Mick Sussman's essay "Attack of the Megalisters" appears in the Book Review section of Sunday's New York Times and brings to light the work of this new breed of online bookseller.Before I talk about the piece I want to give a tip of the hat to the book coverage at the New York Times. While the book sections of most newspapers are disappearing or crumbling the NYT has expanded their coverage of the book world. Yes, it is still mostly populated by reviews and the the inherent politics that surround them but they have opened the doors to coverage of...
Sarah Palin’s Library Issue is Now a Campaign Issue
The McCain campaign has released a memo addressing the controversy surrounding Sarah Palin's involvement, or lack thereof, in a book banning crusade at the Wasilla Public Library."A vicious smear has spread across liberal outlets and blogs into the mainstream media...This smear is categorically false and has no basis in fact. It is an urban myth — nothing more." says the memo.A response to the memo on Truthdig highlights the fact that "the campaign’s 1,615-word memo on the subject indirectly supports the accusation. As Palin’s mayoral predecessor recalls, “She asked the library how she could go about banning book,” and though...
The Wasilla 90 : An Internet Legend is Born
Woman standing in front of the Wasilla Public Library (1950s)Update: McCain Camp Assails Book-Banning Report as a ‘Smear’ via Truthdig McCain Camp Memo - Smear Machine Rolls On: Governor Palin And Library Books"Ah, the power of the internets.Following an article on the Republican Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin in Time Magazine, where mention is made of a conversation Palin had with the library on how one goes about banning books, a list of alleged banned books surfaced as a comment on the blog librarian.net and quickly spread through the book universe. Unfortunately, a few of the titles mentioned where published after...
Jeanette Winterson on the Bookshop
"I am keen to preserve what is good in life, and that is often at odds with what is most profitable in life. Leaving aside the price arguments about supermarkets, bookshops have, or should have, a special place in our culture. We need books, and books are best browsed in the energetic peace of a small store where the owner loves reading, just like we do."She goes on:"real books belong to the heart, not the pocket, and there has to be a way of letting that be. I know that the internet is great for ordering whatever it is you...
More Political Poetry – Denise Levertov and Vietnam
nothing we do has the quickness, the sureness, the deep intelligence living at peace would have.Denise Levertov, Life at WarThe latest podcast in the alt.NPR Poetry Off the Shelf series, Battle of the Bards, focuses on Denise Levertov's poem Life at War and how her relationship with fellow poet and mentor Robert Duncan was severely strained by Levertov's anti-war activism and her related poetry.Ange Mlinko has a related piece,"Craft Vs. Conscience How the Vietnam War destroyed the friendship between Robert Duncan and Denise Levertov" at the Poetry Foundation's Online Journal.Previously on Book Patrol:A New Wave of Political Poetry