A Life with Books by Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes has written a wonderful pamphlet exploring, explaining and celebrating a life with books. He writes: "I have lived in books, for books, by and with books; in recent years, I have been fortunate enough to be able to live from books. And it was through books that I first realized that there were other worlds beyond my own; first imagined what it might be like to be another person; first encountered that deeply intimate bond made when a writer's voice gets inside a reader's head..." It was featured in The Guardian on Saturday 30th June.  A Life with Books (£1.99) is published by Jonathan Cape to celebrate Independent Booksellers Week and is available exclusively in independent bookshops. All proceeds from the sales of the pamphlet go to the charity Freedom from Torture. IBW runs 30 June-7 July. For more details go to: www.independentbooksellersweek.org.uk

Giving books

Here's an excellent project from the Cambridge US public library for giving books to disadvantaged kids in their holidays. Much to learn from it. http://cambridgelibraryfriends.blogspot.com/2011/11/all-wrapped-up-in-holidays.html

Words in the Park

There's a new Literary Festival taking place in the glorious surroundings of Holland Park, London on May 18th-20th.  Words in the Park is the latest venture from the wonderful Ways with Words group of festivals. There are now 4 throughout the UK and they've been going for 21years. More power to them.

The Book of the Future

Here's a piece from the New York Times about The Book of the Future.

The thingy-ness of books

A Ted talk about how designing books is no laughing matter--or is it?

Uggie writes...

We've had a recommendation from Uggie the dog. "If I've yipped it once, I've yipped it a thousand  times, where Dog Stars are concerned , you have to take the rough with the smooth. Rinty is rough , I am smooth. All the same I generously recommend Rin Tin Tin, the Life and the Legend by Susan Orlean. Donate to Give a Book here.

Affection for fiction

Philip Hensher in an interview in The Guardian today speaks of his unshakeable affection for fiction: "It allows us to see the world from the point of view of someone else and there has been quite a lot of neurological research that shows reading novels is actually good for you. It embeds you in society and makes you think about other people. People are certainly better at all sorts of things if they can hold a novel in their heads. It is quite a skill, but if you can't do it then you're missing out on something in life. I think you can tell, when you meet someone, whether they read novels or not. There is some little hollowness if they don't."