Books | Lit Life: Historical novels — reader faves, Part I | Seattle Times Newspaper:
Seattle Times book editor Mary Ann Gwinn asked readers in her Lit Life column to recommend historical novels and received so many responses she’s reporting the results in installments. This week: historical fiction based in the U.S. Next week: historical fiction with an international setting.
Dick Francis, Novelist, Dies at 89 – Obituary (Obit) – NYTimes.com:
Best-selling crime writer Dick Francis, who drew on his experience as a successful steeplechase jockey for his racing thrillers, has died aged 89, the BBC said on Sunday.
Francis rode more than 350 winners, and was champion jockey before injury forced him to take up the pen, first writing for a national newspaper as a racing correspondent and then producing more than 40 novels, many of them international bestsellers.
We’ve had too many of these obituaries recently.
Do E-Readers Cause Eye Strain? – Bits Blog – NYTimes.com:
The act of reading is going through a number of radical transitions, but perhaps none is more fundamental than the shift from reading on paper to reading on screens. As consumers decide whether to make this jump and which technology to use, one key question is how reading on a screen affects the eyes.
The whole recent news flurry over (1) the introduction of Apple’s new tablet computer, the iPad, and its potential as an ebook reader and (2) the price war between Amazon, maker of the Kindle, and publishers over the price of ebooks was too fast and furious even to try to keep up with.
But here’s a topic we should all take an interest in: How will reading ebooks affect our eyes? According to this article, the news isn’t bad, but you might want to check out these recommendations for avoiding eye strain.
As for reading ebooks, that’s one activity I personally plan to do until I go blind.
The Guild of Book Workers – The National Organization For All The Book Arts:
“A book worker is one engaged in the hand book arts, which includes “bookbinding, conservation, printing, papermaking, calligraphy, marbling and artist’s books.” The Guild of Book Workers is a century-plus-old American organization that sponsors workshops, lectures, and exhibitions. Their website is a great resource for book workers, or for those interested in viewing and learning about the hand book arts. Visitors unfamiliar with book art should definitely take a look at the “Galleries” link under the “News & Events” section of the site. Some of the themes of the exhibits in the gallery are “Marking Time” and “AbeCeDarium”, which is the alphabet, and a classic theme for the book arts. Visitors will find it enjoyable to see how the same theme can be expressed or interpreted in so many beautiful, moving, or disturbing ways by book artists. The multitude of online galleries on this site is a real treat for those who enjoy the creativity of the book arts.”
>From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2010. http://scout.wisc.edu/
J. D. Salinger, Enigmatic Author, Dies at 91 – Obituary (Obit) – NYTimes.com:
J. D. Salinger, who was thought at one time to be the most important American writer to emerge since World War II but who then turned his back on success and adulation, becoming the Garbo of letters, famous for not wanting to be famous, died Wednesday at his home in Cornish, N.H., where he had lived in seclusion for more than 50 years. He was 91.
A Deluge of Devices for Reading and Surfing – NYTimes.com:
You’ve heard of Amazon.com’s Kindle. And you probably know that Apple is likely to introduce a tablet computer this year. Soon you may also be hearing about the Alex, the Que proReader and the IdeaPad U1 Hybrid.
Those products are part of a new wave of slender touch-screen tablets and electronic reading devices that dozens of companies, both well known and unknown, brought to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.
This article from the New York Times includes a three and a half minute video focusing on several new ebook readers under development around the world.
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A Novel? Padgett Powell’s Book Defies Genre : NPR:
The question mark that accompanies the subtitle of author Padgett Powell’s new book, The Interrogative Mood: A Novel? might seem flippant. But Powell’s book earns that bit of punctuation. The Interrogative Mood is composed entirely of questions. Some of them are laugh out loud funny, some designed to provoke memories of long gone times, some leave you pondering the meaning of life. But is it really a novel?
Books – Sherlock Holmes, Shapeshifter – Robert Downey Jr.’s Version – NYTimes.com:
Arthur Conan Doyle grew so to hate his greatest creation, Sherlock Holmes, that in 1893 he tried to kill him off, plunging him over the Reichenbach Falls. He called it ‘justifiable homicide,’ saying, ‘If I had not killed him, he would certainly have killed me.’ . . . As it was, Conan Doyle bowed to popular demand and the emptiness of his bank account, and in 1903, after the success of “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” reluctantly resurrected Holmes for 24 more years.
Charles McGrath discusses one of fiction’s most enduring characters in light of the latest movie version.