Booksquare

We took a wrong turn in the bookstore the other day. One moment, we were blissfully considering cookbooks (for someone else, not the BS household); the next, we were lost in a sea of reading teenagers. Have you ever tried to navigate an aisle filled with kids lost in books? Let us assure you that […]

Like most nosy bloggers, we have been following the story of Brad Vice and assertions of plagiarism with great interest. Plagiarism is bad. Heck, we might even admit to a moment or two of schadenfreude — what’s the point of having a bad reputation if you don’t live up to it? Then came the niggling […]

Some authors simply don’t end well. Neal Stephenson, for example. The man will write forever to avoid ending a book. Also, he seems to have a lot of extra paper or maybe stock in a paper factory. His books tend to rip-roar (in a very broad sense of the term) along before doing everything they […]

The always-helpful HelenKay Dimon tells us that JK Rowling is looking to the future — and that future has a name change. There will be life beyond Harry Potter. Being taken seriously as a post-Harry writer will be difficult for Rowling. Sure, we’ve heard that lightening strikes twice, but her future work will always be […]

You know us — we get excited way too easily, and today we’re excited about innovations in publishing. Hmm, that doesn’t sound right. How about this: today, we’re excited about the fact that a major publisher is using technology for good not evil. Or just that a major publisher is using technology. We shouldn’t ascribe […]

We’ve long been a fan of Bud Parr of Chekov’s Mistress, so are very excited to see he’s launched a new venture — MetaxuCafe. Using a mix of cool technology (finally a Litblog featuring a folksonomy!) and cool content, Metaxu will, well, we’ll let Bud say it: MetaxuCafé is devoted to highlighting the best content […]

We have a will of iron, yet cannot resist the Bat Segundo podcasts. Worse, we cannot resist the descriptions of the shows. This week, the show does not feature Mr. Segundo, but manages to get Octavia Butler to go on the record about a wide range of topics: Subjects Discussed: Anne Rice, the advantages of […]

For personal reasons, we do not encourage the use of puns. Except for really good ones. We like those. See headline below. Plus, it’s Awards Season, and we do like to keep tabs on our favorite honors. Like the Literary Review Bad Sex in Fiction award. It should go without saying that someday we hope […]

Though we suspect we could find one or two people who disagree with Kevin Smokler’s assertion that flagellation is not cool, we have to agree that his sentiment is well-taken. And not only because he agrees with us (always a bonus, but not required). Those who fear the death of the novel are likely those […]

The little sister had no choice — after being tucked into her bed, she was force-read books every night. At some point, she learned to form sentences (oh, we rue the day!) and became, well, there’s no delicate way to say this, demanding. One might say spoiled, but it’s so cute when they barely reach […]