It’s November and the weather has taken a turn for the dreary. In an effort to help everyone become a little more cheerful, here’s a light-hearted romp through this week’s literary news:

Museum ‘of story and storytelling’ planned for Oxford
An online dream touches down from the internet to reality– namely, into Rochester House in Oxford, mere blocks away from Christ Church College where many scenes from the recent Harry Potter movies were filmed. “There must be something in the waters of the Isis that gets into the system of Oxford residents, magically causing them to think of and bring to life unforgettable characters and plots,” said Oxfordshire-based children’s author Mary Hoffman.

–Literary Review’s 2009 Bad Sex in Fiction Prize Strikes Again. Prizes have not yet been chosen, but take a look at these excerpts (if you can stomach the prose!) and see which one gets your vote.

–Overdue library books return century and a half later, all fees paid. Speaking of due dates and late fees: imagine receiving a $1,000 bill from your library, fifty years later!

–“Tokyo Vice” Author Goes To Japan Seeking Enlightenment, Ends Up Writing About Organized Crime. Journalism teachers will tell you to follow the story wherever it leads. It led Jake Adelstein to be placed under police protection– but the story seems to be worth it.

–A dark and stormy night: and slightly better first sentences from new books. With a first sentence like “Of Filastro Agustín’s seven children, the only one he couldn’t bear to beat was his youngest son, Edmund,” how could it be bad?

–Neil Gaiman continues to wreck the grade curve for other fantasy writers. How do we love Gaiman’s new Graveyard Book? From the Newbery medal to the Locus young adult award and the Hugo best novel prize, to the longlisted for the Carnegie medal and shortlist for the World Fantasy award, in quite a number of ways. Gaiman says he was pleasantly surprised, though “the trouble with saying that is that you always sound vaguely insincere – people assume that with each award the book wins, saying you are surprised is less and less plausible.”

With so many awards under his belt, I wonder if Gaiman will wander off to sweep other genre’s prizes. Do you think he’s liable to branch out (and you thought your supremacy was safe, best-selling authors everywhere!)?

Lately there has been huge buzz about the lack of women in some of the largest publications’ book lists.  One example is Publishers Weekly’s Top Books of 2009 list which was completely devoid of women authors.  This has sparked an interesting debate as well as a hot trending topic on twitter #fembook.  BookSwim understands the importance of equal representation - and that doesn’t mean that there needs to be an even amount of men and women within any given book list, but that there is an equal vetting process.  We took a look at our Top Favorited Authors page.  This page is generated by the number of members we have that have selected an author as their favorite.  One could call it a popularity contest in a way.  As of writing this article, 7 of the top 10 authors are women.

#1 James Patterson

#2 Jodi Picoult

#3 Dean Koontz

#4 Stephanie Meyer

#5 Janet Evanovich

#6 Laurell K. Hamilton

#7 Nicholas Sparks

#8 Nora Roberts

#9 Jennifer Weiner

#10 Charlaine Harris

What are your thoughts on the top 10 “Most Favorited” authors?

-Nick

Our friends over at BookGasm recently put out a post of 5 sexy book covers of books that they have no intention of reading.  As a quick response, we decided to add to that list and add one more book with a sexy cover/title that we here at BookSwim won’t be reading.

Old Tractors and the Men Who Love Them.  Need we say more?  This beauty has an ISBN of 0760301298 and can be purchased from Amazon for as little as $3.99 + shipping.

Do you know of any funny book covers?

Welcome to another post of Books Bulletin, gathering odd, interesting, and wacky news from around the literary world.

Work on your vocabulary, Mr. Churchill

By now, students in the UK have accustomed themselves to writing essays that will be assessed and graded by a computer. But it seems the computer system toted by the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors (CIEA) gives low marks to Churchill’s writing (needs to use fewer metaphors) and Ernest Hemingway’s (needs to write with more care and detail).

