28 Jan 2010 | 3:28 pm

  The galleys for Photo, Snap, Shot arrived on my doorstep last week. I'm knee-deep in proofing, an activity I simultaneously love and hate.I love proofing because it gives me one more chance to polish my work. Midnight Ink is very good about allowing me to make changes. (I've worked with publishers before where there was a real fear that any substantive changes would mess up the pagination. But MI is great about this! And Connie, my editor, is a gem.)At this stage, I come to my book with new eyes. Since each galley sheet shows the page as it will appear in my book, I see my work as a reader…

• I Am Not My Hair...Or Am I?

  17 Jan 2010 | 1:08 pm

  One of the toughest tasks for any newcomer is replacing services. So after our move, I set about systematically replacing my beloved vet, cleaning person, and hairdresser. Ow. I'd like to think I'm not my hair. That I am me, and if my hair turns white (which it sort of did) or turd-murkle brown (which it definitely was), that my happy place won't disappear. But it did. Golly, did it ever. See, my first venture to a hairstylist gained me excellent color, but the stylist/owner fobbed me off on an employee who got angry and burned my scalp repeatedly while drying my hair. Even when I complained,…

• 
  Living to Read

• Mirror Image

  5 Feb 2010 | 11:35 am

  I haven't abandoned my pledge to read paper-and-ink books. But I do love being read to while I'm walking. For short stories I highly recommend NPR's Selected Shorts and the New Yorker Fiction, both available on iTunes. When listening to a full length book, I've found, like Dorothea, that mysteries work the best. So, having enjoyed listening to her earlier book “In The Woods”, I loaded Tana French's The Likeness. The main character, who also appeared in the earlier book, is detective Cassie Maddox of the Dublin Police Department. Although she is no longer on the murder squad, she is drawn…

• Take the Pledge

  3 Feb 2010 | 5:00 am

  With the introduction of the iPad tablet, reading in the digital age has taken another step. The question is whether it is a step forward or back.Along the same line is an article in the July/August 2008 issue of The Atlantic titled "Is Google Making Us Stupid? What the Internet is doing to our brains" by Nicholas Carr. Carr describes the work of Maryanne Wolf, a developmental psychologist at Tufts University. "...the media and other technologies we use in learning and practicing the craft of reading play an important part in shaping the neural circuits inside our brains...We can expect as…

• Grief-Stricken

  30 Jan 2010 | 9:10 pm

  Authors often use children at different ages to narrate a novel. It is sometimes easily apparent that the child narrator is not that reliable, for different reasons. In “Mathilda Savitch”, Victor Ladato, a well known poet and playwright, uses the voice of thirteen year old Mathilda Savitch as the narrator. Victor Ladato’s first novel is a gripping story about a family’s overwhelming grief surrounding the death of Mathilda’s older sister, Helene. Mathilda is a child who is totally lost. She adored her older sister but fought with her the last morning she saw her. Mathilda’s mother…

• Fact and Fiction

  29 Jan 2010 | 4:54 pm

  Do novelists sometimes set the bar high for themselves, just to prove that they can rise to the challenge? I think Barbara Kingsolver may have done that with her latest novel The Lacuna. In addition to the normal difficulties involved in crafting a successful novel, she adds two more hurdles.The first is that she sets her main character, Harrison William Shepherd, alongside historical figures, and larger than life ones at that. Shepherd, son of an American bureaucrat father and a tempestuous Mexican mother, winds up as a cook in the household of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, and eventually…

• Hibakusha

  27 Jan 2010 | 5:00 am

  Hibakusha are the surviving victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (including those not yet born but carried by pregnant women who survived the bombings). Hiroko Tanaka, the main character in Kamila Shamsie's novel Burnt Shadows is one such survivor. She lost her father and her German fiance in Nagasaki. When she has recovered from her own injuries and the war has ended, she sets out to find her fiance's half sister, Elizabeth, who is living in Delhi, married to James, an Englishman. Hiroko and Elizabeth become close friends. As the novel follows their relationship over the…

• 
  RobAroundBooks

• Reading Journal: Summary for remainder of Week 5 2010

  Rob

  8 Feb 2010 | 2:57 pm

  I know it’s coming terribly late in the day (blame all of the upgrading I’ve been doing on my computer systems today), but I thought it would still be worthwhile just tying up a few loose ends with regards to my reading the end of last week. With blogging and research commitments I didn’t do a whole stack of reading, but I certainly read enough to have something of worth to talk about. You may remember in my last journal entry I’d set myself the task of ticking off another two short stories from the most excellent Fifty-Two Stories website. Well, I certainly did that and it gifted me…

• RobAroundBooks: Weekly post round up

  Rob

  7 Feb 2010 | 3:31 pm

  As midnight fast approaches my little patch of ground on this planet we call Earth, there’s just enough to time throw up my usual run down of the posts made on RobAroundBooks during this past week – all for the benefit of those who may have missed one or two (does my thoughtfulness know no limits? It appears not ) : Reading Journal: Summary for remainder of Week 4 2010 Devouring De Maupassant: Family Life Reading Journal: Monday 1st February 2010 Chekhov Shorts: Anyuta Chekhov Shorts: Ivan Matveyitch Reading Journal: Tuesday 2nd February 2010 Bookshelf of the Week: Library of…

• Daily Bookshot: The Perilous Presence of Pencils

  Rob

  7 Feb 2010 | 3:04 pm

  The Perilous Presence of Pencils, originally uploaded by Robert Burdock. The purpose of today’s bookshot isn’t so much to showcase one of my latest reads – The Education of a British-Protected Child by Chinua Achebe (Allen Lane) – as to highlight a significant turning point in the way I interact with the printed word. This is big for me everybody. This is BIG! Ever since I can remember (probably from about age 4), I’ve always had it drummed into me to have total respect towards my books, and to keep them in mint condition. Indoctrinated with this ‘rule of…

• Forethoughts: A Life Apart by Neel Mukherjee

  Rob

  7 Feb 2010 | 10:06 am

  With the read through of my last novel done ‘n’ dusted I thought I’d keep the cultural ball rolling with a ‘kick around’ of A Life Apart by Neel Mukherjee. Recently published by Constable & Robinson, I’ve been looking forward to reading this debut novel ever since I first laid my bookish eyes upon it (and snapped it for a recent Daily Bookshot). It’s got a storyline that spans two continents – India and Europe – and so the prospect of another culturally rich reading journey, has got me perched on the edge of my reading chair. Let’s have a wander through my…

• Forethoughts: The Education of a British-Protected Child by Chinua Achebe

  Rob

  7 Feb 2010 | 7:26 am

  And so I come to The Education of a British-Protected Child, a book penned by one of the real icons of African literature, Nigerian Chinua Achebe. Recently published in the UK on the 12th January 2010 by Allen Lane (an imprint of Penguin), this new work from Achebe – a writer perhaps most famed for his ‘African Trilogy’ – consists of sixteen collected essays, which explore various autobiographical topics. Join me in these forethoughts as I tell you a little bit about the book, and my motivations for reading it. From the outset I must confess – rather shamefully –…

• 
  Bookninja

• Radio Noon — words and phrases I hate

  George

  8 Feb 2010 | 6:05 am

  I’m donning my shadowy ‘Ninja gear and heading out of the cave today to do CBC NL’s Radio Noon call-in show, Crosstalk, where the topic is on words and phrases that drive us mental. Utilize (do you mean “use”)? Functionality (do I need to beat you about the face for saying that)? Action (as a verb will get you smacked)? “To be honest…” (what, have you been lying until now)? Planning for the future (as opposed to planning for the recent past)? Literally (to mean figuratively or metaphorically)? Terrorism (used to describe a Minister getting a pie…

• Friggin snowday

  George

  5 Feb 2010 | 5:26 am

  AAAAAHHHGGGH! THERE ARE KIDS EVERYWHERE! SWARMING ME LIKE BEES! My house is disturbingly infested with these grimy, whiny bipeds which I’m told are my genetic offering to the gristmill of evolution. I feel a bit like a mother spider whose eggs have just hatched. Please don’t eat me little ones. Plus, we’re currently undergoing what will come to be refered to as the Blizzard of ‘10, and the pipes in my bathroom froze yesterday and burst apocalyptically last night at midnight, so… Well, guess. Guess what I’m going to be doing today. That’s right: duct…

• Bill Watterson interview

  George

  4 Feb 2010 | 6:05 am

  Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson grants a once-in-a-lifetime interview to a newsie down south. Why’d you quit Calvin? Because it was done. But don’t you know we love you? Yes, I’m aware. And thanks. (That kind of sums it up. But he’s still awesome.) With almost 15 years of separation and reflection, what do you think it was about “Calvin and Hobbes” that went beyond just capturing readers’ attention, but their hearts as well? The only part I understand is what went into the creation of the strip. What readers take away from it is up to them.

