from http://graphjam.com/2009/12/10/funny-graphs-book-requests/

Daily Motion has an 'exclusive peek' at Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. Click here to view.


Cuz everyone loves a list (or two), here's Paste Magazine's Best Comics of the Decade (and The Onion's).



The NYTimes investigates the curative powers of the brown bag book cover, linking aesthetics with acceptance in When Bad Covers Happen to Good Books.


A clip from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo film, along with a chat with its director, is available here. Then again, you could just watch the whole film illegally here.


My favorite comics-related article of the past couple weeks comes courtesy of CBR: Timothy Callahan uses Greek philosophy to explain why a few new characters stick, while most just slip away.


The Guardian UK is out to hurt some feelings, asking their readers to list their picks for The Worst Books of the Decade. Then, as if to put a preemptive halt to the haters of hate's hate, they went and asked their readers to share their favorites.


Alfonso Frazetta, the no-acclaim son of legendary cartoonist and illustrator Frank Frazetta, was arrested on Thursday after driving a backhoe into an Allentown, PA museum owned by his father. The 52-year-old disappointment was attempting to steal $20 million worth of his pop's paintings.


Self-Serving Bonus Link: Gift tips for the bookish: Jane Austen Junk.

Daily Motion has an 'exclusive peek' at Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. Click here to view.


Cuz everyone loves a list (or two), here's Paste Magazine's Best Comics of the Decade (and The Onion's).



The NYTimes investigates the curative powers of the brown bag book cover, linking aesthetics with acceptance in When Bad Covers Happen to Good Books.


A clip from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo film, along with a chat with its director, is available here. Then again, you could just watch the whole film illegally here.


My favorite comics-related article of the past couple weeks comes courtesy of CBR: Timothy Callahan uses Greek philosophy to explain why a few new characters stick, while most just slip away.


The Guardian UK is out to hurt some feelings, asking their readers to list their picks for The Worst Books of the Decade. Then, as if to put a preemptive halt to the haters of hate's hate, they went and asked their readers to share their favorites.


Alfonso Frazetta, the no-acclaim son of legendary cartoonist and illustrator Frank Frazetta, was arrested on Thursday after driving a backhoe into an Allentown, PA museum owned by his father. The 52-year-old disappointment was attempting to steal $20 million worth of his pop's paintings.


Self-Serving Bonus Link: Gift tips for the bookish: Jane Austen Junk.

Fellow Workers,

Does your state or city allow for collecting partial unemployment when your hours have been reduced? If so have you taken advantage of that benefit and how has it worked out for you?

Thanks for any stories you might share.

Once I quit I will unload so much horrifying info about this company that Borders employees will be the only ones not shocked. Enough to, uh, write a book . . . But I have to share something that was emailed to us today from our DM, in an attempt to shame us into upping our book drive donations. We beat our goal every day even after we had our goal number dramatically raised by these jerks.

"Think of all those kids who aren't getting their gifts from Borders this Christmas because we lost some steam."

Way to lead and motivate.

The Man Who Invented Christmas
Les Standiford
Nonfiction; biography; holiday
226 pages

As uplifting as the tale of Scrooge itself, this is the story of how one writer and one book revived the signal holiday of the Western world.
Just before Christmas in 1843, a debt-ridden and dispirited Charles Dickens wrote a small book he hoped would keep his creditors at bay. His publisher turned it down, so Dickens used what little money he had to put out A Christmas Carol himself. He worried it might be the end of his career as a novelist.
The book immediately caused a sensation. And it breathed new life into a holiday that had fallen into disfavor, undermined by lingering Puritanism and the cold modernity of the Industrial Revolution. It was a harsh and dreary age, in desperate need of spiritual renewal, ready to embrace a book that ended with blessings for one and all.
With warmth, wit, and an infusion of Christmas cheer, Les Standiford whisks us back to Victorian England, its most beloved storyteller, and the birth of the Christmas we know best. The Man Who Invented Christmas is a rich and satisfying read for Scrooges and sentimentalists alike.

Wow, this was such an interesting look at a wonderful author's life. Charles Dickens didn't create Christmas, but he did reinvent it, as Standiford stated. Every year my family read A Christmas Carol, and now every year, I read it before Christmas. I have always loved the story, but now I know the meaning behind the words. Reading such a wonderful biography of Dickens has made me want to read more biographies of famous authors. I am open to any suggestions that my fellow LJers would love to offer. In all, if you are a fan of Christmas, Charles Dickens, and great biographies, then I highly recommend this book!

Books read this year: 47/50.

