Diane Plumley If you’re not familiar with this author, she wrote what seemed like a billion books involving a couple of cats that help solve crimes. Honestly, I didn’t realize she was still alive. Just as I was positive that Phyliss A Whitney had died many moons ago, when she only passed away within the last 10 … Read more
Shelf Awareness has a link to this sad story of 2 more fine independent bookstore closings–this time in Harvard Square, MA. Curious George bookshop opened in the 1995 with the approval of the author, Margret Rey. It will be closing because the landlord refused to grant the store another lease. Just another bunch of long time … Read more
And not as a therapist or prison guard. What is it about book selling that brings out some of the most bizarre people around? Within all the stores I’ve worked, there have been several inmates also considered employees. After shifting career gears in the early 90s, from jewelry making to part time corporation mumbo jumbo, … Read more
Wow–a list of 50 books 11 year olds should read by ABE is fantastic, and embarrassingly I’ve only read a handful on the list–naturally Alice in Wonderland is one, and a title I haven’t thought about since I was 11! Emile and the Detectives. Once I saw the title, I remembered that I had loved … Read more
I know I’m probably in the minority, but Ulysses is like one long long long run on sentence to me. What was James Joyce on, anyway, while writing this? I also understand that many think this book the best ever written, and I say, nuts to you, lol. No, I think that everyone has their … Read more
When my best friend’s mother passed away, Bob wanted to give me a thousand dollars from her estate to do with as I pleased. I was gobsmacked. I loved his mother, of course, and was saddened by her passing. She had been ill for years with dementia, and Bob had been there for her throughout, … Read more
I found this ABE theme unusual and interesting. I never gave much thought to how mental illness is depicted in print. I’ve read books that have various forms of mental illness as subplots, or even the main story line. Until I really thought about it, I suppose I didn’t realize just how many. Naturally The … Read more
From Quill and Quire http://www.quillandquire.com/blog/index.php/2011/06/01/dionne-brand-gets-the-griffin/ Just a quick question–does anyone read poetry anymore? I’m curious because I used to throw myself into various poets, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, etc and soak up their melancholy. I was young and dramatic. But I also had some super anthologies with poets like e e cummings that I thought … Read more