• Amazon is either in the principal’s office or hiding in the science lab

  George

  4 Feb 2010 | 6:01 am

  Moby has done a great job covering and contextualize the Macmillan/Amazon dust up. But despite the screaming adoration of their peers and the poverty-stricken love of their authors, Macmillan has seen no sign of their “capitulation”, and their titles remain censored, closed for sale, on the Amazon site.  In fact, there’s no real sign of Amazon at all. I suspect it has to do with in-house vs. contract PR opinions on how to salvage a shred of dignity from this giant FUBAR. Right now Amazon looks like a Little Rascal who got the old backfiring tailpipe in the eye. (And…

• Lynn Henry leaves Anansi for Doubleday

  George

  4 Feb 2010 | 5:51 am

  Big news broke yesterday in Canada as one of the country’s coolest presses (Anansi) loses its publisher (Lynn Henry) to one of the country’s biggest presses (Double Day). Anansi is no small lit press anymore, but it is independent, and something of the bridge between small and large here—plus, it has a rep for innovative publicity and snagging great writers that compete with the best in the world. A few years ago, I couldn’t have imagined them surviving the loss of the editor responsible for much of their cred, Martha Sharpe, but they did, and I suspect Lynn was a…

• 
  Kat Meyer The Bookish Dilettante

• Who is Minding the Store? Amazon + MacMillan Kerfuffle is Not Just About Pricing

  Kat Meyer

  31 Jan 2010 | 12:36 pm

  Just read my dear friend Morian Jovan's very sharp take on the latest Amazon adventure. (Read it for gosh sake, it's short and you'll be a better person for it). Therein, in a nutshell, MoJo advises big publishers to quit being babies and just take their ball and go home. Yes, I've mixed metaphors, as is my wont to do. But, her point is well taken. If you don't like the rules, dear big publisher, set up your own game. It's not that hard. What's that you say? You don't wish to be bothered with the running of games? That's cool. No, really. It really, really is. If some publishers don't…

• Transmedia Storytelling: Pioneers in the New Age of Narrative, Pt. III - Jeff Gomez of Starlight Runner Entertainment

  Kat Meyer

  6 Jan 2010 | 9:04 am

  (Note: This is part III of a four-part blog post. For part one, a profile of author Kate Pullinger, click here. For part two, a profile of Lisa Holton, click here. The blog posts are slightly edited from the original article, written for the November 2009 issue of the Queensland Writers Centre's Writer's Quarterly Magazine.) Jeff Gomez of Starlight Runner EntertainmentJeff Gomez is CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment and a leading creator of highly successful fictional worlds (he doesn't like to brag, but he had something to do with a little movie called Avatar). He is an expert at…

• Transmedia Storytelling: Pioneers in the New Age of Narrative, Pt. II - Lisa Holton of FourthStory Media

  Kat Meyer

  4 Jan 2010 | 12:48 pm

  (Note: This is part II of a four-part blog post. For part one, a profile of author Kate Pullinger, click here. The full article originally appeared in the November 2009 issue of the Queensland Writers Centre's Writer's Quarterly Magazine.) Lisa Holton of FourthStory MediaLisa Holton, Founder and CEO of Fourth Story Media is currently enjoying the success of The Amanda Project, the first collaborative, interactive fiction series for girls aged 13 and up. The Amanda Project unfolds across an interactive website, and readers not only read – but write parts of what will become the published…

• Transmedia Storytelling: Pioneers in the New Age of Narrative

  Kat Meyer

  2 Jan 2010 | 10:03 am

  In interviews with four pioneers – Kate Pullinger, Lisa Holton, Jeff Gomez, and Peter Collingridge – in the world of transmedia storytelling, the motivations of the storytellers are as diverse as the execution of the stories themselves. Transmedia storytelling is the process of sharing a narrative through many different channels (websites, video, audio etc) at once, often becoming an interactive process with input from the reader. Each of these players in the movement has a different idea of what it is about. Some want the readers to interact with the narrative, some don't; some see it as…

• Glue: Online Book Curation That Sticks With You

  Kat Meyer

  4 Nov 2009 | 10:33 am

  "AdaptiveBlue's Glue is a site-centric product that acts as both a hub and a spoke of the social web." -- ReadWriteWeb "Last year, it was Facebook. This year, it's Twitter. What's it going to be next year? Allow me to present a possible contender: Glue." - Shelf AwarenessHello my bookish friends:I am hoping I can get you all to take a look at (and share) some info about Glue. In the not-so-distant past, I've waxed poetic about Glue and how it can/will revolutionize online book curation. Yes, I've loved and talked about them all along, and --BIG DISCLAIMER-- EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE A NOW A…

• 
  Flashlight Worthy

• Books About African Americans That Aren't Just for Black History Month

  Denise Fawcett Facey, Book Lover

  Although February is the designated month for acknowledging and honoring African American contributions to the U.S., African Americans live, achieve and succeed all 12 months of the year. I chose the books below to reveal the vibrancy of these lives — that they have the added appeal of highlighting the diversity within African America is a bonus. Click here to see the 9 books on the list

• The Best Young Adult Books of 2009

  Flashlight Worthy's Favorite Young Adult Book Bloggers

  Young Adult books, as a genre, has enjoyed a recent resurgence. It started with Harry Potter, survived a lean year or two, and then leapt back into the spotlight with Twilight. But good Young Adult — or YA as it's known — is far, far more than just wizards and vampires. That's why I turned to the experts, more than a dozen Book Bloggers who focus on Yound Adult books, and asked them to name their pick for the Best Young Adult Book of 2009. Enjoy. Click here to see the 15 books on the list

• Some Helpful Books for Your Cancer Journey

  Anne Orchard, author of Their Cancer – Your Journey

  As we learn more about the relationship between our minds and bodies, we find that integrated cancer care produces better outcomes. A key component of this is that the person with cancer takes charge of what they want to happen in their treatment, and has a strong belief in the desired outcome. To do this, you need information, so read on to find books to support and inform you.Click here to see the 7 books on the list

• Some of the Best Poetry Books for Your Book Club

  Serena M. Agusto-Cox, Editor, Poet, Photographer & Book Review Blogger at Savvy Verse & Wit

  Given that each book club member brings their own experiences and perceptions of poets with them to the meeting, poetry lends itself to a varied and passionate discussion beyond anything you experience with novels, nonfiction, and other genres. Where someone may see passion in the first lines of a poem, another member may see sarcasm. Poetry uses an economy of words to express larger ideas and situations to the reader, and through book club discussion one or more of these can be revealed. Each of these poetry collections will lend themselves to group discussions of emotion, imagery, and…

• 10 Great Books for Mother-Daughter Book Clubs

  Shannon Rigney Keane, Mother, Daughter, Teacher, and Reader

  Ask any teacher or literacy expert — reading with (and to) your kids is the best way to guide them into a life of reading on their own. But we don't just read to our kids to create literate people. We read with our kids to create a language with which to talk and think about life.Kids — girls, especially — are under loads of pressure. Pressure to be good students, to be popular, to be athletic, to be responsible, to be accomplished. Their lives and relationships are complicated, yet it's often difficult for them to talk about these complexities with their parents. Reading…

• 
  The Millions

• Reckless and Dangerous: Justin Taylor’s Everything Here is the Best Thing Ever

  Theodore Wheeler

  9 Feb 2010 | 3:27 am

  The teenage and twenty-somethings who people Justin Taylor’s Everything Here is the Best Thing Ever face many impediments to happiness, and principal among these is debilitating self-obsession. Taylor depicts a generation raised on video games and cable-news politics, a nation where alcohol abuse and sexual discord are the main rites of passage. There’s a sense of entitlement that clouds the vision of his characters and blurs the boundaries between sex and love, faith and religion, politics and art. And while there is some hope that pervades many of these stories, the sense that this hope…

• Sam Lipsyte’s The Ask

  Edan Lepucki

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:31 am

  At FiveChapters this week, you can read an excerpt of Sam Lipsyte’s forthcoming novel, The Ask.

