AbeBooks' Reading Copy

Peter Gent, a one-time football player for the Dallas Cowboys who wrote North Dallas Forty, died on Friday at the age of 69. The NY Times had an obituary. I love the film and the novel. Nick Nolte’s opening scene of the movie where he can barely move following a game but hauls his beaten-up [...]

Is New York’s Chelsea Hotel doomed? NPR asks this question as the famous haunt of writers, artists and musicians has been bought a property developer who doesn’t say much. The Chelsea Hotel has a literary past like no other. Arthur C. Clarke wrote 2001 while staying there, Jack Kerouac wrote parts of On the Road [...]

My colleague Julie loves the White Stripes, and Jack and Meg and all that. I only know one song by them but then again the Beatles were still together when I was born. This photo-book documents the White Stripes’ Under Great White Northern Lights tour across Canada. Photographer Autumn de Wilde travelled with the band [...]

Technology marches on. Ebooks are going to have soundtracks. The days of a quiet read are over. Last week, the first so-called “enhanced ebook” was released in the UK – it was The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Speckled Band and it came complete with driving rain, thunderclaps and blood-curdling screams. It [...]

Thousands of students across North America are preparing to return to college in the coming weeks and as usual AbeBooks is also gearing up to supply cheap textbooks to people who are counting every dollar. But don’t just take my word for it. My colleague, Jordan, in the AbeBooks marketing department has written and performed [...]

And here’s another post with a music theme…. The Classic Rock blog runs a list of songs inspired by JD Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye.

The Observer wrote at the weekend about the demand for rock memoirs and autobiographies. Keith Richards, Patti Smith, Steve Tyler and Sammy Hagar have all enjoyed success in recent times. To be honest, I enjoyed the Bob Dylan Chronicles book a few years ago and have also read Anthony Kiedis’ Scar Tissue, about life in [...]

It’s always fascinating to trawl through the signed books that are available on AbeBooks. We found a wide selection of books signed by famous pop stars, rock stars, and country singers too. Our list ranges from Neil Young to three members of the Rolling Stones to Eric Clapton, Sting (his autobiography, Broken Music, is pictured [...]

It’s usually pretty rude to ask a girl what she has in her handbag, but if she’s dead then I guess it’s OK for us to take a peek. The Hairpin blog delves into the archives and Janis Joplin’s handbag, and finds an empty bottle of Southern Comfort and some smokes (of course), plus two [...]

….Don’t interrupt him ‘cos he’s reading a book. Ohh… he’s an angry young reader.