"O" is for Obsession

Someone passed on to me another example of related book titles, to continue my obsession of the topic. Sue Grafton has written a collection of detective novels with titles that use successive letters of the alphabet. I have just shown you are sample of three here, she started with "A is for Alibi" and is now up to "T is for Trespass."

We're Tweeting!

I have just added a Twitter widget on the sidebar so you can follow my Booktagger tweets.

Paulo Coelho's New Book Published on His Blog

Paulo Coelho has sold more than 130 million copies of his books ,which include the best seller "The Alchemist". There are not many author's who have similar reach in audience. Paul has a way of grabbing attention from the start, and his new book, "The Winner Stands Alone", is no exception. The book will be published sequentially, and free, on his blog. One chapter will be released every Tuesday and Friday. Check out his first chapter.

As Paulo finished the book early last year, he says much of what he predicted in the book is now happening or in his words a "self-fulfilling prophecy". In the interview below, Paulo talks with Robert Scoble and Michael Arrington about his book and various fanclubs. He even has advice for new authors: don't be greedy, give away content for free, and if you've written a book and want to sell it then knock on doors.

Robert Scoble tried a similar approach with releasing his book "Naked Conversations" via his blog and, even though it was released for free, it sold more than other blogging how-to books. Bodes well for Paulo.

Second-hand Surprises

Yesterday I went looking for second-hand books to buy with Angie. My selection included some excellent children's books by New Zealand authors: The Little Yellow Digger and Hairy Maclary and Zachary Quack, both of which I would recommend for anyone else with a two year old boy. I was particularly happy with these finds as Oskar already has others in each series.

Buying second-hand books reminded me of a discussion I had seen on the internet between people who wanted to insert a letter in books they were selling or returning to the library for others to find. One commenter wrote:

"I found a note on the ground after my run this morning. It said, “Warning! Cat will grab u through mail slot.” I thought this was amusing and I thought it was perfect for this goal. I tossed the note inside How to be Good by Nick Hornsby. I think I found the tossed off note more amusing than the book, sad to say."

The books I purchased today were in almost pristine condition and didn't contain any letters. Although when I was younger I often placed flowers inside books that were heavy and rediscovered them, beautifully pressed, ages later.

Have you ever found or left something inside a book?

One For the Money

After my post last week on stories made from book titles, a commenter asked if any authors have done this. My sister-in-law Angie, who works in a book store, suggested I mention one of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, which has fun with numbers in successive titles.

I haven't yet read any of Janet's book, but Angie has left me with one to start on, Metro Girl.

I haven't yet read any of Janet's book, but Angie has left me with one to start on and my father, also a fan, has several others to share. This series of title goes up to fourteen, with "Finger Linkin' Fifteen" due out on Valentine's Day.

Folding Books

Here are some ideas for using books as decorations or in crafting. Before the bibliofile in you winces, the books used were either found at a recycling centre or donated for the purpose by a library. I know there was a Sweet Valley High book my mother found me reading as a tween she would have rather seen used like this!

The above displays from Anthropology and were shown at Apartment Therapy. The hanging ones were created by folding the pages in each book the same way, the gluing the spines to a robe and the attaching the covers together.

A tutorial for making the apple decoration can be found here.

Vintage Ladybird Books

While doing my Christmas shopping in December, I found a reproduced set of vintage Ladybird books. The set of stories contained The Nurse, which inspired many hours of playing hospitals in my family.

In addition to the three re-released boxed sets, there is an extensive website that you can order prints of the delightful pages. Among these I found many of my favourites, including The Enormous Turnip and The Elves and the Shoemaker.

I wish all of them were still available, as I found many others I wished I had read. Such as one that included these instructions on making this treehouse hideaway.

Booktagger TV

Yesterday Jeremy was interviewed about Booktagger for LuckStartups live on Ustream TV. View the clip to find out more about Booktagger, and Jeremy's hair.

Live streaming video by Ustream

A year of good reading ahead.

Ahead for this year I have a number of books to finish that I have only started. These are:

- The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid.
- A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson.
- The Power of Style - Annette Tapert and Diana Edkins.
- The Appeal - John Grisham.

What books are you keen to finish?

Another reason this poster attracts me is possibly the beautifully cold looking snow, as I have sat melting all week in temperatures that haven't sat below 30˚C during the day this week.

The poster was found at the Prints and Photographs online catalog at The Library of Congress.

A story of stories on stories

The Book Shorting project by Nina Katchadourian comprises a selection of books from a single source arranged so their titles tell a story. Commonly, the selection of books also exemplifies the traits of their source too. The concept has inspired a book sorting group on flickr, where anyone can photograph and post their constructed tales. As a fitting addition to the project, Nina has commented that a book is also in discussion - a story of stories on stories!

From the project:

From a fan at Stuff I've Read:

My weekend project is to photograph some of my own to amuse you. From a quick perusal I already saw this one:

A chocolate a day / The littlest clue / As I lay dying / It must have been something I ate

Top Duo

I have recently become a fan of Leo Babauta's blog Zen Habits. Among his eloquent posts on simplistic and efficient living are are range tagged books, and it is within these that I found a list of his best all-time children's books. Many of these I have loved and will be adding to my Booktagger shelves to remind me to buy for my son. Two of these I want to highlight as my top duo because of the poignant messages they contain within their superb yet simple images and tales.

The Lorax was read to me millions of times by my father. The Lorax "speaks for the trees, for the trees have no tongues" as the truffela trees are chopped down by all sorts of fantastical machines and made into thneeds. As the trees get chopped down, the creatures suffer, the water gets gluggy and the sky gets smoggy. After the last tree falls and the Lorax and his friends are long gone, a boy is given a seed, an opportunity, so that one day, the Lorax and his friends may come back.

The Giving Tree is a book I only discovered in the past year. It begins with a beautiful relationship between a boy and a tree. Yet, the boy keeps taking, while the tree keeps giving. The generous tree keeps giving until it is a stump, sad as it has nothing left to give. The boy, now an old man returns, but now he has nothing too and only needs a stump to sit on, so the tree is happy and can give some more.

Outliers

I have read all three of Malcolm Gladwell's books: The Tipping Point, Blink and I just finished Outliers. All three I have enjoyed, although I remember with Blink I initially thought I had picked up the large print edition by mistake as it was a bit light on content.

Outliers winds around the theme of success, in Malcolm's anecdotal style. Prodigies, he reasons, are not simply born, but are the product of tremendous effort (clocking up ten thousand hours practising a skill) and the serendipidous opportunities that match their particular circumstances. They are not simply geniuses, but outliers.

A book a month

Last year I read twelve books. Not a huge number to some avid book readers, but one a month was the number I thought I could fit into life right now. I had not counted the up books until January and was surprised I had met my goal exactly. Imagine if I had aimed for a hundred!

This post is for those that don't read as much as they would like, not for readers that can't stop. Often when I have a book with me or talk about something I have read, people remark they wish they read more. So, for those people, this is how I read my twelve books.

1. Only read books you enjoy. Stop reading a book if you are not enjoying it.
2. Don't be afraid to count a short book, you'll probably make up for it by reading a larger one later in the year.
3. Don't try to read a book every month. Just try to always be reading.
4. When you are engrossed in a book, ensure you are still looking out for the next one to read.
5. Have a designated time to read. For me this is when I commute to and from work.