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Book-inspired architecture

Searching for book-inspired architecture I found two buildings designed to look like books. The two could not be more diverse, but are equally intriguing to admire. The Kansas City Public Library looks like a row of older volumes, while the controversial House of Free Creativity in Turkmenistan is a mirror-like single open book.

RFID Technology and Bookstores

Last week I attended the CeBIT trade fair in Sydney. I brought along my phone/camera and was itching to stream something relevant to Booktagger to the Internet. In the end I took a video of a conversation I had at a booth for RFID (Radio-frequency identification).

Imagine being able to find the book you want in a shop with a location device that beeps as you get closer to the book. Or for bookshops, imagine one person able to run a stock-take in a fraction of the time it normally takes. This is the power of RFID. See the video below for a conversation on the technology.

http://qik.com/video/83645

20 Books of Crime, Intrigue, Love and the Wild

Allen and Unwin will supply a free book to the first five members who join each of the following book clubs. So what are you waiting for? Select the book you want to read and join now!

The books are exclusive, not even available in stores yet. We have a limited number, if you want a copy act quickly. Only one book per member.

The Other by David Guterson

A moving tale in the tradition of Into the Wild, about the mixed blessings that friendship can bring …

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House by Kate Summerscale

The dramatic story of the real-life murder that inspired the birth of modern detective fiction.

The Dark Mountain by Catherine Jinks

Based on a true story this is a compelling and intriguing family saga – a novel of closely guarded family secrets, public shame and private passion.

The Outlander by Gil Adamson

A haunting tale about passionate crime and retribution, precarious survival and love, that tells of one young woman’s deliberate journey…

Make sure you:

• Join a book club and add the featured book to your “I want to read” bookshelf (the first members to do this will get a copy of the book)
• Ensure your address details are filled out in your profile so we can send you the book
• Forward this email to your friends!

(Free books only for Australia and New Zealand mailing addresses, we’re working on publishers in other countries)

Eucalyptus Oil the Bain of Adhesives and Stickers

One of the first things I do when I buy a book is remove the sticker. Good stickers come off clean, bad ones leave an awful residue. I feel like I’ve picked up a book trade secret today.

Eucalyptus oil wafted under my nose while I was at Abbey’s receiving desk at the back. Expecting the smell of books I was puzzled and said so. To which I was informed by knowing eyes how wonderfully well eucalyptus oil works in removing price tags and adhesives in general. I was then warned not to use it to clean keyboards as others had gotten carried away with its cleaning power to only find it has an unwanted effect on plastics. They melt.

Next time you’re looking to remove a sticker from a book use eucalyptus oil, just be careful to not use it on CD covers or keyboards…so I’ve been told.

Image via Wikipedia.

10 More Free Books Courtesy Hachette Livre

Join our Betwixt Book Club by Hachette Livre now. The first 10 members will receive a copy.

The books are exclusive, not even available in stores yet! We have a limited number, if you want a copy act quickly.

Here’s what to do

• Add Betwixt to your “I want to read” bookshelf and join the book club (the first members to do this will get a copy of the book)
• Ensure your address details are filled out in your profile so we can send you the book
• Tell your friends!

Betwixt

By Tara Bray Smith: Hachette Livre

Gripping and edgy – Betwixt is a dark journey into the troubled lives of a group of teenagers brought together by the strange powers they develop.

For three teenagers, dark mystery has always lurked at the corner of the eyes and the edge of sleep.

Beautiful Morgan D’Amici wakes in her trailerpark home with dirt and blood under her fingernails. Paintings come alive under Ondine Mason’s violet-eyed gaze. Haunted runaway Nix Saint-Michael sees halos of light around people about to die. At a secret summer rave, the three teenagers learn of their true, changeling nature and their uncertain, intertwined destinies. Riveting, unflinching, beautiful, BETWIXT shows a magic as complex and challenging as any ordinary truth.

The buzz

‘A pleasure’ Elle;

‘Piercingly evoked… potent’ New York Times;

‘Smith writes with grace of the contradictions of childhood; the confusing rages and humiliations; the longing for order; the delicate pleasures; the misunderstandings occasioned by innocence’ Vogue

Fans of Heroes, Skins, The Craft and The Lost Boys will love Betwixt. The book was a launch title on Headline’s Teen Fiction list.

