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So you read a really good book. The next thing to do is go force into the hands of everyone you know and say, "You will read this book and love it. Because I said so." Yes? No. Not really.

by
Nordette at 2:23am Mon, 9 Nov 2009 under
Entertainment & Culture,
Life,
Mommy & Family,
Race & Ethnicity,
Books,
Body Image,
Writing,
oprah,
Pop Culture,
GLBT,
Mariah Carey,
tyler perry,
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Drama,
City Life,
Books,
Fiction,
Movies & TV,
Movies & TV,
Family Dynamics,
Body Image,
Living,
Family Dynamics,
Parenting,
Precious,
Push,
Sapphire,
Lee Daniels,
Mo'Nique
I first became aware of the buzz about Sapphire's debut novel Push in 1995 or 1996. The novel gained attention for its distressing storyline but possibly more because the novelist received a $500,000 advance, a sum unheard of in those days for a first novel. Well, unheard of except that another writer that year had received even more, Jacquelyn Mitchard.
I think we all have memories of books that we read when we were in our tweens. They were passed around from girl to girl, each one devouring it before passing it on to the next one in line. When I was about 11 or 12 years old the literary crack of choice was Christopher Pike.
I'm not sure why but it feels like my generation of readers have all gone nostalgic at the same time. Maybe it's the Twilight mania that is making us remember our own crackliture. It seems everywhere I turn these days I'm seeing remembrances and rereadings of Christopher Pike.
I like to think I'm an adventurous reader. Or at least a semi-adventurous one. But one thing that can stop me in my tracks is a big book. I mean a long book, the ones known in the book blogging world as "chunksters."
For the last few years there's been a "Chunkster Challenge" where bloggers committ to reading some of these big books. I find it comforting, even though I don't join (I suck at challenges), because it means that I'm not the only one that buys or borrows these books with the intent of reading them and then let them gather dust.
Last week was a big e-book discussion week. Barnes and Noble released it's new dedicated e-book reader, the Nook. There was a dust up about Kindle usage. And then there was the shocking revelation that *gasp* readers have rights too.
I should be reading right now. No really. I'm supposed to be reading right now. Yes, it's time once again Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon challenge.
People who wield words often have no idea what the result of their words will be. Words have amazing power. They can cause wars, or negotiate peace. The wrong words can destroy a person. But when the right words hit the right reader, they can save and transform them.

by
Rita Arens at 3:00am Mon, 19 Oct 2009 under
Mommy & Family,
United States,
Books,
Green,
K-12,
ebooks,
readers,
schools,
textbooks,
Kindle,
e-books,
Homeschool,
Education,
Green,
Budgets,
Gadgets,
Tech,
Going Green,
Back to School,
Teen/College,
Tech,
Family Connections
E-books, man. They're infiltrating schools. Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Conn., got rid of the 20,000 books in its school library, trading up to flatscreens, Kindles and computers only. And now that Google has paired with On Demand Books (the company that invented a book vending machine), schools could potentially serve up printed e-books in the public domain like cotton candy.
Book lovers, do you ever look around your place and stop to wonder where the heck all of those books came from? Each time I buy a new shelf, a new bookcase I swear it's the last one. Really. I mean it this time! I don't think it's ever really worked.

by
sassymonkey at 11:13am Mon, 12 Oct 2009 under
Entertainment & Culture,
Books,
Drinks,
Books,
Fiction,
Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy,
Douglas Adams,
And Another Thing,
Eoin Colfer,
sequels
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is celebrating it's 30th anniversary with the release of a brand new installment in the series. Titled And Another Thing, the book was written by Eoin Colfer. Douglas Adams, the original author of the series died seven years ago.

by
sassymonkey at 9:43am Sat, 10 Oct 2009 under
Entertainment & Culture,
Books,
teens,
Pop Culture,
jezebel,
YA,
Books,
Fiction,
Shelf Discovery,
Lizzie Skurnick,
re-reading
If ever there was a book for child- and teenaged-hood re-readers it's Lizzie Skurnick's Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading. I'm sure that some of you know Skurnick from her Fine Lines column on Jezebel, where she reads childhood favourites with a fresh eye.
Return to the Hundred Acre Wood, written by David Benedictus, is the first new Winnie the Pooh book in eighty years is hitting shelves is hitting shelves today. It's also the first official Pooh story to not be authored by A.A. Milme. In the new installment the loyal gang we all know is gaining a new member - Lottie the Otter. Lottie wears pearls, is a bit feisty and will add another female character to a predominantly male cast.