News about books and ebooks from around the web.
- Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book won the Hugo award for Best Novel. Here are the other Hugo award winners.
- If you have a BeBook, beware. In the new firmware update, BeBook is switching from mobi support to PDF/ePub support. As in, mobi ebooks will no longer work on your BeBook. It’s not a bug; it’s just what happens.
- The Google Books settlement is still causing a kerfuffle. William Morris (a talent agency) is encouraging its clients to opt out of the settlement. The Authors Guild has released a rebuttal, and the settlement is OK by former antitrust lawyer David Balto. Now, generally the Authors Guild’s stance is wrong, but the Google Books settlement―especially for out-of-print, in-copyright books―seems good for readers, and hence good for literature. The opt-in/opt-out date is Sept. 4th. Should be interesting.
- There’s a big Sony Reader press conference scheduled for August 24th. What could it be about? Kindle Review thinks there might be a Sony Reader 900 in the works. I’m not convinced there’s a secret third device, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a wireless Sony network, and that should be the date when Sony Reader software is available for Macs. In preparation, here’s instructions on how to hack Sony Readers.
- Here are a few Kindle-related notes. Kindle might not be the savior of newspapers: Joe Wikert is losing interest in reading them on Kindle, and News Corp. isn’t happy about publishing them on Kindle. Meanwhile, an iPhone textbook app is making inroads into student ebooks, and other etextbook competition is all over the place. Last, the Wall Street Journal thinks Kindle could get passed by if it sticks with its proprietary, locked-in format. Let’s hope so.
- Here’s an interesting piece about how Stieg Larsson’s translator essentially washed his hands of the Girl translations. I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and found it particularly poor in the language department, so this makes a little bit of sense. Also, the literal translation of the Swedish title, “Men Who Hated Women,” would fit much better.
- Sam Leith, of the Guardian, interprets the formatting of Nick Cave’s upcoming novel, which will be sold in an “Enhanced Edition” that includes an iPhone app, an attached audiobook, and a soundtrack by Cave. Sounds pretty cool to me, but I’m already a Nick Cave fan. It sounds a bit gimmicky to Leith, who says it could herald a new format for books. In related news, Thomas Pynchon, who was confirmed as the narrator of the Inherent Vice trailer, released a playlist to accompany the novel (story here). And speaking of new media formats, did you hear about the new one for music? Can’t say I’ve been missing song lyrics and videos in my music, but if they come at no extra charge, what the hell.
- Quick takes: books make you feel better, says the Pepsi Optimism Project (the who?); publishing the first book of a series for free is a great selling system, evidently―the future art of “linking free to paid”; the new NEA chairman sounds cool, Nancy Grace’s upcoming novel does not; the lost art of reading in the L.A. Times; authors, don’t quit drinking; and learn to speed read in 20 minutes.
- Random of the week: The Ballad of G.I. Joe from Funny or Die (via), wherein a bevy of celebrities (including, at the end of the list, Buster from Arrested Development and the pilot from Firefly) enact Joes and Cobras in their downtime.
