A guest post from Bookaholic Belle
Here at Bookship, we love book bloggers. They spend so much time and energy writing about their book discoveries, helping all of us find better books to read...
Posts by Category
books
My book projects
No secret to anyone that knows me, that I love books.
Book Roulette: A little bit of fun
I decided to take a day off “work” and have some fun. My kind of fun is probably not the same as most people….
Our reading in 2019
2019 was a good year for reading. If you’ve been reading the blog, you know I went to Iceland this year (trip report). I read a lot of Icelandic stuff in pre...
My 10 books
Had a fun conversation with friend about how in the old days you’d invite your friends over and impress them with your book collection. And how, in today’s d...
A little North Atlantic book excursion
I’ve always had a bit of what W.H. Auden called “The Northern Thing”. So imagine my delight when I discovered a book featuring a Boston detective (I live par...
My year in reading, 2017
Each year I try to summarize what I read, in hopes of improving and enjoying my reading more. Last year, I lamented reading too much fluff, and promised to r...
Some Rise by Sin, by Philip Caputo
Philip Caputo has written some masterpieces of people and cultures in conflict. Best known perhaps for A Rumor of War, his Vietnam novel, I was first exposed...
The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
I have taken to reading a few pages of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations every morning as an antidote for all the everything going on (not just, or even foremost,...
Bright Air Black, by David Vann
Myth is bloody business.
Some interesting new books set in Hawaii
Here at The Hawaii Project, we have an unsurprising interest in books set in Hawaii, or by authors with a connection to Hawaii.
Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie
Ancillary Justice was the “it” book of science fiction in 2013. It won the 2014 Hugo, the Nebula, the Arthur C. Clarke, the Locus, and other awards. The list...
Burning the Days, by James Salter
I recently reviewed the books I read last year. Some great stuff, but also too much “bookish junk food”. I’m committed to reading better this year.
My year in reading, 2016
The irony of building a book discovery web site is that my TBR pile gets increasingly huge (~300 books and counting), while I have increasingly less time to ...
Song of the Exile, by Kiana Davenport
Song of the Exile is an extraordinary, powerful, heartbreaking novel. It follows the lives of Keo, a native Hawaiian who burns to play jazz, and Sunny, a Kor...
The Knowledge, by Steven Pressfield
You probably know Pressfield as the author of Gates of Fire. Or maybe The Legend of Bagger Vance. Or maybe The War of Art. All amazing works.
The Pigeon Tunnel, by John Le Carré
I recently finished The Pigeon Tunnel, the ‘autobiography’ of David Cornwell, aka John Le Carré, the well known writer of espionage novels.
Black Sails, Disco Inferno
(I am not making this up) A book premised on a 1970s, disco-laden Noir retelling of the medieval Tristan and Isolde legend. Sign me up.
A Conversation with Jim Fusilli, author of CRIME + MUSIC: Twenty Stories of Music-Themed Noir
As I’ve previously written, Books & Music go together so naturally it’s hard to imagine them separately. But that pairing is usually implicit. So it’s a ...
A Conversation with Alexia Chamberlynn
As part of our author profile series, we had a chance to catch up with Alexia Chamberlynn, author of Martinis with the Devil, Whiskey with Angelfire and Blac...
The Last Supper, by Charles McCarry
Charles McCarry might be the true heir to John Le Carré. His spy novels have plenty of thrills, but focus on the human aspects of espionage, the betrayals, t...
The Girl from Venice, by Martin Cruz Smith
From it’s evocative cover to its low key, upbeat ending, The Girl From Venice is an enjoyable, surprisingly romantic outing from Martin Cruz Smith.
How to find Free Books
Everyone loves to read. But books can be expensive! Here are some great ways to read books for free.
A conversation with Martin Cate, co-author of Smuggler’s Cove: Exotic Cocktails, Rum, and the Cult…
Here at The Hawaii Project, you know we love great books. And you know we love great cocktails. And you can guess we’re into the Hawaii thing. So when Smuggl...
A conversation with Stuart Holmes Coleman, part II
(this is a continuation of our conversation with Stuart Holmes Coleman, author of Eddie Aikau: Hawaiian Hero, Fierce Heart, and Eddie Would Go. You can find ...
Smuggler’s Cove, Cocktails and Tiki
You know we love a good book here at The Hawaii Project.
Kika the Book Cat
We’re considering a new mascot here at The Hawaii Project.
Oh good lord.
Oh good lord.
So you want to learn about Jazz…
The best way to learn about jazz is to listen to jazz. That said, put some jazz on your playlist WHILE you read some books about jazz.
Hemingway in Cuba
So, I’m planning on going to see Papa Hemingway in Cuba this weekend. I was introduced to the topic of Hemingway in Cuba through the wonderful novel The Croo...
Books about female spies
Inspired by my reading The Girl Who Fell From The Sky, the first espionage book I’ve read with a female protagonist, I did some research on books with female...