The Man Who Invented Christmas
Les Standiford
Nonfiction; biography; holiday
226 pages

As uplifting as the tale of Scrooge itself, this is the story of how one writer and one book revived the signal holiday of the Western world.
Just before Christmas in 1843, a debt-ridden and dispirited Charles Dickens wrote a small book he hoped would keep his creditors at bay. His publisher turned it down, so Dickens used what little money he had to put out A Christmas Carol himself. He worried it might be the end of his career as a novelist.
The book immediately caused a sensation. And it breathed new life into a holiday that had fallen into disfavor, undermined by lingering Puritanism and the cold modernity of the Industrial Revolution. It was a harsh and dreary age, in desperate need of spiritual renewal, ready to embrace a book that ended with blessings for one and all.
With warmth, wit, and an infusion of Christmas cheer, Les Standiford whisks us back to Victorian England, its most beloved storyteller, and the birth of the Christmas we know best. The Man Who Invented Christmas is a rich and satisfying read for Scrooges and sentimentalists alike.

Wow, this was such an interesting look at a wonderful author's life. Charles Dickens didn't create Christmas, but he did reinvent it, as Standiford stated. Every year my family read A Christmas Carol, and now every year, I read it before Christmas. I have always loved the story, but now I know the meaning behind the words. Reading such a wonderful biography of Dickens has made me want to read more biographies of famous authors. I am open to any suggestions that my fellow LJers would love to offer. In all, if you are a fan of Christmas, Charles Dickens, and great biographies, then I highly recommend this book!

Books read this year: 47/50.

The Man Who Invented Christmas
Les Standiford
Nonfiction; biography; holiday
226 pages

As uplifting as the tale of Scrooge itself, this is the story of how one writer and one book revived the signal holiday of the Western world.
Just before Christmas in 1843, a debt-ridden and dispirited Charles Dickens wrote a small book he hoped would keep his creditors at bay. His publisher turned it down, so Dickens used what little money he had to put out A Christmas Carol himself. He worried it might be the end of his career as a novelist.
The book immediately caused a sensation. And it breathed new life into a holiday that had fallen into disfavor, undermined by lingering Puritanism and the cold modernity of the Industrial Revolution. It was a harsh and dreary age, in desperate need of spiritual renewal, ready to embrace a book that ended with blessings for one and all.
With warmth, wit, and an infusion of Christmas cheer, Les Standiford whisks us back to Victorian England, its most beloved storyteller, and the birth of the Christmas we know best. The Man Who Invented Christmas is a rich and satisfying read for Scrooges and sentimentalists alike.

Wow, this was such an interesting look at a wonderful author's life. Charles Dickens didn't create Christmas, but he did reinvent it, as Standiford stated. Every year my family read A Christmas Carol, and now every year, I read it before Christmas. I have always loved the story, but now I know the meaning behind the words. Reading such a wonderful biography of Dickens has made me want to read more biographies of famous authors. I am open to any suggestions that my fellow LJers would love to offer. In all, if you are a fan of Christmas, Charles Dickens, and great biographies, then I highly recommend this book!

Books read this year: 47/50.

Had a doozy today...

Young man comes in and asks if he can add internet access to his account, as his mother didn't fill out that particular form when she got him his card. I check his account, note that he's since turned 18 and therefore needs to update his record, and get him the appropriate paperwork to fill out. As I'm handing it to him, I notice a Yoohoo bottle with pink label, no lid, and about 1/4 or less full of pinkish liquid. I explain that we don't allow food or drink in the library, and ask that he take his beverage out to the lobby to finish it. "Oh, that's not a drink...that's my spit bottle."

Cringing internally, I repeat my request that he take it outside, away from the books and computers, as it is an open container with liquid and thus not permitted. He seems astonished that I would ask such a thing, makes no effort to act on the request, and instead continues merrily filling out his new application, pausing every couple of lines to add to the contents of the bottle.

Seriously, dude? I just got done explaining that we don't allow food or drink, because of the hazard to our books and computer equipment. We don't want to deal with potential damage if someone were to spill a freshly-opened bottle of drinking water, what the HELL makes you think we want to clean up your nasty pink saliva? *shudder*

Oh, yeah...and they're conducting interviews today, so the system director and main-branch head were both visiting. The good news? The people being interviewed are to replace me. One and a half more weeks of work til I'm free!

BSR again here. Our liquidation is an absolute joke. I'm actually sick at seeing what our store looks like now and our oldest employee (10+ years) cried when she walked in. Huge big neon signs everywhere, boxes of crap sent to us from BSS on our old display tables. I have never felt so used in my entire life.

