Booklorn

Sad day in this book blogging corner of the Internet

Anysia — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:10:40 +0000

As you may or may not be aware, yesterday the little corner of the book blogging community that I inhabit learned that an avid book reader, respected book blogger and tireless community builder had passed away. She was known as Dewey and her book blog was The Hidden Side of a Leaf. Few of us book bloggers knew she was ill; those of us who knew had no idea how serious it was. Dewey was online to share her love of books and ours was a better community for her passion.

I won’t pretend I knew her well or for very long. I knew her only through her blog but was always impressed by the energy I found there. My heart goes out to her family for their personal loss, which is much greater than we can imagine and certainly much greater than ours in our online community.

Dewey’s husband mentions the stacks of books that Dewey read around the house. I have been wondering lately what to do with my own stacks of books, particularly the books that I know I won’t be reading again or passing on to friends. I want to do something useful with them, something meaningful. The news of Dewey’s passing gave me an idea as to how I can do that as well as honour the memory of a passionate reader and book blogger.

For me, books have always been an escape as well as entertainment. Books can make time pass faster or make it stand still. Books let you travel to places you’ll never go and meet people you’ll never meet. Books let you take a break from reality for just a few hours so that you can keep going. So I’m going to share the love of books by passing some of my books to organizations that serve people who need a little escape to recharge.

It’s a small thing, but I’ll be thinking of Dewey when I do it and hoping someone discovers a love of books and a little escape along the way.

First two winners of the Hachette Holiday Season giveaway

Anysia — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 04:01:52 +0000

According to random.org and my trusty spreadsheet, the first two winners of the Hachette Holiday Season 5-book pack giveaway are:

Shelly Burns
and
Mercedes

E-mail has been sent and I’m waiting for responses. If you haven’t entered yet, you can still do that. If you have already entered, you’re still eligible for the next draws. Don’t forget that sharing a holiday memory or tradition greatly increases your chances of winning (and helps spread the holiday spirit too!).

Free Book Downloads - Part 23

Anysia — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:39:58 +0000

It’s always nice to find an archive of free ebooks and I thought I’d come across them all but then they made another one. If you’re looking for DRM-free ebooks, then eBooks Just Published is your site. And lucky for you, they have a category for DRM-free, free book downloads.

There’s a rating system to help you find the gems (I see J.A. Konrath’s Origin has high ratings). I see some books there that I’ve announced previously in this series and some I haven’t, so I’ll be keeping an eye on this site. Let me know what you find.

Books make great gifts because …

Anysia — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 16:56:03 +0000

In case you need more reasons to buy books this holiday season, a few authors and celebrities have filled in the blank of “Books make great gifts because ______.” This video is part of a campaign by Random House to promote books as gifts. Book bloggers are also running a campaign over at Buy Books for the Holidays.

Pass it on!

If you’re looking to buy books online or looking for gift ideas, you can try these:
Bookcloseouts (75-94% off until Monday, 50-90% off every day)
Amazon.com
Amazon.ca
Amazon.co.uk

Interesting article on the future of science fiction

Anysia — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:57:06 +0000

I was looking over the other half’s shoulder last night as he was reading and noticed that the issue of NewScientist in question had a special report on the future of science fiction. Since I didn’t want to wait to read it (I actually have about 6 months worth of NewScientist issues to read at my bedside), I wandered over to their site to see if the article was online for nonsubscribers and there it was.

One article asks “Is science fiction dying” and has responses from Margaret Atwood, Stephen Baxter, William Gibson, Ursula K Le Guin, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Nick Sagan. There is also a list of writers to watch, reviews of science fiction books, and the results of a poll on all-time favourite science fiction books and movies. It is an interesting collection of articles to read so I thought I would pass it on to you.

Black Friday Sale: Cheap books now cheaper for four days!

Anysia — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 04:00:44 +0000

There is something called Black Friday in the United States that, I have to admit, I don’t fully understand and have never experienced. The closest we have in Canada is Boxing Day sales but since crowds pushing and shoving to save a few dollars are not my idea of a good time, I haven’t experienced that either. Internet sales, on the other hand, I can deal with and I’m not above taking advantage of sales aimed at the US that are open to me (and everybody else) too. Especially if the sales are about crazy cheap books. My book-reading eyes are much, much bigger than my bank account so in addition to buying new and used, begging freebies and using the library, I also buy cheap books (whether this is good or not for the industry is another, very complicated question).

So when I got an e-mail in my inbox saying that fiction books that are already 50-90% off were going to be an additional 50% off (so that’s, uhm, hang on let me do the math … 75-94% off) during the Black Friday weekend (midnight November 27 to midnight December 1), I thought I would pass it along as well as taking advantage of it myself (yeesh, like I need any more books). Especially since there’s free shipping for orders over $35.

Now in the interests of full disclosure, if you visit through that link and happen to buy a book, I get a percentage which I put toward hosting costs. The books are ridiculously cheap, so I don’t get much but I thought I would disclose it. Being book readers and therefore smart sorts of people, I’m sure you would have figured it out without me, but why make you do that.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some shopping to do (I’d be my own best customer if that was allowed).