The Travelers, by Chris Pavone
For a long time, I’ve wondered about how to characterize the difference between a spy novel and and a spy thriller. After reading a review copy of Chris Pavo...
Our Man in Havana
After finishing Adam Sisman’s gripping biography of John Le Carre, as a seasoned reader of espionage fiction I realized I had a big gap — I’d not read Graham...
March Madness Books
Are you watching March Madness?
Election Year Books
I was in a Barnes & Noble the other day, and noticed something interesting.
Snow Angels, by James Thompson
On the plane down to my parents house for a visit, on the way out of the house I grab a random book for the plane out of my gargantuan TBR pile. It’s Snow An...
The Never Open Desert Diner
Ben Jones drives a truck in southern Utah. He’s damn near broke, about to lose his truck, and his best friend is Walt, an old guy who owns a diner that’s nev...
Scoundrel, by Bernard Cornwell
As part of my continuing experiment with Scribd’s ebook subscription service, I stumbled upon Scoundrel, by one of my favorite authors, Bernard Cornwell. I k...
Spies of the Balkans, by Alan Furst
Alan Furst is the master of the historical spy novel, particularly the era just before World War II erupts. In Spies of the Balkans, he takes on, well, the B...
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
Tl/DR: If you liked Gorky Park or anything by Martin Cruz Smith, read Child 44.
Death in Veracruz, by Héctor Aguilar Camín
As part of my continuing test of Scribd’s subscription ebooks service, I stumbled on Héctor Aguilar Camín’s Death in Veracruz. Set in the ‘60s and ‘70s durin...
SPECTRE, Bond and SOLO
So, I recently finished Any Human Heart by William Boyd, and really loved it. With SPECTRE coming up (haven’t been yet but can’t wait!), I wanted to get in t...
The Ten Best Spy Novels you never heard of
You know the classics. A Perfect Spy, Tinker Tailor or The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, by John Le Carre. Alan Furst’s Eastern Europe. Graham Greene’s jaun...
William Gibson, Startups and Verbs
So, I’m reading Distrust That Particular Flavor by William Gibson. In case you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last 20 years, Gibson is novelist who famo...
bookship
Welcome to Terese Svoboda
Hello everyone!
Welcome 2024! Libby Search and Kindle Notes!
Hello everyone! Welcome to 2024! A few new Bookship features to announce! Libby Search and Kindle Notes import.
TBR Bookmarker chrome extension released!
Ever been looking a cool web page mentioning a bunch of books you want to remember?
Interview with Marc Saltzman of Tech It Out!
Had a chance to be interviewed by Marc Saltzman for radio (Radio America’s Tech It Out), airing tomorrow (Saturday afternoon). It’s also syndicated via podca...
Last chance for a free TBR app!
Hello everyone! We’re in the final stages of beta testing our forthcoming TBR app. TBR is a great place to keep your To Be Read list (and the books you’re re...
New books, new authors, new app!
Hello and welcome to all the new Bookshipers!
💡❤ Find great books; stay updated on your favorite authors! Bookship, July 2021
Hello everyone! This month we’re talking about how to find great books just for you, our partnership with the prestigious Los Angeles Review of Books, and so...
Personalized Book Recommendations, aka Your Picks
We’re excited to introduce personalized book recommendations (“Your Picks”) to Bookship Premium, as of version 8.5, in your app stores now.
Meet bestselling authors? BOOK TRIVIA? What’s not to like??
Hello everyone! It’s been awhile since our last newsletter, we have some wonderful new authors in our Meet the Author program, and a bunch of app improvement...
🎦🎬📖 Are you not entertained!? Live Video in Bookship, March 2021.
Live Video in Bookship!!!
👥📖 What do you call an awesome group of writers? Bookship, January 2021
What do you call an awesome group of writers? We call them Tall Poppies. Read on….
Meet the Author is Live! Bookship update, December 2020
I wanted to close out 2020 with a last update for the year on Bookship. First, thank you for using Bookship. We hope you’re getting value out it. Please get ...
Want to meet the author? Bookship update, November 2020
With many of us unable to gather in groups right now, virtual book clubs are becoming a big deal. We hope Bookship is helping you stay in touch with friends ...
Bookship Social is here! Bookship update, May 2020
We hope you’re continuing to stay safe and healthy during this challenging time, and finding ways to stay in touch with friends and family.
Bookship Social? Bookship update, April 2020
We hope you are staying safe and well during this challenging time.
Spoiler Alert! - November news from Bookship
Spoiler Alert!
Bugs! Awards! Your TBR! September Bookship Newsletter
Welcome to October! We hope you’re enjoying the early stages of fall and reading some great books. Recently some folks have reported the app getting “stuck”,...
📅 ⏰ Calendars, Groups and Reminders!
