That reminds me of when the Harry Potter popularity was at its height, people were saying that kids reading the books didn't count as "real" reading ... for reasons which escape me.

If you get the content of a book - audio, paper or electronic - you have read that book. My not liking audiobooks is a personal thing; they're books.

And, for those who like to own audiobooks, there's a company called Edward R. Hamilton Booksellers. They sell remaindered books, older DVD and Blu Ray movies and audiobooks. The prices are excellent, flat shipping charge for each order BUT they prefer that you order from their paper catalog using a check. They have a website (URL escapes me at the moment), and you can order from it, but they'll charge the same shipping rate for each item that they'd charge for an order of several items paid for by check.

DX -- congratulations to your niece on her book!

Thank you on her behalf.

The latest Incryptid ends on a cliff hanger, and I am upset by that.

I mean, I will survive and, hey, Incryptid. But still.

Tomie de Paola, children's author, died today. link

That is so sad.

I went to one of his signings once before ltc was born. I was one of the few people there without kids, but I'm glad I went and told him how important his books were to me. ltc loves her books too now, especially Strega Nona.

Early each month, the Smart Bitches (sorry to keep bringing them up, but I do check them out frequently) has a list of books coming out that month. They have the title, when they'll come out, tags as to the type of book and a brief description, along with a cover picture. Coming out this month, The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper - a YA about a lesbian capybara pirate. It seems to hit a number of Buffista sweet spots.

[link]

In a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers from the Gallant Lab at UC Berkeley scanned the brains of nine participants while they read and listened to a series of tales from "The Moth Radio Hour." After analyzing how each word was processed in the the brain's cortex, they created maps of the participants' brains, noting the different areas helped interpret the meaning of each word.

Looking at the brain scans and data analysis, the researchers saw that the stories stimulated the same cognitive and emotional areas, regardless of their medium. It's adding to our understanding of how our brains give semantic meaning to the squiggly letters and bursts of sound that make up our communication.

I saw this the other day! Listening to audiobooks has always felt like reading to me, in part because I "hear" the books in my head when I'm reading, often to the point that I feel compelled to read out loud to match the way my brain is interpreting tone/voice/etc. So this was on point for my experience.