McBride's "Song Yet Sung" -- The Beach Book For 2009

One of the most-read books on the beach this summer, I predict, will be Song Yet Sung, by James McBride, best known as author of The Color of Water.

The Maryland Humanities Council has selected Song Yet Sung to be the "One Maryland, One Book" for 2009. I think many Marylanders will be reading the book while vacationing in Ocean City this summer, in preparation for discussion groups to be held all over the state in the fall.

Song Yet Sung is "an intricate and gripping tale of escaped slaves, free blacks, and slave catchers," and the setting for the story is none other than Maryland's Eastern Shore. The book promises to be a good read, and educational, as well.

Something else you might be seeing around Ocean City this summer is the new Kindle 2. A lot of us thought there was no way to improve on the perfectly simple technology of the printed book. But many people believe that Amazon may have done just that with the amazing Kindle 2.

You can download any of 230,000 titles to the Kindle 2 and start reading in 60 seconds. You can get new best-sellers for less than half the cost of the hardback. Newspapers, magazines, and blogs, too! Amazing.

It holds 1,500 books, and you can hold it in one hand. Imagine taking your 1,500 favorite books to the beach with you! Amazon is taking orders for the Kindle 2 now. Kindles ordered this week will be shipped later in February. (See the Kindle 2 ad in the sidebar at right).