Drawn to Enchant

Drawn to Enchant :Original Children’s Book Art in the Betsy Beinecke Shirley Collection, a celebration of the collection gathered by one of the world’s most astute collector’s of children’s literature.
Seen at Room 26 Cabinet of Curiosities

A Tribute to Fup. Store Cat.

Powell's Books
"Fup, the resident cat at Powell's Technical Books, passed away on October 25. She was 19 years old. She continued to greet her admiring public to the end, when her health failed and there was no choice but to put her to sleep."

Seamus Heaney featured in the first Library BODcasts

Oxford University Library Services "The Bodleian Library launches its first series of BODcasts with readings by celebrated poets including Seamus Heaney, Bernard O’Donoghue and Mick Imlah."
via metafilter

That's the flavour I've been missing!

Via J-Walk

One for the Road: Virago Book of Women Travellers

"It's a lovely collection of stories by and about some of the greatest female explorers: Gertrude Bell, Freya Stark, Edith Wharton, Leila Philip, Emily Carr and Mary Wollstonecraft (mother of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley.) The book claims to capture '300 years of wanderlust as women travel the world for pleasure and peril.'"

The Lay of the Land

This book could be titled "Frank Bascombe Returns." We've met Frank before. He was a sportswriter; he's now a realtor. He is 55 years old, he has prostate cancer, his second wife has flown the coop, he's looking for meaning in his life and he's preparing for a difficult family Thanksgiving with his two children and their "significant others". There is lots of talk (too much) about Jersey real estate and the election that serves as a backdrop to the novel (Frank has an endearing hate-on for Bush Jr.). He also has a bit of a mean streak - he harbours a critical opinion of almost everyone who crosses his path during the course of the novel, especially his son. Paul was always a disappointment to Frank (those who read Ford's Independence Day will remember their dysfunctional relationship) but their interaction is the most interesting feature of this novel. His colleague, his clients, his neighbours, his ex-wife, servers at various bars and the denizens therein, none escape Frank's sharp but cruel eye. However he does cut his daughter and her lesbian lover some slack. He is also very forgiving of his present/absent wife who, in my opinion, deserves the cold shoulder. The book is well crafted and made me laugh out loud at times but it seemed too friggin' long, a lot of cud chewing that could have been omitted. Perhaps Ford's editors are in such awe of his undeniable talent that they hesitate to cut as much as a syllable. Nonetheless, I recommend it.

Paris special: We've got a ticket to read

"Sartre? Camus? Hugo? Jordan? What exactly do Parisians read on the metro on their way to work?"

Book By Its Cover

Blogger Julia Rothman wanted to share all the nice books she regularly notices and has collected over the years.
Some nifty ones here like Labs With Abs:


Via Grow a Brain

Philip Marlowe's Bad Idea

Raymond Chandler - Philip Marlowe's Bad Idea:
"On this day in 1958, Raymond Chandler began his last novel, the never-completed (by him) Poodle Springs."

Been/Seen - The Library

There should be more of these:

A boutique hotel for bibliophiles? Bookworms all over the world may be delighted to hear about the recent opening of The Library on Chaweng Beach in Koh Samui, Thailand. Among many reading-inspired features around the hotel is its centrepiece, the fully-stocked White Library. The designers wanted to create a comfortable, undisturbed place for vacationers, and decided that one thing people like to do on a beach, to truly relax, is read.

Fresh clues could solve mystery of Poe's death

The 'shrunken brain' found in the horror writer's skull may explain the delusions of his last days

Fairy Tale Briefs

What did Cinderella really lose at the stroke of midnight? What did the queen place under all those quilts and mattresses? And what treasure did the frog pull up from the well? These questions all share a surprising answer: unmentionables.

Via Presurfer

Booker books free

Every novel on Man Booker Prize shortlist to be available free for online readers -
"The Man Booker Prize has been criticised over the years for selecting dark, unreadable and worthy tomes unlike the winners of other more populist literary prizes. Now, in the week that Anne Enright became its 2007 winner, it is shaking off criticisms of being elitist and out of touch by taking the radical step of placing all its shortlisted novels online, available free to anyone worldwide.

Buy This

The BibliOdyssey Book

The Real Carver: Expansive or Minimal?

Tess Gallagher, the widow of Raymond Carver, one of the most celebrated American short-story writers of the 20th century, is spearheading an effort to publish a volume of 17 original Carver stories whose highly edited versions were published in “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,” his breakout 1981 book. more

Writers' Houses

This is a big beautiful book about the places that inspired some of the world's greatest writers. These houses reflect their spirit long after they have gone. Great photos of the homes of Cocteau, Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, Yeats, Mark Twain and many others.
Marguerite Duras wrote the introduction and shows us her own house in France.
I'll keep this book on my coffee table where I can look at it often.

Unrolling On The Road Scroll

On this day in literary history

On this day in 1854 Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin, and by all accounts, including Oscar's, cut from his mother's cloth: 'How ridiculous of you to suppose that anyone, least of all my dear mother, would christen me 'plain Oscar'.... I started as Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde. All but two of the five names have already been thrown overboard. Soon I shall discard another and be known simply as 'The Wilde' or 'The Oscar.'

Everything you wanted to know about Poe

Via Dot Dot Dot

Travel Books and Travelogues

National Geographic Traveler Highlights the Best Travel Writing:
This library is designed to take you on a globe-spanning literary ramble, just click an area on the left sidebar and off you go.

On This Day In Literature

Robert Lowell & the West Street Jail:
On this day in 1943 Robert Lowell went to jail for draft evasion.

I'm inspired

Cabanon Press is a comic book site but I think this poster provides all the fodder you need from which to spin the ultimate epic novel.


Cabanon Press: Tom's Shed

Via Coudal

My literary love affair

While fellow students were immersing themselves in a new generation of - mostly male - British authors, Jonathan Coe was drawn to Virago's Modern Classics. These once-neglected women novelists challenged his assumptions as a reader and influenced his course as a writer

Free Burma