| Readmill is a Berlin based Startup founded in 2010 by Henrik Berggren and David Kjelkerud. The company launched a simple e-reading app for iOS and Android that allowed people to buy eBooks from publishers such as Penguin, and engage in a unique social atmosphere. Today, the company has announced that it has been acquired by Dropbox and will be joining their team. One of thing things Readmill did to separate themselves from other e-reading apps out there was to add a social layer. In February 2014 the company announced an update to its app that lets users make mentions to their friends, giving them the ability to highlight titles and pull direct quotes from the book, even if their friends are not currently engaged in the book. By using the Twitter-like at symbol, users can highlight passages, send them to a friend, and even include a note. The recipient can respond, of course, and a genuine conversation about the book can actually take place. The app also allowed you to upload ePub books to your account through the website and then sync your library to your mobile device. In a statement, Readmill said “As of today, it is no longer possible to create a new account, and on July 1, 2014, the Readmill app will no longer be available. For the next three months, our first priority is to help you transition to other services and get back to reading. All of your books and reading data are available for export in multiple formats. Our team will be joining Dropbox, where our expertise in reading, collaboration and syncing across devices finds a fitting home. Millions of people use Dropbox to store and share their digital lives, and we believe it's a strong foundation on which to build the future of reading. We're delighted to work alongside this talented team and imagine new ways to read together.” Readmill Acquired by Dropbox is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Friday, March 28, 2014
Readmill Acquired by Dropbox
Amazon’s Latest Line of Kindle Fire Tablets on Sale Again
| Either hardware sales are slow at Amazon or they’ve got an excess of stock because the entire line of Kindle Fire tablets is on sale once again. Sales have become so frequent over the past few months there really is no reason to pay full price. Ever. Just wait for the next sale to come […] |
New Plaintiffs Come on Board Against Apple for eBook Price Fixing
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But new plaintiffs have now announced that they’re coming on board to recover some of the damage done to their businesses due to Apple’s push for agency pricing over the wholesale model. A 2013 suit filed by Australian ebook retailer DNAML was the beginning, but it has now been joined by the owners of the Diesel ebookstore and Abbey House Media. All three of the plaintiffs are sharing the same attorneys and expect their cases to become one case against Apple. The crux of this latest suit is similar–nay, almost identical–in wording to other documents in the case, all of which allege that Apple’s actions caused these companies to no longer be able to compete in the industry. Unfortunately for Apple, these three plaintiffs have been able to demonstrate profits and constant growth among their catalogs of titles and their customers bases leading up to the collusion. They specifically cite the inability to discount and bundle titles together as a customer incentive, one of the features of bookselling that changed for Amazon during the switch to agency pricing.
New Plaintiffs Come on Board Against Apple for eBook Price Fixing is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Celebrate Women’s History
| Before March is completely behind us, take a moment to celebrate the contributions of women across history and society. The celebration of women in history began in 1980 when President Jimmy Carter issued a presidential proclamation declaring the week of March 8 to be National Women's History Week. In 1981, the week was recognized by congress. It wasn't until 1987 that the whole month of March was declared Women's History Month. Since 1995, U.S. presidents have issued annual proclamations designating March as Women's History Month, and to celebrate, we’ve put together this list of titles. These titles are great to offer as educational resources in schools or promotional packages at your library as we celebrate Girl Power through women in history as well as women who have had a profound impact on modern society and popular culture. 
Laura Guldeman is a Collection Development Specialist at OverDrive.
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MS Office Made Free for Android Phones
| Close on the heels of Microsoft launching its Office software suite on the iPad, the tech giant made its Office for Android free to use. Unfortunately, this only applies to Android phones and not tablet devices, enabling users to create and edit documents that earlier would have required an active Office 365 subscription. Interestingly, this latest move has made Android phones on par with their Windows counterparts so far as usability of the Office app is concerned. Apart from the risk of losing subscription money, the Windows phone will now be deprived of a competitive advantage and may translate into adding greater adoption of Android phones. You can download this app today from the Good e-Reader App Store.
