Square Pegs

We are, admittedly, lousy at math and only so-so on geography. Or maybe it’s the other way around. When one article combines both, well, we can only hope to muddle through. Let us get through the math problem first: Alas, the fans of serious—i.e., challenging—fiction are a group that figuratively fits in the palm of your hand. John O’Brien, of the Center for Book Culture, told me he thought this band may include no more than 35,000 people nationwide, and they’re concentrated largely around universities. Maybe, on a good day, up to a few hundred thousand. So the number of […]

We are not much for reading between the lines, so may have misinterpreted this: There will be no original content on Beatrice today (from me, that is), as I am out on personal business all day. In a related matter, the Significant Other will henceforth be referred to on this blog as Mrs. Beatrice. On the off chance we’re interpreting the various letters and such correctly, congratulations Ron and Mrs. B! Too Busy Thinking ‘Bout My Baby (I Ain’t Got Time For Nothing Else)

Okay, here’s the deal. We have a secret weakness for television. Sure, we make fun of it, but we believe television is our generation’s, well, television. Despite the fact that TiVo, that glorious invention, has made time shifting our new hobby (previously shape shifting, but we do so love food), we make it a point to watch Arrested Development every Sunday night. As a rule, shows we enjoy are inevitably cancelled. Naturally, Arrested Development has been on the edge for as long as it’s been on the air. We do not have warm fuzzies about signing loyalty oaths, but, if

Where we expected white smoke, we got a black spot. Darn that Happy Booker for crushing our aspirations. We know she’s trying to figure out where we park the Booksquaremobile after we’re done fighting crime. It’s so hard being a blogger of mystery. You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451. Which book do you want to be? This is the spinach versus french fries question. You know what’s good for you, but, man, salty snacks. So very fun. However, in the interest of preserving the printed word for all eternity, we must choose To Kill A Mockingbird. It is our signature book.

We have been uncovered: cranky blogger by day, mild mannered student by night. What started as an innocent foray into the world of academia became an experience we can only describe as all Tod Goldberg, all the time. You know things are weird when we start inventing games* — ours was how many connections we had to make between an event and Mr. Goldberg. Our longest stretch was three. They say it’s a small blogosphere. Who knew that they were actually right? Needless to say, things are going to change around here. No more long, rambling posts about whatever catches

Remember when life was simple? That golden era when you merely had to worry about the books on your shelves, the magazines cluttering your coffee table, the CDs in your player, the clothes you wore, the car you drove, the cell phone you used, the coffee your drank? Yes, it was a simpler time. We long for those days, back before people made judgments based on our playlists (for the record, we have one gigantic mess and the iPod set on random; this shouldn’t surprise anyone). Yes, this story is part of our continuing series chronicling technology and how it

It was only a matter of time before the big guns realized this Internet thing was more than a passing fad. Last week, Rupert Murdoch got religion; this week, it’s the venerable Associated Press. As always, this type of epiphany (which we learned, much to our surprise, is a concept invented by James Joyce. Also run-on sentences.) was accompanied by a gaggle of financial forecasters. The first human on Mars will be part of a marketing team looking to develop its rich resources. Most of you are smug in your comfort zones. You play by the rules of “fair use”.

It strikes us that today could be a Theme Day. It also strikes us that we don’t have the right outfit, so this will likely be our final Dan Wickett-related post of the day (he had a very busy weekend). Building on his previous interviews of litbloggers and editors of literary journals, Dan braves the heat of the South to discuss labels. Included in this great panel are two Booksquare favorites, the always white gloved Tingle Alley and Shaken & Stirred. The group looks at their region and the (sometimes) preconceived notions it invokes, even among themselves. To quote Gwenda

Print-on-Demand is a technology waiting for the right moment. It is an esssential component of the Long Tail (talk about your dinner conversation topic!). We believe Amazon’s purchase of BookSurge will lead to lower prices and wider usage. Dan Wickett (have we mentioned him today?) guests over at Conversational Reading, discussing his experiences with POD. He touches on something that had us knitting our delicate brow. Books that go through the Author Guild’s Back In Print program are apparently copies of the original books. If you’re thinking standing-in-front-of-the-Xerox-machine, you are apparently thinking right. This makes sense for really old works,

We admit it — when we heard that Dan Wickett was hanging out at The Happy Booker’s place, we raced right over, stopping only for red lights and to finish our previous post. We blog safely and in accordance to the rules of the ‘sphere. What did we find? Yes, another in the continuing series of photos with strategically placed books. Though we insist you read the interview for yourself, we can promise that Dan’s responses confirm our longheld and widely supported thesis: he doesn’t sleep. No time for that. He denies this (if we’d paid attention in science, we’d