Saturday, April 29th, is the tenth annual Independent Bookstore Day.
Bookstores in Georgia have been celebrating all week with special events and discounts.
Independent Bookstore Day
Author: Cal Gough
Behold: The Vanity Bookshelf
We’ve all seen those boxes manufactured to resemble books. Many of us booklovers even own a few of these fake books, even if we’ve never gotten around to storing things in them (hidden storage being the ostensible purpose of these book look-alikes).
Many of us have marveled over photos of wallpaper, shower curtains, and bedspreads with images of bookshelves full of books.
And most of us have read about movie propmasters buying “books by the yard” to populate interior scenes of the movies they’re helping to create.
What you might not have known about, however, is that more and more interior designers are being asked by some of their clients to use book collections as props in their houses. Books they’ve never read and never intend to. Or they’re having installed in their houses wall-sized expanses of merely the spines of books rather than actual books.
That bookcase of beautiful vintage books you’re noticing at someone’s fancy house may actually be a facade hiding a Murphy bed!
An article (with numerous photos) published in today’s New York Times calls this decor trend the “fake book” phenomenon.
Read it and weep (or laugh, or admire, or reflect on the persistence of human vanity, or whatever).
A Valentine for Public Libraries
The New York Times yesterday published a “long overdue” tribute to the thousands of public libraries in the United States.
The article is accurate, well-written, and liberally sprinkled with photographs of local libraries doing some of the things they do.
Tips on “How to Read Better”
Last October, the New York Times published, for the second time, an article written by xx that describes multiple ways of “improving” or at least adding variety – to one’s reading practices/routines.
The article is wide ranging in the types of recommendations it explores:
- Choose the Right Book
- Make a Reading Plan
- Read More Deeply
- Read More Critically
- Explore Different Formats
- Read More Socially
- Enhance Your Post-Book Experience
Subscribers to the Times can read the October 2022 article online here.
National Public Radio’s website includes a 2020 list of similar tips for creating a more satisfying reading life.
On the Joys of Reading Slowly
“There is something about churning through books that induces envy and even admiration, never more than at this time of year when piles of finished tomes are splashed across social media. Bragging rights seem to go to those who have read lots of books and read them quickly . . . .”
That’s how journalist Susie Mesure starts out her profile in The Guardian of Princeton professor and Chinese-American author Yiyun Li and Li’s thoughts on the advantages of eschewing the “devouring” of books.
Say Hello to “Jesse The Reader”
Jesse The Reader is a book-loving blogger who frequently posts humorous videos about the thoughts that run through his mind on his visits to bookstores, or when he contemplates his reading-related patterns.
For example:
- Thoughts that I Have When Buying Books
- Thoughts that Cross My Mind While Reading
- Thoughts While Reorganizing My Bookshelves
- 50 Book Buying Excuses
- The Many Faces of a Reader
- 25 Signs You’re a Book Addict
Hyperlinks to all Jesse The Reader’s book/reading-related videos is here. His Facebook page is here.
Bookish Quotation du Jour
Source: Goodwill Librarian’s January 5, 2023 Facebook post
High Praise for U.S. Public Libraries
Moira Donegan is a U.S.-based reporter for the UK-based newspaper The Guardian. She also volunteers at the New York Public Library’s main branch.
Donegan’s year-end expression of gratitude for public libraries was published yesterday in The Guardian, and is a pleasure to read.
Thanks to Stephanie McCaa, with the Friends of the Ponce Public Library, for providing the link to the story.
Recently Sighted Bookish Quotations
Source: Association of Bookmobile and Outreach Services (ABOS) November 13, 0222 Facebook post
Source: Goodwill Librarian’s November 14, 2022 Facebook post
Source: Literary Jokes & Puns’ June 16, 2022 Facebook post, submitted by Judy Weppner (via Memes, Dreams, Reflections)
Source: Literary Jokes & Puns’ April 22, 2022 Facebook post, submitted by Rich Gore (via Philosophy, Poetry and Art)
Source: June 11, 2021 Facebook post by Books – An Escape
Note: The largest collection of bookish quotations is right here on this blog.
Atlanta Booklover's Blog 