See the whole list here.

Palintology

There has been a flurry of commentary in regards to Sarah Palin's new book. Scott McLemee, in Inside Higher Education, has a long piece on "Palintology". "Important as it was, the campaign of Barack Obama was not the only history-making element of the 2008 presidential election. With Sarah Palin, we crossed another epochal divide. The boundary between reality television and American politics (already somewhat weakened by the continuous "American Idol" plebiscite) finally collapsed. Her campaign's basic formula was familiar: members of an ordinary middle-class family turn into instantly recognisable national celebrities while competing for valuable prizes.

But like any contestant at this late stage of an already decadent genre, Palin seemed much less conscious of the stakes of the game (power) than in how it let her broadcast her own sense of herself. At that level she could not lose – the ballot box notwithstanding. I’m not sure what Sarah Palin’s favourite work of postmodern theory might be (all of them, probably) but she seems to take her lead from Jean Baudrillard’s Seduction. Other political figures use the media as part of what JB calls “production.” That is, they generate signs and images meant to create an effect within politics. For the Baudrillardian “seducer,” by contrast, the power to create fascination is its own reward.

Watching Palin respond to questions about her book Going Rogue (or not respond to them, often enough) is, from this perspective, no laughing matter. She grows ever more comfortable talking about herself. If no more capable of simulating knowledge of public issues, she is getting her story straight, more or less. And this matters. For now she does not have to be accurate, just coherent. She is consolidating her presence, her "brand". Teams of professional ideologists can feed Palin her lines later.

Is this too cynical? I fear it may not be cynical enough. For it assumes that Palin will eventually be integrated into her party’s apparatus and turned into a mouthpiece of old-school Republican electoral politics -- a basic platform of tax cuts for the rich and unregulated handgun ownership for everybody else." More here.

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State of the blogosphere 2009

Jen McLean in Technorati looks at the growth of the blogosphere's influence on subjects ranging from business to politics to the way information travels through communities continues to flourish.

"In a year when revolutions and elections were organized by blogs, bloggers are blogging more than ever, and the State of the Blogosphere is strong. Indeed, it’s so strong that the attitudes held by bloggers don’t differ very much by age or gender, or even across geographies — which is why Technorati decided to display the results of the survey according to four different types of bloggers:

Hobbyists. Representing 72% of the respondents to this survey, hobbyists say that they blog for fun. They don’t make any money from their blogging - and only some would like to do so. More than any other group, though, Hobbyists say they blog to express their “personal musings” (53%). 71% update at least weekly, while 22% update daily. Because 76% blog to speak their minds, their main success metric is personal satisfaction (76%).

Part-Timers. The next largest cohort, at 15%, part-timers say they “blog to supplement their income, but don’t consider it a full time job.” 75% of them blog to share their expertise, while 72% blog to attract new clients for their business. Their business and personal motives for blogging are deeply entwined - while 61% say that they measure the success of their blog by the unique pageviews they attract, 60% say they also value personal satisfaction.

Self-Employeds . At 9% of respondents, self-employeds are in many ways the most professional of the cohorts. They say they "blog full time for their own company or organization," and 10% do report blogging 40 hours per week or more. 22% say that their blog is their company, while 70% say they own a company and blog about their business. Self-employeds also privilege page views (63%) over personal satisfaction (53%) as a success metric, and 53% are blogging more than when they started. Finally, in a demographic (bloggers) awash with Twitter users, self-employeds are the Tweetiest of them all — 88% say they use the service.

Pros. The smallest cohort, representing just 4% of respondents, pros say they “blog full-time for a company or organization” — though actually very few of them actually report spending a full 40 hours per week blogging. 46% are blogging more than they did when they started. 70% blog to share expertise; 53% blog to attract new clients for the business they work for. Accordingly, pageviews are the most important success metric for pros, valued by 69%, compared to 53% for personal satisfaction." More here.

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Ostara Publishing in Britain will be attractive to crime lovers with its reprint program

"Ostara Publishing re-issues titles that have unjustifiably become unavailable either through the ravages of time or the forces of publishing economics. We specialise in Crime and Thriller fiction titles and our range goes from the 1920s through to the 21st century. We publish thematically under series and currently have four available and one new series in production. All our titles are published in a trade paperback format and printed to order.

Cambridge Crime: Crime fiction titles set in Cambridge or with a Cambridge theme. Many titles have been unavailable for years some early titles from the 1920s and 1930s have never previously been available in a paperback format.

College Crime: Crime fiction titles set in a university or academic environment.

Clerical Crime: Crime fiction set within a church or ecclesiastical environment or with a theological principal character.

Medieval Mysteries: Crime fiction titles set in the Middle Ages.

Top Notch Thrillers: Ostara Publishing’s new imprint Top Notch Thrillers aims to revive Great British thrillers which do not deserve to be forgotten. Each title has been carefully selected not just for its plot or sense of adventure but for the distinctiveness and sheer quality of its writing."

www.ostarapublishing.co.uk

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Barack Obama's 2005 comment on libraries and reading for children is worth repeating

"At the moment that we persuade a child, any child, to cross that threshold, that magic threshold into a library, we change their lives forever, for the better." Barack Obama (Keynote Address, ALA Conference, 2005)

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E-Books and reading

A New York Times article on 'Library in a Pocket' on the future of reading vis-a-vis Kindle, Nook, Palm Pilot, Fictionwise, smart phones, etc. has had some interesting responses.

