books

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Amazon Opens Lending Library for Kindle

But it's only for those who belong to its Prime program

(Newser) - Starting today, Kindle users who are Amazon Prime subscribers—and no one else—will have access to Amazon’s new ebook lending library. The library won’t be available to those using Kindle apps on other devices, and it’s opening with a fairly small selection of books: just over...

Diary of Teen Who Survived Auschwitz to Be Published

Helga Weiss narrowly escaped death at the hands of Nazi doctor Josef Mengele

(Newser) - Anne Frank was not the only teen to record her harrowing Holocaust account in a diary—or to have the chronicle of her ordeal published. Helga Weiss, now an artist in her 80s, kept her journal as a young girl, beginning in 1939. Her family's Prague apartment was taken...

Latest Amazon Brainchild: Netflix for Books

But publishers are leery of idea

(Newser) - Amazon is chatting with publishers about starting a subscription-based digital book library—but publishers are reluctant to jump on the bandwagon. Under the Netflix-like proposal, consumers would pay a yearly fee to get access to the library, insiders tell the Wall Street Journal . Publishers, however, are concerned that such a...

BookLamp: Introducing Pandora for Books

 Introducing 
 'Pandora 
 for Books' 
in case you missed it

Introducing 'Pandora for Books'

BookLamp aims to change the way you get book recommendations

(Newser) - Need to find a new book to read? Allow us to introduce you to BookLamp , a project Mashable calls "Pandora for books." BookLamp is a recommendation engine launching today that uses the actual content of a book you like in order to recommend other books you might also...

Consumer Reports Says Barnes & Noble Nook Better e-Reader Than Amazon Kindle
 Nook Beats 
 Out Kindle 


says consumer reports

Nook Beats Out Kindle

Barnes & Noble e-reader boasts touch screen, lighter weight, two-month battery

(Newser) - If you’re looking to do some e-reading on the beach this summer, Consumer Reports is advocating something other than the Kindle for the first time: Barnes & Noble’s Simple Touch Nook finally has beat Amazon's offering. Unlike the Kindle, the Nook has a touch screen; it’s...

Harry Potter's Real Magic Was on Way We Read

More than a popular book, Potter transformed literature, says critic

(Newser) - With the release of the eighth and final movie in the Harry Potter franchise, stories about the famous young wizard may be over, but the series' legacy—both cultural and literary—will live on, writes John Granger in the Washington Post . "[JK] Rowling transformed our idea of what stories...

Best of 2011 ... So Far
 Best of 2011 ... So Far 
in case you missed it

Best of 2011 ... So Far

Salon offers up a mid-year list

(Newser) - Now that we're more than halfway through 2011, the Salon staff compiled the best books, movies, music, and TV of the year so far. Among its recommendations:
  • Film: Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life is quite good—but Lee Chang-dong's Poetry, about a 66-year-old woman who may
...

100 Best Non-Fiction Books
 100 Best Non-Fiction Books 

100 Best Non-Fiction Books

Who says a summer read has to be light?

(Newser) - Looking for a summer read that’s a little weightier than the norm? Check out the Guardian ’s list of the 100 greatest non-fiction books. Some samples:
  • Art: The Shock of the New, by Robert Hughes, traces the story of modern art.
  • Biography: Robert Graves talks, of course, about
...

Regis Philbin Writes Memoir on Television Career, 'Live! With Regis and Kelly'
 Regis Philbin Pens Memoir 

Regis Philbin Pens Memoir

Retiring talk show host calls book a 'thank-you' to fans

(Newser) - Regis Philbin may be exiting the talk show world , but before he (finally) goes, he's leaving his fans with a "personal thank-you" in the form of a memoir, due this fall. Though currently untitled, the book will reflect on his decades-long television career and include stories about Live!...

California Library May Ditch Its Books

People could still order them, in a system similar to Netflix

(Newser) - New phrase for the digital age: "Bookless library." The California city of Newport Beach is considering just such a beast, reports the Los Angeles Times . Under the plan, the city would remove the physical books from one of its four branches but still keep it open as a...

