Used Books Blog

If you’re a parent and you’re looking for a New Year’s resolution, I’ve got one for you.

Read to your child.

The benefits of reading to your child are immense. Remember, I’m not one of these kill your television kind of types. I like TV and my daughter watches things like Sesame Street, Peep and the Big Wide World and Martha Speaks. But most of all she loves to read.

We read every night before she goes to bed. She’s now asking to read when she gets up as well. Every week we go to the local library and pick out books. She’ll jump up and down with glee when we agree to go to Barnes & Noble.

The National Education Association has the following to say on reading to your child.

Reading aloud to children is the most important activity that parents can do to increase their child’s chance of reading success.

Nancy W. Dickey, M.D., Editor-In-Chief at Medem says “Reading is one instance where you truly can never have too much of a good thing.” Her article cites some frightening statistics.

it is estimated that 50 percent of toddlers are not read to on a regular basis and that 40 percent of 4th graders are reading below grade level.

On Reading To Your Child has a great collection of links to tips, editorials, research and editorials. Yet, even more important than all the studies or data collected is the time you spend with your child. Time spent exploring, using your imagination and creativity. Don’t miss out on this! Trust me, other things can wait.

So, here are a few of my favorites in case you’re in need of suggested reading.

The Feelings Book by Todd Parr

Alphabet City by Stephen T. Johnson

Not A Box by Antoinette Portis

Bears in Pairs by Niki Yektai

Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard

Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes

Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel

Junie B. Jones and the Yucky Blucky Fruitcake by Barbara Park

A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond

Watership Down by Richard Adams

I’ve arranged these titles by age. I’m better on the young stuff since my daughter is now four years old. Nevertheless, Junie B. Jones is a consistent hit and you can’t go wrong with Watership Down for an older child. And if you read Paddington you’ll understand the reference to Darkest Peru.

Happy reading to you (and to your child) in the New Year.

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis was a disappointment. Did this actually win a Hugo Award? I can’t see how unless every other novel was written in Pig Latin that year. Okay, that’s harsh. But really, To Say Nothing of the Dog was a rambling, slow, predictable book with one-dimensional characters and little in the way of new thought on time travel.

Perhaps it would be more enjoyable if I’d read Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome, of which Willis leans on heavily in the plot. Or maybe if I liked Jane Austen style etiquette and dialog. Yet, I don’t think either of those are the real culprits. I’m not a huge fan of Jane Eyre but I thoroughly enjoyed The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde.

No. Instead I think To Say Nothing of the Dog is a literary gimmick gone awry.

The story revolves around locating something called the Bishop’s Birdstump in a nearly manic effort to rebuild the Coventry Cathedral. To do so, they send Ned Henry back in time to the 1940s, just before the Cathedral was damaged in a bombing raid.

Soon Ned is pulled off of this dreadful project to help rectify a potential incongruity in the time continuum, caused by bringing a cat (extinct in the future) back from the Victorian era. Predictably, this new mission intersects with finding the Bishop’s Birdstump. At the same time, Ned falls for Verity Kindle, the operative who accidentally saved the cat in the first place.

Yes, it’s contrived. In addition, there’s little to no background or depth to Ned or Verity which leaves the romance absolutely dead on the page. Willis should look to the moving The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger on how to effectively weave romance into time travel.

There is one small theme in To Say Nothing of the Dog that does work and deserves attention. Willis explores the idea that very small things can have large consequences on history. Could indecipherable handwriting have changed the course of history at the battle of Waterloo? While I can’t say that this is a new concept, Willis presents many interesting examples for the reader to ponder.

But that’s not nearly enough to offset the pages and pages of predictable, dull and shallow material. Willis seems to have a good reputation so I may give her another try, but I simply can’t recommend To Say Nothing of the Dog.

