Books
Here's to a lifetime of reading.
Like an early physicist
2005.11.16, 14:54 | Comments (4)
I’ve mentioned before how much I like the writing of Maciej Ceglowski, but his post today called “Dating Without Kundera” takes my admiration to a new level altogether. Should be a Shouts and Murmurs piece in The New Yorker.
Life Editions: creators of fine books
2005.02.19, 18:22 | Comments (2)
Life Editions is a bindery in my old town of Fremantle, Western Australia, which produces some incredibly beautiful-looking work.
Paper insulation against the cold
2005.02.19, 11:26 | Comments (10)
Luckily a big box of books arrived yesterday so I can stay inside and insulate myself against the cold with paper. Here’s a look at what was in the box.
Kūhaku & Other Accounts from Japan
2005.01.30, 11:20 | Comments (2)
Kūhaku, a book of writing on Japan published by Chin Music Press
Wrong About Japan
2004.12.18, 02:12 | Comments (9)
“Peter Carey’s trip to Japan with his son went so well he needed to invent some conflict.”
Mask
2004.10.15, 22:18 | Comments (1)
From the book Noh by Kazuya Takaoka, Mutsuo Takahashi, and Toshiro Morita published by Pie Books.
Checkpoint: let the gasbagging begin
2004.08.08, 10:04 | Comments (2)
I think I’m going to stop reading about this book. My copy’s on its way.
New book soon from Nicholson Baker
2004.07.05, 10:11 | Comments (3)
Always a big deal around here.
Novel without verbs
2004.05.11, 21:42 | Comments (9)
Via The Literary Saloon, this news: a novel without verbs.
Intelligent Idiot
2004.04.09, 22:14 | Comments (8)
Across the courtyard from Las Chicas in Jingumae there is now a small but very interesting English-language bookstore called Intelligent Idiot
Libraries Told ‘Stop Lending’
2003.11.15, 11:58 | Comments (7)
The corporatisation of the world comes to the thorny problem of public libraries.
Dirty But Clean Wins the Booker
2003.10.15, 12:08 | Comments (3)
DBC Pierre has won this year’s Booker Prize for “Vernon God Little”
Coetzee Wins Nobel in Literature
2003.10.02, 20:44 | Comments (5)
J. M. Coetzee has won the 2003 Nobel Prize in literature.
Most Depressing Book Cover
2003.09.13, 11:10 | Comments (6)
Holy George-Bush-in-a-flight-suit! The Literary Saloon has found what may well be the most depressing book cover of the year. And depressing it is, as well as unintentionally hilarious.
The Emperor and the Wolf
2003.08.17, 17:34 | Comments (5)
The rain saved me. I took a load of clothes to a coin laundry this afternoon for machine drying and I passed the time waiting in a nearby second-hand bookstore where, of course, I found a hardcover first edition of the book for less than half the price Tower wanted.
Under the Banner of Heaven
2003.07.13, 12:54 | Comments (20)
Jon Krakauer has a new book out (Timothy Egan, NYTimes). It’s not about mountains.
The Insolent Art of Michel Houellebecq
2003.07.12, 18:34 | Comments (2)
Julian Barnes on Michel Houellebecq (The New Yorker)
A.Word.A.Day
2003.03.09, 22:59 | Comments (1)
If you don’t already subscribe to the AWAD, you probably should.
BookLab II
2003.03.07, 12:00 | Comments (2)
Craig Jensen’s BookLab II - visions and innovations for the traditional book [a must-see]
The Elementary Particles
2003.02.28, 14:44 | Comments (6)
I’m currently reading “The Elementary Particles” by Michel Houellebecq. It’s good - I just haven’t figured out how.
Latest Book Arrivals
2003.02.02, 22:02 | Comments (6)
The package from Powell’s finally arrives: “CivilWarLand in Bad Decline,” George Saunders; “How to Be Alone,” Jonathan Franzen; “The Elementary Particles,” Michel Houellebecq; “Big If,” Mark Costello.
More on Baker
2003.02.02, 21:09 | Comments (0)
Random House’s publicists have been busy over at The New York Times. In the wake of Michiko Kakutani’s blunted drubbing, the newspaper has published an altogether more enthusiastic review by Walter Kirn along with the first chapter of the novel itself.
Kakutani on Baker’s A Box of Matches (and why she’s wrong)
2003.01.27, 00:22 | Comments (1)
Michiko Kakutani pans Nicholson Baker’s latest novel, but she misses the point. A Box of Matches is a little retro-rocket of a book that’s been fired to nudge the joy of the everyday back into an orbit with us at the centre rather than allowing it to escape into outer space.
Richard Powers: The Time of Our Singing
2003.01.26, 12:34 | Comments (5)
Long review of Richard Powers’s new novel by Daniel Mendelsohn in the NYTimes.
“The nerds of this world buy Baker” – Updike
2003.01.14, 00:42 | Comments (1)
A new book from Nicholson Baker is always a big deal around here.
Tolkein’s Fingerprint
2002.12.30, 21:12 | Comments (4)
The newly discovered translation of Beowulf by J.R.R. Tolkein would make a great literary hoax.
Too Many Books?
