Link salad

I do not follow basketball, or any other sport for that matter, but I think it's pretty cool that the LA Lakers' coach has made it a tradition to give his players books to read during their time on the road.

Over at Powell's blog, first-time novelist D.C. Pierson talks about why he thinks we should live our lives (or at least narrate them) as if we're in an adventure story.

For Linda's fellow fans of Scandinavian literature, a video interview with Karl-Ludwig Wetzig, an Icelandic translator.

The Onion reports on a dispute about the accuracy of a children's book depicting the friendship between a horse and a caterpillar. It's an outrage!

Author Stephen Elliot writes about taking his book tour directly to the people. I love the flyer advertising FREE CUPCAKES! with the bit about the author reading in small print, near the bottom.

I caught a recent episode of Diggnation* in which hosts Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht discussed the (hypothetical) pros and cons of the highly anticipated Apple tablet. I'm no tech geek and I've still yet to read an e-book, but I'm fascinated by Kevin's idea that the tablet could allow people to "follow" other readers, a la Twitter. How cool would it be to read the same books that Neil Gaiman (a personal favorite--go ahead and insert your idol of choice) has on his nightstand, and also get to read his comments on those books? If that doesn't do it for you, how about reading a book with a friend who lives far away? You could make comments to one another in the margins in a type of digital book discussion.

Who knows what features Apple's new product will include--or even what they're going to call it--or if it will be the "Kindle Killer" that some journalists are grandly predicting (much as I dislike Amazon's business practices, I can't imagine that a product that's likely to cost close to $1,000 could shut out a $259 competitor). Whatever Apple reveals next week, this is a company that is a proven trend-setter; their device is sure to set the tone for future e-readers, and it will be interesting to see in what direction this will send the book industry.

*Contains potentially offensive language.

[Update: Just a few more links to stories about the "Apple tablet" and its forseen rivalry with Amazon's Kindle.]