Science Fiction and Fantasy books

Last January I posted a list of science fiction books recommended on i09.  Recently i09 posted their list of The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2011.


The first book on the list is also on my 'to read' list, Reamde by Neal Stephenson.   "Neal Stephenson's new novel Reamde seems like it could never work: it's an epic-length thriller packed with infodumps about obscure ideas and 200-page gun fights. But the book is fantastic. Stephenson stages a crazy narrative collision between Chinese virus-writing gamers, a millionaire videogame entrepreneur, Russian mafia, rural American anti-government "wack jobs," and a murderous Welsh terrorist. With those kinds of characters in play, and a lot of dry humor, Stephenson absolutely hits it out of the park. Not only is Reamde a terrific high tech thriller, but it's also a profoundly interesting take on what it means to be American in the twenty-first century."

Good year for Amazon

Amazon announced in a press release today that 2011 was the best holiday year for the company.

" Amazon customers purchased millions of Kindle Fires and millions of Kindle e-readers

#1 and #4 best-selling Kindle books released in 2011 published independently by authors using Kindle Direct Publishing"

"SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 29, 2011-- (NASDAQ: AMZN) - Amazon.com, Inc. today announced that 2011 was the best holiday ever for the Kindle family as customers purchased millions of Kindle Fires and millions of Kindle e-readers. Authors also continue to benefit from the success of Kindle — the #1 and #4 best-selling Kindle books released in 2011 were both published independently by their authors using Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).
“We are grateful to our customers worldwide for making this the best holiday ever for Kindle,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and CEO. “And in a huge milestone for independent publishing, we’d also like to congratulate Darcie Chan, the author of ‘The Mill River Recluse,’ and Chris Culver, the author of ‘The Abbey,’ for writing two of the best-selling Kindle books of the year.”
More Kindle holiday facts:

• Throughout December, customers purchased well over 1 million Kindle devices per week.
• The new Kindle family held the top three spots on the Amazon.com best seller charts – #1: Kindle Fire, #2: Kindle Touch, #3: Kindle.
• Kindle Fire is the #1 best-selling, most gifted, and most wished for product across the millions of items available on Amazon.com since its introduction 13 weeks ago.
• Kindle is also the best-selling product on Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es and Amazon.it this holiday season.
• Gifting of Kindle books was up 175 percent between this Black Friday and Christmas Day compared to the same period in 2010.
• Christmas Day was the biggest day ever for Kindle book downloads.
• Kindle Fire is the best-selling product on Amazon.com’s mobile website and across all of Amazon.com’s mobile applications.

Additional Kindle Direct Publishing successes include:

• December’s #1 best-selling Kindle Direct Publishing book “Wife by Wednesday” was also the #5 overall best-selling Kindle book in December and has appeared on both the USA Today and Wall Street Journal best seller lists. Author Catherine Bybee was formerly an emergency room registered nurse, and has now left her job to focus on writing full-time.
• In 2011, KDP and CreateSpace author CJ Lyons reached #2 on the Amazon best seller list, #2 on the New York Times best seller list, and #4 on the USA Today best seller list. As a former pediatric ER doctor, CJ has lived the life she writes about in her cutting edge suspense novels, and she quit her job in medicine after 17 years to pursue her dream of becoming a full-time novelist. Her latest work includes “Face to Face” and “Hot Water.”       

Another Book Christmas Tree

This tree is all green!!

Best Crime Books

And a list from the Boston Globe:    On Crime:  Best Books of the Year.

Again, another list on which I have only read one title....

Gift Guide

I like this gift list from abduzeedo.  It is not a list of the best sellers or the most popular, but a list of really interesting books that would make great gifts:  posters, graphics, brand theory, design and more.

Example:  Art of the Modern Movie Poster:  International Postwar Style and Design

"Critically authoritative, visually stunning, and physically massive, Art of the Modern Movie Poster is the first and last word on post-WWII film poster design. Showcasing fascinating examples from 15 nations, this collection of more than 1,500 exemplary designs is a must-have for film buffs, design and poster aficionados alike. The posters are organized by country of origin, offering an intriguing glimpse into each region's unique visual sensibility and sometimes unexpected takes on familiar films. Gathered from the renowned collection of the Posteritati Gallery in New Yorkone of the largest holdings of international film posters in the worldthis volume is the definitive survey of both film and popular graphic art in the modern era."

Another list of gift suggestions

Now, this list is from The American Spectator:  "WHAT IS A Washington Christmas without receiving a few policy books as stocking stuffers?"   Every family has someone interested in politics, international affairs or history.  I can think of two people in my family -- we live in the DC area, too!

'Our annual list of holiday gift suggestions from distinguishedreaders and writers."

