By the way, I’ve just listed a recent graphic novel on my Abebooks store – “Duncan the Wonder Dog” which is almost impossible to find online these days (at least not cheaply). I’m going to be selling it new for $100 Canadian + shipping, which I think is reasonable considering its scarcity and reputation.

Ironic that people in a city called Reading (Pennsylvania, U.S.A.) don’t have enough books to read!

I find it ironic that in a video promoting a Writers’ festival, they somehow managed to misspell ‘Annually’ as ‘Anually’!

Check out the official website of the fest for all the details and events here – writersfest.bc.ca. A few of the famous authors coming to Vancouver this month and next (outside of the festival proper) include Michael Moore (Dude, Where’s My Country?), David Sedaris (Me Talk Pretty One Day), Wade Davis (Into the Silence), Michael Ondaatje (The English Patient), Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club), and Anthony Bourdain (Kitchen Confidential). At the festival, look out for Esi Edugyan (local author from Victoria and Man Booker Prize finalist this year for Half Blood Blues). Also, Ian Rankin, Wayne Johnston, Jen Sookfong Lee, John Vaillant, Timothy Taylor, Miriam Toews, Nino Ricci, Guy Vanderhaeghe, Lev Grossman, and many others.

Other events to look forward to in October include the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair on Oct. 8 & 9, and the Toronto International Antiquarian Book Fair, Oct. 28-30.

Books I’ve finished (that I listed as being read before):

Ayako, by Osamu Tezuka (manga) – Rating: **** out of 5
The Lake, by Banana Yoshimoto (fiction) – Rating: ***
Snow Country, by Yasunari Kawabata (literature) – Rating: *** 1/2

Other books that I’ve started and finished since that time:

Books as History, by David Pearson (non-fiction) – Rating: **** 1/2
A Drunken Dream and Other Stories, by Moto Hagio (manga) – Rating: ****
Foundation, by Isaac Asimov (SF) – Rating: ***
Good-bye, by Yoshihiro Tatsumi (graphic fiction) – Rating: *** 1/2
Griffin & Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence, by Nick Bantock (undefinable) – Rating: *** 1/2
The Haunted Bookshop, by Christopher Morley (fiction) – Rating *** 1/2
Inspector Imanishi Investigates, by Seicho Matsumoto (mystery) – Rating: *** 1/2
Lost Horizon, by James Hilton (fiction) – Rating: ****
Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie (mystery) – Rating: ***
A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs (SF/fantasy) – Rating: *** 1/2
The Push-Man and other stories, by Yoshihiro Tatsumi (graphic fiction) – Rating: *** 1/2
Scandal, by Shusaku Endo (fiction) – Rating: ****
Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson (classics) – Rating: *** 1/2

Currently reading:

The Book of Heroes, by Miyuki Miyabe (fantasy)
The Cave of the Ancients, by Lobsang Rampa (fiction?)
The Curious Casebook of Inspector Hanshichi: Detective Stories of Old Edo, by Okamoto Kido (mystery)
Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural, edited by Phyllis Cerf Wagner and Herbert Wise (short fiction collection)
A History of Reading, by Alberto Manguel (non-fiction)
The Lady and the Monk, by Pico Iyer (travelogue)
Life of Pi, by Yann Martel (fiction)
Maps and Legends, by Michael Chabon (essays)
The Street of Crocodiles and Other Stories, by Bruno Schulz (literature)

Tree of Codes by Jonathan Safran Foer – Public Reactions from Visual Editions on Vimeo.

This is a video of people on the street’s reactions to Foer’s special die-cut book wherein a new story was ‘exhumed’ out of Bruno Schulz’s famous The Street of Crocodiles. Quite a fascinating and unique work of art (although you can’t see much of it in this video, unfortunately). I recently purchased a limited first edition of the book from Abebooks.com, where I see they are now going for over $200! But you can still get a cheaper new copy for around $30. By the way, Foer also wrote the novels Everything is Illuminated, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (which also has some artistic touches in its design), and the non-fiction work called Eating Animals.

You can see more about this book (including a video review) and other books with die-cuts at Abebooks: http://www.abebooks.com/books/book-holes-tree-codes-design/die-cuts.shtml

Is the Book History?

A revised edition of David Pearson’s exceptional book
By Rebecca Rego Barry

COURTESY OF OAK KNOLL.

Books as History

By David Pearson
The British Library & Oak Knoll Press
208 pages
paperbound
extensive color illustrations
$29.95

“What do books offer us, beyond words, and how do their physical formats and design characteristics contribute to their overall impact? Where do we draw the line between the book as a text and the book as an object, something which cannot be entirely replicated by transferring the content to another medium?”

David Pearson, Director of Libraries, Archives, and Guildhall Art Gallery at the City of London, presents this set of questions and then explores the various ways that physical books speak to those who will listen—through the way they are printed, illustrated, bound, annotated, altered, or defaced. It is a topic of obvious importance to historians, curators, librarians, and book collectors, but also one that is becoming ever more crucial to a wider audience of people concerned with the idea of ‘libraries without books,’ and physical books versus e-books. Pearson persuades us that it is time to separate books from texts, and let them go their merry ways.

Read the rest of the review here:  http://www.finebooksmagazine.com/issue/201108/history-1.phtml#.TjkyLT82B8c.blogger