Reading Copy Book Blog

I almost felt a sniffle, reading this story about an 84-year-old man who, when he was unable to live in his home for a period and his pipes froze and burst, was served a water bill to the tune of over three grand. He lives in Appleton, Wisconsin, and when his story got out, his [...]

The description of an audio/video clip from the New York Times caught my attention this morning. “Director Gus van Sant discusses how he created a 1970s look for his film “Milk”.” In my ignorance and pre-caffeinated state, I’m imagining a dairy-based cinematic experience. A few bell-bottomed jeaned farmers trudging through mud to milk cows lulled [...]

A host of Spike Milligan memorabilia was auctioned yesterday in the UK, reports The Times. A copy of the book The Primal Scream by Arthur Janov, inscribed with a message from John Lennon (“Dear Spike, we saw your TV thing – it was very REAL. I think this book might ‘turn you on’ as they [...]

I think I have just seen the most beautiful cookbook ever! Secrets of the Red Lantern: Stories and Vietnamese Recipes from the Heart is a visually stunning cookbook, one that you’d purchase simply to decorate your kitchen or dining room even if you had no intention or ability to cook the recipes. But you need [...]

The Bad Sex in Fiction Awards took place this evening in London. Rachel Johnson – sister of Mayor of London, Boris – took home the top honour for some startlingly awful prose in Shire Hell and she appeared thrilled with the result, according to The Guardian. It sounds like John Updike should really have won [...]

The latest pick in the Barack Obama book club is Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer by Fred Kaplan. The President-elect was photographed leaving the Chicago home of friend Penny Pritzker after having dinner last Saturday. Barack’s getting in his Lincoln reading early – next February is the 200th anniversary of his birth and there [...]

Powell’s Books – Oregon’s finest – has introduced solar panels at their Portland warehouse. Is it that sunny in Oregon? It sure rains a lot in our part of the Pacific Northwest.

You have a little over an hour to bid on this year’s charity book auction.

The Chicago Tribune dusts off the old ‘books-by-the-yard’ story and throws in the local IKEA for good measure.

It’s ridiculous, I admit. But when something gets a whole lot of hype, I stubbornly and perversely refuse to try it out myself. For this reason I will never watch Dances With Wolves or drink bubble tea, drive a Prius or play Dance Dance Revolution. So when I started seeing glowing reviews of Andrew Davidson’s [...]