Category Archives: Books

Napoleon’s Kindle

Posted on October 18, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

Unlike our maniacal Emperor wanabee, Napoleon Bonaparte was a devoted book lover. He was such a serious reader that in 1803 he commissioned the creation of the wonderful traveling library pictured above to take on military campaigns. The leather-lines, velvet-trimmed … Continue reading →

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

Bookstore Taboo

Posted on October 15, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

Tabook is an amusing short film that takes on the silliness of cultural taboos. In Amsterdam-based director Dario van Vree’s animated short a young woman endures the pitfalls of book browsing in a puritanical society. The cheeky film was created with … Continue reading →

Posted in Animation, Art, Books, Bookstore Tourism, Europe, Film | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Libraries On Wheels

Posted on October 14, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

Rural communities in Zimbabwe seldom have their own libraries, so in 1995 educator Obadiah Mayo founded the Rural Libraries & Resources Development Programme to bring books to the countryside. Today, his organization has fifteen donkey-powered mobile library carts that each … Continue reading →

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

Monsters In Philadelphia

Posted on October 13, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

With Frankenstein and Dracula, Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker created two of history’s most memorable monsters. Two hundred years after Frankenstein was published, pages from Mary Shelley’s manuscript will make their only appearance in the United States, to be displayed for the first … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Europe, History, Libraries, Museums, Tourism, USA, Writing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Isn’t It Romantic

Posted on October 12, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

England’s famed Lake District has recently been recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage region, but it has long attracted literary tourists and nature lovers. The Craig Manor Hotel on beautiful Lake Windermere has produced the charming infographic below … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Europe, History, Hotels, Tourism | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Kafka Meets The Matrix

Posted on October 11, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

Mexican writer/director Pablo Calvillo’s animated short film Inksect is an intense Kafkaesque vision of a dystopian future where books are burned. Still, there’s some hope for bibliophiles in this surreal world captured in an engaging and original animation style. Be sure … Continue reading →

Posted in Animation, Art, Books, Film | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A Village After Dark

Posted on October 6, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

This year’s Nobel prize for literature was announced yesterday. I don’t usually pay much attention to these types of awards, but I really thought that this would be Margaret Atwood’s year. Still, even though I was surprised by the selection … Continue reading →

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

Fun With Kafka

Posted on October 5, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

If you are a regular reader of TBTP, you know that I’m a big fan of London-based cartoonist and illustrator Tom Gauld. Along with his weekly comic strips in the Guardian and the New Scientist, Gauld’s work regularly appears in … Continue reading →

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

Bookstore Tourism + Coffee

Posted on October 3, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

For hopeless bibliophiles and coffee addicts like me there’s no place better to while away the hours than a bookshop with its own café. One of my all time favorites, the Housing Works Bookstore in Manhattan, is included with eight … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Bookstore Tourism, Restaurants, Tourism, USA | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Have You Hugged Your Librarian Today

Posted on October 2, 2017 by Brian D. Butler
Posted in Art, Books, Libraries, USA | Tagged , | 1 Comment