Saturday, December 24, 2011

Ten Days of Christmas

My Twelve Ten Days of Christmas

I'm home for Christmas!

On the first day of Christmas, the holiday gave to me:
    Snow to end my train journey!
On the second day of Christmas, the holiday gave to me:
    A Christmas party,
        and snow to end my train journey!
On the third day of Christmas, the holiday gave to me:
    Sunday at home,
         a Christmas party,
            and snow to end my train journey!
On the fourth day of Christmas, the holiday gave to me:
    a day to sleep in,
        Sunday at home,
        a Christmas party,
            and snow to end my train journey!
On the fifth day of Christmas, the holiday gave to me:
    Shopping with Jess!
        a day to sleep in,
        Sunday at home,
        a Christmas party,
            and snow to end my train journey!
On the sixth day of Christmas, the holiday gave to me:
    lunch out with Kristin,
        Shopping with Jess!
        a day to sleep in,
        Sunday at home,
        a Christmas party,
            and snow to end my train journey!
On the seventh day of Christmas, the holiday gave to me:
    Steph coming home,
        lunch out with Kristin,
        Shopping with Jess!
        a day to sleep in,
        Sunday at home,
        a Christmas party,
            and snow to end my train journey!
On the eighth day of Christmas, the holiday gave to me:
    cookie decorating,
        Steph coming home,
        lunch out with Kristin,
        Shopping with Jess!
        a day to sleep in,
        Sunday at home,
        a Christmas party,
            and snow to end my train journey!
On the ninth day of Christmas, the holiday gave to me:
    Christmas cartoons,
        cookie decorating,
        Steph coming home,
        lunch out with Kristin,
        Shopping with Jess!
        a day to sleep in,
        Sunday at home,
        a Christmas party,
            and snow to end my train journey!
On the tenth day of Christmas, the holiday will give to me:
    Christmas celebrations,
        holiday cartoons,
        cookie decorating,
        Steph coming home,
        lunch out with Kristin,
        Shopping with Jess!
        a day to sleep in,
        Sunday at home,
        a Christmas party,
            and snow to end my train journey!


Side note: Mark Reads is finally doing Lord of the Rings! And Mark Watches is covering Buffy! Can't wait...

Friday, December 2, 2011

One Bad Apple

And the treasure hunt reviews continue!

One Bad Apple is the first in a mystery series. Meg Corey moves from Boston to an old colonial house in a small town (she thinks it's temporary, but we all know that's not going to happen) only to find her ex-boyfriend has made the same move (and the plumber's really nice). Next thing she knows, her ex is dead in her septic tank, and the detective in charge of the case thinks it was probably her, the plumber, or her and the plumber together.

A pretty basic mystery. Formulaic, but fun. I spent most of the book debating whether the murderer would be the character whose intro, even before the murder, set off alarm bells in my genre-savy head, or the character Meg gradually begins to suspect. Turns out it was both, so I'm happy.

Also, I know I've mentioned before that I don't like mysteries where the main character's accused, but for once it actually worked. The author (Sheila Connolly) follows Meg, not the detective, and the detective's investigation never goes far enough for her to be in real legal trouble. The accusation is just the incentive to investigate, nothing more.

Final conclusion: Enjoyable.

Still Here

I don't know why it is I seem to have less time with a two-day-a-week internship than I did before with a 30+ hour-a-week job, but maybe I just used to be insane.  Anyway, sorry I forgot to update. I've just finished cross-posting all my blog entries from my epub class, and hope to have a real post here soon.

Digital Archives

I have to say, this is a definite improvement on microfilm. It's amazing the amount of research this makes open to the general public - but still only to a point. Searches are free, but access to the actual pages requires paying a fee.
The fees really don't look too bad though. You can get a day pass or a week pass, or go through a "subscribing institution," which apparently means UK universities, some UK libraries, and miscellaneous places in other countries.
I love old newspapers. And this is one instance where I'm ready to celebrate digitization.

Netflix for books

A children's book publisher has come out with an app that sounds like a sort of instant Netflix for books - or perhaps like a cable channel. A paid library. Why would this catch on, when we have such a long-standing tradition of free libraries? Well... because it's convenient. And because it just might have a better selection.
Libraries are slow to adapt ebooks for many reasons. Publishers are fighting them. Budgets are limited. And after all, isn't community space part of the idea of a library? Some librarians may find it hard to reconcile this idea with large investment in ebooks. Certainly, my own library recently chose to invest in a bigger, more open open building, with more comfortable seating, rather than extending its collection. And frankly, I like the result.
But that brings us back to digital libraries. Is that the direction public libraries are headed? Academic libraries, probably, but not necessarily the public ones; it just doesn't fit the traditional use of a public library. Anyone should be able to come read - even without the money for a computer or ereader. And librarians should be eager to help reluctant readers, not cautious about loaning out expensive equipment. Plus the location itself is almost as important as the collection.
So is there a place for a paid, digital library in the future? I think perhaps there is.

