Since it’s Halloween weekend, what better way to head off into the sunset, equipped with stakes, ouija board, silver bullets, garlic, etc., than a list of top ten favorite classic horror writers?
But not just any list. Most of us know those: Stoker and Shelley and Poe and Lovecraft, etc. etc. No, how about a top ten list of forgotten, [...]
Entries from October 2009
October 30, 2009
Top 10 Forgotten Classic Horror Writers
October 29, 2009
Don’t try this at home. Or do, and write a book about it.
As I was flying into New York City a couple of weeks ago, I thought about all the interesting experiments going on there at any given time. Truly, the thought first occurred to me after seeing Julie and Julia - all these quirky New Yorkers doing something for a year and then blogging or writing [...]
October 28, 2009
Poetry as Insurgent Art
Famed and beloved beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s quotable book Poetry as Insurgent Art is part desiderata, part manifesto on the importance of poetry.
In four prose poems and a brief essay, its quips vary from rebellious (“Strive to change the world in such a way that there’s no further need to be a dissident”) to koan-like statements to [...]
October 27, 2009
Pittsburgh’s Day of Giving
Not a day goes by that I don’t fantasize about creating an endowment for the library. Dressed to the nines, with winning PowerBall ticket in hand, I will call a press conference in the Reference Department. There, in a speech designed to make the angels weep, I will finish the job Andrew Carnegie began by [...]
October 26, 2009
Rejected by the PMI, or form letters for the ages.
Recently, Kathie (illustrious manager of our Music Department) introduced me to our collection of bulletins, announcements, and programs from the Pittsburgh Musical Institute.
Among the 38 volumes of assorted stuff representing the years 1915 to 1955 is this gem of a rejection letter, from the 1948-49 school year.
If you’d like to learn more about the history of [...]
October 23, 2009
get up, stand up
This week I attended the ne plus ultra of librarianship on the local level: the Pennsylvania Library Association Conference in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I got to:
a) Meet, hug and fawn over my favorite author Jennifer Weiner (I asked her to inscribe my book, “To Bonnie, my best friend”)
b) Win an iPod, even though I told the [...]
October 22, 2009
Harrowing Halloween Horror
We’ve recently added some great new books to our horror collection, just in time for Halloween! Check them out:
Frostbite: A Werewolf Tale by David Wellington – Since vampires are currently everyone’s favorite creature of the night (thanks a lot, Stephenie Meyer), we don’t see many books about werewolves these days. Fortunately, Frostbite fills in the gaps pretty well [...]
October 21, 2009
…the letter that is written remains.
Letters and notes continue to fascinate me even though the ubiquitous e-mail has largely supplanted them. While electronic communication can’t be surpassed for its efficiency and practicality, letters to me endear and endure. Our holdings suggest that others share my fondness for a media that can be stashed away and then later retrieved for a [...]
October 20, 2009
Get Together and Read
You might not know it, but October is National Reading Group Month. Strangely enough, people all over the country like to get together and discuss the books they have read. Haven’t you ever finished a great book and wished that you could talk to someone about it? With the Internet available 24/7, it’s now easier to go to a [...]
October 19, 2009
Vacation Reading
Greetings, from sunny Santa Barbara! I’ll be back in Pittsburgh in just a few days, but for the past week and a half I’ve been from the Grand Canyon to Flagstaff to Long Beach, and of course I’ve managed to read a few books along the way. Here are a few things I brought along [...]
