"The problem with large bookstores is that they contain usually a lot of junk. My focus as a bookseller is to keep the junk out. Because good books don’t pull bad books up, bad books pull good books down."-From a brief interview with McMurtry by Julie Riggot for the Los Angeles Downtown News.McMurtry will receive the Los Angeles Public Library Literary Award later this week.LA City Librarian Fontayne Holmes says of McMurtry "He really is such a book person in every single meaning of the word, as a bookstore owner, as a book collector, as a writer and as an...
The Day Shakespeare Died
“Chandos Shakespeare” Oil painting attributed to John Taylor, c. 1610. Courtesy of the National Portrait GalleryIt was on this date in 1616, 392 years ago, that the bard left this earth.His reach remains unprecedented, his plays are still being performed in every corner of the globe and he is still taught and read in schools and universities all over the world. His work continues to attract filmakers from all over the world with over 700 film adaptations of his work to date.As his contemporary Ben Johnson said of him; Shakespeare “was not of an age, but for all time”Encyclopedia Britannica's...
Shelfari Changing Course
The Amazon influence on Shelfari is beginning to show. In their first major move since hiring publishing heavyweight David Nudo, former publisher of Publisher's Weekly, to be their Director of Sales and Marketing Shelfari has announced the creation of wiki-style author pages.Shelfari hopes that this new feature will help them "become a destination for not only biographical information but interactions between authors and their fans"Authors will now be able to create their own pages which "will feature an open wiki in addition to a message board and a list of written books."Jason Kincaid has a post on the new initiative...
Pop Surrealism Meets the Book
"Dry All My Tears" 2008 Ink and acrylic on old bookSize: 27/29cm (10.5/7.5in)Mike Stilkey is on a roll. On the heels of his amazing installation, "When the Animals Rebel" at Rice University this past summer comes "An Occasion of Wonder" his one-man show currently on view at at Milieu Gallerie in Bern, Switzerland.From the exhibit intro:Using ink, colored pencil, acrilyc, gouache and lacquer Mike Stilkey depicts a melancholic and at times whimsical cast of characters inhabiting ambiguous spaces and narratives of fantasy and fairy tales. His work is reminiscent of Weimar-era German expressionism and his style has been described by...
Book Hybrid
"The Future of Books" by Kyle BeanThanks to if:book for the lead