Revolt! Read a book!

Even though I do not reside in the United States I would like to point out the fact that it is the American Library Association’s ‘Banned Books Week‘.
Banned Books Week (BBW) celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses [...]

Something about a wheel

Over at TeleRead, David Rothman asks: what is the perfect e-book device for k-12? His suggestion?
I myself like the idea of a tablet that could be carried in a knapsack and include a detachable keyboard, maybe the fold-up variety. I’m not the biggest fan of laptops, especially for kids. The ergonomics aren’t always the best. [...]

And the gold man goes to…

Via Conversational Reading, imagine if book awards were judged like the Logies.

A dying race

Ok, so I’m in the line at Coles Broadway today and I can’t help but overhear the checkoutbloke at the next counter. The conversation goes a little like this:
Checkoutbloke: Are you Australian?
Woman: Yes.
Checkoutbloke: There’s not many of us left. We’re a dying race.
Woman: Sorry?
Checkoutbloke: Australians. People who were born here. English Australians. There’s not many [...]

Most cited

Also via Boing Boing comes the list of the 50 most cited texts of 1976-1983 in the Arts and Humanities citation index.
The top 20:
1 T.S. Kuhn The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 1962
2 J. Joyce Ulysses. 1922
3 N. Frye Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays. 1957
4 L. Wittgenstein Philosophical Investigations
5 N. Chomsky Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. 1965
6 M. Foucault The Order of Things. 1966
7 J. Derrida Of Grammatology
8 R. Barthes S/Z. [...]

It’s all in the accessories

I have a wedding to attend next week and I think I have found the perfect bag. Now I just have to choose between Prose and Poetry for Appreciation and the Mainstream of Physics.
Via Boing Boing.

Authors v Google

Ok, yes, it’s been around on the web for several days now and I keep meaning to post it and then I realised I was too late but then I thought I can’t claim to be a book blog and not mention it. Phew. The Authors Guild is suing Google over their Google Print app [...]

Vogel winner announced

And the winner is Andrew O’Connor for Tuvalu, his
tale of betrayal, love, lust and social dislocation set in Japan and Australia. It tells the story of a young Australian working in Japan and his relationships with two women – one Australian, one Japanese.
And apparently Tom Wolfe’s name on the cover is enough to sell a [...]

21 years too late

Via BoingBoing, the Students for an Orwellian Society:
StudentsforOrwell.org collects and documents the steady progress the U.S. government has been making towards acheiving Ingsoc’s three major ideals: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength, put forth in George Orwell’s prophetic 1984.
Oh yes.

Football is poetry

My first podcast on the iPod has been consumed. (Not my first ever, I’ve been devouring the BBC’s Rumour Mill during the transfer panic of the past few months*). If you’re like me and your two passions are books and football you will love Radio National’s Sports Factor show of 9 September. It includes an [...]