Amazon Takes Over the World, One Publisher at a Time

Today’s news about Amazon purchasing a 62 year old publishing company with a backlist of 3,000 titles, isn’t a surprise. Nothing Bezos and Amazon does anymore can surprise me, unless they decide to treat employees well and stop using cutthroat tactics to kill competition. Avalon isn’t the first publisher Amazon acquired, and I have no … Read more

Stereotyping Lawyers?

I don’t read many legal thrillers, or mysteries. I do enjoy Lisa Scottoline, her books are fast but also full of great characters and plot lines, and the lawyers aren’t  depicted as scum of the universe like other titles I’ve scanned. I read one Scott Turow–his first, and no Grisham, and if there are other … Read more

Is Nobody Sacred?

Sitting in the movie theatre waiting for Johnny Depp to appear as Barnabas Collins, various trailers were screeching across the screen. Violent one and all, nothing new there. But when the familiar figure of our most beloved president appeared, I was pulled in–for about 30 seconds. Because after identifying the protagonist, the 16th president known … Read more

Where Have All The Indies Gone, and B. Dalton’s and Brentano’s and Waldonbooks, and Borders and Even, EEK! B&N?

There is no place to buy new books anywhere within my radius, and I don’t live in Timbuktu. I live right outside a major city, suburbs with millions of people, and there are practically no bookstores. Three B&N’s are hanging on, but who knows if they will disappear the way the huge double decker one … Read more

Judy Bolton—Out Sleuths Nancy Drew

Nancy Drew, a familiar name even to those who have never opened a juvenile mystery. The original books have been edited, altered, modernized and celebrated in film and TV. Even today there are contemporary stories featuring the teenager and her two girl friends, Bess and George. But if you are like most, you’ve never heard … Read more