• Cooped up in a Bookstore, Just to Stop Reading

  Shaj Mathew

  8 Feb 2010 | 3:22 am

  The rustle of textbook pages turning, the hasty unzipping of oversized book bags hardly disrupts this venue’s overflowing intellectual energy. The pounding clatter of fingers pressed against greasy laptop keyboards – a soothing symphony to knowledge, it seems – fills the second-floor air, redolent of fresh Starbucks coffee. College students donning the ubiquitous ‘H’ logo, tourists doing likewise, a few bums clad in sweatpants, and the other denizens of Cambridge flock here, traveling up the cascading staircase past the stack of Malcolm Gladwell books to check out all three floors…

• Fuck Yeah, NYRB

  Patrick Brown

  5 Feb 2010 | 11:14 am

  Who says publishers have weak brands?  Someone loves the NYRB Classics so much they started a Tumblr blog about them.  It is called, appropriately, Fuck Yeah NYRB Classics!

• How Do I Get Home? A Profile of Nick Flynn

  Rebecca Keith

  5 Feb 2010 | 3:38 am

  When Nick Flynn drives around his hometown, Scituate, Massachusetts, he inevitably passes the houses he lived in with his mother and brother—six of them within the first five years of his life. In the past few decades, unsurprisingly, money has been pumped into Scituate, a small coastal city, but amid the explosion of seaside wealth, every house Flynn lived in looks worse for the wear. “They’re all still there,” he tells me, “sort of falling apart, with the same paint I painted on them just peeling off in sheets.” It’s an image that could be lifted straight from a dream—or one…

• 
  Lair of the Undead Rat

• The 21st National African American Read-In

  Greg "The Undead Rat"

  4 Feb 2010 | 11:04 am

  Are you participating in the 2010 National African American Read-In? What is the Read-in? I asked that same question myself and I discovered the following: February has traditionally been known as Black History Month For the last 20 years, as part of that month of exploration and celebration, the Black Caucus of NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) and the full body of the NCTE itself have sponsored The National African American Read-In. Basically the program runs the entire month of February allowing schools, churches and book discussion groups plenty of time to organize a Read-In…

• Zombies in the Star Wars Universe

  Greg "The Undead Rat"

  2 Feb 2010 | 12:56 pm

  “There was no shortage of nightmares aboard the Imperial Prison Barge Purge.” The Purge loses its engines and tries to salvage parts from a nearby abandoned Star Destroyer only to bring back something more than material . . . something deadly . . . and hungry. Remember, if you are interested in this book, click the mouse on the book cover to order it from the CLEVNET webcatalog. TITLE: STAR WARS: DEATH TROOPERS WRITER: by Joe Schreiber GENRE: Horror Book, Horror Novel, Humor, Science Fiction, DESCRIPTORS: Prisoners, Guards, Warden, Criminals, Sickness, Derelict Ships, Zombies,…

• Recommended Reads 2010 Begins Now

  Greg "The Undead Rat"

  14 Jan 2010 | 5:25 pm

  Presenting the first Recommended Reads book list for 2010: Recommended Reads: January 2010. This list is brought to you monthly by the Readers’ Advisory Team Services (RATS). It contains some of the newer books that have arrived or are expected to arrive at the library soon. Want to know what’s new, what’s hot and what’s going to be talked about tomorrow? Check out the Recommended Reads list. You will find it on the Heights Library Website, in the upper right hand corner — just under the green catalog button. The link is in green letters and says…

• Happy Holidays

  Greg "The Undead Rat"

  22 Dec 2009 | 8:42 am

  I would like to take a moment to wish you a happy and safe winter holiday and a wonderful New Year. Remember, the Heights Libraries will be closed Thursday December 24 and Friday December 25 for the holidays. Next week we close early at 5:30pm on Thursday December 31 and are closed all day Friday January 1, 2010. In the next year we’ll be back with a new look and a new bunch of books to talk about on this website. Until then, Be Safe and Happy. –Greg “The Undead Rat” Fisher

• The Food for Fines Drive is Over

  Greg "The Undead Rat"

  24 Nov 2009 | 7:55 am

  All good things must come to an end and our food for fines drive is no exception. Together, we collected a lot of food for the food bank which will help a lot of people this holiday season. I and the library would like to thank those patrons who participated. Thank you.

• 
  Jacket Copy

• Library of the Lost

  Carolyn Kellogg

  8 Feb 2010 | 3:55 pm

  Laura Miller, who wrote about C.S. Lewis' classic children's books in last year's "The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia," turns her attention to Narnia-like goings-on in the TV series "Lost."  I am not among the "Lost" devout, so I have no idea what level of spoilers are contained within. If I'd been watching "Lost," I'd probably have blogged before about the many books that appear on the show. This site has cataloged many of them, from Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" to…

• It's true: Neil Gaiman will write a 'Dr. Who' episode

  Carolyn Kellogg

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:54 am

  When Neil Gaiman spoke at UCLA Live on Thursday night, he got a question about whether he'd ever write a "Dr. Who" episode. There was a burst of applause from fans who had heard rumors that he might -- but Gaiman did no more than smile coyly, neither confirming nor denying. This weekend, SFX Magazine got confirmation from Neil himself that he is writing an episode of the long-lived TV series. In an e-mail, Gaiman wrote: And while I know it’s cruel to make you wait for things, in about 14 months from now, which is to say, NOT in the upcoming season but early in the one after…

• Rebecca Skloot and her book 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks'

  Carolyn Kellogg

  8 Feb 2010 | 6:59 am

  Rebecca Skloot devoted 10 years to researching the story and legacy of Henrietta Lacks, a woman who died of cancer in 1951. Cells taken from Lacks during a routine examination became the HeLa cell line, the first -- and for a long time only -- human cells that could stay alive in a lab. They've been involved in thousands of studies and major scientific innovations, including curing polio. In today's paper, we look at what Skloot learned about Lacks and her family and what it was like bringing her book, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," to shelves.I interviewed Skloot…

• Dani Shapiro on the writer's life

  Carolyn Kellogg

  7 Feb 2010 | 11:24 am

  In her new memoir, "Devotion," Dani Shaprio tackles the question of religion and faith from the perspective of one who left it behind long before. In our pages on Sunday, she writes about another kind of faith -- the faith writers must have to persevere through the "uncertainty, rejection and disappointment" of the profession and craft.The writer's apprenticeship -- or perhaps, the writer's lot -- is this miserable trifecta: uncertainty, rejection, disappointment. In the 20 years that I've been publishing books, I have fared better than most. I sold my first…

• Equator Books in Venice to close

  Carolyn Kellogg

  6 Feb 2010 | 9:45 am

  Equator Books in Venice is closing up shop. The bookstore, which opened 5 1/2 years ago, announced on Friday that will close its doors by midnight on Sunday.The  large and airy bookstore has been pinched by the economic slump. On balance, it stocked high-end books -- first editions, signed copies, art books -- the kind of things that feel a little like luxuries. To complement the book selection, it added records (including the collection of former Rolling Stone writer Gordon Lewis) and a cafe. As early as last spring, Equator knew it was in trouble, and never got back on its feet.

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  Buzz, Balls & Hype

• If You're Free Tonight at 9PM EST - Watch PAST LIFE

  M.J. Rose

  9 Feb 2010 | 5:50 am

  Tonight following American Idol on Fox TV is the premier of Past Life - a drama inspired by my Reincarnationist series. A second episode airs on Thursday the 11th at 9 (est) and then it stays in that time slot for its run.I hope you find it entertaining - and that about 5 million other people do too.

• Linktopia

  M.J. Rose

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:03 pm

  Linktopia with the help of Judge Page. It's who you know and that still holds true even with social media. Fast Company has the details.We've discussed the rule of three before, but here's a recent update.The real excitement, however, is that the iPad will go a step further and offer the potential to redefine the book as a multimedia experience. Ad Age has the story.A new report paints a picture of how teens and young adults are using social media these days. USAToday has the  recap.

• THE DOCTOR IS IN

  M.J. Rose

  4 Feb 2010 | 10:01 pm

  DO WE NEED A NEW WORD? Katharine Weber wrote to question my definition of "envy" in last week's post. She brought up an issue that I had not considered, but that you may have. With her permission, I'm reproducing our correspondence here. If there is a word for the very familiar feeling she describes, could someone let us know? If not, maybe we need to create one--any suggestions? Katharine: Isn't there some other kind of envy that involves coveting (or is "covet" also a loaded term?) something someone else has without there being hostility or negativity or…

• Surprised?

  M.J. Rose

  4 Feb 2010 | 3:56 pm

  You shouldn't be. Amazon as publisher. How far will it go?

• 1 Feb 2010 | 5:32 am

  M.J. Rose

  1 Feb 2010 | 5:32 am

  This is a great post on the Amazon Macmillian debacle. http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/02/01/all-the-many-ways-amazon-so-very-failed-the-weekend/

• 
  My Mind on Books

• ‘Temple Grandin’ film premieres on HBO tonight

  mymindonbooks

  6 Feb 2010 | 12:10 pm

  Starring Claire Danes, this HBO film is based on the books Emergence: Labeled Autistic and Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism. Oliver Sacks wrote about Grandin in An Anthropologist On Mars. See also: Temple Grandin at Amazon.com & at Wikipedia Huffington Post on the movie, including an interview with Ms Grandin “Monsters and Critics” reportedly calls [...]

