Kind of interesting:
Treasures hiding in plain sight
A collaborative Widener Library program rescues vulnerable books
I especially liked this because a) I love finding random stuff in books; b) I love stumbing across random books; and c) one time my brother found a book in Widener which, apparently, had had the first page illuminated by the author. Awesome!
The downstairs (used and remainders) section of the Harvard Bookstore, across the street from Widnener, also has a collection of the random ephemera they've discovered in the pages of used books they've purchased for re-sale, which I find endlessly entertaining...
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
So THAT'S what YA fiction is...kind of...
So, basically, it's just like porn...in that you know it when you see it? Except...you don't?
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2012/04/what-does-young-adult-mean/51316/
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2012/04/what-does-young-adult-mean/51316/
Lists! Libraries!
Gorgeous!!!
I want to go read in all of these...except maybe the one in Germany. It looks very cold and hard. Shocker.
Flavorwire - the 25 most beautiful public libraries
http://flavorwire.com/280318/the-25-most-beautiful-public-libraries-in-the-world?all=1
I want to go read in all of these...except maybe the one in Germany. It looks very cold and hard. Shocker.
Flavorwire - the 25 most beautiful public libraries
http://flavorwire.com/280318/the-25-most-beautiful-public-libraries-in-the-world?all=1
Lists!
"Great Books About Young Women" - Flavorwire
http://flavorwire.com/281518/10-great-books-about-young-women?all=1
Review this at some point - good ones? some to try?
http://flavorwire.com/281518/10-great-books-about-young-women?all=1
Review this at some point - good ones? some to try?
Friday, April 13, 2012
read a while ago:
Cold Vengeance, Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
Latest Pendergast book.
Funny, at least if you're me, and given my last DP/LC:P post:
One one page someone says "Special Agent Pendergrast" and Special Agent P. interrupts, "Pendergast." Then a few moments later (in the story; same page of the book) the guy says "I suggest you call the police, Mr. Prendergast," prompting SPA to reply "Pendergast." Basically, it's confusing.
Latest Pendergast book.
Funny, at least if you're me, and given my last DP/LC:P post:
One one page someone says "Special Agent Pendergrast" and Special Agent P. interrupts, "Pendergast." Then a few moments later (in the story; same page of the book) the guy says "I suggest you call the police, Mr. Prendergast," prompting SPA to reply "Pendergast." Basically, it's confusing.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
I don't really understand how this is meant to be a good idea.
The government standing up for poor, down-trodden (e-)book buys and readers against the collusion of major publishing houses and Apple? Good. Did it really happen? Quite possibly, so still good. Giving Amazon even more control over the e-book market? Shutting down one monopoly to make way for another one? Um...
The government’s decision to pursue major publishers on antitrust charges has put Amazon, the nation’s largest bookseller, in a powerful position to decide how much an e-book will cost.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
One for the hope chest...
So, "the hope chest" is the list I have on here of awesome children's books I want to make sure I have for my children and grandchildren (and nieces and nephews and "godchildren"). And one that I don't think is on there yet, but absolutely must be, is Gentleman Bear by William Pène du Bois.
Last night I was talking to M(2) about old Olympics, and track and field - that is to say, he was talking about track and field at past Olympics, and I waited semi-patiently for him to wrap up what he was saying and then said "I had a book when I was a kid about a teddy bear that went to the Olympics and Hitler shook his hand and he was NOT HAPPY." And then was off and running on the fantasticness of this sweet, whimsical book about an upper class English boy (or, as I pointed out, the only kind of person where you have the money and history to tolerate whimsical weirdness) who is never separated from his teddy bear, who is always dressed in matching outfits. They go off to boarding school, and university, the Berlin Olympics, and fly in the R.A.F. in World War II. They get married (not to each other, obviously), and raise a family. And it's so cute! And the pictures suit it perfectly.
I was dismayed to see, when I pulled up the GoodReads entry on my blackberry at the bar last night, that it's apparently no longer in print, and crappy old copies are being sold for next to nothing. Gentleman Bear is such a great book, it should be in higher demand - although I suppose I can see how it has virtually no relevance to virtually any child today. But relevance is not always the point. In this case, it's just a nice, funny book with good pictures.
Honestly, I am pretty sure that the book stayed on my bookcase at least through grad school (hey - it's skinny, it doesn't take up much room, and it was on a bottom shelf - with all the old National Geographics I couldn't bear to throw away), which means it's in one of the more recently packed boxes in my dad's house, just waiting to be put back on the shelves once I get around to repainting the walls. So I probably don't even really need to put it on the Hope Chest list, but then again - out of sight is out of mind, and I don't want to forget this one.
Last night I was talking to M(2) about old Olympics, and track and field - that is to say, he was talking about track and field at past Olympics, and I waited semi-patiently for him to wrap up what he was saying and then said "I had a book when I was a kid about a teddy bear that went to the Olympics and Hitler shook his hand and he was NOT HAPPY." And then was off and running on the fantasticness of this sweet, whimsical book about an upper class English boy (or, as I pointed out, the only kind of person where you have the money and history to tolerate whimsical weirdness) who is never separated from his teddy bear, who is always dressed in matching outfits. They go off to boarding school, and university, the Berlin Olympics, and fly in the R.A.F. in World War II. They get married (not to each other, obviously), and raise a family. And it's so cute! And the pictures suit it perfectly.
I was dismayed to see, when I pulled up the GoodReads entry on my blackberry at the bar last night, that it's apparently no longer in print, and crappy old copies are being sold for next to nothing. Gentleman Bear is such a great book, it should be in higher demand - although I suppose I can see how it has virtually no relevance to virtually any child today. But relevance is not always the point. In this case, it's just a nice, funny book with good pictures.
Honestly, I am pretty sure that the book stayed on my bookcase at least through grad school (hey - it's skinny, it doesn't take up much room, and it was on a bottom shelf - with all the old National Geographics I couldn't bear to throw away), which means it's in one of the more recently packed boxes in my dad's house, just waiting to be put back on the shelves once I get around to repainting the walls. So I probably don't even really need to put it on the Hope Chest list, but then again - out of sight is out of mind, and I don't want to forget this one.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Call-back reminder:
Stupid library wants V. S. Ramachandran's The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human back. I could read it in the next couple of days, but I think it's going to be one of those books where even if I don't love the book itself, it's going to generate a big list of questions to look into and other books to read, so it's probably not the best one to speed-read.
So, I need to call it back at some point (I think it got recalled because it's a Harvard book club read or something, so if I look for it after the end of the month we should be good.
So, I need to call it back at some point (I think it got recalled because it's a Harvard book club read or something, so if I look for it after the end of the month we should be good.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Interesting/funny:
Love beyond words
Romance of reader and book captures author Anne Fadiman’s imagination
Harvard Gazette - April 2, 2012
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/04/love-beyond-words/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=04.03.12%2520%281%29&utm_content#.T38wCc2f874.email
Romance of reader and book captures author Anne Fadiman’s imagination
Harvard Gazette - April 2, 2012
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/04/love-beyond-words/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=04.03.12%2520%281%29&utm_content#.T38wCc2f874.email
Groff
I am seriously dying here - I requested that the library purchase Lauren Groff's latest, Arcadia, forever ago, and it still hasn't come yet, and reading really positive reviews of the book aren't helping!
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/books/review/arcadia-by-lauren-groff.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/books/review/arcadia-by-lauren-groff.html
Thursday, April 5, 2012
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