MS Office Made Free for Android Phones is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Android Found More Stable Than iOS
| The latest finding by Crittercism, which takes stock of app usage on Android and iOS devices, is that Android has emerged as the more stable platform than iOS. However, it hasn't been a cakewalk, as Android 2.3 Gingerbread has been notorious for unexpected app crashes, earning it the least stable Android version honor. Things have improved dramatically ever since the later Android versions of Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean, and the latest Android version, Kit Kat. In numerical terms, while Gingerbread alone accounted for app crashes 1.7 percent of the time, its successors crashed about 0.7 percent of the time. The corresponding figures for iOS show that iOS 6 has been most prone to app crashes, reporting crashes an average of 2.5 percent of the time. Things improved with subsequent revisions, with iOS 7 and iOS 7.1 crashing only 2.1 and 1.6 percent of the time, respectively. That might come as a surprise to Apple fans, who often perceive iOS as the most matured mobile OS out there. These findings form part of the report titled “Mobile Experience Benchmark,” which is based on a survey of about a billion Android and iOS devices for a period of one month.
Android Found More Stable Than iOS is a post from: Good e-Reader |
George R.R. Martin’s New Book Excerpt Available on Android and iOS Phones
| Prolific author George R. R. Martin broke the internet when he posted a chapter of his upcoming book, The Winds of Winter, on his site, which crashed shortly after the announcement due to traffic. Fortunately for those who missed the chance to catch up with Mercy, the central character, they can still do so via the Ice and Fire app, available at the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. "Some of you who enjoyed meeting Mercy may not have found the other sample we've put out there of late, a new Tyrion chapter. That one is live and available with the ICE & FIRE app, and can be found at iOS; Android. Enjoy the read, " the author revealed in his blog. Martin's other fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, has been immensely popular and has already been made into a television series Game of Thrones.
George R.R. Martin’s New Book Excerpt Available on Android and iOS Phones is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Readly Launches in UK with Unlimited Access to over 3,500 Magazines
| Readly, which follows the successful subscription models of Spotify and Netflix, has made its all you-can-read magazine collection available in the UK. For a monthly fee of £9.99, users in the UK now have unlimited access to over 3,500 magazines from some of the most popular publishers including IPC, DC Thomson, Time Out and Haymarket. Along with new titles, users can read one year of back issues and share the subscription with their household. The subscription allows access for up to five devices. Readly can be downloaded on Android, iOS, Window 8 and Kindle Fire and is also available in the US and Sweden. Users have instant access from their device and can begin reading within 5 seconds of opening a title. Readly is providing users the magazines they want, where they want it and is opening up new revenue streams for publishers. Its unique licensing agreement see what a user has read and divides the revenue between those publishers. The company is also providing publishers with valuable analytics on how customers are consuming their magazines. The company is based in Sweden and is quickly rolling out its platform internationally. It hopes to add more european countries and publishers, while adding more features to its app. Readly Launches in UK with Unlimited Access to over 3,500 Magazines is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Sony’s Transition to Kobo is Smooth, But Not All eBooks Make It
| Sony started sending out emails yesterday with links to transition customer accounts over to the Kobo ebook store now that Sony is closing the Reader Store. I received the email today and the transfer process was incredibly simple and took all of about 30 seconds to complete. All I had to do was follow the […] |
Automated home brewing
| The office conversation this lunchtime went a bit like this: Me: “Two beer posts in a week is too much, isn’t it.” So I apologise for inflicting two posts about beer on you in three days: I promise not to mention fermentation at all next week. Ted Hale blogs at Raspberry Pi Hobbyist, where he concentrates on physical computing with the Raspberry Pi. His most recent project brings in another of his hobbies: home brewing. We like this not only because we like beer, but because think more Pi projects should employ propane. We’ve seen brewing projects where a Pi controls simple heating and cooling, but here, Ted uses a Pi here to control all the parts of the brewing method called partial mash: for this he needs to be able to:
Ted had problems over the build, including discovering that one of his sensors actually melted at high temperatures, finding that the igniter gave off so much electromagnetic interference that the I2C bus was unhappy. Being a seasoned hacker, he found ways around all the problems he encountered. The following paragraph, describing how he dealt with the interference, demonstrates why we think Ted is so great:
This guy is a musician with a hot tub who brews his own beer and hacks with the Pi for fun. We are in awe. There’s a writeup over at Raspberry Pi Hobbyist about how the whole setup comes together, and James, I expect you to have overhauled your entire home system over the weekend. |
Sony Sends Out Email about Transferring eBooks to Kobo
| Sony has sent out the first batch of emails that instruct customers on transferring their library of purchased content to Kobo. The process is relatively simple, you have to register for a Kobo account and click on the Getting Started Link. It will scan your library and begin uploading your books to the Kobo account. The only books that will not transfer are books that Kobo does not sell in their bookstore. Users are reporting that the success rate of transferring their existing library of content from Sony to Kobo, is around 85%. The bulk of titles that are not transferring are self-published, magazines, newspapers, comics, manga and kids books. The Sony Reader Store is now officially closed and users will not be able to buy anything further directly on their e-reader anymore. Sony has promised that during the next few weeks they will push out a firmware update to the Sony PRS-T1, Sony PRS-T2 and Sony PRS-T3 that will replace the Sony Store with the Kobo one. Users will soon be able to buy books directly from Kobo and read them on the Sony Reader. Users are implored not to fret if they have not received the transforship emails yet. Sony obviously can not send out millions of emails at once, and it will take about a week for everyone to receive them. Sony Sends Out Email about Transferring eBooks to Kobo is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Penguin eBooks for your classroom!
