Book Talk

Hello 2008!

1 Comment

I sure do hate to see the holidays fading behind me. It’s one of the few times a year I can really cram in some solid reading time. A couple of days off work, big old couch, cup of coffee, a new book…

Over the past week, I picked up and finished  Chabon’s Yiddish Policeman’s Union. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was the perfect winter holiday book. I’m not one for ‘alternate history’ kinda things, but this one was well done. Of course Chabon’s writing was great (as always) but I really enjoyed the peek into the lives of the Jewish/Yiddish/Orthodox people. Lots of interesting tidbits to chew on. It’s fascinating to ‘experience’ older cultures like that. I did throw my two cents into the conversation with a short rambling book review over on LibraryThing too.

Now I’m turning the pages of The Bookaholics Guide to Book Blogs. If you frequent lit blogs, then you’ll know 99% of the folks featured in the book. I had no idea that some of the ‘heavy weights’ in the lit blog world are such a tight knit group. A couple of them are even married. I’ll pass along more when I’m done.

Hope your new year is off to a good start and that your holidays were as enjoyable and book-filled as mine were!

On the Web

Book games

1 Comment

A rare-book blog has created a couple of bookish themed games. They’re pretty good at burning a few minutes on a lazy holiday afternoon. Though, I think I have the lowest score on the “famous First Lines” game. I faired much better at “Letter-a-ture”. Which is even more fun because of the two player setting.

Posting will remain a little light this week, as I shed my holiday sugar induced shakes and relearn the mechanics of typing.

I hope your holiday season has been a peaceful one!

{via myfinebooks}

News, On the Web

Google’s knol

Leave a comment

I can’t make up my mind just how big of a deal this is. To be honest, I never really dug into Wikipedia, never having enough faith in what the masses would post. But then I discovered the Bhamwiki. It was like a light bulb that suddenly turned on. I got it. Our little local wiki is exactly what the whole Wikimedia is supposed to be about. It’s a great place to look up info on local authors, books,publishers etc.

And now Google is throwing their hat in the same ring. The only difference, that I can find, between Wiki and Google is that:

1. Google will restrict entry editing to a slate of topic experts, to kick things off.

2. Google will allow these topic experts to share in the ad revenue stream generated by their entries.

Are there more differences? I’m certainly not qualified to write anything, but I’ve been a fan of Google for a while and I’m wondering why they keep spreading out into new areas, beyond their core search business. Maybe it is just to stem the people clicking from Google search links to Wikipedia, as this guy’s non-scientific test highlights.

Books, Publishing and Birmingham