From: Feed Your Need to Read
The Book Booth is a weekly feature at The Political Carnival, relating news, notes, and reflections from the world of books and publishing. @SeattleDan, along with his wife, SeattleTammy, are operators of both an on-line bookstore here, as well as a brick and mortar storefront mini-store in Hoquiam, WA at 706 Simpson Ave (Route 101 South). Both have been in the book business since shortly after the Creation, or close to 6000 years now.
The Book Booth: April Come She Will Edition
Spring has sprung and April is right around the corner. Ah, April, the month of baseball, sunshine, blooming trees, fragrant odors, lawns that need to be mowed. Maybe Eliot was right.
Speaking of smells, there is nothing quite like the aroma of a used bookstore. And if you'd like to keep that smell with you all day, you know can with this new perfume. H/T to my good friend, Caleb Bullen for finding this item that can be yours for a mere eighty dollars.
Eau de Old Books
We're still at the tail end of March and with it, the continuing athletic displays of collegiate hoops, known as March Madness. I am not one to fill out brackets, as I don't really follow the game closely. I'm sure it leads to madness and obsession, much like the characters in the books Flavorwire recently highlighted in an article from Emily Temple.
Madness
Speaking of obsession, one book club in Boston has, for the past 18 years, met to discuss one book and one book only. That book would be Finnegan's Wake. Hats off to such persistence.
Finnegan's Wake Book Club
Some booksellers and librarians clearly have too much time on their hands, producing book/song parodies. These are seriously a lot of fun. Enjoy.
Book/Song Parodies
Back in 1966, Paul Simon asked if the theater was really dead in his song The Dangling Conversation. (I seem to have old Paul Simon songs on the brain this week.) The same question has hung over the novel for well over a century now. Vox recently time-lined the proclamation of the book's demise here.
The Book's Demise? Not So Fast!
If the novel were really dead, and I have serious doubts about it, we could always re-read some favorites. I like to re-read books. I just recently finished re-reading David Hadju's Positively Fourth Street, a fine look at the early days of the folk revival in the early sixties, focussed on the intertwined lives of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Richard and Mimi Farina. But there can be dangers in going back to a well-loved book. Susie Rodarme examined some of those dangers here at Book Riot.
You Can't Read That Book Again (Or Maybe Shouldn't)
Alas, the famed historian of folk and blues music, Samuel Charters, has passed away at age 85. The New York Times had this lengthy obituary.
So Long, It's Been Good to Know You, Samuel Chambers
I have a few items from the intersection of books and politics to share. First off, it seems that Stephen King is no pal of Maine's teabagging governor. Governor LePage recently intimated that King does not pay taxes; King called him out.
King to LePage: Stop Lying
Meanwhile, activists helped to shut down Hancock Air Base in New York state and used oversized books to make their point in a creative display of protest.
Anti-Drone Activists
And who knew that the path to literacy in the Soviet Union could be so much fun? THIS IS NOT SAFE FOR WORK. DO NOT OPEN THIS LINK IN FRONT OF CHILDREN. Enjoy. H/t to old pal and publisher, Richard Grabman.
Soviet Erotic Alphabet
In happy news, the great songwriter Elvis Costello has a new memoir in the works, due to be published by a Penguin imprint sometime in October. This news will no doubt please SeattleTammy who is probably Mr. Costello's biggest fan.
Elvis Costello Memoir
May you all have sweet smelling weekends, filled with books and good music. Let us know what books you've got going, and, heck, tell us what music you are loving.