Amazon Seeks Patent for Placing Ads in Books

While reading, I try to separate myself from the industrial/corporate world. I don't want to think about work, my groceries, the things I need to buy but can't afford. But that might end soon, as Amazon seeks to patent placing ads in books. (Now glad I didn't blow my wad on a Kindle).

In a column for CrunchGear, Devin Coldewey speculates that they will probably limit this to reduced-price books to keep Kindle newbies from feeling betrayed.

But, they have left a loophole for themselves with the potential to extend this to print editions of the content. Not sure exactly how that would work now since Kindle downloads aren't printable (so far as I know).

Aside from just being très gauche, this could also cause problems for holdouts (i.e. independent publishers, small presses) down the line.

Ads in books? Also read this column by Michael Klurfeld in TechGeist - if it's annoying but you get books for free, is it worth it? And how will Amazon negotiate this with publishers who offer Kindle-friendly e-books?

Every Type of Literary Analysis Ever Written

Please let The Peanuts enlighten you with this striking musical rendition of "A Book Report on 'Peter Rabbit,'" which chronicles the paper-writing process. It explores such triumphs and struggles as adopting a thesis, going on a tangent, making word count and, lastly, procrastination.

Newsweek Does Something Interesting

Newsweek just came out with a list of the top 50 books you have to read now. Not the best books ever, but books that speak to readers at this particular time - don't agree with all the titles rankings, but it's a neat angle to an old list.

Bribe Kids, and They Will Do Anything

Including read. A New Zealand school is now experiencing what all of us who participated in the Pizza Hut "Book It!" program already knew: If you give a kid a prize, they will flip through a few books.

Only their prizes, in my humble opinion, are bigger motivators. I mean, 10 chapter books and I get a personal pan pizza? Really? Still hongry.

Read the article in The Guardian about the new prize program. The checkouts at their library have nearly doubled.

Post Mortem: Unloved Books as Art

On my daily troll of expensive interior design blogs, I ran across this little gem. Atlanta artist Brian Dettmer takes old books and carves into them, offering alternate interpretations of the text. He's rehabbing neglected medical textbooks and outdated dictionaries and turning them into gorgeous works of art. They're pricey, but if you're a major fan of the blog, you could send one my way (hint: I really love World Science).

Baa! Baa! Black Sheep or Gone With the Wind?

Would the classics be remembered at all if they had gone by their working titles? Or is something catchy something more important?

Click the headline above to read this article in from The Guardian and find out why you're glad authors change the titles from first draft to shelf.

Women Are Relevant Writers; Or, Why Ernest Hemingway Is Not the Definition of 20th Century American Fiction

Please read Elaine Showalter's case for female writers and their relevance to "Great American Novel" (in quotes), something that many columnists have forgotten with the death of John Updike. (Although, let's face it, she also wrote it to promote her new book A Jury of Her Peers: American Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx).

Often excluded from the canon or judged by only their most recent works, women continue to dominate the American literary world (despite the critics' tendency to forget them).

Also, her list of the top eight female writers to watch has given me a new reading list. So hoorah!

Again, thanks to The Guardian for this contribution.

Survival of the fittest: May the cutest logo live on

Visit the link above to see the NYTimes diagram of how consolodation of major publishers still leaves room for variation in the logo pool.

Some people love the smell of books, and some people love to smell like books

Yes, you are reading correctly. Perfumiers are now attempting to encapsulate novels in your nostrils.

Will you be able to identify a person's taste in literature by their aromatherapy choices?

Click the headline above to read the article.