Book Christmas Tree

Ha! or Ho! Ho! Ho!

Cookbook gift ideas

The Washington Post has lots of good ideas for cookbook gifts in the Food section.  One suggestion is

“Baking Style: Art, Craft, Recipes ,” by Lisa Yockelson (Wiley, $45). A shockingly pink cover holds the keys to well-crafted recipes plus remembrances of what motivates this Washington author to preheat the oven.
Recipes to try: Cinnamon Breakfast Popovers, Cornmeal and Cranberry Drop Biscuits, Whole-Wheat Soda Bread.

Gift the National Book Awards 2011 this year

The National Book Awards for 2011:

Fiction --  Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones
Nonfiction -- Stephen Greenblatt, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
Poetry -- Nikky Finney, Head Off & Split
Young People's Literature --  Thanhha Lai, Inside Out & Back Again

10 Best Books of 2011

And then the New York Times reduced their list of 100 best books down to the 10 Best Books of 2011.  I don't know how they did it.  I tried to make a list of my favorite 100 songs  and ended up with more than 150 songs on the list.

450 Children's books for the Amazon Kindle Fire

A recent post on Mashable Business talked about how Amazon will be offering 450 children's books for the Kindle Fire:

"In a strike against Apple and Barnes & Noble, Amazon’s publishing unit has acquired 450 children’s titles from Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books, which the company plans to format for its full-color Kindle Fire tablet...."


Competition in the ebooks business is great.  I wonder what's coming in the future??

100 Notable Books of 2011

The New York Times Sunday Book Review announced their list of the 100 Notable Books of 2011.    I'd better get busy -- I've only read one book on this list!!

The Library Phantom

The Library Phantom has returned.  Someone -- identity has not been found or revealed -- has been placing little paper sculptures in libraries and museums around Edinburgh, Scotland.

How clever!

Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet

Barnes & Noble announced today their new Nook tablet:  $249

"Our fastest, lightest tablet with the best in HD entertainment

• HD movies, TV shows and music from the top names—Netflix, Hulu Plus™, Pandora® & more
• World's most advanced VividView™ 7" Touchscreen
• Over 2.5 million books, magazines, comics & kids' books
• Lightning fast Email, Web & smooth streaming video
• Thousands of must-have apps like Angry Birds and Epicurious
• 16 GB of memory, extra-long battery life—yet ultra-light and thin
• Always free NOOK support in-store"

Amazon's Kindle Lending Library

GeekWire posted this information about the Kindle Lending Library:

This is pretty interesting. Amazon.com tonight announced the “Kindle Owners’ Lending Library” — a virtual book-borrowing service for its Kindle devices. Not for Kindle apps on other devices, but only for Amazon’s own Kindle e-readers and Kindle Fire tablet.
It’s a no-extra-charge addition to the company’s existing Amazon Prime subscription service, adding digital-book lending to streaming video and free shipping as a benefit of the $79/year cost.
Amazon says the available library consists of more than 5,000 titles, including more than 100 current and former New York Times bestsellers."

Amazon's announcement included "We’re adding the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library to Prime membership at no extra cost — Amazon Prime remains just $79 a year, which gives you free two-day shipping on millions of products, plus unlimited instant streaming of almost 13,000 movies and TV shows."

Taylor Swift Donation

Taylor Swift donated 6,000 books to her hometown library.    "Taylor Swift may not be in her Wyomissing, Pa., hometown this week, but that didn’t stop her from giving back to the residents there. Swift partnered with Scholastic Inc. to donate 6,000 librarian-chosen books to the public library of Reading, Pa., a city close to her hometown that has been hard hit by the economy."

Two things I love about this donation:  the first is the books were 'librarian-chosen'  -- donations are great, but the best donations are those which the libraries/librarians have the opportunity to chose what is needed and best for their community.   And secondly, according to School Library Journal, the average cost of a children's book in 2011 is $21.55 (hardback) and $11.25 (paperback).  Donating 6,000 books  even at wholesale prices is quite a contribution.  Thank you Taylor Swift for thinking of your hometown and libraries.

Curating

Curating seems to be the latest trend for digital readers.  This is new to me, but Scoop it has the scoop on curating.

You can be the 'curator of your favorite topic. 
Create your topic-centric media by collecting gems among relevant
streams Publish it to your favorite social media or to your blog.'

10 best-selling books that were originally rejected

What a great list !   10 best-selling books that were originally rejected.

To think Harry Potter was first rejected -- Rowling "received eight rejection letters before Bloomsbury agreed to print the story."

International Thriller Writers

I may have mentioned this site before, but I really like it.  Mysteries and thrillers are my favorites, so I love hearing news and forthcoming titles.  Checkout the International Thriller Writers site and the Big Thrill webzine.

