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 »
Apropos of my previous post on hope, I’ve been rereading some of SF author Spider Robinson‘s early works, and I noticed something I hadn’t paid attention to when I read them years ago. Robinson doesn’t shy away from the tragedies of life. His characters are often in pain, wounded in… Read more »
I’d like to say that I have eclectic tastes when it comes to reading, but the truth is, most of my reading falls along fairly conventional lines. I read a lot of fantasy, mystery, and historical romance, with a sprinkling of science fiction, historical fiction, contemporary romance/women’s fiction and romantic… Read more »
In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, I’ve been reading Sheril Kirshenbaum’s The Science of Kissing: What Our Lips Are Telling Us. As the title suggests, this isn’t a how-to book, at least primarily; instead, it explores the psychology, physiology, biochemistry, evolutionary biology, neurochemistry, and cultural anthropology of kissing. Sound dull? … Read more »
Dear Kobo, I started buying books at Kobo because you were the best of the open-device e-book stores selling ePub books, and your prices usually (though not always) beat those of other ePub retailers. But your website has some drawbacks, especially compared to Amazon and Barnes & Noble’s sites. I… Read more »