It appears our DM has either been fired or just given up on us completely. All attempts to contact them have failed. Bounced emails, full voicemail box. Absolutely no communication. No "thank you for your service" or anything, we have been kicked in the balls by Borders and sent out the door. We look like a bargain basement, a former shadow of our lovely, clean store. We all took pride in how everything looked, had fun with endcaps and displays, and now... this. Absolutely demoralizing.

Our liquidator is also a giant asshole. They walked in without a word to anyone and demanded to see the manager. No "Hi, my name is So-and-so from the Liquidators" just a demand to see the manager. We thought they were an angry customer. They constantly belittled us while we ran around putting up their ugly, tacky signs. "If you had been better booksellers, your store would still be open!" they said. "I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to move this crap out!" they said. So much for the compassion we heard about on that disgusting conference call! The liquidator and my manager even got into an argument over placement and stock.

All of this during the busiest season of the year.

I have never felt so used and abused in my entire life.

Book: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Pages: 309 (Decrepit Paperback)
Genre: Fantasy

Review: What can I say? This is my Book of all Books (well, the entire series, to tell the truth), and the first one that cropped up when God said, "Let there be fandoms!" I could go on and on--I wouldn't be a writer today if it weren't for this book, this blog wouldn't exist today if it weren't for this book, my life would have no purpose if it weren't for this book, etc. Rowling's characters are debatably my favorite ever. Her plot is engaging, multi-layered, and does funny, amazing things to your head without realizing it. The details threaded through the writing are just enough to make me feel there. The pacing--maybe a little wonky, when studied closely, but made so the reader doesn't mind that, and they're only dejected when it's all over. This series is the core of my being; there's no other way to put it. And this is a rollicking, meaningful kick-off to it.
Rating: 5/5 Stars

Are the payroll restrictions being lifted?
What was the message of the GM conference call this morning?
We have no staff! This is no way to run a business!

I am almost to the point of giving up getting a job in the field I just went into debt to work in.

Why don't employers at least give you an interview or call your references?

At this rate I'm going to have to join the miltiary to be able to pay my student loans.

We have a demo nook bolted to our customer service desk. It has been out there for 3 days. It's currently non-functioning. The touch screen has a crack and is just black. This does not speak well to the durability of the thing, if you ask me! The worst part is that management decided to leave it out there "so customers can at least see it!" Yes, and we get to tell them, "Here it is! The nook! But, sorry, it broke, so you can't really check out any of its fantabulous features!" I really don't know which is worse: that it broke so quickly, or that we're just going to leave it out there!

Hello!

I am absolutely in love with Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.

What are some of his other popular books/short stories?
Unfortunately, I do not know too much about him.

Maybe it was a freak accident, but maybe this person really does use their intra-uterine contraceptive device as a bookmark...

Author: Thomas Hardy
Pages: 318
Rating: 5/5 stars
Published in: 1874

Thomas Hardy. He does it every. Single. Time.

This was the only major novel of his besides Under the Greenwood Tree that I haven't read yet, and I absolutely loved it. It's probably the most descriptive of his books that I've read so far, but the backdrop and setting of Hardy's stories have always featured in a major way (e.g. The English countryside in Tess of the D'Urbervilles, the heath in The Return of the Native).

Being one of his earlier novels, Far From the Madding Crowd isn't as doomy and gloomy as Tess or Jude, although there is certainly a significant amount of tragedy that befalls many of the characters. However those that do suffer in FFTMC are mostly antagonists or villians, rather than innocents or people being tragically undone by Fate or cruelty. There are also, as usual with Hardy, numerous references to the Old Testament and ancient mythologies that are explained with footnotes and a set of Notes at the back.

The story revolves around Bathsheba Everdene, an educated woman who becomes heiress of her uncle's farm after he passes away. Her beauty and independence catches the attention of three very different men: Gabriel Oak, a farmer-turned-shephard who loves her from the very beginning; Farmer Boldwood, a 40 something year old bachelor; and womanising Sergeant Troy, who is dashing and flirtacious. Bathsheba herself is an interesting and capable character whom I would go as far as to describe as having quite a few feminist qualities. There is a lot of commentary on her being a female farmer, and yet the men on the farm are mostly supportive and respect her position, despite a few misgiving comments here and there. I have actually always liked Hardy's female characters (Eustacia Vye, Tess Durbeyfield, Sue Bridehead). Whilst not creating strong female protagonists as such, I have always felt he was hugely critical of the patriachy of those times that was stifling to so many women, and a lot of his work tends to reflect this.

