some other uses for a book you may not have known about...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWHBsNka4po


this is really dumb but also kind of funny!

DIY Halloween Decorations!

Can an ebook do this?  I think not.

A Fantastic Exploration of the Written Word

One of my favorite series when I was in high school were the Thursday Next novels by Jasper Fforde which followed the protagonist as she literally (ha!) traveled through books. Thursday Next lives in a parallel universe with cops that police not only the here and now but also throughout time and books as well. Next is a Literary SpecOps (Special Operations) agent in her world but also works to combat rogues in books as well with Jursifiction. Fforde's novels are fun intertextual adventures playing with many layers of books and the written word. For example, Next's first mission with Jurisfiction involves replacing a canine protagonist who has gone blind with a new one but is almost killed by the "generics" (characters in a story who aren't developed by the author) who get high off emotions. I would definitely recommend the Thursday Next series as an entertaining look at the literary world, readers, and what goes on in the books we are reading.

Lit Quake

If you're in the city this weekend check out the Lit Quake! Thanks to Jamey for sharing.

A response to Kindle and eBooks: Bio-Optically Organized Knowledge

The video is in Spanish because my Ecuadorian host mother sent it to me on Day of the Book which is celebrated more in her home country of Spain by the exchange of books between couples and family members.

Kindle and the future of reading | The New Yorker

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/08/03/090803fa_fact_baker

A really interesting article on the impact of Kindle on reading.

“I’ve always been creeped out by library books and used books,” one visitor, Christine Ring, wrote on the Amazon Web site. “You never know where they’ve been!” “It has reinvigorated my interest in reading,” another reviewer said. “I’m hooked,” another said. “If I dropped my kindle down a sewer, I would buy another one immediately.”


Posted by Charmian

What makes a Writer? Readings for Next Thursday

I trust you are having fun writing your paper on writers and readers in popular culture. Once again, what I would like to see in this assignment is a broader consideration of what our culture is telling us about those who write books, and those who read them. Why do certain images or ideas prevail over others? With what consequence? Remember, you do not have to focus on any one author, nor do you have to focus on fictional depictions of writers or readers alone. You have a fair degree of flexibility in how you want to "people" your essay. Hopefully, Augusten's own life and work will give you some ideas as well.

I will look for three broad qualities when I read your papers: insightfulness, style, and professionalism (the last one simply means grammar and spelling, so please copy-edit before you submit!)

In our next class, we will discuss more about what it means to write books (before we get into what it means to publish books in the following weeks). We will consider the broader social and political implications of literacy and the distribution of cultural capital, writing as a popular aspiration, as well as some specific questions about the role of creative writing programs. We will also learn first-hand about a very unique writing support program, 826 Valencia, from its CEO.

Please take a look at the following articles listed on the side-bar of this blog for next Thursday's class: "MFA v NYC," "We ten million," "The first how-to book for fiction," "Stop writing them," and the excellent video clip about 826 posted earlier on the blog by Caroline.