Bookdwarf

From a review of The Deep by Claire Nouvian, a beautiful book from the University of Chicago Press on the creatures who live in the deepest parts of the ocean: To understand the full extent of the constraints that the abyss places on life, consider the black seadevil. It’s a somber, grapefruit-sized globe of a [...]

Or at least the Cleveland Plain Dealer does. Have I mentioned how much I loved Signed, Mata Hari, the new novel by Yannick Murphy? I was so taken with her novel Here They Come last year and that I read this new one a few months ago as soon as it appear on my desk. [...]

I received the Spring-Summer 2008 catalog from Harcourt today, incidentally enough whose sale to Houghton was just approved by the Justice Department. As I’m flipping through, I notice a two page spread for a book called The Calling by Inger Wolfe. It’s a mystery featuring a female detective close to retirement trying to solve a [...]

I had the good fortune over the last week to read a whole slew of books. Ah, the luxury of time! Two of the books came from the same press, which made me start thinking about how devoted readers can become to certain presses. Certain publishers have reputations in my mind. Graywolf, Milkweed, FSG–I trust [...]

I’m off to the ATL tomorrow morning to spend Thanksgiving with my parents. I plan on doing only what is required of me by my mom to help make dinner over the next few days. I need to rest up for what awaits when I get back—the holiday shopping season is almost upon us. I [...]

The Book Design Review has chosen its list of the best designed book covers this year. You can vote on your favorite.

Even though I saw a flurry this morning and even though it’s about 35 degrees, I’m floating on cloud nine as I just came back from having lunch with famed Knopf editor Judith Jones! What a delightful afternoon. It was a small group, 8 people. We all chatted about books, our favorites, possible holiday sleepers, [...]

Bostonist interviews Jonah Lehrer, who happens to be appearing at my store tomorrow evening at 7 pm. I’ve read the first few essays of his book Proust was a Neuroscientist and found them thought provoking. Much is made of how young he is (25!) but I’m more impressed with what a Renaissance man he is. [...]

I’m reading this article in the New York Times about Noah Baumbach’s forthcoming film Margot at the Wedding when I see this bit: Two of his next projects, as it happens, are based on existing texts. He is co-writer of Mr. Anderson’s next film, an animated version of Roald Dahl’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” and he [...]

Who’s going to see the Coen Brother’s No Country for Old Men? The New York Times review just want make me want to see it even more. I still haven’t read the book either. After being kicked in the head by The Road, I’m wary. Don’t get me wrong, I thought it one of the [...]

One of the things my store prides itself on is our high level of customer service. This means that if you come into my store with only one or two pieces of information about a book, we’ll try our hardest to figure out the answer. Every now and then, we get some rather silly requests, [...]

Finally, a review of Shalom Auslander’s book Foreskin’s Lament that looks past the hilarity to the angst religion causes. So many reviewers make this memoir out like it’s a shallow dig at Orthodox Judaism—it’s not. It’s a caustic memoir written by someone who truly feels conflicted. Mark Sarvas (I swear I’m not mentioning this because [...]

I’d be remiss if I didn’t welcome Schwartz Bookshops excellent new blog, the cleverly titled Inside the Flap. Plus we’re friends, so you know, scratching backs and whatnot.

I hear all kinds of stuff about genre books. On one side, they’re ghetto-ized, they’re neglected; on the other, they’re not serious, they’re not literature. I’m going to be a coward and ignore the debate. There are certain subjects I tend to avoid (paranormal romance, anything by Ann Coulter, etc), but I still consider myself [...]