Monthly Archives: October 2021

Don’t Judge This Book By Its Covers

Posted on October 22, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

I’ve been looking forward to Dave Eggers’ follow-up to his best-selling tech novel The Circle and now its been released with an added surprise. His new book , The Every , is a sequel to his previous novel which skewered … Continue reading →

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Bibliotherapy, Journaling, and Some Bloodletting

Posted on October 21, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

Early in the 17th century,Oxford University scholar Robert Burton published what is now considered to be the first English language self-help manual, The Anatomy of Melancholy. The book offers Burton’s ideas on the nature and symptoms of melancholy or depression, … Continue reading →

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Graphic Lessons on the Twentieth Century

Posted on October 20, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

When Dr. Timothy Snyder’s powerful book  On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century was published in 2017, I was a vocal evangelist for the book and its message. Now, the Yale history professor has released an updated and illustrated … Continue reading →

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The Great American Novel ?

Posted on October 19, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

During this week in 1851, Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick was first published as The Whale in three volumes by Richard Bentley in London. Almost one month later in November, the first American edition was published in New York by Harper & Brothers. Although many think of … Continue reading →

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A Perfect Time To Visit The Haunted Bookshop

Posted on October 18, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

  What better time of the year to visited The Haunted Bookshop than at the Halloween season. Located in Cambridge, England and fittingly found down a dark, spooky alleyway, the diminutive bookstore more than lives up to its name. Packed … Continue reading →

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Unspoken Autumn

Posted on October 17, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

Everything that Acts Is Actual BY DENISE LEVERTOV From the tawny light from the rainy nights from the imagination finding itself and more than itself alone and more than alone at the bottom of the well where the moon lives, can … Continue reading →

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bureaucrats who have no imagination

Posted on October 16, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

I am a big fan of New Zealand and of its most resilient city Christchurch. However, I was disappointed to learn this week that the Christchurch city council has eliminated the job of official Wizard and axed the legendary Ian … Continue reading →

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A Little Treasure (Island)

Posted on October 15, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

One of the very first “grown-up” books that I read as a child was a fabulous edition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Treasure Island. I can’t be certain, but I believe that it was a well-worn copy with wonderful illustrations by … Continue reading →

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I would prefer not to

Posted on October 14, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

Writer Clive Thompson has created and shared a new online tool allows you to visualize any piece of writing by stripping away everything but its punctuation. His free web tool—”just the punctuation”—allows you can paste in any piece of text … Continue reading →

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Glooskap the Divinity

Posted on October 13, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

There are some of the great illustrations to be found in The Algonquin Legends of New England (1884). The collection of Algonquin folk tales presented in the book is a result of the collecting efforts of folklorist Charles G. Leland … Continue reading →

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