This past week the famous book expo was held in New York. Literary agents, book dealers, book sellers, authors and publishers all gathered under one roof. The hot topic was the e-book and to no one’s surprise (at least mine!) the book is still the most flexible way to read. The chief executive of Kobo, a company that allows users to buy e-book and read them on most devices had this to say “Today you can buy a book at Barnes and Noble and you can buy a book at Wal-Mart and you don’t have to keep them in separate rooms in your house,” he said. “You buy a book from Apple and Amazon and you have got to keep it tied up with your Apple universe or your Kindle universe.”

Among other fears are piracy issues. Read more about it here.

You’re driving down the road and you look off to the side and see a shopping cart in a ditch. How did it get there? Was it left there on purpose?

Apparently there is an organization that takes these matters seriously. From their website,

“Over the last several decades, the stray shopping cart has quietly become an integral part of the urban and suburban landscapes of the industrialized world. To the average person, the stray shopping cart is most often thought of as a signifier of urban blight or as an indicator of a consumer society gone too far. Unfortunately, the acceptance of these oversimplified designations has discouraged any serious examination of the stray shopping cart phenomenon.”

This website is not for the casual observer. Geographic locations, false strays, Types and more are all documented and explained in great detail.

And of course, they have a book to help you with your identification.

Like to read a great mystery novel? How about one set around the used bookstores in Denver? How about a series of them? Author John Dunning Booked to die series is for you then.

Before I start writing about the books a little biographical information on John Dunning is needed.

Born in 1942, Dunning grew up with a love for radio shows and has published authoritative reference books on the subject at first during the 1970s then later on in the late 1990s. In 1981 he opened a used bookstore in Denver and after the urging of fellow authors started to write again full time and had his book, Booked to Die published in 1992.

John and his wife also started the RMABA and is still a member.

Today he still resides in Denver and can be found at the various used bookstores from time to time.

I will be posting soon on a review of his first Cliff Janeway novels.

A theif tried to steal a book and was stopped by Spiderman and a Jedi Knight..

Read more about it here Story

I try to browse and comment on other people’s blog as often as I can.

Today I came across this blog and haven’t stopped laughing for the last ten minutes.

The site is run by two librarians who weed out books in Michigan. From their own site “Librarians, bibliophiles and lovers of nostalgia are all welcome here.
This site is a collection of public library holdings that we find amusing and maybe questionable for public libraries trying to maintain a current and relevant collection.”

I don’t want to spoil the fun so go take a look.