I received a note from Open Road Media, the publisher of an electronic edition of James Hilton’s Lost Horizon. Noticing that I was reading the book’s print edition, they suggested that I might consider their new electronic version, just out. Of course: I’d prefer an e-book to a print copy, as they’re easier to store,…

My latest book is James Hilton’s Lost Horizon (1933). It’s been in print since first publication, and the subject of two films (the second of them being a rather unfortunate musical). (When the cover of the book say it’s the first paperback ever published, the publisher means the first of a modern paperback series). I’m…

I’m sure to have questions about why I’m reading Sacha Scoblic‘s Unwasted: My Lush Sobriety.  The answer is that I saw an essay Scoblic wrote around the time of Amy Winehouse’s death, on sobriety and the false notion that art somehow justifies (or requires) addiction. (See, Amy Winehouse: The Insidious Response to Her Addiction and…

I’m surprised there’s one still around. There was a chance for serendipity when searching through a card catalog, despite the undeniable inefficiency of it, too: It will be the end of an era when the public card catalog is removed from its home in room 224 of Memorial Library on the UW–Madison campus. Via UW…

The Phantom Stranger, a defender of sound principles and good literature, kindly passed along a link to a Journal Sentinel story about local bookstore support for ebooks. From June 9 to 11, three bookstores (Boswell, Next Chapter, and Books & Company) will sell ebooks from Unbridled on their store websites for only 25 cents. That’s…

New media create new possibilities for literature (or, more precisely, bring old forms back in new ways). (For my review of Amazon’s ebook reader, see Review: The New Amazon Kindle.) See, Video – Amazon Introduces Kindle Singles – WSJ.com.