Each week, Audrey the dog visits Redcar Community College to sit in on children’s read-aloud sessions. Teachers noticed that children often get nervous when they are asked to read aloud and so enlisted Audrey to help them relax and feel less self-conscious while reading. Needless to say, the sessions – and Audrey – have been a big success.

While of course Audrey should stay where she is, we’d quite like a ‘reading’ dog of our own to be a Reading Revolution mascot…

It’s official: bookshelves are sexy (perhaps our own Reader library needs some photographic attention…).

Fulfil your desires…: Bookshelf Porn

As if to answer our pleas, along comes Anobii. Established in 2006 but revamped and relaunched in December, Anobii is a social network and ‘book discovery platform’ for readers the whole world over. It works very much like an endless virtual bookshelf and a huge online reading group combined, allowing users to compile and keep track of what they’ve read in the past or are reading now with a few clicks.

A major feature of the site is its focus on allowing users to discover a new book and find reading inspiration from others; having books recommended by a personal seal of approval and word-of-mouth (or should that be: word-of-mouse) rather than by computer-generated suggestions. Users can follow readers who have similar literary tastes to their own, browse topic lists of books for their next read – amongst those currently featured are ‘Books for the commute’; ‘Books That Are Better Than The Film’ and - rather intriguingly - ’Guilty Pleasures’ – or create their own lists. It may feature technology that is the latest in-thing (you’re also able to access Anobii through iPhone and Android apps) but its methods are all about getting back to basics – connecting people with books and with one another on a really quite personal level, which is something we’re always keen to advocate.

By the way, if the name has left you scratching your head (as it did with me), then you should know that ‘anobii’ is Latin for ‘bookworm’ – another tip of the hat to something altogether traditional.

Give A Book donates the gift of books to other charities, giving books where they are most needed – at present, they give books to people helped by Maggie’s Centres, Age Concern, First Story and also work with Volunteer Reading Help to help children who are struggling with literacy. People who wish to donate a book can select from a list of books on the Give A Book website, which will be sent to the chosen charities for a fraction of the retail price.

The list contains such wonderful classics as Great Expectations, Cranford, Anna Karenina and Middlemarch and is added to every month with a new book recommended by a range of very interesting people – books of the month have previously been chosen by friend of The Reader Organisation Howard Jacobson, Dominic West and winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize Julian Barnes. Children’s books of the month are also selected, with the first choice coming with a royal seal of approval from HRH The Duchess of Cornwall.

Give A Book was set up in honour of writer and playwright Simon Gray, who loved to read and share his reading with others.

…I could escape for as long as I was reading… (Coda, Simon Gray)

To find out more about Give A Book or to donate a book, visit their website and take a look at the Give A Book blog.

Opening a book to discover it comes with a surprise scribbling might be an unexpected novelty for most of us but it became a regular occurrence for Wayne Gooderham, freelance writer and frequenter of second hand stores, so much so that he set up a blog dedicated to, well, dedications within books that have been cast-off. While reading through the collated written notes is certainly very entertaining, each of them is also enlightening in their own way. Wayne’s own fascination with finding annotations and asides has much to do with the extra layer of emotion that a personal dedication adds to a singular book. Each note, no matter how laconic or lengthy, humorous or heartfelt, is a visible thumbprint, a mark showing that the book has belonged not just physically, but emotionally to another person. More often than not, they also indicate that a book has been purchased and passed along for a specific purpose – and whether the reasons were well received or lessons learnt, we can but speculate (perhaps it’s not a good sign given that they have been given away by their dedicees).

There does seem to be something inherently sentimental about dedications, in any form but especially when it comes to books, the purchase of which is a decision loaded with many different factors (maybe that’s why the search for a book containing a special message is a plot device in at least two rom-com films I have seen in the past…). Amongst those on the Book Dedications blog there are certainly some which tug at the heart-strings, perhaps the best example not drenched in overt sentimentality but one containing clear emotion from a father to a son, who credits the book in question with being responsible for the son’s existence – a gift in more ways than one. Of course, there are plenty of far more frivolous instances too – including one which involves ‘naughty young ladies’ and ‘woolly bloomers’ (best to leave that one there) – and a straightforward but simply great ‘present, from me to me’ – which is often the best kind. Whatever they denote,  all demonstrate an indelible record of something vital that for us, all books contain – a connection between people. Whether the connection has been broken due to the relinquishing of the book, or whether the book has strengthened the bond between two people and it has been passed on in hope of doing the same for someone else, the various dedications are testament to the importance of literature in our lives. And reveal the multiple lives literature possesses…

Wayne has another literary blog, Three Score and Ten, which we have previously featured.

