Literally Blogging

No matter how you slice it, modern literature finds its beginnings and roots, in small literary magazines. Online and in hard copy, the literary journal has stood as the symbol of the “starving artist,” symbol for writers but it remains the true way to legitimate literature. Identity Theory, an online Weblog, that is a small literary publication, is a great example and a good source for both readers and writers. Whether it is fiction, nonfiction, poetry, photography or other digital arts, Identity Theory may be the place for you.

Identity Theory is a regularly published, web-based magazine of literature and culture edited by Matt Borondy.

About three months ago, I found a wonderful book club online. Well, maybe book club isn’t the best description. It is like a giant wish list that… well, that’s not really it either. Let me try again. This book club had resources to help me find books that I might be interested in… but that wasn’t all. The name of this site is Book Browse and it is a great Web site for readers who need a little organization and love to hear about new books.

Let’s face it. When you go to your “Local Bookstore,” whether that be in the mall or online, it is hard to find new things to read. It isn’t that they aren’t there. There are tons of new books all of the time. But in our rushed lives, hitting the bookstore at lunch can be less than fulfilling. This site fills in and helps readers find the treasures we might otherwise overlook.

You can search by genre, by theme, country of setting, or even time period. Each book has information from the jacket, excerpts, reader reviews, author interviews and biographies. Many also have reading guides for those wishing to use a certain book in a monthly reading club. There are also quotes from reading critics, which you can read or disregard totally.

Each book also has a link to a site that compares the prices of the book you are interested in, or you can go directly to Amazon and buy from there.

Book Browse has ways to organize book lists, prioritize reading, organize purchasing of books, and if that didn’t provide enough, each book on your personal book list has a box to make comments. It also has a section to mark to remind you why you want the book - a gift, a must read, a want to read, have read, or if you have rejected it as a possibility.

Book Browse is a great site for the casual reader or the serious reader. There is a free membership as well as a premium membership. The customer service is fantastic, the owner of the site is friendly and I think you will be pleased with your membership.

I know a lot of people who love to read, also have some visual challenges. And audio books aren’t cheap - not by a long shot. There are some options online but some of them are pretty pricey as well. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a library of audio books for a reasonable price each month?

I found the perfect solution. It was a moment of pure serendipity. Picture someone stumbling into a doorway and falling flat on their face in the entry hall. That is, in a cyber-kind-of way what happened to me. The Web site is called JiggerBug. It is to audio books, what Netflix is to films.

There are three plans. One allows you to have one audio book at a time. A second plan allows for two at a time, plus a downloadable audio book every 14 days, and another plan allows for five audio books at a time, plus two free instant downloads every 14 days. These are very reasonably priced plans - you can keep the CDs or tapes as long as you need to and it is all postage paid. And there is a two week trial - what more could you need?

Just like Netflix, they have a queue. So I have selected about a dozen books and they will come to me one after the other, as I return them. I chose the two at a time plan; my plan is to be reading one while the other is in transit.

They have classics, plays, genre fiction, popular fiction, nonfiction… you name it and they have it. And if they don’t, they’ll try to get it for you via a convenient request form.

I am thrilled. I love to knit, which is why I am usually hanging out at Hankering For Yarn, my primary blog. And there are times I want to read but I can’t do both! Movies I can at least listen to, but I have a HUGE stack of books to read. Now I can knit and read simultaneously. I have been doing the happy dance ever since I found JiggerBug.

JiggerBug

Hidden in the collections of Philadelphia libraries is an unexpected treasure — a rich trove of more than 7,000 medieval and Renaissance miniature paintings showing religious scenes, classical tales, historical events, and medieval romances. Many have never been on public display, or even studied by scholars. (From Leaves of Gold)

This is a collaborative project of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collection Libraries. That is quite a mouthful! And it is also quite a collection. I was sure, to be honest, what an illuminated collection was. Now I wish I lived in Philadelphia so I could see this in person. Fortunately, it is also online - not as good as being there, but it is the next best thing.

From Leaves of Gold, “Illuminated manuscripts are hand-produced books that include drawn, painted, and gilded decoration on pages made of vellum, a specially prepared and polished animal skin. The simplest manuscripts are adorned with calligraphic penwork dividing one paragraph of text from another. More lavish examples are embellished with historiated initials, enlarged and colorful letters that contain tiny representations of figures or biblical scenes.”

This collection is breathtaking. Go take the tour and then take some time in the learning center. It is amazing.

Leaves of Gold

I found a really creative site today. It’s a lot of fun and it provides a lot of information. The name of the site is Gnooks, which I am assuming is pronounced, “nooks.” It is a rather unique way of researching literature and authors. It also has a forum and a nifty little shopping tool.

But the best part of Gnooks, in my opinion, is the Literature Map. This isn’t a traditional map. When I found the site, and entered in an author’s name (I chose Willa Cather) I expected to find a dot on a map. Literally (no pun intended). But it didn’t work that way at all.

Literature Map provided what could best be described as a word cloud of author’s names. The theory behind the map is that if I liked the author who I entered, I would also like these authors. I tested it a bit.

By entering John Steinbeck, I found that I would probably also enjoy F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Orwell, Henry Miller, Franz Kafka, and many others. Each name was a link that also produced another word cloud and more authors were presented.

I think this is an ingenious way to discover authors. Some of the names I wasn’t familiar with, therefore it served the purpose of expanding the potential reading I could do. Here is the progression I followed:

1. John Steinbeck
2. John Irving
3. Isabelle Allende
4. Annie Proulx
5. Annie LaMott
6. Anne Tyler
7. Amy Tan

Granted by choosing names of known favorites, I did hedge my bets a little, but should I have explored into names I wasn’t familiar with, I would have found some new material for my reading list. But it doesn’t end there; this site is now going to help me find books by the author I have decided to pursue.

So I returned to the front page of Gnook and typed in “Amy Tan” in the literature locator, and was taken to a page that listed many places to buy her books. It really did cut out a lot of searching and with the prices posted, I could tell exactly where the good deals could be found.

They also have a forum for discussion of authors and a tool that helps you find authors based on a selection of your three favorite books. This tool worked well too, but I liked the literature map better.

Take a look at Gnook. I think you will have a great time there. Bookmark it for those days when you are wanting to start a new book and discover a new author. This site makes it fun to find new books to explore and widen your world, just a little bit more.

Gnooks for Books

Literature Map

Gnooks is a part of a greater whole, Gnod, created by Marek Gibney. Gnod also covers movies and music in the same manner as they cover books.