The Happy Isles of Oceania by Paul Theroux is a fascinating synthesis of travel writing and history seen through the eyes of an acerbic narrator. Theroux documents his trip by kayak through the Pacific, from New Zealand and Australia all the way to Hawaii. But it’s the stops in between, in places like the Trobriands, The Solomons, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti and The Cook Islands that really make The Happy Isles of Oceania so special.

Don’t expect a shiny-happy travelogue that makes every place visited seem like a must visit destination where there is no trash, no crime and the sun shines all the time. Nor should you expect the feisty Theroux to think kindly about most of the people he meets on his trip. In fact, it’s usually the opposite.

Instead readers are treated to what I expect are far more accurate views of these destinations, both in terms of the scenery but also the culture and local life. Theroux goes a step further by unearthing the history behind many of these places and it’s these sections that stick with me long after finishing the book.

For instance, Theroux does a splendid job of explaining and analyzing the Jon Frum Movement in Vanuatu.

Was Jon Frum a friendly American pilot who had brought supplies here and shared them around? And perhaps he had said, I am John from America. And then had the war convinced the villagers on Tanna how wealthy America was?

It hardly mattered now. The dogma of the movement seemed to suggest that Jon Frum was a sort of John the Baptist, preceding the savior which was a redeemer in the form of cargo-every nice and useful object imaginable. And the important aspect was that it had come to the island directly, without the help of missionaries or interpreters. No money, no tithing was involved; no Ten Commandments, no Heaven or Hell. No priest, nor any imperialism. It was a Second Coming, but it enabled the villagers to rid themselves of missionaries and live their lives as they had before. It seems to me a wonderfully foxy way of doing exactly as they pleased.

Theroux has done his homework on these anthropological studies. He’s done the required reading. What’s impressive is that he then strolls right into these villages to do his own first hand research. This isn’t always the safest thing to do! First, lets remember that he’s paddling a kayak between most of these destinations. And the natives can be welcoming, indifferent, unsettled or even aggressive.

But that’s the other context to The Happy Isles of Oceania. Theroux is at a crossroads in his life. He’s recently parted ways with his wife of 25 years and is awaiting the results of a cancer test. Theroux runs, or paddles, away. His mindset of impending doom makes him both a bit reckless but also more open than he might have been previously.

Other reviewers have said Theroux found happiness on this trip. I can’t say whether he did or not. He still seems hyper-critical and skeptical of the motives of others but there is a greater sense of peace as he ends his journey.

The Happy Isles of Oceania is also notable because of who Theroux meets on his journey. He never seems to actively seek out these notable personalities, and yet there they are, bumping into each other half way around the world. In that way, there is a pleasing juxtaposition between the foreign nature of the surroundings and the ‘it’s a small world after all’ mantra.

I highly recommend The Happy Isles of Oceania by Paul Theroux for anyone with an interest in travel, history or anthropology. Not only will you enjoy the trip but you’ll learn a thing or two along the way.

Barnes & Noble released third quarter earnings this morning, reporting a $18.4 million loss compared to a $4.4 million profit the year before. Same store sales fell a whopping 7.4%!

“A significant drop-off in customer traffic and consumer spending impacted our business in the third quarter,” Chief Executive Steve Riggio said in a statement.

It’s really a perfect storm of sorts for a bookseller like Barnes & Noble. The general weakness in the economy is the largest culprit as consumers decide books are an expendable discretionary item. Sadly, I believe books are the first entertainment medium to take the hit. Consumers can always stay home and watch TV or surf the Internet.

Then there’s the competition from online retailers like Amazon, Alibris, Abebooks and Biblio. In particular, I suspect that used books may be in higher demand as consumers seek to lower the average cost of their purchases.

The real boogeyman might be larger retailers like Target, Walmart and Costco. Convenience and price loom large as these giants leverage their built in foot traffic. This will only grow if the economy continues to suffer and consumers watch their pocketbooks.

Why go to Barnes & Noble to get the newest James Patterson when you can drop it in your basket when you’re at Target or Walmart stocking up on paper towels? Oh, and did I mention it’s cheaper too?