The People’s Book Prize is a national competition aimed at discovering talented authors with no panel of judges except the public. Visit their pages for: fiction, non-fiction, children’s to vote for your favourite books in these three categories – and choose the next bestseller!

Each quarter the 9 new titles which get the most votes (3 per category) will go forward as finalists for the annual People’s Book Prize Awards.

Voting is now taking place for the Winter collection until 28th February 2011.

Click here to read about previous winners, and click here to get voting!

Whether it’s video of the Rockettes in The Catcher in the Rye, the Italian opera tracks that accompany Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, the historical context and maps of The Odyssey, stunning South American photography for In Patagonia, or video of Kabul kite fighting for The Kite Runner, Book Drum take readers beyond the page to enjoy interactive content alongside their favourite books.

With the next generation of e-readers in mind, they are building the biggest library of multimedia companion content for books on the internet. Designed using Wiki principles, anyone can contribute to it, adding to and refining each others’ work, making Book Drum one of the liveliest online communities for booklovers worldwide. If you would like to become a Contributor and build a profile of a favourite book, then register here.

You can use the bookmarks as your companion guide while you read the book, or enjoy them in their own right by subscribing to Bookmark of the Day.

The summary may include plot spoilers, so be careful how much you read!

Jemma Foster‘s collection of twelve short story books are not available on Kindle or iPad, nor do they appear in hardback or paperback, but are instead handmade from recycled cardboard, bought from Buenos Aires’ cardboard pickers who make a living collecting it from the streets and are painted by hand, making each one entirely unique.

Inspired by these cardboard books, Jemma put together a collection of stories, with the theme of the human senses not only binding the tales together as a body of work, but also acting as an umbrella over the ideas and philosophical concepts that have niggled, fascinated and haunted Jemma for some time.

For every book sold in the UK, a book is donated to Abuelas Cuentacuentos – Storytelling Grandmothers - charity that invites elderly volunteers to read to children in the poorest parts of Argentina. All other profits will go towards providing them with a ‘grannymobil’ library bus.

The project is a collaborative effort and a number of artists and designers, all close friends of the author, have donated their talents to illustrate the stories.

The books are available to buy online and from independent bookshops such as Notting Hill’s Travel Bookshop, Brick Lane’s Eastside Books and Hackney’s Broadway Bookshop.

Alikewise is a dating website that is based on your book tastes: anything from cooking to climbing to Shakespeare to poetry. In their words, “we think we can find others who would like to talk to you”. I haven’t tried to find love on it (not sure that my boyfriend would be too happy about that), so I can’t vouch for its claim but it may be a bit of fun for any lonely readers out there and if nothing else, you may pick up a good reading recommendation.

Gratuitous picture of a Scottish castle

For the last two weeks I’ve been swanning around Western Scotland, staying well away from anything to do with the Internet, email and (more or less) telephones. It’s been lovely. But now I’m back and my inbox is full. Here are a few of the choicest cuts:

First up, friend of The Reader Caroline Smailes says that her novella Disraeli Avenue is now available for pre-order. This novella will be published as a limited edition of 500 hardback books and all 500 books will be signed and numbered. The pre-order will be available direct from Bluechrome at only £10 and this book will arrive before Christmas, being dispatched on December 01 2008 (the ideal Christmas present!). All books remaining after the pre-order will have an official release on January 15 2009 (the actual RRP will be £12.99). Most importantly, all profit from the sale of Disraeli Avenue will go to One in Four the organisation run for and by people who have experienced sexual abuse. Pre-order it here.

We previously mentioned the download version of Disraeli Avenue, which is still available for free. If you download it please make a donation to One in Four if you can.

Over at Readerville proprietor Karen Templer announced that the Note:Books micro-blogging application is now fully available. If you like making notes about your reading and enjoy talking about books in a lively and friendly community, then this could be for you.

If you have romance in mind Penguin has teamed up with match.com to run a dating website aimed at book lovers. According to Marketing Week part of the idea is to bring the written word back into the art of courtship. Ah, bless. Members will be able to describe themselves by listing the books they read, but it would be a lot more fun to use Penguin’s own book classifications. I consider myself a Modern Classic of course, but I can think of at least one former girlfriend who could be described as Poetry, Drama, and Criticism. Here’s the link to Penguin Dating.

And in case you missed it, the Orwell Diaries blog launched on August 9th. Lovely stuff.

Posted by Chris Routledge