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Neil Gaiman's Journal: How to Play with Your Food

Neil Gaiman's Journal: How to Play with Your Food.

How to play with your food
Saturday, July 11, 2009, Posted by Neil at 1:30 AM

I'm in Chicago right now, for ALA: the annual meeting of the American Library Association. I've been to a couple of them before and have always had a marvellous time -- once, with people like Art Spiegelman and Scott McCloud and Colleen Doran explaining to curious librarians what graphic novels were and why they should have them in their libraries, another time getting to visit New Orleans for the first time Post-Katrina, when I went to two dinners with Poppy Z Brite, and one of them was the first time Poppy's husband, chef Chris DeBarr, ever cooked for me*.

When I was in Melbourne, five years ago, Poppy was a guest of honour with me, and somewhere back then it was decided that we would be going to Alinea, a Chicago restaurant of remarkable coolness. The years went by and I was never in Chicago for long, and Katrina happened, and once Poppy went back to New Orleans she did not want to leave, but we knew one day it would happen.

And tonight it did. Poppy flew up from Chicago and took me to dinner. It was expensive, and, I only discovered at the end of the meal, Poppy was paying. (This is a big public thank you.)

NPR: As A Matter Of Fact: Fourth Annual World eBook Fair

NPR: As A Matter Of Fact: Fourth Annual World eBook Fair

eBook Fair | Fourth Annual World eBook Fair
By Barbara Van Woerkom, Jul 9, 2009

The Fourth Annual World eBook Fair is giving free access to over 2,250,000 books until August 4, 2009. Project Gutenberg, the World Public Library, Internet Archive and others have joined together to bring a variety of publications on one searchable page. Heading on vacation and don't have time to buy a book? Take a few minutes and download The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle by Beatrix Potter for the kids, some Jane Austen, or the treatise On Corporate Social Responsibility by the World Bank.

3:55 PM ET | 07-09-2009 | permalink

Online catalogue of books is the library that never closes | Technology | The Guardian

Online catalogue of books is the library that never closes | Technology | The Guardian.

The library that never closes
The Open Library hopes to unite the net and the printed word by creating a web page for every book.

by Bobbie Johnson, guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 1 July 2009 18.15 BST, Article history

The internet's relationship with books, it is fair to say, has been a tumultuous one. Ever since the digital revolution started changing our relationship with information, the printed word – one of the most successful technologies in history – has been on the back foot.

Amazon has altered the face of the industry twice – first in the 1990s by changing the way books are sold and then, more recently, the way they are consumed, with its Kindle electronic book reader. Google has caused its own earthquake in the print world with its Book Search scheme – a plan to suck the text of millions of books into its search engine that has raised the hackles of publishers and authors alike.

Talk to workers at either of these technology companies and there is a feeling of technological inevitability: that the printed book is a stepping stone in the evolution of information, and now lies ready to be devoured by its hi-tech successors. Not everybody thinks that way, however, including the Open Library – a project with an audacious goal that it hopes can bring the web and books closer together.

With E-Readers Comes Wider Piracy of Books - NYTimes.com

With E-Readers Comes Wider Piracy of Books - NYTimes.com.

Print Books Are Target of Pirates on the Web
By MOTOKO RICH, Published: May 11, 2009

Ursula K. Le Guin, the science fiction writer, was perusing the Web site Scribd last month when she came across digital copies of some books that seemed quite familiar to her. No wonder. She wrote them, including a free-for-the-taking copy of one of her most enduring novels, “The Left Hand of Darkness.”

Neither Ms. Le Guin nor her publisher had authorized the electronic editions. To Ms. Le Guin, it was a rude introduction to the quietly proliferating problem of digital piracy in the literary world. “I thought, who do these people think they are?” Ms. Le Guin said. “Why do they think they can violate my copyright and get away with it?”

This would all sound familiar to filmmakers and musicians who fought similar battles — with varying degrees of success — over the last decade. But to authors and their publishers in the age of Kindle, it’s new and frightening territory.

Get That Book Deal: Three Books Tell You How : NPR

Get That Book Deal: Three Books Tell You How : NPR.

Get That Book Deal: Three Books Tell You How
All Things Considered, April 15, 2009

Listen Now [3 min 47 sec] [listen link on NPR Web site]

I needed advice before I tried to write a novel. The usual axiom — write what you know — wasn't helpful. I spend my days driving my older children to school and changing my younger one's diaper — not exactly best-seller material.

NYPL Digital Gallery | Dust Jackets from American and European Books, 1926-1947

NYPL Digital Gallery | Dust Jackets from American and European Books, 1926-1947.

Dust Jackets from American and European Books, 1926-1947
More than 2,000 original specimens of book jackets from trade books acquired routinely by the Research Libraries.

Above is a sample dust cover image, from the Collection...

