Booklist Online: More than 130,000 book reviews for librarians, book groups, and book lovers - from the trusted experts at the American Library Association

If you’ve been thinking that I haven’t been posting as much as usual lately, you’re right. A combination of new initiatives (watch for a new newsletter, Booklist Online REaD ALERT, in early January) and sleep deprivation (I’ve been talking to my younger son about this) have taken a toll on my blogging. I’m hoping this [...]

As the new year approaches, it’s a good time for stock-taking. And with the holidays upon us, it’s a good time for thinking melancholy thoughts. So here you go: There’s no reason to think that reading and writing are about to become extinct, but some sociologists speculate that reading books for pleasure will one day be [...]

From the Department of I Am Shocked, Shocked (“Lynne Spears’ Book Delayed Indefinitely,” Associated Press): NEW YORK (AP) – Lynne Spears’ book about parenting has been delayed indefinitely, her publisher said Wednesday. Lindsey Nobles, a spokeswoman for Christian book publisher Thomas Nelson Inc., said Wednesday that the memoir by the mother of Britney Spears was [...]

I like books, and I like libraries–and I think parking garages definitely need a makeover–but this still didn’t work for me. A little theme park-y, maybe?   It’s the parking garage for the Kansas City Public Library, as photographed by Jonathan Moreau. (Spotted by Ben Segedin, Booklist’s Production Director.)

We had the Booklist holiday party this afternoon, about which I will report only two things: 1) Bill Ott mixes a mean cup of nog 2) I was the recipient of the Don Chatham Spilled Drink Award About #2, let me just say that it was nothing to do with the egg nog–it was a previous event. [...]

Before there was Radiohead, there was Jeff Kinney (“Crossover Dreams: Turning Free Web Work Into Real Book Sales,” by Motoko Rich, New York Times): That a book derived from free online content has sold so well may allay some fears that giving something away means nobody will want to pay for it. It also encourages [...]

More news about Amazon. The French have found a distinctly un-American way of protecting small bookstores (“Amazon Ordered to End Free Delivery on Books in France,” by Peter Sayer, IDG News Service): Amazon.com may not offer free delivery on books in France, the high court in Versailles has ruled. The action, brought in January 2004 [...]

So, if you’re curious about where that handwritten J. K. Rowling book ended up, now the truth can be told: it’s on Amazon. Naturally.  

  Just one post today–to let you know about the launch of Booklist Online’s second blog, Book Group Buzz. We had some interesting conversations at the old Booklist Book Club, but what people kept telling us was that what they really wanted were resources to help them with their in-person (I disdain the digirati’s use [...]

44% of book reviewers enjoy a glass of wine while reading; of those, 78% prefer red wine to white; of the red-wine drinkers, only 8% declare malbec to be their first choice 92% of book reviewers have fallen asleep in the act (of reading) 3% of book reviewers have never had the thought that they [...]