Posts Tagged ‘state of the thing’

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

September State of the Thing

State of the Thing logoIn your inbox, you should be getting this month’s State of the Thing, LibraryThing’s monthly newsletter of features, author interviews and various forms of bookish delight.

This month we have 2,708 free books, a meetup, our fifth birthday, an exclusive interview with Jane Smiley, a podcast with Mary Roach and a list of the popular books this month.

Check your inbox or read it online.

I got to chat with Mary Roach, about her new book Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void. We discuss her tenacity in getting interesting details out of astronaut interviews, her zero-gravity experience, a couple of marriage proposals from LibraryThing members, cross-stitched fly swatters and more. You can hear the podcast here.

We also have an interview with Jane Smiley, about her latest novel, Private Life, a study on choosing a mate who turns out to be an ill fit. Jane talks about her characters and their foibles (a polite term–extreme eccentricity would also work), navigating marriage, and about her writing process. She muses on the Nobel prize for literature and the books that were a special writing experience. As a bonus, she told me what she’s knitting!

Read previous State of the Thing newsletters:
http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/State_of_the_Thing

If you don’t get State of the Thing, you can add it in your email preferences. You also have to have an email address listed.

Labels: state of the thing

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

State of the Thing: August edition

State of the Thing logoI’ve just sent out the State of the Thing, LibraryThing’s monthly newsletter of features, author interviews and various forms of bookish delight.

We have 1,779 free books, new publisher pages, a photo contest, news on our foray into the Dewey system, a few site improvements, and a list of the popular books this month.

Check your inbox or read it online.

This month’s edition has an interview with David Mitchell, about his new book The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. Abby asks him about the challenges of writing about Dutch and Japanese in English, as well as about how a monkey led to a “cute meet”.

We also have a podcast interview with Dr. Larry Rosen, about his new book Rewired: Understanding the iGeneration and the Way They Learn. Dr. Rosen and I talk about how children (and all of us) are able to learn while multitasking, and what technologies may be able to do for education. Is it a big deal that your teen wants to listen to music and chat online while doing homework? Dr. Rosen says not as much as you’d think. You can hear the podcast here.

Lisa Grunwald, author of The Irresistible Henry House, shares with us her summer reads, including The Right Stuff, by Tom Wolfe and The Puzzle King by Betsy Carter. Her own book Henry House has been touted as one of this summers must-reads, and is a New York Times Editor’s Choice as well as an Oprah Magazine “Book to Watch For.” Amazon and Audible each name Henry one of the “Best Books of 2010 — So Far.”

Read previous State of the Thing newsletters:
http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/State_of_the_Thing

If you don’t get State of the Thing, you can add it in your email preferences. You also have to have an email address listed.

Labels: state of the thing

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

State of the Thing: July edition

State of the Thing logoOn Monday, we sent out the July State of the Thing, LibraryThing’s monthly newsletter of  features, author interviews and various forms of bookish delight.

We have a round-up of updated and new features, the start of the t-shirt sale, information about the Early Reviewer program and popular books this month.

Check your inbox or read it online.

Backseat Saints coverThis month’s edition has an interview with Joshilyn Jackson, about her new book Backseat Saints. We talk about how a minor character can grow like kudzu until she needs a book of her own. We also find out about writing an honest-but-readable account of physical abuse, Joshilyn’s recent reads and suggestions for other Southern lit novels. Did you know Joshilyn plays World of Warcraft?

Anthropology of an American GirlHilary Thayer Hamann offers author recommendations for her book Anthropology of an American Girl, including Atlas Shrugged and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Author recommendations are the author’s suggestions for other books you might like, if you like their book. You can also decide if you might like her book, based on her recommendations.
Anthropology came out in May. You can chat with Hilary about her book in her author chat, ongoing till August 5th.

Read previous State of the Thing newsletters:
http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/State_of_the_Thing

If you don’t get State of the Thing, you can add it in your email preferences. You also have to have an email address listed.

Labels: state of the thing

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

June State of the Thing

State of the Thing logoIn your inbox, you’ll find the June State of the Thing, LibraryThing’s monthly newsletter of features, author interviews and various forms of bookish delight.

Check your inbox or read it online.

This month’s edition includes two author interviews:

http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/State_of_the_Thing

If you don’t get State of the Thing, you can add it in your email preferences. You also have to have an email address listed.

Labels: state of the thing