Libro filum--the book thread

[Spinner]

At least that's how Google translates "the book thread".

Amazon is said to be planning to try a test run with brick and mortar bookstores, starting with a single store in Seattle with plans to spread nationwide if profits look good.

Hang in there, Luddites. You may get to keep your bookstores yet.

Amazon has already denied this. I realize this is an article from 2009, but I have doubts they'd try something they have no experience with or pull resources from their current business model. But, as we all know, this industry is in such a state of flux that anything is possible.

But back to books, I picked up Ben Marcus' The Flame Alphabet today. The premise looks quite interesting, about how all of a sudden the speech of children begins killing their parents.

[IceAlisa]

Sad Luddite.

[John 3 17]

Cool title, Spinner!

-Bridget

[Fergus]

Cool title, Spinner!

Ah, slick, going the Latin route......

BTW: Happy 200th, Charles Dickens!

[rfisher]

Sad Luddite.

Me too. I gave in and bought a Nook and already don't like it. I've had it a week and haven't downloaded a thing after I read a sample.

[danceronice]

I have Kindle for PC (because it's free.) I published a book for both Kindle and paperback. I tell people to buy the "real" one (ie the paperback.) I've read precisely ONE ebook though I've downloaded 19 (okay, I skimmed some of the Thoreau.) That was Charles Lightoller's "Titanic And Other Ships" and I used the ebook because the reprint is a bit pricey (and first editions can hit $800.) Otherwise I just can't focus on an eBook like I can on a real book.

[Prancer]

Amazon has already denied this. I realize this is an article from 2009, but I have doubts they'd try something they have no experience with or pull resources from their current business model. But, as we all know, this industry is in such a state of flux that anything is possible.

Could be, but the source has, to date, been very reliable. We shall see.

Me too. I gave in and bought a Nook and already don't like it. I've had it a week and haven't downloaded a thing after I read a sample.

I thought you returned it because it locked up?

I'm closing in on 700 real books on my Nook and still love it.

[Buzz]

I saw a strange little book about a castaway dog named Sophie aptly named Sophie The Castaway Canine or something like that. Anyone heard of it? I am gonna add it to my must read list.

[Artemis@BC]

I saw a strange little book about a castaway dog named Sophie aptly named Sophie The Castaway Canine or something like that. Anyone heard of it? I am gonna add it to my must read list.

Never heard of it, but just Googled it ... and it's a true story! Kinda disappointing, actually -- if it were a fiction work, the story could be told more from her point of view.

[rfisher]

Could be, but the source has, to date, been very reliable. We shall see.



I thought you returned it because it locked up?

I'm closing in on 700 real books on my Nook and still love it.

I think I fixed it. I guess I should download something and find out.

[Spinner]

But back to books, I picked up Ben Marcus' The Flame Alphabet today. The premise looks quite interesting, about how all of a sudden the speech of children begins killing their parents.

Gave up on this book 50 pages in. Overly descriptive and odd prose along with unlikable characters, I couldn't get into it. Now reading and liking Hari Kunzru's Gods Without Men.

[Evilynn]

I'm on the final week of my reading challenge, so I'm trying to cram in books, which means lots of Urban Fantasy. I'm currently working my way through book #2 of The Hollows (Kim Harrison). Once the challenge is over I'm going to read a book of poetry by Ursula LeGuin and start digging in to Margaret Atwood's In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination.

[Wyliefan]

BTW: Happy 200th, Charles Dickens!

I took yesterday off work to celebrate. #litgeek

In other news, I want to thank oleada for recommending No One Here . . . in the old book thread. It sounds really good, especially because I liked The Night Circus so much. Looking forward to finding and reading this one!

[ioana]

Just started reading Shadow of the Wind and even though I'm only 50 pages into it or so, it's already very good. Extremely well written (well, translated in this case since I couldn't read it in Spanish) and interesting storylines. Makes for a very good commute to and from work

[oleada]

Just started reading Shadow of the Wind and even though I'm only 50 pages into it or so, it's already very good. Extremely well written (well, translated in this case since I couldn't read it in Spanish) and interesting storylines. Makes for a very good commute to and from work

Read that last month and it's a great read

[Spinner]

Read that last month and it's a great read

I third this! Zafón's beautiful writing pulled me in and the it became one of my favorite books!

[mkats]

I'm reading Elizabeth the Queen by Sally Bedell Smith. It's.... dry. Elizabeth is in her twenties by the twentieth page or so. And it's huge, seems like it was hurried out just in time for the Jubilee celebrations. I've just made it past the birth of Prince Edward and I'm afraid it's going back to the library on Saturday.

It had nice pictures though

[Prancer]

I'm reading Literary Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Literature. The subtitle is accurate if you have only a passing interest in literature and most of that interest is focused on gossip.

I must say, though, that a lot of the anecdotes were new to me (I wasn't a lit major, so they may not be to others). I had no idea, for example, that Louisa May Alcott campaigned to have Huckleberry Finn banned and said such sniffy, prudish things about it. The chapter on authors insulting one another is . My absolute favorite: [Ulysses is] the work of a queasy undergraduate scratching his pimples." You go, Virginia Woolf!

I've scribbled down a lot of quotes; some of them might stop my queasy undergraduates from scratching their pimples for a moment or two and pay attention. If nothing else, I'll have sig lines for months to come.

[ChelleC]

I'm reading Literary Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Literature. The subtitle is accurate if you have only a passing interest in literature and most of that interest is focused on gossip.

I just looked that up on amazon, I think I'm about to buy it.

[Prancer]

I just looked that up on amazon, I think I'm about to buy it.

I got it free for my Nook. Don't pay too much for it; it's really lightweight--lots of pictures and big fonts.