06:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

If you've been absent and are keen to find out what MobileRead was up to this week, check out the links below:

E-Book General - Reading Recommendations

• April 2015 Book Club Vote
• Nominate MobileRead's 10 best fiction books of the 20th Century

06:31 AM by pdurrant in E-Book General | Reading Recommendations

The best books of the 21st century thread made me think that a MobileRead list of the ten best books of the 20th century would be fun.

To avoid, as much as possible, recentness bias, let's go for the best book of each decade of the 20th century. That is books first published:

1901-1910, 1911-1920, 1921-1930, 1931-1940, 1941-1950, 1951-1960, 1961-1970, 1971-1980, 1981-1990, 1991-2000

So this is the nomination thread. Please post your nominations for the best book of each decade of the 20th century. If you don't have a nomination for a particular decade that's fine. Please identify the decade for every nomination. No more than one nomination per decade per person.

Please only nominate books that you have actually read: don't nominate based on reviews, TV programmes or films.

After there have been sufficient nominations, I'll make a voting thread, either one thread per decade (if there are LOTS of nominations) or one thread for the whole 20th century.

Let's see what books the collective wisdom of Mobileread thinks were the best of the 20th century!

[EDIT: Please keep this thread just for nominations. You'll be able to discuss the nominations in the voting threads.]

[EDIT2: Title changed to clarify that this is for a list of fiction, not non-fiction]

[EDIT3: Nominations will be open until the end of April, or until a full 7 days have passed since the last nomination, whichever comes SOONER.]

[EDIT4: Consolidated list:]
Here's the list I have of nominations and first nominator. Please check it to make sure your nominations are in here and in the right decade! Voting threads go up starting next weekend.

1901-1910
Kim (pdurrant)
The Golden Bowl (issybird)
Anne of Green Gables (BearMountainBooks)
Hound of the Baskervilles (frddgls)
Buddenbrooks (knuthmeyer)
The Jungle (obs20)
The Call of the Wild (Synamon)
The Psaemmead Trilogy (EndlessWaves)
The Diaries of Adam and Eve (spellbanisher)
The Wings of the Dove (sun surfer)
Nostromo (everlod)
Before Adam (Ralph Sir Edward)
The Getting of Wisdom (Lynx-lynx)
The Virginian (GA Russell)
Howards End (missimpossible)
Where Angels Fear to Tread (ccowie)
The Riddle of the Sands (bfisher)
The Wind in the Willows (gmw)

1911-1920
The Nightland (Rizla)
The Metamorphosis (dickloraine)
Kokoro (HomeInMyShoes)
The Good Soldier (issybird)
Ethan Frome (frddgls)
Der Untertan (knuthmeyer)
The Mysterious Stranger (Ralph Sir Edward)
Main Street (obs)
The Secret Garden (Synamon)
The 39 steps (EndlessWaves)
Of Human Bondage (spellbanisher)
Under Fire (BelleZora)
Death in Venice (sun surfer)
The Magnificent Ambersons (Hamlet53)
Songs of the Sentimental Bloke (Lynx-lynx)
A la recherche du temps perdu (pynch)
You Know Me Al (GA Russell)
Sons and Lovers (missimpossible)
Tarzan of the Apes (gmw)

1921-1930
The Great Gatsby (issybird)
The Trial (HomeInMyShoes)
Nancy Drew: The Secret of the Clock (BearMountainBooks)
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (treadlightly)
Siddhartha (frddgls)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (knuthmeyer)
Red Harvest (Ralph Sir Edward)
An American Tragedy (spellbanisher)
A Passage to India (BelleZora)
Ulysses (sun surfer)
Steppenwolf (everlod)
The Passage (Lynx-lynx)
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (caleb72)
Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften (pynch)
The Maltese Falcon (GA Russell)
To the Lighthouse (missimpossible)
The Sound and the Fury (bfisher)
All Quiet on the Western Front (AnemicOak)
Winnie the Pooh (gmw)
Wild Geese (ccowie)
Murder at the Vicarage (disconnected)
Carry on Jeeves (Bilbo1967)

