Archive for November, 2009

DailyLit News: November 2009

Note from the CEO
It’s facetime here at DailyLit!  Upload a picture on your profile page and be eligible to win a free John Grisham book. It’s also time to thank Diane Von Furstenberg for sponsoring one of her favorite books of the year, Madame de Staël, now available for free on DailyLit.    And it’s time to launch our “Big Ideas” channel with inspiration from Gary Vaynerchuck, named one of this year’s most influential men.  We’ve also got free daily tips from Grammar Girl (secrets out — I love grammar!) and a new feature that allows you to automatically resume your books when you want to take a break for the holidays — just in time!

Susan Danziger
Founder and CEO, DailyLit
susan [at] dailylit [dot] com

Diane von Furstenberg Brings Favorite Book to DailyLit for Free
Iconic designer Diane von Furstenberg has a holiday gift for you: one of her favorite reads this year is now available on DailyLit for free.  Madame de Stael: The First Modern Woman is a fast-paced biography that tells the glamorous, dramatic story of a woman who was a true force to be reckoned with. Vogue Magazine called it “a timely mediation on female power and an inspiring profile of one woman’s courage.” Thanks to Diane and the publisher, it’s free through the end of January. Read it.

New! DailyLit Kicks off “Big Ideas”
“Big Ideas” is designed to inspire you with new ideas for both work and play.  Kicking off this new channel is inspiration from Gary Vaynerchuk’s new book Crush It! Cash In on your Passion.  He grew his family’s wine business and became a national industry leader, landing him at #18 on AskMen.com’s list of 50 most influential Men of 2009. Read it–FREE.

DailyLit’s Big Read: Short Story by John Grisham
Bestselling author John Grisham just released his first ever collection of short stories, Ford County–and we’ve selected one as this month’s Big Read. “Fetching Raymond” is a simple, powerful story about a day one family knew was coming but still can’t face. Read it–FREE.

Reader Challenge
As bestselling author Daniel Pink wrote, exercising your creativity leads to personal and professional success.  With that in mind, and holiday dinners fast approaching, this month’s reader challenge asks you to imagine a fictional holiday gathering and describe–in no more than 50 words–a character, conversation or event at your holiday meal. Share your mini-stories in our Reader Challenge forum. And to sweeten the pot, we’ll select three winners, each of whom will receive a copy of Mollie Katzen’s new book, Get Cooking.

New reads
–Grammar Girl: She’s on the scene to make grammar easy and fun with her “quick and dirty” tips.  We’ve got a selection from her new book that will make you a better writer. Read it–FREE.
–Jane Perry Returns: In a second piece of original writing, Laurel Dewey’s inimitible heroine Detective Jane Perry returns to DailyLit. Get into her head with “You Can’t Judge a Book by its Cover,” a blog entry by the detective. Read it–FREE. (And if you missed the first installment, “An Unfinished Death,” read it here–FREE.)

Pause Your Books for the Holidays
You’ve always been able to suspend and resume delivery of your books using the links at the end of any installment. Now, with the holidays coming up, when you want to suspend your book, you can set a date for it to automatically resume.  Just click on the “suspend” link at the bottom of any installment to set it up.

Upload Your Picture Now–You May Win a Grisham Book
To make our community a little friendlier, join us for some facetime here at DailyLit.  Help us out by uploading a personalized profile picture. Your face, your cat, your favorite painting–doesn’t matter what you choose. And everyone with a personalized picture uploaded by 11:59pm EST on Sunday, November 22nd will be automatically entered to win one of five copies of John Grisham’s new book Ford County.

Question of the Week #50: Characters for Kids

In honor of Mickey Mouse making his debut this week in 1928 (in “Steamboat Willie”), we’d like to know who your favorite children’s character is.

Share yours in our Question of the Week forum.

