We appear to be back on track; apologies for the delay. Anyway, here’s some news about books and ebooks from around the web:
- So Maureen Dowd flagrantly plagiarized Talking Points Memo Sunday. Here’s the Telegraph UK story about it (the NY Times has suspiciously not written a story about the plagiarism). Here’s the column in question, with the paragraph now cited (to Josh Marshall), and an awkward correction at the bottom. Dowd’s excuse was that she only meant to plagiarize an email she got from a friend, and not another journalist. This makes me think that the definition of “fair use” will be an important point of debate in the next evolution of media. Should it be fair use for Dowd not to attribute her friend’s work just because it’s unpublished? Here’s a post from A Commonplace Blog about the pain of having your unpublished work plagiarized. On the other hand, how does fair use factor into the debate about piracy and file-sharing? One Harvard professor thinks P2P file-sharing should be considered fair use. Food for thought.
- The finalists for Amazon’s 2009 Breakthrough Novel Award have been announced; our own Sean Clark was a judge in the first round. If you’re feeling inspired, here’s a list of June writing contest deadlines. Or you can get involved with collaborative fiction at MobileRead.
- Quick takes: Dick Meyer’s list of the 100 best English-language novels on NPR.com, a response to The Modern Library’s list, didn’t sit well with Jacket Copy; here comes a Catcher in the Rye “sequel” not written by Salinger; new ereader announced from Bookeen; one independent bookstore in Kansas is going to interesting lengths to survive; lots of controversy, debate, and excitement about Murakami’s new novel; a British library embraces ereaders; and a very interesting story about the effects of ebook pricing in the Kindle store.
- Random of the week: Football fans, rejoice! The Time of Tears is over! After three painful years, Tony Kornheiser—he of the racist jokes and all-around terrible commentary—will not return to Monday Night Football 2009! Hallelujah! Kornheiser claims he quit due to his fear of flying, but that excuse smacks of a latent case of Chien-Ming Wang’s Disease (aka Chronic Suckitis). Replacing Kornheiser is Jon Gruden, ex-head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccanneers; the team fired him in January. Taste the happy.
