TresSugar

Woman Reads a Book a Day For an Entire Year

TresSugar — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:10:00 -0700

When I was in college, in addition to all the books I had to read for school, I was an avid fiction reader. Even then, if I read a book a week, I felt I was doing pretty well.

Forty-six-year-old Nina Sankovitch of Westport, CT, made it her goal to read book a day while blogging (naturally!) about her activities, in part to share her love of books with others and as a way to get through the pain of her sister's death in 2005. Her rules: the books have to be ones she's never read before, she reads only one book per author, and she posts her reviews the next day. She's a couple weeks away from the end of her self-imposed reading marathon.

How does someone, even a fast reader, have time to read a book a day? It doesn't hurt that the former environmental lawyer appears to be at home most of the day, and she has someone coming to her house to help her with household chores every other day. With all the things you have to do (job, school, cleaning, socializing), how long does it take you to get through a book these days?

Source

Do Tell: What's the Last Thing You Read in Print?

TresSugar — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:00:00 -0700

The New York City subway roars beneath the city's streets, which means one thing to its riders. No cell phone or Internet reception. (Two things if you don't like climbing stairs!) I consider both to be pluses. No reception means no irritating, one-sided conversations and no furious fingers typing away on smartphones. It gives New Yorkers time to fill their idle moments the old-fashioned way - like eavesdropping on real conversations, or maybe even reading.

Because a blog that chronicles everything its writer sees people reading on the R train isn't enough, the New York Times asked its readers what the last thing they read on the subway was. The top magazine was the New Yorker, the top paper was the New York Times (good job, NYT!), and, more interestingly, the top book was The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Since we're not all riding the underground, let me remove technology from the equation and put the question to you: what was the last newspaper, magazine, or book you read?

Source: Flicker User moriza

Publishers Targeting Teen Readers Through Technology

TresSugar — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:00:00 -0700

"Teens can be very passionate readers. The format isn't as important as the fact that they're reading."

- Sara Nelson, an editorial consultant of a firm looking for ways to connect teens and books, on how publishers are smart to reach teens via nonbook formats. Publishers are starting to use mobile technology and online social networks to reach young readers.

To promote Lauren Conrad’s new book LA Candy, publisher HarperCollins is using 2D bar codes that, when scanned by cameras on mobile phones from the back of book jackets, lets readers connect to extra content like video interviews with the author.

More Is Less? How the Kindle Will Change the Way We Read

TresSugar — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:00:00 -0700

I know the Kindle is really what you're all after in our amazing TrèsSugar giveaway, so it seems like the perfect time to read into how the gadget will change the way we read.

Book publishers, tattered and tired after years of fighting the Internet, are perched on an opportunity to sell books like never before. Will we read them? Not sure. But we're certainly going to buy them!

The Kindle is a portable bookstore that's already capitalizing on impulse buyers. Want to try a little Proust? Just read the first few pages of Swann's Way and you'll get every madeleine reference you'll ever need to know.

Of course, you'll have to pay for that madeleine, as pauper publishers are eager for your coins. But who would pay for a few lines? Ha! You will, my dear reader; we all will. The Wall Street Journal has laid out a semidystopian vision of how the future will be written. To find out, read more.

Imagine being able to create a library of every book you've ever read in a matter of clicks, and then search it with keywords. This will be indispensable for research and terrible for bookshelves.
Readers online will call out passages, much like they already do, and Google will rank pages and paragraphs, allowing the most popular to rise to the top. A well-linked quote will drive sales far more than an NPR interview.

Confused by a paragraph, chapter, book? You'll instantly be able to connect to other readers debating its meaning. It will be like a global book club that's always reading what you want.
Writing for Google is where it starts to get scary. Authors and publishers will consider how individual pages and chapters will rank in search results and write accordingly. Best case? Some tagging and strategically placed words and paragraphs. Worst? Whole books written for search engines.
A la carte pricing will be on the menu. Nonfiction books may be broken into sections and sold. Fiction? Expect to see a return of the cliffhanger, and novels sold in chapters.

It's easy to say this will never happen, but it already is. Kindle's current incarnation has a Web browser tucked in a folder called "experimental projects," and Amazon has an iPhone app that's ready to jump-start the future. Will you be reading?

Source

Flashback: The California Raisins Promote Reading

GiggleSugar — Mon, 05 May 2008 07:00:00 -0700

Let me get this straight: Someone thought the best way to get kids excited about reading was to have a handful of rapping raisins promote it? "Nature's candy" is more likely to send kids running for the local restroom, not the library. The PSA folks should have employed a handful of break dancing fingers instead. Not only are they more entertaining, I hear they're really good page turners too.

Which Came First?

GiggleSugar — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:30:00 -0800

. . .The reader or the book?

Source

Learn To Read, Not Write

GiggleSugar — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 08:00:00 -0700

The hard-core book clubs don't waste no time with grammar.

Source

Speed Read! Roman Polanski's Bail Offer Approved

TresSugar — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:30:58 -0800

A Swiss court has approved Roman Polanski's offer to be released from prison for $4.5 million bail. He will be kept under house arrest at his Swiss chalet. - New York Times
President Obama will travel to Copenhagen for the UN climate change conference next month. - Washington Post
Jetman fails to fly from Morocco to Spain with personal jet pack, gets picked up in Atlantic Ocean. - NPR
A random 45-year-old man bites a 17-year-old at a screening of Twilight. - Jezebel
Adopted man looks for his biological father, discovers that it's Charles Manson. - Boing Boing
Are cougars an endangered species? - Vice
Military wives celebrate Thanksgiving in October. - Double X
Details from last night's state dinner. - Huffington Post

Speed Read! Jennifer Hudson to Perform at State Dinner

TresSugar — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:30:19 -0800

Chicago native Jennifer Hudson will perform at the White House's star-studded state dinner tonight. - Washington Post
Google buys ads to explain why an offensive image of Michelle Obama comes up in search results. - Huffington Post
Should we thank Kate Moss for being frank about watching her weight? - Double X
Family returns from out of town to find home has been broken into and
decorated for Christmas. - Lemondrop
Can you write like Sarah Palin? Slate's holding a contest. - Slate
Inside a supermodel's suicide. - Sexy Beast
Octomom Nadya Suleman says she might have more children. Great. - Jezebel
New albums from Rihanna and Lady Gaga are out. - BuzzSugar
Seven lessons we can learn from Hollywood stuntwomen. - Flavorwire

Speed Read! American Music Awards Go Gaga

TresSugar — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:30:11 -0800

Didn't catch the AMAs? Here are the top 10 moments from last night's show. - BuzzSugar
Couple arrested for not paying 18 percent gratuity ($16 bucks) added to dinner bill.- Lemondrop
London thinks New York City has lost its edge. - The Frisky
The US Postal Service is canceling its letters to Santa program because one of the "Santas" was a registered sex offender. - Videogum
New Moon brought in $140.7 million this weekend. - PopSugar
Katie Couric is not immune to embarrassing Facebook photos. - Gawker
Michael Jackson's rhinestone-encrusted glove goes for $350,000 at auction. - The Daily Beast
Public support for marijuana legalization is on the rise. - Washington Post