Diane von Furstenberg brings Madame de Staël to DailyLit for Free

Iconic American designer Diane von Furstenberg read Madame de Staël this summer and enjoyed it so much that she wanted to share it with readers everywhere. Just in time for the holidays she’s worked with us and the book’s publisher, Atlas & Co., made it available for free on DailyLit–her gift to you. The book tells the true story of Germaine de Staël, an 18th century aristocrat who, besides begin a prolific writer and ardent supporter constitutional rule, was a notorious séductrice who enjoyed affairs with many of the most powerful men of her time. Although she was exiled during the last two decades of her life, to the end she remained a force to be reckoned with–a rare feat for woman of the age. Her story is glamorous, exciting, and inspiring–Vogue calls it “a timely mediation on female power, and an inspiring profile of one woman’s courage.” And you get it for free. The paperback makes a great gift, too, and is available on Amazon.  Our thanks to Diane von Furstenberg and Atlas & Co. for giving the book to DailyLit readers.

Happy Veteran’s Day

Today we thank our service men and women for their bravery and sacrifice. It’s because of them that we can live freely and safe from harm. Soldiers have been making life possible for thousands of years–the most famous veteran of them all might be, as this New York Times article suggests, Odysseus from Homer’s Odyssey. After a long fight in the Trojan War, Odysseus longs for his home, Ithaca, and his wife Penelope. That promise of family and love, peace, and home sustain Odysseus through his long, arduous journey back. And it’s the promise of those things–for all of us–that soldiers fight for today. Thank you.

Spotlight On: Get Cooking by Mollie Katzen

We recently launched a series of free recipes from best-selling Moosewood Cookbook author Mollie Katzen’s new book Get Cooking. Mollie became famous for offering Americans new dishes that were lighter, simpler, and healthier than what appeared in most cookbooks in 1977, when Moosewood was published. Get Cooking continues that tradition of simple, good food with recipes from Steak Fajitas, Salmon Burgers, Peanut-Butter Crunchy Things, and more.

But Mollie’s also created something entirely new for this book: a series of videos on technique, ingredients, and recipes that appear on a site created to be a companion to the book. Many readers remember fondly Mollie’s hand-drawn illustrations in Moosewood, but I think these videos are a great way to translate Mollie’s warmth and knowledge for digital readers.

And with Thanksgiving just around the corner, it’s never too early to, well, get cooking.

Here’s a taste of the videos with one on potatoes–a Thanksgiving staple–done three ways:

Potatoes Three Ways


Question of the Week #49: Dostoyevsky Tweets

This Wednesday is Crime and Punishment author Fyodor Dostoevsky’s birthday (he would be 188 years old). To celebrate, we’re taking a challenge taken up by the Guardian’s Roy Greenslade: What would Dostoyevsky say in 140 characters on Twitter?

“Don’t be an Idiot,” maybe? Share your tweets in our Question of the Week forum.

DailyLit Launches 2nd Piece of Original Fiction from Laurel Dewey

Laurel Dewey’s inimitable heroine Detective Jane Perry returns in You Can’t Judge a Book by its Cover, her first “blog entry” and the second work of original fiction created for DailyLit. Jane, whom Dewey introduced to DailyLit readers in Unfinished Death, is a tough detective with a disarmingly honest voice: “Being a cop is all I know how to do and I’m good at it. That’s not arrogance, that’s confidence…I can walk into a hot crime scene while the blood is still wet and death still hangs heavy in the air and I can hear the walls whisper their secrets. Sometimes I can hear the screams and pleas from the victims before they took their last breath.” Enjoy!

Political Lit

It’s Election Day here in the United States, and although we’re not electing a new president this year, it’s still a big day for Americans. After all, one of the sparks that started the Revolutionary War was the colonists’ demand that there be “no taxation without representation.” And our representatives, of course, represent our votes.

So it’s a perfect day to revisit those Founding Fathers–and others–with our free Wikipedia Tour of the Presidents of the United States. From Washington to Obama these are the men who’ve made America what it is today. Go beyond the names you memorized in school and learn about the people who have been president.

Question of the Week #48: From Politics to the Page

It’s Election Week. Which political figure would make the best book hero/heroine–and what would their book be about? (Fiction and non-fiction both welcome.) Share your response in our Question of the Week forum.

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