 John Green, Roald Dahl, Holly Goldberg Sloan, and so many, many more are coming to your classroom! OverDrive is thrilled to announce that Penguin eBooks are now available for purchase for U.S. schools. Under a one copy/one user lending model for a one year term, thousands of incredibly popular, award winning titles are in Marketplace, just waiting to be discovered by students in your school. Imagine the possibilities, lesson plans, activities, and group discussions that can revolve around titles like The Fault in Our Stars, James and the Giant Peach, Counting by 7s, and more. Stock up as your students return from Spring Break and be ready for summer reading programs, because it's going to be hot with Penguin content. School libraries can shop the Penguin eBook catalog now on the Marketplace homepage. You can also search for the content in Advanced Search under Publisher Account: Penguin Group (USA). Check out the lists by clicking on the links below. Also, we created a cart of the “Top 100″ bestselling Penguin titles in your Marketplace carts. The list is named “Penguin Juvenile/YA.” The OverDrive Collection Development Specialists are available to help create recommended lists of the Penguin catalog. Please email collectionteam@overdrive.com for more information. We're always here to help. Happy Shopping!
Suggested lists: Penguin Hot Titles JUV/YA FIC Penguin Hot Titles JUV/YA NONFIC
Kate Seivertson is a Collection Development Specialist at OverDrive.  |
Kobo eReaders, Tablets and Covers Now Available from Walmart
| Earlier today I was browsing through Walmart’s ebook reader selection online and noticed some interesting new additions. It appears that Kobo is finally making their line of ebook readers and tablets available through Walmart (U.S.) again. Kobo used to sell their ereaders through Walmart and other major retailers in the United States, but then they […] |
Thursday, March 27, 2014
e-Reader Owners Tend to Read More
| There is a stark contrast between hardcore and casual readers, in the respect of how many books a year they read. Buying a dedicated e-reader allows you to buy more books, because they are much more affordable than buying real ones. Elderly people are starting to gravitate to them in record numbers, due to the fact you can enlarge the fronts, instead of having to buy pricey large print books. Lets face it, if you are a serious reader, you have an e-reader. A new study by Quick Reads looked into why people gravitate towards an e-reader. According to the report 48% of UK adults who use e-readers say the technology allows them to read more. In addition to that, 41% reported that being able to look up words they don't know makes reading easier, and over 50% were enamored with changing the font types and sizes. One of the ways e-readers help you read more, is being able to easily purchase the next book in a series, after you read the first one. The Game of Thrones television show may have got your attention, and it is quite easy to purchase the first eBook on a whim, and then immediately purchase each subsequent edition. e-Readers are also getting quite popular with readers who juggle genres and have their guilty pleasures. Its quite easy to amass a digital collection of trashy romance or fantasy books and not have them take up valuable shelf-space. Many voracious readers have reported that they are now more discerning on what books they physically buy, and showcase to the circle of friends. They also have an anonymity factor, you can read more books in public, without looking conspicuous. Have e-readers changed the reading habits of the general public? Is this study valid? I have always surmised that people either receive e-readers as gifts, and never use them, or by the very hardcore reader. e-Reader Owners Tend to Read More is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Comedienne Amy Pohler to Host World Book Night
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“World Book Night is about giving books and encouraging reading in those who don't regularly do so. But it is also about more than that: It's about people, communities and connections, about reaching out to others and touching lives in the simplest of ways—through the sharing of stories.” Relying heavily on donations and on the support of people who share the news, World Book Night 2014–slated, as always, for April 23rd–received a huge publicity boost with the announcement that actress and comedienne Amy Pohler will host this year’s event. In addition to the volunteers both famous and unknown, Good e-Reader will be delivering books for the third year in a row, showing the community as a whole its support for reading. Past titles that our staffers have delivered include The Book Thief and Fahrenheit 451, both classics in their own right. This year, staffers will be delivering the current favorite Sunrise Over Fallujah, by Walter Dean Myers, to inmates incarcerated in a local correctional facility. The choice of location is especially poignant considering the recent proposals in certain countries to block inmates’ access to books.