• new book – “This Book Is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All”

  mymindonbooks

  3 Feb 2010 | 2:01 pm

  Hard to resist a book with a caped librarian superhero! Besides, it got a starred review at Publishers Weekly… This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All by Marilyn Johnson (Harper, 2010) (link for UK) Product description from the publisher: Buried in info? Cross-eyed over technology? From the bottom of a pile of paper [...]

• new book – ‘The Anatomy of Bias: How Neural Circuits Weigh the Options’

  mymindonbooks

  28 Jan 2010 | 8:55 pm

  New from MIT Press— The Anatomy of Bias: How Neural Circuits Weigh the Options by Jan Lauwereyns. (link for UK) Product description from the publisher: I will recklessly endeavor to scavenge materials from these various fields with the single aim of producing a coherent, but open-minded account of attention, or bias versus sensitivity, or how the activities of [...]

• excerpts from ‘How People Change’ by Allen Wheelis

  mymindonbooks

  24 Jan 2010 | 6:04 pm

  In every situation, for every person, there is a realm of freedom and a realm of constraint. One may live in either realm. One must recognize the irresistible forces, the iron fist, the stone wall—must know them for what they are in order not to fall into the sea like Icarus—but, knowing them, one may [...]

• new book – ‘Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche’

  mymindonbooks

  22 Jan 2010 | 11:23 pm

  A new book that seems to be generating lots of discussion is Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche by Ethan Watters (Free Press, 2010) (link for UK) Product description from the publisher: It is well known that American culture is a dominant force at home and abroad; our exportation of everything from movies to junk [...]

• 
  Reading Local

• Portland Book Blog – Roundup

  Spencer Newlin-Cushing

  8 Feb 2010 | 11:31 am

  Hi Book Folk! So unfortunately, this is going to be a Short Edition of the weekly roundup. I won’t make excuses, but I will say I will need a month of detox and some good calm reading to recover from a ridiculous weekend. Just too much. I look forward to the tasty words of Cormac McCarthy, Charles D’Ambrosio and maybe finishing the last few stories I have left in Portland Noir. And I will be back next week with a full host of links for your Portland Blog Roundup. Hawthorne Books Frank Meeink’s Lecture at Washington and Jefferson College – Nov. 19 2009 -An amazing…

• Tonight 2-8: Matthew Dickman at University of Portland

  Gabe Barber

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:04 am

  Today’s Featured Book Event: Matthew Dickman (University of Portland, Buckley Center @7:30pm): Dickman, a Portland native, earned his M.F.A. at the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, Austin. His first collection, All American Poem, published in 2008, received the American Poetry Review/Honickman First Book Award and the prestigious Kate Tufts Discovery Award. Dickman has also been awarded an Oregon Literary Fellowship. He has been featured in a wide range of publications, including Poets and Writers, The New Yorker and Tin House. Other Book Events Today: Altered Books…

• Updated: New Edition of Crap Hound #4 Just $600 Short of Going to the Printers

  Gabe Barber

  7 Feb 2010 | 2:55 pm

  About a month ago Karen wrote about Chloe Eudaly’s (owner of Reading Frenzy) efforts to print a revised and expanded 2nd edition of Crap Hound #4: Clowns, Devils, and Bait! Well the fundraising drive, which was conducted through Kickstarter, has received pledges from 251 263 Backers and is now 90% 93% 95% of the way towards meeting its goal of $12,500. But with only 3 days left for pledges to be made, the project is still about $1,200 $1,000 $800 $600 short of being fully funded. So can you help push this effort over the top by pledging your support?  Your pledge may inspire some of…

• Spare Room presents Jesse Morse & Allison Cobb at Concordia Coffee House

  Gabe Barber

  7 Feb 2010 | 8:54 am

  Today’s Featured Book Event: Spare Room presents Jesse Morse & Allison Cobb (Concordia Coffee House, @7:30pm): Jesse Morse, for the time being, lives and writes out of Portland, Oregon. His work, most recently, appears in Peaches & Bats, Vanitas, and Page Boy. He curates the Smorg reading series. He’s been writing sonnets, with a revolving acrostic, for the last half year. Allison Cobb is the author of Born2 (Chax Press) and the just-published Green-Wood (Factory School), which chronicles her experiences in Brooklyn, New York’s famous nineteenth-century Green-Wood Cemetery. She…

• Short Stories: Portland Lit Around the Web

  Gabe Barber

  6 Feb 2010 | 10:58 pm

  Every Saturday we will bring you links to articles from around the web featuring members of Portland’s lit community.  Please feel free to pass along any you come across as well, by emailing us at portland@readinglocal.com, and we will include them in next week’s edition of Short Stories. Over on Wallet Pop Marc Acito discusses the Supreme Court’s decision to allow unlimited corporate political donations: It’s official – the words “Supreme Court Justice” are an oxymoron. Or just moron, period. Thanks to the Supremes’ recent decision giving corporations…

• 
  Reading Copy Book Blog

• Animal Lit leads the pack

  Richard Davies

  8 Feb 2010 | 9:07 am

  Alison Flood at the Guardian tells about the rapid development of Animal Lit memoirs in the UK. Of course, the books mentioned are bobbins. I just can’t see past fiction like Jack London’s White Fang, Richard Adams’ Watership Down, Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book. If you want non-fiction then look at Laura Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit.

• Leopard in My Lap - a forgotten gem

  Richard Davies

  5 Feb 2010 | 12:28 pm

  While searching through an unlikely list of candidates to be inducted into our Weird Book Room, I came across this book - Leopard in my Lap by Michaela Denis. They don’t publish books like this one any more. Published in 1955, it’s an autobiographical account of seven safaris taken by photographer and film-maker Armand Denis and his wife Michaela in South America, Africa, Papua New Guinea, and Australia. I just love the cover and I bet that it might be a decent read too. I immediately thought about A Lion Called Christian. Michaela trained as a fashion designer in New York before…

• Michael Crichton’s art collection on sale

  Richard Davies

  5 Feb 2010 | 9:13 am

  Michael Crichton’s collection of art - including Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns - is going on sale. The author died in November 2008 at the age of 66. Four pieces from Crichton’s collection valued at $32 million — including an iconic Johns Stars and Stripes “Flag” painting that once hung in the writer’s Beverly Hills bedroom — went on display Friday before being auctioned by Christie’s in New York in May.

• Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks takes off

  Richard Davies

  5 Feb 2010 | 9:03 am

  Want to hear about the book of the moment? It’s called The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot and this book is selling like hot cakes because of this glowing review by Dwight Garner in the NY Times. Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells More…grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more…

• Texas prison reading - what’s banned & what’s not

  Richard Davies

  4 Feb 2010 | 11:25 am

  If I was locked up in the slammer, then I’d be begging friends and relatives to send me books (if they were still having anything to do with a jailbird like me, of course) to help pass the hours, the days, the years. This article in the Austin American-Statesman shows how mixed up the Texas prison system is regarding what prisoners can and cannot read while in jail. Prisoners can’t peruse certain books by Pablo Neruda and Andre Gide, both Nobel laureates. “Krik? Krak!” by Haitian writer Edwidge Danticat, who last year won a MacArthur “genius” grant, is…

• 
  About.com: Bestsellers

• New in Paperback: Drood by Dan Simmons

  8 Feb 2010 | 4:15 pm

  A daunting task creates a haunting tale. Only a writer with the expertise and perception of Dan Simmons could possibly attempt to rewrite the history and personality of not one, but two world-wide acclaimed authors, and nearly deconstruct their work into something new. With Drood, Dan Simmons attempts to tell the story of the end of Charles Dickens' life from the perspective of his society friend and secret rival, Wilkie Collins. Simmons peals back the layers of Collins' and Dickens' potentially diabolical, creative minds to explore what could have inspired Dickens to write his last,…

• Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler

  4 Feb 2010 | 4:38 pm

  Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler is a novel about Liam Pennywell, a schoolteacher who was forced to retire at 61, but who doesn't really mind because he never felt particularly fulfilled. The first night in his new condominium, though, he is attacked and wakes up in the hospital unable to remember what happened. He becomes obsessed with retrieving his memory, which leads him to reflect on the purpose of his life and what might make him happy. Read a complete review of Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler Noah's Compass Book Club Discussion Questions Cover Photo Courtesy Knopf Doubleday Noah's Compass by…

