Watch out Kindle & Sony... Apple wants to take a Bite out of you!

Enjoy reading your ebooks on your iPhone, iPad and other app devices? Well, Apple thinks they should get a cut of the profits of those ebooks. In a surprising move this week, Apple told Sony that they could not sell their ebooks within their App, the sale had to go thru Apple's system. Meaning that you wouldn't be buying your Kindle book from Amazon, or your Sony ebook from Sony when you decide you want to purchase a particular book while reading it on your iPad or iPhone, it would go through Apple's payment system, and thus Apple getting the 30% standard ebook profit.

Apple said it would still allow access to any ebooks purchased prior to this new demand and any ebooks purchased outside the App, but what of the future? One of the nice things about having a reading App for your iPhone and iPad from one of the other eReader companies, is the ability to read your ebooks on various platforms and to simply press a button to purchase an ebook you want. I decide I want to read my Kindle copy of Pride & Prejudice on my iPhone, it's a simple tap away. But say, I finish that book and want to purchase another book, my tendency would be to purchase it right from the App, but why would Sony, Amazon or B&N want to have you buy new ebooks on your iPhone or iPad, if Apple is the one profiting?! I'm sure they wouldn't. And that means the possibility of dedicated devices again. No more convenience of reading different ebooks platforms on one device, at the risk of losing the next sale. And that seems to be a step backwards to me.

Steve Haber, president of Sony’s digital reading division, said on Monday that Apple had told his company that from now on, all in-app purchases would have to go through Apple.

“It’s the opposite of what we wanted to bring to the market,” Mr. Haber said. “We always wanted to bring the content to as many devices as possible, not one device to one store.”

What do you think? It seems to me that there are a lot of Apps that sell things besides ebooks, and that Apple could profit from as well. Is it just that Apple is seeing less profits from iBook sales because the other ebook platforms are more versatile? I can read my Kindle books on my iPhone, iPad, and computer; I can read an iBook on my iPad. Which format would you purchase? And even though you don't own a Sony eReader, with an App, you can purchase a Sony ebook (or any ebook) anyway and read it using an App. Follow the link to read the full article, Apple Moves to Tighten Controlof App Store by Claire Cain Miller and Miguel Helft, from the february 1st New York Times online edition.

The Sunday Salon... Scholarly Women Heroines and Other Bookish Finds

Welcome to The Sunday Salon! Grab a cup of joe and relax. If you are living on the east coast, then you've been snow bound this week like me, and in between shoveling out, maybe you've managed a little time for bookish pursuits. It was a slow week at Chick with Books this week trying to recover from the weather, which was a record breaking 24 plus inches of snow! (and I heard on the news that all but a handful of states got snow this week!) but I did manage to find some great books to curl up with...

A book I came across this week was A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. First of all how can you not love an author who while at college researched the history of magic and science during such an interesting period of time- 1500 thru 1700?! And used her education, she now teaches European history and history of science at the University of Southern California in L.A., to create a heroine that is both a scholar and a witch? Throw in a handsome 1500 year old Vampire and an ancient mystery and I'm hooked. That the beginning of the story finds our heroine Diana in a beautiful old library doesn't hurt either, because I love old libraries myself. Here's the blurb from the publishers about the book...

When historian Diana Bishop opens a bewitched alchemical manuscript in Oxford’s Bodleian Library it represents an unwelcome intrusion of magic into her carefully ordinary life. Though descended from a long line of witches, she is determined to remain untouched by her family’s legacy. She banishes the manuscript to the stacks, but Diana finds it impossible to hold the world of magic at bay any longer. For witches are not the only otherworldly creatures living alongside humans. There are also creative, destructive daemons and long-lived vampires who become interested in the witch’s discovery. They believe that the manuscript contains important clues about the past and the future, and want to know how Diana Bishop has been able to get her hands on the elusive volume.

A Discovery of Witches is scheduled for a Feb. 8th release date and it's definitely on my wish list. It's gotten a lot of great buzz from early reviewers too!

Another scholarly heroine is Anna Bennett from Night Waking by Sarah Moss. What really drew me to this book was the idea of the Anne Bennett, the protagonist, finding letters written 200 years before that slowly unravel the mysteries that abound in the story, AND that somehow the lives of the Anne and the letter writer will intersect. Here's how the publisher describes the book...

