Would you like to read or read more but don’t have time? DearReader.com is a way you can receive books in your email inbox. Although DearReader.com is included on AADL’s long list of many databases, what’s nice about it is that you don’t have to log in to your AADL account to access it. You can go straight to DearReader.com from any computer without logging in.

With DearReader.com, Monday through Friday you receive 5 minute sequential reads of part of a book, and by the end of the week you will have read 2-3 chapters. At that point you can stop or continue reading by finding the book at your library or in a store. You sign up simply by entering your email address and choosing a genre on DearReader.com. (You may choose more than one genre.) Some of the genres are Business, Science Fiction, Author Buzz, Nonfiction, Mystery, Pre-publication, Teen, Good News, Thriller, and Classics. You can unsubscribe at any time, and the emails have a link to check availability at your own library. There is a book forum for each book so if they choose to- readers get a chance to chat about the books with each other. Readers can also check out past books and read emails they may have missed.

It all started when Suzanne Beecher was sending 5 minute excerpts of books to her staff after some of them had complained that they didn’t have time to read. Many found that reading Suzanne’s snippets got them hooked on books again. Now more than 375,000 library patrons start their morning with a book excerpt in their email, thanks to DearReader.com.

DearReader.com

The cinematic Hollywood adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees captures the story of 14 year-old Lily Owens, whose life has been defined by the tragic death of her mother. When she joins Rosaleen, a bold black woman and her "stand-in mother" on a journey to Tiburon, South Carolina, they are taken in by three bee-keeping sisters who show them the true meaning of love and family.

Body of Lies (2007) by David Ignatius has been made into a star-studded espionage/thriller. Emerging from a tour of duty in Iraq with a badly injured leg, CIA soldier Roger Ferris takes on a mission to infiltrate the network of a master terrorist and bases his plan on a British intelligence operation from World War II before finding himself caught in a dangerous web.

Linguist and author Geoffrey Nunberg brightened the airwaves on Valentines Day with an NPR radio commentary about changes in personal communication. Amid way too much Feb. 14 schmaltz, what fun to hear this guy talk about the history of Valentines, including that many now arrive by telephone or e-mail – but some still arrive by old-fashioned snail mail. Listening to him made me want to read his new book Talking Right: How conservatives turned liberalism into a tax-raising, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York times-reading, body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show.