I always look to Hardy for tragedy, fatalism and insights into the human condition, but Far From the Madding Crowd is a genuinely touching love story that I enjoyed from beginning to end. It's not as intense or as important thematically as later works, but it does make for much lighter reading and I would recommend it as a good introduction to those who would like to start reading Hardy.

from THESTREET.com

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Borders(BGP Quote) is bouncing after the book retailer made a change to its by-laws and elected a former Lowe's exec to its board of directors.

The change allows investors with a stake of at least 10% to assemble a special shareholders meeting. One of Border's biggest shareholders is William Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management, which holds a 17.6% stake.

Borders also elected David Shelton, former senior vice president at home-improvement retailer Lowe's, to its board of directors.

Shares of Border's are spiking 8.6% to $1.39 in afternoon trading.

In other book news, the price wars are heating up, but this time the fight has been taken to the digital battlefield. Amazon and Barnes & Noble are lowering prices on some popular new releases by Sarah Palin and Stephen King for their e-reader devices, the New York Times reported.

So now that Ron Marshall and his grocery-store myrmidons have elevated their browbeating of GMs and booksellers to Soviet levels, I think it’s time to point out to interested observers what the inevitable consequences of such domineering are. Just as the factory quotas demanded by Soviet officials resulted in the production of useless products that nevertheless met quotas (e.g. a demand to produce 10,000 shoes could result in the production of 10,000 size-6, left-foot shoes), the plainly ludicrous and unreasonable commands to sell quantities of specified “make books” will inevitably lead—and no doubt has already led—to creative ways of fulfilling the quota without actually doing anything useful. (Of course, to any rational person, even straightforward selling of make titles is clearly not useful in any meaningful sense, but we’ll set that consideration aside for the moment.)

As I am not a manager and work in a store with managers that are too conscientious/timid to employ anything but forthright methods to sell make books, the following methods of meeting make-book quotas are pure supposition on my part, but suppositions I believe have a distinct ring of reality to them.

1. When a customer is buying an item the same price as a make book, type in the BINC number for the make book and report the sale of the make book to your DM. I can hear quibblers objecting already, “But the make book is still in the store, and when it comes time to do RPL or inventory, your devious scheme will be revealed.” There is a simple remedy to this difficulty, however: surreptitiously bury the make books you “sold” in the trash. Yes, this will show up on your LP report come year’s end, but so what? If you “sell” $1000 worth of make books in this manner in a store that sells $3 million annually, your LP percentage would only be increased by .03%. That’s a very small price to pay to meet your make book quota in a stress-free manner, without having to hound your customers and employees or waste precious payroll hours.

2. Pay a friend or relative to buy a make book with a coupon (or do it yourself when alone at the register), take the make book home, and sell it on eBay, Amazon, or any number of online book entrepots. You may lose a few dollars in shipping costs, but you should be able to make out approximately even.

3. Pay a friend or relative to buy a make book, get a gift receipt, and return it 60 days later. Yes, the book will be traceable to your store and may eventually be counted against you, but at least this buys you a couple months reprieve. Furthermore, you could deface the coupon in such a subtle way as to render the store number unreadable and return it to a different store, telling the cashier that you bought it at that store.

Option #1 is the easiest method and has the virtue of being virtually impossible to detect without employing private spies. My guess is that there are dozens of GMs already doing something similar. Of course, when doing this, it would be wise to spread out your “dumpster” make-book sales in as random a way as possible so as to escape all possibility of detection, though given the level of competence in Ann Arbor, I would not anticipate their being able to detect even the most blatant make-book fraud.

Howdy folks. It's as cold a witch's teet here, so what better way to spend my time indoors than typing out my first entry?

I am a current MSLIS student; library work is the only work I know. I started working in tech services (gov docs and serials) at my college library in...you guessed it, college, and now I work as a circulation clerk in a relatively large public library in a very, VERY diverse suburban neighborhood. For every ten non-English speaking patrons I meet, there is one English-as-first-language patron who complains about "All the dang foreigners who can't be bothered to learn English!"

Anywho, here are some recent gems:

- A patron asks me, "Is this French movie in English?"

- A patron walks into the bustling library, through our unlocked doors, and asks, "Are you open or closed today?"

- A man stands at a computer terminal five feet from the librarian, who is on the phone. While still staring at the computer screen, he starts shrieking, "IT'S NOT WORKING! IT'S NOT WORKING!" And the librarian, confused of course, looks around and wonders, "Who is he talking to? Is this a question?"

