* Over a month after violating its own terms of use and deleting unauthorized versions of George Orwell books from Kindle owners’ machines, on one of the quietest news days of the year Amazon e-mailed customers offering financial amends. The NYT reported that Amazon offering to give customers replacement copies of 1984 and Animal Farm, along with restoring any deleted personal annotations. Alternately, they are offering a gift certificate or check for $30. Though the article doesn’t address this, presumably the belated offer is designed in part to moot litigation that was filed against the etailer following the deletions.NYT * […]
New Releases/Forthcoming
NYT Breaks Kennedy Embargo
The Times “obtained” a copy of the forthcoming TRUE COMPASS, set for release on September 14, and shares generously and broadly: “The book does not shy from the accident [on Chappaquiddick in 1969], or from some other less savory aspects of the senator’s life, including a notorious 1991 drinking episode in Palm Beach, Fla., or the years of heavy drinking and women-chasing that followed his 1982 divorce from his first wife, Joan. “But it also offers rich detail on his relationships with his father, siblings and children that round out a portrait of a man who lived the most public […]
Amazon Bought Two Locks to Keep LOST SYMBOL Secure
The New York Times won’t be obtaining any copies of Dan Brown’s new book from Amazon, where the e-tailer’s home page carries a note promoting the new release from Jeff Bezos–who insists that “even inside Random House, only a half dozen employees have been allowed to read The Lost Symbol in its entirety.” (Is it supposed to be reassuring that almost no one at the publisher worked with the author on preparing his book for publication?) Amazon has “agreed to keep our stockpile under 24-hour guard in its own chain-link enclosure, with two locks requiring two separate people for entry.” […]
Ridge Keeps Trying to Explain What He Wrote; Disavows Flap Copy
Former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge’s book THE TEST OF OUR TIMES: America Under Siege…And How We Can Be Safe Again (Thomas Dunne Books) has drawn attention primarily for a single passage–and Ridge has been making the press circuit trying to explain that he didn’t mean what people think his words say. Ridge wrote of discussions right before the 2004 presidential election, following the release of a new video from Osama Bin Laden, in which “a vigorous, some might say dramatic discussion ensued. Ashcroft strongly urged an increase in the threat level, and was supported by Rumsfeld. There was […]
Sony Will Sell Wireless E-Reader for $399
Sony unveiled its first-ever wireless e-reading device at a press conference held at the New York Public Library Tuesday morning. The seven-inch touchscreen Sony Daily Edition will be priced at $399, work on AT&T’s 3G network, and will be available by Christmas. In addition to the devices (they also officially confirmed the $199 and $299 next-generation e-readers), Sony also announced several other initiatives, including a partnership with libraries that will let readers rent digitized books from their local library for free by downloading available e-books for 21 days, an update of the Sony Reader Ebook Library Software 3.0 for both […]
Next Oprah Book Club Pick Revealed on September 18
It’s been almost a full year since Oprah made her most recent book club pick of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski, and according to the Newtonville Books Community Blog, #63 will be a Little, Brown trade paperback title priced at $14.99, with an announced first printing of 500,000 and ISBN # 978-0-316-08637-0. Amazon reports differing metadata, listing the Oprah #63 pick as a $23.99 hardcover with an ISBN of 978-0-316-08636-3. Neither listing includes an approximate page count. On Twitter, Oprah implored viewers to tune in on Friday, September 18, saying she’d “never made a selection like ‘this.'” […]