2002.10.27, 20:08 | Comments (12)
There’s a thread on Plastic.com about what to do when you simply find yourself with too many books. My…
Martel Wins Booker
2002.10.23, 11:22 | Comments (1)
I’ve apparently been so preoccupied that I missed the run-up to this year’s Booker Prize. Joyful Martel wins BookerBBC Yann…
Return of the Corleones?
2002.10.22, 19:40 | Comments (25)
Human greed is constantly finding amazing ways to express itself. The Godfather could returnAnanova Random House have reached an agreement…
Cold War Teleporting
2002.10.20, 13:05 | Comments (1)
So I put aside a couple of other books I’m in the middle of to start the new Eggers novel…
YSKOV
2002.10.18, 14:27 | Comments (0)
The knock on the door just now was the delivery man bearing a box full of crumpled white paper….
Thomas Lynch, Poet-Slash-Undertaker
2002.09.20, 22:12 | Comments (14)
I was visiting Powells.com to buy the latest Paul Auster novel and, helpless as usual, I started browsing around….
Books on Japanese Houses
2002.09.04, 15:08 | Comments (5)
Perhaps the definitive book on traditional Japanese residential housing is Heinrich Engel’s The Japanese House: A Tradition for Contemporary…
Brunelleschi’s Dome
2002.08.02, 23:44 | Comments (0)
I’ve been pretty curmudgeonly lately, posting lots of bad news of greed and human inadequacy, so it’s high time…
Dale Peck on Rick Moody’s The Black Veil
2002.07.24, 23:45 | Comments (6)
Let’s face it; everybody loves a good hatchet job. It seems like every summer we get a good dust-up (must…
Snappy Seidensticker
2002.07.02, 16:22 | Comments (0)
Kurt Easterwood was doing a bit of research for a post on the shitamachi district of Tokyo for his blog…
Ain’t Too Proud to Beg (for this book)
2002.06.22, 23:49 | Comments (0)
I’ve always thought that having an Amazon wish list – or at least alerting complete strangers to its existence –…
John Dean’s “Unmasking Deep Throat” Published
2002.06.17, 14:17 | Comments (0)
Caveat lector! On May 7 I made mention of an ‘e-book’ (i.e., PDF file) by John Dean to be released…
My Next O’Reilly Purchase
2002.05.16, 00:38 | Comments (4)
There’s always something I want from O’Reilly. Now it’s the Husky Book. I’m definitely of lower-intermediate UNIX abilities, so…
Pastoralia
2002.04.24, 22:05 | Comments (0)
You don’t get enthusiastically blurbed by Thomas Pynchon, Michiko Kakutani and Garrison Keillor for no good reason, so a…
True History of the Kelly Gang
2002.04.05, 13:40 | Comments (1)
Yesterday’s good news seems to be true: Miyagi-san is going to translate Peter Carey’s True History of the Kelly…
And No…
2002.04.05, 00:34 | Comments (0)
It’s not the latest Harry Potter. ;-)…
Good News…?
2002.04.05, 00:30 | Comments (0)
Had some awfully good news tonight which I have to confirm tomorrow, so won’t spill the beans just yet. For…
Great Teacher Onizuka
2002.03.29, 10:14 | Comments (0)
How’s this for a synopsis: Ex-biker gang leader Eikichi Onizuka wants to become a teacher–so he can ogle 16-year-old girls….
South
2002.02.24, 23:51 | Comments (1)
I’ve been reading South by Sir Ernest Shackleton, an account of his second expedition to Antarctica, 1914 to 1916. The…
The Name of the World
2002.02.17, 00:59 | Comments (1)
Don’t know why I didn’t mention this sooner, but a few weeks ago I finished reading The Name of…
There’s More Than One Good Book
2002.02.06, 01:03 | Comments (1)
I had a client meeting in Jinbocho, the publishing district, this morning. There are lots of bookstores in Jinbocho…
The Ice Storm
2002.01.21, 23:52 | Comments (2)
Just finished The Ice Storm by Rick Moody. Excellent.
Whither the Panda?
2002.01.18, 23:22 | Comments (0)
Here’s something you don’t see much anymore: the Yonda? Panda. He (she? it?) was part of an advertising campaign…
Fast-food Horror Story
2001.12.18, 00:08 | Comments (1)
“Fast Food Nation” by Eric Schlosser. Disturbing but highly recommended
No-style & Good Style
2001.12.02, 22:41 | Comments (0)
Plotting Alongwashingtonpost.com Via metafilter, in the it’s-about-time department, an article from Linton Weeks about the banal no-styles of most best-selling…
Big Long Book Rant
2001.11.23, 01:26 | Comments (4)
Recent books
The Corrections
2001.11.16, 10:11 | Comments (2)
Franzen wins National Book AwardBy Hillel Italie Franzen received a few boos as awards host Steve Martin read down…
A Brain for all Seasons
2001.11.05, 21:46 | Comments (0)
William H. Calvin’s new book is available online. (There’s also a downloadable version for the Palm OS.) William H. Calvin…
Dogs and Demons
2001.11.02, 01:47 | Comments (1)
Finishing reading Dogs and Demons…
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