Reading about the reading life, February 10, 2017 edition

Welcome to another edition of "Reading about the reading life" here at The Itinerant Librarian. This is where I collect stories about reading and the reading life. Basically, these are items related to reading, maybe writing and literacy, that I find interesting and think my four readers might find interesting as well with a little commentary. As with other features I do on this blog, I do it when I have time or feel like it. Comments are always welcome (within reason). 

 


The spring semester started, and I have been busy. However, I have managed to find a few things of interest this month, so let's take a look. 

• Via The Guardian, an essay on bibliomania. 
• And speaking of people who may be spending way too much on books. What the author of the article says: "You might ask why I spend so much money on books when I could just borrow them from a library. First, my local library is unlikely to have all the books I want to read (more on that later). Second, when I’m reading a good book, I want to read it actively. I want to write in the margins. I want to make notes. I want to make it my own. If you get a library book you can’t do that." Two things I will say. One, for the library not having all you want, they also do something called Interlibrary Loan. If they do not have  it, they will find a library does and borrow it so you can check it out. By the author's own admission, he does not read everything  he buys right away, and he has a lot of books on his TBR shelf. So yea, he can probably afford to wait a bit for an ILL to arrive. I borrow books via ILL all the time. Two, if you insist on writing in the margins, can't help you much there. Although I will suggest keeping a book journal (in print or online) is a good option, which is what I do. In the end, the article makes some good  points about the importance of reading, but the guy does come across a bit as a pretentious privileged snob. Story via The Observer. 
• Via Tricycle, a Burmese monk tells his story about his book collection, a collection that has survived the times and military regimes among other things. 
• In Kyoto, Japan, a hostel has a book theme, and you can even sleep on shelves in the midst of books. Story via Japan Today. 
• For those of you who like coloring books or want to explore that hobby, here are a variety of links to museums, galleries, libraries, so on that offer images and pages for coloring of art for free. Often they are very nice documents you can download to color. Via Open Culture. 
• Via Infotecarios, a discussion of the used book trade and how it is not compatible with e-book culture. (Spanish language article). 
• With the election of the Pendejo In Chief (that is what I call him, or Lord Dampdick), certain books are suddenly seeing a rise in sales. Here is a list of 5 books that got increased sales as the result of the new presidential regime. Except for one, these are not books about the guy, but more about understanding the climate that led to his rise in power. Story via Esquire.