About the author

Tara Bray Smith was born and raised in Hawaii. She graduated from Dartmouth College and received her MFA in nonfiction from Columbia University’s School of the Arts. Her work has appeared in Granta among other publications. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. She’s written a previous book, West of Then.

Conditions

• After you’ve read the book write a review of at least a paragraph in length, if reviews are daunting create a set of questions for yourself to answer
• To avoid rights encroachment you must have an address in Australia or New Zealand (If you live in another country tell us and we’ll see if we can organise with publishers in your neighborhood)

A fashionable wait

Michelle Jank is an Australian fashion designer who first grabbed attention with her intricate-yet-bold demi-couture collection shown in 2000. I have been fascinated with pictures of the clothes, handbags and jewelery she has created since then and the imaginative spreads she has styled for magazines. In a blogged interview preceding her return to Australian Fashion Week this year, Michelle gave some good news:

“I’m working towards a book actually. I’ve been writing for a long time and I think I’m getting to the stage where I’d like to work on some sort of published format. I keep visual diaries. I’ve always done that since I finished art school. I’ve been taking a lot of photographs while I’ve been overseas. It will probably be prose with photographs etc.”

Another book for me to wait for…

Image source: http://www.iqons.com/michelle+jank

Comic career advice

Having finished reading 4HWW I was looking for something similar and found The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need. Not only the last career guide you’ll need, but the first business book published in manga format (Japanese comic book style).

Author Dan Pink has written two other books, including a New York Times bestseller, and often contributes to prominent business and technology publications. He studied the manga industry in Tokyo during 2007 before releasing his current title. Still not intrigued? Try viewing the book’s trailer below:

20 Free Books Claimed 20 More to Go!

Act quickly, there are 20 more free books to give out. The book clubs with 5 free books should have 6 members (5 members + 1 moderator). The book clubs with 10 can have 11 members. Join and tell your friends.

9 x The Daughters of Moab

7 x The Painted Man

1 x Texas

1 x The Story of Forgetting

2 x The Stranding

Don’t forget to fill in your address details so we can ship it to you. Australia and NZ addresses only.

40 Free Books from Publishers – Register Now!

We have 40 free books to give out from publishers Allen & Unwin and Harper Collins. The books are exclusive, not even available in stores yet! We have a limited number, if you want a copy act quickly.

Here’s what to do:

• Choose a single book you want to review (only one per person)
• Add it to your bookshelf and join the associated book club (the first members to do this will get a copy of the book)
• Ensure your address details are filled out in your profile so we can send you the book
• Tell your friends!

Conditions:

• Write a review at least a paragraph in length, if reviews are daunting create a set of questions for yourself to answer
• To avoid rights encroachment you must have an address in Australia or New Zealand (If you live in another country tell us and we’ll see if we can organise with publishers in your neighborhood)

6 bonus books:

For those who participate the most in the forums we’ll hand out an additional book, to be announced.

Here are the books (the full details of all books are below):

Courtesy of Allen & Unwin

• Texas by Sarah Hay – 5 Free Copies – Click here and join the Book Club
• The Stranding by Karen Viggers – 5 Free Copies – Click here and join the Book Club
• Twenty Chickens for a Saddle: The Story of an African Childhood – 5 Free Copies – Click here and join the Book Club
• The Story of Forgetting by Stefan Merrill Block – 5 Free Copies – Click here and join the Book Club

Courtesy of Harper Collins

• The Painted Man by Peter Brett – 10 Free Copies – Click here and join the Book Club
• The Daughters of Moab by Kim Westwood – 10 Free Copies – Click here and join the Book Club

Now it’s time to make your selection.

Texas

By Sarah Hay – Allen & Unwin

The compelling new novel of life, land and love in the Top End by Sarah Hay, winner of The Australian/Vogel Literary Award for her first novel, Skins in 2001.

On a rundown station in Australia’s remote top end, life for Susannah is isolated, difficult and nothing is as she expected. A dark history seeps through the land and the air shimmers with heat and an intangible menace. Then a young English girl, Laura, arrives to work as a jillaroo and falls in love with Texas, the Aboriginal head stockman, naively believing that her love will pull him out of long-held destructive habits. Texas is a powerful story of the land and the past and desire, of the ruthless nature of this country and the fragility of the people trying to force their will upon it.

