Category Archives: USA

Bookstore Tourism: Log Cabin Edition

I have not had the pleasure of book browsing at the Cottage Book Shop, but thanks to TBTP reader Gwen S. I’m happy to share it with you. The bookstore is located in the heart of Sleeping Bear Dunes National … Continue reading

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Take A Virtual Vacation

Virtual Vacation is a web directory that pulls together the dozens of walking, driving, hiking and other point-of-view videos scattered across the web where people explore unique places with a camera in hand. Beware, it’s easy to fall down this … Continue reading

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Never open a book with the weather

I’ve been a fan of the late novelist Elmore Leonard for as long as I can remember. While his humor always showed through, I think it was his efforless prose that grabbed my attention. It’s a fool’s errand to try … Continue reading

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“Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people.”

Sadly, book banning and even book burning continues to be in the news here in the USA. Just this week, I saw a video of members of a State legislature demanding the books that they found objectionable be removed from … Continue reading

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To be hopeful in bad times

To Be Hopeful in Bad Times “To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. … Continue reading

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Another Reason To Love Brooklyn

When I was a little kid my Grandmother used to grudgingly take me to the Brooklyn Library on Flatbush Avenue. She wasn’t much of a reader and never understood how I could spend so much time looking at books. But … Continue reading

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Belief and Technique for Modern Prose

Like many adolescents of my generation who had aspirations to engage in a literary life, I was infatuated with the Beat Generation writers. And while I sussed early on that the Jack Kerouac on the page might not be all … Continue reading

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Calmly we walk through this April’s day

CALMLY WE WALK THROUGH THIS APRIL’S DAY Delmore Schwartz Calmly we walk through this April’s day, Metropolitan poetry here and there, In the park sit pauper and rentier, The screaming children, the motor-car Fugitive about us, running away, Between the worker … Continue reading

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Personal Anthologies

For the last five years, the writer Jonathan Gibbs has curated a project called A Personal Anthology, where guest editors provide a dozen short story selections. Sometimes the anthologies are Greatest Hits, sometimes they’re personal favorites or central to the … Continue reading

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Get a New York Public Library Card (even if you don’t live there)

One of my favorite places to visit in New York City is the NYPL flagship branch in Manhattan. The grand Stephen A. Schwarzman Building is a must see for any book lover in the city. The grand Beaux-Arts design aside, … Continue reading

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