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
I’ve mentioned the two diminutive people, whose son owned Lorry’s and Pace University bookstore, but never explained their particular presence and role within the workings of the business. They didn’t have one. Or, let me rephrase that, they didn’t have a role conducive to actual bookstore business. They ‘trolled’ the stores, guarded their son’s investments, … Read more
As a former indie bookseller, this association’s monthly lists helped me find new authors to recommend and confirmed some of my own choices. As the website states: “Who better to pick the best mystery books of the month than people who run mystery bookstores? Each month a rotating editor selects 5 great reads from our … Read more
I checked out Banned Books Week’s facebook page, and found a link to this question-should literary classics be sanitized? In this time of political correctness, derogatory names and nasty words are forbidden in literature. You won’t see many novels calling ethnic groups slang names, or using the ‘n’ word, even if the character within the … Read more
No, I don’t mean self help titles or sob stories, but how a book feels in your hands while reading it. ABE books again came up with an interesting topic, tactile reading.I know I send links to ABE a lot, but they have fantastic collections and ideas that are unusal in the book world. So, … Read more
A tasty little look at children’s books with food as the theme. bon appetit! http://www.abebooks.com/books/childrens-kids-fruit-stories/james-giant-peach.shtml?cm_mmc=nl-_-nl-_-110517-h00-gpeach50A-_-01cta
