More favourite books of 2008

The L.A. Times has put together a special “Favorite Books of 2008″ issue, and there are a few honourable mentions for CanLit.

In fiction and poetry, Miriam Toews’s The Flying Troutmans has a spot alongside other books that have been touted in multiple year-end roundups, like 2666 by Robert Bolaño and A Mercy by Toni Morrison.

For kids, Jeremy Tankard’s Me Hungry is singled out in the children’s picture book category, and Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother is mentioned in the YA category — a list dominated by books featuring “utopias and apocalyptic scenarios.”

Cory Doctorow novel the latest in “inbox lit”

Via Boing Boing, we’ve learned that Cory Doctorow’s 2003 novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is available from Daily Lit as an e-mail serial. Since September 2006, Daily Lit has been serializing books and sending out the installments to subscribers via e-mail. Up ’til now, the titles available have been in the public domain – works by Shakespeare, Mark Twain, and the like. Doctorow’s novel is one of the first titles available under a Creative Commons license.

Daily Lit bases itself on the seemingly contradictory idea that many people don’t have time to read books, but do have time to read long e-mails every day (presumably at work).

We’ll know this idea has really taken off when we receive a message offering us the opportunity to download a Nigerian dictator’s first novel.

Salon serializes Doctorow novella

Today, Salon.com unveiled the first of 10 installments of Cory Doctorow’s new novella, Themepunks. Born and raised in Toronto, Doctorow, an acclaimed science fiction writer, has made all of his books available for free download, saying on his website that “the increased scope and duration of copyright are strangling free expression, privacy and innovation, and … that enabling my fans to trade my words makes me more money.”

Related links:
Click here to read the first installment of Themepunks
Click here to visit Doctorow’s website
Click here for a Q&Q article on Doctorow from June 2003