Book Tidbits 8

Been wanting to post these tidbits for a while, so pardon me if some of them are old news already.

• Is technology ruining some of our favorite plot devices? According to this New York Times article, yes. Imagine if Romeo and Juliet had cellphones. The whole miscommuunication snafu would never have occurred, and we'd be one Shakespearean tragedy short.
• Carlos Ruiz Zafon's new book, Angel's Game, has been released. I haven't read it yet, to be honest, but I did come across Zafon's article, in which he talks about his intended quartet of novels, and why novels are still the best form of story-telling.
• The Publisher's Association is coming out with a new campaign to boost book sales. The concept? Bookaholism. No, the concept is not new to some of us. However, as a widespread marketing campaign, with chosen slogans to be pasted on book covers, I wonder how this will work out. Apparently, there is some concern about promoting a certain kind of addiction.
• So, George Orwell based a big portion of his novel 1984 on We, a novel by Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin. This article argues that, regardless of a certain lack of originality, Orwell still came up with the better literary piece.
• Lastly, here's my book review backlog. Since I didn't have my computer the last month, I tried to catch up today. So, in case you miss out on the earliest posts, here they are:
  

The Fairy's Return by Gail Carson Levine

The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris

Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris

All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith