Category Archives: USA

August Everything Is Wrong

Posted on August 4, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

“August” by Mary Oliver Our neighbor, tall and blonde and vigorous, the mother of many children, is sick. We did not know she was sick, but she has come to the fence, walking like a woman who is balancing a … Continue reading →

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Bookstore Tourism

Posted on July 29, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

After many delays, New York City’s historic Strand Bookstore has opened its Upper West Side location at 450 Columbus Avenue, between 81st and 82nd Streets in Manhattan. The store features a combination of new, used and rare books of all genres, … Continue reading →

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wave down to future generations

Posted on July 28, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

“Photograph of a Gathering of People Waving” by Clarence Major based on an old photograph bought in a shop at Half Moon Bay, summer, 1999 No sound, the whole thing. Unknown folk. People waving from a hillside of ripple grass … Continue reading →

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It’s really about the coffee

Posted on July 27, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

These days I spend an inordinate amount of time on my coffee roasting obsession. When I’m not researching green beans to buy, I’m looking for books and articles on coffee in general. I recently stumbled on this unusual artist book … Continue reading →

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NYC: Word on the Street

Posted on July 26, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

The NYC-based street artist known as “Almost Over Keep Smiling” gave a minor update to  slightly reinterpret this 19th century warning poster telling anybody who was Black in a “free” state like New York to stay away from the police … Continue reading →

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Decameron 2020

Posted on July 24, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

The New York Times magazine recently published a Decameron for our plague times. The  29 free short stories were written by some of today’s most acclaimed writers. The project editor wrote: Inspired by Giovanni Boccaccio’s “The Decameron,” a 14th-century collection … Continue reading →

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A Tale for Plague Times

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

“The Masque of Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe The “Red Death” had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness and the horror of blood. … Continue reading →

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there’s a bluebird in my heart

Posted on July 16, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Charles Bukowski there’s a bluebird in my heart that wants to get out but I’m too tough for him, I say, stay in there, I’m not going to let anybody see you. there’s a bluebird in my heart that wants … Continue reading →

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Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

Posted on July 11, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

This wonderful volume is the 1934 Limited Editions Club re-issue of Erewhon by the English Novelist Samuel Butler, with a special introduction by Aldous Huxley, and illustrated with 10 color lithographs and reproductions of 30 line drawings by American artist Rockwell Kent. The edition of … Continue reading →

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This Side of Paradise

Posted on July 10, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

  Scribner has just issued a set of new,elegant editions of F.Scott Fitzgerald novels. The series of five “collectible” hardcover editions feature new dust jacket designs. The titles include The Great Gatsby, Tender is the Night, The Beautiful and Damned, The Last … Continue reading →

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