Building where Poe was a patient remains a mystery

"Built in 1831, the Northern Dispensary is the only building in New York City with one side on two streets, Christopher and Grove Sts., and two sides on one street, Waverly Pl."

Bookish Humor

"I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman where the self-help section was. She said if she told me it would defeat the purpose. - Dennis Miller
Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original and the part that is original is not good. - Samuel Johnson "

Scenes from the life of Sam

The Observer Review Scenes from the life of Sam

Platform

This is an ugly novel about nasty people written by a notorious bete noir. It is an ode to the international sex trade, a book chock full of explicit sex that leaves the reader cold. The narrator, a civil servant named (coincidentally? I think not) Michel, is detached, observing from the fringes and living a hollow existence. He travels to exotic locations to sleep with whores. He meets Valerie on one such trip. He contacts her when he returns to Paris, they fall in love and cook up a plan to promote sex tourist resorts in Thailand. With fundamentalist Islamism on the rise in this neck of the woods this plan turns out to be ill-advised.

Passages like this one:
"Every time I heard that a Palestinian terrorist, or a Palestinian child, or a pregnant Palestinian woman had been gunned down in the Gaza Strip, I felt a quiver of enthusiasm at the thought that it meant one less Muslim." provoked charges against Houellebecq of inciting racism. He used free speech as his defense and was acquitted. My view is that he is likely anti-Islam and anti-all religion, not that I neecessarily consider this to be a bad thing.

The narrator claims to love women but all the women in this book are so flawless that they could exist only in some teenager's fantasy. The whores and his ultimate soulmate, Valerie, are beautiful, indulgent and sexual. Valerie is intelligent, successful and makes a shitload of money. We don't see warts or scars or violent pimps or PMS. This book, devoid of any social or emotional content, made me very uncomfortable and I was glad when it all ended badly.

Something New From Sedaris

"Before it was moved out near the fairgrounds, the North Carolina Museum of Art was located in downtown Raleigh, and often, when we were young, my sister Gretchen and I would cut out of church and spend an hour looking at the paintings. The collection was not magnificent, but it was enough to give you a general overview, and to remind you that you pretty much sucked. Both Gretchen and I thought of ourselves as artists,she the kind that could actually draw and paint, and me the kind that pretended I could actually draw and paint. When my sister looked at a picture, she would stand at a distance, and then slowly, almost imperceptibly, drift forward, until her nose was right up against the canvas. She examined all of the painting, and then parts of it, her fingers dabbing in sympathy as she studied the brushstrokes. "

The Five Most Dangerous Children's Books Ever Written, According to Sean Hannity.

Another list from McSweeneys

I Am Charlotte Simmons

You know the Kanye West song, "George Bush Don't Like Black People"? Well this novel could be titled, "Tom Wolfe Don't Like Young People". Of course it might be said that his earlier books ruined the reputations of cocky young stockbrokers and wealthy real estate tycoons alike. Maybe Tom Wolfe don't like nobody. The pure, beautiful and intelligent backwoods girl, Charlotte Simmons is like some sister from another planet parachuted onto the Dupont University campus. Her North Carolina accent, unfashionable clothes and lack of guile set her apart from her priveleged and sophisticated fellow students. The guys, jocks,frat boys and nerds, are all drawn in by her innocent rustic appeal. Will virtue triumph? By the second semester she seems to have lost her moral compass but, on the upside, has adapted to the sex and booze soaked swamp that is college culture and seems poised for success. I Am Charlotte Simmons could have benefitted from some ruthless editing. Does Wolfe think that his books have to be thicker than everyone else's? This one makes a better doorstop than it does a novel. The repugnant caricatures in this book have few redeeming qualities. The jocks are all as dumb as stumps, the bright guys are nerds, the girls are either gorgeous trollops or ugly misfits. Mama and Daddy are hardworkin' and virtuous. I struggled to finish this and it left me feeling that maybe I don't like young people either.

I Think I'll Pass On This One, Even If I See It In A Remainder Bin for 99 Cents

She's been called the "Vanilla Ice of journalism". Nepotism got her a sinecure at The Globe and Mail and now she's written a book. Ryan Bigge pulls no punches in his review of the despicably vacuous Leah McLaren's "Continuity Girl":

The Continuity Girl illuminates the limitations of my thesaurus. Uber-lousy? Fifth-rate? Super-bad? None of above. There exists no English word that adequately describes the not-so-goodness herein. Even the German word SaumassigeSchreibmaschiene, which roughly translates into 'putrid garbage typewriter prose,' fails to convey the stench of this slush pile.

Joanna Goodman wrote this review for McLaren's employer, The Globe and Mail:

McLaren has crafted a relevant women's comedy for the ages. She astutely captures the dilemma of today's working woman who finds herself mid-thirties, single and longing to become a mother, and she does it while eliciting her fair share of laugh-out-loud moments in the process.
McLaren has been touted as Canada's Carrie Bradshaw. Those are some big Manolo Blahniks to fill, but The Continuity Girl proves McLaren's got the style, wit and intelligence to do it.

Not surprising but shameful nonetheless.

2 charged in 'Curious George' slaying - Feb 9, 2006

BOYNTON BEACH, Florida (AP) -- Two South Florida men have surrendered and confessed to killing Alan Shalleck, who collaborated on bringing the beloved children's story of the mischievous monkey 'Curious George' to television, police said Thursday.

GAY ON THE RANGE

An archive of gay paperback artwork from the 50's and 60's. The poodle is a nice touch.

Book care tips

Water is the enemy of books, and ultraviolet light, smoke and sticky fingers,' he says. 'A clean cotton sock is the best thing for dusting the edges. Books are also furniture; you clean your furniture so you should clean your books.'
A sticky price label on a book can be removed using a hairdryer set on low to soften the glue. A drop of Varsol will remove residue.
A large, soft, clean eraser will remove any inside markings.
Straighten dog ears , turned down corners , using a cool iron.
What if you have a book with a dirty cloth cover? 'There is a glop called Clean Cover Gel that's incredible,' he says. 'I used to buy old books and then put the gel on and the dirt disappeared so I could sell the book for a lot more.'
Never discard a torn dust jacket. 'The dust jacket is half the value of the book. You can repair it with two pieces of wax paper and some good acid-free glue. You put one piece of wax paper under the tear, run the glue thinly along the tear, cover with the second piece of wax paper, put a weight on it and go away. When you come back, the tear will be sealed. Wax paper won't stick to anything , impossible.