albert is currently reading Roo'd and Who is Mark Twain?.
I’m 42 years old, male, from the United States. I’ve been a DailyLit member since January 27, 2007. My reading interests include science fiction, and drama.
Books
- Who is Mark Twain? 71% complete
- Roo'd 39% complete
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Little Brother finished
- The Jelly-Bean finished
- War of the Worlds finished
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button finished
- Pride and Prejudice finished
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In Fury Born finished
- Frankenstein finished
- Dracula finished
- Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions finished
- Leaves of Grass suspended
- The Count of Monte Cristo suspended
- Oedipus Trilogy suspended
- Persuasion suspended
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Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom unread
Posts
Question of the Week - Question of the Week #2: The Great American novel?
I like that the definition includes "at the time of its writing," so that you can have more than one. Great Gatsby is definitely on my list, but so are Don DeLillo's Underworld and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom - Crack? Seriously?
Definitely many echos of BNW here. Will be interesting to see where it goes.
Dracula - Van Helsing to Anita Blake & Harry Dresden?
Agree entirely -- including some inspiration for Voldemort's abilities (see my earlier post in the Dracula forum).
Etc. - question
These are on the options page for each subscription (which you reach via "More" from the "Manage your subscriptions" page). Click on the "Advanced" link to see them.
Bugs - Book "1632" missing quotation marks!
Fixed. Hope you will like it even better now!
Bugs - Book "1632" missing quotation marks!
Sorry -- that's supposed to have quotation marks. We'll look into it.
Ideas - Customizable BookRoll
We have fixed the problem. Your Wordpress theme turns every link into a block. We added "inline" styles to all links and that solves the issue (hopefully without breaking the layout for others).
Bugs - Fitzgerald's Tales of Jazz Age - LADEN WITH ERRORS! help!
We have reviewed -- not read -- the remaining installments and corrected a few more mistakes. Please let us know if you find additional ones. As for layout, the plain text emails are limited in what can be achieved, but have the big advantage of displaying on the largest number of devices (e.g. smartphones).
Bugs - Fitzgerald's Tales of Jazz Age - LADEN WITH ERRORS! help!
We apologize for the errors in Tales of the Jazz Age. These errors crept in from the public domain source that we were using. We have fixed the errors in the first installment and will review the remainder of the text. Thanks for pointing out the problem.
Ideas - Make suspend/resume flow more natural
Part of the idea behind DailyLit is that it provides a bit of a "nudge" to keep going, but if enough folks chime in here we may enable a "send manually" functionality.
Ideas - Display list of novels read outside of Daily Lit in profile?
Our "to-read" list feature is built in a way that let's you keep track of different book lists, including books you have already read or simply want to recommend (one of the reasons why it's taking us a bit longer to get it out the door).
Ideas - Book queue
Almost there. The feature is built and we are testing it. Definitely will roll it out before the end of the year. Thanks for giving us a nudge!
Bugs - Extra installments
It turns out that Google Bot (google's program that indexes web pages) accessed the resend/next pages. We have taken steps to prevent further bot access.
Bugs - Extra installments
We will look into it right away. There have been no reported problems from others.
Bugs - Charlotte Brontë Author Page
Ooops -- I had missed Emily. Fixed now. Thanks!
Bugs - Changing timezone in subscription options goes wrong
You are getting the correct timezone, it's just showing you different cities. We decided to show more cities for each timezone to make it easier to determine the correct timezone but we only store the actual timezone. So wherever there is more than one line for the same timezone we display the last line.
Bugs - Charlotte Brontë Author Page
Fixed. Thanks!
Ideas - Customizable BookRoll
I think the problem is an interaction with the styles from the "widgetizer" that you are using. Is there a way you can turn that off for just the book roll? If not or if that does not solve the issue we can try to dig a bit deeper. I suggest we continue discussion via email. Please use support [at] dailylit [dot] com.
Help - I'd like to submit my book to the catelogue.
Please send us an email with information about your book. You can email info [at] dailylit [dot] com.
Ideas - Tag for Later
Coming soon. We are working on a release with reviews, ratings and book lists. There will be a one-click "add to reading list" feature.
Ideas - Customizable BookRoll
Would be happy to help you make it work with your blog layout. On most layouts it looks pretty good by itself in a left hand or right hand column (as on the DailyLit blog). You can either post details of the integration problem you are having here or send an email to support.
Book Requests - Confederacy of Dunces
Thanks for the suggestion. Pretty sure that Confederacy is still copyrighted. We will need to contact the publisher / rights holder to find out whether we can make it available.
Ideas - Paragraphing?
