As previously noted here on Book Patrol, 2009 marks the bicentennial of the birth of America's unrivaled genius of the Gothic horror genre, poet and short story writer Edgar Allan Poe. Angelenos, and those planning a visit to the City of Angels in the coming weeks, may mark the two-hundredth swing of Poe's pendulum by attending a performance of Nevermore, a one-man show now in a limited engagement at the Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood.The play, written by Hunter College literature professor Dennis Paoli, is framed as an evening's lecture circuit reading by the Bard of Baltimore. Present among the...
Bill Maher’s Gift to Jay Z
During his interview with Jay Z on the latest episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher presents Jay Z with a one-of-a-kind book containing all of Jay Z's published lyrics. Jay Z seems genuinely touched by the gesture. A shining example of the power of books as gifts.Note: The sound has been acting funny on the clip. Might need to turn up the volume
The 6 O’Clock News with William Shakespeare
The Bard of Avon as Elizabethan talking-head anchorman?"Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears - you wont believe what's goin' on! But if I tickle you, will you not laugh?Jon Lajoie is a Montreal-based comedian who, after graduating Dawson College’s theatre program in 2001, became a hit man to supplement his non-existent income from acting. “Between 2001 and 2007 [he] assassinated (in a ninja-like fashion) an estimated 40,000 people, and an estimated 9,000 fish. (In early 2004, demand for assassination was low, so for three months he held a part-time job as a fisherman)."That averages out to 15.65 human and...
Is CBS Becoming the Book Network?
CBS has announced plans for a new series on the publishing world. The show called Open BookCBS Sunday Morning has been consistently featuring book related storiesThere was this great piece on French Bibliomaniacs that we covered on Book Patroland then this one, that we covered as well, on the Happy Tales Bookshop in Wisconsin that was built in a old manure storage tank!
Religious and Spiritual Books Bring Zing Back to Delhi Book Fair
The woes of the recession have turned into wows at this year’s Delhi Book Fair.Attendees are grabbing religious and spiritually-themed books off the shelves as if they were Kali, the multi-armed Hindu goddess of time and change, and redeemer of the universe, who has, apparently, redeemed an Indian book market hit hard by the global recession.Books on the philosophies and meditation techniques of spiritual gurus, general religion, self-help guides and Indian mythology are leading sales at the Delhi Book Fair, now in its fifteenth year.Just Say No To Crime and FictionThe boom in religious books trade at the fair, say...