| How popular have ebooks and ebook readers and apps become? Consider this: ebook checkouts from the Siouxland Libraries increased 201 percent over the course of 2011. Meanwhile, the number of electronic materials went up 139 percent from 2010 to 2011. The figures are rather stunning. Last January, the first complete month of use by those who received ereaders for Christmas, 1,690 ebooks were checked out. Last month, before a new and likely larger round of ereader gift-giving, there were 5,240 checked out. That accounted for 16 percent of the ebooks checked out the entire year. Who knows what this month’s figures will show? This isn’t a unique situation. Demand at major public libraries has doubled since December 1, 2011. In fact, it is to the point that demand exceeds supply. That may also be the case here. At the time this post was written, there were 4,277 ebooks available through the library. (In comparison, the Chicago Public Library has 6,443.) Of those, less than half were currently available to be checked out. I’m guessing the “hold” list for some of the more popular books is lengthy, even though the default lending period is 14 days. (You can get info on ebook check outs here.) These statistics, though, undoubtedly underestimate the demand that might otherwise exist. The fact is that even though some publishers (Scribner, Putnam and Simon and Schuster, for example) release print and electronic versions of new books, they won’t provide borrowing licenses to libraries or withhold them for newly published titles. HarperCollins, meanwhile, restricts library licenses to 26 loans of a single book title. And in November, Penguin USA announced it was going to withhold the supply of new digital titles to US libraries. This means libraries are somewhat caught in the middle. There is explosive demand from patrons but limits imposed by publishers. Throw in the budget constraints libraries are facing and it will be a while before this all sorts out. Still, there’s no doubt ebooks are in libraries to stay (says a guy who also would have said the good old card catalog would be around forever).
The survival of libraries will depend on their ability to take advantage of ebook technologies to deliver new kinds of value, even as competition arises in the delivery of their traditional services. Eric Hellman, “Libraries, Ebooks, and Competition” Last year I read nearly 150 books, with fiction (74) slightly exceeding nonfiction (67). In the latter category, about one third of the books were biographies or autobiographies. So how did I do in voting for the National Book Critics Circle awards? Once again an 0-fer in the finalists in four main categories: fiction, biography and autobiography. Not only that, I didn’t read any of the 20 books making the list in those categories (although I have two on my Nook). Only one book I read made the finalist list, and it also happens to be one I voted for. Out of the Vinyl Deeps: Ellen Willis on Rock Music is one of the five finalists in the Criticism category. Yet it isn’t really new. It is a collection of articles she wrote as pop music critic for The New Yorker in the late ’60s and ’70s. I consider myself relatively well read. Perhaps I am wrong. My record in voting for the NBCC finalists (a process in which my vote actually means little or nothing) is dismal — and that’s being kind. I prefer to think, though, that rather than having no taste in books, the NBCC and similar awards reflect the views of a certain close-knit group. Call them literary elites, if you want, but ultimately it seems that “quality,” whatever that means, is dictated from a NYC publishing house viewpoint. Now I’m not panning any of the finalists and certainly don’t have a right to since I haven’t read any of them. But it still strikes me as odd that you can probably count on one hand the number of books I’ve voted for in my five years as a member that made the finalist list. Maybe I truly am just an ignorant illiterati who wouldn’t know a good book if it hit him upside the head with a two-by-four.
The bottom line is that, in the end, cultural relevancy is decided by the public, not by critics[.] Jason Pinter, “Death of the Literati” Interesting Reading in the Interweb Tubes - Torturer’s Apprentice (“… the [Bush] administration’s threshold for when an act of torture begins was the point at which the Inquisition stipulated that it must stop.”)
- 10 Reasons The U.S. Is No Longer The Land Of The Free (“Since 9/11, we have created the very government the framers feared: a government with sweeping and largely unchecked powers resting on the hope that they will be used wisely.”)
