The owner of a new online cooperative lending library says interest in the idea is overwhelming, and the website hasn’t even started yet. “The website asks its members to add a list of 10 books they own to its online catalogue. The listed books can then be exchanged between members for the cost of postage and packing. Our community of readers can save money, have a bigger library and help the environment by saving a few more trees.”
Tag: 08.22.05
Comedy – Dumbing Up The Fringe
Has comedy dumbed-down the Edinburgh Fringe, ruining what used to be a great theatre festival? Stewart Lee (writer of Jerry Springer, The Opera)says not: “Comedy can respond to events with a speed that theatre cannot match. And even apolitical absurdity is an appropriate response to mass panic. We laugh in the face of death.”
Going Graphic
Comic books… er… graphic novels are hot in the adult market right now. “In the United States, sales of graphic novels have leaped from $75 million in 2001 to $207 million in 2004. Booksellers in America, Britain, Germany, Italy and South Korea cite graphic literature as one of their fastest-growing categories. In Borders, one of America’s largest bookstore chains, graphic-novel sales have risen more than 100 percent a year for the past three years. In France, where comics have long been mainstream, sales are reaching record highs, up 13.8 percent to 43.3 million copies in 2004; indeed, five of the 10 best-selling books in France last year were comic books.”