Uncategorized

I came across a wonderful tumblr site called betterbooktitles.com which is an absolute joy to go through. The blogger behind the site, Dan Wilbur, has a gift for altering a book’s title on the cover so that it pithily reflects the very heart of the story contained within. His philosophy Continue Reading

Taking its inspiration from Julie Gillard’s admonishment to journalists at the National Press Club last year: “Don’t write crap. Can’t be that hard.”, this event, chaired by the host of the ABC’s Insiders program, Barrie Cassidy, brought together a number of well respected media veterans to discuss the extent to which the media bears Continue Reading

The Moomin series of books and comics by Tove Jansson were major literary touchstones of my childhood and youth, and another sign that my fascination with all things Scandinavian began quite early. Along with Agaton Sax, created by Swedish author, Nils-Olof Franzen, these books about a delightful family of well-meaning, Continue Reading

I saw this tweet the other day in my never ending onrushing stream that is my Twitter feed – blink and you will miss things! Hence my eyes are always open now… yes I need a constant supply of eye drops – and it resonated with me instantly. It’s exactly Continue Reading

The wisdom of that age-old adage remains as true today as the day it leapt into popular use sometime in the early Twentieth Century. We all readily acknowledge that making a judgement on the worth of anything by external appearances only means that we could well miss out on something Continue Reading

Frankly I am not sure why everyone is worried about this Mayan calendar end of the world thing this year. I think we have far more to fear from the impending zombie apocalypse. Or do we? Thanks to Greg Stone, the inspired, uber-talented man behind this amusing book, which also Continue Reading

  Maurice Sendak, much loved and admired author of the children’s classic, Where the Wild Things Are, and In the Night Kitchen, among more than 50 books he wrote and/or illustrated, died Tuesday US time of complications from a recent stroke. “I don’t write for children. I write…” While he was primarily known for Continue Reading

When most writers of fiction are published, they are so inordinately proud of getting their beloved work into bookstores that they think nothing of splashing their name across the book’s cover. Why would you do anything else? After all, you want the world to know you wrote this book,  right? Continue Reading

Admit it – you walk into a second hand bookstore and all you can smell is the delightful, or possibly, offensive smell of old books. As Richard Davies of worldwide online bookseller, abebooks.com, and an expert on rare books, explains in this information-filled video, old books have a distinctive smell Continue Reading

Ira Glass, host of the acclaimed radio show, This American Life, which broadcasts nationally on Public Radio International in the United States, is the first person to admit it took him a while to find his storytelling voice. He began work at the age of 19 in 1978 at National Public Continue Reading