1931-1940
The Grapes of Wrath (Bilbo1967)
Brave New World (treadlightly)
The Power and the Glory (issybird)
Lost Horizon (crich70)
La Nausée [English: Nausea] (GeoffR)
The Big Sleep (Rizla)
The Hobbit (HomeInMyShoes)
Schloß Gripsholm (knuthmeyer)
Odd John (Ralph Sir Edward)
The Good Earth (obs20)
At the mountains of madness (EndlessWaves)
Gone with the Wind (Catlady)
Of Mice and Men (spellbanisher)
And Then There Were None (sun surfer)
Musashi (Katsunami)
Blinky Bill (Lynx-lynx)
Good-bye, Mr. Chips (pdurrant)
The Waves (pynch)
The Postman Always Rings Twice (GA Russell)
Sunset Song (missimpossible)
The Nine Tailors (disconnected)

1941-1950
The catcher in the Rye (dickloraine)
Nineteen Eighty-Four (treadlightly)
Cannery Row (HomeInMyShoes)
Tales of The South Pacific (Ralph Sir Edward)
Animal Farm (grumbles)
I, Robot (EndlessWaves)
The Stranger/L'Étranger (spellbanisher)
Brideshead Revisited (issybird)
The Victim (mandy314)
The Makioka Sisters (Hamlet53)
Spartacus (Rizla)
All the King's Men (Jeff L)
Ride on Stranger (Lynx-lynx)
The Little Grey Men (banjomike)
The Third Man (GA Russell)
Gormenghast (missimpossible)
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (AnemicOak)
Foundation (gmw)
Keys of the Kingdom (ccowie)
Ficciones (curtw)
Appleby’s End (disconnected)
Ali and Nino by Kurban Said (HomeInMyShoes)

1951-1960
The Lord Of The Rings (cadele)
The Broken Sword (svenlind)
Lolita (issybird)
To Kill a Mockingbird (treadlightly)
A Canticle for Leibowitz (GeoffR)
The Long Goodbye (Rizla)
Rabbit Run (HomeInMyShoes)
The Stars My Destination (Geralt)
The Charioteer (Alsicole)
Fièvre au Marais (knuthmeyer)
Atlas Shrugged (Ralph Sir Edward)
Lord of The Flies (obs20)
The Daughter of Time (Synamon)
Childhood's End (EndlessWaves)
On the Road (spellbanisher)
East of Eden (Grey Ram)
Things Fall Apart (sun surfer)
The Stories of Frank O'Connor (BelleZora)
Star Diaries (mandy314)
The Adventures of Augie March (Jeff L)
All The Rivers Run (Lynx-lynx)
Querelle de Brest (pynch)
The Day of the Triffids (banjomike)
The Once and Future King (Catlady)
A Question of Upbringing (A Dance To the Music of Time # 1) (bfisher)
Fahrenheit 451 (AnemicOak)
Tempest Tost (ccowie)
Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison (curtw)
Eloise (disconnected)
Lucky Jim (Bilbo1967)

1961-1970
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (treadlightly)
Brandbilen som försvann [English: The Fire Engine That Disappeared] (GeoffR)
Farewell Gul'sary (HomeInMyShoes)
Spring Snow (issybird)
The Master and Margarita (Geralt)
A Moment In Time (Alsicole)
Ringworld (Apache)
Dune (Ralph Sir Edward)
The Man in the High Castle (grumbles)
Slaughterhouse-Five (obs20)
Flowers for Algernon (Synamon)
Catch 22 (EndlessWaves)
Where the Wild Things Are (spellbanisher)
Cien Años de Soledad (One hundred years of solitude) (Grey Ram)
The French Lieutenant's Woman (BelleZora)
The Godfather (drofgnal)
The Stone Angel (ccowie)
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (sunsurfer)
The Last Temptation of Christ (Hamlet53)
The Alexandria Quartet (everlod)
My Brother Jack (Lynx-lynx)
The Left Hand of Darkness (caleb72)
A Wizard of Earthsea (pdurrant)
Franny and Zooey (pynch)
The Witches of Karres (banjomike)
Otley Victorious (GA Russell)
Cancer Ward (bfisher)
2001: A Space Odyssey (gmw)
The Giving Tree (curtw)
The Doorbell Rang (disconnected)

