Some Minor Updates

My News

The mail carrier waved me hello this morning as he drove passed my house after leaving some items in my box. I waved back because I'm a nice guy like that. When I opened the box, I pulled out an advert for a one-day workshop on Mistake-free Grammar & Proofreading, a letter from Hope Andrade that explains the propositions up for election this year and a large, cardboard envelope. At first, I'm puzzled. Could the Kindle cover really come in that fast? I just ordered about two days ago. When I got in and opened it, I pulled out a book. Darkness Falling by Peter Crowther. Okay, I know I didn't order this. Did I? Did I stay up all night again, surfing the online bookstores for something that would make me smile? No. Wait, there's a letter inside the book. Great scotts, man! I won a book from a GoodReads giveaway! Wait, no. That's not right. Angry Robot Books. Where do I know that from? Oh yeah, their tiny banner's only on the left side of my blog. Shit. It's that reviewer's copy I requested. Damnit, I gotta start writing these sort of things down.

The book's description suggest alien abduction. In the "file under" tag, it suggest Zombiepocalypse, Body Snatchers, Eternal Darkness, They're Back. I don't get much off that. Anyway, it should be an interesting read. I hope I can keep from distractions to get it done before the 27th - the book's release date.

Artful Covers

Over at Flavorwire, Nicole Rallis presents us with 20 Reimagined Book Covers, which stretch from lame to great, though are not place in such an order. In fact, it's up to the reader to decide which takes the cake and which artist rendering should be tossed into the fires of Mordor. 

Covers range from The Hobbit to James Joyce's Dubliners (see left). Personal favorites of mine go to Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven, Nabokov's Lolita and Salinger's Franny and Zooey. 

Netflix for Books

I shudder to about it. Apparently, the ball is rolling. Last week, GoodReads presented a Netflix-like personalized recommendation page that allows readers to share their reading lists and thoughts on books. Which is strange, because I thought GoodReads already did that latter. Also making headway last week was news about Amazon working on a Netflix-like ebook rental program. That's disturbing. As much as I love my Kindle, I cannot help but to think the printed word is in more danger than ever. Besides, don't we have something similar with books already? And the program's free, people. It's call your local library. No? Oh well, moving on.

The Death of the Printed Word

The other day, some spaz on Tumblr decided to stand on his/her soapbox and state that s/he will never buy an e-reader. The reason? Because countless bookstores are shutting down. And I'm talking about independently owned bookstores, though Borders did close its doors - tear. The blog post is made up of pictures, photographs taken by avid book lovers saying goodbye to their favorite haunts, I'm assuming. 

Now e-readers have taken a bad rap for the death of the printed word. It's not fair. A 2007 study showed that people were reading less than they used to. And I'm sure the numbers haven't changed much with the popularity of e-readers. I figure that people are more inclined on spending their money on whatever is making waves in the cinema than on a good book.

Perhaps the death of independently owned bookstores can be accredited to online shopping, rather than e-readers. I do find myself browsing Amazon, Better World Books and the like for better deals, better prices and at my convenience. I'm rarely disappointed, whereas, I run the risk of not finding what I want if I went to my local Barnes & Noble or one of the thrift shops I venture into. It's just a thought.

Oh well, until next time. Keep on huntin'.