At the heart of it all, I’m a fan. A fan of books and bookstores. A fan of fiction and non-fiction. A fan of authors and publishers. And most of all I’m a fan of great conversations sparked by books. All that to say - I really need more bookshelves.
Across the pond, The Financial Times is running a periodic “check in” with current book covers. They’ve only picked 4 so far, but the insight from the news staff as been fairly good. They actually take the time to discuss some of the designers influences and frames of reference for each of the covers. I hope they keep it up.
What’s fun is that they are not just reviewing the covers of new releases. So you never know what might turn up. So far, the Molloy cover is my favorite. Very Alvin Lustig. And they say the spine has no title, author or publisher emblem, which would seem to make it one of the more useless jackets designed.
I just found out that tonight’s planned reception, celebrating The Birmingham Arts Journal‘s five years of publishing, has been moved to February 29th at Urban Standard (2320 2nd Ave. N). So we’ll all have to wait until then to meet the staff and some of the journal’s more recent contributors. The latest issue is in stores now and also available to view via pdf online, along with all the back issues. Which is pretty darn cool!
And here’s a little haiku for you to help welcome the weekend, which hopeful holds plenty of quiet time for you to read!
I wish I had seen this bookish game pre-holidays, but I’m just now discovering it {via kimbooktu}. This one comes with a mini-bookshelf to place all your many mini-books, library card, you get your own bookstore… what could be more fun?
Nick Basbanes’ latest ‘book about books’ is out today. It’s titled Editions & Impressions: My Twenty Years on the Book Beat and is a collection of essays written by Basbanes over the past 20 years. There is a hb trade edition available. But you can also get the Deluxe or Limited editions straight from the folks at Fine Books, if you have the cash!
According to the press, most of the articles here have been expanded upon and updated since they first ran. This one seems to have a pretty large global scope too. Could be a good one.
