Source: Literary Hub/Huffington Post
Literary Hub, a site dedicated to book news, essays and excerpts, has launched Book Marks, which they call a “Rotten Tomatoes for books,” aggregating professional critics’ takes on new literary novels and assigning them a letter grade. READ MORE: Attention, Readers: ‘Rotten Tomatoes For Books’ Is Here | Huffington Post
Browsing toy stores these days is often a constant reminder that they don’t make toys like they used to — because, in most cases, they make them better. It’s row after row of products you wish had been around back in your younger days. This goes double for the high-tech toys including robotics, smart devices and construction kits. Moss is a little bit of each.
The second product from Boulder, Colorado-based hardware startup Modular Robotics began life as a Kickstarter campaign late last year, when it managed to capture more than three and a half times its lofty $100,000 goal. And it’s not tough to see why. The robotics kit promises balances education and entertainment.
READ MORE Moss is a pricey Erector set for robot lovers [REVIEW] | Mashable
Last month, New York Times bestselling author Karen Abbott published a non-fiction book called Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy, with its subject four fascinating women who became spies during the Civil War—Belle Boyd, teenage rebel and “Secesh Cleopatra”; Emma Edmonds, dressed as a soldier, her nom de guerre “Frank”; Rose O’Neal Greenhow, seducer with an espionage ring; Elizabeth Van Lew, wealthy and quietly radical abolitionist.
Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy was reviewed at the Washington Post by Jonathan Yardley, a Pulitzer-winning critic known for utter decisiveness…
READ MORE: Washington Post Dismisses 500-Page Civil War Nonfiction Book As Girly | Jezebel
MUST READ if you are a librarian…blogger, author, book reviewer, in publishing or editing…love books…Digital publisher Ellora’s Cave sues Dear Author blog for reporting on its financial troubles | Gigaom. This makes me sick to my stomach. I feel for all the authors contracted to the company and unable to reverse their rights. The outcome of the lawsuit is extremely important. The fact the lawsuit was filed in the first place is having a huge impact on the blogging and book reviewing community.
CallMeIshmael.com is a fascinating and fantastic new way to celebrate books. The concept is simple:
Read More: Your New Favorite Storytelling Website Is All About Books | BuzzFeed
Books & Publishing
‘City on Fire,’ a Debut Novel, Fetches Nearly $2 Million | TNYT
Donna Tartt’s novel “The Goldfinch” has 771 pages. “The Luminaries” by Eleanor Catton, winner of the 2013 Man Booker Prize, is 834 pages long. And then there is “City on Fire,” the 900-page debut novel that took the publishing industry by storm last week. It was even more evidence that the long novel is experiencing a resurgence, as a dozen publishers competed for the rights to release the book, set in New York City in the 1970s.
Music & Film
Hey MPAA, Why Are PG-13 Movies More Violent Than R-Rated Ones? | Flavorwire
A new study from the Annenberg Public Policy Center finds something more disturbing: though initial PG-13 films contained about as much gun violence as G or PG-rated pictures, “since 2009, PG-13-rated films have contained as much or more violence as R-rated films” (emphasis mine). And hey, funny story, that rise matches gun violence off-screen too.
Books & Publishing
BuzzFeed Decides Criticizing Awful Books Is Too Mean | The Atlantic
Put away the hatchets, BuzzFeed book reviewers. The Internet’s foremost listicle-maker will now be taking its ‘No Haters’ policy over to its rising books section, as BuzzFeed’s new books editor said…that he will only accept warm and cuddly book reviews.
Music & Film
Why Video Games Succeed Where The Movie And Music Industries Fail | FastCompany
The video-game industry is projected to grow from $67 billion in 2013 to $82 billion in 2017. At the same time, global movie revenue, both DVD and ticket sales, hit an estimated $94 billion in 2010, down 17% after inflation from 2001. Why is the video-game industry on the ascendance? And are there any lessons that the movie (and to a lesser extent, the music) industry can take from its success?
Image Credit: oysterbooks.com
Books & Publishing
Jeff Bezos’ Wife And Co-Workers Call Out Brad Stone’s Amazon Book As Inaccurate…On Amazon | TechCrunch
In what can only be seen as a moment of delicious cyclical irony, a new fairly negative review of the book has been posted by none other than Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos’ wife, MacKenzie Bezos. We’ve confirmed the identity of the reviewer, the only peson to leave a one-star reaction so far.
Readmill is my new Favorite eBook Reading App [Review] | Beautiful Pixels
One of the biggest problems faced while upgrading to the paperless world — at least when it comes to reading ebooks — is that the system is horribly fragmented. Some ebooks are available on one platform while some on others. Keeping track of all your purchases and syncing them with different devices is always a pain. Readmill wants to take some of that pain away from you.
New E-Book Services Borrow a Page From Netflix [Review] | AllThingsD
Review of Oyster and Scribd e-book subscription services.
Music & Film
Arizona Education Dept. Liked It Better When These Books Were Banned | HuffPost
The Arizona Education Department is objecting to the Tucson school board’s decision to rescind a classroom ban on seven books once used to teach a controversial Mexican American Studies course.
Hell Hath No Fury Like a Superfan Scorned | BookRiot
The hype for Veronica Roth’s Allegiant (published October 22, 2013) has been huge. When it released, it immediately became the #1 selling book in Amazon’s Kindle store, outselling the final book of the Hunger Games trilogy nearly 5 to 1 . To me, the really fascinating data is the initial customer review response to the book. At the time of this writing (the day after the release), the book had 278 customer reviews, with 138 reviews being one-star reviews, and another 33 reviews ranked as two-star reviews. Drama, drama.
Here Is The One Perfect Book For Every Single Myers-Briggs Type | HuffPost
Recommending books is a tricky business. One person’s trashy romance novel is another person’s treasure. Of course, a little background on a person’s reading preferences can come in handy, but sometimes deciphering tastes can seem like an arbitrary and headache-inducing task. Still, we’re willing to bet that like-minded people enjoy similar stories — That’s where Myers-Briggs comes in.
POLL: 28 Percent Of Americans Have Not Read A Book In The Past Year | HuffPost
According to a HuffPost/YouGov poll asking 1,000 U.S. adults about their reading habits, 41 percent of respondents had not read a fiction book in the past year; 42 percent had not read a nonfiction book.
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