Category Archives: Writing

The Misery of Manila Folders

Posted on July 8, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

DOLOR Theodore Roethke I have known the inexorable sadness of pencils, Neat in their boxes, dolor of pad and paper weight, All the misery of manilla folders and mucilage, Desolation in immaculate public places, Lonely reception room, lavatory, switchboard, The … Continue reading →

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An American Tale

Posted on July 6, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Jamaican-born author Claudia Rankine is the author of Citizen: An American Lyric. It was named one of the best books of the year in 2014 by numerous media outlets, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, National Public Radio, and Publisher’s Weekly. The … Continue reading →

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How Books Have Helped

Posted on July 5, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Washington D.C. is blessed with an abundance of excellent bookstores. One of my favorites has long been the wonderful Second Story Books in the Dupont Circle neighborhood. Now they have partnered with the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress … Continue reading →

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Memorable Opening Lines

Posted on July 3, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. — F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925) I lost an arm on my last trip home. — Octavia Butler, Kindred (1979) Once … Continue reading →

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The rockets came like locusts.

Posted on June 29, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Like many antiquarian book collectors, I tend to focus on old first editions and elaborately bound illustrated books. Doing so can result in overlooking wonderfully illustrated paperbacks and re-issues such as this terrific 1979 edition of Ray Bradbury’s science fiction … Continue reading →

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The rescue will begin in its own time

Posted on June 28, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

I was really impressed by this illustration for the June 29 issue of The New Yorker magazine by Matt Willey. It accompanies ‘The Rescue Will Begin in Its Own Time‘, a series of short pieces by Franz Kafka that have not been … Continue reading →

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An Honor Without Irony

Posted on June 24, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Last week, an outdoor sculpture honoring the iconic American author J.D. Salinger was dedicated on a hillside near his family’s ancestral home in Lithuania. The artwork celebrates the writer’s most acclaimed novel The Catcher in the Rye. Ironically, Salinger’s 1951 bildungsroman … Continue reading →

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fools elect fools

Posted on June 23, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Dream Song 46 John Berryman  

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Novel Problems

Posted on June 21, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

 

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Another Lazy Caturday

Posted on June 20, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

   

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