New stats and $99 e-readers

Updated ereader and ebook stats have been posted on paid-content.org:
"if all you want for Christmas is a $99 e-reader, Santa is listening, according to research firm IDC. The company also finds e-reader shipments growing 167 percent year on year...."

 Other items of interest in this article is info on Amazon's new device and sale percentages for Kindle and Nook.   "We’re also expecting Amazon’s much-rumored, color LCD-based device to ship later this year. Because we expect it to run a customized version of Android that ties its use to Amazon’s content services, we expect the device to more closely resemble Barnes & Noble’s Color Nook than Apple’s iPad 2."

Celebrities and their Libraries

Some of the celebrity home libraries pictured here are absolutely beautiful and full of books (one with music).  But I will say that my favorites are the less formal and less neat libraries -- they are just much more inviting to me.  I love the libraries of Nigella Lawson and Jimmy Stewart.  And what librarian would not love Keith Richards' place especially after learning he studied the Dewey Decimal system in an effort to organize his book collection!



"We might not always think of rock stars at the bookish sort, but Keith Richards does enjoy a good read when he’s at home in this cozy, octagonal space. He even confessed in his recent autobiography that he’s always had a secret longing to be a librarian, getting some practical training managing the thousands of books in his home collection — even going so far as to learn the Dewey Decimal System!"
(from Accredited Online Colleges.com)

Amazon and Netflix-type service

From the Wall Street Journal Digital edition:


"Amazon Digital Library, Book Prices Pressure Publishers: The Kindle maker is trying to get book publishers to buy into a book rental service for digital content, reports the Wall Street Journal. But publishers aren’t excited, believing that such a Netflix-like service could lower the value of books and strain relationships with other book retailers. The service would charge customers a fixed monthly fee.
According to the WSJ, Amazon told publishers that the service would feature older titles. Publishers would also receive a “substantial fee” for participating."

Kindle ebooks available in public libraries

Amazon announced yesterday that Kindle ebooks will be available in 11,000 public libraries:  

" 'Starting today, millions of Kindle customers can borrow Kindle books from their local libraries," said Jay Marine, Director, Amazon Kindle. "Libraries are a critical part of our communities and we're excited to be making Kindle books available at more than 11,000 local libraries around the country. We're even doing a little extra here - normally, making margin notes in library books is a big no-no. But we're fixing this by extending our Whispersync technology to library books, so your notes, highlights and bookmarks are always backed up and available the next time you check out the book or if you decide to buy the book.'


Customers will use their local library's website to search for and select a book to borrow. Once they choose a book, customers can choose to "Send to Kindle" and will be redirected to Amazon.com to login to their Amazon.com account and the book will be delivered to the device they select via Wi-Fi, or can be transferred via USB. Customers can check out a Kindle book from their local library and start reading on any generation Kindle device or free Kindle app for Android, iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, PC, Mac, BlackBerry or Windows Phone, as well as in their web browser with Kindle Cloud Reader...."


I'm going to check to see if my public library is one of those 11,000!
 ;')

Google Books add library management

Do you use Google Books?  I have saved a few ebooks on my computer, but have not built up a big library.  Most of my free ebooks are saved on my Kindle, but for those of you with other devices iLounge added a short article on Google Books (  Google Books adds library management) which may be of interest to you.

Best Children's Books on the iPad

Back in March The New York Times listed the best children's books on iPad.  Kids will surely love these books!

Library quote

A man's library is a sort of harem. 
( Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Conduct of Life, 1860 )

Woman steals public library books

A woman in Southland stole over 2,000 books from the Carlsbad and San Diego public libraries and evidently had plans to sell them at a yard sale.  Oh my, what planning!

Back in March The New York Times listed the best children's books for the iPad.  Kids will surely love these books.


"Once upon a time (five years ago), e-books for children came on shiny CD-ROMs that cost $40, plus a few dollars for sales tax. Today’s children’s e-books cost just that sales tax. All you need is a $500 iPad.
Just a fad, you say? Perhaps, but recent e-books for Apple’s iPad indicate that the professionals have arrived in the app stores. These e-books can sound out difficult words and move you with illustrations that change based on the tilt of the screen. Today’s children can actually blow the little pig’s house down, by way of the iPad’s microphone...."

Library Quote

Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest.
( Lady Bird Johnson )

Reference Resources for the Budding Know-It-All

Great article in the New York Times about reference apps that are available for mobile devices.

"You could once gauge a family’s intellectual vitality by its living room bookshelves. If your family scored the trifecta of Encyclopedia Britannica, the Oxford English Dictionary and the World Almanac, you were ahead of the pack.