1971-1980
Roadside Picnic (Rizla)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (poohbear_nc)
Crocodile on the Sandbank (BearMountainBooks)
The Stand (treadlightly)
The Book of Morgaine (GeoffR)
If On a Winter's Night a Traveller (HomeInMyShoes)
To Your Scattered Bodies Go (Apache)
The Mote in God’s Eye (gbm)
Deathbird Stories (Ralph Sir Edward)
The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin (obs20)
The Princess Bride (Synamon)
Rendezvous with Rama (EndlessWaves)
The Dispossessed (spellbanisher)
The Shining (Grey Ram)
Watership Down (drofgnal)
The Magus (revised version) (ccowie)
Flowers in the Attic (sun surfer)
The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Conner (Hamlet53)
Schilten (mandy314)
Shogun (Katsunami)
Beloved (everlod)
Gossip from the Forest (Lynx-lynx)
The Gods Themselves (caleb72)
A Morbid Taste For Bones (pdurrant)
Chronicle in Stone (issybird)
Gravity’s Rainbow(pynch)
The Spike (GA Russell)
Dragon's Egg (bfisher)
The Killer Angels (AnemicOak)
Lord Foul's Bane (gmw)
The Ghost Writer (ccowie)
Riddley Walker (curtw)
Lady Oracle (disconnected)

1981-1990
Lyonesse Trilogi (svenlind)
The Pillars of the Earth (treadlightly)
Mythago Wood (GeoffR)
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (HomeInMyShoes)
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (Geralt)
House of the Spirits (Alsicole)
Red Storm Rising (gbm)
Last of the Breed (Ralph Sir Edward)
The Bonfire of The Vanities (obs20)
A Prayer for Owen Meany (Synamon)
In the Skin of a Lion (Rizla)
The Hunt for Red October (EndlessWaves)
Neuromancer (Grey Ram)
Skinny Legs and All (BelleZora)
Watchmen (sun surfer)
Love in the Time of Cholera (Hamlet53)
The Handmaid's Tale (issybird)
Martin Amis: Money (mandy314)
The Elfstones of Shannara (Katsunami)
City of Glass (Jeff L)
An Indecent Obsession (Lynx-lynx)
Skallagrigg (caleb72)
The Misenchanted Sword (pdurrant)
White Noise (pynch)
The Beiderbecke Affair (banjomike)
The Remains of the Day (missimpossible)
Midnight's Children (ccowie)
Agent of Change (bfisher)
Lonesome Dove (AnemicOak)
The Stonor Eagles (gmw)
The Color Purple (curtw)
A Short History of a Small Place (disconnected)

1991-2000
Publieke werken (Zetmolm)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (dickloraine)
Cryptonomicon (GeoffR)
A Suitable Boy (HomeInMyShoes)
A Game of Thrones (Geralt)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (obs20)
The English Patient (Synamon)
Perdido Street Station (EndlessWaves)
Snow Crash (spellbanisher)
O Evangelho Segundo Jesus Cristo (The gospel according to Jesus Christ) (Grey Ram)
A Fine Balance (ccowie)
Persepolis (sun surfer)
The Windup Bird Chronicle (Hamlet53)
Hit Man (mandy314)
Blindness (everlod)
The Gold Bug Variations (Jeff L)
Grand Days (Lynx-lynx)
Stardust (pdurrant)
No Greater Love (pynch)
Raptor Red (bfisher)
Parable of the Sower (Purple Lady)
Small Gods (gmw)
House of Leaves (curtw)
Crow Road (Bilbo1967)

01:34 PM by WT Sharpe in Reading Recommendations | Book Clubs

April 2015 MobileRead Book Club Vote

Help us choose a book as the April 2015 eBook for the MobileRead Book Club. The poll will be open for 5 days. There will be no runoff vote unless the voting results a tie, in which case there will be a 3 day run-off poll. This is a visible poll: others can see how you voted. It is You may cast a vote for each book that appeals to you.

We will start the discussion thread for this book on April 20th. Select from the following Official Choices with three nominations each:

(1) For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
Amazon US / Kobo US

(2) The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub / Kindle

(3) Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
Goodreads | Amazon Au / Amazon Ca / Amacon UK / Amazon US / Kobo /

(4) Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Goodreads | The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub (Illustrated) / Kindle | Amazon Au / Amazon Ca / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Kobo

(5) Shōgun by James Clavell
Goodreads | Amazon US / Google Play / Kobo Ca / Overdrive

(6) Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
Amazon US / Audible / Kobo US

(7) The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub / Kindle | Project Gutenberg

(8) Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos
Kindle US / Kobo US / Overdrive

(9) Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry
Goodreads | Amazon Au / Amazon Ca / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Kobo

(10) Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub / Kindle

06:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Ladies and Gentlemen, it's time for our weekly roundup of what's new and interesting in the world of e-books.

E-Book General - News

• New Zealand GST could soon be charged on ebooks
• Rakuten Buys OverDrive

E-Book General - Reading Recommendations

• April 2015 Book Club Nominations

12:05 AM by WT Sharpe in Reading Recommendations | Book Clubs

MobileRead Book Club
April 2015 Nominations

Help us select the book that the MobileRead Book Club will read for April, 2015.

