29.03.06.
TheBookGiude
survives Book Flu
I've just had a glimpse of how bad flu can be. I've been
in bed since Sunday and have only just found the strength to struggle out
for a few minutes. The first day I thought I was going to die and on the second,
I wished that I would. Now I just feel ordinarily dreadful. Hope I'll be back
at the keyboard next week. Add a comment
25.03.06.
Manga
mania: Girls drawn to Japanese comic books
Unlike readers of American graphic
novels and comic books, manga fans are more likely to be girls than boys. About
60 percent are female, estimates ICv2, the online trade publication that tracks
pop culture products … more
Add a comment Visa
for bookseller
Shah Mohammad Rais, the real person behind the title person
in journalist Åsne Seierstad's international bestseller, the Bookseller of Kabul,
will now be able to attend the Norwegian Literature Festival in Lillehammer in
the end of May … more
Add a comment Size
is everything
Gerald Beasley is the man behind the Canadian Centre for
Architecture's 125 Kilos of Books, the exhibition set to opened on Thursday as
part of Montreal's remaining celebrations of their UNESCO title as World Book
Capital 2005-2006. All of the books in the show span more than 500 years, 1486
to 2004 to be precise, and all have been chosen because of their size … more
Add a comment Celebrating
the photograph as cattle prod
For Americans who came of age after People
replaced Life as perhaps the most widely read magazine featuring documentary photography,
it can be difficult to grasp how important the genre once was. In its golden age
from the 1930s through the early '70s, giants like Walker Evans, Margaret Bourke-White,
W. Eugene Smith and the recently deceased Gordon Parks documented the Great Depression,
World War II, the civil rights movement and various international crises, capturing
politically charged images that shocked readers and, on occasion, shamed leaders
into action … more
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24.03.06.
Booked
Solid
When Rick Ramponi moved to a one-bedroom Dupont Circle apartment
with a partner who collects large art and architecture books, Ramponi had to exile
his 3,000 cherished culinary texts to a pair of rented storage units several blocks
away. Since 2002, he has spent more than $5,000 to keep them there, which "may
be more than they are all worth," he concedes. "But there is a sentimental attachment
and I associate them with places I've been, people I know" … more
Add a comment Lord
of the Rings musical opens
The curtain rose in Toronto last night on an
epic musical adaptation of the Lord of the Rings that has taken four years to
produce, features 55 actors, 500 pieces of armour and 17 elevators, and cost about
$27m (£15.5m) - making it almost certainly the most expensive stage production
in history … more
Add a comment Love
your library, forget the books
The Culture Minister was sharply criticised
yesterday over the Government’s neglect of public libraries. Announcing a Love
Libraries campaign, David Lammy found himself fielding questions about their closure
and the decline in the number of books being bought for them - as well as what
the campaign amounted to, given that it entailed no extra spending … more
Add a comment Royal
Society moves to block sale of £1m manuscript
The Royal Society is trying
to block the auction of a 17th-century manuscript that charts the beginning of
modern science. Britain's premier scientific academy believes the 520-page document,
by the scientist Robert Hooke, may have been stolen from its archives 300 years
ago. But the decision to try to block the sale, due on Tuesday, has infuriated
the auctioneer Bonhams, which has accused the society of duplicity … more
Add a comment
23.03.06.
Potter
book sells for £2000
A spellbound Harry Potter fan snapped up a rare book
signed by the cast of the hit movies - for more than £2000. It fetched £2100 when
it was put up for sale on eBay by the National Literacy Trust … more
Add a comment Still
no visa for bookseller
Norway's Immigration Appeals Board has upheld the
denial of a visa to Shah Mohammad Rais, better known as the title figure in Norwegian
journalist Åsne Seierstad's book, the Bookseller of Kabul … more
Add a comment Final
chapter for a beloved indie book store
Small, independent Dutton's book
store is closing its doors after 46 years in North Hollywood, California. Gloria
Hillard profiles the shop and its owner, a man who has devoted his life to books
… more
Add a comment Man
fined for trying to return old books to owner
A Turkish Cypriot man was
yesterday fined £700 by a Nicosia District Court for not declaring an old book,
belonging to a Greek Cypriot refugee, to the Antiquities Department … more
Add a comment
21.03.06.
