Reading Copy

Covers is a wonderful visual collection of book cover art. Highly entertaining and captivating. Even an RSS feed to subscribe to — this is what the internet is all about.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Abebooks recently announced a partnership with LibraryThing. If you don’t know what LibraryThing is, it is an online service to help people catalog their books - with a social twist. You can tag, review and rate the books. LibraryThing compares your catalog, tags and ratings to other users to come up with some interesting lists, statistics and recommendations.

I’ve been using Delicious Library for a number of years since it catalogs all my media (CDs, books, DVDs, records), but LibraryThing may be interesting enough to perhaps pull me away from that piece of eye candy, and it is handy to have web access to your library whenever you’re away from home.

It’s a free sign-up, so try it out. It can be quite addictive as it starts to generate recommendations and you check out the libraries of people with similar books to yours.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Things are humming around here as we very close to starting our 10 year anniversary celebration. There is a lot going on in the offices as we “dot the is and cross the ts”, as they say — so much so that the blog is running a bit silent at the moment. As part of our 10 celebration we’ve got a great contest, a look at our history, stories for our booksellers and customers, and of course the launch of our new advertising campaign. May 15th, is when it all comes together — see you then.

Now, back to work!

Popularity: 9% [?]

For those that are so inclined — there is an RSS feed for all the posts here on Reading Copy. Just add http://feeds.feedburner.com/abebooks to your favourite RSS reader.

Not sure what RSS is? Wikipedia has a long technical description or a simpler and more readable description is at this BBC Help page.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Important lesson learned: visiting a herb farm can be hugely regenerating. Take 'Hazelwood Herb Farm.' Out front: an attractive garden, with requisite pond + bench for quiet contemplation + goldfish (and also a frog - though this is an assumption based on some ripples and the disgruntled 'plop' I heard as I wandered up, obviously without much contemplative grace.) The nursery is gorgeous. Housed in three airy wooden structures, are row after green row of glowingly healthy little plants. They‘re obviously completely pampered, and they all have hand written signs stating their names and properties. The names were mostly totally unfamilliar, and provoked the imagination. Some of my favourites:

Pendulous Sage
Goldsticks Tansy
Sweet Cicely
Good King Henry
Motherwort, Mugwort, Figwort, and, in case that wasn’t enough, Soapwort
Coltsfoot
Goliath Elecampane

 Among the seemingly endless varieties of herbs, eleven types of rosemary are available and roughly as many of lavender, mint, sage and thyme. The proprietor there, seeming genuinely concerned for the plant's welfare, took a lot of care to let me know how to look after my bay laurel. The two inch plant I'd chosen is evidently already a year old and if I look after it properly, it will live for years, growing several feet (fingers crossed for the little guy.) His doing so definitely contributed to the sense that is was an absolutely nurturing, deeply peaceful little environment. The hour or so spent there was like meditating, and I left feeling that I‘d achieved that elusive 'escape from modern life' for a little while. There has been a lot written lately instructing people on how to slow down and simplify things. Poking around a well tended nursery in the country is a great little 'natural rhythm' booster-shot.

Popularity: 14% [?]