Historian Anna Bennett has a book to write. She also has an insomniac toddler, a precocious, death-obsessed seven-year-old, and a frequently absent ecologist husband who has brought them all to Colsay, a desolate island in the Hebrides, so he can count the puffins. Ferociously sleep-deprived, torn between mothering and her desire for the pleasures of work and solitude, Anna becomes haunted by the discovery of a baby's skeleton in the garden of their house. Her narrative is punctuated by letters home, written 200 years before, by May, a young, middle-class midwife desperately trying to introduce modern medicine to the suspicious, insular islanders. The lives of these two characters intersect unexpectedly in this deeply moving but also at times blackly funny story about maternal ambivalence, the way we try to control children, and about women's vexed and passionate relationship with work.

This book is coming the beginning of February, but to the UK first. Easy to order from The Book Depository if you are in the US, and shipping is always free!

This week I read about how it was the first time in 11 years that the TODAY SHOW did not interview the winners of the Caldecott and Newbery Award winners after the awards were announced. And to add insult to injury, it was Snooki, the Jersey Shore reality TV star that was interviewed instead. Well, librarian Betsy Bird and author James Kennedy are launching a fun contest as a result of the slight - it's called the 90-second Newbery! Anyone can enter the contest, the rules are pretty simple and basically are make a 90 second video about the story of any Newbery award winning book. It's meant to be fun, creative and highlight the great books that have won the award. You can find all the details about the contest at James Kennedy's website, and find a great example of a 90-second video of A Wrinkle in Time. You can read about what Publisher's Weekly wrote about the Today Show Snub at publishersweekly.com. While I was at James Kennedy's website, I came across his YA book, The Order of Odd-Fish, that seemed like such a fun read, and what maybe Monty Python might write for children. Here's the blurb from James' website...

The Order of Odd-Fish by James Kennedy... Jo Larouche has lived her thirteen years in the California desert with her Aunt Lily, a faded Hollywood starlet, ever since she found in Lily’s laundry room with this note pinned to her blankets: This is Jo. Please take care of her. But beware. This is a DANGEROUS baby. Up until this point, Jo has been, as Aunt Lily puts it, “as dangerous as a glass of milk.” But all that’s about to change. At Lily’s annual Christmas costume party, several strange things happen: a boy in a hedgehog shoots an elderly Russian colonel; a talking cockroach is found tied up in the basement, moaning about how this will play in the tabloid press; and a box falls from the sky, addressed to Jo from “The Order of Odd-Fish.” Soon, worsening circumstances lead Jo and Lily out of California forever—and into the mysterious, strange, fantastical world of Eldritch City. There, Jo learns the scandalous truth about who she is, and she and Lily join the Order of Odd-Fish, a colorful collection of knights who research useless information. Glamorous cockroach butlers, impossible quests, obsolete weapons and bizarre festivals fill their days, but Jo’s dream turns to nightmare when she learns that instead of a hero of Eldritch City, she may in fact become its destroyer. By the novel’s wrenching climax, Jo comes to understand who she truly is—and what it means to call a city home.

How can you go wrong with a talking cockroach and the promise of a world that is sure to entertain us! This is going on my wishlist now!

Some Great Kindle News! My bookish friend Michele, emailed me this week with news of the Kindle Book Lending Program. Yes, that's right, now some Kindle Books are lendable, depending on if the publisher enabled the lending feature of the book. You can lend your Kindle book to anyone with a Kindle or a Kindle Reading App for PC, Mac, iPhone, Blackberry and Android devices. You can get all the details at Lending Kindle Books on the Kindle Help page. BTW, Kindle Books can be lent for 14 days. Has anyone done this yet?! I'm curious how easy it is. It really makes buying Kindle Books even better when you can lend them to your friends just like passing around that great paperback!

Here's a Recap of this past weeks blog... I reviewed Brody's Ghost by Mark Crilley as part of the Graphic Novels Challenge 2011. It is a slim book, and the first book in a six book series, but it's a great introduction to the series and to the wonderful artwork of Mark Crilley. There is such amazing detail in the scenes that accompany the text, it's almost worth getting Brody's Ghost for the art. If you missed my review, here's the link to Brody's Ghost Review. Mark Twain made a splash in the news this week, as Twain scholar Adam Gribben's announcement of his intentions to edit The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, that is taking out the "n" word, which appears 219 times, and replacing it with "slave". It created heated debates throughout the internet. Read my take on it in Rewriting History One Word at a Time. And share what you think! I'd love to hear more thoughts on this type of editing. And this weeks First Lines was from It Happened One Night by Lydia Dare. It's been a while since I've chatted about romance, but colder weather always makes me want to heat things up a bit. I'll be reviewing Lydia Dares book next month, but in the meantime you can read the First Lines if you missed them and let me tell you it's about a centuries old ghost who is trapped and haunting an abandoned Scottish castle and the modern day woman who may be just the one to release him!