Welcome to our somewhat belated July newsletter! The good news: we waited to send this until we could announce some new features! First, thanks to those who ...
Schools, Audiobooks and book fun - June news from Bookship
Hope you’re enjoying spring and getting ready for summer. And reading some great books! We’ve got some recommendations for you below.
May news from Bookship
Welcome to May from Bookship!
Read books for free - socially!
This month we are very excited to announce a major new release of Bookship. Starting today, you can read classic works FOR FREE right inside Bookship. Great ...
Welcome to March!
This month we are very excited to announce a major new release of Bookship. Starting today, you can read classic works FOR FREE right inside Bookship. Great ...
January Newsletter
Welcome to 2019 from Bookship!
Keep your Reading List on Bookship
Bookship is a social reading app for sharing your reading experiences with friends, family co-workers or book club.
Bookship comes to the browser
Bookship is a social reading app for sharing your reading experiences with friends, family and co-workers. It’s great for sharing thoughts, comments, photos ...
Read more books with friends in 2018
A great new year’s resolution is to read more/better books, especially in today’s age of distraction. I made a mobile app called Bookship that helps you read...
Reading Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War with Bookship
My mother passed last year from complications due to ALS. She was unfailingly in good spirits during her battle with the disease, even knowing it was a terri...
Whoa. Shortlisted for BookTech Company of the Year!
Wow. The Bookseller has shortlisted us for BookTech Company of the Year! Kinda surprising actually! Very excited. We’ll be competing in the finals at the Fut...
The Bookseller!
Really excited to see our social reading app Bookship profiled on The Bookseller, one of the UK’s oldest magazines and the leading Publishing trade publicati...
Recently we were interviewed by the inimitable Justine Espiritu for ThinkTech HI.
Recently we were interviewed by the inimitable Justine Espiritu for ThinkTech HI. We talked The Hawaii Project, Books & Spirits, and other fun stuff. Hav...
Amazon Alexa book recommender
Today marks our 2nd foray into voice-driven book recommendations. Today we’re releasing an Alexa Skill for book recommendations, powered by The Hawaii Projec...
Social Reading
Reading a book? $9.99 or so. Reading a book with a friend? Priceless.
Adding books to The Hawaii Project
The Hawaii Project finds great books you’d never find on your own. We do that by crawling a curated set of the “bookish” web and seeing what books people are...
Introducing Lists to The Hawaii Project!
Everybody loves lists, right?
The limits of Social Discovery
This is the second post in our continuing series on how and why The Hawaii Project recommends great books, and more broadly the key ingredients in a good dis...
publishing
CURATION, DISCOVERY AND THE INDIE AUTHOR
Indie publishing has created a revolution. Hugh Howey became one of the top selling science fiction authors via self-publishing. Author Earnings reports that...
whitefox publishing, and why books are like Pokemon Go!
As part of our ongoing series of interviews with authors and folks from the publishing word, we had a chance to catch up with John Bond, the CEO of whitefox ...
Another nail in the coffin of subscription book reading
Electric Literature reports:
Hybrid and non-traditional Books
One of the topics at the upcoming CODEX Hackathon (which The Hawaii Project is sponsoring and helping organize) is the future of books.
The breakdown of the subscription model for books.
Is this the beginning of the end for subscription ebooks services?
book-clubs
How to use Bookship to connect with Readers
Bookship is a social reading app for sharing your reading experiences with friends, family, co-workers and book club members. It’s a virtual book club!
🎦🎬📖 Are you not entertained!? Live Video in Bookship, March 2021.
Live Video in Bookship!!!
👥📖 What do you call an awesome group of writers? Bookship, January 2021
What do you call an awesome group of writers? We call them Tall Poppies. Read on….
Meet the Author is Live! Bookship update, December 2020
I wanted to close out 2020 with a last update for the year on Bookship. First, thank you for using Bookship. We hope you’re getting value out it. Please get ...
Spoiler Alert! - November news from Bookship
Spoiler Alert!
Bugs! Awards! Your TBR! September Bookship Newsletter
Welcome to October! We hope you’re enjoying the early stages of fall and reading some great books. Recently some folks have reported the app getting “stuck”,...
What Bookship has learned about how social reading works
(The following appeared first in The Bookseller)
Books & Spirits tonight!
If you are in Hawaii and love Books or Cocktails or both, you owe it to yourself to come to tonight’s Books & Spirits!
Books & Cocktails: an event with Jaimal Yogis in Hawaii
If you are in Hawaii and love books and/or cocktails, please come to this event! It’s the kickoff event for Books & Spirits, the new event series we’ve c...
startups
How to sound spontaneous when you pitch
Bookship was very fortunate to be selected by The Bookseller as one of six candidates for BookTech Company of the Year. Super exciting; great validation; gre...
“Best of” lists considered not useful
I saw this story today.
Find me a gift, Quick!!
Few things make better gifts than a thoughtfully chosen, personalized book.