- And finally, I was helping a man sign up for a library card and telling him all the wonderful things he can do as a member of our library, when a woman runs up to the desk, PUSHES THE MAN ASIDE, and screams, "I NEED A PLASTIC BAG." I respond with, "You will have to wait," and continue speaking with the man.

I've been watching this community for a while and am glad to finally be able to participate!

Dear Patron,

Just a suggestion, but if you decide to lie about an event that took place at the library, please make sure the event was not recorded. To claim myself and other library staff members sat and laughed at you while you fell at the front gates is a stretch at best, but do be sure to first make certain that the area in question is not being recorded by security tapes. After all of the hollering you and your grandmother did at us, claiming we laughed and pointed and never helped you up, do you know how much of an asshat you looked like when it was proven not to be the case at all? Not only did our wonderfully clear digital recording show you falling by stepping on your own trailing jean pant leg, but it also showed me and two other coworkers helping you up.

Your story then changed to that we were laughing at you while we helped you up. As the recording has no sound, I had no way to disprove the sudden change to your lie, and was made to formally apologize to you once again.

You make me so sad.

No love, ever--

Me.

PS-- Karma is a real bitch to people like you. Just sayin'.

our obscenely well-paid faculty members (we're talking several hundred thousand dollars a year) could use some five-figure library fines:

1. one prof gets certain journals routed to him before they go on the shelves for the peons to enjoy. but he has a novel approach to "returning" them--he tosses them in his recycling bin. library employees have to root through the bin to get back the journals we pay for and let him see first. (The laborious, time-consuming alternative for him, by the way, would be for him to leave the journal on a designated spot in his office when he's finished with it.)

2. one prof is doing consulting work for a local business and in that connection checked out a book (priced at over $100). Then handed it over to the local business.

The library has a proud history of never charging faculty members for their abuse of library privileges, because the director would do anything to curry favor with them (anything except pay their fines out of her own several-hundred-thousand-dollars-a-year salary--the library sucks up the cost).

meanwhile, of course, there's no money for staff raises,. but we're having a lovely holiday party for the whole staff this month....food provided by....the whole staff.

Please do not give me the Evil Eye when I tell you that those computers are reserved for Catalog Use Only. Telling me that you used to be able to use them to check your email doesn't change the fact that you can't do that now. Much like the fact that George W. Bush used to be president and isn't now, the rules changed.

The huffing doesn't help either. It just irritates me.

Personally, I think we have made a huge mistake in allowing food in the library. The fact that you appear to be eating an onion sandwich proves that I'm right. I would say more, but my eyes are watering too badly.

Hello everyone! I'm looking for recommendations on books with political themes? Something like Lord of the Flies would be appropriate. I'd prefer fiction but if you know of any engaging non-fiction or essay collections that sound like what I'm looking for please throw them in too. Thank you!

Thumbing through the Ebook post and noticed an anonymous post about three midwest stores. So who's the expert?

There's been no announcements for that area yet. Naperville is in a rich area, DeKalb in a college town, and Geneva is in a super rich area. Neither of those leases are up. DeKalb's been there over ten years. Theyre in good shape.

Geneva has always been a great performer. Even in the glory days of Borders. Naperville is dearly loved store.

They'd be fools to shut those three.

On the other hand, my Borders has been DEAD since Black Friday. On the one hand theyve shaved hours...and we have a ton of boxes...still in the back.

But, we've seriously been dead. I mean you'd think it was Mid-January.

No ones coming in. If we were there longer, we'd be bored.

We're 2 weeks from Christmas, and people are being conservative with their money. Yep employee appreciation..but the feeling at work is that you can either shop at Borders..or work there. cant do both.

How do you like the 'Sell Sell Sell' sign in the break room. Crazy.

Do we think the GM's know now whats up with closings?

I wish the stores were independent. These three stores do well with regulars who will gladly throw things at the movers. Its a great location.

DeKalbs Borders is constantly in the newspaper for their book signings and community outreach and off sites. Several times a month. They've kinda broken away from the pack, if you follow their news releases. Their couples night CONSTANTLY is in the the paper/and on the local radio. They pack their cafe for events. And the times I've gone out there, I've seen drum sets, hard rock groups, string bands, praise and worship bands, and a slew of authors, with newspaper reporters in tow. They're fine. They probably make most of their money off events. I mean just google that store.

Geneva has a great staff and layout..and people in both Geneva and Naperville have money! Geneva used to pack the cafe for their open mic nights. Not uncommon to see drums, electric guitars and and couples at that store too.

