Mr. Darcy Rising to New Heights

July 10, 2013

A 12-foot tall fiberglass statue of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy was installed in  London’s Hyde Park lake early this week startling passers-by, swans, and swimmers. The statue, showing Darcy from the waist up wearing a clinging wet shirt, is on display to promote Drama, a new British TV channel which will rebroadcast the popular six-part […]


Veronica Roth to release "Divergent" e-stories

July 7, 2013

Before the last part of the “Divergent” trilogy, “Allegiant,” will be published in October, Veronica Roth will start publishing 4 e-stories about Four’s history from his point of view. The first story about Tobias (or Four) should be available September 24 and the others will appear over the next few months. Each will be 30 pages long and sell […]


2013 Andrew Carnegie Medal Winners

July 2, 2013

Richard Ford and Timothy Egan have won this year’s Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence for the best fiction and non-fiction works.  Ford won for his  novel Canada which is narrated by the teen son of bank robbers. Egan won for his biography of photographer Edward Curtis Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher.  The medals were […]


Let Your Inner Child Out at NYPL

June 27, 2013

An exhibit for children and adults alike recently opened at the New York Public Library. “The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matter” has both popular and more exotic offerings. Included is the green room of Margaret Wise Brown’s 1947 Goodnight Moon, a display from the 1964 Disney movie Mary Poppins, and an Alice in […]


Changing catalog cards into art?

June 24, 2013

A library in Greenfield, MA, boasts a display of catalog cards signed by the author noted on the card. Hope Schneider has been requesting autographs from authors for 14 years (since the end of the catalog) and the collection is up to 128 items. See this article for interesting responses to her requests- is it an honor to the […]


Retirement For Alice Munro

June 21, 2013

81-year-old short story author Alice Munro told  The National Post‘s editor Mark Medley that she’s retiring. After accepting the Trillium Book Award (the top Ontario literary prize) for her collection Dear Life, she said: “I’m probably not going to write anymore. And, so, it’s nice to go out with a bang.” Her suggestion to disappointed […]


Creating great book covers, an insider's view

June 19, 2013

I enjoyed this short article because it provides insight into book cover creation from the book designer’s perspective. Before and after choices with text are presented in a slideshow. NYTimes writer John Williams says this is the first in a four part series. While an effective cover may greatly enhance a book and whet our appetite […]


Some noir with your Pinot Noir?

June 13, 2013

What could be better than coffee and a good book? Why, wine, of course. Here is yet another variation of the wonderful notion of books and food: a book bar. The BookBar that just opened in Denver offers a small menu and plenty of books. Cheers to another independent book venture. Shira S.


Prism gives Big Brother a bump

June 13, 2013

Well, well, well. What with all the discomfitting news about government spying through its program code-named Prism, it seems that Americans do seek food for thought in classic literature. Booksellers across the nation have reported surges in sales of George Orwell’s chilling (and predictive?) novel 1984 according to this June 11th Bloomberg News article. It’s no. 2 right now on Amazon’s […]


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