Downtown
booksellers bound by sense of community
The sign in the store window tells
part of the story, "No admittance, except for pleasure," it says. Unlike its immediate
neighbours, it's not a sex shop. During the winter, passersby are invited to "check
in and browse - it's warm inside," an offer that's hard to refuse. The place is
Westcott Books, one of three second-hand booksellers still open west of Guy St,
Montreal … more
Add a comment Cartoon
books dominate Paris Book Fair
Drawing high turnout of readership from
all age groups, the cartoon books have dominated the Paris Book Fair 2006 (Salon
du Livre de Paris) as drawings were seen as the best way to get the message across
… more
Add a comment Read
my book and go to paradise, says president
Turkmenistan's autocratic leader
told his country's youth to read his book three times if they wanted to go to
heaven, Turkmen television reported yesterday. Rukhnama, which gives moral and
spiritual guidance, has been deemed a sacred text by the government and is required
reading for pupils … more
Add a comment Japanese
Bookworms pay to browse
Customers must make a reservation and pay an admission
fee -- 500 yen (£2.50) for one hour, 800 yen for two hours and 1,000 yen for three
hours--to search for books they want. Most of the 2,500 books at the store are
used copies. Each is contained in a paper bag so they cannot be read without opening
the bags. Should a potential customer decide not to purchase a book in a bag he
or she opened, the customers must leave a brief message about the book for the
next person … more
Add a comment
20.03.06.
Rare
price paid for Tasmanian book
A Tasmanian book recently sold at auction
for $210,000. Hobart book dealer Michael Sprod was at the Melbourne auction last
month bidding on behalf of the Tasmanian State Library. Unfortunately, his final
bid of $70,000 fell far short.
The book, Views through
Hobart-Town, designed by Charles Atkinson and published in 1833, was sold to an
anonymous buyer. Mr Sprod, of Astrolabe Booksellers, also watched as another rare
book was sold for a staggering $932,000 … more
Add a comment Ministry
bans export of Spanish writer's manuscripts
Signed manuscripts by one
of Spain's most influential novelists and philosophers of the 20th century, Miguel
de Unamuno, have been declared "not for export" by the culture ministry, days
before they were due to auctioned in Madrid … more
Add a comment Book
lays £1m trail of jewels
A puzzle book containing clues leading to jewels
worth £1m is set to spark a treasure-hunt craze unseen since the publication of
Masquerade in 1979 caused a frenzy of nationwide digging in search of a golden
hare … more
Add a comment
17.03.06.
Booktown
experiment fails
The Blaenavon Booktown experiment is over. James Hanna
was unable to persuade Torfaen Council to continue funding the project, which
it was said no longer enjoyed the support of the community.
However,
Joanna Chambers of Broadleaf Books
remains committed to the town and still believes that books can play a significant
role in the town's regeneration … more
Add a comment Books2Eat
The
Seventh International Edible Book Festival is happening throughout the world from
April 1 to April 5. Those edible works of art have something to do with books
and are exhibited and consumed. Each participating group or individual is responsible
for its/his/her own audience and website. Visit each participants websites for
details
... more
Add a comment The
worst book fair ever
For the past two months, I've been winding a lazy
path through central and southern India, dependent for reading material on street
bookstalls, guesthouse left-behinds and bookstores with an English shelf or two
amid books in Hindi and local dialects
... more
Add a comment Tattoo
trade ends bookshop's story
A bookseller has been forced to close his business
in Camden Town after 24 years. Offstage Bookshop, in Chalk Farm Road, is relocating
to Covent Garden because its owner claims people visiting Camden Town are more
interested in tattoos than books
... more
Add a comment
14.03.06
Ottakar’s
forced to close flagship Edinburgh store
Edinburgh's position as Unesco
City of Literature has been undermined because leading independent bookseller
Ottakar’s is being forced to close down its flagship store in the capital as developers
seek to transform the site into a magnet for high-fashion retailers
... more
Add a comment Library
struggles to save rare books
India - The Bandhab public library in Joynagar
has a rich collection of rare books of ancient history and archaeology but it
does not have chairs that could allow readers to sit and study
... more
Add a comment Writer
behind 'gonzo' dies at 68
Writer Bill Cardoso, who coined the term "gonzo"
to describe the journalism of Hunter S Thompson, has died in California at the
age of 68
... more
Add a comment
13.03.06
Mouldy
masterpiece found on garbage heap
A woman found a rare, 17-volume first-edition
print of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables with what appear to be a love note and a
personal note from the French author inside the books, a bookseller here says.
