The National Post profiles the top three rare book collectors from a contest to find Canada’s best book collectors under the age of 30.
Winner - Charlotte Ashley
2nd place - Vanessa Brown
3rd place - Naseem Hrab
Archive for the ‘news’ Category
Canada’s top under 30 book collectors
Friday, July 3rd, 2009Michael Jackson is Jack London in Call of the Weird
Friday, July 3rd, 2009
Call of the Wild first edition
The journalist fails to point out the irony of alias - there was also much controversy and debate about London’s death. Was it suicide? Was it an overdose of morphine?
A first edition of this classic book isn’t cheap - I wonder if Michael owned one. I suspect he did.
Salinger’s phony ban of Coming Through the Rye
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
The banning of 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye by J.D. California reflects very badly on J.D. Salinger (not that he cares). This unauthorized sequel of The Catcher in the Rye is a bad book and would have sunk like a stone without any legal intervention. The big-hitting literary critics would have savaged it – they’d have done Salinger’s dirty work for free and probably in a very entertaining way. Most readers would have ignored it. The book is harmless but rubbish. Banning books is never a good thing and being a bad book is not a crime.
I’m sure Coming Through the Rye IS a sorry attempt to cash in on the fame of Catcher in the Rye but is that illegal, especially in America where cashing in is a way of life? The actual author, a Swede called Fredrik Colting, will probably keep pushing to get his book published because the publicity surrounding the book will make his efforts worthwhile. The curiosity factor surrounding this book is now very high, and all because America’s No.1 recluse went through the courts. In the meantime, the book has been published in Sweden and the UK. In today’s world of global bookselling, people will get their hands on copies so this storm in a tea cup will continue.
I believe Salinger lost control of his famous creation, Holden Caulfield, four decades ago. Holden Caulfield, the world’s first alienated teenager, became public property when Catcher in the Rye became required reading for all readers, and that happened a long time ago. How can some badly written book by a bloke from Sweden remotely damage the legacy of Salinger and his famous novel from 1951?
The Terrorist Hunters by Andy Hayman - Publication Ban
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
The Guardian reports that the British Government has stopped sales of The Terrorist Hunters, a book detailing the fight against Islamic extremism. The book’s author is Britain’s former head of counter-terrorism, and retired Scotland Yard assistant commissioner, Andy Hayman.
Hayman, gives a behind-the-scenes account of the 7 July attacks, the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes and the fight against terror.
Michael Jackson Dead at 50
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
Reports are early, but apparently, the King of Pop Michael Jackson died today in Los Angeles after being rushed to the hospital in cardiac arrest.
It’s sad - he was so young. I remember when I was age six, wearing one sparkly glove, desperately wishing for a red leather jacket with multiple zippers, and thinking he was just the coolest thing ever.
His was certainly a unique and interesting individual with a life lived under the microscope, but whatever his choices, whatever difficulties he faced, whatever rumors about him and whether they were true or not - he was a tremendously talented singer and dancer, and a gifted entertainer and performer.
We have copies of Michael Jackson’s autobiography, Moonwalk, some of which are signed, inscribed or autographed by Michael Jackson, available, for those who would like to have a piece of memorabilia. Not for long, probably.
I’m going to go listen to Black or White and Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ - my two favourite Jacko songs - now.
A Josef Fritzl book for Father’s Day? Twice…
Friday, June 19th, 2009OMG! It’s Josef Fritzl/Father’s Day confusion/stupidity. Shame on Tesco in Leighton Buzzard. Shame on WH Smith in Lewisham.
Twilight fans nearly kill Edward
Friday, June 19th, 2009 
Robert Pattinson, the actor who plays Edward Cullen in the cinematic recreation of Twilight was hit by a taxi as he attempted to run past a pack of wailing banshee’s and find sanctuary in his film trailer.
Flanked by five security guards, the British actor tried to run past a group of teenage girls who had gathered outside the bookstore and cross the street to his trailer when the accident happened.
He was not seriously injured, but his bodyguards reportedly were furious, according to RadarOnline.com which claimed to have witnessed the accident. One of the bodyguards yelled at the girls: “You see what you did, you almost killed him!”
This is why I demand danger pay when acting in any film aimed at the teenage girl demographic; they can smell fear. 
Tim Winton’s Breath wins Miles Franklin Award
Thursday, June 18th, 2009Congratulations to Tim Winton, whose novel Breath is the winner of this year’s Miles Franklin Literary Award.
Harry Potter and the Plagarism Claims
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009It would appear that JK Rowling is facing not one but two accusations of plagarism.
John Buechler, director of the film Troll claims that Rowling used a script from the film to create her Harry Potter series. Buechler says the film is based on the experiences of a young wizard and wants to prove to Warner Bros that Troll was actually the beginning of Harry Potter.
Secondly, the family of late English writer Adrian Jacobs is suing Rowling and her publisher for £500million. They claim that Harry Potter was copied from Jacobs’ Willy the Wizard. The manuscript for Willy was sent to Bloomsbury Publishing’s literary agent Christopher Little who later represented Rowling, but the book was rejected. The book was published by a smaller company under the name The Adventures Of Willy The Wizard No 1: Livid Land. Jacobs died in 1997, before the success of Harry Potter played out but now his estate which includes his son and grandson, claim that Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire was plagarised.
Now doesn’t this also mean that John Buechler should be suing Jacobs’ estate and vice-versa?!