The Stranding

By Karen Viggers – Allen & Unwin

A novel of love, loss and the healing power of nature.

A man arrives in a small coastal town, obsessed with that he has lost, broken by grief. He is drawn to Callista, a young artist who has her own compelling reasons for wanting to be alone. A friendship develops, then a passionate affair, but everything is challenged when their past demons are accidentally revealed. Everything comes to a head with a whale stranding on a remote beach, and the whole town becomes involved in a tense and uncertain rescue; a rescue that challenges the beliefs and philosophies of the local community as well as the outsiders who assist in the rescue. The stranding brings the characters together in an emotionally charged situation that produces unusual rifts and liaisons and an unexpected outcome. Beautifully written, The Stranding is a lyrical and heartfelt story about loss, memory and the power of love.

Twenty Chickens for a Saddle: The Story of an African Childhood

By Robyn Scott – Allen & Unwin

An uplifting, engaging and deeply affectionate portrayal of a wonderfully eccentric family and their life in Botswana.

This is the extraordinary story of the Scott family’s fifteen years in Botswana, during which Robyn’s mother single-handedly home-schooled her three children, whilst her husband ran a flying doctor practice, attempting, with often unexpected results, to adapt his experience to the unique demands of a rural practice and the growing problem of AIDS. Set against the backdrop of one of Africa’s rare democratic success stories battling with one of the continent’s worst AIDS crises, this book remains an uplifting, engaging and deeply affectionate portrayal of an extraordinary place and family.

The Story of Forgetting

By Stefan Merrill Block – Allen & Unwin

A heart-breaking, multi-stranded novel about love, loss, family and so much more.

At seventy, Abel is a hermit, resigned to memories of the family he has lost. Hundreds of miles away, in suburban Austin, fifteen year old Seth is devastated when his mother is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Though neither one knows of the other’s existence, Seth and Abel share a unique tradition: as children, both were told stories of Isadora, a fantastical land free from the sorrows of memory. Spanning continents and generations, The Story of Forgetting is the tale of how loss, however devastating, can ultimately forge profound meaning.

The Painted Man

By Peter Brett – Harper Collins

The stunning debut fantasy novel from author Peter Brett.

The Painted Man, book one of the Demon trilogy, is a captivating and thrilling fantasy adventure, pulling the reader into a world of demons, darkness and heroes.

Mankind has ceded the night to the corelings: demons that rise up out of the ground each day at dusk, killing and destroying at will until dawn, when the sun banishes them back to the Core. As darkness falls, the world’s few surviving humans hide behind magical wards, praying that the magic will see them through another night.

As years passed, the distance between each tiny village stretched farther and farther. It seems that nothing can stop or harm the corelings, and nothing can unite the dwindling populations.

Born into these isolated hamlets are three children: A Messenger teaches 10-year-old Arlen that it is fear, rather than the demons, which has crippled humanity. When she is only 13 summers old, Leesha’s perfect life is destroyed by a simple lie, and she is reduced to gathering herbs for an old woman more fearsome than the demons at night. And young Rojer’s life is changed irrevocably when a travelling minstrel comes to his town and plays his fiddle.

But these three children all have something in common. They are all stubborn, and know that there is more to the world than what they’ve been told, if only they can risk leaving their safe wards to find it.

The Daughters of Moab

By Kim Westwood – Harper Collins

Down in the generator rooms at Kingdom Fort True Believer Centre, transfect ‘E’ is confessing, and the Nathans are taking it very badly …

Assumpta Viali likes her solitude. A chronic loner, she dispenses rough justice ‘as required’ for Eustace Crane II, the Nathans’ crotchety Head of Council.

For Eustace, however, nothing has gone right since Tribulation. He’s been left the leader of a bunch of pithless wonders hiding in their crumbling citadels, something blasphemous tucked in their basements. And while his scary minder heads off on secret business of her own, out in the Sorry Plains the Children of the Maglev prepare for the Afterlife.

But one among them has a far less sacrificial future in mind.