Here is a good one.What do these people have in common :Dick Cheney's wifeBarbara WaltersDan 'Divinci Code ' BrownFormer NJ Governor Jim McGreeveyLewis Scooter Libbyand Bill O'ReillyHmm. How about they all have published a book earlier in their career that they would probably do anything to make disappear but "thanks to the Web, literary fiascos may never again slip softly into the safety of oblivion. "Out of print" no longer means not available".Claire Zulkey exposes these 'literary tragedies' in her amusing piece for Radar.com "Read in the Face: From Barbara Walters to Dan Brown, the embarrassing books they wish we'd...
Threats Close One Bookstore Customs Threaten Another
Prairie Lights Bookstore, located in Iowa City, needed to close it doors early on Tuesday night after the store received both threatening phone calls and letters in response to an event scheduled to take place that evening. The event was a reading by Krista Jacob, the editor of the recently released book Abortion Under Attack: Women on the Challenges Facing Choice. The book is a collection of essays by a number of feminist writers that explores the impact of race, economics and culture on women's reproduction rights and women's attitudes toward abortion."This bookseller doesn't understand the impact of this [decision]....
Book Fountains
Though water is traditionally one of the greatest enemies of books these three fountains show us that water and books can live in harmony.Outside the Cincinnati Public LibraryPublic water fountain in RomeModel for proposed Fountain of Knowledge to be placed outside the University of Idaho Library. I am not sure if it was ever built.
The Crime of the Government Commission Reports
Here is an excerpt from my mid-December post The Problem with Commission Reports Becoming Bestsellers"I contacted Random House , the parent company of Vintage who published the ISG [Iraq Study Group] report, to get an idea of exactly what "portion" of the proceeds they will be donating. Their response was troubling. "This is as detailed information, as we are releasing. A portion of the proceeds from the purchase of the book will be donated to the National Military Family Association. NMFA...".Today Forbes published an article by Eugenia Levenson on publishing houses profiting on government reports entitled "Publishing' Easy Money". Levenson...
The Grolier Club: An Early American Book Club
The Grolier Club is arguably the most famous book club in our country.Founded in 1884 by book lovers for "the literary study and promotion of the arts pertaining to the production of the book." The club got its name from Jean Grolier de Servières, a bibliophile of the highest order who lived during the Renaissance.The Grolier Club's history is rich. It has always exhibited books from the finest collections and has published over 200 books and exhibition catalogs each produced by the finest bookmakers and typographers of the day. It's renowned library contains almost 100,000 books.The other major contribution from...