This website recommends novels by making sure you can’t judge a book by its cover – This reminds me a little of DA’s First Page feature, except, of course, that recommendmeabook.com features already-published books. Click on the site and you will see the first page of the book without title or author, ... more >
Post-Election Reading: Bookseller Picks – For those of us who are still reeling from/traumatized by/unable to logically process/terrified by the implications of last week’s US presidential election, reading may be a challenge. Time for comfort reading, escapism, political commentary, happy endings only? This post from Publishers Weekly consults booksellers for recommendations ... more >
Facebook users live longer, study finds – Despite the way this study is being described in headlines, it’s not so much that Facebook extends your life expectancy – it’s that using Facebook to enhance sociability extends life. In other words, it’s Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone for the online world: A new study ... more >
New York’s Used Book Stores Are Having a Moment – Used bookstores in New York City are having a lot of success right now, surprising even those who own them. The costs to establish a store can be relatively low (especially if owners offer store credit rather than outright buying books ... more >
Celebrating the Freedom to Read: Sept. 27- Oct. 3, 2015 – A piece of clickbait from Slate reminded me yesterday that this week is Banned Books Week. After the few seconds during which I lamented the deterioration of Slate (and Salon – what the ever loving hell happened there?!), I found ... more >
Writers to Watch: Fall 2015: Anticipated Debuts -Publishers Weekly has posted a list of debut novels for fall, and frankly some of the stories of how these books got published sound as interesting as the books themselves. Ruth Galm’s Into the Valley, for example, was published from Soho Press’ slush ... more >