• Dear John Book vs. Movie

  2 Feb 2010 | 4:04 pm

  Nicholas Sparks' books often translate well into movies; however, the 2008 release of Nights in Rodanthe flopped. Will Dear John be better? The book Dear John is set just before and after 9/11 and involves a separation caused by the war in Iraq. In the book, Sparks did not talk very much about the war or politics. It was a timeless love story. Planning on seeing the movie? Once you do, leave a comment with how it compares to the book. Is it a better read or do the actors make it come alive? Dear John Book Review Dear John Movie Information Warning! Some of the Comments Contain Spoilers. Cover…

• New Paperback Pick: Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

  1 Feb 2010 | 4:13 pm

  Lisa See has established herself as an excellent writer of Chinese historical fiction with books such as Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. In Shanghai Girls, See once again creates a gripping story with believable characters that lets readers live inside a time and place different from our own. Shanghai Girls takes place in Shanghai and Los Angeles during the early twentieth century and follows Pearl and May, two sisters who flee a privileged life in Shanghai when the Japanese invade the city. Shanghai Girls Book Review Shanghai Girls Book Club Discussion Questions Cover Photo Courtesy Random…

• February New Book Releases Calendar

  31 Jan 2010 | 4:50 pm

  Don DeLillo releases a new novel in February, as does Chris Bohjalian. Bohjalian's Secrets of Eden takes place in New England and deals with a family entrenched in domestic violence. Need something lighter for the dark days? Danielle Steel, J.D. Robb and James Patterson all have new releases as well. February 2010 New Book Releases Calendar Cover Photo Courtesy Crown February New Book Releases Calendar originally appeared on About.com Bestsellers on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 00:50:00.Permalink | Comment | Email this

• 
  The Creative Penn

• How To Launch A Book With No Traditional Media Like Seth Godin

  Joanna Penn

  7 Feb 2010 | 10:59 pm

  Seth Godin, thought leader, marketing guru and prolific author has just launched his latest book, “Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?“. Seth is huge in the marketing world, his books sell globally in their millions and he has the no. 1 marketing blog in the world. He is famous in marketing and business circles and yet, he just launched this book with NO traditional media. It cost him nothing. Here’s how to launch a book like Seth Godin, with no traditional media: Target the bloggers, both in your niche and in related areas. Check out the list of blogs that Seth appeared on…

• Podcast: Book Marketing and Promotion, Your Questions Answered

  Joanna Penn

  4 Feb 2010 | 11:25 pm

  This podcast is all about book marketing, author platform and promotion – of yourself and your books. I have learnt a lot about this over the last 2 years and actually love marketing, so this session is me answering some of your questions from the survey I ran in December. Here are the questions that I answer in the show: Where do I start in making myself known as an author? Is having a logo important for my brand? Is it necessary to have your own blog as an author? How do you create one and what should be the topic? How can we promote fiction books online? What are the best giveaways…

• Character Based Writing: Lessons Learned From Sebastian Faulks

  Joanna Penn

  1 Feb 2010 | 11:26 pm

  I read this brilliant book over my Christmas break in Europe, and wanted to share what I learnt from it in terms of character based writing. ‘A Week In December‘ is my favourite Sebastian Faulks so far, which is saying something as he has written some fantastic books. You can read a great review of the book here. Here are my lessons learned. Use extreme detail. The book takes place over 1 week in the lives of 7 characters, each of whom are portrayed in incredible detail in terms of their appearance, what they like, where they live and how they interact with other people. There is…

• Ezine: January 2010 RoundUp On Writing, Publishing and Book Promotion

  Joanna Penn

  30 Jan 2010 | 10:37 pm

  Here’s the January Ezine, packed with information and inspiration for your writing journey! Read online below or download in PDF format. You can also read all the backlist here. PLUS details on the Bali Writer’s Retreat (now taking bookings here), and if you are in Australia, the next Brisbane seminar. Right Click here to Download in PDF The Creative Penn Ezine Jan 2010: Writing, Publishing, Ebooks, Book Promotion Related posts:November Ezine on Writing, Publishing, Book Sales and Marketing Here is the November Ezine, a PDF round-up of top... Articles and Tips for October: The…

• International Ebooks and Ebook Readers: An Update

  Joanna Penn

  28 Jan 2010 | 10:29 pm

  There has been some big news in the ebook world recently, and authors should know about these changes in order to take advantage of them. I wrote a post back in October that lamented the situation for international publishers, but things have certainly changed! Apple If you didn’t hear the news yet, Apple released their iPad last week after months of secrecy and online hype from fans. For all the details on the device, read this post. For writers and readers, there will be an iBooks app which will contain ebooks from some major publishers but there is no idea yet how indie authors…

• 
  www.publetariat.com

• Amazon's Recent Moves and Kindle Owners' Survey Suggest New Responses to Publishers' Prix Fixe Play

  Stephen Windwalker

  8 Feb 2010 | 6:00 pm

  When the Big Six publishers and Apple's Steve Jobs began conspiring recently to raise ebook prices by 30 to 50 percent from the Kindle Store standard of $9.99 for bestsellers and many new releases, it may have looked at first like curtains for Amazon's powerful hold on the fast-growing ebook market. read more

• Authors Can Be Stupid: The Myth of Multiple Sales

  Publetariat

  8 Feb 2010 | 6:00 pm

  This post was written by Michael A. Stackpole. It originally appeared on his Stormwolf website on 2/3/10, is reprinted here in its entirety with his permission, and is the first in a series we'll be reprinting in the coming days. I’m not going to name any names, but as we move into the digital era, there is a spurious argument that gets brought up from time to time by authors who really ought to know better. It pretty much points out that a) most of us are not good dollars & cents kinds of folks and b) why publishers have been able to convince a lot of authors that the…

• Who Wins The Ebook Wars?

  Publetariat

  7 Feb 2010 | 6:00 pm

  This article, from Roger Theriault, originally appeared on True/Slant on 2/3/10 and is reprinted here in its entirety with his permission. The recent e-book dispute between Amazon and Macmillan is far from over.   Macmillan books, both e-book and traditional paper, are still unavailable at time of this writing on Amazon.com, except through Amazon’s third-party sellers. And Macmillan e-books, and the iPad, are not yet available for sale from Apple, Inc.   Who will prevail? Will e-book prices go up? Will book pricing be controlled by a few publishers? Will consumers buy fewer…

• Character Developing Thoughts (Fictional Characters, That Is)

  Bob Spear

  7 Feb 2010 | 6:00 pm

  The Helpfulness of a Data Base Bible Previously, there have been comments and discussions here about the importance of characters to the story. They are intrinsically linked. Humans are interested in stories that include other humans (sci-fi excepted). A good story should have interesting, believable characters. So how do you make them that way? read more

• 
  There Are No Rules

• Rejection: It's What You Do Next That Counts

  Jane

  8 Feb 2010 | 10:15 am

  I have a dear friend, Dave, who has devoted his life to writing. He's made every sacrifice imaginable, sacrifices that other people won't or can't make. This year, he has been submitting to more agents and publications than ever—and getting rejected. He wrote me recently to say that he felt more jaded every day and that his cynicism was growing so strong that he was channeling it into his writing. I know Dave pretty well. And I've read his work. He does have an audience out there. But I'm not surprised he's getting rejected. So I wrote him the following, which I hope is instructive for all…

• Help Me Choose New Tweeps to Follow

  Jane

  7 Feb 2010 | 6:21 pm

  This spring will mark the one-year anniversary for Best Tweets for Writers. From the start, I have used a combination of serendipity and RSS feeds/searches (viewed in Google Reader) to curate each week's list. While I think I follow some of the most helpful folks on Twitter, I know I see only a small part of the writing universe. So, I'm looking for your help: Who most consistently offers the best writing advice on Twitter? Who is most likely to share links that are helpful in your writing life? Who creates meaning in your Twitterstream instead of noise? I'm looking to add at least 5 new…

• Best Tweets for Writers (week ending 2/5/10)

  Jane

  7 Feb 2010 | 6:10 pm

  I watch Twitter, so you don't have to. Visit each Sunday for the week's best Tweets. If I missed a great Tweet, leave it in the Comments. Always welcome your suggestions on improving this weekly feature. Best of Best Why I say "no" to great work @Kid_Lit Hooks that snag great book deals @BubbleCow Are you ready to query? Here's a checklist. @Janet_Reid Agent explains how to trim your query to 250 words @elizabethscraig Stand Alone It amazes me how many people need to cut the first paragraph of their query. If your query makes sense without it, it needs to go @MandyHubbard If you're a debut…

