Sir James Barrie (author of Peter Pan)
James Boswell (biographer of Samuel Johnson)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (author of Sherlock Holmes)
Robert Louis Stevenson (author of Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)

Did you know that all these authors were from Scotland? Can’t say I did.

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DailyLit is the leading publisher of serialized books in digital form. Selected to be the #1 Book Website by the Sunday Times, DailyLit has sent over 40 million book installments. DailyLit’s books and series are all free and feature bestselling and award-winning titles. Installments can be read in fewer than 5 minutes and can be read wherever you receive email, including on any computer, Blackberry, or iPhone.

Thanks to The Guardian UK for the inspiration behind this week’s question.

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DailyLit is the leading publisher of serialized books in digital form. Selected to be the #1 Book Website by the Sunday Times, DailyLit has sent over 35 million book installments. DailyLit’s books and series are all free and feature bestselling and award-winning titles. Installments can be read in fewer than 5 minutes and can be read wherever you receive email, including on any computer, Blackberry, or iPhone.

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DailyLit is the leading publisher of serialized books in digital form. Selected to be the #1 Book Website by the Sunday Times, DailyLit has sent over 35 million book installments. DailyLit’s books and series are all free and feature bestselling and award-winning titles. Installments can be read in fewer than 5 minutes and can be read wherever you receive email, including on any computer, Blackberry, or iPhone.

The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry (2 parts)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (225 parts)
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (36 parts)
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore (1 part)

Cheers, to a little merry in your inbox!

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DailyLit is the leading publisher of serialized books in digital form. Selected to be the #1 Book Website by the Sunday Times, DailyLit has sent over 35 million book installments. DailyLit’s books and series are all free and feature bestselling and award-winning titles. Installments can be read in fewer than 5 minutes and can be read wherever you receive email, including on any computer, Blackberry, or iPhone.

The year is just whizzing by. Before I know it, we’ll be ringing in the New Year at 6pm. That’s right, at 6pm. My family and I celebrate New Year’s Eve on Italian time — 6pm in New York where I am, which is midnight in Italy. That way, our kids are up to help us celebrate the New Year, and we’re saved from having to stay up until midnight. But before then, we’re gearing up for the holidays here at DailyLit, and you can join us by reading one of our holiday reads, writing a letter to Santa (our creative challenge), and even making your own New Year’s (literary) resolutions.

So cheers, to fun-filled holidays and a happy new year!

-Susan

Susan Danziger
Founder and CEO, DailyLit
sdanziger [at] dailylit [dot] com
Twitter:@susandanziger, @dailylit

Oprah’s Book Club Picks
We’ve got this month’s Oprah Book Club picks: Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities. In fact, DailyLit’s the only place you can read them the way the Victorians did — as serialized novels (that is, if there were email back then).

Creative Challenge: Naughty or Nice?
Have you been naughty or nice this year? This month’s creative challenge is to write a letter to Santa. Just be sure to make it no more than 50 words — Santa doesn’t have much time to read these days. Post it here for North Pole delivery. Ho, ho, ho!

New Year’s (Literary) Resolutions
Is there that one book you’ve always wanted to tackle? Come on now, think. There must be one. Well, now’s your chance. You can call out your New Year’s (literary) resolution here. Maybe these will help (from DailyLit’s own library):

The Divine Comedy by Dante Aligheri: The Inferno (38 parts); The Purgatory (33 parts); The Paradise (33 parts)
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (145 parts)
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (240 parts)
Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust (206 parts)
Moby Dick by Herman Melville (260 parts)
Ulysses by James Joyce (332 parts)
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (423 parts)
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (579 parts)
The Arabian Nights (633 parts)
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (663 parts)

Featured Feature: Gifting a Book
You may have noticed a little “gift this book” tab when you sign up for a book on DailyLit. You can arrange to send anyone a book from DailyLit that will arrive on, say, Christmas morning (or whenever you like). It can even include your own personalized message that will appear daily in your friend’s inbox along with each installment. Here are some books that might make good gifts:

Tom Peters’ The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence (you can send daily tips to your lazy boyfriend or son-in-law)
Poems by Emily Dickinson (imagine wooing your loved one with daily poems throughout the year)
Berlitz Essential French Phrases (s’il vous plait!)
The Bible (need I say more!)
Brad Meltzer’s Heroes for My Son (a little inbox inspiration)
Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother (for the sci-fi lover)
A Collection of Beatrix Potter Stories or other children’s books (which niece wouldn’t want to find a daily email for her in her mommy’s inbox with a note from you)

New: Holiday Category (plus an instant mood-booster)
To put you in a merry mood, we’ve created a new Holiday category that includes such classics as:

The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry (2 parts)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (225 parts)
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (36 parts)
And, of course, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore (1 part) — in fact, here it is (an instant mood-booster); enjoy and happy holidays!

