Tonight's diary is shamefully thin. It's my third of the day as the other two were zapped by violent lightning and power outages, and I'm no longer in the mood for this. Phhhtt and phooey!
So, I'll lighten the mood with a bit of snark. Please go below.
News for Kindle and good news for iPad owners to follow also below the fold.
Big R&BLer welcome to ArkDem14, a casual Editor who will be posting personal book reviews in the allotted slot of SUN 3PM in an intermittent series titled, "The Magic Theater." In case you missed it, here's the Birth Announcement. You know ArkDem14 by his past diaries mostly on Japanese literature. Now you can look forward to him in that reserved slot. Glad to have you in the R&BLers "stable"!
Found a helpful website for the indecisive but inveterate reader. It's teddibly British, but don't let that stop you from making use of it. Allegedly, we read the same language on both sides of the Pond.
Please turn the page.
Kindle's much anticipated color screen e-reader is in development. It's designed to go head-to-head with the Apple iPad, except it will be cheaper and minus a few features, such as a camera. It will use the Google Android operating system. Touch screen technology -- yes; G3 wireless -- yes, but you'll probably have to pay, unlike now; e-Ink -- yes.
Questions about other features are unanswered: Will you be able to download internationally? What colors will it come in -- only graphite? Will Random House be brought into the Amazon stable? Interested e-reader fans will have to wait until. . .rumor has it at least October.
In the theme of "don't get mad, get even." Now for the good news! If you use Safari or Chrome browsers you can now read directly from your browser and bypass Apple's charges with the Kindle Cloud Reader. Read a review here.
Sometimes one's funny bone gets knocked perverse. Such is the case when I found this article. One of London's bookstores, feeling slighted because the looters passed it by opened its doors to them saying, “If they steal some books, at least they might learn something.” The Omnivore responds to the bookstore's sarcasm with some flippancy of its own. Here is the Rioter's Reading List.
Something to read in Borstal:
Hood Rat by Gavin Knight
Pigeon English by Steven Kelman
To help them articulate their grievances:
Jilted Generation by Shiv Malik & Ed Howser
Chavs by Owen Jones
Who they should really be getting angry with:
Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men Who Stole the World by Nicholas Shaxson
Other People’s Money by Justin Cartwright
A useful historical primer:
The Origins of Political Order by Francis Fukuyama
To make them think twice before looting Primark:
To Die For: Is Fashion Wearing Out the World? by Lucy Siegle
A present for their parents:
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua
To appreciate what their teachers go through:
To Miss with Love by Katharine Birbalsingh
The Last Day of Term by Francis Gilbert
To warn them against taking things too far:
City of Bohane by Kevin Barry
Then by Julie Myerson
Some titles with useful lessons:
Family Values by Wendy Cope
Civil to Strangers by Barbara Pym
Grow Up by Ben Brooks
And some that could give them bad ideas:
Crime by Ferdinand von Schirach
Ours are the Streets by Sunjeev Sahota
The Godless Boys by Naomi Wood
What thirteen-year-olds should be reading:
Elliott Allagash by Simon Rich
Life: An Unexploded Diagram by Mal Peet
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
And for the illiterate amongst them:
Attack the Block
Outside the Law
The Lavender Hill Mob
How
Gangs of New York missed making the cut under "for the illiterate amongst them" I fail to grasp.
Before I say good night, I invite you to check out Lovereading, a Brit website for helping book lovers select their next read. Lot's of great features. Take a look!
Readers & Book Lovers Series Schedule
DAY |
TIME (EST/EDT) |
Series Name |
Editor(s) |
SUN |
3:00PM (intermittent) |
The Magic Theater |
ArkDem14 |
SUN |
6:00 PM |
Young Reader's Pavilion |
The Book Bear |
SUN |
9:30 PM |
SciFi/Fantasy Book Club |
quarkstomper |
MON |
8:00 PM |
My Favorite Books & Authors |
billssha |
MON |
11:00 AM |
Songs of Ice and Fire |
Floja Roja |
TUE |
8:00 PM |
Readers & Book Lovers Newsletter |
Limelite |
WED |
7:30 AM |
WAYR? |
plf515 |
WED |
8:00 PM |
Bookflurries: Bookchat |
cfk |
THU |
2:00 PM (bi-weekly) |
eReaders & Book Lovers Club |
Limelite |
THU |
8:00PM |
Write On! |
SensibleShoes |
THU |
10:00 PM |
The Illustrated Imagination:Graphic Novels |
Cabbage Rabbit |
FRI |
9:00 AM |
Books That Changed My Life |
etbnc, aravir |
SAT |
9:00 PM |
Books So Bad They're Good |
Ellid |
NOTE: Though not part of R&BLers Weekly Magazine Series, please look for "Indigo Kalliope: Poems From the Left" by various authors republished here every WED NOON by
aravir. Also look for "The Mad Logophile" by
Purple Priestess that appears intermittently, when the spirit moves her.
Other than that, nothing's happening.