• A Wordsmith Among Kingfish

  Jane

  5 Feb 2010 | 6:43 am

  Today's guest post is by the lovely Darrelyn Saloom. Follow her on Twitter, or read one of her most popular posts on the memoir she's writing with Deirdre Gogarty. Pictured above: Rick Bragg On the third weekend of October 2009, writers and book lovers gathered at the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge to celebrate books. It seemed fitting for the festival to take place on the grounds of the 34-story limestone-clad building, the vision (and final resting place) of former governor Huey P. Long, a natural born storyteller. As part of the festival, I attended an event called Writing in…

• My Exciting News at Writer's Digest

  Jane

  4 Feb 2010 | 12:38 pm

  You've probably noticed I've been making liberal use of guest bloggers during the new year. That's because I'm busy cooking up new content at Writer's Digest, but I'll soon return to more tough-love posts for writers! For now, I do want to share some exciting news & cool stuff that I think you'll enjoy. How to Get a Book Deal While Avoiding the Slush Pile This is my guest post over at Writer Unboxed, discussing the so-called "death of the slush pile" as reported by the Wall Street Journal. The Future of Agents & Book Contracts While attending Digital Book World, I covered the three…

• 
  Better World Books Blog

• Better World Books Podcast: Jasper Fforde

  Dana

  9 Feb 2010 | 5:30 am

  Interviewing an author is not as straight forward as you might think.  Often they are coming in from out of town for 24 hours or less and have a fairly tight schedule while they are here. Sometimes the authors have been affected by the congestion and general purpose ickiness that is Atlanta traffic. Sometimes the schedule is plagued by the questionable info on the various mapping websites that often will lead them to some place other than our office. And sometimes they arrive at the right place and the right time and for some unknown reason the recording equipment will decide not to work.

• 2010: A New Year a New Decade – Part 3

  admin

  8 Feb 2010 | 10:20 am

  In our final installment on the outlook for 2010 and beyond, CEO David Murphy takes a look at the bigger picture.   As we look forward to this new decade, we know that in order to be successful everything has to line up just so.    In our earlier installments we took a look at the people and the foundation of our company.  In today’s post David takes a look at the market: The book industry is changing rapidly, from Kindles and iPads to publishers and authors fighting to stay afloat and looking for new distribution channels.  With disruption comes opportunity. We are constantly…

• 2010: A New Year a New Decade – Part 2

  admin

  1 Feb 2010 | 2:54 pm

  In our continuing series on the outlook for 2010 and beyond, CEO David Murphy takes a look at the foundation of Better World Books and why it matters. We’ve been at it for more than a few years now and we’ve certainly had to make some course corrections along the way…as any good company does.  In spite of that, or perhaps because of it, I am so proud of the strong foundation we have to stand on.  Sure it’s about technology and infrastructure so I’ll talk to that first, but it’s really about so much more than that. TECHNOLOGY & INFRASTRUCTURE –…

• J.D. Salinger dies at age 91

  admin

  28 Jan 2010 | 10:33 am

  According to the Associated Press, legendary author J.D. Salinger passed away yesterday, January 27th, 2010 of natural causes.  He was at his home in Cornish, New Hampshire where he had lived in self-imposed isolation for many years. Salinger was best known for THE CATCHER IN THE RYE which sold over 60 million copies since it was published in 1951.  His other books include FRANNY AND ZOOEY and NINE STORIES. Read the complete story on the New York Times blog.

• 2010: A New Year a New Decade – Part 1

  David

  27 Jan 2010 | 8:22 am

  In a three part series starting today, our fearless leader, CEO David Murphy explains his optimistic outlook on the new year and the new decade. Hard to believe it is already 2010.  It’s not just a new year, but a new decade and there is so much opportunity in front of us!  Why am I so bullish?  Well I have three good reasons, the first of which is: Those who believe in us: Our customers. Our customers see great value in what they are getting from us and they let us know.  We are adding thousands of new customers every week.  They like our selection, our prices, our great…

• 
  Art of Mike Cressy

• February's Abstract out put...

  8 Feb 2010 | 11:21 am

  I put some time aside to work on several abstracts this last week. These are the results!They've all got a pastel look to them, which I think is from my memories of the mid 80s in Los Angeles.More next post!

• Possible Cover for Graphic Novel...

  5 Feb 2010 | 12:33 pm

  This is a drawing for the start of another nightmare sequence in my graphic novel and I'm thinking of using it for the cover. If you have any thoughts about that please let me know.I think it could work well for the cover.See you next post.-M

• Coloring Book Cover!

  4 Feb 2010 | 8:05 pm

  I just finished off this cover for a coloring book that I did for a publisher near Chicago. Unfortunately it's for a religious publisher. (hey, I need the money) The inside line art is too old time like religion for my taste. I've done these kinds of illustrations before and these kind publishers never get contemporary. I try to nudge them and sometimes put little subversive bits in there that the NEVER notice. Hahahahahaha....See you next post!-M

• Drive in movie...

  27 Jan 2010 | 11:24 am

  A recent piece of art that I've done in Adobe Illustrator! I love this program but I'm limited in what I can do with it. Everything that I work on in this program turns out like this. Which is fine but I'd like to see how much further I can take it one day.Hope you dig the image!-MC

• NEW Acrylic painting!

  27 Jan 2010 | 11:16 am

  This one came rather quickly but the original is only 8 x 10 so it was easy to paint. I'm doing a series of these kind of creatures for the next few paintings and I will post the results here.Hope you enjoy!See you next post!MC

• 
  Soliloquy

• Writing Prompt – Snowed In

  22 Jan 2010 | 5:50 am

  Use the following writing prompt in a ten minute free-write. Set your timer and just write. Do not stop to think about where your story is going. It can be enlightening to see where your sub-conscious takes you. You are in a log cabin in Alaska. It has been snowing heavily all night and you awake to find yourself snowed in. There is no phone (including your cell phone), no electricity, and no transportation to take you into town. You are alone. Here are some questions to keep you writing: What do you notice about your surroundings? Describe the cabin and the immediate area around it. How do…

• Best books of January

  16 Jan 2010 | 7:04 am

  As I have said before, I love book lists. Amazon has some great lists. One of my favorites is the Best of the Month list. These are the editor's picks and not just the top sold books. The list includes thumbnails of the covers and descriptions. The best book for January are: The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto by Jaron Lanier Mr. Shivers by Robert Jackson Bennett Bloodroot by Amy Greene The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers by Thomas Mullen Just Kids by Patti Smith The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton

• Dreamfever by Karen Marie Moning Book Review

  9 Jan 2010 | 5:28 am

  Finally, after an extended delay, here is the book review of Dreamfever by Karen Marie Moning. This is the fourth installment in the fever series, and I must say, this is the book I have been waiting for since the first one. Mac is back and Mac 3.0 is badass. The Unseelie princes broke her down – completely emptied her of any thoughts except her desire for them. Jericho Barrons built her back up better than ever. Mac trades her pink for black and her accessories of bracelets and scarves for guns and blades. Mac wants revenge for every injustice given to her, and that includes those who she…

• I Survived NaNo and Won!

  30 Nov 2009 | 2:05 am

  I have been off in NaNoWriMo land for the last month. If you are not familiar with NaNo, it is a writing challenge. You write 50,000 words in one month. At the end you have a novel - one that needs major editing - but still a novel. Do you always say "One of these days I will write that novel," but then you never get to that one day? Well, NaNo says, "Enough, that one day has arrived" and it starts every year on November 1.This was my first year and I won! Yes, that is the winner's badge on the side there. It was a challenge, but the support from the other NaNo writers in the area, on the…

• Zadayi Red by Caleb Fox Review

  7 Sep 2009 | 1:52 pm

  Zadayi Red is Caleb Fox’s debut book. The book was inspired by Fox’s Cherokee heritage. Though the book and the Galayi people are fictional, you may recognize familiar stories and customs.The book is about a people called Galayi, which is divided into five tribes. It is like a state divided into counties. Each has their own rulers and customs, but they also have collective customs and rulers. The tale focuses on one boy, Dahzi that is raise by a medicine woman. He is the prophesied savior of the people. This is a large responsibility with which to grow up. Also, Dahzi’s own grandfather…

• 
  The Reader's Advisor Online Blog

• RA Run Down

  Cindy Orr

  7 Feb 2010 | 4:18 pm

  The readers’s advisory librarian’s weekly update, from a scan of more than 100 blogs, newsletters, magazines, newspapers and television. This blog is brought to you by the Reader’s Advisor Online, the subscription database based on Libraries Unlimited’s Genreflecting Advisory series. We’d love to hear from you. Feel free to comment on any of our posts, or contact us at rablog@lu.com. By Cindy Orr Titles New to the Bestseller Lists This Week Fiction Kay Hooper - Blood Ties Nonfiction Ozzy Osbourne - I Am Ozzy Marc A. Thiessen - Courting Disaster Andrew Young - The…