The RSS subscriptions have paragraphs in them just as in email. If this is happening across all your subscriptions it might be a Netvibes issue.
Ideas - Community help in adding books
Definitely something we have on the drawing board. We have had a bunch of people volunteer but have not yet built a system for parceling out the work and keeping track of what has been reviewed (and making sure we don't wind up with copyright violations).
Book Requests - 1984
1984 is still copyrighted in the US. We are compiling a list of "classics" that are still copyrighted so that we can try to license them.
Help - Submitting?
Please contact publisher [at] dailylit [dot] com.
Frankenstein - Curious about early reception
Glad I read it, but it was tough going at times (the emails kept me at it). The narration is fairly ponderous and the tragedy appears predictable. It's fascinating that the book launched such a powerful meme, since the basic idea is much older, going back at least to Paracelsus's homunculus. Now I am curious to learn more about Frankenstein's early reception.
Book Requests - What about Tolkien (fame of LOTR)
Tolkien's works are all still copyrighted. Even though the books read like they might be from a much earlier time they were all published in the mid 20th century. Tolkien died in 1973.
Book Requests - Some ideas...
All good suggestions and we'll look into their status. Thanks!
Don Quixote - Terrible translation
That's already available as Don Quijote I and II. Just search for "Don" and you will find it.
Book Requests - More Greek Classics
We'll definitely add these to the queue. From a copyright perspective of course it's not the original that matters but the translation. Nonetheless, there should be good translations of these in the public domain.
Book Requests - More books on Hercule Poirot
All good suggestions. We'll look into their availability.
Book Requests - Blindsight by Peter Watts
Thanks for pointing these out. We'll add them to the queue.
Cory Doctorow - Someone comes to town?
Could have sworn we included it in the most recent batch but clearly not. We'll add it to the queue.
Book Requests - Hugh Laurie - The Gun Seller
Sorry for the delayed response. We would love to, but this is a copyrighted work, so we need to see first whether we can obtain a license for it.
Book Requests - Accelerando
Finally! Accelerando is now available on DailyLit thanks to Charlie Stross.
Book Requests - More Cory Doctorow please!
It's taken a long time, but we now have several more of Cory Doctorow's works available, including "Overclocked", "Eastern Standard Tribe" and "A Place So Foreign and Eight More."
Ideas - Option for Chapters
We don't go by chapters (since the length of chapter varies so widely across books), but you can adjust the length of installments as described in the FAQ.
Don Quixote - Terrible translation
Sorry to hear that. It is an older translation, since the newer ones are not in the public domain. We will look into alternative translations -- suggestions welcome!
Ideas - How to suggest a title/author
For right now the best way to make suggestions is in the "Book Requests" forum. You can find it by clicking on the "See all active other forums" link (inside the orange bar).
Help - Can I have books sent to two different email address
I am afraid the only way to do that right now is to have two separate subscriptions to the same title.
Ideas - Private content
We have had a couple of requests for this. We are really focused on the reading experience for texts that we upload. We are also concerned about the copyright issues that might arise from private uploads. So we are unlikely to offer this feature any time soon. Sorry!
Ideas - BookRoll in RSS
Good suggestion. I have put it on the to do list!
Bugs - Several Links broken in Opera
Sorry about that! There appears to be a CSS issue with the pagination links that we will fix shortly, but the "Start New Topic" link is working for us in Opera 9.22 -- which version are you using?
Ideas - Serif fonts (typeface)
For RSS we could probably offer a font change option sooner. We'll look into it.
Book Requests - Germinal?
We can add it to our queue. Are you looking for an English translation or the French original?
Ideas - Serif fonts (typeface)
At the moment the emails are in plain text. That means the font is determined by your email client. Most mail clients by default use a sans-serif typeface, but you can usually change that. We plan to roll out HTML email which will allow some control over the typeface.
Help - Subscriptions and Publishers
Absolutely. Please contact us via email at info [at] dailylit [dot] com.
Help - Heart of Darkness RSS Feed
I tried the feed out in FeedDemon, Firefox and google reader and had absolutely no issue with it. Can you have accessibility in any of these? Or could you switch to email instead?
Help - Heart of Darkness RSS Feed
Vince -
Sorry to hear it. I checked and this feed was created quite some time ago. Did it never have any items in it or is this a recent problem?
Best,
Albert
Help - I started a book but I don't like it, how do I remove it?
When you are logged in to DailyLit, your homepage displays a link that says "Manage your subscriptions." Click on that to see a page with all your subscriptions. Following each subscription you will see the word "More" as a link.