Just because they might all be Phoenix stores doesn't mean they dont have loyal followings both in their customers and the local media.

These three are the heart and soul of Borders out here when it comes to outreach, and events. That would be in their 'worst' interest to shut those doors. I can see a ton of angry customers. Especially for people in Geneva and DeKalb that have Barnes and Nobles within a few feet away. People around there HATE the sight of BN. Chairs will go crashing through those Barnes walls the day the Geneva/Naperville or DeKalb stores close.

No seriously, from what I hear both Geneva and DeKalb have a rabid following, considering they both have Barnes and Nobles within a few blocks. Personally I prefer the live bands at DeKalbs college town store. They turned their cafe into a live music venue for local bands ad singers, which is probably a snide move 'against' AA. They have to make money! I always see their book signings and live music in the local papers. Its not a soccer mom store.

Geneva had a successful run with their open mic nights, and St Charles always draws near to 50 people for their open mic nights for live music. I love their huge cafe.

The stores with massive community support will hopefully survive.

See BN does nearly zero live bands, church singers, madrigals, or anything. I walk into St Charles or DeKalb and I never know what to expect. They both amped up their events calenders and with it came numerous newspaper, radio spots and a rabid following.

Scaling that stuff back earlier in the year I think hurt some stores. Quit having a million authors at Oak Book, and spread it out over all the stores. But wait....Grinch Fest? Becket storytime? Thats a huge load of BS. People go to those for the free snacks. LOL.

The three communities will rally their stores and keep them. Hopefully.

Don't post closing unless you know FOR SURE.

The Nook has an early review in the Times now and Pogue didn't have much at all nice to say about it.
Maybe people should wait for the second version.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/technology/personaltech/10pogue.html
excerpt:
Well, here comes the hotly awaited Nook from Barnes & Noble: an electronic book reader in the style of the Amazon Kindle.

Actually, not just in the style of; this thing is ripped right out of the Kindle’s master playbook. Same price ($259), same off-white plastic frame around the same six-inch E Ink screen (crisp, black type against a light gray background). Same screen saver showing woodcuts of famous authors. Same ability to display your own photos and play music files. Same free cellular connection so that you can download books wherever you happen to be. Same compatibility with iPhone or computer.

But according to the Nook Web site, there are differences. Oh, what differences. “A beautiful color touch screen.” A catalog of “over one million titles.” (Kindle: only 385,000.) “Browse e-books, magazines and newspapers on AT&T’s 3G Wireless Network or on Wi-Fi.” Cool! The Kindle doesn’t have Wi-Fi.

“Loan e-books to friends, free of charge.” Wow, that’s a first; until the Nook, buying an e-book meant locking it to your account — not lending, nor donating or selling. You can even “read entire e-books for free at your local Barnes & Noble.”

Unfortunately, we, the salivating public, might be afflicted with a little holiday disease of our own: Sucker Syndrome. Every one of the Nook’s vaunted distinctions comes fraught with buzz kill footnotes.

I am trying to fill up my Google Reader and I am looking for your favorite book-related blog(besides here of course)! They can be reviews, authors blogs, about writing...whatever your favorites are. Or if you have your own book blog, post it here. I get most of my to-read list from blogs and it would be nice to have a bunch in one place. Thanks guys!

So fellow BSRs, what did you think of the call today? I really wanted to give a fake name and ask why they were closing us and see them fumble. It was a really condescending call and they couldn't even get the passcodes right!

Did everyone get their liquidation signs up yet? Lovely and garish, aren't they? We are going out with absolutely no dignity what so ever and I am fuming about it. We also received no instruction on how to set everything up. Fun times.

This is evil and it sucks and I hope we all find better things. Hang in there, everyone. Brace yourselves.

Title: The Things That Keep Us Here by Carla Buckley
Pages: 480
Rating: 3/5
Summary: The Bird Flu breaks out, devestating the population. A mother and her family are trapped in their house with her soon-to-be ex-husband and his alleged mistress. As the world falls into turmoil, the family has to come together to survive.
Review: ( You know me well enough by now to know there are going to be spoilers behind this cut. )

You can read this review and all my others on Goodreads.
Books so far this year: 49/50
Currently reading: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

I made this lj account just for this community, I've worked for B&N for over a year and a half now and recently I tore a muscle. The only place it could've happened is at work, I work in the cafe and anyone here knows how much heavy lifting you do in the cafe, especially on order days. I don't think I have to explain more about what you do in the cafe, but my doctor said to take time off work, so we got in contact with hr for short term disability, they decided they wanted to try workers comp which was just plain stupid to me and my store manager.

