Chronicle Books is offering 35% off with the coupon code FRIENDS at checkout through Aug 5 – along with free shipping with minimum purchase.
Sweet Summer Sale: Dalkey Archive Paperbacks
Through Wednesday, July 29 every Dalkey Archive paperback edition is on sale, with free shipping within the United States (outside the U.S. email Melissa Kennedy directly at kennedy_at_dalkeyarchive.com for shipping costs). When you click on one of the offers, it will take you to a shopping cart page, then just list the titles you would like in the “comments” box that will appear prior to checkout. Shop before you drop!
And remember, if not for you – consider supporting your local public and school libraries by adding some great titles to their collections!
5 books for $35 w/free shipping
10 books for $65 w/free shipping
20 books $120 w/free shipping
61 Essential Postmodern Reads
61 essential postmodern reads: an annotated list by Carolyn Kellogg, NYT – with nifty graphic annotations that highlight “the author is a character, fiction and reality are blurred, the text includes fictional artifacts, such as letters, lyrics, even whole other books, and so on.”
Pearl’s Summer Picks
Hemingway Reissue: A Moveable Feast
Reissued from Simon & Shuster: “When Ernest Hemingway died in 1961 he had nearly completed A Moveable Feast, which eventually was published posthumously in 1964 and edited by his widow Mary Hemingway. This new special edition of Hemingway’s classic memoir of his early years in Paris in the 1920’s presents the original manuscript as the author intended it to be published at the time of his death. This new publication also includes a number of unfinished Paris sketches on writing and experiences that Hemingway had with his son, Jack, his wife Hadley, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ford Maddox Ford and others. A personal foreword by Patrick Hemingway, Ernest’s sole surviving son, precedes an introduction by the editor, Sean Hemingway, grandson of the author. It is a literary feast, brilliantly evoking the exuberant mood of Paris after World War I and the youthful spirit, unbridled creativity, and unquenchable enthusiasm that Hemingway himself epitomized.”
Book Cover Banquet
With (currently) over 1000 images, The Book Cover Archive presents “An Archive of Book Cover Designs and Designers for the Purpose of Appreciation and Categorization.” You can browse all, or refine to browsing to full alpha lists of designers, titles, authors, art directors, photographers, illustrators, genres, publication date and publishers. Thanks for the feast goes to Ben Pieratt and Eric Jacobsen who edit and maintain The Book Cover Archive.
New and Noteworthy Books
Check out NewPages New and Noteworthy Books page for a list and information about some of the newest releases and soon-to-be-released titles from small, independent, alternative and university presses. Updated regularly, but also archived monthly, so you can go back and take a look at previous posts.
Birds+Haiku+Watercolors
Another beautiful book of poetry from Candlewick Press. I just happened to come across several of these lately, so I’ll be having something to say about them here. This one is The Cuckoo’s Haiku and Other Birding Poems by Michael J. Rosen, illustrated by Stan Fellows. Divided into four seasonal sections, each includes 5-7 birds for a total of 24. Each bird gets a two-page spread that includes full color watercolor images, a haiku, and script-style notes on the bird, such as this comment on the Common Grackle’s call: “harsh song is a rusty gate: ‘readle-eak!'”
The illustrations are absolutely lush. Some are full two-page scenes of the birds and their habitats, others include scenes with a variety of collage inset images of the bird. I cannot image anyone who enjoys poetry or birds not finding a comfortable liking in this book. That it is a “children’s” book is almost a misnoemer; indeed, I know a half dozen adults who would appreciate it. The script-style text might actually even be difficult for some younger children, but that only helps to make it a book best shared between adult and child.
An additional four-page section at the back of the book, “Notes for Birdwatchers and Haiku Lovers,” includes more specific species details as well as some author comments on the influence of the bird on his haiku. A neatly complete little book, perfect for National Poetry Month, and *finally* spring!
