Baseball Team of Great American Authors
David Kern of the Circe Institute proposed a baseball team of America’s greatest authors. I especially like his choices of F. Scott Fitzgerald as shortstop and William Faulkner in left field. Clever!
Mary Jo Tate
The Experience of Reading Physical Books
John Evans of Lemuria Bookstore, a fabulous independent bookstore in Jackson, Mississippi, writes about the experience of holding and reading a physical book: “Finishing a book is special. It becomes part of your life as it rests on your bookshelf. It watches you as you live around it. It’s always waiting to be held and … Read more
Join me for the Schoolhouse Expo!
I’ll be speaking at the online Schoolhouse Expo on March 15 at 7:00 p.m. Central. My topic is “How Do You Do It All? Balancing Family Life and Home Business.” Here’s the workshop description: Home business blends well with homeschooling, but it can also create frustration, exhaustion, and chaos. You may be paralyzed by an … Read more
“The books must survive.”
“My little hobby. Book collecting. And yet, old friend, books do not age as you and I do. They will speak still when we are gone, to generations we will never see. Yes, the books must survive.” The rabbi of Haarlem, who brought his books to Corrie ten Boom’s father for safekeeping, in The Hiding … Read more
Austen Bowl 2011
Anyone besides me consider the Super Bowl a major yawn? I sent my four sons to watch the football game with my dad (I’m sure he needed some male bonding time) to free up our TV for the umpteenth viewing of Pride and Prejudice. (The 1996 A&E version, naturally. Colin Firth IS Mr. Darcy.) Since … Read more
Can Electronic Books Make Us Better Readers?
Steve Leveen of Levenger is a serious bibliophile who makes his living selling gorgeous products to booklovers. After 8 months of reading on his iPad, he identified “7 Ways Electronic Books Could Make Us Better Readers.” I’m a die-hard fan of the print book, but I’m gradually acknowledging more and more worthy uses of e-books. … Read more
“Greenmantle” by John Buchan
If you’ve ever heard of John Buchan, it’s probably because of Alfred Hitchcock’s movie adaptation of his novel The Thirty-Nine Steps. Buchan was an amazingly productive author of over 100 works of fiction and nonfiction, averaging five books a year from 1922 to 1936. He wrote a 24-volume history of World War I during the … Read more
How many of these banished words do you use?
GOOGLE the banished words list for 2011. It really has the WOW FACTOR and will surely go VIRAL when THE AMERICAN PEOPLE FACEBOOK it. I had an A-HA MOMENT when my friend Jay Ryan posted it before I did. EPIC FAIL. What’s the BACK STORY to this competition? It’s not like we’re BFFs. Guess I … Read more
A Christmas Tree for Bibliophiles
The Richard A. Gleeson Library in San Francisco displays a Christmas tree made out of the National Union Catalog. Read the story here. Merry Christmas, and may there be many books under your tree!
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader – review of advance screening
Today my four sons and I had the incredible privilege of attending a private screening of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. C. S. Lewis’s stepson Douglas Gresham introduced the movie and answered questions from the audience afterward. (More on the Q&A session to come in another blog post.) Narnia has enchanted me since my … Read more