11:07 PM by pilotbob in Reading Recommendations | Book Clubs

Help up choose a book as the April 2010 eBook for the Mobile Read Book Club. The poll will be open for 5 days. We will start the discussion thread for this book on April 18th. Select from the following books.

The Egg and I by Betty MacDonald.
The Egg and I, first published in 1945, is a humorous memoir by American author Betty MacDonald about her adventures and travails as a young wife on a chicken farm on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. The book is based on the author's experiences as a newlywed in trying to acclimate and operate a small chicken farm with her first husband Robert Heskett[1] from 1927 to 1931 near Chimacum, Washington. On visits with her family in Seattle, she told stories of their tribulations, which greatly amused them. In the 1940s, MacDonald's sisters strongly encouraged her to write a book about these experiences. The Egg and I was MacDonald's first attempt at writing a book.

Topper by Thorne Smith
It all begins when Cosmo Topper, a law-abiding, mild-mannered bank manager, decides to buy a secondhand car, only to find it haunted by the ghosts of its previous owners—the reckless, feckless, frivolous couple who met their untimely demise when the car careened into an oak tree. The ghosts, George and Marion Kerby, make it their mission to rescue Topper from the drab "summer of suburban Sundays" that is his life—and they commence a series of madcap adventures that leave Topper, and anyone else who crosses their path, in a whirlwind of discomfiture and delight.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Via www.fantasticfiction.co.uk A monument to sloth, rant and contempt, and suspicious of anything modern - this is Ignatius J. Reilly of New Orleans, crusader against dunces. In revolt against the 20th century, Ignatius propels his bulk among the flesh-pots of a fallen city, documenting life on his Big Chief tablets as he goes, until his mother decrees that Ignatius must work.

My man Jeeves by P G Wodehouse
Containing drafts of stories later rewritten for other collections (including "Carry On, Jeeves"), "My Man Jeeves" offers a fascinating insight into the genesis of comic literature's most celebrated double-act. All the stories are set in New York, four of them featuring Jeeves and Wooster themselves; the rest concerning Reggie Pepper, an earlier version of Bertie. Plots involve the usual cast of amiable young clots, choleric millionaires, chorus-girls and vulpine aunts, but towering over them all is the inscrutable figure of Jeeves, manipulating the action from behind the scenes. Early or not, these stories are masterly examples of Wodehouse's art, turning the most ordinary incidents into golden farce.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
Wikipedia says "The novel explains the tale of Hank Morgan, a 19th-century resident of Hartford, Connecticut who awakens to find himself inexplicably transported back in time to early medieval Britain at the time of the legendary King Arthur".

Fool by Christopher Moore
This is from Publisher's Weekly (as cited on Amazon):
Starred Review. Here's the Cliff Notes you wished you'd had for King Lear—the mad royal, his devious daughters, rhyming ghosts and a castle full of hot intrigue—in a cheeky and ribald romp that both channels and chides the Bard and all Fate's bastards. It's 1288, and the king's fool, Pocket, and his dimwit apprentice, Drool, set out to clean up the mess Lear has made of his kingdom, his family and his fortune—only to discover the truth about their own heritage. There's more murder, mayhem, mistaken identities and scene changes than you can remember, but bestselling Moore (You Suck) turns things on their head with an edgy 21st-century perspective that makes the story line as sharp, surly and slick as a game of Grand Theft Auto. Moore confesses he borrows from at least a dozen of the Bard's plays for this buffet of tragedy, comedy and medieval porn action. It's a manic, masterly mix—winning, wild and something today's groundlings will applaud. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Augustus Carp, Esq. - Being the Autobiography of a Really Good Man by Henry Bashford
From amazon.com: 'Bashford's comic 1924 volume offers the mock autobiography of Augustus Carp, a self-aggrandizing, stuffy, puritanical oaf, who indulges in numerous vices in the name of Christianity, rationalizing his own weaknesses while condemning others for the same acts. Great fun.'

