How and Why

Posted on April 8, 2026 by Brian D. Butler

The great poems, plays, novels, stories teach us how to go on living, even when submerged under forty fathoms of bother and distress. If you live ninety years you will be a battered survivor. Your own mistakes, accidents, failures at otherness beat you down. Rise up at dawn and read something that matters as soon as you can.

— Harold Bloom, How to Read and Why (Scribner, May 2000)

The “How”: The Method of Reading
  • Read the Best:

    Focus on the “canon” of great works, as Bloom argues these are the most rewarding. 

  • Read Solitarily and Deeply:

    Engage with the text alone, paying close attention to the characters and their changes. 

  • Re-read:

    Re-reading allows you to become what you behold, deepening your understanding. 

  • Use Examples:
    Bloom uses specific examples from poets, novelists, and playwrights (like Shakespeare, Proust, and Hemingway) to demonstrate his points. 
    The “Why”: The Purpose of Reading
    • Self-Augmentation:

      Reading great literature helps you discover and strengthen your own self, providing a deeper understanding of your own interests and identity. 

    • Wisdom over Information:

      In an age of endless data, reading well is a path to wisdom, offering solace and alleviating loneliness by connecting you to “otherness”. 

    • Aesthetic and Spiritual Pleasure:
      It provides a “difficult pleasure” and a form of “secular transcendence,” helping to overcome feelings of loss and despair. 
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London in the 18th Century

Posted on April 7, 2026 by Brian D. Butler

I never tire of reading about Britain’s greatest city. London in the 18th Century by Wallace Crawford Snowden, revised and edited by Marie Clayton, offers a full reproduction of pioneering cartographer John Rocque’s 1746 An Exact Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster which provided a detailed bird’s-eye view of London for the first time.

Published by Atlantic Publishing, the map is divided into 24 sections and is presented alongside contemporary illustrations of Georgian London. Each section of Rocque’s map comes with an accompanying history and illustrations, exploring what life in London’s districts was like at the time, while identifying streets and buildings which still exist and plotting the course of major thoroughfares as yet unbuilt.

Each section of Roque’s detailed map reveals the different areas of London at a time when Bermondsey was the centre of ropemaking, watchmakers dominated Clerkenwell and weavers were based in Spitalfields. At this point in the city’s history Marylebone fields was an area of scrubland used for duels and notorious for highwaymen, and South London was full of fields, orchards, Inns, farms, timber yards and military camping grounds.

John Rocque (c. 1704–1762) was a French-born Huguenot cartographer, surveyor, and engraver who revolutionized mapping by using triangulation techniques. Trained as a draughtsman, his earliest occupation from 1734 onwards was drawing the plans, views and elevations of the great country mansions, and was appointed cartographer to the Prince of Wales.

Over the course of nearly 30 years he built up an important business as a land surveyor, engraver and general map seller on premises near Hyde Park Corner, which his widow Mary Ann continued with the help of his original employees for another decade.

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There is no i in Absence

Posted on April 6, 2026 by Brian D. Butler

Carol Shields — the American-born Canadian novelist who won a Pulitzer Prize for The Stone Diaries in 1995 — wrote a short story called “Absence” without using the letter I a single time. It appeared in her 2000 collection Dressing Up for the Carnival, three years before her death.

The story is self-referential: a woman sits down at her word processor and discovers one of the keys is broken — “a vowel, the very letter that attaches to the hungry self.” Rather than give up, she writes around it. She can’t say “I,” so she finds other ways to refer to herself. She resolves to write about the experience: “‘A woman sat down and wrote,’ she wrote.” Dropping the letter E is a feat of vocabulary. Dropping the letter I is a feat of identity.

You can read “Absence” at the Internet Archive, or pick up Collected Stories, which collects 22 of Shields’ short stories.

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Free Short Stories

Posted on April 5, 2026 by Brian D. Butler

The Library of Short Stories is a wonderful, and completely free, website dedicated to classic short stories. Offering a wide range of genres from around the world, the Library is the work of Melbourne based author and web developer Evan C. Lewis.

Each story is available as simple text online and downloadable as a PDF or EPUB.

Check it out here 

 

 

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Editor, Librarian, Bookseller

Posted on April 4, 2026 by Brian D. Butler

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Black Books

Posted on April 3, 2026 by Brian D. Butler

The National Association of Black Bookstores has declared April 7 National Black Bookstore Day, a national observance honoring the cultural, economic, and community impact of Black-owned bookstores across the U.S. The day also celebrates the late Georgia “Mother Rose” Peat West, founder of Underground Books in Sacramento, California.

On NBBD, readers and supporters are encouraged to visit a Black-owned bookstore, make a purchase, share their experience on social media using #NationalBlackBookstoreDay and #NAB2, and help amplify the visibility of Black literary spaces in their communities. A national directory of Black-owned bookstores is available to help readers find and support stores in their area.

In recognition of the day, the African American Mayors Association, which represents more than 500 Black mayors, partnered with its members to work with mayors, city councils, and legislators across cities and counties nationwide to issue proclamations recognizing NBBD and the vital role Black bookstores play in their communities.

