ALA's Top 10 list of "challenged" books of 2008 (AP) - AP - Here is the American Library Association's list of top 10 most frequently challenged books of 2008, their author and the cited reasons: [Yahoo! Books and Publishing News]

I was floored to discover Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark among the titles on the American Library Association's 2008 Banned/Challenged Books list. The book was the first in a folklore series first published in 1981. I happened to purchase it and its sequel, More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, at a library fund-raising book sale a month ago. According to Wikipedia, Scary Stories is a frequent addition to the list. 

Discovered via Victoria Strauss:

Even Dan Brown can't break the e-book 5% rule

When Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" was released on Sept. 15, Amazon's rankings revealed that Kindle sales outstripped sales of the hardcover. This led some ebook enthusiasts to herald the dawning of a new era. FastCompany asked, "Could Dan Brown's new book be heralding the e-book age?" CNet wrote: "The possibility that the Kindle version of 'The Lost Symbol' -- which follows Brown's wildly popular 'Da Vinci Code' and 'Angels & Demons' -- is outselling hard copies on Amazon could be a monumental moment in the e-book industry."

Sept. 26-Oct. 3 is Banned Book Week, which celebrates the First Amendment and freedom of expression while highlighting the harm in censorship. From the American Library Association's post on the subject:

The books featured during Banned Books Week have been targets of attempted bannings.  Fortunately, while some books were banned or restricted, in a majority of cases the books were not banned, all thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community to retain the books in the library collections.  Imagine how many more books might be challenged—and possibly banned or restricted—if librarians, teachers, and booksellers across the country did not use Banned Books Week each year to teach the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society.

Along those lines, BookDads posts about one children's book that has managed to make the Banned Books list three years in a row.

Kassia Krozser at Booksquare ruminates on the age-old problem of readability in the layout and design of books. Her solution? Read the work in ebook format instead.

With print books, there are definite limitations to what you can do to make the actual reading easier. It is amazing how hard people will work to read, despite the challenges. Ebooks are different. Here is how it works in ebooks. I’m going to mess up your book. After you spend all that time on formatting and typesetting and getting the kerning just right, I’m going to mess with it. Not out of malice, of course, but there you have it.

Victory for the Public Interest – New Process Must Be Open + Transparent -

“We hope that Google and its partners learn the right lessons from this fiasco and start over in an open and transparent manner.  They must create a robust process that includes input from all stakeholders, including authors, libraries, independent publishers, consumer advocates, state Attorneys General, the Justice Department, and Congress.  This opportunity cannot turn into another negotiation behind closed doors.  

Breaking: Google Book Settlement Hearing Is Postponed -

News is spreading fast that Google and its partners have filed a motion and a memo asking the Court to postpone the October 7 fairness hearing.

“One thing is for certain – the proposed Google Book Settlement, as it’s currently written, will not go through.” -

Now that we’ve had a chance to review the Justice Department’s filing in more detail, we recognize that one thing is certain – the proposed Google Book Settlement, as it’s currently written, will not go through. Even Google seems to agree with this — after months of fighting against any change to the settlement, they acknowledge that the settlement must be profoundly altered. That’s good news for anyone who wants to protect innovation, competition, and the public interest as we evolve the world of books to the digital age. [Open Book Alliance]

Paula Graham says the much-discussed "pay for content" online news model may be fundamentally flawed in that newspapers and magazines never really charged for their content, even in print. Subscriptions and newsstand prices have been traditionally used to pay for the medium, and the means of distribution, and not for the content of the articles.

In fact consumers never really were paying for content, and publishers weren't really selling it either. If the content was what they were selling, why has the price of books or music or movies always depended mostly on the format? Why didn't better content cost more?

One could argue, however, that via iTunes, Apple has successfully transitioned music from consumers paying for medium to consumers paying for content. Could the same happen for online news and online books? Graham says that iTunes is actually more of a "tollbooth."

Discovered via New Business Models for News and @freddieoconnell.

US Justice Dept wants changes to Google book deal (AFP) -

AFP - The US Justice Department has advised a court to reject a legal settlement between Google and authors and publishers that would allow the Internet giant to scan and sell millions of books online [Yahoo! Books and Publishing News]

Sure the Google Books settlement is controversial. Critics say it negatively affects authors and marketplace competition. However, some interesting new twists on publishing as a whole have come forward as a result of Google Books--aside from the settlement--and its mission to scan out-of-print books. Take, for instance, the PrintOnDemand Espresso machine recently blogged about at JoeTrippi.com and profiled in Wired. Basically, this device will allow bookstores to print on demand perfect bound books from the Google Books library, in the store, for a very low cost-per-book.

It's sort of a Red Box for books, although perhaps a ways off from widespread implementation. The potential application is much broader than just for Google Books, however. Publishers could make use of the technology to distribute new titles as well. (ht: @freddieoconnell)