Bookvillage: Redu July 6, 2007

Whilst on Honeymoon in the Ardennes in Belgium, I finally got the chance to visit Redu. This is the second largest book village on the planet, after Hay-on-Wye. So my fresh hubby and I drove for an hour to get there…

Only to find closed bookshops. The shops in this part of Belgium have some strange opening hours. In the Ardennes a lot of shops are only open during weekdays during holidays. And the holidays in Belgium started the day we left. I cannot tell you how disappointed I was…

It was interesting to visit the village anyway. I am definitely going back to embark on a giant shopping spree. I wrote an short article on the village, click on “More” to read it.

Book inscriptions project May 8, 2007

I received an e-mail today with a very interesting link it. The mail was written by Shaun of the Book Inscriptions Project. He asked me, as a book lover, if I might have a book with an inscription in it that I could send him. Since I am a purist, I do not have any books with messages written in them. Reading the ones of the project, I am almost sorry that I have this ‘books-have-to-be-clean’ obsession.

You can take a look at this great website here. If you have any books with inscriptions, please consider sending them to the people of the project.

Donate books! April 25, 2007

If you are an avid reader and your house is getting to small to house your read lit, book donation might be something for you. There are a lot of libraries and charities that love to receive your (unwanted) books.

The people from Bibloobuffet have put togother a great list with charities all over the world. There are some very special organisations there. What to think of the Camel Book Drive? You can find the list here. You can also find a list on this website. As said, libraries also like to receive books. Click here for a list of libraries that are in desperate need of books.  

Picture book museum March 23, 2007

I love picture books. The art on some of them is really great. And sometimes the stories are so fantastic, they almost make you cry. There is actually a museum on piture books, I did not know that. It is called “The Eric Carle picture book art museum”. The museum is founded by – as the name already says - Eric Carle. He is the author of the well known children’s picture book “The adventures of the very hungry caterpillar”.

The museum is located in the USA in the city of Amherst in Massachusetts. You can find the website of the museum here. (They also have a nice shop!) By the way, I have to share my favorite picture book of all times with you. It actually brought me to tears. It is one of the most treasured books of my collection. It is called “Love”, by Vanni. You can find it here. If I could buy it in The Netherlands, I would give all my friends a copy. It’s fantastic.

Edible book festival March 15, 2007

I posted about bookish festivals before. Make sure you enter your local bookish festivals here! I found one that is worth a separate mention. Every year on April 1. the “Edible book festival” takes place in a lot of countries. “This festival is a celebration of the ingestion of culture and a way to concretely share a book; it is also a deeper reflexion on our attachment to food and our cultural differences”, the organisation writes on their website. You can find it here.

I have put a short cut to bookish festivals in the side bar. I would love it to grow out into a some sort of world wide database of festivals concerning books and reading. So if you have the time, please enter festivals concerning books in the comments of the article.

New Lit forum March 9, 2007

A new literature forum was brought to my attention today. It is called “LitMinds”. The people behind the forum aim to bring together readers, writers and bookstores. Since I applaud the idea behind this website, I would like to bring it to your attention as well. You can find it here. I have already registered. If you would like to register right away, you can click here. They also have a blog, to be found here.

Bookish festivals March 6, 2007

Festivals and special markets for books are fantastic. I love it when books are celebrated like that! In The Netherlands we have a couple of these events. Of course there are many festivities celebrating “the book” around the world. Today I present one of them. From May 24 until June 3 there is a book festival in Hay-on-Wye in Wales. Bill Clinton called it: “The Woodstock of the mind”. You can visit the site here. The website site also gives dates of other literary festivals.

If you know of any bookish festivals, please post them in the comments. That way, it could become some sort of global bookish agenda! Do not forget to post the date, the place and a link. If it becomes an extensive list, I will put it in the side bar for reference.

Thanks to Virginia mailing me about he Hay-on-Wye festival.

 

Librarians on You Tube March 5, 2007

I found a couple of funny librarian video’s on You Tube. Like this one. It is a short film of 4 minutes. I thought it was quite funny. Especially since the female librarian is not depicted as a geek, for once. If you are a guy: this is what happens when you return a book late or disrespect them.

The next one, I found hilarious. Click here to see it. It is actually a short car commercial, but it all takes place in a library. As said, I laughed my head off. The last one is called “The adventures of super librarian”. It’s only half a minute long. Click here to view it. If you know of other funny librarian movies, or short films on books or reading, let me know!

Books for soldiers February 28, 2007

A dear friend of mine is with the Marines. Recently she went out to the Democratic Republic of the Congo for a special EU-mission. Since she loves to read as much as I do, she shipped a load of books ahead. She needs to have something to do when she has time off. This is what the next website is all about. Via the site you can send books to soldiers who work abroad. The soldiers can ask for books they would like to read. You can also send other things, like DVD’s if you like. Just go to this website to find out more.

 

 

Bookworm show January 17, 2007

If you are a teacher, or work with children otherwise, this might be a good idea. It is a package that enables you to host your own Bookworm show. The show introduces children to the fun of reading. The package includes props and tells you what to do. This also includes Bob the bookworm. You can learn more about it here (US) and here (UK).