Software developers have not found a way to load an entire reference library onto your phone or tablet, and, alas, the O.E.D. doesn’t exist for mobile users. But you can get by with Britannica Concise Encyclopedia 2011 ($20 on Android and Apple), Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary ($25 on Apple and Android) and The World by National Geographic ($4 for the iPad)."

aaahhh -- technology  -- don't you just love it!  

All-TIME 100 Best Nonfiction Books

The list is out -- All-TIME 100 Best Nonfiction Books.  I've read a few on this list, but have lots of reading to do....    How many have you read?  What is your favorite?

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Amazon Kindle Daily Deal

Today's deal is The Lincoln Lawyer for $2.99.

Don't Miss a Deal


The Kindle Daily Deal will be posted daily on Twitter, and frequently on Facebook and the Kindle Daily Post

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Book Shelf Porn

Aaahhh!  What wonderful pictures!  Picture after picture of bookshelves -- I love 'em!  Which one is your favorite?

Decorating with Books

Have you ever noticed how books are used in decorating rooms?  Today I received a catalog of great  furniture and wall pieces.  Almost every picture of a room full of furniture also had books as part of the decorating.

I have books all over my house.  Several years ago, a friend's daughter visited and told me I had too many books.  What??  I replied, "You can never have too many books!"

Books are my comfort food.

Kindle Cloud Reader

Technology is truly amazing.  Now Amazon has come up with the Kindle Cloud Reader.

Buy Once, Read Everywhere

• Instant access to your Kindle library
• Continue reading even when you lose your internet connection
• Optimized for iPad: shop the integrated Kindle Store for Tablets

SLIS students at The University of Iowa chose their favorite blogs.  Here are the many areas they considered for the final lists:


Blogs by librarians
Blogs by LIS students
Blogs relating to information science
Blogs relating to archives and special collections
"Other" blogs that may be of interest

Twitter and Twitter Search

I don't Tweet, but for those of you who do, you might be interested in this posting, Twitter and Twitter Search in Plain English. 
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Months ago, California school librarians created a list of their favorite web 2.0 tools.  The list varies from Glogster to images to lesson plans to social networks. Quite varied and really interesting.


Web 2.0 Tools -- Top Tools Recommended by CSLA Members

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Book Crossing

Have you come upon one of the books set out by Book Crossing?  I had a friend who did this years ago, but I have never participated.  I just might do this.


From the Book Crossing site:

What is BookCrossing?

It's the World's Library. It's a smart social networking site. It's a celebration of literature and a place where books get new life. BookCrossing is the act of giving a book a unique identity so, as the book is passed from reader to reader, it can be tracked and thus connecting its readers. There are currently 946,873 BookCrossers and 8,136,366 books travelling throughout 132 countries. Our community is changing the world and touching lives one book at a time.

What's our mission?

Very simply, we aim to connect people through books.

How do we do it?

Label. Share. Follow. Breath new life into books instead of letting your old favorites collect dust - pass them along to another reader. Our online archival and tracking system allows members to connect with other readers, journal and review literature and trade and follow their books as lives are changed through “reading and releasing”. Users are able to tag and track their individual books by marking them with BCIDs (BookCrossing Identity Numbers). Each BCID is unique to each book – once it’s registered on our site, the book can then be followed and journaled forever. BookCrossing is free to join and free to play. So don't be 'shelf'ish with your books - read and release!
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Reading Lists

A few weeks ago I mentioned I was gathering books for my summer reading list.  Besides my shelves (note the plural use of shelf) and printed lists of titles (another use of the plural form), I used suggestions in this article, How to Create an Awesome Summer Reading List.


Actually the ideas presented in this article are good for creating any reading list or getting recommendations for reading.  Though I have plenty of books on my 'to read' shelves and downloaded on my Kindle, sometimes I just do not feel like reading a few.  Then I find other titles I am more interested in reading.  You know, some times you feel like a book.  Sometimes, you don't!
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Kindle in public libraries?

According to an article on ReadWriteWeb, "The CEO of OverDrive, which distributes e-books and audiobooks to libraries, has dropped a pretty obvious hint that the Kindle will join other major e-readers in public libraries in September. EarlyWord reports that Steve Potash looked "like a kid with a delicious secret" at OverDrive's Digipalooza conference last weekend, saying that he was "not allowed to announce a date ye[t]," but he included this blunt clue in his "Crystal Ball Report" during the final session:


Streamlining (both downloading and ordering)
Explosion (we have gone from two reading devices to 85 and more are coming)
Premium (the library catalog as the most premium, value-added site on the Web)
Traffic (enormous growth coming by year's end).


