Category Archives: Writing

Pleasures of a good bookshop

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Waterstone’s, the last large bookstore chain standing in the UK, is launching a clever print ad campaign to encourage bookshop browsing. The ads are set to run in the London Underground, in national newspapers, online and in outdoor locations. It … Continue reading →

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Or, the Whale

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Yesterday, Google treated us to a neat Google Doodle to celebrate the 161st anniversary of the publication of Moby Dick, or, the whale, the iconic American novel by Herman Melville. If you have yet to meet the challenge of the … Continue reading →

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Literary Snacks

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Taipei-based web and graphic designer Alice Wang has created the “Quote Vendor” —a novel vending machine that dispenses bottled literary extracts just like snack food. Each plastic bottle contains an individual text quote along with the book’s title and author’s … Continue reading →

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All Hallow’s Read Is Coming

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Are you ready for All Hallow’s Read ? Do you even know what it is ? Want to find out more? Then check-out this little video presentation by Neil Gaiman, who created the new “literary holiday” way back in 2010. … Continue reading →

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Vintage Murakami

Posted on October 7, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Vintage books has reissued its Haruki Murakami 15-book backlist with redesigned covers based on a unified color palette of red, black and white, and the use of the circle as a central motif. The original illustrations were screenprinted by Israeli-born … Continue reading →

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Ban This Book

Posted on October 6, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Today is the final official day of 2012 Banned Book Week. I thought we’d “celebrate” with this comic created by Grant Snider. You can see more of Grant’s clever work over at his website called Incidental Comics. Take a look.

Posted in Art, Books, Freedom of Speech, USA, Writing | Tagged | 2 Comments

A Sense of Place

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Penguin has created a very cool audio/visual tour of London locales that appear in Zadie Smith’s new novel NW. The “tour” covers four significant locations in the book, including Camden Lock. Users can launch location videos with layered audio readings … Continue reading →

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Bane of Banned Books

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Banned Books Week is the national book community’s annual celebration of the freedom to read. Hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the United States draw attention to the dangers of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a … Continue reading →

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How Insulting

Posted on September 23, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

Here’s the perfect little tool for crafting witty three-word responses to those churlish, boil-brained flap-dragons who post ridiculously offensive comments to your Facebook posts. Just choose one word from each column and let the Elizabethan insults fly. Related articles Barbed … Continue reading →

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The Key to Character

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Brian D. Butler

In celebration of the bicentennial of Charles Dickens’ birth, the New York Public Library has opened a wonderful, special exhibition called “Charles Dickens: The Key to Character”. Running through January 27, 2013, and held in the iconic Stephen A. Schwartzman … Continue reading →

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