So, how was your week? What books have you been reading, or spotted in your bookish travels?! Share them here, I'd love to hear about them! And in the meantime have a great week! I hope you are shoveled out!

Happy reading... Suzanne

Seniors Re-Kindling a Love for Reading

I read an interesting article in my local newspaper about a great program called Book Buddies...

Four years ago, teacher Lea Attanasio started a book club at her school for about 25 fourth-graders and nearly 10 senior volunteers from the surrounding area and other parts of the state. The students and seniors have been reading books independently, then meeting in small groups every other week to discuss what they have read.

Accompanying photos to the article showed 93-year-old Philip Michael, 82-year-old Connie Scigimpaglia, and 69-year-old Margy Henderson interacting with the kids and they all looked like they were enjoying themselves. It's a win-win situation for both the seniors and the kids- the kids develop their reading skills and the seniors keep active and sometimes offer historical insights into the books they are reading. The only problem was that some of the text in the books they were reading were too small for some of the seniors to read, resulting in some of the seniors reluctantly dropping out of the program. After teacher Lea Attanasio used a friends Kindle, she realized that the eReader could help those seniors with vision problems still participate and read! The answer was adjustable text sizes! Every book on the Kindle could be like a Large Print book! Though the school could not afford to buy Kindles for the program, there was a happy ending to the story as an accidental email to Fred Kindle (no relation to Amazon) resulted in a collection being started at his office and enough money for 4 Kindles was donated to the school.

This book club is such a wonderful idea, but what's even nicer is that with the advent of eReaders, people with vision problems can still enjoy reading a good book. In the case of the Kindle, not only is there 8 adjustable text sizes, but the Read-to-Me, Text-to-Speech feature (not available for all books, depends on the book publisher) that lets your Kindle read to you.

Audiobooks are a great alternative to books, but for someone who enjoys being able to read books themselves, adjustable font size found in an eReader can be the answer they are looking for. eReaders can make a great gift! Here's my Recap of eReaders I posted this past September, covering some of the more popular choices. And if you'd like to read the full story on the Book Buddies and how they came to get 4 donated Kindles, go to NewsTime.com.

The Sunday Salon... Are eReaders Taking Over the World?

Imagine someday that "dead tree" books are the rarity, and that the "now" generation has grown up never having to turn a page.. at least not one made of paper. It may not be so far fetched... at least to an extent. I remember going to a show in NYC where a mentalist was performing. The mentalist asked for audience members to shout out numbers one at a time so he could write them down on this huge gridded board. He then asked a boy to come up on stage and help him with the next part of the trick. The boy was 8 or 9 years old. The next part of the trick involved the boy to hold onto a special cassette tape. The mentalist then went back to the board, added up all the numbers and turned to the boy. He told the boy that he could now put the cassette tape into the player, turn it on and we could all listen to what the mentalist had already predicted all those random numbers to add up to-- except the boy had never seen a cassette player before. The boy wasn't embarrassed, acted like the cassette player was an antique from the 16th century, the audience laughed and all of us who knew what a cassette player was felt very old... Could the "dead tree" book go the way of the cassette player? Only time will tell...

It's Sunday! The week has passed like a flash, and I'm reeling from a busy week. It seems that my week has been filled with reading on my Kindle, and hearing other eReader news. So I thought I would devote this Sunday's Salon to take a look at the new pricing of eReaders and some new offerings that will surely make a choice of an electronic reader even more difficult. But choice is good, right?! As even more eReaders and Tablets flood the market, prices are coming down... at least for the eReaders themselves...

The Kindle 3 from Amazon, the latest generation of Kindle has been arriving in homes steadily since the end of August. It's lighter, smaller, has redesigned controls and the all new wonderful e-ink Pearl display. Feels great in my hands. I can read any PDF documents I send to it easily, I can navigate easier with the new navigation square, and it's just so nice. The screen is beautiful, sharp with more contrast. Kindle offers the ability for multiple family members under the same account to share books, and even read them at the same time. In fact most Kindle ebooks can be loaded on up to 6 devices, such as iPhone, iPad, Mac or PC. After using this latest Kindle offering, my Kindle 2 feels big and heavy! Pricing on the new, latest generation Kindle's:

• Kindle 3G & WiFi... $189 (choice of white or graphite)
• Kindle WiFionly ... $139 (graphite color only)
• Kindle DX with 3G, and BIG 9.7" display... $379 (graphite color only)