Adventure Books - Adventure Fans
You can now automatically have longer emails sent to you if you want to make faster progress. Check the FAQ which describes how to set this option for a subscription.
Help - I started a book but I don't like it, how do I remove it?
To start a new book all you have to do is find one you like and subscribe to it. We have in fact now released the ability to delete old subscriptions that you don't want to see in your list. Just click on "More" and at the bottom of the page you will find a "Delete this subscription" link.
Help - Subscribe for Mysterious Affair At Styles
Please try again. If you continue to have problems, please contact support by email.
Help - RSS Feed dies on part 11
No problem. Will reset and email you the feed URL.
Help - RSS Feed dies on part 11
OK. Problem has been fixed. You need to refresh the browser. If you can't get the feed to reload, first try holding down the "Shift" key while you click on the reload button. If that doesn't work, you need to go to tools -> Internet Options. Then on the "General" tab under "Browsing History" click on "Delete ..." -- then in the "Delete Browsing History" window under "Delete Temporary Internet Files" click on "Delete files ..." This will force a reload of the feed.
Help - RSS Feed dies on part 11
Closing in on the problem. This is related to utf-8 character set support. Google reader does fine also. But IE7 hangs on "née" which appears in the middle of installment 11.
Help - RSS Feed dies on part 11
Sorry to hear it. We are investigating. We have tested the feed in FeedDemon and it works fine there, but it does seem to hang in IE7. More shortly.
Help - Any SPAM?
We hate spam just as much as you do. The only emails you will get from us are the book installments and, very rarely, a service related email (e.g., if there are a lot of new great features). We also have a strict privacy policy to guard your email address -- you can find the link to it at bottom of each page.
Help - whole?
Thanks for asking. The books are unabridged. As for errors, we have not had many and the ones that readers find we try to fix right away.
Help - I started a book but I don't like it, how do I remove it?
Definitely. In the meantime, just email support with the details and I will fix this for you manually.
Ideas - Any plans to include poems?
There is already a fair bit of poetry available, including Keats. Easiest to find if you browse by category.
Book Requests - Autobiography fo A.P.J.Abdul Kalam
This was posted in a different forum, but I am assuming it was a book request so we reclassified it.
Ideas - Comics?
We will offer comics and manga, but need to roll out HTML email first.
Ideas - Make suspend/resume flow more natural
Interesting suggestion. We are working on some advanced options for managing subscriptions and may eventually offer this as a possibility.
Great Expectations - great expectations,a fantastic novel
We are working on the ability to let you customize the size of installments. In the meantime, it's fairly easy to click the "send the next installment" link to speed things up.
Bugs - War of the Worlds
Sorry about that. We have added the fragment in.
Book Requests - Add 'Prince, The' to Management category
Interesting suggestion. We have gone ahead and added it to the management category.
Bugs - Amazon Link Bug
Thanks! Now pointing to the right book.
Dracula - From Dracula to Voldemort
Just finished Dracula on DailyLit. One of the pleasures in reading classics is noticing their echoes in more recent works. Case in point, Harry Potter, which I have been reading to my son at night. In "Order of the Phoenix," the crucial twist in the plot arises from a mental link between Voldemort and Harry that might well be based on a similar link between the Count and Mina.
Bugs - Children's Section
Thanks for catching this. We have fixed the bug.
Frankenstein - Science fiction?
Good point. We have added it to the science fiction category and also changed it from thriller to horror.
Bugs - RSS send next fragment
Btw, some web based RSS readers (e.g., google reader) only update the feed once an hour even if you hit refresh. That means that the next fragment will only be available one hour later. I will add a note about this in the FAQ.
Bugs - One profile bugs and two feature request
Woops! Please try again. Deployed a new version last night and a bug had crept in.
Bugs - One profile bugs and two feature request
Yup -- there was a bug in the code for selecting a country from the drop down. We have fixed it. We have added your other suggestions to our to-do list. Thanks.
Bugs - RSS send next fragment
The "send next immediately" option should appear at the end of each installment as a link (together with several other options). If you can't find them please let us know which reader you are using.
Bugs - Mistake in Catagories
Thanks! Both of those errors were introduced when we added the last few books. We have fixed it.
Bugs - Swiss Family Robinson Amazon URL Wrong
Oooops! Many thanks for pointing this out -- should be fixed now.
Bugs - url misnomer
Thanks. Great catch. We just fixed it.
Ideas - A listing of recently added titles
A first version of this is now available. Whenever you see a list of books you can now sort them by how recently they were added to DailyLit. Each category list now also has an RSS feed available, so that you can follow which books have been added to a category.