Online Book Swaps
Phil Dzikiy of The Tonawanda News reviews five of the “most popular” online book trading Web sites that offer free membership: “Raw numbers and service details were taken into consideration, but we also checked to see if certain books were available, in ascending order of rarity: The relatively recent and popular Life of Pi by Yann Martel, anything by noted Japanese author Haruki Murakami and This Perfect Day, a dystopian novel by Ira Levin which has been out of print for years.”
Book Vending Machines?
Cannibal Books Offers 2009 Subscription
Cannibal Books is are currently selling subscriptions for $60, which includes all their 2009 publications:
Cannibal: Issue Four
Narwhal
Sent Forth to Die in a Happy City by Keith Newton
Pardon Me, Madam by Marvyn Petrucci
Someone Else’s Body by Claire Donato
Identity by Kevin Holden
Untitled Wave by Carolyn Guinzio
Transparency by Patrick Morrissey
Autumn it gestures. by Thomas Hummel
The Nightmare Filled You with Scary by Shane Jones
“Search Party” by Frank Stanford (broadside, 2008)
& any other books we release in 2009
Reading List: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Paper Cuts, the NYT’s blog about books, offers a list of books previously reviewed on their site, for those looking for “behind-the-news” reading on the recent conflict attention.
Dog Lovers :: LJ Book Collection
Collection Development “Dog Care & Training”: The Well-Behaved Dog
By Kristine M. Alpi & Barbara L. Sherman
Library Journal
November 1, 2008
To Dumb Down or Not to Dumb Down
A Writer And Reader On Why Book Publishers Fail
Lawrence Osborne
Forbes.com
December 12, 2008
The commentary begins: “They dumb everything down.”
And further, this:
“Here, then, is my memo to publishers. Why are you not venturing out to connect with the vast market of recent college graduates who are thirsting for serious writing and who have been grappling with difficult and often sterile texts for years and want something different?
“My son and his friends, who are in their early twenties, read Houllebecq and Bola
SPD Sale
End of Capitalism Sale at SPD Books – 75% off several dozen titles.
Every Best of 2008
Looking for the “Best of 2008” book lists? Look no further, as Largehearted Boy has gone obsessive in collecting them all! I don’t have an exact count, but I’d say he’s got over 200 online sources on that list – and growing.
Largehearted Boy is a music blog featuring daily free and legal music downloads as well as news from the worlds of music, literature, and pop culture. LB has run best-of music lists, but this year is “aggregating 2008 year-end online book lists in this post and updating the list daily as new lists are added.” He welcomes you to send along a link to lists not on his, well, list.
Tupelo Holiday Sale
Just in time for the holidays: every full-length paperback book is $10.00 from now until January 1, 2009, when ordered directly from the Tupelo Press website.
Yes We Can :: The Book
After almost two years of following Barack Obama, Scout Tufankjian’s photographs will be collected in a book: YES WE CAN: Barack Obama’s History Making Campaign.
Scout Tufankjian is a photojournalist based in Brooklyn, New York, with clients including Newsweek, Essence, US News & World Report, Le Monde, Newsday, and The New York Times. She was not employed by or affiliated with the Obama campaign in any manner, shape, or form, but was a journalist covering the campaign.
The website itself has over 500 images from the campaign trail as well as information about ordering the book.
DZANC Books Write-A-Thon!
“As you may know, Dzanc Books is a non-profit organization, established to not only publish great books, but to work nationally in set communities to provide writing workshops and year round programs for students and adults alike. These programs include our Dzanc Writer in Residency Programs, The Dzanc Prize, programs with the Ann Arbor Book Festival, author readings, single session and weekly session workshops which function in a slightly different capacity than our year-round DWIRPS.
“With the economy coming completely off its rails, traditional means of raising funds – writing grants, corporate sponsorships, etc. – have become less successful. Here at Dzanc, we like to try and make raising money both as fun, and valuable, an experience as possible. With this in mind, we have come up with an alternative and interactive plan which we think not only furthers our mission but is something those participating in will enjoy. If it sounds like something you’d like to participate in, please email us at [email protected].”
