Archive for the ‘Books’ Category

Taming The Beast

The last few days, I’ve skulked about the Asylum proper. I keep a messy adobe, friends; clutter, orangutan hair, empty bottles of vino. And books. O! for the love of tomes, is this place filled with books. Hardback, paperback, trade paperback, electronic, manuals, fictions, biographies, histories, how-to’s, where-to’s, whimsical, grave, learned, demented, and downright decadent. ...Read more.

Neil Gaiman In The New Yorker

Pick up this week’s New Yorker magazine.* You’ll not only be  treated to a chilling article on the cryonics movement, you’ll also get a wonderful profile on Neil Gaiman. Book lovers are well aware of the numerous literary treats which with Mr. Gaiman has blessed us. Suffice to say that if you are a fan, ...Read more.

Hazards of Book Selling (And Buying)

Today concluded Day 8 of my new career in what I like to call Literary Commerce. It had been easy to conclude that this job and I were as suited as two endangered and impoverished could be. Not only do I work in a field that I have always wanted to, I do so with ...Read more.

That Beautiful Library of Old

What’s 175 years old, has a 10,000 year lease, and just received a spanking new refurbishing? Why, the Mercantile Library of Cincinnati. Silly! Cincinnati’s oldest library will be celebrating 175 years of existence this year with a dazzling array of guest lecturers, events, and whatnots for members and the unwashed masses of Greater Cincinnati. I’ve ...Read more.

Setting Off On A New Adventure

Today marks the first time in fifty weeks that I will be amongst the Employed. My new job is neither glamorous or well-paying but it is in a location that I’ve always wanted to be in: a bookshop. Anyone who reads this blog knows of my love for books. It’s a deep, crowded love as ...Read more.

C’est Tout Bon

Disregard any ill will that might have dripped on the screen from my previous post. I contacted the author, Daniel Somercrof, and asked how he came up with the title for his book. I mentioned, of course, this place. In his response, he says: The title refers to alcohol dependence; the novel’s main character, a ...Read more.

The Bourbon Asylum: It’s A Mystery

I think I’ve been robbed. Or rather, I think I’ve been violated. How does one explain the weird sensation upon learning that “The Bourbon Asylum”, a name you created and pretty much own outright, has been snagged by some insensitive French person for the title of his mystery book? I’ve had this domain for almost ...Read more.