Nathan Rabin brings his usual panache to this review of a smutty book by David Bowie’s ex. Yet I had a hard time disliking David Bowie, let alone hating him. How could I? If anything, I came away with an even greater respect for the man and his music. It boggles the mind to think […]
Category Archives: Books
Abstract City
Christoph Niemann’s Abstract City columns have been bound into a book. I don’t often buy new books anymore, but I may have to save my pennies for this one. His art is witty, beautiful and fabulous. The Bustle and Beauty of New York City, Rendered by a Master Designer – Steven Heller – Entertainment – […]
Bookstore Wisdom
This list of “25 Things I Learned from Opening a Bookstore” is delightful. Most are self-evident, but only once you read them – these are the kinds of things to which one doesn’t usually give a lot of thought. (Unless one is a bookseller.) My faves: 1. People are getting rid of bookshelves. Treat the […]
NY Times Advertisement
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/20/us/20ventura.html?hpw In an era when most authors make their appearances at well-publicised book signings in big box stores, Ray Bradbury is reading to kids at the local library. A class act advocating for a cause I’m happy to support. Mr. Bradbury frequently speaks at libraries across the state, and on Saturday he will make his […]
BoredStop.com – Worlds Most Beautiful Libraries
http://www.boredstop.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=156 It’s a cruel irony that the single instance of these beautiful libraries I’ve managed to see in person (the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris) was book-free at the time. Damn renovations! I’m disheartened that an equally beautiful Parisien bookroom – the Bibliotheque Mazarine – isn’t pictured. Perhaps the patrons – unlike me – actually noticed […]
(Untitled)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080229/ap_en_ot/holocaust_book_hoax_1;_ylt=AvWZCiTWb8iMugG1OklbnEoE1vAI More misty water-coloured memoirs. The tampering, this time, comes from a Holocaust survivor from Belgium: Defonseca wrote in her book that Nazis seized her parents when she was a child, forcing her to wander the forests and villages of Europe alone for four years. She claimed she found herself trapped in the Warsaw ghetto, […]
Bed in a bookstore | Flickr – Photo Sharing!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/glynnis/218802601/ A begrudging thumbs-up to this photo of Shakespeare & Co., in Paris. The owner – now in his 90s – used to invite misfits and travellers of all stripes to stay in the store (the sit-and-read couches are all beds!) in exchange for a short, written biography and a couple of hours’ work shifting […]
Copyright Renewal Database: Welcome
http://collections.stanford.edu/copyrightrenewals/bin/page?forward=home A thumbs-up for this service, which eliminates the is-it-or-isn’t-it question on copyright. A big thumbs-down, though, for copyright itself. I checked four books – all more than 70 years old – and every one of them has had the copyright renewed. My longing to see Don Marquis’ delightful Archy and Mehitabel series on Project […]
Harry Potter and the mystery of an academic obsession | Books | The Observer
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1837941,00.html Author with a passing understanding of the Harry Potter saga attends an “academic” convention on the topic. Sort of Hogwarts meets Las Vegas. (Geeky guys would do well to note that this is where all the nerdy chicks can be found.) Snape, who’s been the baddie through six books, is almost universally adored, something […]
Read It? No, but You Can Skim a Few Pages and Fake It – New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/24/books/24read.html?ei=5087%0A&em=&en=3fa36d40ad614493&ex=1172552400&pagewanted=print Now Pierre Bayard, a Paris University literature professor, has come to their rescue with a survivor’s guide to life in the chattering classes. And it is evidently much in need. “How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read?” has become a best seller here, with translation rights snapped up across Europe and under negotiation […]