Can Two Booklovers (Successfully) Merge Their Book Collections?

When two booklovers move in together, the day will come when the question of To Merge or Not To Merge The Books first rears its head. What happens next can take a variety of forms.

Rebecca Joines Schinsky recently posted what she learned aftershe and her husband decided to merge their book collections.

Read Schinsky’s essay.

Just as interesting: the comments from Schinsky’s readers who defend their decisions not to merge their books with their spouses’.

Found at BookRiot

Graphic du Jour

Academy Awards Reading List

This year’s Oscar nominees were announced earlier this week, and Shelf Awareness notes that “six of the nine best picture nominations…are based on books.” 

Shelf Awareness’ handy rundown of the details are here, for readers who’d like to consult the list and read the books those movies were adapted from.

 

Finding Out-of-Print Books

Librarian-at-large Marylaine Block has done a nice service for all bibliophiles by posting earlier this month a handy guide entitled “How to Find Out-of-Print Books“.

Naturally, Marylaine reminds everyone that if you just want to read a book, rather than buying a copy, you might be able to find what you’re looking for at your local public library – either on the shelf or through an Interlibrary Loan Request.

Found at Neat New Stuff I Found on the Net This Week

Guy Laramee’s Carved Book Landscapes

See more of this artist’s amazing work at Colossal Art & Design and/or The Huffington Post.

Found at Raven-ous

2012: The Dickens Bicentenary

Fans of Charles Dickens – especially those who can travel to England – have an abundance of events to choose from that will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of Dickens’ birth. (A Google search on “Charles Dickens Bicentenary” yields almost a half-million results.)

Meanwhile, maybe 2012 will be the year that you finally pick up one of Dickens’ famous (or not-so-famous) novels, or decide to re-read one of your favorites?

Most public libraries will have several Dickens novels (and movies inspired by them) on hand for the casual browser, and of course you can always place on Hold any particular novel (or film) that doesn’t happen to be on the shelf the day you visit and are smitten with an impulse to find yourself some Dickens. Dickens’ literary output is also available electronically, via the library or otherwise, for those who prefer to read Mr. Dickens that way.

Found via Raven-ous

Reading by Candlelight

Earlier this month, The Guardian published an essay by Stuart Kelly about his discoveries when a power outage forced him to do his reading with the help of a candle.

Read Kelly’s essay.

 

Do (Some) Books Function as Friends?

In an essay published earlier this week by The Guardian, Rick Geckoski writes that, despite the fact that the communication between writers and readers is hardly an actual dialog, we regard certain books as alive to us as some of our actual friends are.

Read Geckoski’s essay.

Geckoski’s essay reminded us of two remarks about books that other reader/writers have made: 

“For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.” – Anne Lamott (Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life)

“A book does not make bad jokes, drink too much, or eat more than you can afford to pay for.” – Kenneth Turan [“On Reading a Book While Dining Out,” New York Times, April 13, 1983)

Found via Shelf Awareness

Atlanta’s Downtown “Outdoor Reading Room”

One of our favorite local book bloggers recently discovered the “reading room” at Woodruff Park downtown.

Here’s Tim’s report.

Portland, Oregon’s “Mini-Libraries”

Tiny self-service book stalls are turning up in several neighborhoods of book-friendly Portland, Oregon.

We’re not exactly sure why these self-service little “lending libraries” are so popular, given the fact that public libraries located near these mini-libraries are stocked with so many more titles than the roomiest of the mini-libraries could ever hope to provide, but we agree that the minis are certainly charming.

In any case, here are the details, courtesy The Oregonian’s website.

Found via Baby Got Books