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Poll Wednesday: eReaders!

Posted by admin on 10.15.2008 at 11:25 am

In case you haven’t been haunting tech blogs, don’t work in the book or publishing industry and don’t have a morning public transportation commute, you may be unaware of the proliferation of eReaders. Be it the Amazon Kindle or one of the other myriad offerings (Kindle, Fujitsu, Sony, DIY, Franklin, comparison) I’ve got to know, are you interested in eReaders? Would you buy one?

2 Comments » | Tagged Poll Wednesday, e-readers, Poll Wednesday

Poll Wednesday: How Do You Get Info About the Election

Posted by Jack on 10.09.2008 at 11:56 am

Pretty straightforward, what’s your primary source for info about the US Presidential election?

1 Comment » | Tagged Poll Wednesday, books, election, politics, Poll Wednesday

Poll Wednesday: On Being “Well Read”

Posted by admin on 10.01.2008 at 3:11 pm

Today’s poll is in response to a concept brought up in a facebook fan page conversation about “Well Read.” In order to be someone who is considered well read, we generally agreed that one had to read a diverse collection of high-quality books (whatever that means can be dissected, but for now just assume that it is true).

The question underneath this is: does someone have to read fiction as well as non-fiction to be well read? Can someone be well-read and just read fiction? Can they be well-read and only read non-fiction?

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, fiction, non-fiction, Poll Wednesday, well read

Poll Wednesday: Shakespeare

Posted by admin on 09.24.2008 at 11:24 am

Today’s poll is about Shakespeare. Either you’re very interested having read that or you’re rolling your eyes to the point of sea-sickness. In any event, how do you feel about the Bard’s work? Awesome (Yes reader, “What a piece of work is a man”)? Tiresome (“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio”)? Loathesome (Oh reader, “How poor are they that have not patience!”)? This is setting up another post, but for now, the issue at hand:

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, authors, Poll Wednesday, Shakespeare

Poll Wednesday: Book Reviews?

Posted by admin on 09.18.2008 at 11:56 am

Have your say » | Tagged Poll Wednesday, book reviews, Poll Wednesday

Poll Wednesday (oops, Thursday): The Basic Question

Posted by admin on 09.11.2008 at 11:48 am

The basic question, what are you reading right now, fiction or non-fiction?

Then, a bonus question, what do you usually read?

Have your say » | Tagged Poll Wednesday, books, fiction, non-fiction, Poll Wednesday

Poll Wednesday: On the Banning of Books

Posted by admin on 09.03.2008 at 10:10 am

Between our post about Solzhinitsyn and the fact that he never thought he would actually get published due to the nature of his writing, having read Reading Lolita in Tehran (a book about a teacher in Iran who brought her most driven students to read banned Western classic each week) and a recent Time article saying that one of the VP candidates wanted to ban some books based on religious leanings the topic seems highly germane, simply: Is it ever ok to ban books?

Have your say » | Tagged Poll Wednesday, book banning, election, Poll Wednesday

Emoticons, cont’d

Posted by admin on 08.27.2008 at 10:20 am

In regards to the last post about language and its distinctly digital leanings we have today’s poll:

1 Comment » | Tagged Poll Wednesday, emoticons, Poll Wednesday

The Quest for the Best Books Ever (part 2)

Posted by Jack on 08.18.2008 at 1:06 pm

[Continued from the last post]

In my quest I even went so far as to read One Hundred Years of Solitude in Spanish, The Aeneid in Latin and tried to muscle my way through Dante‘s Inferno in Old Italian (this, admittedly, proved to be too difficult). I was ready. Armed with my library card and Half.com I plowed through books on my hour long train ride and subway commute to and from school each day and in classes and at lunch, but eventually, an unstoppable force meets an immovable object, and that object was Jane Austen.

Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was simply too much to bear. As a 17 year old boy, commuting to school everyday with thousands of others on their way to New York City, I couldn’t make the jump to that era and persona. I could struggle to breathe with Vonnegut in Dresden, I could tackle an enormous beast (and play the cuckold) with Sir Gawain and I could even serve in a field with a Jesus-esque slave, but I could not for the life of me wear jodhpurs and muscle down the clandestine courtship of a big house novel. This would prove my undoing as I would later be derailed by Hardy‘s Far from the Maddening Crowd.

So I ask you reader, at what point do you know to put down a book? I feel that there are too many great books to be read to suffer bad literature, but when is the point where you say “I give up?” Or do you soldier on, looking for the redemptive qualities as your eyes cross and head turns to mush?