The new poet laureate
Margorie Kehe | 07.18.08
Call it the triumph of the outsider. (more…)
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What to read on a plane
Margorie Kehe | 07.17.08
It’s always worth taking note of the reading recommendations of Nancy Pearl, Seattle’s celebrity librarian and book lister par excellence. (more…)
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$131.09 for that used paperback?
Margorie Kehe | 07.16.08
If you’ve ever wondered (and who hasn’t?) about the oddly high prices sometimes attached to out-of-print paperbacks on amazon.com, you’ll be interested in an item from yesterday’s New York Times book blog. (more…)
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Are critics toast?
Margorie Kehe | 07.15.08
Are critics toast? In this Sunday’s Guardian, there’s an interesting string of responses from critics of various genres – books, movies, theater – who were asked to write about the blogosphere. What do they think? Are blogs threatening, useful, democratic, or pointless? (more…)
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The bookseller of Baghdad
Margorie Kehe | 07.14.08
If you want to see a story that will break your heart and yet at the same time remind you of the nobility of both men and books, look at the Washington Post’s piece on a bookselling family in Baghdad. (more…)
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What was in the box
Margorie Kehe | 07.11.08
A couple of weeks ago I let my husband do a guest blog for me, and he used that opportunity to rhapsodize about Hennessy & Ingalls, his favorite art & architecture bookstore in Santa Monica, Calif. In that blog he described a box full of eight books that were shipped to our home from H&I after his latest ramble there. (more…)
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Booker: ‘The readers have spoken’
Margorie Kehe | 07.10.08
Earlier today in London it was announced that Salman Rushdie’s 1981 novel “Midnight’s Children” was the winner of the Best of the Booker Award, a sort of “best of the best” category spinning off from the Man Booker Prize. (more…)
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Were these short story writers shortchanged?
Margorie Kehe | 07.09.08
In a blog in The Guardian on Monday, Nicholas Lezard takes to task the judges of this year’s Frank O’Connor award for short stories. The cause of his displeasure was their decision to dispense with a short list and simply give the prize to Jhumpa Lahiri for her collection “Unaccustomed Earth” (reviewed by the Monitor on 4/1/08). (more…)
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The little shop around the corner … in Nairobi
Margorie Kehe | 07.08.08
There’s a great piece in Business Africa Daily about the relocation and success of a Nairobi bookstore. Salim and Naazleen Alibhai, co-owners of Book Villa, run their business as a cross between a bookstore and a library. (more…)
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The new world of book marketing
Margorie Kehe | 07.07.08
If you’re looking for evidence that there’s now than one way to sell a book, look no further than today’s piece in the New York Times on Vincent Bugliosi’s book “The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder.” (more…)
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Appreciation for storytellers
Margorie Kehe | 07.03.08
The Newbery-Caldecott dinner (the event at which this year’s winners of the prestigious children’s book awards are honored) took place this week and you won’t find a better piece of reporting on that than what appears in the 7/2 edition of “Shelf Awareness,” the e-mail newsletter that goes out daily to independent bookstores. (more…)
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Kids say the darnedest things
Margorie Kehe | 07.02.08
Sometimes we adults complicate things so much and that includes the area of book criticism. Just once in a while we would do well to turn back to children to remember what it’s all about. (more…)
