14 Inventions NOT Available at Aunt Em’s House

  By Carrie Bailey Context changes things. In 1907, the concept of a clockwork man was innovative, a device before its time. In fact, Frank L. Baum created his character Tik Tok before the word “robot” was first used to describe “a machine resembling a human being and able to replicate certain human movements and … Read more

Library Voyeurism: Admit It. You Do It, Too!

by Jas Faulkner

library2welOne of the advantages of the current technology available for photo sharing is the ability to find details that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. Thanks to less expensive digital imaging and social media, we have all seen recent pictures of ghosts, Big Foot, Chupacabras, Elvis, Tupac, and fiends deeply buried in our couch cushions.

Through the pictures we scan and then expand we have discovered the lost libraries of our friends, our family and our childhoods.

We all do it.  We see a picture of a book case int he background and our first impulse is to try to read the titles on the spines. Photos from my own late sixties to early seventies childhood reveals as much about my parents’ aspiration for me and my brother as it does about their thirst to continue their educations.

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Denise Swanson–Not Just a Small Town Woman

Denise Swanson is a character out of one of her books. A small town girl, intelligent, kind, and successful. Very successful. Her Scumble River soft boiled mystery series has been running for many years now, with appearances on the New York Time Bestseller‘s list and slews of award nominations, including a Best First Novel Agatha, … Read more

The Glass Room-Should or Shouldn’t It Be a Best 100?

  The Glass Room  Edwin Rolfe and  Lester Fuller  1946 “In 1946 the phrase first appeared in the murder mystery novel Murder in the Glass Room (by Edwin Rolfe and Lester Fuller) as “you can never tell a book by its cover.” Wow, that fact, I just found, may tip the book onto the list! We’ll … Read more

Robin Burcell, The Real Deal

I thought the succinct bio from author Robin Burcell’s webpage would do the trick in introducing her to those who haven’t already read her suspenseful novels. “Robin Burcell, an FBI-trained forensic artist, has worked in law enforcement for over two decades as a police officer, detective and hostage negotiator. She is the author of the … Read more

Enter ManBookRead – Gentlemen Only

We have a new contributor at The Bookshop Blog, something just for the guys. Here’s some info: ManBookRead is a men’s book club that was established to unite men around America (and beyond) under one interesting, quality, and genuinely awesome book each month. If it helps to use an example, think of Oprah’s Book Club … Read more