The idea behind the write-a-thon will be similar to bowl-a-thons, or walk-a-thons, or, well you get the picture – other a-thons that you’ve probably supported or participated in during your lifetime, only with writing being the catalyst to the raising of funds. For one day, people will volunteer to write to help raise money, and they will ask people to fill out a donation sheet to support their efforts.
Write the Music
Best Music Writing 2008
by Daphne Carr, Nelson George
Oct 6, 2008
Published by Da Capo Press
Best music writing is the definitive guide to the year in music writing, an annual feast of essays, missives, and musings on every musical style by critics, novelists, and musicians themselves. Culled from publications ranging from blogs to the New Yorker, the 2008 edition captures a year in music writing as diverse and riveting as the music it illuminates. Writers who have appeared in Best Music Writing include: Greil Marcus, Sarah Vowell, Nick Tosches, Jonathan Lethem, Dave Eggers, David Rakoff, David Hadju, Lenny Kaye, The Onion, Gary Giddins, Jessica Hopper, Luc Sante, Kelefa Sanneh, David Byrne, Daphne A. Brooks, Jody Rosen, Anne Midgette, Sasha Frere-Jones, Elizabeth M
Cooking with the Axis of Evil – Yum!
“Chris Fair has dined with soldiers in the Khyber Pass and with prostitutes in Delhi, rummaged for fish in Jaffna, and sipped Taliban tea in Peshawar. Cuisines of the Axis of Evil is a sophisticated, fun, and provocative cookbook with easy-to-follow recipes from both America’s traditional enemies in foreign policy—including Iran, Iraq, and North Korea—and friends of the U.S. who are nonetheless irritating by any measure. In addition, each country section includes all the smart, acerbic geopolitical nuggetry you need to talk the talk with the best of them. Recipes include Iranian chicken in a walnut pomegranate stew, Iraqi kibbe, and North Korean spicy cucumber, as well as special teas, mango salads, beverage suggestions, and much more.”
Share! via BookMooch
Founded by John Buckman, BookMooch is an online community for exchanging used books. You give a book and earn points, then use your points to get books you want from someone else on BookMooch. There’s no cost to join; you are responsible for paying the postage when you mail your books to someone else, but that’s it. BookMooch might make some money from users who click over to Amazon to buy books, but other than that, it’s yet another labor of love. You can donate points to charities – and there’s a long list of them – lots of prison outreach programs, which is great to see. You can also request to have a charity listed with them. International exchanges are also welcome. There’s lots more to it, and lots more info on the site (including statistics, which indicate that there have been nearly a million books mooched in the past year!).
5 Under 35 Recognized
Five young fiction writers will be recognized by the National Book Foundation at the “5 Under 35” celebration at Tribeca Cinemas on Monday, November 17, announced Harold Augenbraum, executive director of the National Book Foundation. These five writers have each been selected by a previous National Book Award Finalist or Winner as someone whose work is particularly promising and exciting and is among the best of a new generation of writers.
The 2008 5 Under 35 are:
Matthew Eck
The Farther Shore
(Milkweed Editions, 2007)
Selected by Joshua Ferris, 2007 Fiction Finalist for Then We Came to the End
Keith Gessen
All the Sad Young Literary Men
(Viking Press, 2008)
Selected by Jonathan Franzen, 2001 Fiction Winner for The Corrections
Sana Krasikov
One More Year: Stories
(Spiegel & Grau, 2008)
Selected by Francine Prose, 2000 Fiction Finalist for Blue Angel
Nam Le
The Boat
(Knopf, 2008)
Selected by Mary Gaitskill, 2005 Fiction Finalist for Veronica
Fiona Maazel
Last Last Chance
(FSG, 2008)
Selected by Jim Shepard, 2007 Finalist for Like You’d Understand Anyway
A Sixth Hitchiker’s Guide? Uh-oh…
Eoin Colfer to write sixth Hitchhiker’s Guide book
Guardian.uk
“Douglas Adams’s increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy is to be extended to six titles, after Adams’s widow Jane Belson sanctioned a project which will see children’s author Eoin Colfer taking up the story.”[Read the rest here]
I feel a storm brewing among Hitchiker fans…
Books :: Poets for Palestine
Poets For Palestine was published to unite a diverse range of poets, spoken word artists, and hip-hop artists who have used their words to elevate the consciousness of humanity. Sixty years after the dispossession of the Palestinian people, this anthology presents forty-eight poems alongside original works by Palestinian artists. All proceeds from the sale of this collection will go toward funding future cultural projects that highlight Arab artistry in the United States.
