What the Heck is a Vook?

I consider myself both a bibliophile and a technophile but up until a few days ago, I had never heard of a vook. And just what the heck is a vook, you ask? Created by Vook.com, it’s a video-book hybrid that integrates video and hyperlinks into a book. You can read/watch on your laptop using a web-based application or on your iPhone using the Vook app.
Last week, Vook released Anne Rice’s 1984 short-story The Master of the Rampling Gate. She’s by far the biggest name author to release a story in this format and I think Vook is hoping to capitalize on the popularity of vampire fiction. For a limited time it’s only .99 (instead of 4.99), so I decided to give it a try. Since I frequently use the Kindle for iPhone app, I decided to buy the Vook iPhone app [...]

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Top 10 Most Expensive Books on Ebay

People spend a lot of money on books. Today I was curious about what the most expensive books currently being auctioned on Ebay are. I’ve filtered out the obvious scams and came up with the top 10 most expensive book auctions. Here they are:
1. 1637 Manuscript Charter of New England Price: $950,000
2. 30,000 Volume Jewish Judaica Library Price: $900,000
3. Arabian Nights – Original Print from 1935 Price: $700,000
4. Michael Jackson Vintage Magazines Price: $240,000
5. 1250 AD Medieval Holy Bible Price: $185,000
6. 1759 Hymnal Bible Price: $185,000
7. Set of 1st Edition Wizard Of Oz Books Price: $150,000
8. Langston Hughes Handwritten Poems Price: $125,000
9. Peter The Rabbit Signed By Beatrix Potter Price: $125,000
10.Koran Signed by 18th Century Royal Price: $70,000

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Read Across America

March 2nd is National Read Across America Day (in observance of Dr. Seuss’s birthday). It was started by the National Education Association. This is a great organization that inspires kids to read all across the country. In celebration, I’ve compiled a list of places I love to read. Maybe it will inspire somebody out there to pick up book today and read in their favorite location:
A Park
My bed
Cuddling with my dog
Exercising (audio books)
Under a tree
By a pool
A plane
A bookstore
A cafe
Where is your favorite place to read? Feel free to share your Read Across America stories!

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Six-Word Memoirs

Have you heard of the concept of the six-word memoir? I heard about it on NPR and the idea is to distill your life story down to only six words. Smith magazine has published several books of collected six-word memoirs, and the latest is called It All Changed in an Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure (you can buy it on Amazon). Here are some of my favorites (from NPR):
James Frey: So would you believe me anyway?
Becki Lee: Found on Craigslist: table, apartment, fiance.
Kathleen E. Whitlock: I picked passion. Now I’m poor.
Neil Patrick Harris: Barney, Doogie, average names elude me.
Ha! Aren’t these fun? For mine, I went with a literary theme: So many books left to read.
So what’s your six-word memoir? Feel free to leave it in the comments!

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Top Ten Most Romantic Books of All Time

It’s hard for me to believe, but Valentine’s Day is almost here once again. If you are looking for a romantic book to read this February 14th, members of the Romantic Novelists’ Association created this top ten list of the most romantic books of all-time:
1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
3. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
4. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
5. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
6. Katherine by Anya Seton
7. Persuasion by Jane Austen
8. Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
9. The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
10. Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne du Maurier
I’ve only read a few of these, but I definitely agree with Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre because they are two of my favorite books. There aren’t any recent titles on the list so I came up with [...]

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Meet the Cast of Percy Jackson

On January 20th the Borders in Novi, Michigan hosted an event for several cast members of the upcoming movie, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Over 500 people turned out to meet Logan Lerman (Percy), Alexandra Daddario (Annabeth), Brandon T. Jackson (Grover), and Jake Abel (Luke). The event started about half an hour late so the Q&A portion was very brief, but here’s an excerpt:
Moderator: So if everybody would just go down the line, starting at the end with Logan, and tell us a little bit about what you’ve done before Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.
Logan: .I’ve done a few movies and I was part of a television show, that’s like really where I started, it was called Jack & Bobby. I’m not sure if anybody really saw it [applause], yeah there was like two people here who saw it. I did [...]

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Top 10 Films To Books

Who doesn’t like a good Top 10 list? The Houston Chronicle has posted a great list titled “10 Great Films From Great Books”
10 GREAT FILMS FROM GREAT BOOKS
This list could be much longer, but here are 10 movies that successfully made the leap to the big screen.
1. Gone With the Wind
2. The Wizard of Oz
3. The Maltese Falcon
4. Apocalypse Now (from Joseph Conrad’s novella, Heart of Darkness)
5. The Godfather
6. Clueless (from Jane Austen’s Emma)
7. Howard’s End
8. The English Patient
9. The Lord of the Rings
10. No Country for Old Men
I have to say I agree with this list for the most part. Although Clueless is a great movie I thought it was a little out of place on the list (since it was only loosely based on Emma). What about the actual movie “Emma”? What other movies would you have liked to see on the list? I would have loved [...]

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Snog, Marry, Kill: Mr. Darcy, Rhett Butler, or Holden Caulfield?

Okay, so the best ideas are borrowed…which is why I’m borrowing one from our friends over at Daemons TV They’ve started a fun game of “Would You Rather” with their favorite TV shows, and I’d like to try something similar with books. Let’s play a good ole’ fashion game of “Snog, Mary, Kill” with some of our favorite fictitious characters.
So here are your choices:

Mr. Darcy form Pride and Prejudice
Rhett Butler from Gone With The Wind
Holden Caulfield from The Catcher In The Rye
So, out of these 3 guys, who would you snog (trying to keep it PG folks), who would you marry, and who would you kill? Remember, each one has to be used only once, no exceptions. Here are my choices:
Snog: Rhett Butler (has a way with the ladies, but commitment issues)
Marry: Mr. Darcy (rich, faithful,handsome)
Kill: Holden (potty mouth, no ambition, currently lives in a mental institution)
What are [...]

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Jeannette Walls Book Signing

On January 5, 2010, Jeannette Walls was at the Borders Books & Music in Ann Arbor, Michigan to speak and sign books. She is the author of The Glass Castle and Half Broke Horses and is a former gossip columnist. In The Glass Castle, she tells her story of growing up in a family that was at times homeless because of eccentric, neglectful parents. Walls overcame her childhood and went to college, moved to New York, and became a successful journalist. Her parents eventually followed their children to New York, but chose to live on the streets (she has since talked her mother into living with her). Until she wrote The Glass Castle, Walls had kept her background a secret. She says:
I originally did not want to tell my story. I was ashamed of it. I used to be a gossip columnist – [...]

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New Years Resolutions

This is my least favorite time of year. The presents, the cookies, the happy chatter of family gatherings are gone, and what we have instead are hangovers, belly fat, and vows that this year things are going to be better. What a load of crap. But, each year it’s the same. If you don’t believe me, check out the current Amazon bestsellers list Here’s a preview:
#2 – The Conscious Cook: Delicious Meatless Recipes That Will Change the Way You Eat by Tal Ronnen
#4 – The Full Plate Diet: Slim Down, Look Great, Be Healthy! by Stuart A. Seale, Teresa Sherard, Diana Fleming
#5 – The Belly Fat Cure: Discover the New Carb Swap System and Lose 4 to 9 lbs. Every Week by Jorge Cruise
#7 – I Can Make You Thin: The Revolutionary System Used by More Than 3 Million People (Book and CD) by Paul McKenna
#13 – The Mayo [...]

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