November 2007

"What Would You Do For Your Family?" -- video review of "The Road", by Cormac McCarthy

"Chinese History Sheds Light On Family History" -- video review of "Wild Swans Three Daughters Of China", by Jung Chang

"Author's Utopian Society No Suffering" -- video review of "The Giver", by Lois Lowry

"Unique Narrative On Brothers Death" -- video review of "My Brother", by Jamaica Kincaid

""Reads Like A Well Researched Magazine Article"" -- video review of "Biodiesel Growing a New Energy Economy", by Greg Pahl

""Raises More Questions Than It Answers"" -- video review of "Siddhartha", by Herman Hesse

"At A Career Crossroads?" -- video review of "Working People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do", by Studs Terkel

"Hysterically Funny" -- video review of "Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim", by David Sedaris

"Squeamish?" -- video review of "The Road", by Cormac McCarthy

"Sexuality In the 50's" -- video review of "On Chesil Beach A Novel", by Ian McEwan

"Life In India" -- video review of "Malgudi Days", by R. K. Narayan

""Compelled To Read Philip Roth"" -- video review of "Exit Ghost", by Philip Roth

""Harrowing...Have To Be Brave"" -- video review of "The Road", by Cormac McCarthy

This article from the UK's Guardian entitled, "Libraries to be 'new channel' for direct marketing" describes how some libraries have agreed to allow advertisements to be placed next to the due date slips in the books they circulate. To clarify, these ads don't come from the libraries themselves, but from private businesses. Here's what a director at the direct marketing company had to say about this tactic:'"The inserts are put in the book at the first page as you're handed the book to check it out," he explained. "They're going to be inserted right next to the panel with the return date on it, which means that everyone will look at them at least once." "We're looking at somewhere between 500,000 and 300,000 a month at the moment," he said, adding that if 300,000 slots were sold a month the participating libraries could hope to see income of around £10,000."There are hopes to take this idea nationwide, though not everyone is happy with it, as noted in the article.I'm not a fan of this approach at all, and I'm a marketing enthusiast! The proponents suggest that this kind of advertising promises big revenues, which may be true, but at what cost? One of our most substantial assets...