RIASS stuff:
Does buying books second-hand make us bad people?
Baked beans, flashbacks and The Self-Preservation Society by Kate Harrison'Rating: 
Elizabeth Camden: Romance readers will always judge a book by its love story'(do you agree?)
Narrative layers and Barbara Shapiro's The Art Forger'Rating:
Other bookish stuff:
HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster are reportedly in preliminary merger talks.
Independent Melbourne-based publisher Scribe'has announced plans to expand to the UK in 2013
On the idea of writing to the market''The marketplace is not a thorn in my creative side. In fact, it's critically important to mebecause the marketplace is made up of folks who love stories and deserve the best that I can offer. The marketplace is kids and the grown-ups who buy books for them. They aren't profit margins or sales figures; they're my people. 'Thinking about them with care and love as I do my work isn't just savvy. It's the right thing to do.
The difference between British and American crime novels'The American and British schools used to be poles apartIn British novels, a crime was an aberration. It was something that upset the balance of things, and tended to happen to bad peopleIn American novels, crime was a part of life. People were crooked, decent folk could get a hole blown in their guts as easily as somebody rotten to the coreThese days, the differences are far fewer.
Secrets of TS Eliots tragic first marriage and liaisons to be told at last'Eliots second wife died last week, providing an opportunity for researchers to examine the letters and papers that have been so carefully protected since Eliots death.
A look at the royalties being received by todays musicians, and how theyre a fraction of what they used to be'By my calculation it would take songwriting royalties for roughly 312,000 plays on Pandora to earn us the profit of oneone LP sale, says Damon Krukowski of Galaxie 500. I cant help but wonder whether publishing is going to see something similar down the track.
Kirkus has listed its top childrens books of 2012
Robert McCrum on literary genres'McCrum comes up with some ultra-niche literary genres, including ghost lit, Commonwealth lit, and Booker Lit. (Its a slow news week at the Guardian)
So, Apple has patented the page turn. Yes, the page turn.'Always great when any sort of potential development is stifled in the name of one companys search for profits. I am looking distastefully at my Mac as I write this.
Is content king again?'Marketers are shifting away from banner ads and towards branded content; users are wanting to share good quality content rather than likes; search analysis can be used to match users interests with content; and content making costs are falling.
Rachelle Gardner on what not to blog about'Some handy tips for authors who might be getting a bit free-and-easy in this social media world. Topics to avoid include stuff thats written in your contract, the submissions process, any ranty stuff about your business relationships, and (although this ones a bit more personal) political stuff.
This is pretty much my ideal life: reading with a pug. (Painting by Charles Burton Barber)
On the general Pooh-ness of'Winnie the Pooh'There is a sort of Pooh-lite voice used throughout, whether or not Pooh is present in a scene; this is the general, whimsical narratorial voice. It gives the impression of all the characters being filtered through Christopher Robin. He had brought these creatures to life in his imagination and although they have their own distinctive voices, they all basically speak Christopher-Robin just as all Dickens characters speak Dickensian.
The art of writing about reading'More than just a book'about'books however,'The End of Your Life Book Club'is about reading. It's about other things, sure ' death and dying and feminism and refugees and public health and education and homosexuality and travel and middle-class guilt ' but it's mostly about the gifts accrued through that simple act of turning pages.?
This is pretty cool:'a filmmaker gets a bunch of authors to write together in a cafe as part of a mass literary cameo.
You do know that including any sort of puggish bits are inviting me to gush, dont you?
I love that painting although Id have to say that looks uncomfortable both for the pug and for the girl, ha ha ha Pugs are heavy so whilst youd happily hold a baby over your shoulder like that, you wouldnt hold a pug there like that for long period of time (theyre not made to cling to you like monkeys / babies either lol).
They do however make very very warm lap covering in cold weather ;) and theyll happily lie on your lap for as long as youll let them.
PS: Apple is definitely taking patency a few steps further!
Tien recently posted..Review: Fire Baptized
Ha! Yes, pugs are pretty chunky little things, arent they? Fingers crossed that well be over in the US next year and I can have my pug at long last! :) Ill be bugging you for all sorts of pug-rearing advice!
The Apple patent thing is a bit ridiculous, isnt it? Patents are a great way for rich companies to stifle innovation elsewhere.
Oh, are you moving to the US? Which part?
Tien recently posted..Review: Moonlight & Mechanicals
Fingers crossed, anyway! Its very tentative at this stage. But probably Texas or Californiaso somewhere where Ill need to make sure I have air-conditioning so that my poor pug doesnt faint! :)
aw, theyre pretty hardy creatures! We live in the western suburbs where sometimes it gets up to 40s in summer and hes fine -without a/c but inside the house where it is cooler. All he needed was some cold water / ice cubes to help cool down :)
If you do make a move (Im sure Ill hear of it when you do) but wishing you best of luck (in advance) ;)
Oh, good! Ive heard that they have problems keeping cool, so Im glad to hear that theyre hardier than I thought. :)