The incredible bouncing pricetag of John Grisham

The cost of John Grisham’s Ford County, officially released Tuesday, moved up and down like stock market shares as rivals Amazon.com and Walmart.com extended, then rescinded, their high discounts for top-selling pre-orders.

Early in the day, Amazon was selling Grisham’s book of short stories for $9, the same price it had offered for Ford County before publication and a sign that Amazon was ready to continue the cost competition beyond the release date. Walmart.com was selling “Ford County” for $12 early Tuesday, then cut the price to the pre-order discount of $8.98.

Rick Riordan remains a gods-fearing author

Rick Riordan, the author of the million-selling “Percy Jackson” series about the Greek gods in modern times, has started “The Kane Chronicles,” in which Egyptian gods similarly make mischief, war, love, and other shenanigans in the modern age.

The Disney Book Group announced that the first installment, The Kane Chronicles, Book One: The Red Pyramid, comes out in May.

For Thrillers, Glenn Beck Is Becoming New Oprah

On his radio show and cable television programs, first on CNN Headline News and now on the Fox News Channel, Mr. Beck has enthusiastically endorsed dozens of novelists, a majority of them writing in the thriller genre. Mr. Beck, who now attracts 9 million weekly listeners on radio and 2.7 million daily viewers on television, often selects authors whose plots or characters reflect political stances that mirror his own. But he also promotes the work of authors who may disagree with many of his views.

Who’s more likely to influence your opinion to buy a book: Glenn Beck or Oprah?

–Chip

The other day I was going through my book shelf to add more books that I’ve read to my goodreads read shelf.  I shocked myself at how quickly I got through it and started to think of books that I read and didn’t own.  At first, I started to think about the journey that my books may have made - did I sell the book on half.com, had I borrowed it from someone?  Was it part of a collection?  Had it gotten lost somewhere.  Being a concrete thinker who loves statistics, I decided to come up with a ratio - and this ratio is called the Shelf Ratio.

Like any good ratio, it comes with a few friends.  I’ve decided to outline those ratios and explain what they might tell you about yourself:

The Shelf Ratio: The amount of books you own and have on shelves (lost or in boxes don’t count) divided by the number of books you’ve read.
The Wanting Ratio: The amount of books you haven’t read and have on your shelf divided by the number of books you have on your shelf that you have read
The Pack-Rat Ratio: The amount of books you do not plan on reading again that are on your shelves divided by the amount of books you do plan on reading again that are on your shelves.
The Good-Friend Ratio: The amount of books you have lent out divided by the amount of books you are currently borrowing.

To share a bit about me, I will share with you my ratios:
My Shelf Ratio: 20%.  I’m a big fan of borrowing/renting books.  As well, most of the books I get, I don’t want to keep, so I resell.
My Wanting Ratio: 30%.  This is very high, but mainly because I keep my shelf so slim.
My Pack-Rat Ratio: 20%.  The only reason I hold onto a book is if I wish to read it or if I wish to give it to someone else.
My Good-Friend Ratio: Ignoring the books my wife has “lent” me to read, I’m on a 10:1 or 1000%.  I am pretty quick to lend a book to a friend, but between my lack of time and my BookSwim membership, I tend not to need to borrow books.

What are your ratios?

Some milestones and what they mean:
Wanting Ratio > 50%: START READING!
Pack-Rat Ratio > 100%: Get rid of those excess books.  Sell them, lend them to friends, that’s good books being wasted!
Good-Friend ratio < 50%: Read and return those books to your friends, and hand out your old books to friends as gifts!

-Nick

Brace yourselves, readers and writers worldwide! November is National Novel Writing Month, a huge international event in which over 130,000 would-be writers rush to finish an original 50,000-word novel between November 1st and November 30th. From high school students to professional authors, most of them unpublished, these writers spend one highly caffeinated month writing for the sheer enjoyment of finally finishing that novel.

