Jan
12
2012
The New York Times has a great listing of all of the reading suggestions provided by publishers (via Twitter) for Downton Abbey fans.
“We’re just riding that ‘Downton Abbey’ wave,” said Stephen Morrison, the editor in chief and associate publisher of Penguin Books, who watched Season 1 last year and began planning which books to release around the time of the Season 2 premiere. “I think the story lends itself to great television but it is also the themes of great literary writing, with all the twists and turns in the characters.”
Jan
12
2012
According to an article on SheKnows, a library in Charlton, MA, sent a police officer to the home of a 5-year-old girl because of overdue books. It was found that Hailey Benoit’s books were a few months overdue and when approached by police, she asked if she was going to be arrested.
Charlton Library officials defended their position on their website with the following statement:
Library materials are purchased using taxpayer dollars. We feel as library staff that it is our duty to safeguard those tax dollars.
Do you think these library officials went to far? Should the age of the borrower been considered before police action was taken?
Jan
10
2012
A copy of the world’s most expensive book, John James Audubon’s BIRDS OF AMERICA is set for auction later this month and is expected to sell for up to $10 million. This edition is only one of 120 and is expected to break auction records.
“Birds of America is most significant for its sheer beauty. It’s a masterpiece of illustration,” said Richard Davies of rare and used book specialist AbeBooks. “Aside from being famous in the rare book world, Birds of America has also immense historical and ornithological importance. Some of the birds John James Audubon painted are extinct and he also discovered new species.”
The book measures at over three feet height and runs to four volumes. Picking up a copy of the “book” is a two-person job, according to a book dealer.
Jan
10
2012
What do you give a baby born with everything? If you’re Oprah Winfrey you give BOOKS! According to The Insider, Ms. O sent Jay-Z and Beyonce’s new baby girl, Blue Ivy, a trunk full of children’s books…now wouldn’t you love to know which books made Oprah’s list?
Jan
9
2012
According to THE HUFFINGTON POST Elton John is writing his first book, a personal account of the AIDS crisis.
The musician says “Love is the Cure: Ending the Global Aids Epidemic” will include memories of friends who died of AIDS-related illnesses, including Queen frontman Freddie Mercury.
British publisher Hodder & Stoughton says the book will be published in July along with an audio book read by the British pop star. The U.S. publisher is Little, Brown.
Proceeds will go to the Elton John’s AIDS Foundation.
John said Monday the book would ask why more is not being done to cure the disease.
He said AIDS “is a disease that must be cured not by a miraculous vaccine, but by changing hearts and minds, and through a collective effort to break down social barriers.”
Jan
9
2012
27-year-old novelist, Amanda Hocking, has become the darling of the self-publishing world when it was reported that she was making close to $10,000 a month on her self-published ebooks. Last fall Hocking sold her 1 millionth book for the Amazon Kindle, putting her in a class with only 11 other literary superstars including the likes of Nora Roberts, James Patterson and Steig Larsson. In a recent interview with NPR, Hocking discusses the dozens of novels she had written and the nearly 50 agent rejections she received before switching genres and writing (and self-publishing) paranormal romances. Last year she signed a multi-million dollar deal with St. Martin’s Press and her first book, Switched, is out now. Movie rights have already been snatched up and Hocking is on her way to literary stardom.
Jan
9
2012
In Somerset Maugham’s essay THE ART OF FICTION, he writes that it is perfectly fine to skip sentences while reading because “a sensible person does not read a novel as a task. He reads it as a diversion.” Robert McCrum explores this idea further in his essay in The Guardian. Have you ever skimmed a book? Do you find it enhances the enjoyment of reading?