Category Archives: Writing

Bizarre Books

Brian Lake who manages Jarndyce Antiquarian Booksellers in Bloomsbury, London has compiled  a volume of truly odd and eccentric book covers in his new book Librorum Ridiculorum A Compendium of Bizarre Books. The books in the collection range from fairly … Continue reading

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It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

George Orwell’s seminal dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four became a powerful symbol of resistance to totalitarianism. Last month an impressive reproduction of the novel’s original manuscript was released by SP Books. The only surviving Orwell manuscript of any of his works … Continue reading

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Brooklyn Public Library’s Most Borrowed Book

When I was a young child I spent quite a lot of time in Brooklyn. I did the usual things that Brooklyn kids did; I played stick ball in the street and stuffed my face at the corner candy store. … Continue reading

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Winter Preparations

 

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Vonnegut Centennial

This week marked the 100th anniversary of Kurt Vonnegut’s birth. To celebrate the occasion graphic designer Alicia Raitt has re-imagined 14 of Vonnegut’s book covers. Inspired by 1960s bookcover design, Raitt utilizes the Marber grid, leaving the illustrations to set … Continue reading

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Frankenstein Was a Vegetarian

A six-book shortlist has been released for the Bookseller Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title of the Year. The award was conceived in 1978 by Trevor Bounford and Bruce Robertson, co-founders of publishing solutions firm the Diagram Group, as a way … Continue reading

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When the knock comes, it will be long ago.

THE FALL OF VARIA D. Nurkse The tanks from the Past rolled in this morning. Our neighbors crowded the curbs to cheer though only yesterday, they were snitching: A has prior tendencies, B has backward dreams… Already the old flag … Continue reading

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History Repeats Itself

h/t Tom Gauld

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when the light finally came

Ada Limón’s poem “We Are Surprised”— Now, we take the moon into the middle of our brains so we look like roadside stray cats with bright flashlight-white eyes in our faces, but no real ideas of when or where to … Continue reading

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For the sake of a single poem, you must see many cities

Rainer Maria Rilke // “Ah, poems amount to so little when you write them too early in your life. You ought to wait and gather sense and sweetness for a whole lifetime, and a long one if possible, and then, … Continue reading

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