How do you make a hundred-year-old novel appealing to today's readers? Japanese publisher Bunkasha is putting music stars on their covers, and they credit the stars with a ten-fold increase in sales. Natsume Soseki's novel Botchan, about a Tokyo teacher who moves to rural Japan and runs smack into the countryside's oldfashioned sterotypes and prejudices, … Continue reading That’s Hot

Plans to extend the Kindle's reach to Australia have hit a snag. Two large newspaper groups--including Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation--have declined to make their publications available on the e-reader. The Sydney Morning Herald, another of the hesitant papers, reports that Apple's rumored entry into the market means publishers don't want to commit to the Kindle, … Continue reading No Kindle Down Under?