Reading Copy

A 17th century book believed to be bound in the skin of a priest executed for treason appears to bear a “spooky” image of his face on the cover, according to the auctioneers who are selling the book.

Sid Wilkinson, from Wilkinson’s Auctioneers in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, who will be selling the book on Sunday, said he could see the Jesuit priest’s face peering out from the cover. He said: “It’s a little bit spooky because the front of the book looks like it has the face of a man on it, which is presumed to be the victim’s face.”

From The Guardian

Popularity: 23% [?]

The winner of the annual pimp my bookcart contest has been announced. This years winner took the design of a UPS truck, complete with working lights. The slogan “What Can Brown Do For You” refers to the school librarian, Mr. Brown.

Popularity: 21% [?]

Celebrity reader of the day is….Mike Tyson reading the movie tie-in copy of American Gangster while in prison in Arizona. There are a million gags here but they’re just too easy.

Popularity: 7% [?]

If you shoplifted a copy of the Jack Kerouac classic On The Road, apparently you’re not alone.

Popularity: 8% [?]

The Guardian wonders who is the world’s worst poet - Scottish writer William McGonagall, who wrote The Tay Bridge Disaster, is under threat.

Popularity: 19% [?]

i·ro·ny
Pronounced - ahy-ruh-nee,
1. the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning: the irony of her reply, “How nice!” when I said I had to work all weekend.
2. Literature. a. a technique of indicating, as through character or plot development, an intention or attitude opposite to that which is actually or ostensibly stated.
3. Being sentenced to 30 days in jail for stealing a bible from your local bookstore only to be given one for free by the prison clergy.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Five of the top 10 bestselling novels in Japan have been written by a new breed of mobile phone writer. Traditional novelists and critics pan the stories for lack of depth and development, but the kids just love em!

It reminds me a lot of this story from a few months back about a novel in Finland written entirely in SMS slag.

Makes me shudder that this might be a glimpse into the future.

Popularity: 12% [?]

The Oxford English Dictionary has expanded once again to include new words that have been brought into common vernacular. This year’s additions include Jaffa Cake (”a sponge biscuit with an orange-flavoured jelly filling and chocolate topping”, known and loved by all with British blood).

Also included this year Wags, yummy mummies, heaviosity and garburator.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Not an illuminated manuscript in the traditional sense, but a manuscript that actually illuminates.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Sometimes I despair. How can anyone have a problem with It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex & Sexual Health?

Popularity: 5% [?]

The Wisconsin State Journal reports on how a bookseller has expanded her business into…. “a manure storage tank.” I’d love to work in that bookshop, the lovely smell of musty old books and….. well, yes.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Have you ever seen an author with a panda sitting on their lap? No, neither had I until I looked at Neil Gaiman’s blog today. The author of Stardust, American Gods and Anansi Boys is in China along with Robert J Sawyer.

Popularity: 9% [?]

An odd article from The Scotsman about Robin Ince, who trawls through Edinburgh’s secondhand bookshops looking for books that be read out loud “sarcastically” at his comedy club called the Book Club.

Popularity: 9% [?]

I love stories about exceptionally expensive objects whether they are pizzas, cars or, in this case, a diamond-encrusted book that’s worth £3 million, according to the BBC. Made-to-order copies, complete with 600 sparklers built into the cover, of Dancing With The Bear are apparently ideal for Russian billionaires. The book is an account of how the author, Roger Shashoua, made a fortune in post-Soviet Russia. If you are not a Russian billionaire and perhaps just a rank-and-file American millionaire, then you can pick up an ordinary copy from AbeBooks for about $25 plus shipping

Popularity: 15% [?]

Best story of the day - Britain’s worst performing train company, First Great Western, has hired a poet to cheer up its disgrunted customers, reports The Times. I’ve suffered at Great Western’s hands many times between Paddington and Oxford so the poet, Sally Crabtree, is going to have to be one hell of a performer.

Sally wrote a children’s book called The Magic Train Ride.

Popularity: 15% [?]