Ever hear a computerized voice mail system? You can't mistake it for a real person. Maybe just for a second, if you're not paying attention.

The text-to-speech feature of the Kindle reader sounds like that.

When the Kindle 2 came out about a year ago, some/… Read full post »

Librarian as Superhero

Publisher Harper Collins has just released a new book – about librarians. Talk about optimistic.

This Book is Overdue! by Marilyn Johnson, and it describes the exciting new world of librarians. Tattoos, precision drills using tricked-out boo/… Read full post »

Does every new humor writer have to be described as “the new David Sedaris”? Maybe I should be pleased we've moved on – it used to be every new humor writer was “the new Bill Bryson.” Or “the new Dave Barry.” Before that it was Erma Bombeck.

I… Read full post »

If you listen to an audio book, have you read the book?

It's undoubtedly a different experience to read a book with just ink and paper (or pixels and screen) between you and the author than it is to listen to someone's vocalization of the sentences. In Proust… Read full post »

Contest #1

Amazon.com has started accepting entries for its third year of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Grand Prize is a publishing contract with Penguin. Many of the finalists in all the categories also received publishing deals, so it isn't winner-take-all, by any mea/… Read full post »

Favorite Open Salon posts of 2009? Too limited a time frame. Favorite OS posts of the Decade? Better, but still too limited. Favorite OS posts and blogs? Almost there.

Join us in the Wayback Machine to revisit The BiblioFiles' Favorite Open Salon Content (Posts and Blogs) of/… Read full post »

It's been fun reading all the Best Books of 2009 lists. Now that you have a full slate of highly recommended books, here's a few that I absolutely do not recommend. Back away from these books. Or read them and weep. Presenting...The Stinkers of 2009.

Not on the List:… Read full post »

Last year, our fantasy Holiday wishes were, for Steve, the Penguin Classics Library Complete Collection, and for me, a Kindle. We didn't get either one for Christmas, although I later acquired a Kindle by other means.

 Kathryn Gursky's Penguin Collection

This year, Steve is still hopi… Read full post »

I have a confession to make. I read The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. I enjoyed it.

I didn't plan on reading it. But Steve (yes, I blame him) downloaded a sample of The Lost Symbol on the Kindle, got hooked, bought the rest of the book and read the/… Read full post »

A heartwarming story in today's Washington Post tells of the local bookstore in the tiny town of Poligny, France. The owner was about to close the store, which she could no longer run, due to her failing health. One hundred city residents pitched in about $750 each to form a corporation/… Read full post »

One of my favorite Kindle features is "sample this book." For no charge, you can download the table of contents and the first chapter or two of any Kindle book and decide at your leisure if you want to buy the book and read further.

Now… Read full post »

How do you choose which books you'll read? You probably have a variety of sources for new reading ideas: books you've read or heard about online or on radio or TV, suggestions from friends, browsing the bookstore and library. But unless you belong to a book club, you probably don't have… Read full post »

There's nothing more fun than a scandal, and the book world has been full of them lately. It's getting so that I can barely keep up with the book scandals, let alone the very entertaining British Ministers of Parliament expenses revelations. And actual news? Supreme Court nomina/… Read full post »

The Second Annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) Contest is in progress. The grand prize is a publishing contract with Penguin.

I didn't intend to participate – I don't have a novel inside me. But then an email arrived. “Dear Amazon Reviewer, You have been/… Read full post »

Mondegreen: A form of error arising from mishearing a spoken or sung phrase.

etymology:  Coined by Sylvia Wright in Harper’s Magazine (The Death of Lady Mondegreen, Nov 1954) from a mishearing of/… Read full post »

Late breaking news from Entertainment Tonight (ET) reveals that author Dan Brown has completed the long-awaited sequel to The Da Vinci Code! The blockbuster news was divulged by Angels & Demons director Ron Howard (who will always be Opie Taylor to some of us), who admits/… Read full post »

If you're a newspaper junkie, you may already know about the Newseum website. But I've just found out about it and I can't take the chance that some of you may not have discovered it yet.

The best feature is the Today's Front Pages i… Read full post »

 Green Eggs and Hamlet

Would you kill him in his bed?

Thrust a dagger through his head?

I would not, could not, kill the King.

I could not do that evil thing.

I would not wed this girl, you see.

Now… Read full post »

The publishing house MacmillanUSA has finally revealed the true story behind how a book makes it into print. This 3 minute 37 second video, titled From the Typewriter to the Bookstore: A Publishing Story is a real eye-opener for aspiring writers. Take notes and be prepared for the Shocking Truth.

&nb… Read full post »

copyright Warner Bros. 2001

Quick, how many Canadian authors can you name? If you can think of just one, then you named more than 47% of 1,502 Canadians surveyed, according to this article that recently appeared in the daily Canadian newspaper The National Post. It says that only/… Read full post »

Here's a do-it-yourself project for those of you who are handy.

 video courtesy of Videojug

How I Turned $1,000 Into a Million in Real Estate - In My Spare Time. Isn't that a great title? I love this book. I've never actually read it, although I've leafed through it to see why it's so popular. The first line is ''The road… Read full post »