AbeBooks' Reading Copy

To a foodie, a good food scene in a book is better than a good sex scene or car chase or whatever else. These are eight books (no cookbooks allowed) that give good food. 1.Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel Okay, this one’s a bit of a ‘gimme’. The whole book’s about food, after [...]

The death of Bill Frindall removes another familiar voice from my childhood. Listening to Test Match Special on the radio was a part of my life until moving to North America (Sadly, the BBC blocks me from listening on the Internet because I’m in Canada). Amazing that a cricket statistician should be so loved. Bill [...]

I spent the morning getting signed up on Twitter. As AbeBooks’ resident technophobe (yes, I know I work for an internet company but still….), I have been putting off this day for a long, long time. People have been telling me about Twitter for eons and I’ve smiled politely and quickly changed the subject. Then [...]

Boyd Tonkin, the Independent’s wonderful book person, riffs on writing about the suburbs following the death of John Updike. He says the Americans are better at writing about the ‘Burbs than the Brits -I always thought the British were pretty good at dissecting suburban angst. What about E.M. Forster tackling Edwardian class in the suburbs [...]

Just two days ago, the New York Times carried an extensive article about the success of the self publishing sector even though the rest of the publishing world is disappearing into a pile of pink slips. The article mainly concerns the firms behind self publishing rather than the authors, so let me introduce Michael Ruston. [...]

I like Ethiopian food, and I like knitting. I like Boston Terriers and long, hot showers. I like swimming and cooking. However, I would never knit while eating Ethiopian food, would never take a Boston Terrier in the shower, and have only upon occasion sauteed anything while dog-paddling in the deep end. I like Jane [...]

Check out our interview with Jen Hadfield, who won the TS Eliot Prize for poetry earlier this month. Life has been whirl for this 30-year-old poet since winning the award in front of a packed house in London. Now she’s back in Shetland and adjusting to life as Britain’s brightest young poet.

With thousands of job cuts being announced every day, I have been thinking the publishing world can survive as people are going to need books more than ever. Then we get Men Are Stupid … And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman’s Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery by 75-year-old Joan Rivers, and I wonder [...]

Here’s a novel (pardon the pun) eco tip from Reuter’s and Australia’s ABC News: Loo poetry can help tackle global warming: study Poetry in the loo can cut down on paper use too, says a Japanese group campaigning to save toilet paper as part of the country’s battle against global warming. Simply pasting a “toilet [...]

Interesting commentary from the Chicago Tribune‘s Cultural Critic, Julia Keller. Keller takes a closer look at what is meant when people refer to Obama as a “literary president”. It is true that President Barack Obama writes books. So, of course, did previous presidents. If you want a real treat, read Theodore Roosevelt’s “The Rough Riders“—or [...]