Fitting into the market

This recent post at Publisher's Weekly is all the more interesting for the comments it's collecting. We can debate the meaning and use of epublishing all we want, but it's starting to feel as if we will go in circles forever if we never look outside the publisher's viewpoint. Here, however, we have authors and readers debating the value of ebooks and their different business models. They're different perspectives, and ones we need to remember. Without them, epublishing debates can never be more than theory.
Readers are worried about not recognizing books they've read already. While this has always been a concern with reprints, how can publishers make ebooks more visually memorable?
Authors are debating the value of their own work. When and how did this happen? What value has publishing traditionally placed on an author's work, and how can this be preserved?
Personally, I find the idea of ebooks filling the same role as cheap mass market books a good idea. The same business model should be easily converted. We need to be wary of undervaluing an author's work - and for this reason, I think six or seven dollars is generally a valid price. But the commenter Norma Beisher has a valid point as well: if the ebook is more expensive than the already available mass market, something's gone wrong.

Quality Control

Epublishing has made self-publishing a lot easier. That's obvious. But what are the ramifications?
Many people talk about the new ease of self-publishing as an unqualified good thing. They talk of cutting out the middle man and being fair to authors. They don't want publishers telling them what's worth reading.
Even Amazon seems to be behind this view, despite recently becoming a publisher:

On the other side, there are the complaints that this change is an unqualified disaster. Books are dying, publishing's dying, and so on... but isn't the truth somewhere in the middle?
"Quality control" is an interesting phrase, and very accurate. The way to assurequality is to maintain control. But our values are quality and freedom.
This news story got me thinking. Yes, publishing of news is becoming more decentralized through blogs and social media. Yes, people tend to want news for free now. But do we really want to get rid of major news networks? Trade CNN and BBC for a loose collection of whichever blogs have caught our interest?
Book publishing has more in common with this dilemma than we might at first think. Yes, publishers are controlling. But they are also offering quality - or at least they should be.

How far is too far?

Consider this an addition to "What makes a book a book?" since I've been thinking along the same lines recently. When people start talking about "networked books" and text as "enhancement of cinema," I begin to wonder if they're even in the same business anymore. It's like MTV switching to reality shows and the history channel's obsession with alien documentaries. If the business model works for them, fine. But should they really still be calling themselves a music channel and a history channel?
Or Indigo's switchover to being a "lifestyle store for booklovers" rather than a bookstore. I see the economic logic - at least in the short term - but at what point does the identity stop stretching and start to disappear entirely?
As websites become more able to imitate books and books begin to imitate websites, what is the difference between them? Here's some of what I value in a book rather than a website:
1. I physically own it. It can't disappear, change, or become temporarily unavailable unless I am the one who loses, lends, or writes in it.
2. Reuse value. When I buy a book, my assumption is that I will open it more than once.
3. Wireless :-) That is, I don't need internet, electricity, or any kind of tech, just me and the book.
4. Relaxing. "Curl up with a good book" is a common phrase for a reason.
So now we have ebooks. Do I physically own them? Well... I have a copy of the file. Unless, of course, I decided to store it in the cloud. Reuse value? That's still there. Wireless? Well... getting more complicated, but this is perhaps balanced by the ability to carry 100 books instead of 1. Relaxing? Well, a good e-ink screen is still relaxing. So overall, I'm okay with ebooks.
Next step - networked and/or multimedia books. Can we physically own these, or will there be at least parts subject to the fast-paced changes of the internet? Reuse? Sure, that's still there. Wireless? Not really. Relaxing? Yeah, I think I'll go curl up with a good book... just me and 200 of my best friends... oh, don't mind the noise, it's got a soundtrack. And a video. And a link to an online database... is our internet working?
I know I probably sound like I'm whining. I'm not saying that some of these innovations don't have their uses. But they're not books anymore. Let Hollywood deal with text-enhanced cinema. And some social networking company can make a website for "networked books." Can't book publishing find a way to produce technology-enhanced text rather than losing its identity completely?