Strike

Today, a good part of the internet is going on strike to protest SOPA and PIPA.

Major sites like Wikipedia have gone dark today.

Fortunately, Wikipedia DID leave up some good background information about SOPA and PIPA to help people understand why.

Today, learn more about the issue (link to video) and, if the issue concerns you, act.

Avid Book Buyer

I was reading an interesting article based on a recent Verso survey (which I'll see in more detail next week at Digital Book World) which seems to reveal there is room for an "Indie-branded" e-reader.

From my own recent experience at Titles Bookstore McMaster University, bookstore shoppers DO want the ability to purchase ereaders from bookstores. At Titles, we sold a decent volume of Sony and Kobo readers.

Of course, the old thought that the minute you sell your customer an ereader you lose them as a customer is still present. That being said, there are now more ways to purchase ebooks via your local bookstore, with a few more options still on the horizon. I even caught people whom I know owned ereaders buying physical books in my store, and I'm still guilty of buying books even though I adore my Kobo Touch. So booksellers selling ereaders might not be as cannibalized as was once thought. (This discussion could go back and forth for hours, but that's not what this post is about)

So even though this debate still rages, what particularly caught my interest was a particularly interesting definition of "avid book buyers" as those who buy ten or more book purchases a year.

If someone who buys 10 books a year is considered an avid book buyer, what the heck would someone like me, who easily buys five times that amount, be called?

Reading Challenge 2012

I've been using Goodreads for a while now and am delighted with the fact that Goodreads reviews are now linked to the book listings on Kobo -- so when you're looking at a book on an item page at Kobo, you're able to see the latest reviews posted on Goodreads.

Because of this, I was touring around making sure my own books were listed on Goodreads, when I found this cool widget/experience.

The Reading Challenge 2012

Since I've been entering books I've read on Goodreads, I can allow this to auto track to see how I'm doing with my goal of reading 52 books in 2012 - the equivalent of a book a week.  (For this slow reader, that would be an amazing accomplishment -- of course, given how much more time I spend commuting in to work, I'm taking full advantage and listening to audio books, so that helps pad the odds in my favour)

I know these stats won't last, but so far 110,094 people are participating, for a total of 6,819,879 books pledged to read. The average number of books in a person's challenge are 61 and so far 35 of the challenges are completed (likely by folks who either set ridiculously low goals or who added books to their library (from past reads) and didn't notice it was setting the "date read" to that day's date.

The book nerd in me LOVES these stats - people not only reading, but celebrating reading. Gosh, it's enough to put a big stupid grin on my face. 

There are awesome widgets for this too . . .

I like the basic one that shows where you are percentage-wise . . .

2012 Reading Challenge

Mark has read 5 books toward his goal of 52 books.

hide

5 of 52 (9%)

view books

But there are other cool ones too . . . like this one that is an RSS feed of the latest updates you make on Goodreads . . .

Love it!

Post HNT - Being Silly With My Son

It's Thursday.

Again.

Still feeling the HNT withdrawl.

On the computer monitor at home, the screensaver randomly flashes photos from the archives.

I tend to see a lot of pictures of Alexander and I being silly.

That makes me smile.

And feel good.

Here are a few from this past summer at a dinosaur themed miniput on Clifton Hill in Niagara Falls.

I'm not at all fond of the spring-like conditions we're experiencing in mid January (it SHOULD be snowing) - but I'm certainly fond of remembering the fun we had this past summer.

Magical Bookstore Experience

A video that has captured the hearts and minds of book lovers comes from a small bookstore in Toronto - Type Books.

It's a stop-motion film called "The Joy of Books" and depicts what magic might happen when the owners lock up the store for the night.




It's based upon a similar video depicting a self re-organizing bookcase that they had done.

It's a great video, but if you want to see real magic, check out one of the two locations for Type Books and head into their store and interact with the staff. They'll find a way not only to move a book from the shelf and into your heads, but also transport that book and the author into your mind; and likely in a way that nether you nor the bookseller could have anticipated before you both meet.


Type Books - 883 Queen Street West (where this was shot) and 427 Spadina Road.