iPhones, Summer Reading, and Secrets to Book Selection

It’s the end of June, and as Rebecca pointed out, our summer reading should be in full swing. If you haven’t joined Rebecca’s list of 109 books she’s rated and recommended, you’re missing out. It’s a great way to avoid the frustration of starting and stopping 3 or 4 books that “seemed oh-so-great from the jacket” but weren’t.

Links to More Summer Reading Lists

O’s Summer Reading Issue is out, and here are Oprah’s Summer Reading Picks.

NPR compiled a summer reading list by bookshop owners.

Also, see Kent’s post for a very innovative fiction list from The New Yorker.

Tech Tools to Help Us Read More

Did you know Nintendo DS is competing with Kindle? They’re marketing a new program allowing you to download 100 classic books onto your DS. So the next time you see a horde of children before church clustered around a DS, maybe they’re reading. Or maybe their parents are confiscating their DS at night and reading. Check it out here.

This may be old news to you, but iPhones are helping us read more as well. Here’s a conversation I had with a friend two weeks ago:

Friend: “Remember how I used to read all the time?”

Me: “Sure.”

Friend: “I’m so busy now, I’ve gone the last few years barely a reading a book here or there. But Kindle now offers a free app for iPhones, and in the last few months, I’ve read several books. If I’m waiting in line or have downtime between jobs, the time I would normally spend playing a game on my phone or re-checking Facebook for the bazillionth-time, I now use to read the next chapter in my book.”

If you want to take advantage, click here and follow the link for free Kindle app at the iPhone store.

How Oprah Picks Books

Every time Oprah recommends a book and launches it into stardom, there’s a staff of hard-working readers behind the scenes finding books to recommend to her to recommend, if you will. In an interview, Sara Nelson, former editor in chief of Publisher’s Weekly, explains that she and a fellow staff member read about 20 books per month in addition to their staff duties. Wow.

Here’s what Nelson says that helps fight the myth that editors approach a submission looking for a reason to kick the book to the curb:

“Every time I open one [a book to be evaluated], I want to fall in love with it.”

Editors are looking for a reason to love your submission! Let’s work hard and give them some manuscripts they can fall in love with crafted by A/P writers.