All posts by trav

At the heart of it all, I’m a fan. A fan of books and bookstores. A fan of fiction and non-fiction. A fan of authors and publishers. And most of all I’m a fan of great conversations sparked by books. All that to say - I really need more bookshelves.
Book Column, Book Talk, On the Web

Booklandia.tv

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The online book world just got a little more fun thanks to the launch of Booklandia.tv. This site is a bit of a social experiment and a bit of classroom project as the videos are produced by 20 University of Oregon journalism students.

Booklandia.tv launched in April 2015 and has 23 videos posted so far and all of them focus on books, authors and readers. The site seems to be going for a more social-share vibe rather than straight up journalism. I think there may only be one or two videos over two minutes in length. So it’s definitely designed to snack on and share.

I can already tell that one of my favorite segments will #JudgeItByTheCover bit where they stop a passerby and ask them what they think the book is about based solely on the front cover. It’s pretty fun.

There is also the What’s on Your Nightstand, where they chat with folks out on the street,  Q&A’s with authors and even a kids segment called Kid’s Corner. The “About” tab says they have a partnership with Powell’s, but I can’t figure out exactly.

Booklandia_TwitterIt’s been fun skimming through the videos. They also have a direct YouTube page and are @BooklandiaTV on Twitter as well.

 

So if you’re hungry for some snack-sized book content to watch check out Booklandia.tv. I can tell it’s only going to get better and more creative.

 

Book Column, Book Talk, New Releases, Upcoming Titles

Buzz Book 2015

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The folks over at Publisher’s Lunch have released this year’s Buzz Books. These annual FREE ebooks offer excerpts and background information for a few dozen not-yet-released books.

This year there is the Buzz Book 2015 and the Buzz Book 2015 – Young Adult (YA) edition.

The Buzz Book 2015 features 35 books covering both fiction and non-fiction books. What’s neat about this year is that there are some lesser-known authors in there as well as some names you’ll probably recognize.

While the YA edition features 20 books.

BuzzBook2015

Both editions are available through kindle, nook, Google Play, iBooks, and Kobo. Sorry no PDF version this year.

And a hat tip to BookChase for posting about this a couple of weeks ago. Leave a comment if you grab a copy of the free ebook and stumble across a new read that you want to check out. Lot’s of good books slated for the Fall it seems. Just what my TBR pile needs. . .

Authors, Book Column, Book Talk, Publishing Industry News

Watching BEA from Afar

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Last week Book Expo America 2015 was held in New York City. It’s an industry-only event best described as if a giant bookstore and Mardi Gras had a baby. Is that too weird?

This year (as last) BEA backed up into BookCon. Which is an event for book fanatics, fans and the general public. It’s more as if a giant bookstore and a Hollywood red carpet had a child. If you like celebrity sightings then it’s certainly your cup of tea.

I didn’t get to go this year (all these photos are courtesy via BEA), but had a blast watching via the bookterwebs. If you know where to look you don’t have to dig too far before you virtually bump into an author or publisher you admire.

BEA15_authors

So while there are no free books or ARC’s here , here is a quick rundown of the more notable highlights that are worth a read-through if you’d like to catch up:

Let me know if you know of something I missed out on. I have so many links and articles to read through as I dig deeper into some really great reads coming out later this year. Maybe I can get through them all before BEA descends on Chicago in 2016.

BEA15_Lines

Book Column, Movies

A Walk in the Woods Movie Poster

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The poster for the movie-adaptation of Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods makes me smile.

AWalkintheWoodsPoster

 

I am one that really enjoyed the book. Enough so that I can’t imagine how the movie can live up to it. You can watch the preview trailer below and make up your own mind. I don’t remember the book being so “cute”? Does that make sense? I am not a big re-reader, but this may call for it. The encounter with the bear was one of my favorite bits in the book. Not sure why I found it so funny. Bryson just has a why of countering serious situations with this dry, almost stuffy, British-like sense of humor.

I am still up in the air if Robert Redford and Nick Nolte are the right guys for the parts. Though since Redford is producing the movie, I guess he gets to do whatever he likes. The A Walk in the Woods movie hits the big screen this fall on Labor Day weekend. Fingers crossed!