Books By Bike

Posted on December 9, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Although Sri Lanka has one of the highest youth literacy rate in South Asia, there are still many villages all across the country with no libraries and no access to books. To address this problem, social worker Mahinda Dasanayaka created the Book and Me project in 2017. Starting with a few dozen books donated by family members and co-workers, he began taking his traveling library by motorcycle to rural villages and distributing books to young people for free.

After some publicity from radio stations, Dasanayaka now has a lending library of more than 3,00 books and he visits at least twenty villages in the Kegalle region each month. Dasanayaka wanted a way to bring people together, especially the two main ethnic groups in Sri Lanka after their civil war which ended in 2009. He says, “Books can be used for the betterment of society and promote ethnic reconciliation—because no one can get angry with books.”

Books and Me is now starting to build little free library outposts in some of the most isolated villages so that the children will have access to reading material all of the time.

 

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Sea of Cortez

Posted on December 8, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

We know it as the Gulf of California, but in 1940 it was called the Sea of Cortez. In that year, the novelist John Steinbeck and marine biologist Ed Ricketts  traveled there to research a book project on the region’s ecology. They sailed to the area in a vessel called the Western Flyer. Their collaboration resulted in a book titled Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research, which was comprised of a narrative log and a 328-page catalogue of marine life.

Now the San Francisco art book publisher Arion Press has published the book in a letterpress “hybrid” edition. The handcrafted, fine press edition incorporates reclaimed wood from the Western Flyer and illustrations by the renowned wood engraver Richard Wagener, as well as an original map and endpapers by artist Martin Machado. The edition is limited to 250 copies in three binding options. The Limited Edition, is “bound in striated pearlescent cloth with deep red coral paper sides imprinted with a starfish motif derived from Wagener,” according to the prospectus. It retails for $2,200. A limited number of Western Flyer prints are also available.

 

 

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A Window on the Universe

Posted on December 7, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Image Credit & Copyright: Zachery Cooley

This extraordinary image was taken at North Window Arch in Arches National Park, Utah, this past October by Zachery Cooley. Not long ago, I spent a few days in and around Arches; it is truly as magnificent as the photos make it out to be. I spent one evening in the park, but my iPhone images don’t capture the magic of the place like this gobsmacking photo. If you are ever in the U.S. southwest, don’t pass up a chance to visit Arches. North Window Arch is just one of thousands of natural rock arches that have been found in Arches National Park near Moab, Utah, USA.

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The Nature of Middle-Earth

Posted on December 6, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

H/T to faithful reader Bonnie B. for this post

Fans of the Tolkien Universe will be happy to hear that a veritable treasure of unpublished writings from J.R.R. Tolkien will be released this coming June by HaperCollins. Titled “The Nature of Middle-Earth,” the new collection will explore themes frequently debated by Tolkien fans, including the immortality of Elves, Middle-Earth geography, Elvish languages, and reincarnation.

The book will be edited by Tolkien expert and NASA engineer Carl F. Hostetter.

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Bookstore Tourism: World’s Oldest Bookshop

Posted on December 5, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Although I have only visited Lisbon once, I had the serendipitous experience of staying in the Chiado district which is home to some of the city’s best cultural attractions, cafés, and the world’s oldest continuously operated bookstore. Livraria Bertrand, which was founded in 1732 by Frenchman Peter Faure, has been certified by Guinness World Records to own the title of oldest bookstore. Today, the original shop is part of a 50-store chain, but it retains an old world charm rarely matched.

Livraria Bertrand suffered significant damage in the catastrophic earthquake of 1755 and had to temporarily relocate, but returned to its present location in 1773. From the outside the bookstore appears to be but just a compact corner shop whose façade is decorated with stunning old azulejos tiles. But once you make your way inside  you’ll discover a warren of tunnels, alcoves, and book-packed chambers with all of the walls covered in historic wooden shelving.

 

 

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An Epic Story for a Hard Year

Posted on December 4, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

To be perfectly honest when I first was introduced to the 1,000-year old epic tale Beowulf in high school I was not a fan, but as they say it grew on me over the years. This year, the writer Maria Dahvana Headley’s released an updated translation of the monster classic. Long a fan of Grendel and his mother, she wrote The Mere Wife in 2018, a precursor to her new translation of the original story, which uses modern day slang to make the story more accessible.

The literary magazine Grand Journal is celebrating this work with an epic 25 day reading, featuring a wide range creative, each of whom will share part of the story in Zoom-captured readings. On the last day, December 25th, all of the videos will be presented in a single stream. Starting on December 1st, with drag queen Miz Cracker, who begins reading with a its original Old English, the series includes readings by Laurie Anderson, Sara Quin, Alan Cumming, Justin Vivian Bond, Neil Gaiman and many more.

 

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Reading is still the path

Posted on December 3, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

“The gears of poverty, ignorance, hopelessness, and low self-esteem mesh to create a kind of perpetual failure machine that grinds down dreams from generation to generation. We all bear the cost of keeping it running. Illiteracy is its linchpin…. Frederick Douglass taught that literacy is the path from slavery to freedom. There are many kinds of slavery and many kinds of freedom. But reading is still the path.”  Carl Sagan

 

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Dear Tourists

Posted on December 2, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

DEAR TOURISTS

Johannes Göransson

Dear Tourists,
You can grope for moist souvenirs in the basement,
but you’ll need patience
because nobody down there will warn you about the floor.
In the street you’ll find squirrels; on my scalp, bumps.
If you want proof for the folks back home that you’ve surged
like a seagull, print your name and number in the bathroom.
If you want a seagull for a pet, talk to my therapist.
If you find her, tell me where she lives, and where her daughter
goes to school. If you want a piece of me, suck my dick.
If you want to sell trips to the general public, take my pulse
or my coffee-table picture-books about Italy.
If there’s a house in the trees, throw up a hammer
and see what falls down. The bleeding kid isn’t
the best prize and you can’t return it, so be careful where
you walk when you’ve had a few.
If there’s a nettle between your shoulder blades
and you’re having trouble breathing, tell the teacher,
but don’t tell her it was me cause it wasn’t.
I was just watching, maybe even laughing at your gurgling sounds.
That incident belongs to somebody else’s amusement park.
I don’t ever want to see it again on this side of the blunt tracks.
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2020 Reading Habits

Posted on December 1, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

The 2020 Covid-19 pandemic forced most of the world to spend more time at home and provided many with unexpected time for leisure activities. Some folks decided to learn a new language, others took up new hobbies, but booklovers discovered the opportunity to get through their reading piles. The infographic below demonstrates just how reading habits changed around the world. The editing and proofreading service Global English Editing gathered these statistics from various sources, including Pew Research and Amazon’s bestsellers page. It found 35 percent of web users worldwide reported reading more during the pandemic, and 14 percent said they read significantly more. This trend was most dramatic in China, where 44 percent of respondents said they increased their reading time due to the coronavirus.

 

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Escape to New York

Posted on November 30, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Every year, the New York Public Library publishes humorous Black Friday ads that promote things like free books and 100%  off coupons. This Thanksgiving the library offered a  “Book Your Dream Getaway.” The “Black Friday travel deal” is an “all-inclusive package”  with “millions of destinations” and an “all-you-can-read buffet.” And this year  you can “travel free from the kitchen to the couch” without concerns about any travel restrictions. The only passport you need to take advantage of these unbelievable deals is a library card because of course, you’ll be traveling via books.

The clever ads are emailed to the NYPL’s subscribers and this year it will also be printed as a full-page advertisement in The New York Times.

 

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