Comedienne Amy Pohler to Host World Book Night is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Dora the Explorer and 250 Nickelodeon eBooks Available at Kobo
| Kobo has inked a deal with Nickelodeon Publishing to bring popular properties into a digital format. More than 250 top eBook titles from iconic children's series including Bubble Guppies, Blue's Clues, The Backyardigans, Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are now available via Kobo. Kobo launched their Kids store late last year. It currently has over 100,000 titles primary aimed at young-adults and children. They have the latest bestselling series, Read Along books, and colourful picture-books. Kobo offers parents the ability to set up dedicated accounts for their kids so that they can safely explore the the Kobo eBookstore. Kobo gives parents the ability to set spending allowances for their kids, pre-select eBooks, and adjust search settings to keep their kids reading safely.I like the fact parents can set up reading goals to keep everyone engaged and to offer a reward for reading. "Kids' books are an integral and important part of the Kobo catalogue, and we're excited to be growing the category by adding top-rated Nickelodeon titles," said Michael Tamblyn, President and Chief Content Officer, Kobo. "Nickelodeon has a strong history of igniting the imaginations of children and creating characters that become like favourite friends and we are happy to be a part of their cross-platform storytelling world, bringing their books to more children globally." "Given the global popularity of their reading devices, we are excited to launch Nickelodeon eBooks on Kobo," said Paula Allen, Senior Vice President of Global Publishing, Nickelodeon. "At Nickelodeon, our books extend the storytelling and educational curriculum featured in our award-winning programming. We’re delighted that kids and parents can enjoy reading and learning together on Kobo devices.” Dora the Explorer and 250 Nickelodeon eBooks Available at Kobo is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Sony Announces 13.3 Inch e-Reader to Launch in the USA this May
| The Sony 13.3 inch e-reader is coming to the United States this May, which falls inline with information we were told in November. The company intends on rebranding the device as the Sony Digital Paper. It will only be sold through Worldoc, a U.S.-based company specializing in document management for legal professionals. The cost? A staggering $1,100. The Sony Digital Paper features a 13.3 inch screen and a resolution of 1200×1600 with 150 PPI. The screen uses new E Ink technology dubbed Mobius by E Ink. The main attraction is using the active digitizer and interacting with complex PDF documents. You can edit documents by jotting down your own handwritten notes, or even highlight passages to go back to later. The large screen display will simply give you the best PDF experience you have ever had on an e-reader. I have personally reviewed over 83 different e-readers since launching Good e-Reader in 2009, and this was the first one to give me a quality PDF experience. Oh yeah, it weighs half the weight of the iPad Air. This e-reader is meant to just be a dedicated PDF reader, it does not have any support for eBook formats such as Mobi, EPUB or RTF. The essence of the Digital Paper is for professionals that need a solid A7 screen and being able to jot down notes. We will be getting this in our labs in the next few months, so keep checking back for a comprehensive hands on review. Sony Announces 13.3 Inch e-Reader to Launch in the USA this May is a post from: Good e-Reader |
8″ Cybook Ocean eReader Specs and Videos
| Bookeen had their latest ebook reader, the Cybook Ocean, on display last weekend at the Paris Book Fair. The device showed up in a few YouTube videos and on some European blogs for the first time since it was announced last year. The release of the Cybook Ocean has been delayed over the past few […] |
13″ Sony DPT-S1 PDF Reader Coming to U.S. in May
| Sony may have closed the door on selling ebooks and ebook readers in the United States, but that doesn’t mean that we’ve seen the last of Sony in the electronic paper industry. A German ebook blog has turned up a press release of an upcoming U.S. release. Sony first introduced their 13.3″ E Ink Mobius […] |
Weekly eHighlights: Australia/New Zealand Edition
| Can you believe it's almost April? Where has the beginning of the year gone? Before April arrives, give your digital collection a facelift with some excellent new content. This edition of Weekly eHighlights includes offerings for adults, fiction and nonfiction, as well as a great selection of some of the hottest titles for children and teens. Get your patrons downloading and reading more by engaging their imaginations and satisfying their appetites for quality, popular content. In fiction, we have romance in Someone like You, When the Duke Was Wicked, The Bride Says Maybe, and Evening Stars. For the readers who prefer a little more action and thrillers, check out Distortion, Black Horizon, and Ancient Future Trilogy. Nonfiction titles this week have great autobiographies like Battle Scars, and the young adult list has some amazing heavy hitters, guaranteed to be a huge success with your YA readers. For quick and easy browsing and shopping, just click on the links below to see the full lists or as always, contact your Collection Development specialist for recommendations and questions. Until next time, happy reading! 