Blog Headline of the Week Blog Line of the Week Bookish Linkage Nonbookish Linkage Bot Comment of the Week - “This magnificent phrase is necessary just by the way” (entirety of January 14 comment to my post on my favorite books of 2011)
Part of me suspects that I’m a loser and the other part of me thinks I’m God Almighty. John Lennon, Playboy interview, September 1980 Bob Mercer put it well: “A newswoman like no other.” That was the headline of his blog post today in which I learned Tena Haraldson is leaving her position as the Associated Press bureau chief for the Dakotas and Nebraska. Tena probably is a 35-year veteran of AP. I’m proud to say I’ve known her longer than that. We went to journalism school together (in different graduating classes), worked on the SDSU Collegian together and covered the state Capitol together (for competing wire services). We go back to the days when you wrote news stories on typewriters and there were teletypes pounding away in the news or press room. Regardless of whether we were cooperating or competing, Tena always was (and still is) the epitome of class and professionalism. Her intelligence, commitment and experience gave readers greater insight into the issues she covered and undoubtedly helped train dozens of younger reporters. Tena treats everyone with respect while still striving for the goal of good journalists — to inform and educate the public in a fair and objective way about events that affect our lives. It’s a trait that’s disappearing in our 24/7 digital news world. Sadly, she’s not the only good reporter I know who’s encountered the impact digital and social media have had on traditional media organizations and the ensuing “restructuring.” Moreover, each one who comes to mind is one I held in high regard. How much do I admire and respect Tena and her talents? Even though it’s probably been a couple years since we’ve talked to or seen each other, upon reading she was leaving I immediately called her to express my surprise and regret. It’s not hyperbole when I say Tena is one of the best newswomen journalists I’ve had the pleasure to know. It was not only a pleasure to work with her, I have no doubt she made those of us who had that chance better reporters and better people. Hopefully, whatever comes next for her will still bring her abilities to bear for the public.
One of the great pressures we’re facing in journalism now is it’s a lot cheaper to hire thumb suckers and pundits and have talk shows on the air than actually have bureaus and reporters. Walter Isaacson, Bill Moyers Reports, April 25, 2007 Remember my “nonresolution” to read what I want when I feel like it? Given that I posted it just 10 days ago, temptation has already reared its head. It sneakily arrived in the mailbox. When I got home last night there were two catalogs from a major publishing house of forthcoming books on a number of its imprints. Talk about baiting the trap. I was proud of myself, though. Because requesting review copies pretty much dictates not only that I have to read a book but when, I tried to adhere to my nonresolution. It means, of course, that five books have been added to my library reserve list or my Amazon/B&N wishlists. And that was from just one catalog. I still haven’t decided if I’m going to request review copies from the other catalog but those books come out later in the year, giving me time to ponder. This way if I want to read one of those five added books I can — when I want. It also means there isn’t the concomitant obligation to write a review, a process that takes time. It doesn’t mean none of the books will be reviewed, just that I may have more time to read what I want when I want. I make no promises or forecasts for how long I can behave in like fashion with other offers.
Those who flee temptation generally leave a forwarding address. Lane Olinghouse Worthwhile Reading in the Interweb Tubes Bookish Linkage Nonbookish Linkage Bot Comment of the Week
Characters do not change. Opinions alter, but characters are only developed. Benjamin Disraeli Although I’ve only read three books this year, my early effort at spontaneity over planning in my reading selections means two of those books were biographies of two women at about the same time. They resulted in impressions as different as the subjects.  On the disappointing end of the spectrum was Eva Braun: Life with Hitler by German historian Heike B. Görtemaker. There is little available by which to evaluate Braun. Any correspondence she had with Hitler has been destroyed or disappeared. The only extant diary consists of 10 entries in the first half of 1935. There are few contemporary descriptions of her. As a result, Görtemaker tries to piece together a picture of Braun through others.
Although Görtemaker relies on and cites a wealth of sources, some of her “primary” ones come from acquaintances such as Albert Speer or Herman Göring’s wife, Emmy. Their comments come from statements given Allied forces after the war or post-war memoirs. In many cases, though, she discounts these sources as being influenced by efforts to distance the individuals from Hitler and his regime. This leads Görtemaker to explore the story of Hitler and to look at the lives of a variety of people near or around him during the same periods Braun was. While that is an ingenious approach, it doesn’t really produce the intended result. The reader spends as much or more time reading about others and what they thought than about Braun. Ultimately, whatever conclusions the reader or Görtemaker might draw as to Braun’s views, ideas and the like can’t rise above the level of speculation. Although it may be predicated on decent analysis, it is still speculation. In the end, we don’t really learn much about Braun and her life with Hitler.  Where Görtemaker was forced to rely on a dearth of direct information, the opposite may be true for Robert K. Massie and Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman. There’s not only plenty of documentation about and contemporary accounts of the Russian empress, she penned her own memoirs.
