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NPR commentator Andrei Codrescu is upset that passages on his Kindle ebook reader are, all of a sudden, turning up pre-highlighted:
"I'm reading a new book I downloaded on my Kindle and I noticed an underlined passage. It is surely a mistake, I think. This is a new book. I don't know about you, but I always hated underlined passages in used books.... And then I discovered that the horror doesn't stop with the unwelcomed presence of another reader who's defaced my new book. But it deepens with something called view popular highlights, which will tell you how many morons have underlined before so that not only you do not own the new book you paid for, the entire experience of reading is shattered by the presence of a mob that agitates inside your text like strangers in a train station..." (listen to the full 3 minute broadcast, read the transcript)
If you're looking for a blog that will keep you up to date with the big publishing picture without inundating you with an excess of posts, may I recommend Holt Uncensored, penned by the seemingly indomitable publishing insider and independent bookstore advocate Pat Holt. While many blogs deliver regular snack-sized posts that rarely offend and can be read, and often forgotten, in a minute or two, Pat Holt saves her energies for a once a month post that is always substantial and always opinionated.
Books have been inspiring people from all walks of life for many centuries, not least the architects who build the libraries to house them!
From the Vatican library, established more than 500 years ago, to modern buildings that are pushing the boundaries of the avant-garde such as The Czech Republic's proposed new national library, these six websites will take you on a tour of some of the most beautiful, inspiring and, occasionally, downright weird library buildings to be found in our wide world....
The Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title was conceived and first awarded in 1978 when, to alleviate the tedium of a particularly dull Frankfurt book fair, a member of the Diagram Group (which specializes in providing graphic content for books) came up with the idea of awarding a prize to the finder of the oddest title at the fair. Within a few years the prize, now administered by the Bookseller magazine, had moved into the public eye and had been expanded to include all books published in a given year, not just those at the Frankfurt book fair.
A bunch of pie charts posted last week at the website of Vida: Women in Literary Arts has been causing quite a stir. They visually show the extraordinary gender disparity when it comes to books reviewed in the established print media, whether it be newspapers or literary magazines.
Here's a sampling of the ratios of male to female authors reviewed during 2010:
| Books Reviewed Authored by: | Men |
Women |
| The Atlantic | 74% |
26% |
| Harpers | 79% |
21% |
| London Review of Books | 74% |
26% |
| New York Review of Books | 84% |
16% |
| The Times Literary Supplement | 76% |
24% |
| The NY Times Book Review | 65% |
35% |
In short, the ratio of female authors reviewed was at best about one-third, and at worst less than a quarter!
Why do we love to read about animals? The answer seems quite simple, the library cat Dewey of Vicki Myron's surprise bestseller, the wild snail of Elisabeth Tova Bailey's memoir, or John Grogan's dog Marley each offers more charming and inspiring company than the average critter.
I couldn't imagine a life without animals. My life involves the science of observing moody monkeys and apes, a tendency to get slimed rather than sublime in the company of snails, and the herding of a horde of seven fractious cats at home. So, to read an engaging animal book for me is to escape from the litterbox-and-hairball detail for a while.
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