Given my on-going struggle to find the right title for my book, I was excited when I read about this site. It’s done by comedian Dan Wilbur, who might just be on to something. The idea is that these new titles “cut through the cryptic crap”, as Wilbur puts it, and tell you what the book is really about. I …
Blast from the Past
Ah, the irony. The above picture was sent to me this morning by a friend of ours who lives in our old neighborhood of Islington in London. This is the front table of Border’s bookstore, which was a regular haunt of ours when we lived there. The store, I understand from book trade sources (thanks, Ralph), is about to close. …
Reading List
Must. Stop. Buying. Books. This is getting ridiculous. Here, in no particular order, is what is presently on my book shelf, waiting to be read: 1959 – The Year Everything Changed (Fred Kaplan) The Land Where the Blues Began (Alan Lomax) Rhythm-a-ning; Jazz Tradition and Innovation (Gary Giddins) The Great Influenza (John Barry) Fiasco (Thomas Ricks) Cobra II (Michael Gordon) …
Authors Misbehaving in Public
I found this slightly disturbing anecdote about an innocent reader getting accosted by Ayn Rand’s best friend the other day. I’ve never interrupted someone I’ve seen reading one of my books and asked them how they were getting on with it (and I don’t suppose any of my friends have either), but the story did remind me of when I …