Hooray for Cheap(er) Books
A1Books.com, one of the largest online book retailers, is now offering a bonus point program for loyal customers. The A1 Points Program rewards returning buyers by assigning points to their account, based upon the dollar amount spent (e.g. $10.55 equals 10.55 points). When customers come back to A1 to make another purchase, they have the option of applying their points to their order total. Points can be redeemed for 1% of the total price.
The program automatically keeps track of customers’ points and is free to join.
A1Books CEO Shinu Gupta plans to add further incentives to the program in the near future, like chances to earn double and triple points.
A1Books.com also sells DVDs, games, and electronics.
Cheap books? I’m there! Maybe now I can afford my copy of La Dotta Mano.
Story Source Publishers Weekly | Image Source Youth.sg
Agatha Christie’s Summer House Welcomes Visitors
Roadtrip!
Actually, it would be more of a canoe trip. A very looooong canoe trip.
Anyhoo, the grande dame of the mystery novel, Agatha Christie, spent her summers from 1938 to 1959 at Greenway, a history-rich manor near Dartmouth in southern England. She gave the home to her daughter and grandson, who donated it to the UK’s National Trust nine years ago.
And this Saturday for the first time ever, Greenway will open its doors to we peons of the reading public. The house has been completely restored to the pristine condition it was in when Christie summered there, and the rooms remain very similar to how they were when she was in residence–filled with books, papers, chocolates, flowers.
(Did someone say chocolate?!?!? What time do they open?!?!?)
Greenway opens its doors at 10:30 Saturday morning (oh, OK), and admission is £7.45. For more information, visit the The National Trust website.
Story Source Yahoo | Image Source BBC
Crosswords for Your iPhone!
I’m a bit of a crossword puzzle fanatic, but I am so anti-newfangled technology that I greeted this news with mixed emotions. But it’s interesting nonetheless.
According to Publishers Weekly, Simon and Schuster has launched a new app (whatever the hell that is) that lets owners of the iPhone or iPod Touch play crossword puzzles for just a one-time payment of $4.95. Yup, that’s right, no subscription needed, and you get, like, a gazillion crosswords. Actually, I think you get 365 crosswords, which is good enough, since Simon and Schuster says they will update the puzzles regularly and also provide holiday and bonus crosswords.
You can download the feature at the iTunes store. The puzzles have appeared previously in Simon and Schuster-published crossword books and have been edited by John M. Samson, who created the series of Simon & Schuster Mega Crossword Puzzle Books.
Crossword lovers more technologically-savvy than I will be able to choose puzzles by degrees of difficulty, title, or author. The iPhone/iPod “pen” or “pencil” mode (again, I have no clue, I just thought the story was cool) can be used, and players can check their answers.
Yay for digital crosswords! Woot-woot!




