Tag Archives: state

The Impact of coronavirus on Bookshops in Washington State

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The link below is to an article that takes a look at the impact of coronavirus on bookshops and bookstores in the US state of Washington.

For more visit:
https://slate.com/culture/2020/03/coronavirus-diaries-bookstore-sales-impact-washington-state.html

Antony Beevor on State Censorship

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The link below is to an article reflecting on state censorship by Antony Beevor, who had his book ‘Stalingrad’ banned by the Ukraine government.

For more visit:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/03/antony-beevor-stalingrad-ukraine-ban-censorship

State of the Book Industry

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The link below is to an article that looks at the state of the book industry and in particular in the US.

For more visit:
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/the-book-industry-isn-t-dying–it-s-thriving-with-an-ebook-assist-191025547.html

Article: Book Repairs – Wet Book

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How do you go about saving a wet book, or at least getting it to a state as good as possible? The link below is to an article that deals with this problem.

For more visit:
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/printers-row/2010/07/how-to-save-a-wet-book.html

Book Review: Collapse, by Richard Stephenson

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Collapse‘Collapse’ by Richard Stephenson is book one in the ‘New America’ series and I believe Stephenson’s first novel. The novel is set in the year 2027, with the USA falling apart. It is in the grip of the 2nd Great Depression and is at war with the Great Empire of Iran. The state of Florida has been devastated by a hurricane that has left over 1 million people dead and Texas is about to face the same fate. The government is about to fall. The people are descending into anarchy. What will become of the USA?

Though a first novel, the suspense and action of the novel is first rate. It is very easy to read and carries you along quite easily. However, there are serious issues with the grammar and spelling, as well as some fairly obvious errors in the actual text of the story. A good proof reader should have picked up on these mistakes and that would have resulted in a far more polished and professional  product.

There is also a short sex scene tacked onto the end of the story which I thought was somewhat tacky and unnecessary. It did nothing for the story as a whole and was completely out of place in the overall development of the novel.

If you can see past these obvious flaws without too much prejudice, the novel is a very good read and I do look forward to picking up the story when the next book in the series is released in 2013.

Buy this book at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Collapse-Richard-Stephenson/dp/1477654631/

Article: Book Publishing Reality

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The link below is to an article reporting on the current state of book publishing and is a very interesting read.

For more, visit:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bj-gallagher/book-publishing_b_1394159.html

A Cartoon History of the George Dubya Bush Years, By Elena Steier

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 I have just had a quick look at ‘A Cartoon History of the George Dubya Bush Years,’ by Elena Steier. This book is a collection of cartoons from the George W. Bush years as president of the United States. They are a comical look at those years and I’m sure will produce a laugh or two for some people. I however found little in it that amused me – perhaps because I live in Australia and don’t get all the political jokes based on the US political scene of the George W. Bush years.

I have to say that I found some of the cartoons quite offensive and a good number without anything that made them funny to my way of thinking at all. I quite openly state that I am a Christian and therefore some of the material in these cartoons is particularly shocking and offensive to me.

I have had a good laugh at a good number of the cartoons I have seen of George W. Bush in Australian papers, so I do not base my opinion of this book on my appreciation of George W. Bush as a president or for not being able to have a laugh at politics. I simply did not find this book particularly funny or appealing in any way. In fact, I have rid myself of it completely.

Available at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Fringe-Cartoon-History-George-Dubya/dp/1439211744

There is a copy here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/23408494/A-Cartoon-History-of-The-George-Dubya-Bush-Administration

 

This Little Church Went to Market, by Gary Gilley

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I have just bought three books by Gary Gilley, two of which I already owned (and had forgotten that I did – probably because of the move, storage and other issues over the last few years). The three books, which I intend to read back to back as it were, are:

  1. This Little Church Went to Market – Is the Modern Church Reaching Out or Selling Out?
  2. This Little Church Stayed Home – A Faithful Church in Deceptive Times, and
  3. This Little Church Had None – A Church in Search of the Truth

As can be seen by the titles of the three books, they all have to do with the modern church and its current state.

So today I start on the first of the three books, ‘This Little Church Went to Market.’