BookSwim is giving all NaNoWriMo writers the chance to expose their work to thousands of active readers. Now announcing BookSwim’s 2009 NaNoWriMo Competition! All NaNoWriMo winners are welcome to submit excerpts of their work for a chance to have their novels published through print-on-demand technology and made available in BookSwim’s catalog!

Prizes
20 Semi-Finalists: 1 free month of BookSwim
5 Grand Prize Winners: Your book rented through BookSwim!

How to Enter

Start with a bang! Copy and paste the first 1,000 words of your novel into the body of your email program along with your name, brief (3 - 5 sentence) summary of your novel, and your preferred method of contact, then attach the first 10,000 words in an .rtf, .doc / .docx, or .pdf file. You need not stop mid-sentence to get exactly 10,000 words– just come to a logical stop as close as you can to that word limit. Email your submission to the ONE email address that best corresponds to the genre of your novel:

Speculative fiction (horror, fantasy, science fiction): nanospecfic@bookswim.com
Mystery / thriller: nanomystery@bookswim.com
Historical fiction: nanohistory@bookswim.com
Romance: nanoromance@bookswim.com
Contemporary / mainstream / literary: nanolit@bookswim.com

Submissions begin immediately and close December 31st. Make our judges want the rest of the story!

Round 2: The People’s Vote
From these submissions, our judges will select twenty semi-finalists. Their excerpts will be displayed on our site between January 15th and January 31st, and every visitor to our site will be able to nominate one novel from each genre. Make sure all of your friends vote for your submission!

On February 1st, we’ll count the votes for each entry and declare our official winners! If you win, we’ll work with you to print copies of your book, rent them, and pay you each time a BookSwimmer reads your novel.

Questions, comments, or suggestions? Email cobrien@bookswim.com

WANT TO BE A CONTEST JUDGE? Send an email to cobrien@bookswim.com with your name and preferred genres you’d like to review for a free month of unlimited book rental!

Official Contest Rules: Terms and Conditions

1. ELIGIBILITY AND PARTICIPATION.
a. This competition is sponsored by BookSwim Corporation.
b. This competition is open to all winners of National Novel Writing Month as defined on nanowrimo.org (someone who has completed an original work of fiction at least 50,000 words between November 1st and November 30th; see site for full details) currently residing in the United States and its territories, except employees of BookSwim Corporation, its competition sponsor, advertising and promotional agencies and their respective affiliates and associates and such employees’ family members.
c. Entrants are responsible for compliance with applicable laws in jurisdictions where they reside.
d. By entering this sweepstakes, entrants automatically agree to be bound by the terms of this sweepstakes as listed in this Competition Terms and Conditions.
e. Failure to adhere to the terms and conditions listed in this Competition Terms and Conditions will result in disqualification of any submitted entries, and the nullification of entrant privileges to further participate in the competitions.