Read it here.

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The Guardian blog bemoans the loss of the traditional bookshop

"Bring back the traditional bookshop. No more lounging in Waterstone's or browsing in Borders – turn over an old leaf with the starchy, strait-laced booksellers of old. When the Borders Group first imported its corporate ambience to the UK in 1998, it seemed the book business had been made anew. Here were stores in which not only could you get away with browsing non-committally, you were positively encouraged to do so. There were armchairs for lolling in while you read a chapter or two, as well as coffee-shops that offered cappuccinos and a range of sugar-laden treats to keep your energy levels up while lolling.

It wasn't long before Waterstone's followed suit, the bigger branches kitted out with the kinds of squashy brown leather sofas they have in the Groucho Club, sweet little window seats, and the de rigueur waft of Costa Coffee fumes. It's all so much more civilised than yesteryear. We have left behind the brutally commodified atmosphere of the old book chains, and seen it replaced with a proper air of studious contemplation more appropriate to the business in hand.

Except, I've had enough now. It may be lovely to be able to read a chunk of a book in an unhurried fashion while deciding to buy, but I don't believe that's what most of these sofa-lollers are doing. Bookshops have now taken on the atmosphere of municipal libraries, with people killing an empty hour or so between arrangements, or else just waiting for the rain to stop. I caught a man in Waterstone's in Piccadilly, London, with his feet up over the end of the sofa, settling himself agreeably while leafing through a large work of war history.

Furthermore, since people now expect to be able to sit and read, there is an unspoken battle for sofa-space, with the result that, if every seat is taken, they make do with the floor, transforming the place less into the local library than the departure lounge at Gatwick. A pair of backpackers in the Charing Cross Road Borders had set up camp in front of (wouldn't you know it?) Philosophy, spreading out their gear and sitting cross-legged at the foot of the shelves to read graphic novels, impervious to the Excuse-mes of those of us trying to get to the Badious (I know, I know, it's what we deserve).

The smell of coffee-machines is now the default aroma of the urban environment in Britain, beguiling enough when you're on the point of flagging, vaguely sickening when you're already satiated with caffeine. Once held mythically to be a great way to sell your house, it now hovers like a bilious miasma over the business of book-buying, for no other reason than to smarten up those profit-margins that have been dented by encouraging people to lounge about with no intention of buying a book.

There will be people who still feel it's good to be able to sit and think, without being pressured into making a decision. I do remember a fearsome manager at the WH Smith of my childhood, who used to follow you about tidying up the shelves every time you put back a book you had just briefly looked at. But I also remember a small independent bookshop, staffed only by a man who looked far too young to be wearing a cravat, and who only looked up from his own book in order to tie up your purchase in brown parcel paper and string.

That to me is a more gemütlich experience than the Borders/Waterstone's approach. Nobody used the place as a railway station waiting-room (there was nowhere to sit), and nor were you likely to be sold a Danish pastry with which you could then gum up the pages of the next book you started leafing through."

Find it here.

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The December 3 Issue of the New York Review of Books has an online article, A One-Term President?: The Choice, By Garry Wills

"I am told by people I respect that Barack Obama cannot pull out of both Iraq and Afghanistan without becoming a one-term president. I think that may be true. The charges from various quarters would be toxic — that he was weak, unpatriotic, sacrificing the sacrifices that have been made, betraying our dead, throwing away all former investments in lives and treasure. All that would indeed be brought against him, and he could have little defense in the quarters where such charges would originate.

These are the arguments that have kept us in losing efforts before. They are the ones that made presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon pass on to their successors in the presidency the draining and self-lacerating Vietnam War. They are the arguments that made President George W. Bush pass on two wars to his successor.

One of the strongest arguments for continued firing up of these wars is that none of these presidents wanted to serve only one term (even Lyndon Johnson, who chose not to run for a second full term). But what justification is there for buying a second presidential term with the lives of hundreds or thousands of young American men and women in the military?

I have great hopes for the Obama presidency, even in his first term, and especially if he could have two terms to realize the exciting new things he aspires to do in the White House. But I would rather see him a one-term president than have him pass on another unwinnable war to the person who will follow him in office." More here.

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Hilary Mantel, this year's Booker Prize winner, wonders where stories come from in her Guardian blog

"A little while ago I mentioned in this column Charles Lamb's dictum that no one ever put down a newspaper without a feeling of disappointment. I didn't admit, at that point, that I am the exception; that the paper has never been printed that didn't make me happy. I understand the despondency and lassitude that overtake the reader at the repetitious parade of human folly, and the evidence, reinforced on a daily basis, of nature's malignity and the indifference of the gods; but me, I just like the small ads. I pick up the freesheets in towns I'm passing through, to find out about their local version of a good time, and what they buy and sell to each other, what rows have broken out in the council chamber, which luxury sauna has got some all-new blondes, and who wants planning permission for a conservatory roughly the size of their house. I like reading the "In Memoriam" verses for people I've never known, and feeling sorry they're dead, if only because their relicts have such a woolly idea of scansion.