Reissue :: On Reading
On Reading
W.W. Norton, September 2008
ISBN 978-0-393-06656-2
68 duotone photographs/80 pages
“André Kertész (1894-1985) was one of the most inventive, influential and prolific photographers in the medium’s history. This small volume, first published in 1971, became one of his signature works. Taken between 1920 and 1970, these photographs capture people reading in many parts of the world. Readers in every conceivable place—on rooftops, in public parks, on crowded streets, waiting in the wings of the school play—are caught in a deeply personal, yet universal, moment. Kertész’s images celebrate the absorptive power and pleasure of this solitary activity and speak to readers everywhere. Both playful and poetic, On Reading is reissued with striking new duotone reproductions. Fans of photography and literature alike will welcome this classic.”
Springsteen’s Ten Suggestions for Spiritual Living
From The Gospel According to Bruce Springsteen by Jeffrey B. Symynkywicz – posted in full with comments on NPR.
1. The world has gone awry.
2. There is a power within the souls of men and women to transcend the world and to achieve real victories in spite of the world.
3. The world is as it is.
4. Life without connections is empty and dangerous.
5. Our stories symbolize something deeper.
6. Life is embodied.
7. It’s all about change.
8. There is no guarantee of success.
9. Hope is resilient.
10. There is always something more.
Hey pal, can I bum a book?
What’s Next – Roll Your Own Literature?
By Alison Morris
Publishers Weekly
July 24, 2008
“I’m really not quite sure what to make of this idea…. In 2007 the U.K.-based TankBooks published a series of classic books in small form – cigarette pack-sized form, to be exact – and packaged them in, essentially, cigarette packages. They called this series Books to Take Your Breath Away.'”
Read more on Publishers Weekly.
The “Obscure” Summer Reading List
Posted last week on the Village Voice, this article includes a list of famous writers’ favorite obscure books, each with a brief comment. Check out a few mentions here:
Our Favorite Writers Pick Their Favorite Obscure Books
by Alexander Nazaryan
From the Village Voice Summer Guide
May 13th, 2008
Jennifer Egan
You Can’t Live Forever, by Harold Q. Masur
John Banville
Some People, by Harold Nicolson
Donna Tartt
Blood in the Parlor, by Dorothy Dunbar
Rick Moody
Frank Zappa: The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play, by Ben Watson
Jonathan Ames
The Lunatic at Large, by J. Storer Clouston
Read the rest of the list complete with comments on Village Voice online.
Books :: Victorian Women’s Relationships
Between Women
Friendship, Desire, and Marriage in Victorian England
by Sharon Marcus
Women in Victorian England wore jewelry made from each other’s hair and wrote poems celebrating decades of friendship. They pored over magazines that described the dangerous pleasures of corporal punishment. A few had sexual relationships with each other, exchanged rings and vows, willed each other property, and lived together in long-term partnerships described as marriages. But, as Sharon Marcus shows, these women were not seen as gender outlaws. Their desires were fanned by consumer culture, and their friendships and unions were accepted and even encouraged by family, society, and church. Far from being sexless angels defined only by male desires, Victorian women openly enjoyed looking at and even dominating other women. Their friendships helped realize the ideal of companionate love between men and women celebrated by novels, and their unions influenced politicians and social thinkers to reform marriage law.