‘TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap–

When out on the lawn there rose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter,
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon, on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
Gave a lustre of mid-day to objects below;
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny rein-deer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

“Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On! Comet, on! Cupid, on! Dunder and Blitzen–
To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall!
Now, dash away, dash away, dash away all!”

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So, up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With a sleigh full of toys–and St. Nicholas too.

And then in a twinkling I heard on the roof,
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack;

His eyes how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry;
His droll little month was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face, and a little round belly
That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.

He was chubby and plump–a right jolly old elf;
And I laughed when I saw him in spite of myself.
A wink of his eye, and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle;
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

And to all a good night!

In fact, since these books were originally published in serialized form, you can read them the way the Victorians did – that is, serialized via DailyLit (well, perhaps in a more modern way). Great Expectations will be delivered to your email inbox in 229 parts and A Tale of Two Cities will be delivered to your inbox in 169 parts. And no worries: no waiting necessary. Unlike in Dickens’ time, if you finish one part and are hankering for the next, you can receive the next installment immediately in your inbox.

Enjoy!

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DailyLit is the leading publisher of serialized books in digital form. Selected to be the #1 Book Website by the Sunday Times, DailyLit has sent over 35 million book installments. DailyLit’s books and series are all free and feature bestselling and award-winning titles. Installments can be read in fewer than 5 minutes and can be read wherever you receive email, including on any computer, Blackberry, or iPhone.

Thanks to the Guardian U.K. for inspiring this week’s question (although, of course, our friends at the Guardian would prefer “favourite”!)

Finally, I wanted to thank you, DailyLit’s readers, for your warmth and appreciation for all that I’ve tried to accomplish. You’ve been patient with particular bugs (which have luckily been few and far between); engaged with weekly questions and monthly challenges; and appreciative of new books and features. It’s your support and encouragement that keeps me going.

I’ve launched a forum on DailyLit for you to shout out your own thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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DailyLit is the leading publisher of serialized books in digital form. Selected to be the #1 Book Website by the Sunday Times, DailyLit has sent over 35 million book installments. DailyLit’s books and series are all free and feature bestselling and award-winning titles. Installments can be read in fewer than 5 minutes and can be read wherever you receive email, including on any computer, Blackberry, or iPhone.

DailyLit – Get your Lit, bit by bit (by ajm9230)
DailyLit: Once Upon a Day (by dkaufman1)
You lit up my life (by pollyannacat)
A little Lit goes a long way (by dlarson)
Got Lit? (by PixPixie)
Expanding your mind one page at a time. (by billzo72)
Keep mentally fit with Daily Lit! (by Helli)
A little Lit. Daily. (by juliagriswold)
DailyLit…for all that’s writ. (
by katina.jones)
Inserting more chapters into your life. (by Jesslyn721)
DailyLit – get lit (by rebeccasjones)
Read a bit with DailyLit (by d29e30)
I break for books! (by alfred_weber)

You can find the other suggestions here in DailyLit’s forum.

DailyLit is incredibly lucky to have such a warm and engaging audience. Many thanks to all of you who’ve contributed!

And to all DailyLit readers, I’d love to have your feedback on these (and other) slogans submitted. You can include your feedback in the same forum as the suggestions here. If you have other suggestions, I’d welcome them there as well.

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DailyLit is the leading publisher of serialized books in digital form. Selected to be the #1 Book Website by the Sunday Times, DailyLit has sent over 35 million book installments. DailyLit’s books and series are all free and feature bestselling and award-winning titles. Installments can be read in fewer than 5 minutes and can be read wherever you receive email, including on any computer, Blackberry, or iPhone.

