Monthly Archives: March 2025

Book store humor

Posted on March 22, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

A very nice, well-appointed lady spends about an hour browsing the stock, including the locked cases. After building a rather formidable stack of unrelated books worth over $3,500 (including some very scarce Mark Twain first editions), I couldn’t resist asking: … Continue reading →

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This morning’s hallowed moment

Posted on March 21, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Presently the smell of coffee began to fill the room. This was morning’s hallowed moment. In such a fragrance the perversity of the world is forgotten, and the soul is inspired with faith in the future […]. Some day, incredible … Continue reading →

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How to act around books

Posted on March 20, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

 

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You have to walk a mile in someone’s shoes

Posted on March 19, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

What a brilliant book/art project . The shoe/book by Magdalena Haras who has taken excerpts from ‘The long Walk’ by Slawomir Rawicz and made them into a book that is also a pair of shoes. Magdalena’s interpretation alludes to secrecy with the information … Continue reading →

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Underground Reading

Posted on March 18, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Nestled in a copse in a corner of a verdant field in Kisaru, Japan there’s an inviting library built to serve local residents of a farming community. Designed by architect Hiroshi Nakamura, Library in the Earth occupies a space that … Continue reading →

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London time travel

Posted on March 17, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Sometimes web surfing serendipity ticks all of the boxes. Regular readers are au fait with my life-long love of cartography, my near obsession with historic travel guides, and my background as an erstwhile history teacher, so you won’t be too … Continue reading →

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Travel Trash

Posted on March 16, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Lately, I’ve been reading travelers’ tales about the difficulty in locating someplace to drop-off trash and recycling while visiting Japan. So, I found this short piece by writer and long-time Japan resident Craig Mod on our cultural impulse to immediately … Continue reading →

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Fugue State

Posted on March 15, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Death Fugue by Paul Celan Black milk of morning we drink you evenings we drink you at noon and mornings we drink you at night we drink and we drink A man lives in the house he plays with the … Continue reading →

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An OG Luigi

Posted on March 14, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

“Conscience” by Italo Calvino translated by Tim Parks Came a war and a guy called Luigi asked if he could go, as a volunteer. Everyone was full of praise. Luigi went to the place where they were handing out the … Continue reading →

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Your Final Exam

Posted on March 13, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

A poem by Wislawa Szymborska.  

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