Books News and Fun Articles

Here are some book related news and fun articles I found floating around the net. All text is quotes from the articles.  I will post more book news as I so choose.

Reading

Is Deep Reading in Trouble?
While Mueller loves sitting down with a good book, she may represent a vanishing breed. There is some concern in literary circles that, even though electronic readers grow increasingly popular and book sales are still strong, many people are finding it difficult to sit alone with one book and simply read to comprehend.

Children's or Young Adult Fiction

Harry Potter Plagiarism Case Thrown Out of US Court
A plagiarism case brought against author JK Rowling has been dismissed in the US, after a judge ruled that comparing the two books involved "strains credulity".

I Read a Young Adult Novel. It Was Better Written and More Exciting Than Most Adult Fiction I See
It started with Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project. She loved reading children's books and wondered if other adults did too. [...] So I thought I'd have what they're having. I chose If I Stay, published in 2009, mostly because it is a monster success.

Publishing

No Publisher Should "Edit" Mark Twain's Novels
Mark Twain's novels are about to be bloodied. As a novelist, I understand, object and feel compelled to protest.

Obituaries

Dick King-Smith (Author of Sheep-Pig, the basis of the film Babe)
Dick King-Smith, who has died aged 88, was one of the most delightful of children's authors, from one of the most unlikely backgrounds. Enormously successful and popular – especially with The Sheep-Pig (1983), which was adapted into film in 1995 as Babe – he came to writing for children late in life, after two previous careers, in both of which he always claimed to have been a complete failure.

Book News as of March 9, 2009

Here are some book news I found floating around the net. All text is quotes from the articles. They come from all over the world, not just one country. The 6th article may interest those of you who read author's blogs and the first two should interest those with Kindles. I will post more book news as I so choose.

Read Me a Story, Mr. Roboto
When Amazon's new Kindle debuted a month ago, Jeff Bezos proudly showed off a killer new feature—a robotic voice that can read back any passage from any book, like an automatic audiobook. The company sees the feature as a way for busy readers to catch up on books while driving or making dinner; the publishing industry saw it as lost opportunity for revenue.

Fear the Kindle
It's hard not to love Amazon's new e-book reader. For starters, it's gorgeous. Unlike its bulky predecessor, the redesigned $359 Kindle, which came out this week, is light, thin, and disappears in your hands. If you think there's no way you could ever get used to curling up with an electronic reader, you haven't given the Kindle a chance.

Great Book, Bad Movie
Why does Hollywood take our favorite novels and turn them into crap?
This isn't an original complaint: Liking the book better than the movie is a middlebrow rite of passage. And novels are a constant, renewable source of stories for Hollywood, with ready-built brand appeal—from the kiddie franchises (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Narnia) to the airport bangers (Da Vinci Code, the Bourne etceteras).

HarperCollins Publishers Launches Online Sales Catalog
HarperCollins Publishers is announcing the development of an interactive, electronic sales catalog, the most advanced catalog available from a major publisher. The catalog will offer booksellers an up-to-the minute online tool enabling them to order books.

Lost Mark Twain Stories to be Published
The title of the collection, Who is Mark Twain? is a reference to Twain's essay Frank Fuller and My First New York Lecture, included in the book. In the essay, Twain relates how – anxious that no one would attend – he plastered New York with advertisements to promote his talk. He later observed two men looking at the ads. One asked, "Who is Mark Twain?", to which the other responded: "God knows – I don't."

Release The Fans
A writer's engagement with readers via blogs and websites creates a real relationship and unleashes the demands – sometimes angry demands – that go with it

Our Guilty Secrets - The Books We Only Say We Read

George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four comes top in a poll of the UK's guilty reading secrets. Asked if they had ever claimed to read a book when they had not, 65% of respondents said yes and 42% said they had falsely claimed to have read Orwell's classic in order to impress. This is followed by Tolstoy's War and Peace (31%), James Joyce's Ulysses (25%) and the Bible (24%).

Cell Phone Stories Writing New Chapter in Print Publishing

Yume-Hotaru's first novel was a best-seller in Japanese bookstores, and he wrote it entirely with his thumbs. The 22-year-old who would rather be identified by his pen name than his real one (Yume-Hotaru means "Dreaming Firefly" in Japanese) started composing the novel on his cell phone in 2007.

New federal law (U.S.) bans children's books printed before 1985

I just learned something I thought you all might like to know (at least the Americans):

The full article is here, amongst many other places.

Some quotes:

"Until 1985, it was legal for trace amounts of lead to be used in the inks and paints used in children's books. But the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (PDF), which went into effect February 10, bans the sale of any children's products containing more than 600 parts per million (ppm) total lead, no matter how unlikely it is that the items will feature at a toddler buffet. The Consumer Products Safety Commission has "clarified" the issue with contradictory guidance that has thrift stores and even libraries disposing of mountains of books published before the magic date -- and hoping that a stray copy of The Wind in the Willows doesn't bring down the wrath of the regulators."

"Aware of public concerns over a law that effectively bans millions of books, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued guidance intended to reassure he public. As is usually the case with bureaucracies, however, the "clarification" at best delayed the day of reckoning by a year, and also sowed confusion."

"The result is that many second-hand bookstores and thrift shops across the country are dumping older books -- or else holding their breath and hoping for the best. That's a shame not just because of the cost and waste, but because many parents and educators find that older books were written at a higher level of literacy than modern books, and so make special efforts to seek them out."

I suggest you read the whole piece for all the info.