Barnes & Noble has been effective in their strategy of making their stores gathering places - destinations for even the casual reader. But that’s going to be increasingly difficult in this economic environment and they don’t have the website presence to help backfill this weakness.

No matter how you look at it, it’s hard out there for a bookseller.

Do you remember the Choose Your Own Adventure book series? If you grew up in the 80s I’m guessing you might. I know I do.

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say on the subject.

Choose Your Own Adventure was one of the most popular children’s series during the 1980s and 1990s, selling over 250 million copies between 1979 and 1998, and translated into at least 38 languages.

I can understand why they were so popular. Written in the second-person, these books put you, the reader, in the driver’s seat, allowing you to make choices during the narrative that effect the outcome of the book. Talk about empowerment!

Here’s an example from the The Abominable Snowman, the first book in the Choose Your Own Adventure series.

If you decide to cancel your meeting with Runal and search for Carlos, turn to page 7.

If you feel Carlos is OK and go ahead with your plan to meet Runal, turn to page 8.

You make these choices frequently through the book, winding your way to one of multiple endings. The number of endings for each book could be as high as 44, or 30 like in my favorite of the series, Inside UFO 54-40.

There was usually one really good ending. You’d try again and again to get to that ending instead of the others that ended in death, imprisonment or some other misfortune. Inside UFO 54-40 was unusual in that none of the normal paths actually got you to the really good ending. ‘Paradise’ could only be found by breaking the rules of the book and finding the ending you wanted by thumbing through to that elusive, orphaned, page.

While I certainly enjoyed the structure of the Choose Your Own Adventure books, it was the lesson in Inside UFO 54-40, about thinking outside of the box, that stuck with me.

Choose Your Own Adventure books have been praised for capturing reluctant readers. I wasn’t one of those. I was reading Watership Down, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Cat’s Cradle, Dune and Caves of Steel. But the series helped continue my passion for books. It seems to have done that for many others, and is also heralded as a great gender neutral series because of the second-person narrative style.

The series was written by a number of authors though most were penned by R.A. Montgomery and Edward Packard. Montgomery is trying to revive the series through Chooseco, his new publishing company. I can definitely see a way for the series to connect to a new generation, but it’ll take better integration with the Internet and a major overhaul of the Choose Your Own Adventure site.

Perhaps a few dedicated fans with technical savvy can reach out and help Chooseco? It’s a worthwhile endeavor in my opinion.

In the mean time, check out the great collection of covers and reviews at gamebooks.org and pick up a few used copies for your kids (or you).

Kindle porn, or Kindle erotica if you like, has been rumored to be a not-so-inconsequential part of sales. But like many things Amazon, they provide little to no information or guidance on the topic. From what I can tell there is no Kindle sales ranking to help us back into the figure.

Here’s what I do know. As of this writing there are 3,844 titles listed under the Kindle Books > Fiction > Erotica category. That means Erotica comprises approximately 2% of the current Kindle catalog. By comparison, Literary Fiction has 4,487 titles. I’m guessing the distribution of titles is quite different outside of Kindle and that Erotica doesn’t have the same high rate of penetration when you look at titles in all formats.

Recently, a thread on FriendFeed developed around the following captured image.

The implication here is that there is a substantial overlap in viewing habits between Kindle and … ‘Sexual Wellness’ items. So, is there a greater incidence of purchasing behavior between the Kindle, erotic titles and … accessories? Perhaps. Or maybe Amazon just has their finger on the proverbial scale and Kindle is almost always presented as a similarly viewed item.

There is some logic to the type of items that are being presented above if you believe some conventional wisdom. The Kindle is black and white only with no picture capability. So it’s not going to attract the normal porn crowd but, most likely, will appeal to a predominantly female demographic who aren’t as visual as their male counterparts.

It would also be appealing since it is completely anonymous. Not only are you ordering ‘online’ but there is no delivery of the title to your home, nor would you have to hide a provocative cover should you be reading it out in public or in bed next to a spouse.