I find this agreement very interesting.  It is great news for public libraries and the general public, but not for school libraries.  Recently Amazon made the statement that a separate email address for each device is required.  This requirement seems a bit unruly for school libraries with numerous Kindles.   Is this Amazon's way of forcing school libraries to subscribe to Overdrive?  However, the policy just might send school libraries to the Nook!

Matt Damon and teachers

The online Washington Post printed Matt Damon's speech to teachers at the Save Our Schools march.  I have always liked Matt Damon.  :')
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Back from a little break and Lending Kindle books

Took a little break from blogging the past couple weeks.  Been busy taking care of household chores, running errands and travelling to the beach!  The temperature has finally lowered to the 80s, but now we are waiting for the rain so I thought I would get back to blogging.


Borrowing and or lending Kindle books always seems to be a hot topic.  A recent article in Daily Finance has information on another lending site.

Newspaper map

A free resource with more than 10,000 newspapers!  What a find -- Locate a newspaper on a Google world map, click the balloon, and read -- you can even translate the newspaper to a different language.  I clicked on a Swedish newspaper and translated to English.  (The news was much the same as ours -- lots of sad stories  -- a little depressing....)

Cyndi's List -- genealogy

If you are a family history buff, then you probably have used Cyndi's List at some point.  Recently the site has been upgraded with improved navigation, custom database and other improvements.  The upgrade is supposed to be faster and smoother to use.  I will be checking it out soon.

Wikipedia -- comments from ALA Conference (follow-up)

Summary of session on Wikipedia at ALA Conference  -- The Wikipedia Effect Part 1: Paul Kobasa, World Book

Book banks

Books and wood --  great combination.   "BookBanks" by Nancy Templeton-Takota

"These unwanted, used books are now boxes.  I carefully remove the pages, make a box from oak and replace the jacket.  A small rare earth magnet keeps the box closed and the grain of the wood looks just like pages!  $40.00 each"

goodreads Best of 2010

I started gathering books to take to the beach and decided to get out of my reading rut.  Mysteries and thrillers are my favorite. I just love reading John Sandford, Joseph Finder, Karin Slaughter, James Patterson, Steve Martini, Lisa Gardner, Janet Evanovich, Lee Child, Lisa Lutz  and on and on.   Few if any non-fiction books are on my reading list except for Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt books -- I really like reading about the Roosevelts.  Then I recalled that I enjoyed reading about Frank Lloyd Wright  in Loving Frank by Nancy Horan.   So I thought I would chose a few non-fiction books for my summer reading and reviewed the goodreads list of the Best of 2010 for ideas.

This is a list of favorite books chosen by the readers on goodreads.   "More than 157,000 votes were cast for 460 nominees and thousands of write-in candidates."

I will admit that I did add a couple mysteries to my summer list after looking at the goodreads suggestions!

38 online encycyclopedias

Wow!  Who would have believed ten, or even five, years ago that 38 encyclopedias would be available on the Internet!   Though the encyclopedias are not all free, the list is impressive.   Thanks to A Media Specialist's Guide to the Internet for the list.

Self-published author sells over a million books for Kindle

John Locke, a self-published author sells over a million books for Kindle on Amazon.com.   MSN reports the "Amazon.com recently announced that Locke is the eighth author to sell over one million Kindle books — over 1,010,370 — to become the newest member of the "Kindle Million Club," and the first independently published author to do so. Using Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Locke has made protagonist Donovan Creed a household — or at least a beach and bedside reading — presence that would probably make plenty of print-only authors envious."

I haven't read any of these books, but the last time I looked on Amazon most of Locke's the books were selling for 99 cents.  Surely an inspiration for other authors.

QR or Quick Response

You have surely seen these funny looking black and white squares.

A Media Specialist's Guide to the Internet has an explanation of what and how the QR codes work. 

"QR stands for Quick Response, and is made up of black modules in a square shape on a white background.Actually, you could call it a 3D bar code.  The encoded text in the square can represent a web address or text. Camera phones (with a QR app) or QR readers can read the encoded message."

The blog entry has links to ideas on using the QR code in the classroom.  And QRstuff.com  provides more information on the codes, a code generator and phone information.

Wikipedia -- comments from ALA Conference

Booklist Online mentions The Reference Books Bulletin program at the ALA Conference -- "The Wikipedia Effect: How Wikipedia Has Changed the Way the World Finds and Evaluates Information."

I'd like to know more -- will have to do some searching.

Other uses for books -- how creative!

I wish I was artistic -- look at these great book art creations.

The 100 Greatest Non-fiction Books

The 100 greatest non-fiction books as reported in The Guardian.