Collection Contents | Related Subjects

Collection History
Despite the fact that dust jackets often include useful information about a book and its author, including biographical notes and often a portrait, it has long been Research Libraries practice to remove the jackets from new books during processing for their permanent place in the stacks. However, from 1926 to 1947, anonymous librarians selected and saved interesting jackets from books of all sorts. Arranged roughly by date published/acquired, these paper covers eventually filled the 22 large scrapbooks presented here. This digital collection offers, first, a view of each jacket's front, spine, and inside flap; jacket backs and flaps may be viewed by clicking the "View Verso" button on the "image details" pages.

The jackets in the collection are from books published in the United States and Europe during two turbulent decades. Throughout, the illustrations and titles mirror the era's changing political concerns and desires. The dominant Art Deco design trends of the early years are evident. Many of the most powerful designs come from the Weimar Republic. The economies of scarce resources during the war years, 1942-45, are not evident in the continuity of graphic design, though the paper is low-grade.

Thanks to the Librarians' Internet Index, for the pointer to this item...

Downturn Puts New Stresses on Libraries - NYTimes.com

Downturn Puts New Stresses on Libraries - NYTimes.com.

Downturn Puts New Stresses on Libraries
By SUSAN SAULNY and KAREN ANN CULLOTTA, Published: April 1, 2009

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. — The public library here had just closed its doors one evening in December when two homeless men who had been using the stacks as shelter from the cold got into a fight on the outside steps.

What began as bickering took a violent turn when one of the men pulled out a knife and stabbed the other six times, leaving him bleeding beside the book drop.

Like libraries across the country, Arlington Heights Memorial had strived to keep pace with the changing times, ensuring its relevance in the digital age by becoming something of an indoor town square, and emphasizing that its money-saving services catered to the community’s needs.

These days, however, community need reaches far beyond reference help — and in many libraries, it is turning a normally tranquil place into an emotional and stressful hotbed.

Microsoft closing the book on Encarta | Beyond Binary - CNET News

Microsoft closing the book on Encarta | Beyond Binary - CNET News.

March 30, 2009 1:10 PM PDT
Microsoft closing the book on Encarta
by Ina Fried

Microsoft has quietly confirmed that it is getting out of the encyclopedia business, ending its long-standing Encarta product.

As noted by Ars Technica, the software maker says it will discontinue all its online Encarta products by October, with the exception of Encarta Japan, which will run through the end of the year. It will also stop selling Microsoft Student and Encarta Premium, paid software products that included the online encyclopedia.

In a posting on its Web site, Microsoft said that the move reflected the change in the way people use reference material. It didn't mention Wikipedia by name, but I think we all know the biggest change to encyclopedias to come around in recent memory.

"Encarta has been a popular product around the world for many years," Microsoft said. "However, the category of traditional encyclopedias and reference material has changed. People today seek and consume information in considerably different ways than in years past. As part of Microsoft's goal to deliver the most effective and engaging resources for today's consumer, it has made the decision to exit the Encarta business."

Swamp Thing, The All-Vegetable Anti-Hero, Returns : NPR

Swamp Thing, The All-Vegetable Anti-Hero, Returns : NPR.

Books We Like
by Laurel Maury

Swamp Thing, The All-Vegetable Anti-Hero, Returns

Saga Of The Swamp Thing, Book One By Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, John Totleben Hardcover, 173 pages Vertigo List price: $19.99
Check out an excerpt

NPR.org, March 24, 2009 · Alan Moore is best known as the author of Watchmen and V for Vendetta, but his breakout work in America was the horror title Swamp Thing. In 1984, Moore took an unpopular second-tier comic book character — a superstrong, all-vegetable anti-hero from the bayou — and re-imagined him as a creature that longed for humans and the natural world to coexist in peace. Moore, a famous lefty, mixed his penchant for plumbing the psyche's unholy depths with concepts from the nascent environmental movement, making his revamped Swamp Thing a sensation.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Rare project saves Hemingway papers

BBC NEWS | Americas | Rare project saves Hemingway papers.

Rare project saves Hemingway papers
By Michael Voss BBC News, Havana

A look inside Ernest Hemingway's Cuban home

An important collection of papers belonging to the American writer Ernest Hemingway has been saved for posterity, thanks to a unique joint rescue mission involving communist Cuba and the United States.

The letters, manuscripts and documents offer fresh insights into the man, his work and his colourful life.

For decades they had been gathering mould and dust in the basement of the Nobel Prize winning author's former home on the outskirts of Havana.

"Papa" Hemingway moved to Cuba in 1939 and spent 21 years living at the Finca Vigia or Lookout Farm, with its lush sub-tropical gardens and impressive views of Havana and the sea beyond.

Aldous Huxley archive finds home at UCLA library | L.A. Now | Los Angeles Times

Aldous Huxley archive finds home at UCLA library | L.A. Now | Los Angeles Times.