CONTENTS

Note from the Founder
Spotlight: Seth Godin
Creative Challenge: DailyLit Slogan
New: Facebook Integration
Character Vote
Featured Feature: Holiday Pauses
For the Kid in You
Mrs. Beeton’s Turkey

NOTE FROM THE FOUNDER

This month I’m celebrating creativity and the courage to turn our creative ideas into actions. I see that in my kids. They decided this summer to raise money for charity so they baked cookies, made lemonade, set up a stand in our driveway and sold out — all in one afternoon. How many times have we come up with an idea and then found excuses not to act on it? Author Seth Godin encourages us to take risks and put new ideas into action. And that’s why he’s our featured author this month. I’m also featuring children’s books to help us remember our creative, courageous child-like selves. And with all that creativity being tapped, I’m hoping you’ll help me come up with a new creative slogan for DailyLit.
So cheers to the courageous, creative child in each of us!
-Susan

Susan Danziger
Founder and CEO, DailyLit
sdanziger@dailylit.com
Twitter:@susandanziger, @dailylit

SPOTLIGHT: SETH GODIN

Author and marketing guru Seth Godin inspired me to push for new, creative ideas and turn those ideas into action. I’m hoping he can do the same for you. You can find some of his books (available for free, of course) on DailyLit:
Unleashing the Ideavirus (87 parts)
The Bootstrapper’s Bible (30 parts)
Flipping the Funnel: Company Edition (13 parts)
Flipping the Funnel: Non-Profit Edition (12 parts)

CREATIVE CHALLENGE: DAILYLIT SLOGAN

This month for the creative challenge I’m doing something a bit self-serving (I hope you don’t mind!) I’m asking you to help come up with a slogan for DailyLit. So please tap into your creative selves and suggest some memorable slogans that will make people take notice of DailyLit. You can enter them here.

NEW: FACEBOOK INTEGRATION

For all you Facebook fans, you can now link your DailyLit profile to your Facebook page. That’ll keep your friends up to date about the books you’re reading, and they can crack open the champagne as you finish each book. All you need to do is go to the Link Your Profile page here on DailyLit and follow the simple steps. For those of you who missed the Twitter integration (which needed updating), it’s now back and better than ever. So, if you haven’t yet done so, you can now link your DailyLit profile to Twitter on the same Link Your Profile page here.

CHARACTER VOTE

I asked DailyLit readers which fictional character they’d vote for. Here are their nominees: Albus Dumbledore (Harry Potter); Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird); Dagny Taggart (Atlas Shrugged); Glinda, the Good Witch (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz); Leto Atreides I (Dune); Zaphod Beeblebrox (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy); Samuel Pickwick (The Pickwick Papers) and Forrest Gump. There’s still time to cast your vote or write in your own candidate here.

FEATURED FEATURE: HOLIDAY PAUSES

For all of you planning to take a break and go off-line for the holidays, I thought I’d remind you of our “suspend and resume” feature which allows you to suspend your books while you’re away (so installments don’t pile up) and then have your books automatically resume on the return date you set. You can trigger this feature by hitting the “Suspend delivery of this book” link at the bottom of any book installment or go to the Manage Your Books page here.

FOR THE KID IN YOU

Here are some books to help bring out the kid in you:
The Golden Goose (2 parts)
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (37 parts)
Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales (69 parts)
The Secret Garden (101 parts)
Grimm’s Fairy Tales (115 parts)
Famous Stories Every Child Should Know — includes stories by Dickens and Hawthorne (116 parts)
You can find lots more for your inner-child among our Children’s Books here

MRS. BEETON’S TURKEY

Now, in honor of Thanksgiving, I thought I’d include a few lines from Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management, published in London in 1861:
The turkey, for which fine bird we are indebted to America, is certainly one of the most glorious presents made by the New World to the Old….We can hardly imagine an object of greater envy than is presented by a respected portly pater-familias carving…his own fat turkey, and carving it well. The only art consists…in getting from the breast as many fine slices as possible; and all must have remarked the very great difference in the large number of people whom a good carver will find slices for, and the comparatively few that a bad carver will succeed in serving….The carver should commence cutting slices close to the wing…and then proceed upwards towards the ridge of the breastbone: this is not the usual plan, but, in practice, will be found the best. The breast is the only part which is looked on as fine in a turkey, the legs being very seldom cut off and eaten at the table: they are usually removed to the kitchen, where they are taken off…to appear only in a form which seems to have a special attraction at a bachelor’s supper-table, — we mean devilled: served in this way, they are especially liked and relished.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!