Through a close examination of literature, memoirs, letters, domestic magazines, and political debates, Marcus reveals how relationships between women were a crucial component of femininity. Deeply researched, powerfully argued, and filled with original readings of familiar and surprising sources, Between Women overturns everything we thought we knew about Victorian women and the history of marriage and family life. It offers a new paradigm for theorizing gender and sexuality–not just in the Victorian period, but in our own.
Sharon Marcus is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.
*Thanks to Bronte Blog for noting this book.
A First! :: First Book on eBay
From Kyle Zimmer, President, First Book:
First Book is joining forces with eBay Foundation, the charitable arm of eBay Inc., for Community Gives – an online fundraising campaign designed to engage the eBay Community in supporting First Book’s mission to provide new books to the children who need them most.
First Book is one of only three organizations eBay Foundation has chosen to support, based on input from the eBay Community. The campaign kicked off on Monday with a $1 million grant split evenly among First Book, Best Friends Animal Society and Oxfam. In addition, to encourage participation eBay Foundation will give an extra dollar to First Book for every person who donates.
Funds generated will support First Book’s to reach and provide brand new books and educational resources to tens of thousands more Recipient Groups nationwide.
I’m an Author, He’s an Author, She’s an Author…
Wouldn’t you like to be an Author too?
Rachel Donadio’s essay in the Sunday New York Times Book Review, You’re an Author? Me Too! explores this very phenomenon – or is it pestilence – of book “publishing.” Beginning with what we all know by now – U.S.ers are reading less, yet, “In 2007, a whopping 400,000 books were published or distributed in the United States, up from 300,000 in 2006, according to the industry tracker Bowker, which attributed the sharp rise to the number of print-on-demand books and reprints of out-of-print titles.”
And at the same time our nation is reading less, there are more writers in the U.S. than at any other time in our history, and credentialed MFA programs kicking out an exponentially growing number of these. Additionally, Donadio notes that for as little as $3.50 a copy, “authors” can have their books printed and distributed through Amazon, and Borders is no in the fray, offering print packages starting at $300, with the “premium package,” which includes some actual editorial work, starting at $500.
While Donadio discusses the role of the writing programs as the “democratizer” of the talent pool, Gabriel Zaid, critic and author of “So Many Books: Reading and Publishing in the Age of Abundance,” says: “Everyone now can afford to preach in the desert.”
Good? Bad? Hard as writers, publishers – and readers – to be indifferent on this topic.
Read the full article here.
Support Poetry in Schools
Special Tupelo Press Limited Edition Hardcovers Support Poetry in the Schools
Tupelo Press kicked off its Poetry in the Schools fundraising initiative with a series of limited edition hardcover books. The following recent releases are available in numbered, signed editions for $100. There are only 100 copies of each hardcover.
Dismal Rock by Davis McCombs
Psalm by Carol Ann Davis
Spill by Michael Chitwood
Inflorescence by Sarah Hannah is also available in a numbered limited edition hardcover (of 200) for $100.
Proceeds from the sales of these special releases go to support Tupelo’s Poetry in the Schools program, which will bring poets into grammar schools and high schools across the country to deliver the joy and wonder of poetry to a nation of school children who have suffered under tremendous cuts to their arts budgets.
You may order through the Tupelo Press website or by calling directly, 802-366-8185.
Free Books Anyone?
17 Ways to Get Free Books
From the Frugal Panda Blog
“You can never have too many books, so we are delighted to share with you some ways to get them for free. From children’s books to technical books, there are numerous resources that offer literature for free. Some of the following sites offer actual printed books, while others feature electronic books (aka ‘ebooks’).”
A great list with descriptions of each resource. Thank FP!
The Novella :: MHP Series
Too Short to be a novel, too long to be a short story – what, exactly, is a novella?
