I love books. I don’t mean just that I love to read books, although I do. But I love books. It’s true. Books, to me, are much more than containers for texts. You can’t separate a text from its physical encasement, from its book-body. Case in point: my favourite novel is, unquestionably, Pride and Prejudice. [...]
Posts from ‘February, 2008’
Lovely, lovely links
Awesome-sauce stuff of the moment: Hot, Hot Library Smut on the nonist. Do try not to drool on your keyboard. Trinity College Library (Dublin) is particularly delectable. Book staircase! A practical must for any house. A list of banned & challenged books. There are some there I definitely wouldn’t have expected to find on that [...]
Review: Letter Perfect, by David Sacks
Title: Letter Perfect Author: David Sacks ISBN: 0676974880 First published: 2003 This edition: 2004 I am reading this most wonderful book. Letter Perfect (“The A-to-Z History of Our Alphabet”) was written by David Sacks and previously published under the name Language Visible, and even more previously published as a series of columns for the Ottawa [...]
Stumbled: ReadPrint.Com
I just stumbled upon an excellent online library at www.readprint.com. They’ve uploaded what looks like hundreds & hundreds of free texts: novels, poetry, drama, non-fiction, etc. Now I can re-read Jo’s Boys, which I don’t think I own even though it was my favourite of the series. And I won’t have to buy a copy [...]
Eva’s Meme
Better late than never, no? Here is Eva’s original post. Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews? There are many. Mostly romances, especially that strange brand of “inspiring” Christian romance novels. In my experience, those are almost inevitably bad. I often shy away from reading books just because [...]
Meme: Book Mash
Book mash! 1) Grab yourself three books: a) The Light Fantastic (Pratchett) b) English Renaissance Drama (Ed. Bevington) c) Middlemarch (Eliot) 2) Turn to the following pages: page 100 of book 1, page 200 of book 2, and page 300 of book 3. Done! 3) Grab the fifth, sixth, and seventh sentences on each page [...]
Review: Firefly Lane, by Kristin Hannah
Title: Firefly Lane Author: Kristin Hannah ISBN: 0312364083 / 9780312364083 First published: 2008 This edition: 2008 (ARC) Do you know how much I love LibraryThing? A very lot. Not only can you catalogue things, and find similar libraries to your own, and rate and review books, but you can also sign up to receive occasional [...]
Review: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
Title: The Difference Engine Authors: William Gibson and Bruce Sterling (collaborative) ISBN: 055329461X First published: 1991 This edition: 1992 Spectra reprint This collaborative, speculative novel is set in an alternate-England during the industrial revolution. Charles Babbage has perfected the steam-powered, gear-driven “analytical engine,” a mechanical computer programmed with punch cards. In grimy 1850s-era London, three [...]