The Book That Lived

“Is the ‘book’ an object made out of paper, or is it rather a set of functions? If it’s the latter, the book isn’t dead—it’s just using various digital forms to serve the same function.”

-Leah Price, Professor of English, via Books and Bytes, The Harvard Crimson

Penguin's iMagineering

Did I mention how much I want an iPad?


It's also nice to see a publisher embracing new platforms rather than simply reacting to them.

Mr. Penumbra's Twenty-Four Hour Book Store by Robin Sloan

I stumbled across this short story and became completely absorbed (while I should have been working). Anyhow, it's awesome and you need to read it too. Immediately. It's a wildly imaginative and refreshingly original piece about a mysterious bookstore and how ebooks and ereaders are changing more than just the way we read.

There is something to be said about stories written about books/bookstores/book mobiles. They get me every time.

Read Mr. Penumbra's Twenty-Four Hour Book Store in it's entirety for free right here. Now.

All These New Platforms - I Can't Keep Up!

"Publishing is turning into a high-speed spectator sport, and the major houses (let alone the small ones) are really poorly resourced to fight fires on all fronts and innovate at the same time." - Peter Collingridge

Barnes and Noble nook Commercial

I've got mixed feelings about e-readers. I've always been an I-want-to-touch, hold, read, and-love-tangible-books type of girl. And then I went and swooned over the iPad the first time I saw it but told myself it was ok - I didn't like it because it was an e-reader, I liked it because it was so much more than that. (Not to mention it's like a great big version of my beloved iPhone and a smaller version of my even more beloved MacBook.) So, the universe was still intact; I didn't like nor want an e-reader (because an iPad isn't just an e-reader) and I still wanted to touch and hold real books.

And then I saw this commercial - the first commercial for Barnes and Noble's nook. I am starting to doubt whether or not I have any bibliophilic integrity or if I am just a victim of a genius marketing scheme because surprise surprise; I want a nook. Kudos to the Barnes and Noble marketing department.

One Big Anagram

This video makes me smile. Watch it in full.

Yet Another Reason To Love Audrey Niffenegger

As I was tooling around on Audrey Niffeneffer's site earlier today I found this little treasure of a response to a reader hoping to find e-book versions of her work:

I am not opposed to the existence of e-books; I know lots of people are wildly enthusiastic about them. But I have spent my life working with books as an art form and I am devoted to physical books. E-books in their current incarnations are still imperfect and they threaten the arts of book design and typography. As a book conservator I am also nervous about the digitization of books: will they be readable one hundred years from now? Or will thousands of books simply vanish as platforms and programs change?

E-books have certain advantages (they are searchable) and disadvantages (they are not beautiful objects in themselves and don’t display images very well). I’m sure they will improve over time, though. I don’t know when or if my books will become e-books. Writing me hostile e-mail about this will not hasten my desire.

Thank you, Audrey! I couldn't agree more. And, even more exciting news, she has started to work on her third novel, entitled The Chinchilla Girl in Exile. I was also informed that "The Night Bookmobile," a story published in weekly installments in The Guardian, will be published as a graphic novel in 2010. If you haven't read this story you can read the first part for free online and will probably want to buy the rest. It's widely creative and appealing to any book lover.