The Kobo eReader from Borders was really on the right track... Originally wanting a smaller, thinner eReader for ePub books made me look at the Kobo. The design of it is so nice- it's thin, simple controls, feels nice to hold with a rubbery like quilted back and could fit easily in one hand. The Kobo ebook store was easy to navigate, and I could read my Kobo ebooks from multiple platforms. Although customer service was a bit lacking at first. Kobo was really a separate company from Borders, so when I was having a software issue right out of the box, I had to navigate between Borders customer service and Kobo customer service in Canada. Very frustrating, but it eventually worked out. I was looking for a bare bones, nothing fancy ePub reader and I thought that this was the answer, BUT the text was not sharp on the screen. Or maybe just not sharp enough for my liking... Prices have slowly come down for the Kobo. And they needed to because for the price of the bare bones Kobo, you could just about buy yourself either a WiFi only Kindle or Nook. And WiFi is a nice feature. Price for the Kobo...

• Kobo ... $129.00

The Nook from Barnes & Noble has really come a long way. I had tried a Nook when they first came out and was having problems accessing my library, and it was slow navigating. I now chock that up to growing pains. I really wanted to love that Kobo, but after my DH got a Nook for reading ePub books I had to admit that the Nook's screen display was just so much nicer than the Kobo. I liked the design of the Kobo, but it all really comes down to the screen and being able to read, so back went the Kobo and the Nook became the eReader of choice for ePub books. The screen is so nice, with e-ink technology, sharp and variable font size. The design itself is nice and very comfortable to hold while reading. I am getting use to using the touch screen on the bottom to navigate, which at first seemed a bit awkward, but is slowly becoming second nature. It is also SO EASY to download ebooks from my library using Adobe Digital Editions! We opted for the WiFi only and it's perfect since we have WiFi at home. Barnes & Noble has also been running a promo for free B&N classics for the Nook this past month. A nice way to add some great ebooks to your Nook for free. And a great way to promote the Nook! Prices on the Nook...

• Nook with WiFi only... $149
• Nook with WiFi & 3G... $199

Sony has always seemed to be the third wheel after the Kindle & Nook exploded on the scene. My first eReader was a Sony Pocket Reader and I loved it. I still like it. It's small, the screen is sharp, enough contrast, and easy to navigate controls. There is no WiFi or 3G, but it's very easy to plug it into the computer, access your Sony library and buy and download your books. At the time it was a novelty, there wasn't much of a selection of ebooks, and libraries hadn't really jumped on the ebook lending band wagon. Things have changed... Sony just announced the Sony Reader Pocket edition and the Sony Reader Touch edition are getting a revamp. A updated design, and some great new features. First they've stream lined both readers. They are thinner, the controls have been updated, no more wheel

on the bottom for navigation or buttons on the front side, now you have can turn your pages with forward/backward controls on the bottom OR swipe your finger across the page! E-Ink is still the technology of choice for these screens as well. Sony has also added the ability to highlight and scribble notes right on the screen with the help of a stylus! And you are suppose to be able to export those notes too! Adjustable font sizes and styles, along with the ability to read both ePub files and PDF's puts Sony back in the running. I do prefer the page turning forward/backward to be at the sides of the readers, but with touch technology, I'd probably be swiping anyway. Also, the screen on the Sony Pocket Edition is 5 inches, just slightly smaller than the other eReaders, but still a nice size to read and this also makes it one of the smallest eReaders. BUT the Sony Reader Touch Edition has the full 6 inch screen size found on the other eReaders. Sony has this great video on their site promoting their new readers, just make sure you're looking at under "overview" and click on the play button. Now pricing is a bit steep, but Sony has a great reputation, and products, and this might keep them in the game. Prices may drop too, and you can still get the previous generation Sony Pocket Reader at a great reduced price. The new Sony Readers will start shipping 9/16. Prices on the Sony Readers...

• Sony Reader Pocket Edition (prs-350/new model) available in silver or pink... $179.99
• Sony Reader Touch Edition (pre-650/new model w/ 6"screen) available in black or red... $229.99
• Sony Reader Pocket Edition(prs-300/old model) available in silver, rose or blue... $116.99

And another choice...

• Aluratek's eLibre Pro sold by Borders... ePub & PDF reader w/ 5i nch screen. Even though this does not have e-Ink technology, I've heard that the screen is very just as nice, with good contrast and sharp fonts. NORMALLY priced at $119.99, it is ON SALE until 9/14 for $99.99! Hey, it also comes with a built in mp3 player!

We haven't even touched on Tablet Readers! Which included The Cruz Tablet at $199, the Pandigital Novel (looks like a tablet) at $249, the iPad starting at $499!