Having read a biography of Catherine in 2008, I wasn’t necessarily interested in reading another lengthy book about her. The good reviews the book received and the fact Massie also wrote well-received and award-winning biographies of Peter the Great and Tsar Nicholas II, the last of the Romanovs, led me to pick it up. Given the length of Catherine’s rule, the nature of her accomplishments, the changes in Europe and Russia during her tenure and the wealth of available information, Massie does an excellent job presenting the information. One of the knocks on biographies is that they can be dry. Massie, however, makes the book, some 575 pages, quite easy to read. In fact, if anything it may seem almost too casual at times. Still, to the extent this type of readability spurs on readers who might not otherwise tackle longer biographies, the payoff is worth it. Massie provides an excellent and well-rounded picture of Catherine from her youth until her death. It is an accomplished and notable introduction to a woman who truly deserved the appellation, “the Great.”
Biography is a very definite region bounded on the north by history, on the south by fiction, on the east by obituary, and on the west by tedium. Philip Guedall The only New Year’s resolution I think I’ve ever kept is the last one I made. Years ago, I resolved to not make New Year’s resolutions and have been very good at it since. (I don’t remember if that was before or after I decided that each Lenten season I would give up giving up things for Lent.) I do, though, have a few ideas I might pursue in the coming year. First, I am thinking of striving more to read what I want when I feel like it. That would perhaps mean cutting down on reviews as they tend to dictate my reading schedule and habits. But it seems that with each year there are more books I read because “I have to” as opposed to because it’s the one calling to me at the time. This likewise means no reading challenges or the like. If reading is going to be true enjoyment, it requires whimsy and fortuity, not a road map. That relates to another potential development. If I don’t do as many reviews, I may do more reading diary-type entires. These would lean toward shorter entries with my general thoughts or impressions of a book. I’m not quite sure if that will happen — what will be will be. I’m also hoping to purge the TBR bookshelves. Seeing many of the same books on those shelves for months now, I figure it’s time to decide if I’m going to commit to a relationship with those books. If not, off they go to the used book store, the library or elsewhere. Any such commitments, though, will also likely stem from fortuity, not premeditation but or not. As you can see, these are nonresolutions in more ways than one. No commitments or obligations. What could be better?
A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good. Samuel Johnson, quoted in Boswell’s Life of Johnson Interesting Reading in the Interweb Tubes - Why you don’t really have free will (“Our brains are simply meat computers that, like real computers, are programmed by our genes and experiences to convert an array of inputs into a predetermined output.”) (via)
- The death of the celebrity memoir (“If we really wanted these annoying figures to go away, the solution is pretty simple: Stop paying attention to them.”)
Best Blog Headlines of the Week Best Blog Post of the Week Bookish Linkage Nonbookish Linkage
What makes the earth feel like Hell is our expectation that it ought to feel like Heaven. Chuck Palahniux, Damned Lawsuit To Determine If Dogs Have Souls (via) Top 5 Ice Cream Truck Crimes of 2011 Your choice: The 5 Most Outrageous Lawsuits of 2011 or The 8 craziest lawsuits of 2011 Man Killed By Train Sued After His Flying Body Parts Injured Woman But a headline just doesn’t do this one justice: A Canadian man is appealing his conviction for cocaine trafficking because the judge told the jury the the government need to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Guilty – I’m sorry, that Mr. Wilson – is guilty of the crime charged.” (via)
The parties are advised to chill. Mattel v. MCA Records (9th Cir. 2002) | DisclaimerThe views expressed here are mine and mine alone. I do not speak for my law partners, our associates, staff and clients or my family and friends. Not only should any opinions here not be attributed to them, chances are they probably don't agree with me.  Contact meYou can e-mail me at prairieprogressive at gmaildotcom. |
