News Bites From Around the Web

First, a big shout-out to Mark and Liz of My Favourite Books for helping local libraries in the UK. They have a wonderful competition going on.

For those that don't know, Abe Lincoln's 200th birthday will be approaching soon. No, I don't think he's still alive like Elvis, however there is a bit of a local link to Lincoln as John Wilkes Booth escaped through our area. Most interesting is Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson, a novel that HBO turned into a miniseries.

Could your kid's college book not be a book next semester? The University of Texas at Austin is pioneering with publisher Wiley to give students e-textbooks. While this style of e-book was unheard of when I was in college, I certainly would have enjoyed spending less of my money on books for class and more of my money on silly toys.

And while e-books would save on printing, overhead, and overall costs, you would have thought publishers would embrace this a little more considering the poor economy. How poor is the economy? Publisher's Weekly was able to confirm a minimum of 1,200 jobs lost in the publishing industry. Sounds like publishers will be reading weight-loss-for-business books for awhile.

Haven't had enough of the dour economic news? Try this on for size. Barnes & Noble just cut 100 employees. Still don't believe me about the Borders/Barnes & Noble merger? Keep watching.

An interesting list of books from 2008. My favorites are:

• Most Innovative Book - ABC3D by Marion Bataille (this really is an awesome book)


• Book You Wish Everyone Would Shut Up About - Twilight (I mean really, how much can we talk about a vampire?)


• Book You Were Sorriest to See Go Out of Print - Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey (I can't believe they took this out of print. Such a shame.)

As we can see here, young adult fantasy is hitting it big. Combine that with Jim C. Hines' latest report on how much money can be made overseas and things look promising again (better start submitting Mr. Zeleznik).

Want to know what our President reads? Check out this New York Times article to see what classics he reads.

NetGalley, my new-but-not-so-new source for galleys (aka ARCs or Advanced Reader Copies) is mentioned in this article. How interesting that people don't like the idea of e-galleys (or e-books) but they've continually been proven to work. Especially when they're free. Don't believe me that e-books work? Then check out this article.