If this is an area where Kindle is gaining traction, I suspect that the sales by format would also favor digital distribution. As such, that could have a material impact on the one Kindle statistic Amazon does mention.

Kindle titles already account for more than 10% of unit sales for books that are available in both digital and print formats.

Fact or (Erotic) Fiction? What do you think?

Textbook Torrents Permanently Offline

(updates below or see Rapidshare Textbooks or Free Textbooks)

Textbook Torrents is using BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol, to let students download textbooks for free. The site not only allows Torrents for those open textbooks but allows users to scan and upload other textbooks.

Scan as many of your other textbooks as you can, and put them up here for others to benefit from. There aren’t very many scanned texts out there, so let’s change that.

A basic rule of thumb to determine if something is acceptable: if you can find it in the courses section of your local university bookstore, it’s fair game.

Sites like Textbook Torrents are reacting to the increasingly high cost of textbooks. According to a 2004 CALPIRG study, the average textbook costs $102 and students spent almost $900 a school year on textbooks. Many believe these prices are artificially high, creating windfall profit centers for publishers on the backs of students who essentially must purchase these textbooks.

The used textbook marketplace has flourished because of these high prices, though the shelf life of a textbook seems to be decreasing as publishers crank out updates and editions on a more regular basis. The Amazon Kindle is also delivering textbooks via digital download.

It’s no surprise that students are using new technology to defray the cost of their education. Obviously the textbook landscape would collapse if the majority of students sourced their textbooks via Torrents - authors need to be compensated, publishers need to run a business.

But publishers shouldn’t squawk too much about these developments. High textbook prices were the accelerant to the flux in the textbook market. Now they’re scrambling to protect their cash cow in the encroaching digital age.

Textbook Torrents Update (July 14, 2008 - 2:00pm)

As noted by readers, the textbooktorrents.com website is currently offline. The error data (”not found on this server”) makes me believe that the owner took it down or that the host (DreamHost) took it down. Please note that Google still has pages from textbooktorrents.com in their index. Google hasn’t banned the site, it’s simply not ranking high because there’s no longer any relevant content on these pages.

I’m guessing this disappearing act is due to legal pressure brought by publishers. The domain doesn’t expire until January 2011. Perhaps textbooktorrents.com will come back when a new host is secured … or not if the publisher pressure was simply too much to handle.

Textbook Torrents Update (July 14, 2008 - 2:57pm)

I emailed DreamHost in what I thought would be a vain attempt to gain some information on the Textbook Torrents situation. To my pleasant surprise, DreamHost responded to my inquiry within the hour. Below is the text of that email:

We received very long DMCA takedown notices from publishers of the content in question. The site was further closed down due to violations of our Terms of Service due to it’s illegal facilitation of the distribution of copyrighted content without the copyright owners consent.

While I sympathize with students and the cost of textbooks, you can’t fault DreamHost for pulling the plug. Based on the information provided above, I’d be surprised if any major US host would touch Textbook Torrents at this point.

Textbook Torrents Update (July 30, 2008 - 8:22am)

Textbooktorrents.com is still down as we hit the height of textbook season. I’ll continue to look for signs of life and encourage anyone with information to comment or contact me directly. In the interim, students can check out my list of other free textbook sites.

Textbook Torrent Update (July 30, 2008 - 9:02am)

Thank you to xGeNeSisx who tipped us off that Textbook Torrents is up and running but at a different address: http://85.17.226.223/

Textbook Torrent Update (October 13, 2008 - 5:31pm)

Textbook Torrents is now permanently offline. Following is the farewell text:

Textbook Torrents is now permanently offline.

There are a number of reasons for this, but I would be lying if I claimed that the concern of legal action wasn’t a major factor in the decision. However, it was by no means the only reason. Upkeep of a site this size is a lot of work, increasingly so as time progressed. What’s more, two years is a long time to be running a site of this nature.