Aldous Huxley archive finds home at UCLA library
8:00 PM | March 5, 2009

The UCLA library has acquired the literary archive of Aldous Huxley, the visionary essayist and novelist who is perhaps best known for his book "Brave New World," which dealt with the dehumanizing effects of scientific progress. The collection contains literary materials Huxley created after his Los Angeles home was destroyed by fire in 1961, as well as correspondence, photographs, audiotapes, type scripts and galley proofs retrieved from publishers after his death in 1963. Also included are the papers of his wife, Laura Huxley, an author and lay therapist.

In Reading, Pa., Memories and Monuments of Updike - washingtonpost.com

In Reading, Pa., Memories and Monuments of Updike - washingtonpost.com.

In Reading, Pa., Memories and Monuments of Updike
By Ben Chapman
Sunday, February 22, 2009; Page P06
Special to The Washington Post

Reading is required for any John Updike pilgrimage. That's not "reading," as in books, but Reading, as in Pennsylvania. It seems you can't go a block in this city of about 83,000 without running into one of the author's old stomping grounds or a scene from one of his books, where often the city is named Alton or Brewer.

"He would typically take his experiences and give them a little spin so they weren't so recognizable," said Jack De Bellis, author of the John Updike Encyclopedia. But without looking too hard, you can easily spot scenes from the recently deceased writer's stories all over Berks County (Brewer County in his books).
...

Just a few blocks away, Updike spent hours as a young man scouring the stacks at the Reading Public Library, at South Fifth and Franklin streets. The library's archival Updike collection is a must-see for any fan. It's a set of 136 noteworthy books donated by the author, including 58 titles from his mother's collection, many inscribed to her by her son, who personally delivered them to the library when she passed away in 1989.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Hemingway archive opens in Cuba

BBC NEWS | Americas | Hemingway archive opens in Cuba.

Hemingway archive opens in Cuba Ernest Hemingway

Cuba has opened up electronic access to thousands of documents belonging to the writer Ernest Hemingway, who wrote some of his greatest works on the island.

The archive includes photographs, letters and manuscripts, as well as an unpublished epilogue to Hemingway's novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls.

The items had been stored in the cellar of the writer's Cuban home for decades.

Curators say the files offer an insight into Hemingway's life on the island, where he lived for 20 years.

"We are talking about 3,194 pages of documents, close to 2,000 plus of documents, some already digitalised," said Ada Rosa Alfonso Rosales, director of the Museo Ernest Hemingway in Havana.
...

See also Museo Ernest Hemingway (in Spanish)

Best Collections Of Literary Letters 2008 : NPR

Best Collections Of Literary Letters 2008 : NPR.

Best Books of 2008
Best Collections Of Literary Letters 2008
by Troy Patterson

NPR.org, December 15, 2008 · Let's say that the history of correspondence as literature began with Cicero, proceeded to the mash notes of Abelard and Heloise, and took on new dimensions with such epistolary novels as Pamela, Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Dracula. High points of recent decades include the The Groucho Letters (where Mr. Marx waggles a virtual cigar at the likes of T.S. Eliot and Harry S. Truman) and last year's Letters of Noel Coward, which went to print bearing two letters faked by a charismatic felon whose memoir appears on this list.

Dear reader, sitting down with a collection of letters — or a vivid reflection on them — affords a singularly intimate encounter with a writer, so please give a look to these exercises in mail bonding.
...
The Printable List
Complete Holiday Book Recommendations 2008

Brainstorm: Home From Havana - Chronicle.com

Brainstorm: Home From Havana - Chronicle.com.

Home From Havana
Digitizing Papa Hem’s Cuba papers is all well and good. Still, it isn’t the same thing as being there. (Photo source)

Here I am, sitting in my cozy office in Princeton, looking out at perfectly filthy New Jersey weather — freezing rain and sleet. It is doubtless around 80 degrees in Havana, with clear skies and a brisk wind. Ah well! I was able to enjoy the weather, the food, and the company of good friends and colleagues there for the past four days.
...
The Bush administration steadily tightened restrictions on travel from the United States to Cuba, both for Cuban-Americans planning family visits, and for those of us with “approved” reasons to travel to the island. One such Bush change was the requirement that undergraduate students only go to Cuba if they are enrolled for at least 10 weeks in a Cuban university, thus eliminating the short student study trips that Princeton and many other American institutions organized as recently as five years ago. Nevertheless, several American colleges and universities currently have groups of undergrads enrolled at the Universidad de La Habana — Sarah Lawrence, Brown, Harvard, North Carolina, Presbyterian among them. We are hoping to have a Woodrow Wilson School junior seminar on some aspect of Cuban public policy during the spring term, 2010, and we found a warm reception for that proposal at the University on Tuesday. We actually found greater difficulty in securing suitable housing for our students, and we are still working on that problem.
...

From the article comments/notes: "On January 21 President Obama can use his authority to provide general (no need to apply) licenses for twelve categories of non-tourist travel including family (Cuban American), educational, humanitarian, religious, sports, culture, and 'support for the Cuban people'." Urge he do so at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/obamacuba/