Barnes & Noble sales

A recent press release from Barnes & Noble announced an overall loss of dollars, but soaring  ebook sales:



"The rapidly growing digital business propelled the top-line at BN.com driven by the company’s NOOK™ eReader product line and digital content from the NOOK Bookstore™.  BN.com comparable sales growth accelerated throughout the year, increasing 78% for the fourth quarter and 65% for the full year as compared to the same periods in fiscal 2010.  BN.com sales were $217 million for the quarter and $858 million for the full year."

Another way to get free Kindle books

Came across this site by accident -- eReaderIQ.com:

"eReaderIQ provides Amazon Kindle price drop alerts, watches your favorite titles to let you know when they are available for Kindle, and gives you a regularly updated list of all non-public domain freebies on Amazon.com. We also offer a superior search engine which not only lets you search the Kindle store by genre and keyword, but also lets you define the price range, reader age, language and more!"

The service is free and easy to use.

British Library 19th Century Collection

I don't have an ipad, but this sounds really great, especially if you are interested in the 19th century.  The British Library has released 1000 items from its collection into an ipad app.  

"This application provides access to titles from the British Library’s 19th century book collection. It includes classic novels, works of philosophy, history and science. Browse, search and read these historic books on a platform that enhances the reading experience. These digital book images have been captured in color to preserve the look of the original book.  Marbled papers, embossed covers, engraved illustrations maps, and beautifully colored plates are intact and help create a unique reading environment.

Features:

• Search the collection
• Browse titles by subject
• Read commentary on selected titles
• View images of original maps
• See author inscriptions and margin notes
• Create favorite title lists
• Download books for offline reading

Visit: http://britishlibrary19c.tumblr.com to see sample curated content."

Apple and Amazon ebook sales

paidContent.org  has a short article on the number of sales of Apple ebooks that Steve Jobs announced the other day -- an increase of 30 million since March.   The site also has some statistics on Amazon's sales to as they say "help put Apple's 130 million figure in perspective."






Post Options

Dewey Digger

Really interesting attempt to catalog the web  --   Dewey Digger .  
           "Welcome, wonderful web wanderer. Explore knowledge via the 
            Dewey Decimal  Classification; just clickety-click."
I clicked on the 900 History & Geography tab in the top menu and a listing of all Dewey numbers appeared.  After clicking on 929, a page of topics appeared (looks like a word cloud), and I chose 'ancestors.'  Twenty-seven (27) sources appeared (Amazon, Bing, Google, JSTOR, Internet Archive, Project Muse to name a few).  

Cataloging Tools

Joyce Valenza's blog, Neverending Search, covers six cataloging tools for librarians.  Simple and free.

My Morning Jacket - Librarian lyrics

aaahhhh --  lyrics to 'Librarian' 


Walk across the courtyard, towards the library.
I can hear the insects buzz and the leaves 'neath my feet...

Ramble up the stairwell, into the hall of books...
Since we got the interweb these hardly get used.

Duck into the men's room... combing thru my hair...
When god gave us mirrors he had no idea...

Looking for a lesson in the periodicals...
There I spy you listening to the AM radio...

Karen of the carpenters- singing in the rain...
Another lovely victim of the mirror's evil way.

It's not like you're not trying, with a pencil in your har
To defy the beauty the good lord put in there...

Simple little bookworm- buried underneath...
Is the sexiest librarian... take off those glasses and let down your hair for me.

So I watch you thru the bookcase- imaging a scene:
You and I at dinner, spending time, then to sleep.

And what then would I say to you- lying there in bed?
These words, with a kiss, I would plant in your head:

"what is it inside our heads that makes us do the opposite?
Makes us do the opposite of what's right for us?
Cause everything'd be grrreat... and everything'd be good...
If everybody gave... like everybody could."

Sweetest little bookworm. hidden underneath...
Is the sexiest librarian...
Take off those glasses and let your hair down for me.
Take off those glasses and let your hair down for me.

Simple little beauty- heaven in your breath.
The simplest of pleasures- the world at it's best.



View My Morning Jacket  on YouTube and you can get the ringtone sent to your cell! 

Robyn Jackson gave the following statistics (on Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshops website):

1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.

42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.

80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.

70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.

57 percent of new books are not read to completion.

(Source: Jerold Jenkins, www.JenkinsGroupInc.com)

53 percent read fiction, 43 percent read nonfiction. The favorite fiction category is mystery and suspense.

(Source: Publishers Weekly)

About 120,000 books are published each year in the U.S.

(Source: www.bookwire.com)

The blog has a 2003 copyright and 2010 conference information so I don’t know how current these statistics are, but even so I found the stats rather interesting.  I’m startled by the ’80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.’

Recently I read someplace that people who do not usually buy print books are purchasing ebooks for ereaders.  Hopefully, that 80% will be a lower number in future years and the U.S. will become a nation of readers (wasn’t that a slogan for a library promotion at one time?).

