Sony e-book reader

Nathan Bransford recently blogged that Sony will be opening up their reader to files by competitors. I've been secretly wanting an ebook reader since I found out they existed. I wanted a Kindle when they first came out although I think it is ugly but I'm thinking maybe the Sony.

At this point, it's just talking as I don't have 300$ to spend on a reader. It's still cheaper to buy actual books. Don't go thinking I don't like paper books, the smell, the feel... nothing makes a house look cozy like walls covered by bookshelves. Like all proper bookworms, I rewatch Disney's Beauty and the Beast for that scene where he gives her the huge library. I would have fallen in love with a much uglier creature if he'd given me that place.

But you have to admit, ebook readers, like iPods, are damned convenient. It's the diffence between carrying 30 CDs in your bag or 4 days worth of music in mp3. I know, I know, maybe it's illusory. Who reads 160 books at the same time anyway? Not me, I stick to three or four. But you never know when you might feel like reading something else. Or when you might need a quote. Imagine going to college with just the one tiny reader instead of the 3t textbooks? Think of the children!

Plus, for us future editors, having all the stuff we have to read on hand can't be bad. I just hope they don't start putting games on it or I'll never get any work done.

Summer reading

If you are ever in La Rochelle, go have some ice-cream at Ernest Le Glacier. It's on a little street by the port. It is awesome ice-cream. I'll have to write to them and suggest Lucuma ice-cream, though.

If you're in need of something to read this summer that is related to publishing, here's the list we were sent as suggestions by the uni:


Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies

MA in Publishing/International Publishing/Publishing and Language/ Digital Publishing/ European Master in Publishing
2007-8

Suggested preparation reading

General

Giles Clark and Angus Phillips, Inside Book Publishing, 4th edition, Routledge, June 2008.

Carole Blake. From Pitch to Publication. London: Pan. 1999.

Editorial Management

Gill Davies. Book Commissioning and Acquisition. London: Routledge. 2004.

Marketing Management for Publishing

Alison Baverstock. How to Market Books. London: Kogan Page, 2007. Fourth edition.

Jan Nathan and Thomas Woll: Publishing for Profit: Successful Bottom-Line Management for Book Publishers, 2006

Design and Production for Publishing

David Bann. The All New Print Production Handbook. Hove: Rotovision. 2006.

Erik Spiekermann and E M Ginger . Stop Stealing Sheep and Find out how Type Works. Berkeley: Adobe Press. 2003. Second Edition.

*Mitchell and Wightman. Book Typography A Designer's Manual Libanus Press. 2005. ISBN 0 948021 66 7* Website: www.libanuspress.co.uk

*Please purchase a copy of this book in advance of the start of term as you will need this for the first week*

Run over by my own karma?

I think we'll just say this blog is updated randomly throughout the week :) Makes me more spontaneous and loveable, don't you think?

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I am now in La Rochelle and have easier internet access although I'm still stuck with a stupid Azerty keyboard. Whoever thought it was a good idea to invent different keyboards for different sides of the pond should have been charged for hate crimes. I keep typing q instead of a. I haven't thought so much about my typing since I got my first computer back in the Dark Ages (yanno, before iPods).

Still don't have my own 'puter so I haven't been able to do any writing. As usual, I am now full of great ideas for it and no sign of the writer's block I experienced while in Peru and nothing else to do all day except write. I must have been a horrible person in my last life.

Still no word about where I'm going to be living but I did hear back about the Random House scholarship. I didn't get it. Well, I didn't expect to anyway. I'm still waiting on the Hachette Livre one although it'll probably be a no as well. I really feel bad having mom pay for my studies although I insist on repaying her as soon (and as often) as I can. The student loan option is still open although I probably should get around to it sooner rather than later.

Maybe I should sell a kidney online. In the mean time, I'll go see if I can't find opportunities for getting some good karma credits.

Rare species: a Brookes related post!

I still haven't gotten word about where I'm going to be living. We've talked about it on the 2008 Publishing M.A facebook group. I was relieved to find out I'm not the only one who hasn't heard back about halls. There are also several who will be house hunting in September so if it comes to that, I might be able to move in with my future classmates.

