For me, books are like crack. I cannot have enough. I cannot read enough. When I got my Kindle for Christmas, I told myself, "Hey, self! Look! Everything in public domain is free! You won't fall victim to the latest New York Times book review, or the engrossing interview on NPR's Fresh Air. No sirree! There…
Category: Books
“The Rabbit of Easter, He Brings of the Chocolate”
In his hilarious collection of essays Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris describes trying to explain both the secular and religious aspects of the Easter holiday to a class learning French. The students come from many different countries, and most do not speak French very well at all. A student from Morocco is completely…
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Familiarity Breeds…Ummm…Moderate Book Sales
It's no secret that breaking into the best-seller ranks, especially in hardback sales, is becoming increasingly difficult for new fiction authors. This week, Publisher's Weekly reported on the top-selling hardcover authors in 2010. The big dogs dominated, and most have been successfully keeping others away from the kibble for several years. Airport kiosk favorite James Patterson…
e-Readers: Celebration or Sacrilege?
Some of the hottest gifts this past Christmas were e-readers: Kindles, Nooks, iPhones, and iPads. The industry expected sales of e-texts to soar and they were not disappointed. In fact, the Association of American Publishers reports that sales took a mighty jump, up an estimated 115.8% in the month of January, and generated some $69.9…
Ten Presidential Ponderings: Memoirs, Biographies, and More
"American history is a quagmire, and the more one knows, the quaggier the mire gets." — Sarah Vowell Sometimes it's fun to get into the muck of politics, so we thought that for President's Day this year, we would offer you some titles that offer insight, personality, behind-the-scences intrigue, and sometimes humor in consideration of…
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Literature’s Top 10 Lovers
You didn't think we here at eNotes would let Valentine's Day go by unnoticed did you? As soon as we came down off our sugar highs, we began composing our list of favorites. Here, by demand and consensus, are ten of Cupid's best pairings (at least in literature). 10. Petrarch and Laura. Ahh...Laura...the original "woman…
National Book Critics Circle Award Finalists Announced
This past Saturday, the finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Awards were announced. Among the finalists are Johnathan Franzen for Freedom and Siddhartha Mukharjee for The Emperor of All Maladies. Along with the Pulitzer Prize (2010 winner, Tinkers by Paul Harding) and the Man Booker Prize (2010 winner, The Finkler Question by Harold Jacobson), the NBCC…
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Are Public Libraries Still Relevant?
I confess. There is a public library within walking distance of my house. I have lived here two years and have never ventured inside. This is not to say I never visit libraries, but the ones I tend to haunt are university collections. If I want a novel or another non-fiction work outside of my…