Category Archives: Books

You have to walk a mile in someone’s shoes

Posted on March 19, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

What a brilliant book/art project . The shoe/book by Magdalena Haras who has taken excerpts from ‘The long Walk’ by Slawomir Rawicz and made them into a book that is also a pair of shoes. Magdalena’s interpretation alludes to secrecy with the information … Continue reading →

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Underground Reading

Posted on March 18, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Nestled in a copse in a corner of a verdant field in Kisaru, Japan there’s an inviting library built to serve local residents of a farming community. Designed by architect Hiroshi Nakamura, Library in the Earth occupies a space that … Continue reading →

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Fugue State

Posted on March 15, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

Death Fugue by Paul Celan Black milk of morning we drink you evenings we drink you at noon and mornings we drink you at night we drink and we drink A man lives in the house he plays with the … Continue reading →

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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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