Ideas - Organize by length
Happy to report that this is now available. Whenever a list of books is displayed there is a drop down for sorting by length and also by how recently the book was released on DailyLit.
Help - Introduction
Greg - Have you tried refreshing your browser? The old picture will be cached locally.
Book Requests - Henry James
We will add it to the queue of books to be processed.
Book Requests - Ira Levin
Thanks for the suggestion. Levin wrote in the 1960s and 70s so definitely still copyrighted. We are in the process of obtaining rights for certain books and will add this to the list.
Short Stories - Short, Short Stories
Thanks. That was a mistake during the last book load. The categories have been merged.
The Devil's Dictionary - Wrong category
Thanks. We changed the category from "Horror" to "Satire" (and thanks also for the link -- we'll add it to the queue).
Parody Books - Misfiled?
Thanks for pointing out this mistake. We have changed the category from "parody" to "satire".
Help - How Many?
Yes you can. We currently limit the number of active subscriptions to three.
Help - Change of Address
Sorry -- I am afraid change of address does not yet exist. Will add that shortly. If you need an urgent change, please send an email to support.
Ideas - RSS feeds
That's a great suggestion and we have added it to the todo list.
Help - Do the Forums Support HTML?
Not at the moment. We may add some limited HTML support in the future.
Help - I started a book but I don't like it, how do I remove it?
Apologies -- this is a much requested feature and we have it on the to do list.
Book Requests - Some Books Request
Glad to hear you like DailyLit! Big parts of the Bible are already here. Just type "bible" in the search box or click on the religion cateogry. We are working on adding more religious texts.
Bugs - Send next fragment immediately?
This is likely to be a refresh bug. When you are on the page that says 101 sent, try refreshing your browser (try also with the shift key pressed). Btw, which browser are you using on which operating system? That would help us track down this bug.
Help - Introduction
Happy to announce that we have added timezones. When you subscribe to a book you can click on the default timezone (which is EST) to reveal a timezone selector.
Bugs - Gmail is acting up
There has been no change on our side. Please let us know if this continues tomorrow. Hopefully it's just a temporary hickup. Any other gmail users experiencing similar problems?
Ideas - a way to send messages?
We are a bit worried that the most interesting discussions would then take place in private threads.
Classics Books - Split this category?
Do you mean for the purpose of more easily finding books or so that there could be a separate forum?
Ideas - schedule flexibility
Thanks. We definitely will provide more schedule flexibility. Just working out how to permit that without complicating the sign up process.
Book Requests - Accelerando
Looking into it. We will release creative commons support this weekend (link to the license in each email). Stay tuned.
Book Requests - Oz books
Looked and there are quite a few. We can eventually add all them all, but if you can let us know how to prioritiz that would be great.
Book Requests - Invisible!
Thanks for your request. Invisible Man is copyrighted (published in 1952). We will inquire with the publisher about obtaining the rights to distribute it as a paid subscription, but this is likely to take some time.
Ideas - Organize by length
Great suggestion. We have added it to the rapidly expanding todo list.
Ideas - A listing of recently added titles
Thanks -- we'll be adding that shortly (browse titles by when they were added).
Ideas - Manage finished subscriptions
Josh -
This should be fixed now. Please let us know if you continue to have difficulties with the last fragment. Also, if you let us know which spam filter you are using that would be helpful.
Best,
Albert
Etc. - QUESTION
Sorry -- it has not disappeared, but we clearly need to rework how the forums are organized. In order to find the "Book Requests" forum, you need to first click on the "Other Forums" link on the forums page.
Bugs - Remove a book bug?
Thanks -- this has been requested quite a few time and is on the to do list.
Ideas - Changing Email Address
Changing the email address is high on our todo list. In the meantime, simply email support [at] dailylit [dot] com with your old and new addresses and we will take care of it for you.
Bugs - Paragraphs in forums
Thanks for catching this one. It was already working in replies, but not in the initial post. Should be fixed now.
Help - Genres of Interest (profile)
Good catch. We will include better instructions. You can use Quotes to add genres with a space, e.g. "Science Fiction".
Etc. - Introduction
A forum for topics that don't fit anywhere else.
Book Requests - Introduction
The name of the forum says it all.
Help - Introduction
If you are looking for help with how to use DailyLit, please post in this forum. If you have advice to offer, post it here also.
Bugs - Introduction
If you find something that's not working, please post it on this forum. Please look at all existing topics to make sure that it has not already been reported. Thanks.
Ideas - Introduction
This forum is for everyone to share ideas on how to improve DailyLit. We look forward to hearing from you.