FOR ADULTS: Fiction Terri Blackstock – Distortion A husband’s lies can have deadly consequences. When Juliet Cole’s husband of 15 years is murdered before her eyes, she thinks it was a random shooting. Devastated and traumatized, she answers hours of questioning, then returns home to break the tragic news to her boys. But a threatening voicemail takes this from a random shooting to a planned, deliberate attack. Juliet realizes that she and her children are in danger too, unless she meets the killers’ demands. But as she and her sisters untangle the clues, her husband’s dark secrets come to light. The more she learns, the more of her life is dismantled. Was her husband an innocent victim or a hardened criminal? Ann Fortier – The Lost Sisterhood Following on the success of her New York Times bestselling debut, Juliet, Anne Fortier’s thrilling new historical novel is a brilliant entwined story about one of history’s greatest myths, the Amazon warrior women, and a young modern-day scholar who thinks they might not be such a myth after all. Eager young Oxford University scholar of ancient mythology, Diana Morgan, is scoffed at by her colleagues for her fixation on the fabled tribe of Ancient Greece. But when a mysterious foundation invites her to consult on a new excavation intent on proving that the Amazons actually lived, she feels vindicated at last. Soon, Diana and her enigmatic employer, Nick Barran, are tracing the historical footsteps of the first Amazon warriors through the Sahara Desert, increasingly aware that someone is hot on their heels.
Robert Glancy – Terms & Conditions Frank has been in a car accident. The doctor tells him he lost his spleen, but Frank believes he has lost more. He is missing memories – of those around him, of the history they share and of how he came to be in the crash. All he remembers is that he is a lawyer who specializes in small print. In the wake of the accident Frank begins to piece together his former life – and his former self. But the picture that emerges, of his marriage, his family and the career he has devoted years to, is not necessarily a pretty one. Could it be that the terms and conditions by which Frank has been living are not entirely in his favor? In the process of unravelling the knots into which his life has been tied, he learns that the devil really does live in the detail and that it’s never too late to rewrite your own destiny.
James Grippando – Black Horizon Miami attorney Jack Swyteck finds himself in the middle of an international legal battle over a Cuban oil spill that sets him on a deadly mission. Three summers after the Deepwater Horizon environmental catastrophe, oil is spewing into the ocean again, this time from a drilling explosion in Cuban waters just 50 miles from the Florida Keys. Jack and his new wife, Andie Henning, an undercover agent for the FBI, are honeymooning in the Keys when Andie is called away on an assignment shrouded in secrecy. Jack’s pursuit of the unimaginably complicated international case plunges him into a dangerous world filled with treacherous twists that lead him—and Andie—to the same shocking realization . . . that the looming environmental disaster may have been no “accident” at all.
Tracy Harding – Ancient Future Trilogy Late one evening, an accident near a ring of stones throws Tory Alexander across the vortex of time and space to the Dark Ages. There she meets Prince Maelgwn of Gwynedd and his band of warriors, who initially brand her as a witch and are frightened by her strange appearance. They finally overcome their fears and soon the tales of her adventures, brave deeds and beauty spread across the land. Twenty years later, Tory Alexander, from the 20th century, has ruled as Queen in 6th century Britain. But dark forces are stirring… Tory seeks the advice of the triple Goddess, and the women of the Otherworld send Tory through time to Plato’s City of the Golden Gates – Atlantis. Once there Tory has to find her own way home, and a cure for the High King’s sickness.
Lorraine Heath – When the Duke Was Wicked Lady Grace Mabry’s ample inheritance has made it impossible for her to tell whether a suitor is in love with her—or enamored of her riches. Who better to distinguish beau from blackguard than her notorious childhood friend, the Duke of Lovingdon? With no interest in marriage, Lovingdon has long lived only for pleasure. He sees little harm in helping Grace find a proper match. He simply has to teach the lovely innocent all the ploys a scoundrel uses to gain a woman’s favor by demonstrating his wicked ways. But as lessons lead to torrid passion and Grace becomes ensnared in another man’s marriage plot, Lovingdon must wage a desperate gamble: Open his heart fully or risk losing the woman he adores.