It was in the small ads of a local paper in Norfolk that I saw for sale three bridesmaid's dresses, identical, to fit sizes 24, 26 and 10; ever since, I have been imagining the photographs from the original wedding, and wondering if such bridesmaids ever occurred for a second time, or if the dresses are still hanging in a closet. When we lived in Sunningdale, a respectable parish, we had a dodgy car dealer in the area; he would add, to his description of every clocked and clapped-out vehicle he was trying to flog, the claim "drives superb". This term long ago entered our family lexicon. "How's my new chapter?" I might ask my husband nervously. "Drives superb," he'll say. If next day I realise that it's broken down on the hard shoulder, emitting sparks and stenches, I blame myself for expecting a bargain in the first place; smooth engines and smooth writing don't come easy or cheap..."

Find it here.

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100 useful links for ebook lovers

These ebooks are all free, so you can download as many as you want without having to set up a textbook budget.

1. Gutenberg: Project Gutenberg was the first to supply free ebooks, and today they have almost 30,000 free titles in stock.

2. Free-eBooks.net: Besides browsing topics like biography, fan fiction, games, history or tutorials, you can submit your own ebook, too.

3. ManyBooks.net: You can conduct an advanced search, type in a title or author, browse categories or select books by language, from Finnish to Bulgarian to Catalan to Swedish.

4. DailyLit: Get free downloads sent to your email by RSS feed.

5. iBiblio: Find archives, ebooks, tutorials, language books.

More here.

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The Boat to Redemption takes Man 'Asian' Literary Prize

The complete review notes "The 2009 Man 'Asian' Literary Prize has been awarded to The Boat to Redemption by Su Tong; no word at the official site yet, last I checked, but see, for example, China Daily's extensive coverage, including Liu Jun's profile, Redemption pays off. Once again, a Chinese author whose book was already under contract - it appears (in Britain and Australia, at least) in less than two months; pre-order your copy at Amazon.co.uk - comes out on top. Given how widely published Su Tong already is in English, this unfortunately also isn't a very horizon-expanding selection (though it may well have been the best book under consideration).

(I think it's more important for the prize to become truly Asian (i.e. allow submissions from the Arabic-speaking Asian nations, Iran, the Central Asian states, etc - all currently barred from the competition), but since one of their objectives is to "bring exciting new Asian authors to the attention of the world literary community" they also have to decide how important the 'new' aspect is: whatever else Su Tong may be, new - to the English-language world - he ain't; sure, it's the film version of Raise the Red Lantern he's best known for, but several of his novels and collections have long been available in translation.)"

Read more here.

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Is Jane Eyre the next Lara Croft?

Penguin recently announced that it had teamed up with the computer games software company Ubisoft to release a novel based on the lead character from its hit title Assassin’s Creed. The Times wonders "How long before the games company dips into the respected publisher’s classics?

Jane Eyre: Gold Digger

Charlotte Brontë’s classic gets a Tomb Raider-style makeover. Instead of a pneumatic Home Counties babe hunting for treasure, a frumpy northern lass must pull a rich landowner. First unseat Mr Rochester from his horse by dodging left and right, Frogger-style, until he falls. Then find the fire buckets concealed around Thornfield to douse flames as they erupt from the bed. Finally out The Mad Bitch in the Attic to rescue Mr Rochester and win the game.

Yorkshire Pac-man

Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë’s tale of suffocating obsession, is revived as the maze classic. Playing Heathcliff, you move around the Moors snaffling little yellow hearts, while being chased by evil Edgars and Hindleys. Eat enough and they are transformed into Cathy’s ghost.

Miner 1889er

Zola’s Germinal, about a French town riven by bitter strike, becomes an anarchic Miner 49er. Gather stale baguettes dropped by the callous mine-owner and throw garlic at the police. Locate Maigrat the meanie’s severed penis for extra points.

Galaxy Quest

Francis Ford Coppola transported Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness to ’Nam with Apocalypse Now, so why not a stellar shoot-out? Build a spaceship and blow away the shapeshifting zombie cannibals as you navigate the universe in search of lost earth starship commander Kurtz, who has taken over the tiny planet Cong."

More here.

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The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Britain's oldest museum, has just reopened after a £61m refit.

See details here.

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Google suggest reveals what we're searching for

Slate magazine notes that the answers - to today's crossword, Jewish baseball players, testicular comfort, and the right way to pronounce "Reuters". Google is collecting and storing what we write. Once you start looking for them, unexpected suggestions start popping up everywhere. More here.

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Odd Book Title

Clinical Hat Pegs for Students and Graduates. Robert Willan. Heinemann. 1951

Libraries Australia report that this is only held at the University of Queensland Library. The reason for the purchase at that time remain unclear.

http://nla.gov.au/anbd.bib-an1262 7612