In Laos, Bringing Books to Children—Via Elephant

The story of one American expatriate's local publishing company

(Newser) - In Laos, many children had never seen a book until “Uncle Sasha” came to town. American Sasha Alyson first visited the impoverished country in 2003, and was struck by the lack of books for children. “Many [kids] don't even know what a book is. Sometimes you have to...

Thomas Jefferson's Last Books Turn Up in Library

St. Louis' Washington University now holds third-largest collection

(Newser) - About 70 books in the library at Washington University in St. Louis were once pored over by a voracious reader in early America—a guy by the name of Thomas Jefferson, the New York Times reports. The school just learned that the books were part of the last library Jefferson...

Celebs Who Penned NYT Best Sellers

...or, at least, whose name is on the dust jacket

(Newser) - At this very moment, Barack Obama, Amy Chua, George W. Bush, Malcolm Gladwell, and Mark Twain are sitting pretty on the New York Times Best Sellers list —and so are Jay-Z, Keith Richards, and Portia de Rossi. Further proving that you don't have to be a literary genius to...

Google Database Tracks Popularity of 500B Words

We use 'women' a lot more than we used to

(Newser) - Google has quietly released a massive database that's as scholarly a tool as it is fun to play with. Called Ngram , this digital storehouse contains 500 billion words from 5.2 million books published between 1500 and 2008 in English, French, Spanish, German, Russian, and Chinese. It lets anyone search...

Best Books of 2010, Chosen by Authors

Dave Eggers, Tao Lin, and more offer their picks

(Newser) - Who better to ask for book suggestions than an author? Nineteen of them share their favorites of 2010 with Salon :
  • Dave Eggers: The collection Beirut39: New Writing From the Arab World is "a really necessary undertaking" highlighting the "kind of renaissance taking place ... among young Arab writers."
...

Tiny Borders Looks to Buy Mighty Barnes & Noble

Even though it's a fraction of the size

(Newser) - A major Borders shareholder is offering to finance a $960 million bid to buy much larger rival Barnes & Noble. That would amount to $16 a share, unlikely to be the highest bid for the bookseller, which put itself on the block in August. Sources tell the Wall Street Journal...

Let's Celebrate Sex in Literature
Let's Celebrate Sex in Literature
OPINION

Let's Celebrate Sex in Literature

Why the 'Bad Sex in Fiction Award' is a prudish disgrace

(Newser) - Every year the Literary Review of Britain hands out its Bad Sex in Fiction Award, and every year it draws loads of press and snarky giggles at the expense of big-name nominees (who have included Tom Wolfe, Norman Mailer, and, this year, Jonathan Franzen). Well, Laura Miller of Salon is...

15 Books That Will Never Hit Theaters

Thomas Pynchon's 'Gravity's Rainbow'? Not likely

(Newser) - The Great Gatsby is about to get the celluloid treatment again . And while we can only hope that Baz Luhrmann does it justice, a great book does not automatically equal a great film. (The Scarlett Letter much?) The Huffington Post lists 15 novels that it considers "unfilmable":
  1. Pale Fire,
...

E-Books Joining NYT Bestseller List

Fiction and nonfiction will be ranked early next year

(Newser) - E-books are gaining sales and credibility: The New York Times will add two e-book bestseller lists, fiction and nonfiction, beginning next year. The company has been working on a system to track and verify sales for two years, using weekly data from publishers, bookstores, and online retailers. “It was...

Wal-Mart Sells Anti-Gay Kids' Book
Wal-Mart
Sells Anti-Gay Kids' Book

Wal-Mart Sells Anti-Gay Kids' Book

Its big lesson: Homosexuality is a sin that can be overcome

(Newser) - Wal-Mart is selling a book for kids and parents that makes the case that homosexuals can overcome their "sin" and revert to heterosexuality, Q Salt Lake reports. Chased by an Elephant, the Gospel Truth about Today’s Stampeding Sexuality is by Janice Barrett Graham—the wife of Stephen Graham,...

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