By the way, I don't know if I mentioned it before but everyone in the program I've friended on facebook is very nice and friendly and most of us like the same things. Some of us are planning on meeting up during the first week of September, get to know each other in advance... Pretty cool.

Those who have gotten rooms in the halls are mostly in Cheney Student Village in the post-grad block. It'd be awesome if we could all end up in the same place! We could rewatch Firefly every night! Yay!

I'm the sex

Still in Paris but only until tomorrow morning. I have so many pictures I want to share but it will have to wait until I can get the internet on my own computer.

Today, I went with my mother to the Pere Lachaise cemetary. That's where most of France's (and elsewhere's) important and famous are burried. We found Edith Piaf, Colette, Gericault, Paul Eluard and Oscar Wilde. There are many more but mom was tired. There are also a lot of monuments to the dead of both world wars, especially the victims of the death camps.

It was a great trip, the place is very nice. Some areas are better kept than others. For the most part, it is not sinister or anything.

Coming back, mom stopped at a lingerie store where they were having a sale. I ended up buying some La Perla stuff. I feel like a dirty mistress in a CSI epsiode.

So, this keyboard is incredibly annoying.

Anyway, we went to Normandy and spent the day there. My cousin's children were there and they are so sweet and affectionate! I love them! I expected a horrible day but ended up regretting we were leaving. They are that cute!

Still, on the train back I was about ready to collapse. I have never been that tired! I was sure I wasn't going to make it! But I did and I hope never to feel that lousy again.
Yesterday, we went to the Arc de Triomphe and walked all the way down the Champs Elyses. We got home exhausted but it was worth it. I love Parisian buildings! They are so beautiful! Not the modern square boxes obviously but the older ones with the sweet little windows with tiny balconies.

I'm loving this city although crap hasn't stopped happening. The 14th, our luggage arrived but we weren't home. Then, the concierge and the plumber had to get into the house through the balcony to turn off the water and broke a lamp. I don't know what they did because it looked as though the thing had exploded! we found broken glass in the toaster!

Then of course, we had no water. We were filthy and couldn't shower... They cut it off again today. It sounds like it's back on but...

I still have no idea where I'm gonna live in Oxford. The Brookes PIP thing says no decision has been made yet. I joined the publishing M.A group on Facebook and it seems like a lot of us are going to be in Cheney postgrad accomodation. I hope I can be there too.

Speaking of the others, we've all friended each other on Fb. It looks like we all like pretty much the same things! It seems like all those years of not having anyone to share my interests with are at a spectacular end! Woohoo!

Good beginnings

It's 5h30 am in Paris and I haven't slept yet. Stupid jet-lag.

I'm trying to write as quietly as possible because I'm not supposed to be using this computer. It's one of those annoying keyboards with the "a" in the wrong place.

It's all gone wrong from the start. First, I got , my period the morning we left. Oh joy! 24h travelling over the Atlantic with the cramps fro, hell and a lame Jack Black movie about so,e video store. We arrived the day before yesterday to find out that the one hour wait to leave Caracas (Venezuela) was our luggage being left behind. They were supposed to arrive yesterday morning and of course, they didn't. We're hoping to get our things tomorroz now because today everything is closed. It's the 14th of July, Prise de La Bastille. And I don't even get to go see the parade and fireworks. Dammit!

You know what's great? Everything I own is in those suitcases. Including all my papers which I'll need in England. My offer letter from Brookes is in there! We better get our things back or I'm flying to Caracas and kicking some serious butt! Ok, probably not. But there will be tears and cursing.

And they better not have been opened!

Anyway, we still went to visit Notre Dame yesterday. Paris is indeed gorgeous and I'd show you some pictures if only the camera cable weren't in the suitcase. Stuff is expensive but Air France is going to reimburs the cost of the new underwear we bought (sexy stuff *wink*). Today, we're going to Normandy for dad's birthday so we're getting up relatively early so no sleep for me it seems.

I'm gonna leave you now. I'm afraid someone will wake up and realize I'm on the computer (which is not ours). I'll try to post again as soon as I can.

Happy Bastille day.