Posts Tagged ‘reader questions’

Children’s Books

This week saw the selection of a new Newberry Award winner–the gold standard in children’s literature–and a discussion in our forums about the pleasures of revisiting childhood favorites, so I thought we’d touch on some of our favorites here.

One of my favorite books as a kid was A.A. Milne’s classic The Wind in the Willows. I loved hearing about the adventures of Mole, Rat, Badger, and, of course, Toad in the Wild Wood. I still have oddly fond associations with those animals and I think Milne’s idyllic, pastoral scene and charming characterizations are the reason why. (Well, now that I’ve lived in New York City for a while, I’ll pass on the Rats. But the internet has given us all newfound love for Otters, right?)

I suppose that’s one of the marks of a great children’s book–that it sticks with you long after you become a grown-up, not only in terms of plot, but in terms of how it colors your memory and point of view.

Some of my other childhood favorites that are on DailyLit are The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and The Jungle Book.

What were your favorites–and what do you think makes a great children’s book?

More of Your Questions Answered

–When I click on “Home” it doesn’t take me to the front page-maybe that could use some clearing up?
The “Home” tab on the landing page–signified by a small house icon–does take you to the landing page. The “Settings” tab takes you to a page that allows you to manage your profile and the books you’re reading, create Booklists, and more account management features. Hope that helps clear things up.

–I would appreciate having a selection of books that were available for immediate download, as opposed to a “daily dose.”
The goal of DailyLit has been to provide a unique reading experience–just a small bite a day.  That said, you can read full books in your browser using the “preview” function of DailyLit (just click the “Preview” button on any book’s page). If you’re also interested in downloading full books there are numerous websites that allow you to download entire classics at once and many ebook retailers that provide the same for more contemporary books.

–Been getting a lot of garbled type in your emails and copy…impossible to read.
Hm, not sure what the problem could be here. If you ever have problems with your DailyLit emails please contact us at support[at]dailylit[dot]com so we can work out the issue.

–Keep up the good work. Can we suggest books?
Thanks! And yes, you can suggest books in our Book Request Forum.

–Please provide DailyLit access to the rest of the volumes of Remembrance of things Past.
Unfortuantely Swann’s Way is the only part of Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past that has an English translation freely available. (Volumes I-IV are available online in the original French.) If you have an interest in reading the full work (in either English or French) you might try your local library.

Question of the Week #55: Holiday Reading

What are your favorite holiday reading traditions? Do you always read “Twas the Night Before Christmas” on Christmas Eve? Or do you look forward to your days off so you can dig into your to-read pile?

Share yours in our Question of the Week forum.

Your Questions Answered

Here’s the first of a series of blog posts answering questions you left for us on our recent reader survey. If you think of other questions you’d like to see answered please send them to us at support[at]dailylit[dot]com!

I would enjoy longer selections…the pieces of the story that come are so short…could you opt to have longer ones?
You can opt to receive installments that are two times or four times as long as the “normal” installments, which are 1000 words each. Just click on “Manage the books you’re reading” link at the bottom of any installment, click on “More” next to the book title, and then set “Installment length” to your desired length. And of course, you can always use the “send next installment immediately” link that appears at the bottom of each installment.

Thanks for the wide variety of book topics! I was curious if you ever do anything strictly visual [eg an art or architecture book]?
We’re getting more into images these days. Check out our Wikipedia Tour: Masterpieces of Western Art and our Shoes, Bags, and Tiaras series from the Victoria & Albert Museum.

I keep getting missed installments! What’s up with that?
I love this concept but for some reason, the two times I’ve tried to read a book via DailyLit, I don’t get all of the installments. It’s rather sporadic. But, I’ll keep trying because it’s such a cool idea.
Emails sometimes don’t appear because they’re blocked by your ISP (Internet Service Provider), company spam filter, or they’re trapped in your own spam folder. First thing to try is to check your spam folder. If they’re not there, they may be trapped at a higher level: there are a lot of aggressive spam filters out there that block messages even before they get to you (hence they don’t even show up in your spam or junk folder). First try resending installments to yourself as described in our FAQs. If you do receive some installments and not others and cannot even resend the missing installments, then you either have to have your system administrator whitelist books [at] dailylit [dot] com or you need to use a different email account. If you are only missing installments occasionally, then you might choose to view installments online.

Question of the Week #54: Happy Birthday Ms. Austen

Jane Austen’s birthday is this week (December 16). What would you give her as a birthday gift?

Tell us in our Question of the Week forum.

Question of the Week #52: Happy Birthday Mr. Twain

Today is American icon Mark Twain’s birthday. Do you have a favorite Twain character, quote, or book? (Maybe you love Tom Sawyer for his famous fence-painting trick, or a quote like “I’ve never let my schooling interfere with my education.”) Share it here.

Or if Twain isn’t your thing, which other American legends do you like?

Share your thoughts in our Question of the Week forum.

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.

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.

Which Full Books Are Finished Most on DailyLit?

DailyLit is often described as a way to get through War and Peace in under five minutes a day, and reader @Dreamdust was wondering which of the “longer” books are most finished on DailyLit. We thought it was a great question and decided to do some investigating. Here’s what we’ve found.

The most-finished full-length book is…Pride and Prejudice. Since that’s always been one of our most popular books, we can’t say we’re surprised! Here’s the top 10 finished books on DailyLit:

Pride and Prejudice
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Moby Dick
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Crime and Punishment
Wuthering Heights
A Tale of Two Cities
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Walden

Hope you all have a great long weekend.

Earlier posts