Category Archives: Books

Your Final Exam

Posted on March 13, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

A poem by Wislawa Szymborska.  

Posted in Art, Books, Europe | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

“Tell all the truth but tell it slant”

Posted on March 12, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

“Tell all the truth but tell it slant” -Emily Dickinson  

Posted in Art, Books, USA, Writing | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

One reader can make a difference

Posted on March 8, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

The Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction, now in its fourth year, is an annual $25,000 cash prize given to a writer for a single work of imaginative fiction. The award recognizes writers Ursula spoke of in her 2014 … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, USA, Writing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The New Metropolis

Posted on March 6, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

It probably reveals way too much about me that I’m very excited to discover that a new exhibition at the Grolier Club  in New York City is opening today. The show explores how a growing New York City was portrayed … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Books, History, Libraries, Maps, Museums, Photography, Tourism, Travel Writing, USA | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

“The first lights of the evening were springing into pale existence.”

Posted on March 5, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

“Description of things and atmosphere” from the notebooks of F. Scott Fitzgerald: “The island floated, a boat becalmed, upon the almost perceptible curve of the world.” “The first lights of the evening were springing into pale existence. The Ferris wheel, pricked … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, USA, Writing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Who doesn’t love a Little Free Library

Posted on March 3, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Here in the formerly free United States, bibliophiles of all ages love the Little Free Library movement, which started in 2009 when Todd H. Bol built the first Little Free Library in Hudson, Wisconsin, as a tribute to his mother. … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Libraries, USA | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Book this Book Hotel

Posted on February 28, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

The good news in planning an upcoming trip to Tokyo was that I managed to snag a cushy hotel in Shinjuku for five nights entirely free with reward points. However, the bad news is that I won’t be staying at … Continue reading →

Posted in Asia, Books, Bookstore Tourism, Hotels, Tourism | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Nothing New is something new

Posted on February 27, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Earlier this month, the New Yorker magazine published its centennial issue, and in its pages readers will discover something extraordinary: a previously unknown Robert Frost poem. Frost’s biographer, Jay Parini, wrote an essay about the poem, saying it “was found in a retired … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, History, USA, Writing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Banned in the USA

Posted on February 26, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

The map above comes from from PEN America, which tracks book bans and fights censorship in public schools and libraries across the country. Here’s how they defined a ban: PEN America defines a school book ban as any action taken … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Freedom of Speech, Libraries, Restaurants, USA, Writing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

see the horror in the heart of farce

Posted on February 25, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Ihr aber lernet, wie man sieht statt stiert Und handelt, statt zu reden noch und noch. So was hätt einmal fast die Welt regiert! Die Völker wurden seiner Herr, jedoch Dass keiner uns zu früh da triumphiert — Der Schoß … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Europe, Writing | Tagged , | Leave a comment