I am at heart an activist, a crusader for the underdog. When I see something that I believe is wrong, I do what I can to fix it, if only in some small way. I believe this is what Textbook Torrents has stood for, and what we have done. The amount of attention that we have garnered would not have been possible by simply running around with a sandwich board and shouting slogans. We have opened people’s eyes, and gotten them talking. At its true purpose, the site has been successful beyond my wildest dreams.

What we have started here does not stop with one site. It is real, and it is now up to you to continue. Take what you have learned and experienced here and go forth. If you’re able, start new sites. Find new ways to open new eyes. Keep the revolution going. It is not a revolution of one, not even of eight staff members: it is a revolution of 100,000. We have done nothing here but provide you with a venue to voice your discontent, and the ideological sentiment that we all share need not end with Textbook Torrents. Indeed, it must live on.

For my part, I have other causes that need fighting for. There are all kinds of ways to fight all kinds of battles, and it is unlikely that I will find myself running a BitTorrent tracker again. I will step back from this and hope that you will carry on in our place.

Thanks for everything, folks. Thanks for making Textbook Torrents everything that it was, and for adding your voices to mine. Now it’s your turn.

Geekman
(Former) Textbook Torrents administrator

As an avid reader I am shocked at the prospect of banning books and truly saddened at the history of book burning. Robert Scoble recently returned from Germany with a photo of the Bebelplatz memorial.

The memorial represents the 25,000 books burnt by the Nazis in 1933. The image has been sitting in one of my Firefox tabs for nearly two weeks as a reminder of what can happen when we don’t speak up.

On the memorial is a plaque that reads “this is just the beginning. Wherever books are burnt, people are burnt too” from the poet Heinrich Heine whose books were among those incinerated.

Let’s make sure this never happens again.

You Don’t Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem seems like a sad combination of sexual themes from a Nicholson Baker novel with the enigmatic Los Angeles vibe often produced by Steve Erickson. Lethem simply misses the mark completely, filling the page with dead on arrival dialog, characters with no real substance or motivation and largely unnecessary sexual scenes.

You Don’t Love Me Yet is, to put it bluntly, bad.

It’s tough for me to say this since I like so much of Lethem’s work. I believe we’re seeing the growing pains of an author working toward a new genre. Most of Lethem’s prior work was based in science fiction or surrealism. Gun with Occasional Music, Amnesia Moon, Girl In Landscape and As She Climbed Across the Table are all very good reads.

Lethem then made a successful jump to more traditional literature with Motherless Brooklyn. But even Motherless Brooklyn borrowed from his detective genre past. Then came The Fortress of Solitude, a clear attempt at straight up literary fiction, which might have been good if an editor had made it about half as long. You Don’t Love Me Yet extends Lethem’s reach for literary fiction.

Even in his short story work, Lethem seems to hit the mark when dealing with surreal or other-worldly environments. No doubt he’s a talented writer, but he’s yet to take his talent and successfully apply it in a traditional literary fiction context.

You Don’t Love Me Yet follows the travails of an aspiring rock band in Los Angeles. The main character is Lucinda Hoekke, the bassist, who is painted as a flighty, mercurial woman with little idea of her own motivations. Perhaps she’s an alcoholic since nearly every scene seems to include drinking. I don’t know and, frankly, I didn’t care.

As a sterotypical musician, Lucinda needs some money and winds up working for an ex who is running a performance art piece about cataloging complaints via telephone. It’s here she conjures up a relationship with one of the callers, The Complainer, who turns her life and that of the band upside down. I won’t go into it because it’s all rather dreary and pointless.

Did I mention the sub-plot about the lead singer (on and off again boyfriend) who also works at the zoo and kidnaps a kangaroo that he feels is being mistreated? Yeah, it’s strange. I like strange but this just doesn’t go anywhere and the plot convergence is wholly unsatisfying.

You Don’t Love Me Yet reaches for what DeLillo or Erickson accomplish, turning ordinary oddities into meaningful insight. Avoid Lethem’s You Don’t Love Me Yet and pick up any of his early work instead.