Has this been the longest week in the annals of recorded history? Or is it just me? I cannot believe it is only Wednesday. Of course it may be that I am just exhausted from staying up late and then having my dog, Razz, freaking out all night. From the amount of heavy breathing that was going on you would think that he was getting jiggy with it all night.
Just a quick one today as I have to get off to work. Came home last night to found that Mary had checked out a book from the library for me that I have actually been wanting to read for some time:
Elephant House, or the Home of Edward Gorey. Gorey is a favorite dating back to childhood reading. This was a welcome surprise, thank you sweetie!
If you have time for site hopping this hump day here are a few recommendations:
There is an interesting discussion here about things that reading should or shouldn’t teach you.
Janet has a fun feature called What is it Wednesday where you try to figure out what the picture is of based on a simple fragment. Although she thinks my answers are humorous and says I never get it right I suspect that I am actually right all the time and she changes things so I don’t win. That has to be the explanation! Here is today’s.
The Endicott Blog has a link to these very entertaining flash videos. I only watched the first two so far. Was cracking up watching the first one, especially when the battle begins. Fantastic 1920’s blues music accompanies the animation. I love people’s creativity!
So Many Books has posted about an interesting article about why bookstores are going belly up.
The discussion at Box of Books about reading challenging material continues here.
And if you missed it in my comments yesterday, there is an interesting post about reading habits here.
It isn’t much but it is all I have for this morning. Wonderful Wednesday everyone!
Oh that book looks fantastic. I haven’t seen that before.
Just a word on reading habits – I know if I’m not reading fiction regularly that I’ve lost control of the balance of my life and work has overtaken in a bad way. Fiction slows me down and rests my mind, and as far as I can see, the more I read of it, the better I feel.
What’s wrong w/ Razz?
Please let us know what you think of the book; it looks wonderful. I’ve got to come back and check out the Endicott blog when time permits – I’m off to work now but the comment about the blues music intrigued me. In response to reading habits, it’s always been an indicator that my life has somehow become unbalanced when I stop reading and listening to music I enjoy. Unfortunately it’s one of those ‘hindsight’ things, but I’m getting better at identifying it! Moral of the story? Read and listen to music and life will be grand? Well, maybe not grand, but it will be much, much better.
litlove and Livewire, I feel the same way about reading, playing games, etc. I have to keep a balance or I feel that time just slips away and I get bogged down in other things. I like your moral Livewire!
Abby, Razz usually is like this during bad storms so I don’t know if he was picking up on a weird vibe last night or was just unusually spazzy, but it was annoying. Mary slept right through it! 😉
Yup, you are on to something there with that Janet. She is a tricky one.
“Shifty” is the word, I believe, Krista…that Jan is shifty! 😉
You’re still distraught from the Japanese Fertility Festival photo!
I’ll never get those images out of my head, “Shifty”.
The book does look wonderful. I have happy images of the descriptions of Marshall France’s house in Land of Laughs. Peacock feathers and cat-light.
I need to read Land of Laughs again sometime, I really enjoyed it. I think its my favorite Jonathan Carroll book though that may be in part that it was the first of his that I read.
Larry showed me the Gorey book yesterday when it came across his desk. I think it is lovely! I knew you would like it.
Lately it feels like *every* work week goes this slowly. And I mean s.l.o.w.l.y.! We are in the process of going from doing all our own cataloging to shelf ready (yuck), and it has really messed up how things get done! And why does that house so totally look like the place Gorey would live??
That sounds like library-speak to me Danielle….and in fact sounds very familiar!!!
Oh how apt the creature at the top of the post… One of the longest weeks for sure, yep!
Wednesday was blah (until the evening, which turned out good).
Wednesday was truly blah (until the evening, which turned out good).
Edward Gorey = yay! That books looks really interesting.
It is. Not alot of words, just a foreward, a brief essay on how the author/photographer came to know Edward Gorey and get permission to take pics of his house a few days after his death, and a brief intro to each room in the house. The rest are just pictures…great pictures of the items and decor of the house of a fascinating pack rat of a man. Gives lots of insight into the whimsical mind of Gorey.
Cool looking Gorey book. You are lucky to have such a wonderful wife looking out for you!
I went over and read that article on why so many bookstores are going belly. It was nice to read that perception is not reallity and that book sales are not declining. The article points out many positive examples of many indie traditional and online book sales that are rising. I know I’ve purchased just as many books online this year as at regualr price as at the store not counting my used book store purchases. The focus of the article is misleading because it centers around a large historical book store that is going out of business after 50 years. The fact is the owner was just not willing to change with the times. Yes it’s sad it’s going out of business but also it’s frustrating because of many decisions you read about he didn’t make are ones he could have made to try and remain in business. He didn’t try online sales, adding reading spaces and chairs in the store, and a coffee bar, etc.. The article itself was way too long too. The paper must have been really trying to fill space that day.
I need to check out the Endicott site. thanks for the tip.
I hadn’t had a chance to read the article yet Jeff but I would agree with you that the owner is at least partially to blame if changes weren’t made to try to keep customers coming in.
I honestly believe that larger chain stores contribute to the demise of smaller stores. However, and I have nothing but observation to back this up, I have a hard time believing that book sales themselves are declining. When have you been in a Borders or Barnes and Noble that it isn’t full of people? These kind of stores didn’t exist in this number even a decade ago so I don’t see how sales can be declining. I just don’t buy it. Couple that with new and used online sales and I think book sales have to be stronger than they every have before.
and yes, my wife is a sweetie as are her fellow workers. Thank you Larry and Mary!!!
I think that, while I mourn the serious lack of independent bookshops, and their charm, buying books has never been so easy. Amazon and other online stores have made books a good deal more accessible I think, and in a way that is a Good Thing.
I long for a friendly local bookshop, but if I’m realistic, I get more from the internet than I ever did from physically going to bookshops. The main thing missing is the atmosphere (and the smell).
I buy a hell of a lot of books from Amazon, but I do try to buy from independent shops when I can (oddly I spend more online at Dreamhaven than I do in independent shops in my own country…).
Dreamhaven and Bud Plant are terrific online resources, especially for science fiction, fantasy, horror, art and illustration and other similar genres. We were just discussing the Bud Plant online store at the comic shop last night.
I do love the smell of paper and ink at the bookstore!
And Jeff, if you pop over to the Dreamhaven site you can see that book we were discussing last night, Strange Birds, that Gene Wolfe and Lisa Snellings-Clark did together.
Carl, If you read the article you will see how the writer expalins how book sales are up when online books sales are combined with traditional brick and mortar store book sales. tis good news I say not all doom and gloom. The sad thing is the article states that only 50% of all Americans by one book or more each year. What’s up with the other 50%? I mean come on. I realize that some people are on a fixed budget and can barely get by but that’s not 50% of the nation.
I will pop over to Dreamhaven to check out the Wolfe/Clark collaboration. thanks.
nice cover. I couldn’t find any interior pages posted though. looks like it just came out recently. is this something you already have or have ordered?
No and no. But its only $10 so I need to get off my behind and order the dang thing. I need to check Lisa Snelling’s site first though as she may have it for sale and would autograph it.
Strange Birds is wonderful. Enjoyed it a lot. I haven’t read much Gene Wolfe at all, so it has prompted me to rectify that. 🙂
hey carl, if she is selling the book through her site to let me know please because I would like to order one, too.
also quixotic thanks for the recommendation.
Updating bookmarks.. things look different than I remember. I have so many to go through. And now I have some more ideas for my site too. I’m keeping this bookmark.
Paul