I know, some of you are shaking your heads and saying “enough with the cover art”, but too bad, cause here’s some more.
This year John Le Carré’s U.S. publisher Penguin has reissued most of his novels with stunning new covers by British illustrator Matt Taylor
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If you never read the Hobbit and you’re just too busy (or too lazy) to read it before Peter Jackson’s film version is released, why not check out The Brothers Grim and Grimy’s Hobbit Under 2 Minutes . Writer Declan Moran describes his Cliff Notes version of the Hobbit as “Valley Girl+Hobbit+Lebowski”. That about says it all.
In an unprecedented effort to support booksellers in France, an ambitious advertising campaign has been launched this week. A consortium of labor groups that represent booksellers, publishers and bookstores is financing the effort to encourage French readers to visit bricks and mortar bookstores and to attend signings, book launches and literary events.
Several periodicals and newspapers, including L’Express, Le Monde, Le Figaro, Libération, Le Point and Le Nouvel Observateur, have donated more than €500,000 in ad space to the campaign.
You can read more about the story at the book news website Actualitté.
It’s officially dubbed the “travel accelerator” by Netherlands Railway, but to the folks in Utrecht it’s de glijbaan and it’s just plain fun. Open for about two weeks, the slide has been a huge success.Installed along the stairway at the newly renovated Utrecht Overvecht stattion, the way cool slide offers commuters and travelers a quick way to the train platform. The only down side is that it doesn’t function well in the rain.
Check out this POV video on the big slide.
Again here’s what Dutch TV had to say about the travel accelerator. (note the uncalled for dig at Americans)
You’ve got to love Chicago-based artist/designer Christian Jackson’s clever reimagining of covers for classic children’s books and fairy tales.
Hat-tip to our friends at Any Amount of Books, London for this suggestion:
Michigan librarians Mary and Holly have been compiling their hilarious, and sometimes scary, blog of Awful Library Books for almost four years. I know that booklovers and bibliophiles are supposed to value all books, and library books in particular, but this is funny stuff. Feel free to submit suggestions from your local library, with commentary, to submit@awfullibrarybooks.net .
Last Sunday, the New York Times Sunday Book Review inaugurated a new column on writing entitled “Reading Life“, which will be penned by none other Geoff Dyer. If you haven’t had a chance to read the first column, it’s a cleverish satire/parody/evisceration of Michael Fried’s Why Photography Matters As Art and on the the insidious style of writing in which authors smother the reader with explanations of what they intend to write about, if the reader has the patience to stick it out.
Now, I’m a huge fan of Geoff Dyer, Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi, Paris Trance, Yoga For People Who Can’t be Bothered, all great books, but I’m not sure about this column. Is it too clever by half? Did he skewer too easy a target? What do you think?
Located in the heart of Paris, Le Manoir de Paris is the city’s newest tourist attraction. Created by Belgian Adil Houti, this haunted mansion presents an interactive tour through thirteen dark historical legends of Paris.
The frightening vignettes, populated by roaming ghouls and villains, explore the stories of the Paris Catacombs, the Prisoner in the Iron Mask, Crocodiles in the Paris sewer system, the infamous Theatre des Vampires, the Ghost of the Tuileries, the Assassin’s Caberet and seven other scary legends.
Le Manoir de Paris is situated just a short walk from the Gare l’Est at 18 rue de Paradis. The haunted mansion is open Thursday through Sunday and is not recommended for children under 10, although American kids would probably find it tamer than the usual Halloween haunted house.
Travel Between The Pages 