Novel Idea's Mini-BookshopFour Mini-Bookshop vending machines were stolen last month in Essex and the police are stumped."This is rather a strange theft. We have very few leads which is why we are looking for any information from witnesses or anyone who has since seen the trailer." says Elaine Crow of the Essex Police Department.No word yet on what books were in the machine.
Ultimate Censorship: Bookseller Killed in Gaza, Poet Tortured in Myanmar
As another Banned Books Week wraps up in this country and the cultural focus shifts to the next designated week for the next cause, word comes of two tragic world events related to the free flow of information.Eric Silver at the Independent reports that "The manager of Gaza's only Christian bookshop, who was abducted on Saturday by suspected Muslim extremists, was found dead yesterday."The bookseller Rami Ayyad, was 31 years old and leaves behind two children and a wife who is pregnant. "About 3,000 Arab Christians live among 1.4 million Muslims in the Gaza Strip. Attacks on Christians and their...
Book Madness in Seattle
There is so much book related stuff going on this week in Seattle that Mayor Greg Nickels has designated it "Book Collecting Week."Here's what's happening:The premier non-new book event in the Pacific Northwest, The Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair & Book Arts show, takes place the weekend of the 13th and 14th at the Seattle Center Pavilion. With close to 100 exhibitors from around North America and as far away as Germany you are bound to see some of the best books, manuscripts and ephemera currently on the market. The exhibitors this year are particularly strong with many being members of...
The Book Arch of Romainmôtier
After the yearly bookfair held in Romainmôtier, a small quiet Swiss town near the border with France, artist Jan Reymond takes the remaining books and creates an installation. Reymond says he wanted to give the unsold books "a last life" before they got thrown away.The bookfair is held at the town church, a classic Romanesque structure that dates back to the 5th century. It is in one of these perfect Romanesque arches that house Reymond's installation. For Reymond the arch represents "spiritual power."This year the arch became home to a book framed doorway with books suspended from the top of...
Haunted Libraries
We're still a long way from Halloween but Halloween season is certainly in full swing.George Eberhart at the Britannica blog has his second installment (covering Florida-Maryland) of his "fairly comprehensive list of allegedly haunted libraries, or at least ones where patrons, staff, or local folklorists have associated with paranormal happenings."Some highlights:At the Cairo Public Library in Illinois there is the ghost named Toby who "reportedly hangs out in the special collections room on the second floor of this 1884 building."In the old Cedar Rapids Public Library (which now the Cedar Rapids Art Museum) in Iowa "an apparent case of “crisis...