Kindle Sales

Kindle sales and ebooks are booming!  Last week Amazon released this statement:


Since April 1, for every 100 print books Amazon.com has sold, it has sold 105 Kindle books. This includes sales of hardcover and paperback books by Amazon where there is no Kindle edition. Free Kindle books are excluded and if included would make the number even higher.


I find this amazing!  Are people just buying the books and storing them to read later.  I have many, many books on my Kindle that I have purchased (inexpensive and special offers) and free books that I plan to read at some point.  Or are people actually reading more now?

Book Clubs

Interested in starting your own book club?  
 will guide you through the process.

• Start and manage your own book club.
• Invite your friends to join.
• Have discussions online or in person.
• Find other people with similar book interest. 

Registration is free, and as far as I can tell, there are no charges.  If interested, you can purchase the book online through Amazon and other places, but purchase is not required.   You can start your own club or join an existing club -- similar to the reading groups on other sites.  

Rearranging your bookshelf video

Organizing the Bookcase is a great video.  As the creator said, "Over the weekend my wife and I decided to organize the bookcase. It got a little out of hand...."


Each time I have watched the video, I've noticed something new.  I enjoyed the comments as well.  "Try that with a Kindle!"  "Am i the only one that was watching the clock the whole time..?"


Enjoy!

Kindle Screesavers

Some people are just so creative -- I 'm not!  The Shifted Librarian and How To Geek discuss how to personalize the screensavers on your Kindle and add library-related screensavers.  I haven't tried this yet, but they say it is simple to do.

Librarians quote

"In the nonstop tsunami of global information librarians provide us with floaties and teach us to swim."            (Linton Weeks, Washington Post, 1/13/2001)

Panera Bread and Books

Classic Books -- and Meal to Match

"Panera Bread head chef Dan Kish helps book lovers find delicious choices to go with some memorable page-turners...."

Share Books with the Troops

How to Share Books With Troops Overseas -- great plan!!  GalleyCat has a list of seven ways you can share books (printed and ebooks) with the troops.

The Interrogation of School Librarians

What an insult!  From the Los Angeles Times -- an article about the interrogation of school librarians requiring them to prove they are teachers!

"If state education cuts are drastic, the librarians' only chance of keeping a paycheck is to prove they're qualified to be switched to classroom teaching. So LAUSD attorneys grill them."

Pew report on electronic devices

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project published these results:
                   ----                                                                              ----

 

Anatomy of a Librarian

Anatomy of a Librarian

Disguise your Kindle

Do you have a Kindle, but miss holding a physical book?  Do you want to hide your Kindle so others won't know you are reading it?  The solution may be an ebook safe.  Coming soon to the ereader market....

Next Generation Digital Book

Next Generation Digital Book presented by Mike Matas at TED.

 'Software developer Mike Matas demos the first full-length interactive book for the iPad -- with clever, swipeable video and graphics and some very cool data visualizations to play with. The book is "Our Choice," Al Gore's sequel to "An Inconvenient Truth." '


Read the comments by other viewers of this video.  

 

Miss Marple redone

Hmmmmm.   Have really mixed feelings about this one.  Disney is going to "reboot" the Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in a new film series with Jennifer Garner as Ms. Marple (assuming the title will change with the new youthful Miss Marple).   I like the actress (the Alias series was great), but I am so used to seeing Margaret Rutherford, Angela Lansbury or Joan Hixson playing the eldering Miss Marple, I'm not sure how I will like this new young, svelte detective.
Also, a nosy, busy-body old woman is a little more accepting than a young, interfering know-it-all.  We'll see....

Mary Higgins Clark WSJ interview

I've been reading Mary Higgins Clark forever.  Though I love Michael Connelly, Jeffrey Deaver, Patricia Cornwell, Karin Slaughter and John Sandford, sometimes I like a break from gritty reality and will read a novel by Mary Higgins Clark.
According to the Wall Street Journal, there "are some things you'll never find in a Mary Higgins Clark novel: an unmarried couple living together, a curse word, a body hacked to pieces. By today's standards, Ms. Clark's thrillers are quaint throwbacks, more in the Agatha Christie mold than the blood-curdling, titillating fare produced by best-selling writers such as James Patterson and Stieg Larsson."
The WSJ article has lots of interesting tidbits about the author.  I wonder when she will be signing books at my local Wegmans?

Shelf reading made easy

Augumented Reality App for Shelf Reading

Another bit of technology for libraryland?  The AR shelf reading app can scan an entire shelf of books at one time and alert workers which ones are out of place.
This reminds of the days when we had to attach barcode labels to each book in the library collection when we became "automated."  With the Shelvar system, one would need to add a special tag (sort of like a QR code) to the spine of each book.  The QR-type tag represents the call number of the book.
This is a great way to check shelves and do inventory, but what happens with thin books?  Where do you put the tag?  Will the reader read around the spine edges?
I've never used RFID, but isn't this similar?