So what do you think about the future of "real" books? Brian Palmer wrote a post for Slate Magazine entitled Should You Ditch Your Books for an E-Reader? pointing out some of the environmental issues of Paper vs. Plastic reading, including you'll need to read 23 new books to break even environmentally with your Kindle. Of course, borrowing books from the library and sharing your own books is also great for the environment!

Next Sunday, back to Books with Buzz! And a sneak peek at this coming week.. Historical fiction fans be on the lookout for a giveaway of Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel! Details on tuesday! And in the meantime, let me know what eReader you just love and why!

Happy Reading, digital or paper... Suzanne

The Sunday Salon... The Dog Days of Summer and Then Some!

The Dog Days of Summer make a landing at Chick with Books this week. What are the "Dog Days of Summer" anyway? Summer is typically referred to as The “Dog Days” of Summer because it’s so hot that it’s not fit for a dog. But where did the phrase really comes from? Well, the Dog Days refers to the period of July 3 through Aug. 11 when the Dog Star, Sirius, rises with the Sun. As a result, the ancients felt that the combination of the brightest luminary of the day (the Sun) and the brightest star of night (Sirius) were responsible for the extreme heat that is experienced during the middle of summer....

The Dog Days of Summer have come and gone, but great books with a doggish theme don't follow the stars, they follow the hearts of the authors who write them and today's Sunday Salon is about some great books with a "doggish" theme.

Oogy by Larry Levin... In 2002, Larry Levin and his twin sons, Dan and Noah, took their terminally ill cat to the Ardmore Animal Hospital outside Philadelphia to have the beloved pet put to sleep. What would begin as a terrible day suddenly got brighter as the ugliest dog they had ever seen--one who was missing an ear and had half his face covered in scar tissue--ran up to them and captured their hearts. The dog had been used as bait for fighting dogs when he was just a few months old. He had been thrown in a cage and left to die until the police rescued him and the staff at Ardmore Animal Hospital saved his life. The Levins, whose sons are themselves adopted, were unable to resist Oogy's charms, and decided to take him home. Heartwarming and redemptive, OOGY is the story of the people who were determined to rescue this dog against all odds, and of the family who took him home, named him "Oogy" (an affectionate derivative of ugly), and made him one of their own.

When I read about Oogy it brought tears to my eyes. Animal abuse is a topic that really affects me. Oogy is definitely one of the lucky guys who beat the odds. I'm looking forward to reading this heartwarming story of Oogy and his amazing ability to love after all that he had gone through. Watch the YouTube video of Oogy and see for yourself what an amazing guy he is, and what a wonderful family the Levin's are for adopting him. This book will be released Oct.12th, 2010. *P.S. This Book will be Kindle Ready!

To Fetch a Thief by Spencer Quinn... This is the third book in the Chet and Bernie series featuring a lovable and wise dog narrator, Chet, and his P.I. owner, Bernie. This time the pair "go under the big top to solve the most unlikely missing persons (and animals!) case ever." Here's an short sample of Chet & Bernie from To Fetch a Thief...

We were outnumbered, some big number against two. When it comes to numbers, two is as far as I go, but it's enough, in my opinion. . . .

"Sit," Bernie said.

I sat. Bernie would think of something—he always did. That was one of the things that made the Little Detective Agency such a success, except for the finances part . . .

Chet has smelled a lot of unusual things in his years as trusted companion and partner to P.I. Bernie Little, but nothing has prepared him for the exotic scents he encounters when an old-fashioned traveling circus comes to town. Bernie scores tickets to this less-than-greatest- show-on-earth because his son Charlie is crazy about elephants. The only problem is that Peanut, the headlining pachyderm of this particular one-ring circus, has gone missing—along with her trainer, Uri DeLeath. Stranger still, no one saw them leave. How does an elephant vanish without a trace? At first there's nothing Bernie and Chet can do— it's a police matter and they have no standing in the case. But then they're hired by Popo the Clown, who has his own reasons for wanting to find out what has become of the mysteriously missing duo. After Chet takes a few sniffs in Peanut's trailer and picks up her one-of-a-kind scent, he and Bernie are in hot pursuit, heading far away from the bright lights of the traveling show and into the dark desert night. Some very dangerous people would prefer that Chet and Bernie disappear for good and will go to any lengths to make that happen. Across the border in Mexico and separated from Bernie, Chet must use all his natural strength and doggy smarts to try to save himself—not to mention Bernie and a decidedly uncooperative Peanut, too.

