J. K. Rowling at the Pottermore announcement event Pottermore, the official interactive website for Harry Potter fans, will finally open its virtual doors to the public in early April, according to the Pottermore Insider blog. (No specific date has been announced.) Pottermore has been in beta testing since September with… Read more »
FutureBook has an interesting opinion piece by Emma Wright on “The Future of the Book Business: A Classicist’s View.” It’s a well-written, well-reasoned argument for what the publishing industry is doing wrong and what it should be doing to deal with the digital future, though Wright offers no new, groundbreaking… Read more »
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, by William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg, won this year’s Oscar for Best Animated Short Film, and deservedly so. It’s a lovely, magical little film: a fable for and about those who love books and those who write them, which begins with an… Read more »
Since my post on March 4 focused on Agatha Christie’s writings, I thought this might be a good time to discuss the numerous theatrical, television, and film adaptations which have been made of her works. Christie herself wrote several plays, including Black Coffee and The Unexpected Guest, and adapted… Read more »
Years ago, the only “books on tape” were produced for the visually-impaired. Then someone got figured out that there might be a market for audio recordings of books, and the audiobook was born. Audiobooks have been gaining in popularity over the last decade or so, in part because of the… Read more »
Agatha Christie It’s impossible to discuss mystery as a genre, let alone British mystery authors, without talking about Agatha Christie. Her 80 books (14 collections of short stories and a staggering 66 novels) have been translated into over 100 languages and have sold over 4 billion copies. Her works have… Read more »
The Winning Edits blog has an occasional feature they call “In Three Words.” This week’s topic was the future of e-books: Winning Edits is an editorial agency for indie authors, offering free advice, information on author tools, and book editing for a fee. Their blog features articles of interest to… Read more »
One of the genres I enjoy is mystery, and particularly British mystery. Five women dominated the “Golden Age” of British mystery: Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Josephine Tey, and Margery Allingham. Of the five, Christie and Sayers are probably the best-known. Christie and Marsh enjoyed the longest reigns. Sayers… Read more »
Organized Simplicity on Nov. 21, 2010 Genres: House and Home Format: Hardcover Source: the library Add to Goodreads Remove the Mess, Add Meaning Simplicity isn’t about what you give up. It’s about what you gain. When you remove the things that don’t matter to you, you are free to focus… Read more »
The biggest e-book story of the past few weeks has to be the growing reluctance of large publishers to allow libraries to lend their e-books. The ALA’s meetings with top publishers, while reportedly amicable, did so little to relieve publishers’ concerns that library lending of e-books will reduce e-book sales… Read more »