An award-winning series from Melville House Publishing answers the question by taking a look at the renegade form in all its varieties, as practiced by some of history’s greatest writers. It does so in a beautifully packaged and inexpensive line featuring many titles that have never been published as stand-alone books before, many that are otherwise unavailable, and many that are in sparkling new translations. Consider these for classroom use as well as personal reading! Visit The Art of the Novel page on MHP’s Web site for more information.
BARTLEBY THE SCRIVENER by HERMAN MELVILLE
THE LESSON OF THE MASTER by HENRY JAMES
MY LIFE by ANTON CHEKHOV
THE DEVIL by LEO TOLSTOY
THE TOUCHSTONE by EDITH WHARTON
THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES by ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
THE DEAD by JAMES JOYCE
FIRST LOVE by IVAN TURGENEV
A SIMPLE HEART by GUSTAVE FLAUBERT
THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING by RUDYARD KIPLING
MICHAEL KOHLHAAS by HEINRICH VON KLEIST
THE BEACH OF FALESA by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
THE HORLA by GUY DE MAUPASSANT
THE ETERNAL HUSBAND by FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY
THE MAN THAT CORRUPTED HADLEYBURG by MARK TWAIN
THE LIFTED VEIL by GEORGE ELIOT
THE GIRL WITH THE GOLDEN EYES by HONORE DE BALZAC
A SLEEP AND A FORGETTING by WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS
BENITO CERENO by HERMAN MELVILLE
MATHILDA by MARY SHELLEY
A CASTLE IN TRANSYLVANIA by JULES VERNE
STEMPENIU: A JEWISH ROMANCE by SHOLEM ALEICHEM
FREYA OF THE SEVEN ISLES by JOSEPH CONRAD
HOW THE TWO IVANS QUARRELLED by NIKOLAI GOGOL
THE LEMOINE AFFAIR by MARCEL PROUST
THE COXON FUND by HENRY JAMES
MAY DAY by F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
RASSELAS, PRINCE OF ABYSSINIA by SAMUEL JOHNSON
THE DECEITFUL MARRIAGE by MIGUEL DE CERVANTES
AlterNet :: Best Progressive Books of 2007
2007 was a banner year for progressive books, but two stand out as true groundbreakers: Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine and Jeremy Scahill’s Blackwater, published by Nation Books. They are co-winners in AlterNet’s 10 Best Books of 2007 contest.
Visit AlterNet list of Best Progressives Books of 2007, which include short summaries of the top 10 books and a list of “honorable mention” titles, with links to all.
By Don Hazen, AlterNet
Posted January 31, 2008
Valentine’s Special :: Calyx Books
Pick from four books of poetry published by Calyx Press and add a box of handmade Bursts’s Chocolates to send to your sweetie for Valentine’s Day and get a 20% discount on the books. Order by February 8 to assure delivery by February 14. Titles for 20% discount include: Idleness is the Root of all Love by Christa Reinig; Femme’s Dictionary by Carol Guess; The White Junk of Love, Again by Sybil James; The Country of Women by Sandra Kohler. Nothing says love like poetry and chocolate! (Okay, well, maybe beer and poetry…)
Books :: WriteGirl
Lines of Velocity
Words That Move From WriteGirl
WriteGirl Publications
“The 6th Anthology is a wondrous and diverse collection – stories, poems, songs, musings, rants and essays – showcasing the unique and eclectic female voices of new and accomplished writers from WriteGirl. These girls and women speak freely and share openly on everything from the intensity of a teenager’s bad day to the exhilaration of finding love in urban Los Angeles. Touching on both personal and universal themes in response to the many worlds they live in, the WriteGirls invite you to spend some time exploring their words that move! Includes writing experiments from monthly workshops of the WriteGirl season.”
WriteGirl is a nonprofit organization for high school girls centered on the craft of creative writing and empowerment through self-expression. Through one-on-one mentoring and monthly workshops, girls are given techniques, insights and hot tips for great writing in all genres from professional women writers.
