Tag Archives: B&N

Humans are Better than Algorithms.

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(For some things.)

We recently purchased two books at our nearby Barnes & Noble. When we got home, I grabbed my purchase out of the bag and never bothered to look at the receipt. Today I saw it on the counter and noticed something attached to it.

This:

You can probably guess that we bought something related to George R.R. Martin…

There’s nothing wrong with B&N trying to sell more books. I get it, they’re in it for profit. My problem is that we bought TWO books: The Clone Sedition by Steven L. Kent and The Lands of Ice and Fire — a book of maps for the George R.R. Martin series — the first one is ignored while the “suggestions” for the second just suck.

As a librarian that does Readers’ Advisory often, it’s really annoying to see businesses waste paper with such lame recommendations. I understand that people who buy a map collection of a fictional world probably like the series, but isn’t it also pretty likely that the same person has READ the series and related books? AND they probably don’t need to know about A Dance with Dragons TWICE. Wouldn’t it make more sense to try to get them hooked on a new fantasy series? Maybe some Patrick Rothfuss? B&N certainly isn’t getting more money from me based on this list. I’d rather them save a tree and not print it.

Furthermore, this lame-o list doesn’t even take into account the first book on our receipt. The Steven Kent novel is straight up science fiction, not fantasy. They at least could have offered up some Orson Scott Card or a Star Wars book. (Just a guess…I don’t read the series, but Jesse does. He loves himself some Star Wars novels and I’ve been trying to get him to read Ender’s Game before the movie buzz gets crazy.)

Barnes & Noble should hire a tiny librarian to sit in every computer and generate these lists on the spot…or just not print them.

Nook-tastic!

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As I’ve mentioned, I bought a Nook Simple Touch and so far I love it. The only problems are that I forget about the books because they aren’t in front of me AND I buy random things that are on sale. So far I’ve purchased just a few titles, but I’ve downloaded even more free public domain works and a couple of eGalleys from NetGalley (I’ve borrowed from the library, too!). However, I want to make sure I’m reading what I’m BUYING! So here’s where I’ll keep my list of titles I’ve purchased and why I bought them (some are for silly reasons and eventually this list will make me feel bad for spending money on something I haven’t enjoyed yet — I’m trying to be more aware of my frivolous spending).

January

  • Entwined by Heather Dixon – $0.99 – Epic Deals from Epic Reads
  • The Unidentified by Rae Mariz – $0.99 – Epic Deals from Epic Reads
  • Bumped by Megan McCafferty – $0.99 – Epic Deals from Epic Reads (Read it already & I loved it, the follow-up is out this year!)
  • Tides of War by Stella Tillyard  - $2.99 – Randomly spotted it and it’s a title I’ve heard good things about.
  • The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley – $1.99 – I liked the cover…
  • When She Woke by Hillary Jordan – $1.99 – I loved this book when I read it and I couldn’t pass it up at this price! (Sadly, it’s no long that price)
  • To Kill A Warlock by HP Mallory – $0.99 – It looked cute…
  • Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey – $2.99 – Orbit US eBook Offer
  • This Will Change Everything: Ideas That Will Shape the Future by John Brockman – $0.99 – I’m a sucker for future shaping ideas…
  • Bone Dressing by Michelle Brooks – $0.99 – Discovered during Bout of Books 3.0!
  • Hollowland by Amanda Hocking – $0.99 – Zombies.
  • Hollowmen by Amanda Hocking – $2.99 – Zombies…the sequel.
  • The Seeds of Wither by Lauren deStefano – $1.99 – I felt “eh” about Wither, but I liked Rose.
  • American Gods by Neil Gaiman – $1.99 – Nook Daily Find!!!
  • Water for Elephants – $4.99 – I have no idea.
  • Salt by Mark Kurlanksy – $2.99 – I’ve wanted to read it for a while, so I thought…I’ll buy it.

