I came across this website this morning, OpenLibrary.org. The Consumerist states that “OpenLibrary.org current operates a database with more than 1 million e-books without restrictions.” While that number certainly may be true, I could not find a single book I would be interested in reading. A lot of the books on OL.org are non-fiction so if you are craving the latest Stephen King without the trip to bookstore, you’re out of luck. There are some newer non-fiction books, but you have to know how to search for them which isn’t apparent.

I think the idea of being able to lend people books is one of the last hurdles e-books have to overcome before the truly become mainstream. It’s becoming super easy to get public domain books on your e-reader, but who really wants to read Pride and Prejudice? The big problem is a lack of modern books like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or the latest James Patterson. The reason you wont ever find those on OP.org is because the publisher wants you to go out and buy the book. They want your money and if you could easily get it at a virtual library, how will the publisher make money and stay in business?

Well, i’m glad you asked. Because I have a couple ideas about that.

E-Library Business Model #1
The first concept I would like the bounce off of you is based off of the iTunes model of renting movies. In iTunes you can rent a movie for $3.99 and have 24 hours to watch it. Amazon offers a similar model of movie rentals (but they give 48 hours). Since Apple and Amazon, I would argue, are the current leaders in e-readers, their respective e-bookstores could offer a rental of the newest books like Tick Tock (James Patterson) for $0.99 for 7 days. Dedicated booklovers can easily get through one book a week. From that $0.99, part can go to the distributor (Apple, Amazon, etc) and the rest the publisher (to pass along to the author). They could also let self publishing authors put their books up on this library for the same price similar to Amazon’s strategy for letting authors publish stuff on the Kindle.

There are a couple drawbacks for this model. The first is publishers might think their books are worth more than $0.99 and will want to charged $1.99-$2.99 to check out books. Granted, at this point this system is more akin to a rental library than a traditional library. The other problem will be what happens on the 7th day and the book is due back? Does it automatically lock or delete itself in the e-reader until the reader re-checks it out? Or will there be a late fee assessed ($0.10/day?) until the book it officially checked back in somehow?

E-Library Business Model #2
This model I call The Netflix Model. I’ve heard this one brought up before on other web sites. You, the reader, pay a monthly fee of $10-$15 and you can checkout 2 books at a time. When you return one, you are allowed to get another. All this could be done through either Amazon or Apple’s iBookstore. With this, Amazon/Apple will have to buy the rights to distribute the books through their sites. Publishers could get paid solely on the number of times the book gets checked out or get paid a flat fee for a set amount of time the book is available to check out.

I think sites like OpenLibrary.org are taking a bold step in the right direction, it’s not enough because most mainstream readers don’t want public domain books. Do you think Netflix would be doing so well as a company if it only offered documentaries or public domain films? The futures of e-libraries, sadly, needs to be a business because that’s the only way I can foresee it being agreeable for everyone involved (readers, publishers, businesses).

Booking through Thursday asks: All other things being equal–do you prefer used books? Or new books? (The physical speciman, that is, not the title.) Does your preference differentiate between a standard kind of used book, and a pristine, leather-bound copy?

I have a weakness for hardcover first editions, so I am inclined to say that I prefer new. However, I will gladly buy a used book if it’s a hardcover first edition. I’ll buy used paperbacks when it’s a book I don’t really care about, it’s a new author, or out-of-print.

Mockingjay
by Suzanne Collins
Scholastic Press, August 2010
400 Pages

I have finally finished reading Mockingjay. For those of you who have been living under a rock, Mockingjay is the third and final volume in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games Trilogy. Set in a dystopian future where once a year children are forced in to an arena and kill each other until there is only one left standing. Things get complicated in Hunger Games when Katniss Everdeen manages to piss off the over controlling government at the end of the first book. As a result, she is thrown back in to the next year’s Hunger Games but instead of winning, she inadvertently gets sucked in to fighting for the rebels to bring down evil President Snow. And thus, there is were Mockingjay picks up.

