Ammon Shea recently spent a year of his life reading the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). For those unfamiliar with dictionary hierarchy, the OED is the king of dictionaries. It is the dictionary. It's a also a big dictionary. The second edition, which Shea consumed, was published in 1989 in 20 volumes. It weighs 137 pounds and is 21,730 pages long!Shea read the whole thing and recounts his experience in his book, Reading the OED One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages, which was published by Perigee earlier this month.Shea will be blogging weekly for the next few months over at the...
30,000 Books Burn in House Fire
A fire destroyed the 18th century home of Barry and Peg Cavanaugh in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.Cavanaugh, a book dealer, collapsed on his front lawn as he watched his house and book collection burn to the ground. The historic Plumstead home was built around 1740 and housed Cavanaugh's huge book collection.The story in the Bucks County Courier Times notes that the 30,000 books were all rare books. Though that might be a bit of a stretch; I doubt there are many places on earth that house 30,000 truly rare books, for a book person this is still a tragedy of the...
The Evolution of Author Marketing : Readings Endangered, The Appearance Rising and Product Placement is Just Around the Corner
Author Ethan Canin, right, mingles with guests at a recent "Words & Wine" gathering in SeattleRemember the days when one of the few options an author had was to hit the road to promote their new book, crossing the country, reading at bookstores both big and small, connecting with readers in the hope that they will buy your book.Well, it's not that simple anymore. The changing publishing and bookselling landscape has forced everyone to revamp their marketing strategy to come up with new ways to sell books. Most major publishers now have an in house speakers-bureau and internet marketing department....
The Living Library is Coming to America
The Living Library was born in Copenhagen in 2000. It was started by 5 kids who, after one of them was stabbed during a night out, decided to do something "to raise awareness and use peer group education to mobilise danish youngsters against violence".There have been countless Living Library events in Europe since and in 2006 a permanent Living Library was established in Lismore, Australia, where on the first Friday of every month people can come and check out "living books".The premise:"Borrow a person you normally would think you would not like. We have a wide selection of unpopular stereotypes....
It’s Hemingway For McCain
John McCain was in the Hamptons last weekend attending a fund-raiser at the home of real estate developer Bill Mack. The $2,300 a plate cocktail party was organized by a committee that included New York Republican heavyweights Henry Kissinger, Georgette Mosbacher, publisher Steve Forbes and former Senator Alfonse D’Amato.During the Q&A that followed his talk McCain was asked about his reading life.“I am a voracious reader. I read all the time,” said McCain who carries three or four books with him all the time.The three books currently on hand are:“Smyrna,” by Marjorie Housepian Dobkin, about the conflict between Greeks and...