With a wry sense of humor, Spencer Quinn gives us a great mystery with some doggie sensabilities. The Chet and Bernie mysteries are a mix of thrill and light-hearted fun, and I look forward to reading this latest entry into the series. The first book, where we first meet Chet and Bernie is Dog on It, and the second book is Thereby Hangs a Tail, which is coming out in paperback Sept.7th. (Both of these books are Kindle Ready!) To Fetch a Thief will be released Sept. 28th, and will be Kindle Ready!

New Tricks by David Rosenfelt... From the Publisher, Attorney Andy Carpenter is about to represent an adorable Bernese mountain dog puppy, whose owner was brutally murdered, in a custody fight. Few can rival Andy's affection for dogs, and he's determined to keep Waggy from falling into the wrong hands. But this playful pup possesses a valuable secret that some people will resort to violence to obtain. It will take more than Andy's usual courtroom theatrics to save Waggy, including help from the lawyer's golden retriever, Tara. Andy soon discovers that everyone around him is in danger, including his longtime girlfriend, Laurie--and only some high-risk new tricks will save those he cherishes most.

I have never read David Rosenfelt before, but after hearing so much great buzz about this latest book of his, I had to take a second look at the author. New Tricks is David Rosenfelt's 7th book in the "Andy Carpenter series" which are books featuring the defense attorney, Andy Carpenter. Dogs seem to play a part in books one through five, but it looks like book 6, Play Dead, and the latest book, New Tricks, features Andy coming to the actual defense of a particular dog, which eventually leads into a courtroom thriller. New Tricks was published earlier this month, and I look forward to cracking the spine on this book. *P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!

A Favorite book of mine with a great doggie narrator that I HIGHLY recommend (If you haven't read it yet!)...

The Art of Racing in The Rain by Garth Stein is a wonderful book! All told thru the eyes & nose of Enzo a dog who is part philosopher, part social worker and who on the eve of his death recalls all that he and his family have been thru. His family is Denny, the up and coming race cardriver who is his master, friend & hero, Denny's wife Eve, and little Zoe their daughter. A heart wrenching and yet laugh out loud story that has Enzo learning most of his 'philosophy' from watching TV but is amazingly more human than some people. If you are a 'dog person' you will love this book! Enzo teaches us what the meaning of loyalty, love and hope is. Read more at Garth's Website! And remember that box of tissue's before you start to read!

Other Bookish News this week... Kindle 3's have officially made it into the hands of anxious readers! Initial reports throughout the blogosphere is that it's "love at first sight"! Len Edgerly whose weekly podcast, The Kindle Chronicles, which covers all things Kindle, has a great podcast this week including some great Kindle 3 info. You can follow the link to TKC Episode 110 to listen. (*BTW, my DH Paul provided the Kindle 3 tech tip this week on Len's show!) And I'll be posting my thoughts about this cute little eReader too, which I received yesterday. My first impression is I Love It! Although I had a defective power switch, Amazon immediately issued a replacement and sent it overnight at no charge to me. Now that's great customer service!

Is Nook your preferred eReader? Then check out my Saturday Post about Barnes & Nobles Classic eBooks that are FREE this week for the Nook! This weeks theme is Tales to Read Under the Covers, and includes such classics as Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and The Invisible Man by H.G.Wells.

BTW, next month Banned Book Week comes to Chick with Books! Here's the American Library Associations list of Banned & Challenged Books from 2009-2010. From Sept. 25th - Oct. 2nd I'll be highlighting "Banned Books" and cracking the spine on one to express my freedom of choice. Last year I read Catcher in The Rye, this year I'm leaning towards another coming-of-age story - The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. Read any good Banned Books lately? Share them here!

Cat Person instead? Stop by Saturday, Sept. 4th when author Helen Brown stops by Chick with Books with a guest post about her insights into dealing with the devastating death of her nine-year-old-son, Sam. Her Book, Cleo: The Cat Who Mended a Family, is her memoir about the death of her young son and how a small black kitten helped to hold her family together following the sudden accidental death of Sam.

Hope you've found something good to sink your teeth into! Speaking of sinking your teeth into something... this week my "First Lines" post, which is where I share the first lines of great books, came from Murder in Vein by Sue Ann Jaffarian. It's the first book in a new vampire mystery series (a fang-in-cheek mystery) coming out in Sept. Us bloggers just love comments, and we always read what you have to say, so what a thrill and a treat I had when under the comments section Sue Ann Jaffarian left a thank you with a little surprise for her readers! Here's what she wrote:

Thanks so much for plugging Murder in Vein!! I really appreciate it.