Perceptions of Libraries, 2010

The recent Perceptions of Libraries, 2010 study found really interesting results:

"College students use and value libraries.  Nearly three-fourths of college students have a library card.  College students who have been assisted by a librarian are overwhelmingly (90%) satisfied with their experiences with librarians, and eight out of ten agree that librarians add value to their search process."
Teens are using "Social networking, mobile technologies, Wikipedia and ask-an-expert services. Teens lead all age groups in the use of ask-an-expert sites (62%) and Wikipedia (88%). They are the heaviest texters of any age group, a substitute for IM, which declined significantly from 2005."
"Young Americans hold library cards: 75% of teens and 68% of young adults. Two-thirds of young Americans consider themselves readers. Their top piece of advice for libraries: add or update the content."


The above is just a smattering of findings of this report.  Various ages are covered:  college students, teens and young adults, Generation X, boomers and seniors.
Fascinating reading for all concerned and connected to libraries.

Joseph Finder book trailer: Buried Secrets

Oh, my, this one looks good!!  Buried Secrets coming out in June.

Books Best Read When a Teenager

"From Stephen King to George Eliot, the author of The Knife of Never Letting Go recommends books that are best read when people tell you you're too young for them....

"... 'there's more to adult books than adult material. There are a number of books that are actually rather better if read when you're a teen, some because they're entertaining contraband, some because it can never be too early to read something so wonderful, and some because, if you wait, you might have missed your chance forever.'"

Word Clouds

Do you use word clouds?  Here is a recent blog entry with Five Ways To Make Word Clouds From Text .

I've used Tagexdo and Wordle, but not the other three.  Word clouds have definitely added a little something extra to my newsletters and displays.  

A few cookbook reviews

You may remember several months back when I mentioned I had joined NetGalley.   Since then I have been able to review several cookbooks -- some okay and others just great.  I'm not a gourmet chef and evidently prefer the simple life.  Though some of the recipes looked really good, the preparation and needed time were just too much for me.  But I'm sure others will love these books.  Sorry, the pictures did not load.

		Cucina Povera By: Pamela Sheldon Johns Publisher Name: Andrews McMeel Publishing Imprint

Beautiful stories of the people, history, background of Tuscany and Tuscan foods and cooking.  I'm not sure I would make any of these recipes -- guess I'm too accustomed to American food, but I loved looking at the book.

Fine Cooking Appetizers By: Editors of Fine Cooking Magazine Publisher Name: The Taunton Press

This is a great collection of appetizers if you are looking for something different.  The pictures are beautiful and the directions plentiful.  If you want recipes for nut appetizers, this book offers several -- really caught my eye for some reason.   The recipes range from simple to a little more involved, many with normal pantry ingredients and other calling for items I would need to purchase just for one recipe.  The last chapter, Sips and Sweets, was my favorite. 

Perfect One-Dish Dinners By: Pam Anderson Publisher Name: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Imprint

The recipes in Perfect One-Dish Dinners look great in the pictures and the recipes appear to be enticing and easy to make.  The ingredients are common pantry items which is great so special grocery lists and trips aren't required.  This cookbook will go on list of books to purchase.

  

Quick-Fix Southern By: Rebecca Lang Publisher Name: Andrews McMeel Publishing Imprint

Quite an interesting collection of recipes.  It brings to mind my 3-ring binder, loose newspaper clippings and 3x5 cards of my favorite and my family's favorite recipes.    The variety is great - not only in selection but also in the number of recipes for over four people.  I like the book and will add it to my list of books to purchase.

Heartland By: Judith Fertig Publisher Name: Andrews McMeel Publishing Imprint

An interesting collection of recipes.  Being raised in Wisconsin, I was expecting to recognize more of the recipes, but only a few rang a bell.  That's not to say the collection is not good.  I think I was expecting more common recipes and meals and not so obscure.

Wanda E. Brunstetter's Amish Friends Cookbook:  Desserts

Publisher:		Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Pub Date:		07/01/2011

  

I am looking forward to July.  By far, Wanda E. Brunstetter’s Amish Friends Cookbooks:  Desserts, is a favorite.  Many of the recipes I recognize (must be my German heritage) and others I have tasted over the years.  There are over 125 authentic Amish desserts (cakes, candies, cookies, pies, and cobblers).   One reason I really like this book is that many of my favorites are in one book – I won’t have to sort through ten cookbooks.  But the main reason I plan to purchase this book is the recipes just look fantastic and tasty!  I am not familiar with the author, but I do plan to check out her other books.