Library Gripes

Remember back in the day when you checked a book out of the library and they stamped it so you would know when it’s due?

And remember even before that when you checked a book out of the library, you had to sign the card next to the date?

It’s little touches like these that I miss about modern libraries. In modern libraries, the continuity of readership is snipped before its inception by removing any evidence of past readers from the physical book.

Discussion Post: E-readers galore!

All right, cats and kittens, time for one of our patented “Chime in below!” posts. This week, share your thoughts, experiences, and opinions about your e-reader of choice to help me make the leap myself.

As you know, my co-blogger Kate received a Kindle for Christmas and discussed her initial reactions back in January. (And I hope she’ll share her updated take on the Kindle experience in the comments!) I, meanwhile, am inching ever-closer to getting one, particularly since my current job has offered to reimburse me for one if I do. So now that I’ve made the decision to get one (maybe, almost, possibly), which one should I get?

I turn to crowdsourcing to answer that question! What e-reader do you have, o Crowd? What do you like about it? What don’t you like? And what would you buy if you had to do it all over again? And does anyone have any thoughts on the Kindle Fire?

Much obliged, I’m sure.

My thoughts:

Purposeful not reading

There are certain rare and favorite authors who I have not read. I’ve read enough to know I love them, but I haven’t read all their work and with good reason: I have purposefully stopped myself, knowing that their output is finite, and decided that the author’s work should therefore be savored and parsed out over a lifetime.

The authors on this list are all dead, setting their oeuvre in stone. William Shakespeare was placed on the purposeful not reading list towards the end of high school, at the height of my adoration of his work. I didn’t want to dash through them all and leave myself with seventy more years of life with no new Shakespeare.

Jane Austen went on the list sometime in my early twenties, less intentionally than Shakespeare, but with the same effect.

A post of doggery

Since Eva was so nice as to request such a post and because my new canine buddy Millie is the thing foremost on my mind, I now present LT’s first ever dog post! In the interest of staying true to the blog’s mission (so to speak), this is not just a “hey, meet my dog, y’all!” post. It’s also a series of short reviewlets about dog books I’ve read in the past few months.

Those of you who have met me in person have probably noticed that, in addition to my propensity to try and steer any conversation towards books, my love of dogs comes up in pretty short order. Maybe there’s a dog taking his or her walk I must gasp over while we’re talking. Or maybe there’s some vaguely relevant story about a news-worthy dog I’m able to (gracefully, of course!) slip into our conversation. Or maybe I’m totally tactless and just start yammering on about a cute dog I saw or how something reminded me of my old dog earlier or just wouldn’t it be great if I had one and what do you think of these breeds?

Confessions of a January non-reader

Full disclosure today as I committed the ultimate literary transgression this January: I didn’t finish a single book.

I hardly even read that much. I blame a variety of factors, including late-stage Henry James (impenetrable!) and a plethora of dog training books, none of which were finished, per se, but which were certainly combed through often enough in anticipation of this little one’s arrival, a life event that also cut down on my reading time.

A NaNoWriMo Clip Show

We’re now almost three full days into the most manic month on the calendar for us literary-types: National Novel Writing Month! This is the time seize the day of literary ambition and bang out the next great American novel. Or to do as book bloggers are traditionally do: cheer enthusiastically from the sidelines and then, in early December, write up your thoughts on someone else’s recently-completed NaNoWriMo novel.

But in case you’re thinking of taking a break from reviewing and musing in favor of trying your own hand at novel-writing, check out our NaNoWriMo-themed Clip Show for the day for all the inspiration you’ll need.

Firstly, some reasons to do NaNoWriMo from the LA Times to get you rarin’ to go.

Then check out Mental Floss’ great list of famous novels that were written in under a month to inspire you.

An e-reader crisis for this book lover

Oh man. The New York Public Library has finally jumped on board the good ship Kindle and is now offering Kindle-format books for e-borrowing.

I’ve always been a bit divided about e-readers, coming down mostly on the opposed side. I understand their convenience, particularly when it comes to travel and standing-subway-reading, but I also can’t quite swallow the loss of the physical appeal of books. I like their spines and pages and typography far too much to cave to e-readers yet.

That said, this news about the library is sorely testing my resolve not to buy a Kindle!

Brenda Moon is dead

Brenda Moon is dead. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so bereft at the loss of a stranger as when I flipped casually through the latest issue of The Book Collector and unsuspectingly tripped over the obituary for one Brenda Moon. I read the words and thought, Brenda Moon is dead even without processing what that really meant. I couldn’t believe it. After years of futilely searching for her and academically aching to know who this mysterious kindred spirit was, it all ended in the middle of a class dealing with examples of bibliographic journals when The Book Collector was flippantly tossed at me by the tutor. And there Brenda Moon was. Dead. Search over.

Go ahead: Judge away

Everyone knows they shouldn’t, but we all judge books by their covers. And maybe we should. In today’s publishing world, a good cover represents an investment in the sale of that particular book. If a book isn’t expected to sell well, why would a publisher shell out for a talented cover designer when they can have an intern cobble something together for barely nothing?

A bad cover might also be the sign of a bad publishing company, or a company that doesn’t really care about books in general.  But there have been some absolutely stunning cover designs coming out on books from across the spectrum, from classics to popular fiction. 

A read books list?

Just out of curiosity, do you keep a list of books you’ve read?

With handy online services like LibraryThing and Goodreads, keeping one’s own list is becoming somewhat technologically redundant, but I still definitely do. I started my list ten years ago this very day on June 23, 2001 and, at this point, its continuation is in part OCD nostalgia, part my librarianish tendencies, and part just good record-keeping.