Author Archives: Brian D. Butler

Book Club

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Odd doesn’t begin to cover these titles

The shortlist has been unveiled for the 2024 Bookseller‘s Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title of the Year. The annual prize was conceived in 1978 by Trevor Bounford and Bruce Robertson, co-founders of publishing solutions firm the Diagram Group, as … Continue reading

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Meanwhile, back in soulless America

YOU WOULD HAVE THOUGHT John Ashbery Meanwhile, back in soulless America, people are having fun as usual. A bird visits a birdbath. A young girl takes a refresher course in polyhistory. My mega-units are straining at the leash of spring. … Continue reading

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It’s Not Even Close

 

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Europe on 5 Dollars a Day

US travel writer Arthur Frommer, known for the guidebook Europe on 5 Dollars a Day and other titles on budget travel, has died aged 95. Frommer began his journalism career while stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army during the … Continue reading

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Autumn

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Bookstore Tourism: Portlandia

It’s always good news to discover that a new indie bookshop has opened in the U.S.. But it’s great news when it turns out to be a travel bookstore. Even if you can’t get to Portland, Oregon IRL, you can … Continue reading

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Bookstore Tourism

The Abecadlo Antiquarian Bookshop is located in a former 19th pharmacy, at 18 Kościuszki Street in Krakow, Poland. Its beautiful interior is made up of antique pharmacy furniture dating back to the 1890s, which the owners managed to save and … Continue reading

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Once upon a time, suddenly

“A Sudden Story” by Robert Coover Once upon a time, suddenly, while it still could, the story began. For the hero, setting forth, there was of course nothing sudden about it, neither about the setting forth, which he’d spent his … Continue reading

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Train Songs

What would Pachebel’s Canon sound like if played by a series of cacophonous train horns? To find out, watch this video by Pavel Jirásek, who edited short bits from ACETrainsUK’s horn 7m50s compilation of trains in the United Kingdom with other clips of train horns to … Continue reading

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