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Japanese used bookstore chain really wants to buy your books

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Book Off, a secondhand bookstore chain in Japan, is in dire need of inventory. To try and remedy the situation they have produced a television commercial "begging customers to sell them books" The commercial features employees standing solemnly in two lines along near-empty bookshelves pleading with the viewers to sell them books.  Watch:   [youtube]https://youtu.be/9kUTT4TxWV8[/youtube] What kind of books are they asking after: “Books you’ve read already” “Books that won’t fit on the book shelf.” “Books left behind by the girlfriend you forgot about!” “Books you thought would make you look cool!” “Books someone could not stop talking about but...

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RuPaul visits the library

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  RuPaul hosted Saturday Night Live this past weekend and one of the skits featured him visiting the San Diego Public Library for a little reading time. He tackles such children's classics as Madeline, Corduroy, Eloise,  James and the Giant Peach and Harriet the Spy. Absolutely hilarious. I'm still laughing at his take on the dust jacket illustration for Madeline which he says "I have bad news child, the Eiffel Tower is not in the woods. You better draw France right, bitch."  Watch: [youtube]https://youtu.be/r1xA7B4SY6A[/youtube]

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Booksellers on Film: New documentary set for March release

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What once seemed like an esoteric world now seems essential to our culture: the community of rare book dealers and collectors who, in their love of the delicacy and tactility of books, are helping to keep the printed word alive - New York Film Festival D.W. Young's documentary, The Booksellers, on the antiquarian booksellers of New York, is destined to become a classic account of the modern day book trade. From the preview alone you know that if one possess the bookselling gene or if you have an affinity for the collectible it is a must see. It premiered at...

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Poets inspired by Bob Dylan

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Bob Dylan is the subject of a new anthology of poems edited by two retired professors from his home state of Minnesota. Whittled down to 100 poems from a pool of  500 Visiting Bob: Poems Inspired by the Life and Work of Bob Dylan is a collection honoring Dylan by poets in various stages of their careers. Contributors include Robert Bly; Charles Bukowski; Lawrence Ferlinghetti; Patti Smith and Anne Waldman as well as this lost musing from Johnny Cash that appeared in the liner notes for Dylan’s 1969 album “Nashville Skyline,” and won a Best Album Notes Grammy: Complete unto itself, full,...

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For the love of the library

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Jason LaMotte was very fond of his neighborhood  library in Houston, Texas.  As LaMotte tells the Guardian: I have strong recollections of my neighborhood library in Houston, Texas in the US. I can recall the layout, where certain sections of books were, the smells, and the sounds. And it still carries a magical feeling for me, this special kind of sanctuary full of knowledge, full of stories, all covered in a sense of quiet respect and revery.   After a successful Kickstarter campaign, LaMotte went to work and the result is beautiful homage to the power of the library.  Here's a...

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