Monday 30 March 2009

Author videos on bookarmy!

We have just launched our video page. We have only just started adding clips to author and book pages, and have about 300 so far, but we will be adding more clips every week so there will always be something new to watch and comment on.

You have always been able to chat about and to authors on bookarmy, but now you can also watch them talk about their books in their very own words.

We have a few favourites amongst the first clips, including Laura Dockrill’s brilliant performance of her poem ‘Rude Girl’, Tilda Swinton reading from Steven Hall’s mesmerising story, The Raw Shark Texts, and a wonderful illustrated trailer for Rivka Galchen’s Atmospheric Disturbances. Also, take a look at the trailer for Alex Burrett’s originally titled My Goat Ate Its Own Legs – make sure you have the volume up for this one!

At the moment, users cannot upload their own videos, but if you have any suggestions for a book or author video you think we should feature, please let us know.

Monday 16 March 2009

I love this site!

Have a look at this link.
It made me chuckle!

Wednesday 11 March 2009

A book review that will make you want chocolate.

I spent this morning getting my teeth into Return of the Chocoholic Vampires, the first book in the new children’s series Zac Zoltan’s Mad Monster Agency.

It’s jam-packed with comic- style illustrations, complete with speech bubbles, to make reading more fun. This will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the creators, Knife and Packer – the men behind several high-profile cartoon strips, including Private Eye’s ‘It’s Grim Up North London.’

Featuring secret identities, a baking-obsessed troll named Odd Dan and an invasion of chocolate-loving vampires, there’s enough chaos and lunacy here to grab the attention of even the most discerning child. Return of the Chocoholic Vampires is released on April 6th, 2009.

Friday 6 March 2009

Just a quick one- we are giving away 30 free copies of The Piano Teacher, by debut novelist Janice Y.K. Lee.
To see how you could get your hands on a copy visit I want a FREE book, now.

Thursday 5 March 2009

Have you read....

Happy World Book Day everyone!

I was rather amused to read about the survey that came out today, all about reading habits. Apparently a lot of us say we have read such and such a book, when in truth, we haven’t even glanced through the first chapter. 42% of people polled admitted to have falsely claimed to have read George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, 31% War and Peace and 25% James Joyce’s Ulysses.

Now, like me you probably don’t think that it was particularly necessary to have a poll to discover that people lie about reading some books, but I do think it is really interesting the titles people pretend to have read, because this must mean these are the books we rate as giving you a higher, what is it? Intellectual status?
So what is it in particular about these books that suggest one is ‘well read’ ? Odd.

If this is a case I think we all need to read, and I mean actually read cover to cover without only pretending, Alain De Botton’s Status Anxiety.
See the list here.