Abe Books Weird Book Room

And now for something completely different: the weird book room at Abe Brooks.

Included on the page age books about:

• Jewish chess masters on stamps
• 50 sad chairs
• Farting proudly
• Whether or not Karl Marx was a Satanist
• Bowling better through self-hypnosis
• How to survive a robot uprising
  

More E-Books Than Print Books Sold On Christmas Day

Amazon claims that for the first time ever they sold more e-books than print books this Christmas Day, but they aren't sharing specific numbers. Interesting.

The absence of hard stats makes me think Amazon only sold more digital content than print with a bit of number fudging. Regardless of whether that's true, we can take the basic fact that Amazon sold a whole lot of e-content this Christmas, more than before, now that the Kindle is more available. Not to me, though! I just ordered a bunch of good old-fashioned print books with some Christmas cash.

Library Flash Mobs, Part Deux

Remember library flash mobs, the groups of students who go into libraries to have a party? Still a cool idea, but mind the pepper spray. Ouch.

All the Lovely Libraries

Seeing this collection of photographs from beautiful libraries makes me want to plan some sort of library-themed trip. Oh well!

Holmes

While the article is formatted horribly, a Vancouver librarian offers some Sherlock Holmes trivia for those interested in the movie. From what I understand, some 'purists' don't much like the looks of the movie. Having seen it, what I understand of their problems are unfounded. Hooray! So go out and enjoy it.

Some fun facts about Sherlock Holmes:

• He played the violin (in the movie)
  
• He came back from the dead (not in the movie)
  
• He could be a little misogynistic (not in the movie)
  
• He had a cocaine problem (not in the movie)
  

It makes me wonder which current books will achieve this level of popularity - numerous authors borrowing the characters, several movies filmed. It seems doubtful the Harry Potter books will have quite the same longevity and nigh impossible for the Twilight books. At least I hope the Twilight books never get retread, anyway.

In any case, the movie is good fun - even if you don't particularly think it's loyal to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's books.

E-Reader Comparison

Jenn Northington will be writing articles for Shelf-Awareness about her e-reader experiences. In this article, she compares various e-readers via the hands-on approach.

Book Theft

According to a New York Times article, book stores are experiencing more thefts during this period of recession. The Bible is a pretty popular steal, even at a Christian book store where anyone who asks will be given a copy free of charge. Supposedly, books by male authors are also targets. Anything recommended by staff is a goner. There's even an author out there somewhere in Denver who steals copies of his own books.