Jerry Laiche, the owner of the Philosopher's Stone bookstore in Covington, said
the books were found in a trash pile in Thibodaux, a town south-west of New Orleans
... more
Add a comment Lennon
lyrics fail to sell at auction
John Lennon's hand-written lyrics for the
Beatles classic 'A Day In The Life' have failed to sell at auction in America.
Bonhams in San Francisco claimed double-sided sheet was one of the most valuable
musical manuscripts composed in the 20th century to go under the hammer. But the
offers made in the sealed-bid auction failed to meet the reserve price and were
well short of the expected £1.5m selling price
... more
Add a comment
11.03.06
Rare
books bound to please
A quarter century ago, rare and out-of-print bookseller
Michael Slicker joined forces with a handful of colleagues around the state to
launch the first Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. Since then, the event has grown,
twice moving to larger quarters. This year it will draw more than 115 book dealers
from 25 states, Canada, and for the first time, a dealer from Italy
... more
Add a comment Auction
hopes for Potter letter
A letter from Beatrix Potter to a young fan apologising
for the quality of one of her books is expected to fetch up to £2,500 at auction
in Exeter
... more
Add a comment Child
sex book 'cashing in on Dunblane'
A bookshop chain was last night criticised
for selling an "absolutely disgraceful" book on the Dunblane massacre written
by a man convicted of possessing child pornography. Predicate, by Peter Sotos
- the first man in the United States to be charged with owning child pornography
- contains graphic and disturbing descriptions of the sexual abuse of children
... more
Add a comment Big
bucks for Beat literature
They brought their berets. They brought their
turtlenecks. And they brought their checkbooks. In what some antique book dealers
called the most significant collection of rare Beat literature on the market in
nearly 20 years, more than $225,000 worth of first-edition books, handwritten
manuscripts, letters and postcards from the likes of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg
and Charles Bukowski was sold Thursday at auction in San Francisco
... more
Add a comment
09.03.06
Chinese
golden books as bribes
Forget about cars, booze or stacks of cash. Books,
particularly those decorated with gold and platinum, are the new vehicle for bribery
in China, according to a Chinese lawmaker.
Chen Shuyu,
a member of the National People's Congress, wants the state publishing authority
to ban production of such books, which retail at 10,000 yuan (US$1,250) or more,
the official Xinhua News Agency said Wednesday.
"It caters
to the unhealthy tendency of conspicuous consumption in the first place," Chen
was quoted as saying
... more
Add a comment Decision
to allow cartoons in library called 'unacceptable'
The president of the
Islamic Social Services Association of Canada is disappointed with a decision
by the City of Winnipeg to place a magazine containing controversial cartoons
in its library collection.
The Feb. 27 issue of The
Western Standard reprints a series of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad,
several suggesting a connection with violence or terrorism. Islamic tradition
prohibits any depiction of the Prophet, even a respectful one, on the grounds
that it could promote idolatry
... more
Add a comment The
'Dead Sea Scrolls of Buddhism'
Rare manuscripts dubbed the 'Dead Sea Scrolls
of Buddhism' are indeed from the 1st and 5th centuries AD, carbon dating shows.
The manuscripts, which were written on fragile birch bark, provide an important
insight into the development of Buddhist literature and help fill the gaps in
some areas of Buddhist history
... more
Add a comment
08.03.06
Ivor
Cutler, RIP
Ivor Cutler's death at the age of 83 deprives us of a truly
unique talent. He was an original humorist, and humanist, with no contemporary
parallel.
