GCP Digital News

OMG! Starbucks and Bookish are offering a free eRead of two of our books this month: Lauren Shockey’s funny, rollicking memoir about working as a professional chef around the world Four Kitchens and THE BOOK EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT (really, I’m not kidding), Roger Ebert’s memoir of an extraordinary life at the movies, Life Itself. And all you have to do? 

1. Bring your eReader to Starbucks and get your latte on
2. GO HERE: http://bookishreadingclub.com/home
3. Register or login to Bookish from any device through the Starbucks Digital Network, as offered in select WiFi-enabled Starbucks locations (PS Facebook log in is SOOO easy)
4. Read book while connected to the SDN in a Starbucks
5. Rate, review and join in the discussion with fellow readers

Life Itself is available for 14 days! Only 7 more days for Four Kitchens! It’s gonna be a rainy week… can’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon. 

Ebert & Lauren Shockey will keep you entertained for hours over a pumpkin latte (or 3…those are so freaking good). Oh and Four Kitchens might make you really hungry…splurge on a muffin too. 

Hello!

As our inaugural post, I thought I’d celebrate Roger Ebert, as today is the publication of his highly lauded memoir LIFE ITSELF. Available in all formats (eBook, audio, hardcover) LIFE ITSELF is the deeply felt autobiography of a “very public figure that has let his guard down.”  

Roger Ebert is also a fitting figure to showcase for this blog, as the man is a powerhouse on Twitter, Facebook, and his blog. In fact, it was digital communication that kept him writing after his surgery, as he describes in the intro to LIFE ITSELF:

“My blog became my voice, my outlet, my “social media” in a way I couldn’t have dreamed of. Into it I poured my regrets, desires, and memories. Some days I became possessed. The comments were a form of feedback I’d never had before, and I gained a better and deeper understanding of my readers. I made “online friends,” a concept I’d scoffed at. Most people choose to write a blog. I needed to. I didn’t intend for it to drift into autobiography, but in blogging there is a tidal drift that pushes you that way. Getting such quick feedback may be one reason; the Internet encourages first- person writing, and I’ve always written that way. How can a movie review be written in the third person, as if it were an account of facts? If it isn’t subjective, there’s something false about it.”

So, with that in mind, I thought what better to post but Ebert’s now famous TED talk video about how he has “remade” his voice, speaking with his new computerized voice (“Alex”) and through the voices of his closest friends. 

-Dana