AbeBooks' Reading Copy

The Independent tells me about the prequel to Treasure Island, which will be 125 years old in November. John Drake has written Flint and Silver, and he’s prepared to shatter a few myths. One of the biggest myths that Mr Drake wanted to dispel was that pirates buried their treasure: “This is nonsense. Pirates never [...]

The Chicago Tribune reports on how librarians are mixing video games in with the books to sneakily encourage those teenage gamers to become interested in books. Here are a few suggestions from me…. Grand Theft Auto with American Pyscho by Bret Easton Ellis Guitar Hero with Rock Star by Jackie Collins Mario with The Godfather [...]

Sam Tanenhaus, the gaffer at the NY Times book review, writes about summer heat and literature. In William Faulkner’s fiction, the “ardent and unheeding sun” pours down mercilessly on parched country roads and backwoods hollows. “Heat quivered up from the asphalt, giving to the familiar buildings about the square a nimbus quality,” Faulkner writes of [...]

After a bit of a choppy start to our summer the weather is finally starting to co-operate, which means I can finally start cooking every meal on the BBQ, which means seafood (I mean we DO live on an island). Sara Croft from Orphan Treasures, Riverside, CA, USA wrote a great article about Seafood cookbooks [...]

Robert Crais, author of the Elvis Cole books, is interviewed in the Shelf Awareness newsletter. On your nightstand now: The books I’m currently reading are manuscripts for possible blurbs, so I shouldn’t name them. But the books I’m looking forward to reading soon are Shadow Bridge by Gregory Frost, At the City’s Edge by Marcus [...]

Fleeced: How Barack Obama, Media Mockery of Terrorist Threats, Liberals Who Want to Kill Talk Radio, the Do-Nothing Congress, Companies … Are Scamming Us … and What to Do About It” by political commentator Dick Morris is not only one of the longest book titles I have ever seen, but seems to be flying up [...]

A prize-winning author of children’s books has revealed how she uses rats’ urine to give pages a tinged yellow look. If you meet Emily Gravett in the street just don’t shake her hand – although I’m sure she’d love to talk about her book, Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears.

Pearl S. Buck was born Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker, on June 26th 1892 in Hillsboro, West Virginia. The daughter of missionaries, she began life in China when she was three months old, where she spent the majority of her first forty years. Buck has written over seventy books, including biographies, poetry, short stories, plays, children’s books [...]

Paper Cuts has an interesting slideshow on the swag sent to the NY Times’ book review section in order to make a book stand out from the crowd. I dread to think how many books are sent to the paper and I fear the majority are rubbish.

Wilf Gregg, one of Britain’s biggest collectors of books about murder passed away last week, of natural causes I should add. His book collection sounds most extraordinary, and not only contained some very rare titles but assisted him in co-editing The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. His 7000 item collection was housed in an extension he [...]