Susan Mallery – Evening Stars Small-town nurse Nina Wentworth has made a career out of being a caretaker. More “Mom” than their mother ever was, she sacrificed medical school and her first love so her sister could break free. Which is why she isn’t exactly thrilled to see Averil back on Blackberry Island, especially when Nina’s life has suddenly become complicated. Nina unexpectedly finds herself juggling two men—her high school sweetheart and a younger maverick pilot who also wants to claim her heart. But as fun as all this romance is, Nina has real life to deal with. Averil doesn’t seem to want the great guy she’s married to, and doesn’t seem to be making headway writing her first book; their mom is living life just as recklessly as she always has; and Nina’s starting to realize that the control she once had is slipping out.
Cathy Maxwell – The Bride Says Maybe She’d once been the toast of London, but now scandal has brought her down. Still, pretty, petted Lady Tara Davidson can’t believe her new fate. She had wanted to marry for love, but her profligate father has promised her hand to none other than Breccan Campbell, the “Beast of Aberfeldy” and laird of the valley’s most despised clan. Tara may have to marry him, but Breccan can’t make her love him, can he?
Moira McKinnon – Cicada A stunning novel of terror, love and survival in the greatest wilderness on earth. A lyrical, heartbreaking epic debut. On an isolated property in the middle of Western Australia, just after the Great War, an English heiress has just given birth and unleashed hell. Weakened and grieving, she realizes her life is in danger, and flees into the desert with her Aboriginal maid. One of them is running from a murderer; the other is accused of murder. Soon the women are being hunted across the Kimberley by troopers, trackers and the man who wants to silence them both. How they survive in the searing desert and what happens when they are finally found will take your breath away.
Victoria Purman – Someone Like You When Lizzie Blake knocks on the door of Dan McSwaine’s beach house at Middle Point, she barely recognizes the man who answers. Whatever happened to the guy who swaggered into her home town with a grin and left with her heart in his back pocket? Lizzie wonders if he’ll ever be that man again and if she should risk everything she’s built her life on to help him. Dan can’t normally bear to be more than 10 minutes from a hip bar, an imported beer and a group of hot women. So what is he doing holed up in a falling down beach shack at Middle Point?
Nonfiction Alison Alexander – Tasmania's Convicts: How Felons Built a Free Society To the convicts arriving in Van Diemen’s Land, it must have felt as though they’d been sent to the very ends of the earth. In Tasmania’s Convicts Alison Alexander tells the history of the men and women transported to what became one of Britain’s most notorious convict colonies. Following the lives of dozens of convicts and their families, she uncovers stories of success, failure, and everything in between. While some suffered harsh conditions, most served their time and were freed, becoming ordinary and peaceful citizens. Yet over the decades, a terrible stigma became associated with the convicts, and they and the whole colony went to extraordinary lengths to hide it.
Tom Bamforth – Deep Field: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Aid Relief, from Pakistan to Kazan, the Punjab to the Pacific Deep Field’ is a UN term for humanitarian operations that take place in extremis – amid the destruction caused by war and natural disaster. In Deep Field: Dispatches from the Frontlines of Aid Relief Australian aid worker Tom Bamforth takes you with him as he responds to the challenges of delivering humanitarian aid under extreme circumstances travelling to some of the most dangerous and difficult regions of the world. Full of amazing real life characters as well as Tom’s insightful commentary, full of irony and intelligent reflection, Deep Field is an intensely human story, not only of current affairs and people in crisis, but of Tom himself and how someone’s life can change so completely when they find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time or is that the right time?
Amy Chua & Jed Rubenfeld – The Triple Package: What Really Determines Success Why do Jews win so many Nobel Prizes and Pulitzer Prizes? Why are Mormons running the business and finance sectors? Why do the children of even impoverished and poorly educated Chinese immigrants excel so remarkably at school? It may be taboo to say it, but some cultural groups starkly outperform others. The bestselling husband and wife team Amy Chua, author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, and Jed Rubenfeld, author of The Interpretation of Murder, explain, and in doing so, reveal the three essential components of success. By the "Tiger Mom" and her husband, a professor.
Sara James – An American in Oz: From TV Anchor in New York to Life and Love at the Edge of the Wombat State… No one thought Sara James, a 30 Rock habitue and Manhattanite through and through, would move to Australia after a long and successful fast-track career reporting from around the globe. But move she did, when her Australian husband Andrew wanted to come home, in a journey that sees her morph from a big-city anchor and correspondent to a small-town mum living an Australian country life. It is an odyssey filled with drama and adventure, both personal and professional, intentional and accidental. We see Australia through New York eyes, and follow Sara’s adventures as she faces head on the challenges of everyday life in a new country with two children, one of whom has special needs.