February

  • Guernica by Dave Boling - $2.99 – Nook Daily Find…I’m a sucker for a good historical fiction.
  • Jane by April Lindner – $2.99
  • Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman – $2.99
  • What the Dickens? by Gregory Maguire – $1.49
  • A People’s History of the US by Howard Zinn – $2.99
  • Number the Stars by Lois Lowry – $1.99
  • The Best American Short Stories 2011 – $1.99

March

In my greedy little hands…

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My boyfriend is awesome and he let me use our Christmas money (you know, the money people give you when they have no clue what to buy you) for the Nook I’ve been talking about buying for months.

We had a rough start, the Nook & I, but we’ve worked it out. I feel we’ll be very happy together.

I’ve made my eReader decision…@nookBN wins.

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I’ve been going back and forth on what eReader I want and I’ve finally made up my mind. The decision was between touchscreen devices because I’m always annoyed by the lack of touchscreen on the 1st gen Nook we have in our office and I often exclaim: “What do you mean I can’t tap on that word with my finger and have the definition pop-up?!”

I want a Nook Simple Touch (of course I will go into the store and play with it for hours before I actually spend money on one):

Nook Simple Touch

For these reasons:

  1. The reviews have been slightly better than the Kindle Touch.
  2. I think BN is a friendlier corporate entity.
  3. The Nook’s formatting options work with library eBooks and I can purchase from independent booksellers.
  4. The Kindle Touch at the same price point includes ads. Lame.
  5. I live within walking distance of a Barnes & Noble = free reading. (Seriously only a mile away!)
  6. My boyfriend already has a Nook therefore I can use his account (and his credit card) to purchase books. He totally said I could!

Yes, I’m concerned that the Nook’s screen will freeze up on me as some users have reported, but at least I can just take it into the store for support as opposed to the limited face-to-face support offered with a Kindle.

I might change my mind tomorrow because I still think, “do I need to spend money on this when I have my iPad?” Today the answer is yes because I find my iPad really heavy and annoying to read on. Magazines are AWESOME on my iPad, but books annoy me. And considering how many unread BOOKS I own, do I really need a device that makes it SO easy for me to purchase books I might never read?

(But…I have to get rid of A LOT of books. The merging of lives that happened last weekend only proves that we have way too many items that require shelves. Between all the books and DVDs we own, we’d have to spend over $300 to just have enough shelves. So that means it’s time to get rid of A LOT of books and some DVDs. *sad face*)

Greedy, greedy…

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I knew it was coming, but it still irritates me. Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Google Books, and others have all stripped their iOS apps of the links back to their respective stores. Instead of giving Apple the 30% they’re demanding, they’ve all removed the external links. Now…I’ve always thought it silly that the app redirected me to the website anyway…shouldn’t an app do EVERYTHING? I guess not…especially when they’re all greedy corporations that don’t want to work together. (Well…and Apple has an app for that so why help the competition?)

I don’t even buy eBooks (well…I’ve bought two: one was $1.99, the other a whopping $.99), but I do download a lot of classics and I was trying to decide which reader I liked best. They all have their pros and cons, but I was really enjoying the Kindle app. And now to download these classics in various readers I have to navigate myself to the website all on my own. Agony! (Side note…primarily, I use Overdrive & Kindle…I haven’t tried reading anything in Google Books or iBooks yet though I did purchase the $1.99 eBook from iBooks.)

Luckily, Apple makes it pretty easy for me to create shortcuts…No! Really, it’s easy. When you’re on a website you visit often, just select the little “out of the box” arrow and choose “Add to Home Screen.” Done. (After you’ve completed your purchase you’re asked if you want to launch the Kindle app, so it’s really no more annoying this way than it was before!)

After playing around with iBooks this weekend, I’ve discovered I prefer the formatting there over the Kindle’s for many Project Gutenberg titles. So really I’m annoyed because corporations are greedy…all of them…and instead of simplifying things for the user, they focus on increasing their bottom line. Evil. (Don’t even get me started on the cost of a newly published eBook!)

Other thoughts? Am I just crazy? Or cheap? Or lazy?