So we tried workers comp, got denied which is fine cause there wasn't one moment that we knew it had happened at work, not an exact time or place; it was just a suspicion that it happened there. It took two weeks to get denied on worker's comp and then another week to fill out all the paper work for short term disability. And now I've been calling and calling my hr lady, no one else in the hr department will talk to me they just have me leave another message for the certain lady. It's been over a month now, I've been working half my shifts and its just frustrating all around. I'm so thankful that I have family that I can rely on, because otherwise my husband and I would be on our butts in the street by now.

There's nothing I haven't done to try and get this worked out, everyone at my store is just as frustrated as me and I even have my store manager trying to call her up as well.
My worries now are that nothing will happen, am I going to just have to deal being injured? I'm fine on the most part to go back to work, but what about that last month? If we hadn't had tried worker's comp where would I be right now?

Can you understand my frustrations? Any advice?

W3rd up ya'll!

So I've heard from the principle players at Unnamed Bookstore that the higher-ups are listening in and that we oughta be "careful." Thank you higher-ups for turning this stupid little podacast into something important!

Also more importantly, we are now on iTunes! Just search "idlehour" and we come right up. We're working on the ability to search "idle hour" as well but so far no dice.

I know you like the player more though.

Any members of the IT team read this board? We really, really need a way to suspend a customer order so we can go buy a gift card to use for payment. The typical guest having us do an order is computer-phobic (or else they would be ordering from amazon.com like everyone else) and refuses to use a credit card to pay. Which means either the guest or the bookseller has to leave the computer and go buy a gift card (and I can't tell you how many guests I've had who think they ought to be able to just hand us the cash right there at the info desk and walk out in a huff when they can't). I don't mind going up to reg and buying the card, except that the guests are incapable of moving the mouse around to keep the screen, and the transaction, from disappearing, so that we have to start the ordering process all over when I get back. If the guest goes up to buy the card instead, they have to stand in line. And it's December, and we are understaffed, and the lines are long. And other guests can't seem to understand why I can't go off to Travel to help them find something since all I'm doing is standing there fiddling with the mouse.

Come on, how hard could it be? Just a little fix to the software. For us, for Christmas.

Whats the worst mangled title request you've ever gotten at info? My two best ones are:
Do you have that book "the Stranger". I think its by Shamu.
I need a CD by some guy named Felonious Monk.

Dumbasses

This isn't strictly book related, so I understand if it needs to be deleted.

I'm applying to graduate schools for an MA in English Literature, and was wondering if anyone knew of great programs. I'm looking to stay on the east coast. My preferred states (although I'm flexible if the program is good enough) are CT, NJ, PA, and DE. (I don't know if it matters, but I am from NY.)
My only requirement is that teaching assistantships are available. BUT, if the tuition is low enough, I can even do without that.

Thanks in advance if anyone can help!

I put that in quotes b/c I don't really feel like we're appreciated. However, I'd like to take advantage of my discount, and I haven't been able to get to my store the past couple of days. Does anyone know if the 40% is available from Borders.com? Is there a promotion code?

Let's face it most Borders employees are lousy. They just have too many unreasonable demands for stuff like fair wages, good working conditions and the desire that Borders actually becomes profitable, and I for one am sick to death of it.

So here's my solution.

1) Let's can the lot of them
2) Every morning the GM can drive down to the Home Depot parking lot to pick up that days staff

Just think. We could have a labor force that we don't have to even bother paying the minimum wage and if they complain about the crap we sell these days or won't sell Make books, we can just send em home. Who cares if they don't know the inventory or the language, if they were enthusiastic and extroverted enough to make it to this place I bet you they'd make perfect booksellers.

Title: The Other Eden
Author: Sarah Bryant
Genre: Technically General Fiction, but I'm going to say Southern Gothic
Publisher: Berkley Trust
Pages: 320

I'm cross-posting this to my own journal, so this is just how I do reviews. Let me know if I'm ripping a hole in Cthulu's nightgown or something!

I usually suck at writing reviews. Seriously, I finish a book and I forget to take notes or I figure nobody cares or I just plain forget because--ooh shiny! So, I guess it's telling that I felt enough about this book to write a review.

( I ramble on a LOT so be ye warned. )

Listed below is the definition of, and some context for, a southern gothic novel.

