Literary Links: The Kindle gets competition; Book club weighs 'Mustard Seed'

Works of fiction, book news and interesting tidbits to read...before you read.

Dustin Wax at Lifehack.org asks, “Are You a Productive Reader?” What do you think? Should reading necessarily be “productive?” Would that prevent it from being pleasurable? Or can it be both? Which of his suggested techniques do you follow? [via Lifehack.org]

A common complaint against Amazon’s Kindle is that the screen is not backlit, making the black-and-white screen difficult to read in certain circumstances. Watch out, then, for the Magical Hybrid E-Paper LCD, purportedly coming out this fall. [via Gizmodo]

Speaking of e-book technology, check out Feedbooks.com: “A universal e-reading platform compatible with all mobile devices where you can download thousands of free e-books, publish and share your own content, and create customized newspapers from RSS feeds and widgets.” [via Feedbooks.com]

This past February, The New Yorker started a book club readers’ coöperative. The coöperative's June selection will be The Weight of a Mustard Seed, by Wendell Steavenson. [via The New Yorker]

Speaking of book clubs, John Valeri at Examiner.com has posted a three-part series on starting a book club. Looks like a good idea for a pet project to kick off this summer! [via Examiner]

And just for fun, take a look at Charles Dickens’ new (completely fake) product line. [via YouTube]

--Rachel Frier

Photos courtesy Flickr, Amazon