Garner’s Modern American Usage by Bryan A. Garner (Review … of a sort)

Anysia — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:14:27 +0000

I have been tempted, in the last few weeks, to send copies of Garner’s Modern American Usage to a number of television news anchors and reporters both here in Canada and in the US. I have taken to yelling at the television set (and yes, I know they can’t hear me) every time some reporter or talking head refers to Barack Obama’s win of the US election as “historical.” It’s historic, people. Historic. Not historical. They are not interchangeable adjectives. Historic means “famous or important in history.” Historical just means it happened in the past. All elections, once over, are historical but few are historic.

If it wasn’t for the fact that it’s my television, which I worked long and hard for and can’t afford to replace, the yelling would be followed by the throwing of a few usage guides and dictionaries (in my world they would zip right through the television screen and bonk said reporter or talking head square in the forehead). Alas, I haven’t quite broken with reality enough to think that my fantasy would actually come true.

Fox is a particular offender (don’t judge me, some of my favourite shows are on Fox and occasionally I forget to change the channel and end up listening to news that makes no sense at all until I realize I’m watching the nightly news for the wrong country — I went over a decade without cable so I’m still not used to having American channels). There are offenders at Canadian news anchor desks as well, so don’t think I’m just picking on Americans. Jon Stewart and Rick Mercer, both political satirists and authors, unsurprisingly get the word right.

So what good would a usage guide do? Well, if you’re unfamiliar with them (and many people are), usage guides are a little bit like dictionaries but instead of listing the definitions of words, they list the proper usage of words. A usage guide is the kind of reference book that you pick up when you want to remind yourself of the difference between effect and affect (which trips a lot of people up), the difference between historic and historical (*cough*), or the difference between continuous and continual. There are also entries on when to use which and when to use that.

These guides are also useful to distinguish usage that is wrong as opposed to usage that differs between American, Canadian, and British dialects (there are, of course, more English dialects than that but Garner’s covers these three for the most part). Knowing how usage varies between dialects as well as what is just plain wrong is very important for anyone editing and for anyone writing in this global world of ours.

There are many usage guides out there, but as an all-around general-use guide I find Garner’s most useful. No matter what I’m looking for, 99.9% of the time I find it in Garner’s. I asked a former board member of the Editor’s Association of Canada for a recommendation for a Canadian usage guide and she suggested the Oxford Guide to Canadian English Usage, but I rarely end up using it unless I am looking up something particularly Canadian (I don’t think it makes a difference, but my edition is the first edition rather than the second edition being sold now). Most of the more general usage problems I look up aren’t in the Oxford guide, but are invariably in Garner’s.

If you have a dictionary, you should probably have a usage guide as well, particularly if you write for work or for pleasure. No one may point out your usage mistakes to you, but people notice and it affects their opinion of you (I’m not saying it’s right; I’m just saying that it happens). Everyone is prone to usage mistakes and most of us aren’t aware of the ones we are making (otherwise we wouldn’t make them). You can’t rely on newspapers, magazines, or television to teach proper usage (in fact, Garner’s examples of faulty usage are all drawn from newspapers and magazines). To get it right, you need a usage guide.

(There’s probably a usage error in this post somewhere … no one’s perfect).

An idea for gift giving …

Anysia — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:28:40 +0000

My interest is in story, whether it’s fictional or factual, whether it’s a book, a movie, or a radio play. In my family, we have stockings stuffed with various items. Some expensive (relatively), some cheap, some used, some new, and some free. My father is particularly hard to shop for. My parents are retired and for the most part have reached a point in their lives where they don’t “need” anything that they don’t have or can’t buy for themselves. My mother, at least, always has some ideas for what to get her if I can’t think of anything. But my dad always insists he doesn’t need anything and my mother and I keep telling him that one day he’ll get exactly what he asks for (we always manage to find something in the end).

Last year I tried something different. It didn’t cost me anything other than a bit of time, but it provided a few hours of entertainment for my dad and I thought I would share the idea with you in case you are looking for gift ideas, particularly ones that cost as close to $0 as you can get and still be entirely legal and ethical.

What I gave my dad last year were a handful of CDs with hours of old radio plays that he hadn’t heard since he was my age or younger. My parents tell stories of sitting around on spaghetti night listening to their favourite radio play every week. Whether you’ve heard radio plays before or not, they are an interesting and entertaining gift (I listen to them myself), not to mention a glimpse at storytelling from a different era. You can find a number of genres and episodes online as free podcasts on iTunes.com or you can do a search for ‘old radio plays’ for other sites. If your gift recipient doesn’t have a means to play mp3s, you can easily convert them to a format that plays on regular CD players.

If radio plays don’t appeal to you or your intended gift recipient, there are other forms of story downloads that might appeal to someone on your gift list:

A selection of audiobooks (or even just one) from Podiobooks.com.
A selection of free ebooks (or even just one). And if you don’t know where you might find those, then a little spelunking through Booklorn’s archives should fix you up.