NAB2 founder Kevin Johnson said: “My mother, Mother Rose, founded and ran UndergroundBooks in Oak Park. This day is deeply personal to my brother and me, it’s a way to honor her legacy and ensure that the stories, voices, and spaces she cherished continue to thrive. National Black Bookstore Day is about more than commerce. It is a declaration that Black bookstores are essential, that they are worth celebrating, and that they are here to stay.”

A $570,000 investment from Robert Smith, founder and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, anchors the launch of NBBD, “ensuring that the next generation of Black readers and scholars has access to literature that reflects and affirms their stories,” the organizers said. Together with NAB2, 19,000 books are being donated to students at 19 Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

“Supporting NAB2 and recognizing National Black Bookstore Day is about ensuring that future innovators, leaders and entrepreneurs have access to the stories that expand what they believe is possible and give them the confidence to pursue a new way forward,” said Smith. “I’m proud to stand with NAB2 in advancing that work.”

Blanche Richardson, founding board member and owner of Marcus Books in Oakland, Calif., observed: “For decades, Black bookstores have been the connective tissue in communities across the nation. National Black Bookstore Day gives us a moment to make that visible on a national scale and to remind America that these spaces are not relics of the past, they are pillars of the future.”

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Library in the sky

Posted on April 2, 2026 by Brian D. Butler

High in the mountains of southwest Japan, above a small town, there is an unlikely library. Yusuhara, is known as the “town above the clouds” and the home the Kumo-no-Ue  Library, which was designed by the renowned architect Kengo Kuma.

The ceiling of the library is a forest of cedar sourced from the nearby mountains. Large columns, like tree trunks, support the lattice work, sunlit interior.

Completed in 2018, the stunning library is a book-lover’s haven. Its airy structure is open to book-lovers and curious visitors, and glows with polished cedar surfaces. The ceiling looks like an upside down forest, with crisscrossing beams that create an interplay of light and shadow.

Visitors are asked to remove their shoes at door, much like one would do at home in Japan. The multiple levels and cunning little dioramas create an environment that encourages exploration. Visitors are encouraged to bring their own reading material and relax at the small cafe’ inside.

So how did this remote small town come to be home of such an illustrious architectural gem? Yusuhara’s former mayor happened to be good friends with the architect. Kuma was just starting to gain notoriety outside of Japan for his minimalist, concrete-based structures, and the mayor asked him to create a building for Yusuhara featuring locally sourced wood, as forestry was one of Yusuhara’s major industries. Kuma took up the challenge enthusiastically, and through the process came to discover the beauty of using natural materials, drawing inspiration from the local wooden kabuki theater. It is said that his time creating Yusuhara’s structures was a major turning point in his designs, which have since become famous for their abundant use of wood.

 

 

 

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When an airplane ticket only gets you a seat on a bus

Posted on April 1, 2026 by Brian D. Butler

Kennedy Woodard-Jones bought a plane ticket from American Airlines, went through TSA, lined up at her gate, and didn’t realize she was boarding a bus until it was on the highway. Her TikTok about it got 13 million views, according to the Washington Post.

American sells tickets with real flight numbers for routes operated by the Landline Company, a bus service connecting smaller airports — South Bend, Scranton, and others — to major hubs like O’Hare and Philadelphia. The tickets show up in booking systems as American Eagle flights. On American’s own site, a small bus icon and the note “operated by The Landline Company” appear in the fine print, but passengers who book through third-party sites often never see it.

 

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Bookstore Tourism: Your Picks pt.3

Posted on March 31, 2026 by Brian D. Butler

“Zubal Books” is located at 2969 W 25th Street, Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1961 by John T. Zubal, and has been providing books for libraries, collectors, researchers, professors, and avid readers ever since, and stocks over 3,000,000 books! The company’s origin can be traced to the early 1950s when John, still in grade school, began collecting the writings of Edgar Rice Burroughs, then he collected books all his life.

Since 1994 the bookstore has been located in the former “Twinkie Factory,” a Hostess Bakery facility that takes up nearly an entire block adjacent to the main building. In the 1930s the “Bakery,” as it is now known, was the birthplace of the “Twinkie” and the pipes still hold the sugary liquid that was once whipped into the cream filling of that famous snack cake.

 

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Human Authored

Posted on March 30, 2026 by Brian D. Butler

The Society of Authors (SoA) has launched a “Human Authored” scheme to “help identify works written by humans in a market increasingly flooded by AI-generated books”.

Under the initiative, authors will be able to register their titles and download a Human Authored logo to display on the back cover of their books. Novelist Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl with a Pearl Earring (HarperCollins), revealed the new scheme and logo at the London Book Fair on March 10th.

In 2025, the US Authors Guild launched a similar scheme to signify books that “emanated from the human intellect” and not from AI, while UK start-up Books by People started an “Organic Literature Certification” with a group of independent publishing houses.

Professor Mary Beard is among several authors backing the SoA’s scheme, the trade association reports, and plans to register her works on the Human Authored website. She said: “I’m supporting the Human Authored scheme. It’s only going to be Human Authored books on my desert island.”

Bestselling author Malorie Blackman added: “Human Authored seeks to highlight the imagination, commitment, craft and care taken to produce stories and books that can be enjoyed by everyone. Any creative endeavor requires time, effort, a willingness to learn from mistakes and failure and a determination to persevere – lifelong, essential skills that cannot be learned and honed by allowing AI to do all of our creative thinking and production for us.”

via The Bookseller

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