Category Archives: Books

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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“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  

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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 →

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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 →

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“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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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