Here's the first paragraph from the 2nd book in the series, just to tease you a little:

"The body floated face down in the pool like an inflatable joke, something meant to scare people at parties and on Halloween. But to Madison Rose’s eye, it didn’t look like some plastic gag. It looked real. Dead real."

Thanks for sharing some top secret writing with us Sue Ann! Love the first lines! And can't wait to read the second book! I'll be reviewing the first book for everyone here soon!

So, whether you prefer dogs or vampires, hope you found something great to read today! What are you reading?! Share it all here, I always love to discover new books and authors! Happy reading... Suzanne

The Sunday Salon... Books with Buzz, and a Bit of eReader Talk!

Welcome to The Sunday Salon! I can't believe it's Sunday already! It seems as though the week went by in a flash. As always, I had my head in some great books, such as Ashes and Water by Irene Ziegler! Irene's Virtual Book Tour will be making a stop here at Chick with Books on Monday, and I'll be sharing my review then. (Memoir Mondays back to normal starting August 30th!) BTW, Her book, Ashes to Water is a literary thriller, but more about that tomorrow! I also hosted a Book Tour stop for Daniel Silva's The Rembrandt Affair, and was able to reconnect with my old friend Gabriel Allon! He's a retired special agent (OK assassin) for the Israeli government and an art restorer, not to mention a great character! Here's my Review of The Rembrandt Affair... Also from last week, in case you missed it, courtesy of Doubleday I am giving away a copy of Dracula in Love by Karen Essex! I LOVED this book! If you missed it, here's my Review of Dracula in Love. And here's the LINK to the Giveaway! There are plenty of great books to take a peek at today too! So without further ado, here are this weeks Books with Buzz...

First, have you read Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett yet?! It's one of my MUST reads, and fans of Ken Follett have something to look forward to this coming Sept! It's a new epic novel! Fall of Giants, the first novel in the 'Century' trilogy, will be published in 14 countries simultaneously on September 28, 2010. From Ken Follett's website...

"In Fall of Giants, I follow the destinies of five interrelated families – one American, one Russian, one German, one English and one Welsh – through the earth-shaking events of the First World War and the Russian Revolution. Thirteen-year-old Billy Williams enters a man’s world in the Welsh mining pits…Gus Dewar, an American law student rejected in love, finds a surprising new career in Woodrow Wilson’s White House…two orphaned Russian brothers, Grigori and Lev Peshkov, embark on radically different paths half a world apart when their plan to emigrate to America falls afoul of war, conscription and revolution…Billy’s sister, Ethel, a housekeeper for the aristocratic Fitzherberts, takes a fateful step above her station, while Lady Maud Fitzherbert herself crosses deep into forbidden territory when she falls in love with Walter von Ulrich, a spy at theGerman Embassy in London…. These characters and many others find their lives inextricably entangled as, in a saga of unfolding drama and intriguing complexity, Fall of Giants moves seamlessly from Washington to St. Petersburg, from the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty.

I was glued to the pages of Pillars of the Earth, not just because I love the time period in which the story took place, which was the Middle Ages, but because Ken Follett brought the families involved alive on the page! I cared about what happened to them, hated them (yes, this is referring to William in particular) and watched as a magnificent church was built. Fall of the Giants is not the Middle Ages, but in the hands of Ken Follett, I am so looking forward to getting to know these families and the world that is theirs.

Also from Ken's website... The second book in the 'Century' series, due to be published in 2012, will feature the children of the characters in Fall of Giants as they live through the Depression and the Second World War. The third book, due out in 2014, will be about the next generation during the Cold War.

The Tower, The Zoo, And The Tortoise by Julia Stuart... There has been a lot of great buzz about this book prior to it's publication date, which was this past week. They say, don't judge a book by its cover, but adorning this cover are the whimsical characters that we will get to know as we turn the pages, and I just love it! On the back cover are Tower of London Facts, such as "Employees of the Tower Mint were said to be rocognizable by their missing fingertips." So, what's it about? From the Publisher...

"Balthazar Jones has lived in the Tower of London with his loving wife, Hebe, and his 120-year-old pet tortoise for the past eight years. That’s right, he is a Beefeater (they really do live there). It’s no easy job living and working in the tourist attraction in present-day London. Among the eccentric characters who call the Tower’s maze of ancient buildings and spiral staircases home are the Tower’s Rack & Ruin barmaid, Ruby Dore, who just found out she’s pregnant; portly Valerie Jennings, who is falling for ticket inspector Arthur Catnip; the lifelong bachelor Reverend Septimus Drew, who secretly pens a series of principled erot ica; and the philandering Ravenmaster, aiming to avenge the death of one of his insufferable ravens. When Balthazar is tasked with setting up an elaborate menagerie within the Tower walls to house the many exotic animals gifted to the Queen, life at the Tower gets all the more interest ing. Penguins escape, giraffes are stolen, and the Komodo dragon sends innocent people running for their lives. Balthazar is in charge and things are not exactly running smoothly. Then Hebe decides to leave him and his beloved tortoise “runs” away." Some of the buzz words heard are, "charming", "whimsical", and "adorable". And I have this in my TBR pile now! *This Book is Kindle Ready!