Ivor and me go back a long way. My best
friend Louis's dad had an ancient EP from the early 60s called Get Away From The
Wall, which we played over and over again aged 10 or 11. This
man's absurd tales and short songs, told in stripped-down, severe, Scottish-accented
tones and accompanied by a creaky harmonium, had a profound effect on our nascent
sense of humour
... more
Add a comment A
piece of Beatles for sale
An original poster advertising an early Beatles
concert at Harrogate's Royal Hall goes on sale at the town's largest antiquarian
book fair next weekend.
The fab four were probably
the most famous act to perform at the Royal Hall, and the poster advertises a
performance by "The Sensational Beatles" on Friday March 8 1963 - just weeks after
the Liverpool band reached number one with "Please, Please Me"
... more
Add a comment Lessons
of Riyadh Book Fair
This year’s Riyadh Book Fair was eventful - mostly
unwelcome events, though. Somehow, the fundamentalists found in it an opportunity
to flex their muscles and prove a point. They wanted all to know that no matter
how far we progress on the road of women and minority rights, speech and press
freedoms, democracy and all, they are still in a strong position of influence.
But they went too far, this time
... more
Add a comment Dictionary
provides safe haven for carousing seamen
Mallemaroking may not be a word
that crops up often in everyday conversation, but a prestigious reference book
based in Edinburgh is fighting to save it, along with other quirky entries. The
expression, which means "carousing of seamen in ice-bound ships", is on a save
list compiled by the Chambers Dictionary in an attempt to preserve linguistic
heritage and to amuse Scrabblers and crossword setters. Ian Brookes, the dictionary's
editor, said the publication "resisted the temptation to toss words out, even
if that meant adding more pages"
... more
Add a comment
07.03.06
Atwood
sign of the times draws blank
Around 40 people had turned up for Margaret
Atwood's book signing and, to the untrained eye, the fact that Margaret Atwood
wasn't one of them might have seemed a problem. Actually, that was supposed to
be the point
... more
Add a comment Prickly
Zadie Smith is up for the Orange again
Zadie Smith is to resume her tricky
relationship with the Orange Prize for Fiction after being placed on the long
list for the country's most prestigious women's literary prize for the third time.
Six years ago, at 24, Smith's first novel, White Teeth, reached the short list
for the £30,000 award, which she called "just another prize"
... more
Add a comment Ethiopia
farewells most famous poet
Tens of thousands of admirers gathered in the
Ethiopian capital on Monday for the funeral of the country's most famous poet,
Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin, who died in New York after a long illness
... more
Add a comment Theme
of London Book Fair is what technology can do
If this year's London Book
Fair had a theme, it would be technology. The most popular event on Sunday, the
opening day, was a lecture by John L. Needham of Google, about that Internet company's
Book Search program. The lecture hall was full to capacity 15 minutes before the
scheduled start time, and many who could not fit into the session lingered by
the door, hoping to slip in if anyone left early
... more
Add a comment
06.03.06
Tome,
sweet tome
Books are so popular in home decor that even people who don't
read acquire them. They buy volumes by the yard at Half Price Books. They send
orders off to a California book decor specialist who ships Danish language books
by the foot. Danish? Well, they aren't meant to be read
... more
Add a comment Magic
Circle backs inmate who wants conjuring books
A maximum security prisoner
has won the backing of the Magic Circle in attempt to overturn a ban that stopped
him buying magic books in case he taught himself escape tricks
... more
Add a comment Judas
in the spotlight
The first translation of an ancient, self-proclaimed "Gospel
of Judas" will be published next month, bringing to light what some scholars believe
are writings of an early Christian sect suppressed for supporting Jesus Christ's
betrayer
... more
Add a comment
04.03.06
Joyce
manuscripts at National Library
A collection of previously unknown James
Joyce manuscripts has been acquired by Ireland's National Library. Literary experts
say the acquisition, which cost 1.17m Euros, is hugely significant
... more
Add a comment Saudis
ponder banned Arabic literature at book fair
Saudis have been taking the
chance to peruse banned Arabic literature this week at an international book fair
that is trying to push the boundaries of freedom in the kingdom
... more
Add a comment Hard
times for small bookshops
The increasingly bleak situation could be exacerbated
if a proposed £96.4 million takeover by music chain HMV, (which owns Waterstones)
of the book chain Ottakar’s gets the go ahead. According to the Forum of Private
Business, the combined industry presence could be the final nail in the coffin
for the small bookshop
... more
Add a comment Google's
literary land-grab
If you click on Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
in Google Book Search, you may find yourself taking an unexpected journey. Google's
ambient advertising programme hotlinks to a dating agency called Great Expectations
Dating ("Find Your True Love Today"). How crass is that? We can be sure that Dickens
would have thought it so. Indeed, he would probably have reserved a special vituperation
for Google's literary land-grab
... more
Add a comment
03.03.06
Troubled
waters!