6. GENERAL
a. Releases. All entrants, as a condition of entry into the Competition, agree to release BookSwim Corporation staff and its Competition sponsors from and against any and all liability, claims or actions of any kind whatsoever for injuries, damages, or losses to persons or property associated or sustained in connection with participation in any and all aspects of the Competition, including accessing the Competition, submitting an entry, and the receipt, ownership or use of any prize. Each prize winner bears all risk of loss or damage to his or her applicable prize after it has been delivered.
b. Prize Responsibility. All prize winners will be responsible for any and all federal, state and/or local taxes resulting from acceptance of any and all prizes associated with this Competition. No prize substitution or changes are allowed. All prizes are subject to availability. If any winner chooses not to redeem his/her prize, said prize may be withdrawn and awarded to an alternate entry.
c. Limitation of Liability. Neither BookSwim Corporation or its staff, nor its Competition sponsors, assume any responsibility or liability for (i) any incorrect or inaccurate entry form information, or for any faulty or failed electronic data transmissions; (ii) any authorized access to, or theft, destruction or alteration of entry forms or submissions at any point in the operation of this Competition; (iii) any technical malfunction, failure, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or communications line failure, regardless of cause, with regard to any equipment, systems, networks, lines, satellites, email programs, servers, computers or providers utilized in any aspect of the submission of an entry or the operation of the Competition; (iv) inaccessibility or unavailability of the Internet; or (v) any injury or loss of participants which may be related to or resulting from any attempt to participate in the Competition or download any materials in the Competition.
d. Disputes. To the extent permitted by law, the rights to litigate, to seek injunctive relief, or to make any other recourse to judicial or any other procedure in case of disputes or claims resulting from or in connection with this Competition are hereby excluded, and any entrant expressly waives any and all such rights. You agree that you will submit any dispute you may have with regards to the conduct of the Competition, interpretation of the Rules, and/or awarding of prizes to BookSwim Corporation, whose decision regarding such dispute shall be binding and final. All disputes must be submitted in writing to BookSwim Corporation, 211 Warren Street, Suite 305, Newark, NJ 07103.
e. Winners. All decisions are final.
f. Winner Announcement. All prize winners will be contacted by BookSwim Corporation via email for the claiming of their prizes.
g. Privacy: Bookswim Corporation will not share any information provided by Competition entrants to third parties.
h. Age of Participation. Any participant under the age of 18 is required to notify BookSwim Corporation before entering any competition processes. Participants under the age of 18 may be required to provide proof of parental consent, either in writing by postal mail or facsimile transmittal, at any time during the competition process. If a winner of any award is under the age of 18, parental consent in writing by postal mail or facsimile transmittal will be required.
i. Terms. BookSwim Corporation reserves the right to abbreviate, modify, suspend, cancel, or terminate this Competition at any time without prior notice and without further obligation or liability to you. BookSwim Corporation also reserves the right to change these Terms and Conditions at any time without prior notice.

Hello– this is Chip again, back from my hiatus in the land of non-blogging. Apologies for my long silence, but I come bearing gifts: the first edition of Books Bulletin, a weekly post you’ll find here at the Lit Life every Friday morning that will catalog the bizarre & fascinating news of the literary world. From gossip about your favorite authors to the discovery of new works by Shakespeare, I’ll show you the most interesting stories I’ve found in the wacky alternate universe of publishing.

Plagiarism Software Identifies New Shakespeare Play. Word-comparison software is one of the primary reasons I talked myself out of selling college papers in my younger days. I’m happy to see it scoring goodwill points with the English major crowd.

Book reviewer quits over sadistic misogyny. Fed up with the way female characters are treated in crime novels, award-winning crime novelist and book reviewer Jessica Mann has called it quits. What does this say about today’s thrillers?

Coco Chanel books storm shelves, stores, take no prisoners. What’s with the sudden surge in novels and books about this famous French designer? Author Karen Karbo ponders: “Some mystical thing in the zeitgeist?”

Author and motivational speaker James Arthur Ray sees the publication of his two books delayed, following the deaths of three people and hospitalization of 18 in a sweat lodge ceremony he led. According to the article, Ray has “vowed to continue holding seminars despite criticism,” even as a criminal investigation of his practices is underway. In his next book, does he discuss strategies for ducking homicide allegations in a spiritual warrioresque way?

Writer Rick Moody plans to tweet a short story on Twitter over the course of three days. Just a reminder: Twitter posts are limited to 140 characters, shorter than the text message limit on most cellphones. I’m sure that wherever he is, Hemingway, inventor of the six word novel, would approve.

That’s all for this week. Happy reading!

Read the full article at KTNV.com

……Websites are now offering books for rent, similar to the way Netflix rents movies.

……Bookswim.com is another option which focuses on recently released best sellers and then lets subscribers pay second-hand prices to keep the books they like……..

Read the full article at KTNV.com

Read the full article at CSMonitor.com
……..
Summer Reading Stimulus Plan

For avid readers, BookSwim offers a Netflix-like service where sub-scribers “rent” a number of books per month and return them whenever – no late fees. Now BookSwim is offering a free month of books when you sign up for a summer subscription. For full details go to www.bookswim.com/summerreading/.