Today is the 448th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth. Even if you’ve never read his plays or sonnets, you owe Shakespeare quite a lot. According to scholars, he may have contributed as many as 1700 new words to the English language — words like abstemious, lackluster, and zany. He invented phrases… Read more »
A few more titles to add to the list of forthcoming fantasy books: The Enchantress (Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, book 6) by Michael Scott. The book description reads “The twins of prophecy have been split. Nicholas Flamel is near death. John Dee has the swords of power. And… Read more »
OK, I’m cheating slightly here, since a few of these appeared toward the end of last week. But here are a number of articles I found interesting this week: Want to create your own ebook using MS Word? PC World tells you how.. It’s caveat emptor at Amazon, where copycat… Read more »
The Pottermore Insider announced that Pottermore is finally open to everyone. Queue nicely, one at a time, please! The announcement generated great excitement on the Harry Potter Lovers forum over at Ravelry, the knitting and crocheting community I belong to. There were also some complaints about the sign-up process, but… Read more »
Category: mystery Series: Gray Whale Inn Mysteries Book Source: public library Murder on the Rocks, the first in Karen MacInerney’s “Gray Whale Inn Mystery” series, should have a lot going for it. MacInerney’s writing is competent, if not inspired, and all the necessary elements are in place for a typical… Read more »
I’m looking forward to the publication of the following forthcoming mysteries. If you think you notice a trend here, you’re probably right. I like light paranormal mysteries and cozies… though there are a few here which are neither (Harkness’s Shadows of Night and Elkins’ Dying on the Vine, at least.) This… Read more »
Gertrude Chandler Warner, the author who started the popular series of children’s books known as the Boxcar Children books, was born on April 16, 1890. She came up with the idea for the series while teaching during World War I, and penned the first nineteen books. (The series continued on… Read more »
Category: Paranormal mystery Series: Raven’s Nest Bookstore mysteries Book Source: purchased In Mind Over Murder, the first in Allison Kingsley’s Raven’s Nest Bookstore mystery series, Clara Quinn has recently returned from New York City to her small hometown of Finn’s Harbor, Maine. While helping out in her cousin and best… Read more »
The big story this week was that the Department of Justice brought suit against Apple and five of the Big Six publishing companies for allegedly colluding to fix prices on e-books. Three of the Big Six publishers have already reached a settlement agreement with the DOJ: HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group,… Read more »
Below Stairs is the memoir which (in part) inspired both Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey. Born in 1907 to an impoverished family, Margaret Powell relinquished a scholarship she couldn’t afford to take up and entered domestic service as a kitchen maid — the lowest of the female servants — at… Read more »