The world's largest floating bookshop sailed into Bahrain on Wednesday
- only to be banned from selling its books. The Doulos docked at Mina Salman for
the first time in eight years. But co-ordinators of the ship's visit were upset
after being told by authorities at the last minute not to sell the books
... more
Add a comment Readers
vote on oddest book title
A book about the paranormal called People Who
Don't Know They're Dead: How They Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting Bystanders
and What to Do About It, has been voted the oddest book title of 2005 by readers
of The Bookseller magazine
... more
Add a comment Vatican's
Chief Exorcist condems Harry Potter novels
The Vatican's chief exorcist,
Rev. Gabriele Amorth, is reported to have repeated his condemnations of the Harry
Potter novels yesterday. According to press reports, Fr. Amorth, said of the books,
"You start off with Harry Potter, who comes across as a likeable wizard, but you
end up with the Devil. There is no doubt that the signature of the Prince of Darkness
is clearly within these books"
... more
Add a comment
02.03.06
Exhibition
aims to present the true face of Shakespeare
More than three years' research
for the biggest ever exhibition on Shakespeare in his own time has concluded we
cannot know for certain what the great playwright looked like, but we can make
the most educated guess yet.
The exhibition, Searching
for Shakespeare, which opens at the National Portrait Gallery in London, today,
brings together all the principal portraits purporting to represent him - showing
they could not all have been the same man
... more
Add a comment New
York library buys personal archives of Naked Lunch author
William
Burroughs once wrote that "nothing exists until or unless it is observed. An artist
is making something exist by observing it. And his hope for other people is that
they will also make it exist by observing it." That hope has perhaps been realised
following the announcement yesterday that the Beat writer's extensive personal
archive, including unpublished completed works, has been bought by the New York
Public Library
... more
Add a comment Authors
make book fair protest
Authors including Will Self and Ian McEwan have
protested against the organisers of the London Book Fair being involved in the
arms trade. In a letter published in The Times Literary Supplement, the writers
called for Reed Exhibitions to stop holding arms fairs around the world
... more
Add a comment Third
of children are never read a book at bedtime
More than 20 years after children
lost Listen With Mother, new research suggests that the end may also be in sight
for reading with her. One in three parents do not read to their children before
tucking them up each night, and one in 10 admits that they never read a bedtime
story, according to a study released yesterday
... more
Add a comment
01.03.06
Atwood
reinvents book signing
She's known to millions as a sharp-witted, bestselling
author. Now Margaret Atwood is set to don a new hat with the release this weekend
of what's believed to be the world's first long-distance signing device. "The
reactions have been: That's great. She's mad. It's a joke. She's ruining (book
tour) signatures. I can hardly wait to have one," she said in an interview over
coffee at a downtown Toronto restaurant
... more
Add a comment Russian
president formally returns books to Hungary
Russian President Vladimir
Putin on Wednesday formally returned to Hungary a priceless collection of centuries-old
books long demanded by Budapest. The presentation of the Sarospatak library was
the central event to the highly symbolic two-day visit by the Russian leader to
the former Soviet bloc country
... more
Add a comment Juilliard
receives music manuscript collection
A publicity-shy billionaire and hedge
fund manager who secretly amassed a trove of precious music manuscripts has donated
them to the Juilliard School, Juilliard said yesterday. The gift is one of the
largest of its kind by a private collector to an institution.
The
gift consists of 139 items: autograph scores, sketches, composer-emended proofs
and first editions of major works by Brahms, Schumann, Schubert, Beethoven, Chopin,
Stravinsky, Bach, Liszt, Ravel, Copland, Mozart and other masters of the classical
music canon
... more
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