Book links round-up: social media and the slush pile, e-book charts take off, and more

• Social media is changing path to authorship
• Wall Street Journal releases e-book bestseller charts, fuelling U.K. demand for digital tracking
• Recession-era escapism makes sci-fi and fantasy publishing strongholds
• The segregation (and success) of “urban street lit”
• Why old books smell good

Weekend reading list: the top stories from around our offices

Every weekend Q&Q rounds up the highlights from other websites in the St. Joseph Media family. This week’s top stories include Canadian Family’s book picks, Toronto’s best tacos, and fashion-inspired Halloween costumes.

Books we want to read right now [Canadian Family]

Toronto’s eight best tacos, from the traditional to the tricked-out [Toronto Life]

Fashion’ween [Fashion Magazine]

An unorthodox message: Up close and political with Imam Zijad Delic [Ottawa Magazine]

EnRoute names Canada’s 10 best new restaurants [Where Canada]

Five tasty movie-night snacks [20 Minute Supper Club]

The hottest new styles from Bridal Fashion Week [Wedding Bells]

One year of street art dedicated to mayor Ford [Torontoist]

Weekend reading list: the top stories from around our offices

Every weekend Q&Q rounds up the highlights from other websites in the St. Joseph Media family. This week’s top stories include the fate of Ghostbusters III, favourite Toronto indie bookstores, and a preview of this year’s Canzine festival.

Toronto staff picks: Our 10 best-loved indie bookstores [Where Canada]

Canzine 2011 preview [Torontoist]

The script for the new Ghostbusters III is in Dan Aykroyd’s truck [Toronto Life]

Toronto Fashion Week diary: One stellar spring collection and a model tumble at Attitude Jay Manuel [Fashion Magazine]

Food news: The price of peanut butter is on the rise [Canadian Family]

Occupy Ottawa was a misfire … but maybe the timing’s just off [Ottawa Magazine]

Celebrate Oktoberfest by cooking with beer [20 Minute Supper Club]

Eighteen different ways to make your wedding cupcakes prettier [Wedding Bells]

Weekend reading list: top stories from around our offices

Every weekend Q&Q rounds up the highlights from other websites in the St. Joseph Media family. This week’s top stories include photos from the Signal imprint launch and street fashion from New York, Milan, and Paris.

McClelland & Stewart launches its non-fiction imprint, Signal [Toronto Life]

100 photos of fashion trends worn on the streets of New York, Milan, and Paris [Fashion Magazine]

No-bake Halloween treat: Spiderweb Pretzel Snacks [Canadian Family]

Road trip: Millers’ Farm in Manotick for pick-your-own pumpkins [Ottawa Magazine]

Staff picks: Our 10 favourite spots for an autumn stroll [Where]

Dinnertime shortcut: Five recipes using ketchup [20 Minute Supper Club]

Five cake trends that will carry on to 2012 [Wedding Bells]

Ten questions with: Silver Elvis [Torontoist]

Weekend reading list: top stories from around our offices

Every weekend Q&Q rounds up the highlights from other websites in the St. Joseph Media family. This week’s top stories include a tribute to Apple and plenty of Thanksgiving recipes.

Grace Kelly gets the royal treatment at TIFF Lightbox [Toronto Life]

The fashionable ways of Steve Jobs [Fashion Magazine]

Fifteen easy slow cooker recipes [Canadian Family]

Chloe Berlanga’s Tortillas de Patatas recipe [Ottawa Magazine]

Our 10 recommended record shops [Where Canada]

Seven Thanksgiving pies, crumbles, and crisps [20 Minute Supper Club]

DIY wedding ideas from cakes to centrepieces [Wedding Bells]

Hooded Fang makes some noise in the Toronto Public Library [Torontoist]

CLA kicks off Canadian Library Month

The Canadian Library Association kicked off Canadian Library Month on Tuesday. Throughout the month of October, libraries across the country will host events to raise awareness about the importance of libraries in the nation’s communities.

According to a press release from the CLA, the theme for 2011, Your Library: A Place Unbound, strengthens this message by pointing to libraries as hubs of information and personal connection in the midst of a quickly evolving world. “From coast to coast to coast, libraries are without boundaries, places of endless opportunity where Canadians have an equal right to access resources,” says CLA president Karen Adams in the media release.

Within the span of a few months, Canadian libraries have faced threats from municipal funding cuts, union strikes, devastating fires, and natural disasters — to name but a few challenges. It’s nice, then, to have some positive library-related news to report.