Book :: The Creative Imagination
Imagination in Action
Edited by Carol Malyon
The Mercury Press
“This book is a collection of essays and articles by Canadian painters and sculptors, musicians and composers, poets and novelists and journalists. Teachers, choreographers, actors, book-store owners, cooks, farmers, needle-workers… Trying to understand the world and our place in it; to bring order out of chaos; to figure out who we are, where we are, what we are doing here. Sometimes trying to communicate with others. Who are you? What are you doing? Here’s what I’ve been creating. This is my version of the world. Is it the same as yours? Creative folks discuss what they do, and why, and how they do it. Apparently there’s not one correct way. Forget those how-to books. Find your own method. You too can be creative.”
Cool Stuff :: Northland Poster Collective
Northland Poster Collective online gallery and catalog store featuring the art of social justice, the tools of grassroots union organizing and labor activism, and the craft of union workers: Posters, Labor Books, Buttons, Bumper Stickers, Calendars, Note Cards, Iraq Note Cards, Holiday Cards, T-Shirts, Baby Clothes, Vietnam Era Originals, Vintage Poster Sets, Mugs, Mouse Pads, Coasters, Postcards, CDs, Cloth Hangings, Decals, Sweatshirts, Books & Videos, Hats, Signs. Featuring Immigrants Rights, Political Campaigns, Anti-WalMart, Iraq Art Project.
Books :: Design Like You Give A Damn
The greatest humanitarian challenge we face today is that of providing shelter. Currently one in seven people lives in a slum or refugee camp, and more than three billion people — nearly half the world’s population — do not have access to clean water or adequate sanitation. The physical design of our homes, neighborhoods, and communities shapes every aspect of our lives. Yet too often architects are desperately needed in the places where they can least be afforded.
Edited by Architecture for Humanity, Design Like You Give a Damn is a compendium of innovative projects from around the world that demonstrate the power of design to improve lives. This first book to bring the best of humanitarian architecture and design to the printed page offers a history of the movement toward socially conscious design and showcases more than 80 contemporary solutions to such urgent needs as basic shelter, health care, education, and access to clean water, energy, and sanitation.
Design Like You Give a Damn is an indispensable resource for designers and humanitarian organizations charged with rebuilding after disaster and engaged in the search for sustainable development. It is also a call to action to anyone committed to building a better world.
Books :: Little Toot Redux
From NPR: “In honor of what would have been Gramatky’s 100th birthday, Penguin Putnam is reissuing a restored version of Little Toot, reviving the rich colors that were diminished in subsequent editions. The book also features full-color manuscript sketches, and reintroduces parts of the book’s original bindings. Scott Simon and Daniel Pinkwater preview [audio online] the newly released version of the children’s classic.”
Noir Near You :: Akashic Books
Akashic Books Noir Series
After the stunning success of the summer ’04 award-winning bestseller Brooklyn Noir, Akashic Books launched a groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies. Each book is comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book. Numerous regional readings are scheduled for new releases, so check your area for events. So far in the series, either done, just released or soon to be (check their website for details):
Havana Noir
Bronx Noir
Baltimore Noir
Brooklyn Noir 2
Brooklyn Noir 3
Chicago Noir
DC Noir
DC Noir 2: The Classics
Dublin Noir
London Noir
Los Angeles Noir
Manhattan Noir
Miami Noir
New Orleans Noir
San Francisco Noir
San Francisco Noir 2: The Classics
Twin Cities Noir
Wall Street Noir
Detroit Noir
Queens Noir
Las Vegas Noir
Toronto Noir
Trinidad Noir
Delhi Noir (India)
Istanbul Noir (Turkey)
Lagos Noir (Nigeria)
Manhattan Noir 2:
Mexico City Noir
Moscow Noir (Russia)
Paris Noir (France)
Rome Noir (Italy)
Tupelo Press :: Dorset Prize Publication and Fundraiser
Tupelo Press has announced the publication of Dorset Prize winner Davis McCombs’s Dismal Rock. In addition to the paperback publication, signed, numbered, limited hardcover edition of 100 are available for $100. The purchase of the special hardcover edition supports the Tupelo Press National Poetry in the Schools initiative, bringing the literary arts alive to students in elementary schools across the country.
