Ipad is out, uLike?

So the Ipad has at last arrived and is being sold at Best Buy's and Apple stores all around the country. Have you gotten one? if so what it your option of it? some of the early reports that as a book reader that it has some draw backs. Such as a glossy screen that reflects to much light which read comfortably in sunlight. I also hear that it has issues with some WiFi sites in connection or losing connection then not able to re-establish it. I'm very up on my technical background and don't have an issue in using new technology when it solves my problem or helps to make something easier. however, I would never buy an Ipad to use as a eReader for books. from the specs I have seen its really just a large Ipod or Iphone depending on what version you have of it. tablet computers have been around for sometime, they are not all that new. its just Apple was able to build up excitement on it. HP has a tablet called slate that is very much like an Ipad, but offers two webcams (one facing you, one on the back of the unit), a usb port, and larger storage and it has multitasking. To me that sounds like a better deal, something I plug my camera into and download to or hook up a external disk and back up. things the Ipad cannot do but I'm sure at some point will at a price. as for books, to me nothing beats having a real book in your hand. you can take to the beach, leave it on your chair, walk down to the water and not worry some one is going to steal your book. If they do, you can get a copy of the book for very little at most used book stores. I guess you could find Ipads at pawn shops cheaper at some point in time, but its not the same, a $499+ ereader or $1.50 book. which is easier to replace?
So what do you think? have a comment about Ipads, lets hear what you think.

Book News

Today is a big day for book releases, check out this list of new books out today:

Caught by Harlan Coben (Dutton, $27.95; ISBN 978-0-525-95158-2). 500,000 copies. One-day laydown.

Bite Me by Christopher Moore(Morrow, $23.99;ISBN 978-0-06-177972-5). 300,000 copies.

Take Three by Karen Kingsbury (Zondervan, $14.99 paper; ISBN 978-0-310-26626-6). 250,000 copies. One-day laydown.

Shattered by Karen Robards (Putnam, $25.95; ISBN 978-0-399-15627-4). 200,000 copies.

Falling Apart in One Piece: One Optimist’s Journey Through the Hell of Divorce by Stacy Morrison (Simon & Schuster, $26; ISBN 978-1-4165-9556-4). 200,000 copies.

Toward a True Kinship of Faiths by His Holiness the Dalai Lama (Doubleday Religion, $25; ISBN 978-0-385-52505-30). 125,000 copies.

Paul and Me: 53 Years of Adventures and Misadventures with My Pal Paul Newman by A.E. Hotchner (Doubleday/Nan A. Talese, $26.95; ISBN 978-0-385-53233-4). 100,000 copies.

The Leader Who Had No Title: A Powerful Book About The Ultimate Secret for Winning in Business and Life by Robin Sharma (Free Press, $21.99; ISBN 978-1-4391-0912-0). 100,000 copies.

Known to Evil: A Leonid McGill Mystery by Walter Mosley (Riverhead, $25.95; ISBN 978-1-59448-752-1). 100,000 copies.

The Male Brain by Louann Brizendine, M.D. (Broadway, $24.99; ISBN 978-0-7679-2753-6). 75,000 copies.

The Language of Secrets by Dianne Dixon (Doubleday, $24.95; ISBN 978-0-385-53063-7). 75,000 copies.

The Creation of Eve by Lynn Cullen (Putnam, $25.95; ISBN 978-0-399-15610-6). 75,000 copies.

The Three Emperors by Miranda Carter (Knopf, $30; ISBN 978-1-400-04363-7). 50,000 copies.

Wisdom: From Philosophy to Neuroscience by Stephen S. Hall (Knopf, $26.95; ISBN 978-0-307-26910-2). 50,000 copies.

Rough Justice by Alex Ross (Pantheon, $30; ISBN 978-0-375-71490-0). 50,000 copies.

The Best Kind of Different:Our Family’s Journey with Asperger’s Syndrome by Shonda Schilling and Curt Schilling (Morrow, $25.99; ISBN 978-0-06-198683-3). 50,000 copies.

Carnal Innocence by Nora Roberts (Bantam, $16 paper; ISBN 978-0-553-38643-1).

The Sheen on the Silk by Anne Perry (Ballantine, $27; ISBN 978-0-345-50065-6.

Now get out there and do some reading!

What's hot this week?

So what is the top sellers this new week of march? According to the New York Times the top fiction books this week is:

FANTASY IN DEATH, by J. D. Robb. - a murder of a gaming developer? seems like a good subject for a book! I'll have to pick this up and read it.

THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett. which is now on the top seller list for 48 weeks. so I'd say time to watch it, I'm guessing it will become a movie tie in with this reader support. Its about a young white women and two black maids in the 1960's.

BLACK MAGIC SANCTION, by Kim Harrison. - this is a witch story with a bounty hunter twist, seems supernatural subjects are really picking up.

it looks like more and more fantasy is making it way into the top book lists, vampires, ware-wolfs, witches. funny how in the past that was not a big topic and people liked historical fiction. Its okay with me, but I love to watch the cycle of reading move from year to year. very interesting social road map.

Wife's Birthday!

Today is sort of my wife's birthday! I say sort of because she was actually born on leap year! yes she is a leap year baby. Now my wife does not like to read fiction, she is not avid reader or a big story kid of person, but she does enjoy non-fiction things, which leads me to think about what book would be good to recommend, so I can't help but recommend this book in her honor:

366: A Leap Year of Great Stories from History by W.B. Marsh

what better book than this to end February with, it is filled with true stories of events that happened in leap years and some things that happened on the 29th as well. if your a non-fiction person, and you are looking to get some fun reading in and it is not a story I'd go get this book from the library or buy it and read it.

However, since this month is only 28 days long I have to say to my lovely wife happy sort-of birthday!

Upcoming movies made from books!

Several movies will be coming out in the next few months based on books. Some of these may have a chance to grow into collectible books. If you have a chance to buy first editions of these books, I'd get them and hold on to them for a while and see what happens.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson - this may be a good to watch so if you get the chance to get a first edition hardback, do so.

Diary of a whimpy kid - believe it or not, first editions of this book signed by the author is already selling for $50 or more. so if you find one. hold it for now.

Of course Alice In Wonderland will spur a run on books by Lewis Carroll. Good luck finding a first edition on that one. But there are many re-prints that make good collectibles as well as lesser know works by him.

these up-coming movies may be a good bet for a collector. only time will tell!

Welcome

Welcome to my Blog's first article. Ok, so its not so much an article as it is a welcome note. For years I've been selling and buying books on the internet and locally where I live. Well that is not completely true, when I travel I look at books too. The main thing I'm trying to say is I think its time I start sharing my knowledge of books and maybe do a blog on it. I think this will work, because for some time I wanted to do a presence on the web, but I did not want to do a standard web site. Sure I'd like to sell some of my books and then buy more of them, maybe even from you, but I also wanted to talk about books and a normal web site just has that retail feel to it. So I came up with this idea. Yes I have books for sale in all the normal places, amazon.com, half.com, Choosebooks.com, blah, blah, blah. But I need a forum to also speak out. so this brings me to here. A blog may work out well, gives me that personal touch so I still feel like a collector and not so much like a dealer. So I hope to write about books I like and take it from there.