Wikipedia definition of Southern Gothic

Book #7 of The Endeavor

Dear Bookish-ers,
A few days ago, someone posted a debate on the kindle vs. real books issue so near and dear to many of our hearts. But lately I thought of something else: downloadable audio books! I think this is more practical for many of us (while still others are happly luddite) - I know it certainly is for me. I'd be much more willing to download an audio book and listen to it on my way to and from school & work, and everywhere else I choose to wander. So now I'm looking into a new mp3 player (I'm a Mac computer user with a Zune mp3 player - this arrangement isn't exactly what I'd call "working.") I want to look into something below $100, with a decent amount of storage, that supports Overdrive (perhaps Audible in the future) media, and has a bookmark feature. I don't really care about the other bells and whistles like video, games, what have you. But as a college student, this is what I'm interested in. What can you tell me? (I'm a fan of Creative mp3 players - I think their audio quality is wonderful, an they have bookmark features as I recall! Though the last one I had was a Micro Zen back in the day... so I could be wrong.)

Sincerely golly_loli
ps excuse the poor grammer and spelling. I'm not up to par this morning.

Any suggestions of a good fiction (i.e. NOT a memior) books to read that involves cutting/self-harm, where the main character (or it doesn't have to be the main character) DOESN'T stop by the end of the story? Thanks.

I love reading books about witches in modern times. YA, adult, anything is fine.

Preferably not romance novels. Hopefully I'll be recommended books with a little bit more meaning than "Charmed" (I love the show, but come on...). :P

Any help is appreciated!

So.. I need a help deciding what book to read next out of the ones I own!

These are the books I've read:
"Aimee" by Mary Beth Miller
"Crank" by Ellen Hopkins
"Cut" by Patricia McCormick
"Dark Secrets: Don't Tell" by Elizabeth Chandler
"Dreamland" by Sarah Dessen
"Go Ask Alice" by Anonymous
"It Happened to Nancy" by Beatrice Sparks
"Life As We Knew It" by Susan Beth Pfeffer
"Malka" by Mirjam Pressler
"Resident Evil: The Umbrella Conspiracy, Vol. 1" by S. D. Perry
"Resident Evil: Nemesis, Vol. 5" by S. D. Perry
"Resident Evil: Genesis" by Keith R. A. DeCandido
"Smack" by Melvin Burgess
"The Dead and the Gone" by Susan Beth Pfeffer
"Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher
"You Don't Know Me" by David Klass

And this is what I'm currently reading:
"Suicide Notes" by Michael Thomas Ford


What do you think I should read next? Here's a list of unread books that I own. :)
"Bloodletting: A Memoir of Secrets, Self-Harm and Survival" by Victoria Leatham
"Burned" by Ellen Hopkins
"Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
"Ghostgirl" by Tonya Hurley
"Girl, Interrupted" by Susanna Kaysen
"Glass" by Ellen Hopkins
"I Don't Want to Be Crazy" by Samantha Schutz
"I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" by Joanne Greenberg
"Impulse" by Ellen Hopkins
"Jay's Journal" by Beatrice Sparks
"Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov
"Lucky" by Alice Sebold
"Memoirs of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden
"Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America" by Elizabeth Wurtzel
"Resident Evil: Caliban Cove, Vol. 2" by S. D. Perry
"Resident Evil: City of the Dead, Vol. 3" by S. D. Perry
"Resident Evil: Underworld, Vol. 4" by S. D. Perry
"Resident Evil: Code: Veronica, Vol. 6" by S. D. Perry
"Resident Evil: Zero Hour, Vol. 7" by S. D. Perry
"Resident Evil: Apocalypse" by Keith R. A. DeCandido
"Resident Evil: Extinction" by Keith R. A. DeCandido
"Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson
"Sybil" by Flora Rheta Schreiber
"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky
"The Truth about Forever" by Sarah Dessen
"The Virgin Suicides" by Jeffrey Eugenides
"This Lullaby" by Sarah Dessen
"White Oleander" by Janet Fitch
"Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson
"Witch Child" by Celia Rees

Any help is appreciated! ^^

Alrighty, everyone post your region: 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Don't include your district, or your store number. And post anonymous.



Edit: the thread is now unprotected.

An article from Reuters in the past few days on the BN Nook has this interesting brief aside:

"Borders Group Inc (BGP.N) has not yet released its own e-reader but is expected to disclose its plans next month."

(I'd post a URL, but I'm still trying to figure out how to capture that on the iPhone interface. A Google News search on "Reuters borders nook" will get you there. )

In other news, our IPT unboxed a five foot stuffed giraffe last night. We have thus far resisted our yen to damage it out, suspend it from the ceiling, and take our frustrations out on it as a soft piñata.