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen... Fans of Jonathan Franzen have waited nine years since he wrote The Corrections, which won The National Book Award, for something new. That wait is finally over. In fact, Jonathan Franzen made the cover of Time magazine this week! An honor never bestowed upon a living author. Here's what the Publisher tells us about Freedom...

Patty and Walter Berglund were the new pioneers of old St. Paul—the gentrifiers, the hands-on parents, the avant-garde of the Whole Foods generation. Patty was the ideal sort of neighbor, who could tell you where to recycle your batteries and how to get the local cops to actually do their job. She was an enviably perfect mother and the wife of Walter’s dreams. Together with Walter—environmental lawyer, commuter cyclist, total family man—she was doing her small part to build a better world. But now, in the new millennium, the Berglunds have become a mystery. Why has their teenage son moved in with the aggressively Republican family next door? Why has Walter taken a job working with Big Coal? What exactly is Richard Katz—outré rocker and Walter’s college best friend and rival—still doing in the picture? Most of all, what has happened to Patty? Why has the bright star of Barrier Street become “a very different kind of neighbor,” an implacable Fury coming unhinged before the street’s attentive eyes? In his first novel since The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen has given us an epic of contemporary love and marriage. Freedom comically and tragically captures the temptations and burdens of liberty: the thrills of teenage lust, the shaken compromises of middle age, the wages of suburban sprawl, the heavy weight of empire. In charting the mistakes and joys of Freedom’s characters as they struggle to learn how to live in an ever more confusing world, Franzen has produced an indelible and deeply moving portrait of our time.

I love complex family stories. I've heard that Franzen doesn't necessarily give the reader likable characters, but breathes life into his characters to make real people, with real fears and feelings. I'm putting this one on my TBR list.

Kindle? Nook? Are you enjoying your eReader?! I love my Kindle, can't wait to see the newest member of the Kindle family (a little less than 2 weeks away!) and I am really enjoying my Nook! Yes, I bought a Nook for reading ePub books from the library! It's a joy to download ebooks from the library onto the Nook. And the Philadelphia Library makes it easy to borrow ebooks and reserve them too! I mentioned in an earlier post that the Philadelphia Library uses one of my favorite ebook libraries hosted by Overdrive. (My home library doesn't), and for a fee of $15 per year, you can get a Philadelphia Library card and enjoy accessing their eBook library via the internet! These eBooks are in the ePub format, so you need a eReader that is compatible. Sorry Kindle owners, you CAN NOT download ebooks from the library! Kindle's do not accept ePub books! If you're interested, here's the LINK to apply for a card. * Check the Philadelphia Library website to see if you have a compatible device. As of this posting, Nooks and Sony eReaders are compatible! Here is the LINK to the quick overview of what you need to get started, including a link to get Adobe Digital Editions for free, which is how you manage & transfer the ebooks you check out.

A Little Nook News... Barnes & Noble has a eBook & Nook Blog. You can access it on your Nook, but going into "The Daily", which you'll find on the bottom screen. Or you can access it on The Barnes & Noble website. Paul Hochman writes the blog, and features new ebooks, interesting ebooks, and FREE eBooks! On fridays, B & N has "Free eBook Fridays"! Check out The Daily on your Nook on Fridays to see what's available! * Julie commented about today's post and wanted to share that B & N is also offering FREE B&N CLASSIC eBooks for the Nook every Friday too! The program started July 16th and will run until Sept. 14th! Here is the link to download your free Nook Classics. There are 12 classics per week, and the selection changes every week. Thanks Julie for letting us know!

A Little Kindle News too... I see that Amazon has a new feature on their site called Debut Discount, and for a "limited time", and if you've ever watched the Kindle book bargains you know how fleeting some of these bargain prices are, you try some new authors at a discounted price. Right now there are 6 ebooks highlighted and priced at $3.99.

Well, I'm off again to take in some nature before the sun beats down too much. What have you been reading this week?! Share you're great reads right here with everyone! And are you using a eReader? Which ones are you enjoying?!

Happy reading... Suzanne