Author Archives: Brian D. Butler

Yes, you can judge these books by their covers

Posted on July 8, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Penguin Books has revealed the winners of its 2024  Cover Design Award, where participants were tasked with reimagining three Penguin titles:  City of Stolen Magic by Nazneen Ahmed Pathak, Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and Atomic Habits by James Clear. Cadi … Continue reading →

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How we live now

Posted on July 7, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

 

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You Are Here

Posted on July 6, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Poetry in Parks is an initiative to install poetry on picnic tables in seven national parks. As public works of art, the picnic tables will each feature a historic American poem selected by the 24th U.S. National Poet Laureate, Ada Limón. … Continue reading →

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“Ricordare è rivivere” (“to remember is to relive”)

Posted on July 5, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Sigmund Freud returned again and again to the problem of memory as he formulated his theories of psychoanalysis during the 1890s. “What is essentially new about my theory,” Freud wrote in this letter to fellow physician and confidante Wilhelm Fliess, … Continue reading →

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Souvenir for writers

Posted on July 4, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Over the years I have been both the giver and recipient of some quite silly travel souvenirs, so it’s heartening to find that even the ancient Romans weren’t above bringing home the occasional humorous gift. The Museum of London Archaeology … Continue reading →

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Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old

Posted on July 3, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Franz Kafka, born on this day in 1883. “You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself … Continue reading →

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Making sensitivity readers redundant

Posted on July 2, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

 

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Poe’s Summer Vacation

Posted on July 1, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Ali Fitzgerald, an artist and a writer. Her most recent book is “Drawn to Berlin: Comic Workshops in Refugee Shelters and Other Stories from a New Europe.”

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Staying Awake

Posted on June 30, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I have been an enormous fan of the work of novelist/poet/essayist Ursula K. Le Guin for many decades. Recently, I stumbled on this quote from her titled “Staying Awake”. “Besides, readers aren’t viewers; they recognize their pleasure as different from … Continue reading →

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Banishing Evil

Posted on June 29, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

This short New Yorker documentary about a Bulgarian tradition of dancing evil spirits away reminds us of the traditional rituals that are slowly disappearing, of the ways people develop coping mechanisms and lasting community. It’s a moving portrayal and a … Continue reading →

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