Print v iPads: books win!‏

Although e-book readers might be heralded as the future of literature but a new report shows that it's still quicker to read the old-fashioned print version of a book. However, the study found that although traditional printed books are faster and 'more relaxing' to read, but iPads and Kindles are 'more satisfying'.

The bookcase you'll want to live in

The Ark bookcase is for storing your books. But it's also for so much more . .

Bus driver filmed reading while driving

A bus driver has been suspended after a passenger filmed him apparently reading while driving along a dual carriageway in Birmingham. The National Express West Midlands driver was steering with his elbows while holding a small book. The passenger said they took the footage (which has since been posted on YouTube) after getting on the number 61 bus at Selly Oak at 2005 BST on Monday. National Express West Midlands said "immediate action" was taken.

We regularly post about books and reading on this blog but this is definitely not something to try yourself!

Virtual book: Handel’s Messiah

For many people, listening to Handel's Messiah is part of their Christmas ritual. The British Library has recently added Handel’s Messiah (from the draft score of the composer’s most famous work), using the BL's 'Turning the Pages™' system to view great books and magnify the details.

Free Audio Book: Desiring God

During November you can download the Desiring God audio book for free from Christian Audio.

10 of the best secondhand bookshops

The Guardian highlights ten superb secondhand bookshops. These include the Infusion favourite Scarthin Books in Cromford, Derbyshire:

It lures the nervous in with reassuring new titles – 40,000 across the range – then seduces them with the “aroma and mystique” of a similar number of secondhand books interpersed among them. This is a labyrinth – 13 rooms, cubby-holes crammed with volumes, plus an organic cafe, the walls of which are lined with literary curiosities. A children’s room contains 9,000 books old and new. There’s a large ­collection of secondhand sheet music and ­antiquarian treasures.

What does your bookcase say about you?

As Ikea's Billy bookcase enters its fourth decade, the BBC website ponders why we display our reading material rather than just store it away.

The Dan Brown Sequel Generator

Slate offers a nifty tool to create a plot for the next Dan Brown conspiracy-thriller-novel. Just plug in a city and a sect, and their computer will do the rest!

CS Lewis: Beyond Narnia

If you enjoyed The Narnia Code earlier this year, you may also be interested in viewing CS Lewis: Beyond Narnia - an engaging biography" of the creator of the land of Narnia and the magical beings who dwell there. It was filmed in Oxford, where C.S. Lewis lived, worked and imagined the tales that make up the Chronicles of Narnia.

Life's little pleasures

The author, playwright and broadcaster JB Priestley published a book in 1940 entitled Delight. In it he Priestley's enumerated 114 "delights" - including fountains, photographs, charades, smells, walking in a pine wood, bragging, comic characters, dancing and buying books.

Fifty years later, the idea is being revisited in aid of the charity Dyslexia Action and the London Library. In Modern Delight a collection of authors, entertainers and national treasures reveal the little things in life that make them happy. Read more about the project and the other "delights" suggested by Radio 4 listeners: http://is.gd/34kIr

Swap a book at work

Get your workplace reading by setting up a bookSWAP shelf. This is a simple way to run a small lending library, broaden everyone's literary horizons, and get some good discussions going in the workplace. The website offers ideas on how to run a Swap a Book scheme in your workplace. It is simple to set up and easy to run, as staff get to find out more about each other and enjoy their time at work, whilst employers benefit from having a more literate workforce. So - if you’ve read a good book lately, pass it on for others to enjoy.

How to cook in a tiny kitchen

Although British homes are getting smaller and smaller, it is still possible to cook in a rabbit-hutch sized kitchen . . . Advice from Katherine Whitehorn, author of Cooking in a Bedsitter - a classic text (recently republished) which assisted many a student in their first foray into self-catering.

Library-themed ice-cream?

Lots of book-related posts recently, and here's another: Book fans develop a taste for library-themed ice-cream. This reports that Ben & Jerry's is considering launching a library-themed ice-cream flavour, after a campaign by a New Jersey librarian gathered thousands of supporters. They signed a Facebook petition asking the icre-cream firmto produce flavours such as Li-berry pie and Sh-sh-sh-sherbet.

Turning books into trees

From my lunchtime scan of Metro: The artist who turns books into trees. Su Blackwell creates paper models from old novels. Her creations - which appear to grow out of the spine of the book - include forests, buildings, people and boats. They sell for up to £5,000 each.

Lewis and Chesterton for beginners

Following on from Monday's quote from C.S.Lewis, I've just come across a Beginner's Reading List for Lewis and Chesterton that may be of interest if you've always wondered where to start with these "portly, homely, undramatic men" who are "still the bookish Christian's rock stars".

C.S.Lewis on tea and books

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough for me" - C.S.Lewis

[ad for the British Library cafe - "visit our cafe to refresh both mind and body"]

Summer reading from IVP

The IVP annual summer sale is now in full swing, with many titles available for as little as half price! Sale prices are available at participating Christian bookshops or via the IVP website at www.ivpbooks.com/sales. You can also download a copy of the sale brochure here.

World Ebook Fair - 2 million free titles

Until August 4, 2009, the World Ebook Fair is being held and you can have access to over 2 million ebooks for free. Go here to check out the massive selection of ebooks which are available.

The Unquenchable Flame‏

The Unquenchable Flame: introducing the Reformation, by Mike Reeves has recently been published:

Burning pyres, nuns on the run, stirring courage, comic relief: the story of the Protestant Reformation is a gripping tale, packed with drama. But what motivated the Reformers? And what were they really like?

In this lively, accessible and informative introduction, Michael Reeves brings to life the colourful characters of the Reformation, unpacks their ideas, and shows the profound and personal relevance of Reformation thinking for today.

The Theology Network has a whole host of resources to accompany the book.

The C-factor test / Portrait of Calvin

If you followed up the earlier post about Calvin, you may wish to take the Take the ‘C-factor’ test to find out if you are a closet Calvinist. Developed in the Netherlands, read more about the poll online.

You may also be interested in a free e-book: Portrait of Calvin by T.H.L. Parker with a foreword by John Piper. This reprint of T.H.L. Parker’s classic biography commemorates the 500th anniversary of Calvin’s birth in 1509. Parker is a former Reader in Theology at the University of Durham in England and an expert on Calvin’s life and thought. Parker’s Portrait was first published in 1954 - but it’s not the kind of book that goes out of date, because it’s only trying to be current with the sixteenth century.