Apple making more money from Books...

The opening paragraph of an article in the LA Times about Apple's Apps:

The New York Times set off a flurry of stories over the past couple of days when it reported that Apple had stopped Sony from selling e-books in the Sony Reader iPhone app. Apple instructed Sony and other app developers to stop steering users to their websites to buy products. Instead, they were told to make sales directly through the apps -- where Apple would be entitled to a 30% cut. 

So, there's an uproar about this? I understand but don't we have to first ask the questions like one of the commentators left at the end of the article:

Can you buy from anyone but Amazon on a Kindle? No. Can you buy from anyone other than Sony on a Reader? No. From anyone but B&N with a Nook? Negative. And the FTC is going to come down on Apple? I don't think so... 

Motherhood and Women's Status in France.

Here's a good New York Times article: Where Having It All Doesn’t Mean Having Equality on motherhood and women's status in France.

Here's how it starts:

Weeks after giving birth, French women are offered a state-paid, extended course of vaginal gymnastics, complete with personal trainer, electric stimulation devices and computer games that reward particularly nimble squeezing. The aim, said Agnes de Marsac, a physiotherapist who runs such sessions: “Making love again soon and making more babies.”

New York Times article

One of our artists in NYC, Dwight Cassin, just sent us this link to a New York Times article The Besieged and the Beautiful in Languedoc about the neighboring Cathar castles of Lastours and our friend Jean Marc Boyer's restaurant Le Puits du Trésor.

Great to see the Languedoc, especially our part of it, getting on the map:

Here's a link to the NY Times slideshow.

Paragraph - New York

All you New Yorkers looking for somewhere other than your cramped apartments to write: check out Paragraph. We've heard the place is great and we like what they have to say on their site re. memberships:

"Publication is not required for a membership; only serious intent and a strong drive to write."

You can check out their yearly membership rates here and here's what The New York Times has to say about them.

DO-OVER! - Robin Hemley

Our friend Robin Hemley just came out with another book this month, DO-OVER!

Robin has published seven books altogether, and his stories and essays have appeared in the New York Times, New York Magazine, Chicago Tribune, and many literary magazines and anthologies. Robin got his MFA from the Iowa Writers Workshop and he's the current director of the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa. He lives in Iowa City.


Here's what Publisher's Weekly had to say about the book:

"When Hemley ... decides that he wants to do over some of the experiences he flubbed as a child, he isn't just dreaming. The 48-year-old father of three makes a list of times and places he'd like to revisit, including kindergarten, the prom and summer camp, doggedly pursuing all the contacts and background checks necessary to 'storm the walls of childhood' as an adult. Surprisingly, the kids and teachers he meets along the way accept him in his overgrown state; some even express envy . . . Hemley is endearing, funny and more than a bit courageous . . . A big kid at heart, the author draws readers in with just the right mix of humor and tenderness."