• Most Wanted Mashup: Hottest Books of the Week

  Cindy Orr

  7 Feb 2010 | 4:17 pm

  Fiction Dan Brown - The Lost Symbol Robert Crais - The First Rule Jack Higgins - The Wolf at the Door Kay Hooper - Blood Ties Elizabeth Kostova - The Swan Thieves Leila Meacham - Roses Douglas Preston - Impact Nicholas Sparks - The Last Song Kathryn Stockett - The Help Stuart Woods - Kisser Nonfiction Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith Atul Gawande - The Checklist Manifesto Elizabeth Gilbert - Committed Malcolm Gladwell - What the Dog Saw John Heilemann and Mark Halperin - Game Change Greg Mortenson - Stones Into Schools Ozzy Osbourne & Chris Ayres - I Am Ozzy Patti Smith - Just Kids Marc…

• Under the Radar: Past and Present Oscar Nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay

  Sarah Statz Cords

  7 Feb 2010 | 4:17 pm

  Lynn Barber–An Education: A Memoir Jean-Dominique Bauby–The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Zoe Heller–What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal P.D. James–Children of Men George Jonas–Vengeance (Munich) Walter Kirn–Up in the Air John Le Carre–The Constant Gardener Cormac McCarthy–No Country for Old Men Ian McEwan–Atonement Tom Perrotta–Little Children Sapphire–Push (Precious) Bernhard Schlink–The Reader Upton Sinclair–Oil! (There Will Be Blood) John Wagner–A History of Violence Bookmark to:

• New, Noteworthy, and No-Brainer

  Cindy Orr

  7 Feb 2010 | 9:56 am

  Readers will see these titles in bookstores for the first time this week. Fiction Lorraine Adams - The Room and the Chair - 2/9/10 Richard Bausch - Something is Out There: Stories - 2/9/10 Alex Berenson - The Midnight House - 2/9/10 Sarah Blake - The Postmistress - 2/9/10 Carla Buckley - The Things That Keep Us Here - 2/9/10 Jackie Collins - Poor Little Bitch Girl - 2/9/10 Tim Green - False Convictions - 2/10/10 Adam Haslett - Union Atlantic - 2/9/10 Lori Lansens - The Wife’s Tale - 2/10/10 Thomas Lynch - Apparition and Late Fictions: A Novella & Stories - 2/8/10 Eric Puchner -…

• Are we ready for some football?

  Sarah Statz Cords

  5 Feb 2010 | 7:33 am

  by Sarah Statz Cords Or, as in my case, are we ready for some advertisements between the football playing? I must admit that I almost always watch the Super Bowl, although my team (Go Pack!) hasn’t made an appearance there for a while. My interest in this Sunday’s Super Bowl XLIV will be primarily to see how the ads are, and to eat as much junk food as possible during the broadcast. This got me thinking. Of course, we won’t be seeing any, but wouldn’t it be awesome to see some ads for books during the Super Bowl? (There’s no event I don’t want to see books…

• 
  The Bat Segundo Show

• Christian Berger (BSS #321)

  ed@edrants.com (Edward Champion)

  5 Feb 2010 | 7:53 am

  Christian Berger recently appeared on The Bat Segundo Show #321. Berger is the cinematographer for The White Ribbon and was, most recently, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography. This conversation is related to The Bat Segundo Show #316, in which writer-director Michael Haneke was interviewed. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Wondering why so many moviegoers are named Jacques. Guest: Christian Berger Subjects Discussed: Reasons to visit New York, establishing a black-and-white look with a color negative, specific hues used for gray tones, pressure from financing, grayscale limits in…

• Sue Grafton (BSS #320)

  ed@edrants.com (Edward Champion)

  29 Jan 2010 | 12:12 pm

  Sue Grafton is most recently the author of U is for Undertow. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Looking for a man named Snake to help him escape from Santa Teresa. Author: Sue Grafton Subjects Discussed: Kinsey Millhone’s early announcement to the readers regarding the bad guys, foreshadowing murder, not writing the same book twice, the ethics of investigation, the emotions associated with kidnapped children, Jaycee Dugard, Scott Smith’s A Simple Plan, gray areas of moral conduct, the difficulties reconciling real crime and fictional crime, the horror of people killing each other over a…

• Gail Godwin (BSS #319)

  ed@edrants.com (Edward Champion)

  22 Jan 2010 | 10:17 am

  Gail Godwin is most recently the author of Unfinished Desires. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Combating an uncertain relationship with the faith. Author: Gail Godwin Subjects Discussed: [list forthcoming] EXCERPT FROM SHOW: Correspondent: I’m curious where the punishment that Ravenel ekes out in relation to a sanitary pad came from. The idea of having to research the inner workings of a modern toilet. Was this based off of any of the interviews you did? Godwin: No, this was made up. I was in Ravenel’s head and her character. I was being the headmistress. And as headmistress with a lot…

• Peniel Joseph (BSS #318)

  ed@edrants.com (Edward Champion)

  15 Jan 2010 | 11:00 am

  Peniel Joseph is most recently the author of Dark Days, Bright Nights. Condition of Mr. Segundo: Wondering if he lands on Plymouth Rock, or Plymouth Rock lands on him. Author: Peniel Joseph Subjects Discussed: Whether or not the bold declarations within Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the Bullet” speech has been entirely heeded, the progress of African-American politics, revolutionaries vs. political pragmatists, Harold Washington, Jesse Jackson, Michael Eric Dyson’s critiques of Obama, Jeremiah Wright’s perception, Obama’s failure to confront race, the February…

• Weekly Segundo Begins on January 15, 2010

  ed@edrants.com (Edward Champion)

  8 Jan 2010 | 10:02 am

  We had originally intended to offer a clips show. But unanticipated professional commitments, combined with the sense that these interviews work better in their complete format rather than soundbytes, have forced us to scrap the episode for the time being. But The Bat Segundo Show will initiate a less erratic schedule beginning next week, where new installments will be unveiled every Friday. In the meantime, feel free to sift through the archives. Thank you for listening!

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  A Bookshelf Monstrosity

• Books By Theme: Love on the Page

  A Bookshelf Monstrosity

  8 Feb 2010 | 4:00 am

   Photo: Bob.Fornal Censoring an Iranian Love Storyby Sharihar Mandanipour Beautiful black-haired Sara and fiercely proud Dara fall in love in the dusty stacks of the library, where they pass secret messages to each other encoded in the pages of their favorite books. But Iran’s Campaign Against Social Corruption forbids their being alone together. Defying the state and their disapproving parents, they meet in secret amid the bustling streets, Internet cafés, and lush private gardens of Tehran.Yet writing freely of Sara and Dara’s encounters, their desires, would put Shahriar in as…

• The Monstrosity Gazette: A weekly smattering of all things literary...

  A Bookshelf Monstrosity

  7 Feb 2010 | 7:07 am

  Bookish Quote of the Day: "Anti-war books are as likely to stop war as anti-glacier books are to stop glaciers." -Kurt Vonnegut Today in Literary History... On this day in 1601, Shakespeare's Richard II was presented at the Globe playhouse, a performance especially arranged by those hoping to overthrow Queen Elizabeth the following day. Followers of the Earl of Essex hoped the story of king-killing might stir up support; overcoming the actors' objections that it would not be a good draw, they paid forty shillings to have it staged. If the Saturday afternoon performance was poorly-attended,…

• The Ghost Writer by John Harwood

  A Bookshelf Monstrosity

  6 Feb 2010 | 4:00 am

  The Ghost Writer by John Harwood Mariner Books, 2005 384 pages Literary Mystery/Gothic Suspense Library Copy Summary in a Sentence (or two): Haunted by his mother's mysterious death, timid, solitary Gerard Freeman lives for two things: his elusive pen pal and the secret manuscript that his mother gave her life to protect. Suspecting that something within that manuscript holds the key to his mother's refusal to return to her childhood home, Gerard sets out to unveil the mystery shrouding his family. My Thoughts: You know that book you have to carry with you and read as you walk around your…

• Library in the News - Censorship Watch

  A Bookshelf Monstrosity

  5 Feb 2010 | 4:00 am

  As a future librarian, I keep my ear to the ground about what's going on in libraries both in the US and the world at large. Here's an article that came to my attention earlier today about a case of censorship in a school library: A popular young adult book in the Theisen Middle School Library in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, is being challenged as inappropriate. Ann Wentworth issued a formal complaint with the school district, objecting to “sexual content too mature for 11- to 14-years-olds” in the book One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies by Sonya Sones. The complaint lists some…

• Wading Through My Wishlist

  A Bookshelf Monstrosity

  4 Feb 2010 | 4:00 am

     Recent additions to the Great Monstrosity that is my wishlist.... God vs. Darwin deftly answers complex questions: Why is there such intense antagonism to the teaching of evolution in the United States? What have the courts said about the various attempts to oppose it? Sprinkled with interesting tidbits about Charles Darwin and the major players of the evolution vs. creationism debate, readers will find that God vs. Darwin is charming in its embrace of the strong passions aroused from the topic of teaching evolution in schools. As she begins a very tough last semester of high…

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  pagedIN

• How Men's Movements are better than Feminist Movements?

