The Wonderful World of eReaders or: How I gained access to all the hot titles and stopped worrying about what to read during the holidays

Is there a book you have been on hold for what seems like forever for? Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl immediately comes to my mind. What if I told you you could become the first in the hold line without cheating? The library has three copies with no hold list (at this time of writing!), and all can be checked out for 28 days. If you are a Des Plaines Library cardholder, simply search “Nook” in our online catalog and place a hold on one of our ereaders.When your hold is in, visit the Reader Services desk on the 3^rd floor and pick up one of the circulating Nooks the library owns. 

In addition to the Nook devices, we also have Sony Readers and Kindles available for checkout. The Sony Reader has both the Hunger Games trilogy and the first four books of the A Song of Fire and Ice series by George R.R. Martin (the inspiration for the Game of Thrones series you probably have a hold on). The Kindle also has a solid collection of new favorites including Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus and Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding. To find out the exact titles available on each ereader, click here to access the catalog, click on one of the ereaders (i.e. Sony Reader), and then click on the “Summary” option to view the titles available on the ereader. 

With the holidays coming up, if you have an ereader on your wish list but aren’t quite sure which one to go with, checking out different types of ereaders can be a way of seeing what might work best for you. These ereaders are equipped with at least 15 books apiece, easily enough to get you through downtime during holiday festivities without having to carry a bag of books with you.

If you have any questions regarding our circulating ereaders, feel free to contact the Reader Services department.

Life's Little Ironies

Seems like all entities involved in the book world are addressing E-reading. Libraries are staying current by providing electronic content and devices, publishers are designing new marketing strategies, and book stores are selling the flashy gadgets along side plain old printed material. As this universe is perfected and prices keep dropping E-reading is going to be inevitable. Here at the library, as you probably know, we have several Sony Readers to lend for our Ebook discussions and the Barnes and Noble Nook is our winter reading club prize. (thanks to the Friends of the Library)

Given all that, imagine that there is another new format being touted. This one in Europe by the Spanish publishing house Ediciones B. Described as "a sensational innovation in the world of books, Librinos, are innovative in concept, format and material. Easy to read everywhere: on the beach, in bed, on the go." And want to know what it is? A minuscule paperback that opens from the bottom up like a notebook with the binding at the top. How I would love to be privy to the research on this packaging. While we here are all about the gadget, someone has reinvented the low tech paperback. Who would have thought the two continents would be so different? But are we? Interestingly, the titles that have been printed in this new mini paperback form are mainly from English speaking authors. Five of the first six titles published are from authors you know and love... like life's little ironies.

The Magic Circle by Katherine Neville

Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice

PS I Love You by Cecelia Ahern

Winter in Madrid by CJ Sansom