Posts Tagged ‘reading’

Love Letter to the Deckle Edge

Love Letter to the Deckle Edge

If all the recent talk about the iPad and the Amazon/Macmillan ebook pricing catfight has you longing for a simpler time, look no further than this ode to the deckle edge on The Millions:
Opening a book can already feel like opening a gift. Armed with a knife and freeing the pages and the story hidden [...]

Single-serve Short Stories on Kindle

Single-serve Short Stories on Kindle

Most of the talk about e-readers centers on full-length books. But The Atlantic has recently worked out a deal to publish a series of Kindle-only short stories, each retailing for $3.99. It’s the literary equivalent of a pop single.
Six stories have been published so far, by authors such as Jennifer Haigh, Curtis Sittenfeld, [...]

When one book closes...

When one book closes…

After finishing a book you love, is it hard to move on? How long do you wait to open another — and how do you shake that feeling it won’t measure up to the last?
On the Kenyon Review’s KR Blog, Elizabeth Ames Staudt considers this dilemma:
An insistence on finding a book that’s impossibly [...]

Are Books Recession-Proof?

Are Books Recession-Proof?

A recent poll of 3,000 people made a surprising find: books are an indulgence many people can’t live without.
Three-quarters of adults questioned in an online poll said they would sacrifice holidays, dining out, going to the movies and even shopping sprees but they could not resist buying books.
Dining out came in a far second with [...]

One (Love) Story

One (Love) Story

Yet another reason to read literary journals: they could help you find your soulmate. One Story has a great story up on its blog about how the magazine brought a couple together:
Outside the Harvard Bookstore we prepared to part, making the non-committal noises of people who are never going to see each other again. [...]

A Valentine: Books We Loved in 2009

A Valentine: Books We Loved in 2009

Every book we feature on Fiction Writers Review has won the admiration of our reviewers. But because it’s a new year, and it’s award season, and today is the official holiday of love, we asked our contributors to tell us which books of 2009 they most adored, cherished, and crushed on. What we received often transcended mere lists; writers shared why these certain books affected them, woke them up, even made them jealous. So in addition to the “favorites” that received the most votes, we’ve also included some of these endorsements and mini-reviews. Most selections are arranged by genre (Novel, Story Collection, etc.), and then there are less conventional categories–like Book You Loved But Would Be Embarrassed to Be Caught Reading.

On (Non-Social) Reading

On (Non-Social) Reading

From to Oprah’s Book Club to Goodreads, reading has become a more social activity than ever before. But what about those people who still like to curl up with a book–alone? The New York Times examines the private reader:
Particularly with the books we adore most, a certain reader wants to preserve the experience [...]

The Books People Steal

The Books People Steal

Abbie Hoffman would be proud.
***
In Harvard Bookstore, one of my favorite local indie bookstores, there’s a small, unobtrusive sign on the fiction shelf. For books by Bukowski and Kerouac, it says, please ask at the register. I couldn’t figure out why and finally asked one of the staff. “People tend to steal [...]

Who should ReadThis help next?

Who should ReadThis help next?

In 2009, the now year-old organization ReadThis hit the ground running with a number of ambitious (and notably successful) projects–such as sending books to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and creating libraries for a Bronx public school and a Harlem children’s hospital. Who should ReadThis help supply books to in 2010? If you have [...]

Literary Gifts #3: MotherReader's 105 Ways to Give a Book

Literary Gifts #3: MotherReader’s 105 Ways to Give a Book

Books always make great presents, but just wrapping it up and handing it over is a little… blah. MotherReader offers a list of 105 books paired with complementary gifts. Ideas are grouped by recipient’s age range; many are aimed at kids and could be great ways to encourage budding readers. Here’s a [...]