The nominations will run through midnight EST March 31 or until 10 books have made the list. The poll will then be posted and will remain open for five days.

Book selection category for April is:

Classics

In order for a book to be included in the poll it needs THREE NOMINATIONS (original nomination, a second and a third).

How Does This Work?
The Mobile Read Book Club (MRBC) is an informal club that requires nothing of you. Each month a book is selected by polling. On the last week of that month a discussion thread is started for the book. If you want to participate feel free. There is no need to "join" or sign up. All are welcome.

How Does a Book Get Selected?
Each book that is nominated will be listed in a poll at the end of the nomination period. The book that polls the most votes will be the official selection.

How Many Nominations Can I Make?
Each participant has 3 nominations. You can nominate a new book for consideration or nominate (second, third) one that has already been nominated by another person.

How Do I Nominate a Book?
Please just post a message with your nomination. If you are the FIRST to nominate a book, please try to provide an abstract to the book so others may consider their level of interest.

How Do I Know What Has Been Nominated?
Just follow the thread. This message will be updated with the status of the nominations as often as I can. If one is missed, please just post a message with a multi-quote of the 3 nominations and it will be added to the list ASAP.

When is the Poll?
The poll thread will open at the end of the nomination period, or once there have been 10 books with 3 nominations each. At that time a link to the initial poll thread will be posted here and this thread will be closed.

The floor is open to nominations. Please comment if you discover a nomination is not available as an ebook in your area.

Official choices with three nominations each:

(1) For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
Amazon US / Kobo US

(2) The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub / Kindle

(3) Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
Goodreads | Amazon Au / Amazon Ca / Amacon UK / Amazon US / Kobo /

(4) Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Goodreads | The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub (Illustrated) / Kindle | Amazon Au / Amazon Ca / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Kobo

(5) Shōgun by James Clavell
Goodreads | Amazon US / Google Play / Kobo Ca / Overdrive

(6) Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
Amazon US / Audible / Kobo US

(7) The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub / Kindle | Project Gutenberg

(8) Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos
Kindle US / Kobo US / Overdrive

(9) Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry
Goodreads | Amazon Au / Amazon Ca / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Kobo

(10) Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
The Patricia Clark Memorial Library: ePub / Kindle

The nominations are now closed.

09:29 AM by library addict in E-Book General | News

Rakuten buying eBook firm OverDrive for $410 million in U.S. push

(Reuters) - Japanese online retailer Rakuten Inc (4755.T) is buying U.S. eBook company OverDrive Inc for about $410 million, deepening its push into the U.S. market and into the "sharing economy".

Rakuten's announcement on Thursday about the OverDrive deal comes a week after it led a $530 million funding round for U.S ride-sharing service Lyft, signaling Rakuten's shift in focus towards more-rental based businesses.

The acquisition of OverDrive, which currently offers eBook rental services to U.S. libraries and schools, is expected to be completed in April. It will push Rakuten's eBook business EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) for 2015 closer to profit, the company said in a statement.

"OverDrive can be described as a 'sharing economy' business as it shares books," Takahito Aiki, head of Rakuten's global eBook business, told reporters.

Aiki said that Kobo Inc, a Canadian eBook company Rakuten bought in 2011 for $315 million, is "phase 1" of its eBook business as it allows consumers to buy eBooks. As part of "phase 2," OverDrive will allow libraries and schools to rent eBooks, he said.

Another reason for the purchase is the firm's aggressive drive into the U.S. market, Aiki said.

Rakuten has been on a buying spree in recent years to reduce reliance on its home market. In October it bought U.S. discount store Ebates.com for about $1 billion.

(Editing by Sunil Nair and Muralikumar Anantharaman)

from Reuters

here are some other articles:

Tech Crunch

Business Wire

07:19 AM by GeoffR in E-Book General | News

Online shoppers could soon be hit with GST (New Zealand Herald)

The Prime Minister has warned New Zealanders they could soon be paying GST on online purchases as small as a song download from iTunes.

[...]

GST is not currently charged on imported digital products such as music and film downloaded from services including iTunes. Physical goods bought online and worth less than $400 also usually escape GST.

Edit: New Zealand GST is 15%.

06:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Been so busy reading e-books that you haven't had time to keep up on the week's news? Here's some of what you've been missing:

E-Book General - News

• ECJ Rules that Ebooks must have standard VAT rate
• Sir Terry Pratchett died today, age 66