Hindsight might entice the reader of Leanne Shapton's bittersweet graphic novel IMPORTANT ARTIFACTS AND PERSONAL PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF LENORE DOOLAN AND HAROLD MORRIS,... ( Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009) to ponder that inevitable moment when an author might appropriate the form of the auction catalog to tell a story. It makes such perfect sense. Auction catalogs and bookseller's catalogs, especially those dedicated to the dispersal of a single collection, always tell a story. That story is told through the objects collected and why; often it is the story of an entire life shaped by consuming passions, even disturbing...
A Visual Review of Philip Roth’s Latest Novel, Indignation
Ward Sutton, author of the must read political cartoon series Sutton Impact, reviews Philip Roth's latest novel, Indignation, at the Village Voice. The review consists of a 9 image slideshow in cartoon format.What a fantastic concept and one that begs to be developed. This format presents a tremendous opportunity to engage the younger generation, the ones most at risk of living a book less life, in the biblio-universe.Thanks to Scott Esposito at Conversational Reading for the lead.
George A. Walker’s Nightlife
While in art school in the 1980's noted book artist and wood engraver George A. Walker had to keep a visual dream diary for one of classes. The assignment was simple- set your alarm clock every evening and when it goes it off in the morning "set to paper whatever fragments could be salvaged...before the fanciful thoughts dissipated in the harsh glare of dawn"Some 25 years later George A. Walker is still keeping his diary. Not only is he recording his dreamscapes on paper but he is producing an accompanying wood engraving! Walker says his "dream diary is a record...
Ray Bradbury on Bookstores, Book Reviews and Love
"I raised myself in used bookstores. I went in looking for myself and I found me on every shelf."- Ray Bradbury in conversation with Steve WassermanTruthdig.com is airing a great conversation between Steve Wasserman, the former editor of the now defunct Los Angeles Times Book Review and now Literary Editor of Truthdig, and Ray Bradbury.The conversation is broken into three video segments; Bookstores, Book Reviews and Love and all are worth a look.Here is the video of the first part- Bookstores:The other 2 segments and a complete transcript of the conversation are available here.
Dictionary Man
Ammon Shea recently spent a year of his life reading the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). For those unfamiliar with dictionary hierarchy, the OED is the king of dictionaries. It is the dictionary. It's a also a big dictionary. The second edition, which Shea consumed, was published in 1989 in 20 volumes. It weighs 137 pounds and is 21,730 pages long!Shea read the whole thing and recounts his experience in his book, Reading the OED One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages, which was published by Perigee earlier this month.Shea will be blogging weekly for the next few months over at the...