December 5, 2012 On the Shelf Pelican Art, and Other News By Sadie Stein Pelican porn: a celebration of their amazing paperback art. Porn-porn. In libraries. Watch Jeannette Winterson talk about her Lancashire childhood, on location. Meet Small Demons, the literary search engine. The unfinished David Foster Wallace dictionary.
December 4, 2012 On the Shelf Selling Psalms, and Other News By Sadie Stein Boston’s Old South Church is considering selling the Bay Psalm Book, thought to be the oldest book published in North America. The money would be used to finance repairs to the 1874 building. On touching Sylvia Plath’s hair, the Plath Symposium, and literary hagiography. Dispatches from the first Twitter Fiction Festival. Managing the challenges of preserving the Vatican’s treasures. The emotional life of books.
December 3, 2012 On the Shelf Inside Amazon, and Other News By Sadie Stein These photos of Amazon’s warehouses are awe-inspiring and terrifying. Sign a petition to bring filmmaker Frederick Wiseman’s work to a wider audience. The influence of Samuel Greenberg. The debate over porn in U.S. libraries. Qatari poet Muhammad ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami has been sentenced to life in prison for writing in support of the Arab Spring. [tweetbutton] [facebook_ilike]
November 30, 2012 On the Shelf OMG Churchill, and Other News By Sadie Stein The first use of OMG? This letter to Winston Churchill may be of tremendous significance to the history of texting. A collection of rare dictionaries is expected to fetch up to one million dollars at auction, although you can snatch up James Caulfield’s Blackguardiana: or, A Dictionary of Rogues, Bawds, Pimps, Whores, Pickpockets, Shoplifters… for three to five thousand dollars. “A DIY spirit has possessed Atlanta’s writers and readers, who are taking literature out of the stuffy confines of the library and into coffeehouses, bars, galleries, and event spaces.” “In the last couple of days, my book has caused quite a flurry of controversy—or rather, a misrepresentation of it has.” Clearing up the OED scandal. Kurt Vonnegut’s rules for reading fiction: a 1965 term paper assignment. [tweetbutton] [facebook_ilike]
November 29, 2012 On the Shelf A Thousand Words for Drunk, and Other News By Sadie Stein “We writers are expert liars. Here are the top three lies we tell ourselves.” On overcoming rejection phobia. More words than you would have believed possible to describe the state of inebriation. The first annual Twitter Fiction Festival. Speaking of Twitter, here’s hoping this hashtag catches on. What to buy for the Janeite in your life: servicey! [tweetbutton] [facebook_ilike]
November 28, 2012 On the Shelf To Be or Not to Be? And Other News By Sadie Stein Hamlet, as a choose-your-own adventure. Writer Andrei Codrescu will be doing a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” live Q&A on December 6. Small Business Saturday proved a boon for independent bookstores. Literary drinks to get you through NaNoWriMo. C. S. Lewis is getting his own plaque in Westminster Abbey’s famed Poet’s Corner.