Buying an ebook

I don’t have a kindle, nook, ipad, or any other device in which to download books, unless you count my brand new used 4 iphone. Which I don’t. Reading a book on that would be like deciphering the written word from a dollhouse library. And yet, I was almost willing to try. Almost. Who is … Read more

Readers Who Love E-Readers

The number one reason I’ve found that people love kindle or nook or and ipad or iphone to read books, is how much easier a e-reader is to travel with, instead of individual titles heaped in a bag or loaded into luggage. Especially  when flying.  Instead of impulse buying a paperback at an airport terminal, … Read more

No E-Book For Stephen King

I tried to purchase the latest Stephen King this weekend. At an honest to goodness real live indie bookstore in N. Jersey. They were out of stock. Out of stock!! After my mouth stopped its jaw dropping, the bookman explained he couldn’t keep it in the store,  that it’s an original paperback and not in … Read more

Little Davids Take On Amazon Giant

So a few independent bookstores decided to sue Amazon and the major publishers who made a devil’s deal to control e-books. From the Huffington Post: “Three independent bookstores are taking Amazon and the so-called Big Six publishers (Random House, Penguin, Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan) to court in an attempt to level the … Read more

The Anonymity of eBooks

One of the things I remember from my time in school learning to be a librarian was something the professor in the Reference Services class I took during my first semester said: never apologize for what you read. This is just one of those quotes that is so simple and yet so true.  Why should you … Read more

Choice

electronic readers comparedA philosophical president of Random House publishing, Gina Centrello, concedes that the industry is changing fast. She seems comfortable about it. It’s her contention that yes, e-readers will be a predominant way people receive their books, but that real books, with pages between covers will also remain. Her belief is that the best of both worlds will exist, and this is fantastic for the consumer because they now have choice. Up until now, the poor person who wanted to scan War and Peace– (my example)- had to lug this heavy clumsy thing whenever they needed to extract quotes for a book report, to make it look as thought they’d read it. In their back pocket folded into near oblivion is the Cliff Note. A Cliff Note on the other hand is skinny and practically featherweight-doesn’t matter–it too will be available on a e-reader, no doubt. She seems positively cheery about the prospects the future brings.

Read more