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.
I read Nick Toshes book In the Hand of Dante a couple of years ago and have just run across his writing twice today in two different places. Here he’s reviewing a Dante bio (Bookforum link via fade theory) and here he’s participating in Esquire‘s Napkin Project.
I have to say that his napkin my favorite thing he’s written.
The Napkin Project is pretty cool and I killed too much time there today. Some of the writing is good, but what I’ve enjoyed is looking how all of the authors used the space of the napkin. There’s even an entry from Bama-boy Rick Moody, who took up both sides of his napkin.
Chong, of Cheech and Chong fame, will light up the ‘ham this weekend. He’s signing at the Brookwood Books-A-Million. I missed this little calendar event until I checked in over at McGrew’s Musings, whose thoughts and music rec’s I enjoy. Now if I could just get him to blog more about books and bookstores…
Now, after that last post ranting on the state of new books, I have to say I am most excited about Michael Chabon’s 2007 release! It’s titled The Yiddish Policeman’s Union and is set to hit bookshelves on May 1st. Being a cover-guy, I usually wait until Amazon has covers posted before linking. But I feel as if I need some balance after that last post.
Chabon’s new story has and “alternate reality” twist to it as it takes place in Israel which is in Alaska…