Elizabeth Kolbert – The Sixth Extinction: an Unnatural History The Sixth Extinction draws on the work of scores of researchers in half a dozen disciplines–geologists who study deep ocean cores, botanists who follow the tree line as it climbs up the Andes, and marine biologists who dive off the Great Barrier Reef. Elizabeth Kolbert, two-time winner of the National Magazine Award and New Yorker writer, accompanies many of these researchers into the field, and introduces you to a dozen species–some already gone, others facing extinction–that are being affected by the sixth extinction.
Ben Macintyre – A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal Kim Philby was the most notorious British defector and Soviet mole in history. Agent, double agent, traitor and enigma, he betrayed every secret of Allied operations to the Russians in the early years of the Cold War. Philby’s two closest friends in the intelligence world, Nicholas Elliott of MI6 and James Jesus Angleton, the CIA intelligence chief, thought they knew Philby better than anyone, and then discovered they had not known him at all.
Angela Mollard – The Smallest Things: Thoughts on Making a Happy Family What book do you buy when your young child is at school, has ideas of their own and can’t be separated from their television, iPad or computer screen? From the high-profile, popular journalist/commentator, Angela Mollard, this is a wholly delightful, funny and charming book for all parents who worry that their kids’ childhood has gone MIA and needs to be retrieved, but they don’t know how to go about it. It’s about giving modern kids a real childhood and putting some fun back into parenting and childhood, even if you’re a full time working parent. It’s about getting back to simple things, yes, but embracing technology and modern life as well. With personal memoir woven through chapters on camping, craft, pets, gardening, cooking, reading/ book-themed adventures, music, technology, parties, discipline, rainy days, festive occasions, entertaining other families and more.
Stuart O'Grady – Battle Scars By 2013 Stuart O’Grady had competed in 17 Tours, secured Olympic and Commonwealth Games medals, been named Australian Cyclist of the Year, and Australian Male Road Cyclist of the Year, won the inaugural Tour Down Under, and earned an Order of Australia Medal in recognition of his contribution to the sport. But then came the worst time of his life, when he announced his retirement after such an impressive cycling career and revealed that he had used the performance enhancing drug EPO before the 1998 Tour de France – a tour marred by widespread doping. In this up-front and honest autobiography Stuey reveals all. This is his story: as candid and down-to-earth as the man himself.
Trudi-Ann Tierney – Making Soapies in Kabul: Hot Days, Crazy Nights and Dangerous Liaisons in a War Zone On an impulse, Trudi-Ann Tierney, Sydney producer and former actress, goes to Kabul to manage a bar. She quickly falls into the local TV industry, where she becomes responsible for producing a highly popular soapie. Trudi’s staff are hugely inexperienced, and she lives among the expat community – the media, the burnt-out army types now working as security contractors, the “Do-Gooders,” the diplomats – in dubious guest houses like The Dirty Diana. This is “Ka-bubble,” where the reckless encounters with each other, with alcohol and of course with recreational drugs are as dangerous as the city’s streets.
Robert Wainwright – Sheila: The Australian Beauty Who Bewitched British Society Sheila wedded earls and barons, befriended literary figures and movie stars, bedded a future king, was feted by London and New York society for 40 years and when she died was a Russian princess. Vivacious, confident and striking, Sheila Chisholm met her first husband, Francis Edward Scudamore St Clair-Erskine, a first lieutenant and son of the 5th Earl of Rosslyn, when she went to Egypt during the Great War to nurse her brother. Arriving in London as a young married woman, the world was at her feet – and she enjoyed it immensely.
FOR KIDS: Michael Adams – The Last Shot - Teens After facing the heartbreaking truth in Shadow Valley, Danby is determined to have her revenge on Jack. With Jack dead, her little brother Evan and hundreds of other Minions will be free of his control. After Danby confronts Jack on a dying stretch of highway, all of her beliefs are turned inside out. Not only are his feelings for her real, he’s working against the clock to save lives and rebuild society. To Danby’s horror, it’s Nathan who appears to threaten the new order. With her emotions raging and blood on her hands, Danby has to take a side in a deadly battle that’ll decide the future of the world. Set in post-apocalyptic Sydney.
