Scariest travel experience? That would be the time I got on a plane without a book. As a lifelong abibliophobe (one who has a morbid fear of being without something to read), I had absolutely no excuse.

How did it happen? I used to work at… Read full post »

You have old books that aren't worth selling or swapping. Why not do something creative with them? This four-minute video shows how to make a "sweet handbag."

When you're done, if you're craftily inclined, you'll have something that looks like this.

Swe… Read full post »

Have you seen these “Read & Return” signs at some airport bookstores? If you buy a book there for full price, you can bring it back within six months to get 50% of your purchase price back. The store then sells it as used for/… Read full post »

The warmer weather last week gave me an excuse to start on some summer-at-the-beach reading. I don't usually read much fiction (I'm trying to correct this flaw), but I enjoy a good murder mystery. Unfortunately, I was disappointed by a few favorite authors. I read the first seventy page… Read full post »

I think I want a Kindle. You've probably heard of Amazon's new electronic book reader. It debuted last October and sold out in five hours. I don't know how many they had in that initial run, but it wasn't nearly enough. I figured they'd have/… Read full post »

The Philosopher's Diet: How to Lose Weight and Change the World

Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading

Route 66 A.D. : On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists

Gullible's Travels: The Adventures of a Bad Taste Tourist

Around the World in a Bad Mood: Confessions… Read full post »

You might think us bookish folk a mild people, not given to confrontation. But it's really just one squabble after another. An ongoing controversy, or at least what passes for one in book circles, is the resale of review copies of new books.

Often a… Read full post »

A sprained ankle gave me extra reading time this week. No high heels or alcohol were involved, just a neighborhood cat and a patch of uneven pavement. This inability to take my normal morning walk has been an opportunity to make a serious dent/… Read full post »

Big bookstores are great. But there are still a few good small stores left such as The Reading Room in Las Vegas. It has a great selection of books for such a tiny space. At about 1300 square feet, they are about the same size as the small Starbucks… Read full post »

Overheard at the bookstore...

(Two guys, mid-twenties, business casual)

Dude #1: Have you decided which car you're getting?

Dude #2: I think I'm going with the Corvette. I like it but it comes with OnStar. I mean, it's good if/… Read full post »

NPR had a story this weekend about a bookstore closing. That's hardly news these days. It seems every week a local bookery closes its doors for good. I feel like I should be outraged at this trend or at least saddened, but I have mixed feelings./… Read full post »

As usual, the pile of books To-Be-Read is growing faster than the stack of books that have been finished and are ready for their next home. I often start a book and decide not to finish it or to read just the parts that interest me. This… Read full post »

The battle between the Friends of the Southern Nevada Libraries and the Las Vegas Clark County Library Board continues. Since I last wrote about the feud, the Friends have countersued the Library District, citing breach of agreement by cutting off their supply of discarded books. The Library has/… Read full post »

The British Library has recently lifted requirements that allowed only people doing Serious Research to use its facilities. As a result, the Library is filled with young university students doing homework and *gasp* talking to each other, much to the consternation of Serious Researchers. This art… Read full post »

Steve got an email today from an author whose book he recently read. The author had read Steve's review of the book on Amazon and wanted to tell Steve that the review was “quite brilliant.” Correspondence from eccentric authors is one of the unexpected perks of writing online reviews.… Read full post »

Do you have stacks of books taking up valuable room in your living space? Books you've read and won't be reading again, or worse, books you know you'll never read and would rather not have them reminding you of their existence? Get rid of them! Donate them to the… Read full post »

In our constant hunt for more books, we've attended quite a few library sales. Most of them are actually run by an auxiliary organization, The Friends of (whatever) library district, and they donate the proceeds to the library or spend the money on items the library has requested,… Read full post »

This editorial appeared recently in The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/25/opinion/25fri4.html

telling of pending legislation to require textbook publishers to provide 'unbundled' versions of their textbooks. When they sell versions that include marginally necessary CD-ROMS and web ac… Read full post »

You know the feeling. You read an interesting snippet in a book and can't remember the exact wording or where you saw it. It's not driving you crazy, exactly, but you'd sure like to find it. You could google it, but that only works for… Read full post »

We're not Jewish. Some of our best friends aren't even Jewish. But lately we've been reading a lot of books about Yiddish.

We love to read about language and, whenever we can, we eavesdrop on people who aren't speaking English to see which of… Read full post »