Books2day

Authors and publishers don't always get it right the first time: 

Lilith, first wife to Adam according to Judaic legend, was regarded pretty much as just a wretched, demonic character until the late 19th century. The artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti was one of the first to portray her as a beautiful woman in his painting, Lady Lilith, but he still speaks of her as a dangerous enchantress in a sonnet he wrote to accompany his artwork. On one hand he celebrates her physicality, but warns she is a “witch” capable of drawing men into her “bright web.” Rossetti’s poem was first published in 1868 and was later re-published as part of....more.....

We’re connecting the dots and creating the book bonds. Now you can easily find new books from your favorite literary genre.

No more blind book dates with free ebooks. BookLikes’ recent release Free ebooks in the Daily Deals section has just received a list of categories. You can search the Kindle ebooks via literary genres and pick those which match your reading preference. 

The book pages has also received the information about the literary genres. Thanks to the new list with book categories you can find other titles from the literary genre that you enjoy. 

When you click on the book category you'll be moved to the Book Catalog where you can discover new releases, most recent reviews and popular books from the chosen genre. 

Tips

• Reading tastes the best when you can share it with others. To find your friend on BookLikes, connect your social media in the Friends tab. You can also search BookLikes community with an email, blog name and username. 

• BookLikes is open for Authors! If you have already requested the Official Author's Profile during the registration process, we'll get back to you with information for BookLikes Authors as soon as possible. 

If you didn't request the Author's Official Profile and you're an author on BookLikes, let us know at authors@booklikes.com, we have author features for you, including a verified badge and free promotional opportunities :-)

Preliminary estimates by the US Census Bureau show bookstore sales down 7.9% for the first half of 2014, compared to the same period of 2013. Figures in the report were not seasonally adjusted.

In an address at this year's annual convention of the American Psychological Association, psychologist Raymond Mar posits that reading fiction will make us more empathetic. As he says, "When people read stories we invoke personal experiences. We're relying not just on words on a page, but also our own past experiences,"

Sounds logical and reasonable, but awfully familiar. Haven't English majors been analyzing and examining literature in the same way for the past hundred years? Dr. Mar's lecture is a bit heavy to get through with his psychology terminology, but he makes a pretty good scientific argument that we need to read more.

I'm pretty sure I've heard every librarian and teacher I've ever known say the same thing but without the psychological explanation. The message? Keep reading. It doesn't just help you, it helps everyone around you as well. 

Architect and lawyer Jay Wickersham takes a stab at explaining why architects do not generally make good lead characters for fiction. Here's a clue: how can an author make sitting behind a drafting desk for untold hours seem exciting? He also points out a few books that successfully use architects in leading roles. 

Check out Mr. Wickersham's interesting article in the most recent online publication of The Boston Society of Architects.

...to everyone who took advantage of yesterday's Free Friday book giveaway. The response was astounding and I hope you enjoy reading Stepping Out Of Time as much as I did writing it.

I keep getting notes from people who missed it by a few hours due to time zone differences (Amazon uses Pacific Time) so we will keep running the program on Fridays during August.

The only thing asked in return is that you put a short review on Amazon. They are very insistent I solicit reviews since, unlike a bookstore, readers can't pick up a book and browse through it. Welcome to the brave new world of publishing.  

Again, my thanks for your wonderful support and encouragement! 

Rick 

While browsing around the internet the other day I discovered something really new and unique. A company call Litographs creates "wearable literature" in the form of T-shirts. They use actual words from a book imprinted on the shirt along with a relevant graphic created by one of their artists.

The result is a unique new "media" that lets you show the world who your favorite authors are. They also produce posters, totes and gift cards with the same designs. 

Their newest creations are temporary tattoos with quotes and passages from your favorite books. This began as a Kickstarter campaign to raise $7,500 to develop the product, but it took off and they've already gotten over $45,000 in start-up funding.

If nothing else, it seems this could certainly bring an entirely new element to late-night reading habits. 

If you go to their site and look at bigger photos of the shirts, you can
see that they are not grey - that is actual text from The Great Gatsby. 

I imagine people will find some very creative ways to use these tattoos.