The Banned Books Challenge: Are you reader enough?
From The Inkwell Bookstore Blog, Tuesday, October 2, 2007:
“Banned Book Week is the book industry’s annual celebration of their own self-satisfaction and self-importance. Bookstores everywhere (including us) hang signs in their windows and around their stores boasting that THEY. SELL. BANNED. BOOKS. They get a write up in the local paper, place little white cards around their store and (inevitably) blog about it, and for what? To make themselves feel progressive and important. But of all the books that they are so ‘bravely’ selling, how many have been considered ‘dangerous’ in the past ten years? How many have been banned in a marginally enlightened society in the past twenty years? None. Ooh…you sell Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Huck Finn. How cutting edge! That really sticks it to The Man. Are you serious? I bet you Bill O’Reilly wouldn’t even say anything bad about freakin’ Huck Finn. But how many copies of the Anarchist’s Cookbook does your store have on hand? Or Mein Kampf? Or…”[Read the rest.]
BookCrossing: The Catch and Release of Books
This is a blast. You register your book on the site (for free) and get a printout to post in the book. Then you “release” the book into the human wilds with a note on it that indicates it’s a free book for the finder to read, log onto the web site and write about (track), and re-release it for another reader to find. Finders/Readers can make their own comments on the book – where they found it, what they thought of it, where they’ve left it, etc. It’s a great community recycling project that has to make somebody’s dream come true: “If I ruled the world, books would be free and would just appear on park benches or on subways at random…” Go now, register one of your (many, many – I know you have TOO many) books, and set it free. It’s time. BookCrossing.
Eco-Libris: The Guiltless Gift
Have a big reader on your gift list? Tired of buying corporate gift cards? Here’s a twist: help your reader reduce their footprint (or is it spine print) on the planet with Eco-Libris. For every book you read, you can “balance it out” by paying Eco-Libris to plant a tree for you. And it’s cheap: five bucks to balance out five books. A buck a book. There’s a slight break the higher you go, but seriously, this is cheaper than my state tax on a single book, and I have NO idea where that money even goes (although the nightly news does give some indication). The goal of EcoLibris is grand: “We want to balance out half a million books by the end of 2008.” Okay folks, let’s get started!
Remember Your First Book?
First Book is a nonprofit organization with a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. We provide an ongoing supply of new books to children participating in community-based mentoring, tutoring, and family literacy programs.
Over the summer, First Book asked the question: What book got you hooked? On the site now are the results, including responses from Joyce Carol Oates, Edward Norton, Joan Allen, Rebecca Romijn, John Lithgow, Eric Carle, Judy Woodruff, Marlee Matlin, Rick Reilly, John Krasinski, Lisa Loeb, Joshua Bell, Elizabeth Gilbert and many more.
What’s on YOUR iPod?
How about FREE audiobooks? LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net. Their goal is to make all public domain books available as free audio books. They are a totally volunteer, open source, free content, public domain project. Download HEAVEN for the literati! LibriVox also welcomes volunteer readers and listeners for editing recorded works and maintains a strong community among its regulars with message boards and podcast updates.
Book Sale! Coach House Books
Who can resist a sale, especially when it involves books, and especially from a really cool small press? “The Scorching Summer Sale has been extended through August! Purchase any two Coach House books from the website and receive a third book absolutely free! (The free book must be of equal or lesser value than the two purchased books.) Simply place an online order for two books of your choice, then send an e-mail to [email protected] with your name and selection of third book. Act quickly. The sale ends August 31.”