Got any ideas or tips to share on gift-giving this season?

Free Book Downloads - Part 22

Anysia — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:54:48 +0000

I’ve found two book downloads for you this week: Night World: Secret Vampire by L.J. Smith and Message Stick by Laine Cunningham.

Simon & Schuster is allowing a download of Night World: Secret Vampire until December 21st. I haven’t opened my copy yet, but the amazon.com description
lists three stories and the download banner only mentions the first one so this may not be the complete book. But a free story is a free story and the rating for Secret Vampire (which came out in 1996 as a stand alone book) is 5 stars with 85 reviews.

The other book I came across is Message Stick by Laine Cunningham. This is an Australian book that looks like it’s from a micro-press. It’s billed as a suspense novel. The description on the download page looks promising. There are aboriginal dreamtime stories incorporated into the book and the protagonist is a bi-racial aboriginal man who has lost touch with his roots (go read the description, it’s much more engaging than my synopsis of it).

As always, if you read one of these books please let me know what you thought (or send me the link to your review so I can post it).

Hachette holiday season 5-book pack (Giveaway)

Anysia — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 06:18:56 +0000

It’s the holiday season for many people, so Hachette is having some of its popular 5-pack-o-books giveaways. And guess who gets to give some away? That’s right, little ‘ol me. This is the December giveaway, so it’s not the entertainment pack that some of you may have entered to win in November. These packs are a little different because you have a choice of 3 different sets of books themed around Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa. I’ll let the 5 winners pick whichever set they want — everyone gets their first choice.

The books in the three packs are listed below. You can click on the title or the cover to go check out the book on Hachette’s site. Scroll down past the books to see all the fine print about entering the giveaway (sorry, gotta have it).

Giveaway Details

Eligibility

Open to residents of the United States and Canada. Sorry, you must have a street address (no P.O. boxes) to enter. Shipping courtesy of Hachette Book Group. I do have a worldwide giveaway coming up in February for this book for those who aren’t eligible for this one.
You must be contactable. If I can’t reach you, you can’t win.

The Book

The winners will each receive a 5 book pack of their choice: Happy Hanukkah Pack, Happy Kwanzaa Pack, or Merry Christmas Pack. No mixing of books between packs is allowed.

How to Enter

There are a number of ways to enter, depending on how many entries you want. The list only looks long. You can do only #1 and be done. The extra ways to enter just increase your chances of winning (pick any or none of them or come back later and do more of them):

Post a comment on this post saying that you want to be entered (1 entry). Any comment you make on this thread that makes it clear you’re entering the giveaway qualifies, so no need to make a separate comment just to collect this entry if you are doing any of the others). If you want more entries, keep reading. If one’s enough for you, thanks for coming by and don’t forget to check out the other freebies on the site and the other book blogger giveaways in the sidebar.
Help me keep in touch:
- Subscribe to my RSS feed in a reader OR by e-mail (no need to do both) and tell me in your comment (2 entries). If you are already a subscriber let me know and I’ll give you the entries too.
- Follow me on Twitter (1 entry). If you already follow me on Twitter, remind me when you post and I’ll give you the entries too.
Help me publicize this giveaway:
- Blog about this giveaway and link back here OR link to this giveaway on your blog sidebar (3 entries).
Show me you’re interested in the book by telling me about a favourite holiday tradition, favourite holiday memory, or favourite holiday food/meal or other form of holiday story (5 entries — you only get to collect this once so think about it a bit if you need to). Give me at least a sentence or two. Make it good, because one pack of books may go to the person with the best comment/story (and by best I of course mean whatever strikes me as most interesting or most touching or most witty or most something. It’s completely subjective and if nothing strikes my fancy I’ll do all random drawings). I just want to learn more about the different ways people celebrate.

Deadlines

This giveaway has 5 prize packs of 5 books each so there are several closing dates (ALL entries count for ALL draws):

On December 1, 2008 I will draw up to 2 winners based on the number of unique entries on November 30 at 11:59 pm Mountain Standard Time. If there are at least 12 unique entries I’ll draw one winner/at least 24 unique entries I’ll draw two winners.

On December 8, 2008 I will draw up to 2 winners (or more if the weren’t enough unique entries the previous week) based on the number of unique entries on December 7 at 11:59 pm Mountain Standard Time. If there are at least 36 unique entries by this time I’ll draw one more winner/if there at least 48 unique entries by this time I’ll draw two winners.

On December 15, 2008 I will award the last pack of books. I hope to award this one to the best comment on holiday traditions/memories/foods as of December 14 at 11:59 pm Mountain Standard Time. As I said above, “best” is subjective. If there are no comments that particularly stand out, I will do a random drawing instead.

The winners will be announced and e-mailed the day after the drawings (unless I’m swamped, but I’ll try not to be). If the winners don’t reply to the e-mail notification within 72 hours, new winners will be drawn.

Take a Moment to Visit . . .

If you’re new to Booklorn, check out the free reading tag and my reviews (of course). Buying books for the holidays? Check out a book blogging campaign I’m a part of over at Buy Books For The Holidays.