In my review of Catching Fire, I compared the book to The Matrix Reloaded in terms of story progression. I’m thankful that I am not able to compare Mockingjay to The Martix Revolutions. Having been essentially been kidnapped by the rebels, Katniss is forced to play the role of the Mockingjay which is largely symbolic. Since she has become something of television sensation, the rebels plan to use her to rally they districts against the capital. It takes some convincing but she makes a deal with them on the condition that she gets to kill President Snow when the time comes.

Story-wise, there is no official Hunger Games in this book. I was kind of wishing that Collins found some way to slip it in much like she did in Catching Fire. But instead this book is all about the battles going on between the two sides. Near the end, when Katniss is in the capital and is hunting down President Snow, the idea of Pods is introduced and brings about the same type of atmosphere that made reading about the Hunger Games in the first book so compelling. However, this time around the traps get sprung in such a rappid succession that I felt practically overwhelmed. At one moment Katniss is being shot at, then attacked by some deadly black goo, and throw some lizard-human hybrid super mutants in to the mix to round it out.

This leads to my biggest complaint about the book (aside from Katniss choosing the wrong guy), the pacing is off. The first half of the book is rather a slow read and Katniss doesn’t do much. A lot happens, but it’s not because Katniss does anything. Imagine reading The Hunger Games but instead of seeing things through the eyes of Katniss, the events are shown as if we were watching them on television. Katniss plays a passive role until she is finally let loose inside the capital.

If you’ve made it this far in the series, then what you are wanting is some closure. Going in to this the question I was wondering was who Katniss was going to end up with, Gale or Peeta? This love triangle that Collins had been dragging out since the first book was just about as annoying as the Jack-Kate-Sawyer love triangle from LOST. And in the end, I think Katniss choose poorly. But that’s just my opinion.

Also, what’s with epilouges nowadays? Has it become nessesary to show characters like Harry Potter and Katniss Everdeen twenty years in the future and with kids of their own? What literary value does this add to the story? Katniss never showed interest in getting married or having kids so showing that she has done both ruins the character that has taken three books to establish.

How sad.

Perry Moore, author of Hero and producer of the recent Chronicles of Narnia movies, was found dead yesterday from an apparent overdose.

:-(

Christopher Moore is one of my top 5 favorite authors. While I haven’t read every single one of his books (yet), I have yet to be disappointed by the ones I have read. He recently did an interview over at Everything by Urban. What stuck me was the second part of the interview where he talks about E-books and Kindles and piracy. He seems to of the mindset that e-books will lead to rampant piracy and the decline of an author’s ability to make a living writing books.

Seems like very flawed logic if you ask me. If other blogs I read are to be believed, e-books are quite profitable. Mr. Moore might just come from a different generation that isn’t ready to embrace the idea that you can carry around 500+ books in your backpack and instantly download them at your convenience. He says that his biggest issue with e-books is a lack of page numbers. Really? That’s the worst thing about e-books for you? Luckily, Amazon seems to have solved that problem by adding real page numbers to books.

I think in the coming years readers are going to see a battle between established authors who favor traditional books and new authors embracing the e-book.

Booking Through Thursday asks: What’s the most romantic book you’ve ever read?

This was the best science-fiction/romance novel I have ever read. Seriously, I nearly cried.

Nearly.

What is BookYap you ask? It’s a site that is designed to help you find books.

You can search by categories like Thrill Seeker, Foodie, English Major, and Creative Cat. From there you can filter out the books by adjusting the length of the book, the amount of hype it has, and its publication date. It’s pretty nifty. It does have a couple of issues that I feel it needs to address. The very first thing I tried to search for was Paper Towns by John Green. No results. For shame! I loved that book. Luckily, I’m told it’s still in its beta so there is still time to work out the kinks and make it fantastic.

They are also holding a contest to give away a Kindle. Who doesn’t want one of those?!

For V-day I was given a print of Bill Mudron‘s Doctor Who/Dr. Seuss mashup which I felt like sharing. Bill also has some other fantastic pop culture artwork on his site, so you should check it out.