And in case a month of library celebrations isn’t uplifting enough, here’s a quick round up of other library-friendly news:

• The Nova Scotia Library Association names Tracey Jones-Grant winner of the 2011 Norman Horrocks Award for Library Leadership, and Rachel Crosby winner of the 2011 Emile Theriault Library and Information Technology Award for support staff
• Newfoundland and Labrador Public Libraries celebrates 75 years on Oct. 28
• Toronto Public Library’s Arthur Conan Doyle Room is getting a face lift
• Vancouver Public Library may have closed its Riley Park Branch last month, but Vancouver City Council has approved an increase in VPL funding for the brand new Terry Salman Branch

Happy Canadian Libraries Month!

Kobo Pulse gets to the heart of “social in-book e-reading”

Kobo has released more details about Kobo Pulse, its new “social in-book e-reading experience”

Essentially a social media tool, Kobo Pulse will allow Kobo users to connect with other people reading the same book, comment on passages or the book as a whole, and view statistics (e.g., how many people are reading the title at a given time). According to a press release, readers can also post reviews and engage in online conversations. As more people join the conversation, the Kobo Pulse will turn “larger and brighter,” indicating the level of interaction.

Last Friday at F8, Facebook’s developers conference, Kobo CEO Michael Serbinis spoke about how the company’s e-reading app, Kobo Reading Life, will be seamlessly integrated into the Facebook interface. Today’s press release provided more details on the new features, which include the ability to follow friends’ reading activity; customizable privacy settings; automation of Ticker e-reading updates; and profile “‘call-outs’ for recently read books, most read authors, books that have the most time read and recent awards.”

A release date for Kobo Pulse was not available. However, the Facebook integration features will “roll out gradually over the coming months.”

Weekend reading list: top stories from around our offices

Every weekend Q&Q rounds up the highlights from other websites in the St. Joseph Media family. This week’s top stories include an inside look at fashion week and a new Blue Jays logo.

House of the Week: San Francisco meets The Beach [Toronto Life]

Catch up on the inside scoop as fashion week continues onto its next hotspot [Fashion Magazine]

Decorate your fridge with these DIY glass pebble magnets [Canadian Family]

The ethical oil lobby takes on the Saudi lobby [Ottawa Magazine]

Ten Ontario hotspots for fall colours [Where Canada]

Six apple recipes for fall weather [20 Minute Supper Club]

Eight ideas every rustic wedding needs [Wedding Bells]

A new look for the Blue Jays? [Torontoist]

Kobo Reading Life and Facebook partner for “frictionless” social e-reading

Soon Facebook users won’t have to click a button to tell their friends what they’re reading. Yesterday at F8, Facebook’s annual developers conference, Kobo CEO Michael Serbinis announced that its e-reading app, Kobo Reading Life, will be seamlessly integrated into the Facebook interface as part of the website’s Open Graph product, along with services for music, film, games, and news media.

During the conference’s keynote speech, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg referred to Open Graph as a means of “frictionless sharing,” meaning once a user signs up for an app, it will automatically track their media usage, which will then be shared, in real-time, with friends as part of Facebook’s new Ticker feature.

“You don’t have to ‘like’ a book, you can just read a book. You don’t have to ‘like’ a movie, you can just watch a movie…” says Zuckerberg, referring to the website’s ubiquitous Like button. Facebook’s new Timeline feature, available now as a beta program, also gives users the ability to build personal reports, such as how many pages read in a single week.

In a video interview at F8, Kobo Reading Life product manager Jason Gamblen and Serbinis offered more insight into the integration. Through the Reading Life app, Serbinis says, a Kobo user can track “all the books you’ve ever read, what you’re reading right now, times a day you read, stats about yourselves, friends that you share books with.” Gamblen explained that when a Facebook user adds Kobo to their Timeline, they can also account for the number of books read, the amount of time and the most popular days spent reading. Users are also eligible for awards by hitting milestones such as reading 50,000 pages or a certain number of classic books.

Reading Life’s “social e-reading” features allow people to connect and engage with other Kobo users via Facebook. “Our best recommendations come from friends, not the 400th Harry Potter review on some e-commerce site,” says Serbinis, who also briefly mentioned a new initiative, Kobo Pulse, which will be officially announced in the next couple of weeks.

Weekend reading list: the top stories from around our offices

Every weekend Q&Q rounds up the highlights from other websites in the St. Joseph Media family. This week’s top stories include tales of suburban migration, fall cooking, and political espionage.

Toronto Life: Exodus to the burbs: why die-hard downtowners are giving up on the city

Fashion Magazine: New York Fashion Week style snaps

Canadian Family: 10 tasty recipes to try in September

Ottawa Magazine: POLITICS CHATTER: Of lust and espionage (Mark Bourrie’s take on the Xinhua scandal)

Where Canada: Breakfast, lunch and dinner: Windsor, Ontario

20 Minute Supper Club: Five incredible cheesecakes

Wedding Bells: The hottest wedding centrepieces right now

Torontoist: Final recommendations on city service cuts released