A Damon Runyon Omnibus
She quotes Wikipedia: [Runyon] was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. To New Yorkers of his generation, a "Damon Runyon character" evoked a distinctive social type from the Brooklyn or Midtown demi-monde. The adjective "Runyonesque" refers to this type of character as well as to the type of situations and dialog that Runyon depicted. He spun humorous tales of gamblers, hustlers, actors, and gangsters, few of whom go by "square" names, preferring instead colorful monikers such as "Nathan Detroit," "Big Jule," "Harry the Horse," "Good Time Charley," "Dave the Dude," or "The Seldom Seen Kid." Runyon wrote these stories in a distinctive vernacular style: a mixture of formal speech and colorful slang, almost always in present tense, and always devoid of contractions.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
The birth of Jesus has been well chronicled, as have his glorious teachings, acts, and divine sacrifice after his thirtieth birthday. But no one knows about the early life of the Son of God, the missing years -- except Biff.Ever since the day when he came upon six-year-old Joshua of Nazareth resurrecting lizards in the village square, Levi bar Alphaeus, called "Biff,"had the distinction of being the Messiah's best bud. That's why the angel Raziel has resurrected Biff from the dust of Jerusalem and brought him to America to write a new gospel, one that tells the real, untold story. Meanwhile, Raziel will order pizza, watch the WWF on TV, and aspire to become Spider-Man.Verily, the story Biff has to tell is a miraculous one, filled with remarkable journeys, magic, healings, kung-fu, corpse reanimations, demons, and hot babes -- whose considerable charms fall to Biff to sample, since Josh is forbidden the pleasures of the flesh...

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
"The first in a series of outlandishly clever adventures featuring the resourceful, fearless literary detective Thursday Next-a New York Times bestseller!In Jasper Fforde's Great Britain, circa 1985, time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. All this is business as usual for Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative in literary detection. But when someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature and plucks Jane Eyre from the pages of Bront?'s novel, Thursday is faced with the challenge of her career. Fforde's ingenious fantasy-enhanced by a Web site that re-creates the world of the novel-unites intrigue with English literature in a delightfully witty mix."

Candide by Voltaire
Candide is characterized by its sarcastic tone and its erratic, fantastical, and fast-moving plot. A picaresque novel that parodies many adventure and romance clichés, the struggles of which are caricatured in a tone that is mordantly matter-of-fact.
As expected by Voltaire, Candide has enjoyed both great success and great scandal. Immediately after its secretive publication, the book was widely banned because it contained religious blasphemy, political sedition and intellectual hostility hidden under a thin veil of naïveté.Today, Candide is recognised as Voltaire's magnum opus and is often listed as part of the Western canon; it is likely taught more than any other work of French literature.

08:36 PM by Nate the great in E-Book General | News

crossposted from The Digital Reader

Epub! Adobe! Oh my!

There is no official release yet, but a hacked version of B&N eReader (v1.0 for Windows Mobile) is now available. It was pulled from a working unit by David K of Mobility Digest. He created a cab file so it should be possible to install on any Windows Mobile device. I don't have a device running WinMo (no Hell hasn't frozen over ), so I'm going to need someone to test this for me and tell me how well it works. Would anyone like to review it?

via Mobility Digest

download from xda-developers (membership required)

09:03 AM by Nate the great in E-Book General | News

crossposted from The Digital Reader

Engadget is reporting from CTIA that Samsung and Skiff have announced a partnership to bring Skiff content to Samsung smartphones. There is no word yet on availability. Here is an excerpt:

Skiff’s mission is delivering the next generation of e-reading to consumers. So it’s fitting that we’re here today with Samsung, showcasing the next wave in smartphones.

When the Skiff Store and service launch later on this year, we’ll offer a comprehensive selection of content from leading magazines, newspapers, books and blogs.

As a preferred e-reading service partner across a range of Samsung devices, we’ll feature newspapers like The New York Times and Financial Times; magazines such as Forbes, Esquire and — for the one or two of you who might care about topics like technology and science — Popular Mechanics; as well as bestselling ebooks from publishers including Random House and Simon & Schuster.