Marianne Curley – Broken – Teens Following the revelation that Ebony is an angel, and Nathaneal’s narrow victory in battle with Prince Luca, the two are enjoying their newfound love. But Ebony’s friend Jordan is bitterly angry that he has lost the girl of his dreams. Then suddenly Prince Michael arrives to arrest Nathaneal for breaking Avena’s law when he revealed his powers on Earth in his bid to save Ebony from Luca. Nathaneal is forced to return to Avena without Ebony to stand trial.Desperate to find out what has happened to her adoptive parents, Ebony is persuaded by Jordan to believe that new teacher Mr Xavier, who claims to be her uncle, can introduce her to her real father. Fantastical and powerfully emotional, this angelic romance series is rapidly winning enthusiastic fans.
Vanessa Garden – Carrier – Teens From the day she was born, Lena has viewed the world through the jagged window of a razor-wired fence. The hundred-acre property she shares with her mother in the Australian outback may keep her safe from the Y-Carrier disease, but it is no longer enough to hold Lena’s interest, and her mother’s increasingly tight grip on her free will is stifling. Just as her curiosity blooms and her courage rises, she meets a boy through the fence — the first boy she has ever laid eyes on. His name is Patrick and he comes with a dangerous yet irresistible invitation of adventure beyond the fence, an invitation to which Lena cannot say no.
Claudia Gray – Steadfast - Teens The second book in the dazzling Spellcaster series from New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray is perfect for fans of the Beautiful Creatures and Hex Hall series. Nadia, Mateo, and Verlaine saved Captive’s Sound from the dark sorceress Elizabeth, or so they thought. But despite their best efforts, a crack opened and a new, greater evil seeped through. With Mateo as her Steadfast, Nadia’s magic is magnified but her training is still incomplete. And a darker magic has begun to call Nadia. With her Steadfast, Mateo, and her best friend, Verlaine, Nadia must fight the black magic that tempts her and stop the One Beneath before he comes to claim what is his.
Dan Gutman – Mr. Jack Is a Maniac – Ages 6-10 My Weird School weirder than ever! Principal Klutz thinks the kids at Ella Mentry School need to learn some self-defense moves. But the guy he hired, Mr. Jack, thinks he’s an action hero. He spends all his time looking in the mirror. He does everything in slow motion. How are the kids supposed to learn anything?
Christine Johnson and others – Grim – Teens Stories by some of the biggest names in the field: Amanda Hocking, Julie Kagawa, Sarah Rees-Brennan, Claudia Gray and more.
Karen Levine – Hana's Suitcase – Ages 10-13 In March 2000, a suitcase arrived at a children’s Holocaust education center in Tokyo, Japan. Hana Brady was written on the outside. Children who saw the suitcase on display were full of questions and the director decided to find the answers.
Tahereh Mafi – Fracture Me – Teens As Omega Point prepares to launch an all-out assault on The Reestablishment soldiers stationed in Sector 45, Adam’s focus couldn’t be further from the upcoming battle. He’s reeling from his breakup with Juliette, scared for his best friend’s life, and as concerned as ever for his brother James’s safety. And just as Adam begins to wonder if this life is really for him, the alarms sound. It’s time for war. On the battlefield, it seems like the odds are in their favor but taking down Warner, Adam’s newly discovered half-brother, won’t be that easy. The Reestablishment can’t tolerate a rebellion, and they’ll do anything to crush the resistance, including killing everyone Adam has ever cared about.
Amra Pajalic & Demet Divaroren – Coming of Age: Growing Up Mulsim in Australia – Teens Muslim people in Australia come from over seventy countries and represent a wide variety of cultural backgrounds and experiences. Yet we are constantly bombarded by media stories feeding one negative stereotype. What is it really like to grow up Muslim in Australia? In this book, famous and not-so-famous Muslim-Australians tell their stories in their own voices. These honest and heartfelt stories will resonate with all readers, providing different snapshots of Muslim life in Australia, dispelling myths and stereotypes, and above all celebrating diversity, achievement, courage and determination.
Herman Parish – Amelia Bedelia Goes Wild! – Ages 6-10 Amelia Bedelia, America’s favorite housekeeper, had a childhood full of surprises, mischief, and hilarious misunderstandings. In this illustrated chapter book adventure, just right for fans of Judy Moody and Ivy + Bean, young Amelia Bedelia and her friends build a zoo in the backyard (complete with stuffed animals and attractions) and offer safari adventures to the entire neighborhood. This is the fourth book in the nationally bestselling Amelia Bedelia chapter book series, and it is just right for newly independent readers ready for a more challenging vocabulary and books with chapters.
*Geographical rights may vary by title. Kate Seivertson is a Collection Development Specialist at OverDrive.
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