Twitter seems to be the newest big thing around. I have not made a ‘ tweet’ in my life and I am not planning to do so to. Why should anybody care about my daily stuff? I would be interested to see what my favorite authors are up to. Luckily, some reading enthusiasts have compiled a list of writers that use Twitter.
You can find the first list here, and the second one by clicking here. If you find any other good lists, please post it in the comments so others can enjoy it too.
Do not ask me why, but for some reason people feel the need to use ‘book holders’ whilst reading. This product, available in many shapes and sizes, keeps your book open when enjoying a book. I have written about a couple before.
Whilst browsing the web to find you some nifty gadgets, I was quite amazed by the variety of book holders I bumped into. I will show you some I have come across. To me, this gadget is a mystery. Why do people need a device to keep their book open? It seems more inconvenient to me then handy. Besides that, I am worried about the damage a thing like this can do to a book.
If you use one and are happy with it, please leave a comment and tell what you find useful about it. I have to say, I have a book stand in my kitchen. Too keep my cookbooks standing and open whilst preparing something during cooking. But that is a somewhat different product. In any case, here is a small overview of what is for sale.
BookGem Book Holder. Click here
Gimble Paperback Book Holder. More info here.
FlipKlip Treadmill Book Holder. To learn more, click here
Easy Grip Book Holder. To be found here
If the weather turns bad, or you just simply do not know what to do this summer, have a look at these games! Board games made in a library edition. This means that the box looks like a book. From Clue to Risk and from Scrabble to Yahtzee, there must be somthing fun for you in there. Click here
The publisher Taschen is known for their affordable art books. Once in a while they also make special editions that are a little more expensive. The book they are planning on selling now is a different story. This book is likely to be one of the most expensive of the world. Several hundred thousand dollars it is expected to go on sale for; “Moonfire: The epic journey of Apollo 11″ by Norman Mailer.
The cheap edition of this book will ‘only’ set you back 800 dollars. The real thing however, is a little bit more expensive. It does come with real pieces of lunar rock. Pieces that crashed on earth and somehow got into the hands of the publisher. Taschen will make only 12 of these books. If you would rather buy a house and opt for the budget edition, you still get very nice pictures provided by NASA and LIFE magazine. Each book, appropriately 1969 copies, will be signed by the second man on the moon, Buzz Aldrin.
Read more about the book here, or go the the Taschen website here.
A strange title to start a post with, Latvian shelves. I know. It has a reason though. As a big fan of all sorts of art, I am noticing for a while now that there are some interesting artists in the relatively new members of the European Union. Artists that were hardly noticed in the Western European member states before. Latvia is one of those countries. It joined the EU in May 2004. Even though the middle point of Europe is positioned in their country, we know little about it.
I am pleased, therefor, that the next artist has been brought to my attention. Stanislav Katz from the Latvian capital of Riga, has made a couple of beautiful book cabinets. The Latvian membership of the EU has provided us with a good chance these cases might be available throughout Europe soon… Click here to learn more.
A couple of days ago, I received an e-mail with the peculiar subject ‘It’s Alive!’. The curious subject got me to drag the e-mail to my bin – I thought it was about blue pills again – when I saw a glimpse of the content. Just one line: “The Private Library blogs about book collecting and book history through the lens of an individual book collector, bookseller and professional librarian.” Aha.
Even though the description fitted a bit to much in one line, I grabbed my interest. There are not a lot of blogs about book collecting around. I clicked the provided link and was pleasantly surprised. An ABC for book collectors, a glossary of book conservation terms, an extensive list of bibliographic resources, links to famous private libraries. Interesting content. The website has not been around for long, it started in March of this year, but I liked the idea of it. You might too.
So as an exception, a shout-out to this website: The Private Library. To L.D. Mitchell who created it: thank you for doing so and keep up the good work!
It is my worst nightmare to see my books go up into flames, but this bookmark is quite fun! A great way to mark the page of the hot book you are reading. Click here to find out more. This bookmark reminds me of the famous book by Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451. A couple of days ago a new adaption of this book came out, authorised by Bradbury. To learn more about this book, go here
My friends of the website Bookstore Guide asked me to write an article related to independant bookstores. They are adding a dimension to their already fantastic website with a series of articles by people related to the book industry. I was honored to be asked to contribute.
The fruits of my labor will be published on their website this Wednesday night. I choose to write about the fixed book price agreement and what this means for independent bookstores. Please comment on the article, I’m curious to learn what you think of it. It might even start an interesting discussion! You can find the article here as from Wednesday evening. If you would be interested in writing an article in this series, please contact the people of Bookstore Guide via this e-mail address.
It has taken a while, a long while, but there are new libraries to see on Your Shelves! (Click here to go to the website.) As you know, this website is a special project of mine. Now that I’m getting back on track with Kimbooktu, I decided it was about time to post the libraries people from all over the globe have e-mailed me.
You can find seven new shelves of fellow book lovers on the site. To my utter joy, I received photo’s from people in countries that were not represented on Your Shelves! before. There are now some shelves from Mexico, Sweden, Argentina en the Philippines added to the list. I also received two libraries from the United States, from which one is located in Hawaii. You can also see another library from Singapore. At the moment, people of 23 countries are giving you a sneak peek into their personal reading room.
Keep the pictures comming! Click here to see what to do and where to send them to. You can also go there to learn more about this project.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the new translation of “Time was soft there” by Jeremy Mercer in my native language, Dutch. (See here.) The Dutch publisher gave it the title: A bed between the books (Een bed tussen de boeken). I just read it and I can recommend it to anyone who loves bookshops in general and Shakespeare and Company in Paris in particular.
Since I’ve recently been to the shop, I could picture the adventures of Mercer in this shop vividly. (Click here to read the post about my visit to the shop.) This Canadian journalist has written a very good account of his life in the bookstore. (But not dry and matter of fact at all.) And an interesting biography of the owner, George Whitman. The style of the writing was very entertaining and quite funny at times.
I actually started reading the book this morning and finished it before dinner. I just could not lay it aside. Well, I did put it away for a moment. But just to get myself a cold glass of wine to accompany me during the last chapters. In spirit of the book. I started to envy Mercer quite early on in the book, even though he lived in poverty and not very hygienic to say the least. He did live the bookish life style to the fullest. In the best shop in the world.
As the chapters moved on – or should I say ‘raced’ on – my envy changed into sheer jealousy. The life lessons he learned at the shop changed his life. He made true friends. “Sucked the marrow out of live”, to quote Thoreau. For Mercer, Shakespeare and Co were his woods. The book is a beautiful tale that proves that books sometimes truly are more important than food.
More information on the Dutch translation, “Een bed tussen de boeken” can be found here. I hate reading translations, because they are usually not very good. This one is, I have to say. Click here
