From Books, President-elect Barack Obama found his voice

In college, as he was getting involved in protests against the apartheid government in South Africa, Barack Obama noticed, he has written, “that people had begun to listen to my opinions.” Words, the young Mr. Obama realized, had the power “to transform”: “with the right words everything could change -— South Africa, the lives of [...]

Will amateur booksellers kill publishing?

Over the weekend, NY Times writer David Streitfeld ignited a literary blogosphere controversy by blaming amateur booksellers for publishing’s current state of financial distress.
via Will Amateur Booksellers Kill Publishing? – mediabistro.com: GalleyCat.

Is the physical bookstore a thing of the past?

What may be most interesting in the NY Times article is that the blame isn’t necessarily placed at online retailers directly — but on the fact that online sites have made it much easier to resell used books.
via Is The Physical Bookstore A Thing Of The Past? | Techdirt.

Seattle, Minneapolis most literate of big cities – USATODAY.com

The findings come at a time when newspaper circulations across the USA are declining, and online newspaper reading is increasing. Miller’s analysis suggests that, contrary to conventional wisdom, the availability of free online news is not to blame for the decline in newspapers’ print circulation — and that neither is the decline in bookstores across [...]

BookSprouts, a social network for book worms and clubs

Reading books is usually a solitary experience, but it triggers social activity as well, as the ongoing success of real-life book clubs shows. BookSprouts is a fairly new online community dedicated to book readers who love discussing books over a nice cup of virtual coffee.
via BookSprouts, A Social Network For Book Worms And Clubs.

DailyLit emails your favorite books in bite-sized chunks

To use the site, you choose a novel from DailyLit’s catalog of over 1300 novels, many of which are free. Each book is broken up into dozens (or hundreds, depending on the length) of installments, each of which is supposed to take around 5 minutes to read.
via DailyLit Emails Your Favorite Books In Bite-Sized Chunks.

Magazines come to Google book search | ReadWriteWeb

by Frederic Lardinois
Google today announced that it is adding magazines to its lineup for Google Book Search. These magazines include publications like Popular Science and New York Magazine, but also more obscure publications like the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE: ReadWriteWeb.

No more social networking at this bookstore for me

BOOKS-A-MILLION — Twitter and Facebook will never replace real life, thankfully. I love to meet new people. That’s one of the reasons I’ve been coming to the local Books-a-Million for years. They’ve had big, comfortable chairs set up in fours facing each other around the store. Couples and families come out on weekend evenings [...]