  Sojo Varughese

  31 Jan 2010 | 8:18 pm

  When I wrote my previous post, I thought who ever read it were going to disagree with me than agree. However, I found both men and woman in agreement with the rhetoric of 'real gender equality' to a great extend than I expected. Men who read it were in total agreement. Women who read it at least said they understood how I felt. And one of my students [He Blogs Here!] found it amusing that I am

• The question of real gender equality

  Sojo Varughese

  23 Jan 2010 | 9:17 pm

  I do not know if what I am going to tell you is practised all over India, but it is a very prevalent practice in South India. I do not know if it is practised every where in South India, but I am sure it is in most of Kerala and some of Karnataka. And it is a practice that pisses me off, a practice I consider as an insult and injustice to men. It is a practice that always makes me feel it is time

• Ego-surfing: What is in a name?

  Sojo Varughese

  14 Jan 2010 | 7:34 am

  ".... That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet." William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2) In my case, this excessively quoted Shakespearean words of wisdom is often forgotten when I introduce myself to people. Some of them try their best to hide a frowning forehead when they ask me whatever on earth my name means. Some of them wonder if my name is another

• Is news reporting more important than saving a life?

  Sojo Varughese

  12 Jan 2010 | 5:35 am

  When Shruti [so did Venky and Narendra] had responded to my last post on the cold-blooded murder of Sub Inspector Vetrivel, she raised a pertinent question: "Is telecasting a news [story] more important than saving a life?" Now, I know that the question was not directed at me expecting an answer. It was a question to challenge the Mainstream Media, infamous for their insatiable appetite for scoop

• We deserve our leaders (Blog-a-ton 6)

  Sojo Varughese

  8 Jan 2010 | 2:44 pm

  This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 6; the sixth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. It is late night. It is dark. I am sitting on the terrace of my apartment block as I key in this. I am in a terrible state of mind. When I get ready for Blog-a-Ton 6 I am

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  Minnesota Reads

• Why do fools fall in love?

  Jodi Chromey

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:00 am

  I remember breathlessly telling my twelve-year-old niece, Jaycie, that if Amy Bloom’s name were on the cover of a phone book I’d read it and enjoy every line. I’m a bit of a Bloom fan, and still remember buying her first novel Love Invents Us in hardcover at the B. Dalton in the Eden Prairie Mall just because I liked the title. After reading Where the God of Love Hangs Out her newest short story collection that affirmation is truer than ever. What I like so much about Bloom’s writing is that she populates her stories with intelligent, capable people. I like that her…

• Wormwood, Nevada

  LeAnn Suchy

  7 Feb 2010 | 8:00 am

  When you were little, do you remember staring at your pile of wrapped birthday presents and being so excited to see a huge box? Small boxes surrounded the big box, but they weren’t nearly as important as what was in that monstrous box. It’s got to be something great since it’s that big, right? I was always disappointed by the big box. Inevitably it was the first I’d want to open because it just had to be good, but it was usually a sleeping bag or a box of clothes. When I was turning eight, my oldest sister filled a huge box full of old blankets, pillows, silverware,…

• The Swan Thieves

  Will A

  6 Feb 2010 | 8:00 am

  By all accounts, I should have really liked Elizabeth Kostova’s The Swan Thieves. That makes the fact that it’s a wretched failure all the more disappointing. The Swan Thieve, Kostova’s second novel, begins with the admission of Robert Oliver, a painter of some renown, to the psychiatric care of Andrew Marlow. Oliver had been committed after attempting to damage a painting at the National Gallery of Art and now will speak to no one about the incident. Investigating the source of Oliver’s derangement sends Marlow down a path cluttered with meaningful paintings and even more meaningful…

• Male stripping is all fun and games until someone gets hurt.

  David Fingerman

  5 Feb 2010 | 8:00 am

  Some things you glance at, do a double-take, and then go ewww, still unable to take your eyes away. That’s what I did with the cover of John-Ivan Palmer’s, Motels of Burning Madness – Confessions of a Male Stripper. The cover shows a lit cigarette being dropped into a male g-string that looks like a miniature tuxedo? Who would not want to read this book? Well, I could think of a few people, but I’m not going to go there. I was intrigued. The novel revolves around Huey Dubois, a sympathetic stripper who readily admits to having more than a few flaws. I may have been…

• Portrait of a writer by said writer

  Christa

  4 Feb 2010 | 8:00 am

  The character John Coetzee, as written about in a fictionish-like sorta memoir, is socially awkward, not a real man, does not emit any sort of sexual vibe, and was never a great writer embraced by the collective. Summertime by JM Coetzee is delivered as a novel with an alternative story format. Vincent, an English biographer, is conducting interviews with people who knew Coetzee in the early 1970s when he was living in a ramshackle place with his father in South Africa and teaching English. Vincent is trying to eke out anecdotes from the subjects that get to the root of John as a person for a…

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  Great Books that I liked

• Jungle Lore - a book by Jim Corbett (published in 1953)

  29 Jan 2010 | 11:35 pm

  Jim Corbett was a famous man of the Jungle, who lived in the northern portion of India (the Kumaon and other Himalayan regions) in the first half of the 20th century, and was an expert in the Jungle. He could track animals like the best of them, and was much in demand, especially for killing those animals (tigers, leopards) who had started killing humans. This would happen if the animals were diseased, or badly injured enough that they could not catch their normal prey, or had realized that humans were easier prey, especially in the region that was hilly and very green. Jim Corbett would take…

• The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag (By Jim Corbett) (published in 1948)

  12 Jan 2010 | 11:05 am

  Jim Corbett was a famous hunter and conservationist, who was born and lived in the Terai region of the Himalayas. He knew the jungle inside out, and was an expert tracker. He was also much in demand for his hunting, but at some time in his life, he had made a vow to not kill for fun, but kill those animals who hunted humans. He is responsible for killing a number of leopards and tigers who had terrorised humans in the region (many of these animals had killed scores of humans). Jim Corbett is now immortalized with the naming of a famous Tiger Habitat, called the Jim Corbett Tiger National Park…

• The Temple Tiger and More Man-Eaters of Kumaon (published in 1954)

  1 Jan 2010 | 1:04 am

  Jim Corbett was a famous hunter and conservationist who lived in the region of Terai and Kumaon, in North India during the latter half of the 19th century, and through to the mid part of the 20th century. Being born in this region, he grew up with the forested and mountainous region and became very familiar with it. He loved the jungle, was very comfortable inside the forest, and could track down animals. He became very famous as a hunter, but he was no there for the thrill of killing wild animals, instead killing those who became man-eaters. Some of the animals (typically tigers and…

• Man-Eaters of Kumaon by Jim Corbett (published in 1944)

  1 Jan 2010 | 12:12 am

  Jim Corbett was a famous hunter and conservationist born and brought up in India during the latter half of the 18th century, and lived up till the mid-1950's. He was also a colonel in the British Indian army, and also worked for the Railways. He is famous (immortalized to some extent) by the naming of one of the large Wildlife sanctuaries in Uttranchal (India), called Corbett National Park, the home of the Royal Bengal tiger (at current count, there are 164 tigers inside the Park).Corbett was also much respected by the local population of the region, a mountainous and forested regions; since…

• The Old Curiosity Shop (released in 1841), written by Charles Dickens

  25 Dec 2009 | 3:36 am

  The Old Curiosity Shop was a novel released in serial form between 1840, and 1841, in Dickens's weekly serial called "Master Humphrey's Clock". In this serial, Dickens had also published another novel, called "Barnaby Rudge", and in addition to these 2 novels, there were short stories also published in the serial. This compilation was however something that was later abandoned by Dickens and now the novels and stories are also published separately. The serial was constructed such that Master Humphrey was describing the stories to a group of friends; however, this did not really work and was…