The first thing I noticed is that there is no mention of the Samsung ebook readers, and I think I know why.

Do you recall when Samsung announced a couple weeks back that they would be selling the E6 in the USA? They only mentioned the one model, even though we know there were 4 models on display at CES, and we know that all 4 models will be sold in Europe and Australia. I followed up on the US announcement, and the PR firm has no information about the other models or why they weren’t mentioned. My best guess is that someone in Samsung (not the PR firm) has screwed up repeatedly.

I’m going to keep an eye on this, and I’ll report when I get more information.

09:01 AM by Nate the great in E-Book General | News

crossposted from The Digital Reader

The WSJ is reporting(it was more of a footnote, really):

The Journal plans to charge subscribers $17.99 a month for iPad subscriptions, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The WSJ is also offered on the Kindle, but for $15 you’re only getting the minimum; a lot of content doesn’t survive the conversion process. You can also get a paper subscription for $30, and it includes full web content. This brings to mind a couple questions.

Why would someone get an iPad subscription when the paper sub has such greater value? Yes, the iPad is mobile, but you can get most of that content from the web with the iPad’s browser.

Why does the WSJ expect me to pay twice (or even 3 times) for the same content? Wouldn’t it be better to have a free iPad app that works in concert with the paper sub? (Something simple, which only delivers the web content.) If not free, then why isn’t it really cheap? You already got my money. Why should I pay for it again?

12:01 PM by Nate the great in E-Book General | News

cross posted from The Digital Reader

From the press release:

Liquavista today announced the launch of System Development Kits aimed at enabling their core customers to work on developing products based on their innovative electrowetting display technology. Available for both LiquavistaBright 6” mono and LiquavistaColor 6” color electrowetting displays, customers will be able to create applications and therefore products that benefit from the features of Liquavista’s unique display technology.

08:56 AM by Nate the great in E-Book General | News

crossposted from The Digital Reader

Kobo Books just announced their first ebook reader. It has a 6″ E-ink screen, Bluetooth (but not Wifi), Adobe DE support, and is going to be on sale this summer for $149.

At first I was really excited, but then I recognized the hardware design. The case is new, but inside the case is hardware that was designed by Netronix. we’re looking at a device based on a 4 years old design, one that wasn’t very good to start with. How disappointing.

press release
product page

03:53 PM by Nate the great in E-Book General | General Discussions

We just posted a new review of the Delstar Openbook over on The Digital Reader. It's by MR member imaredr, who just joined TDR. Here's what she had to say:

I have been on the hunt for a small color dedicated ebook device for quite some time. When I saw a Sunday ad that Walgreens was selling a 5 inch color reader I immediately ordered one. The reader does not support DRM, but I don’t find that a deterrent.
...

My Opinion

I really believe that this reader has great potential, but I did return my device. The process was painless since returns can be made at any Walgreens. I will buy the device again when more of the bugs have been worked out. Hopefully that will be soon because I already miss the little reader. From what the Delstar Rep wrote, new shipments will come with upgrades already installed.

Delstar should have introduced the Openbook as a txt, pdf, and doc reader adding the statement that more formats such as epub were on the way. This would have kept expectations a bit more in check, preserved the company’s reputation, and given the company time to test the reader’s firmware more thoroughly. Even as a text/doc reader $100 isn’t a bad price. I do know that if the Openbook was presented that way I would not have returned it. I didn’t expect the reader to be the greatest; I just wanted it to support the files and features that the manufacturer claimed.

continued here

09:38 AM by pilotbob in E-Book General | News

"In particular, the Kindle application from Amazon was demonstrated to a Times reporter. It features the ability to slowly turn pages with fingers, much like Apple's own iBooks software."

We all knew this was coming but here is a bit more information on reading software for the iPad. It appears they are building it to rival the iBooks app that Apple will include on every iPad.

Is this good news... certainly for Kindle owners that also want to tote an iPad from the sofa to the pool side lounge chair (assuming you can use the iPad in the sun).

via: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...pple_ipad.html

You can also learn more about it here straight from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000490441

BOb