In the latest issue of the LRB, Jenny Diski comes to the defense of Liz Jones, a Daily Mail columnist and spiritual sibling to the far-too-beautiful-to-live Samantha Brick. Her takeaway after reading a column that got Jones into hot water? Diski “couldn’t see” what the pilloried writer had done wrong.
Crossed Lines
New Directions’ Birthday Bash
On a more optimistic note, New Directions, New York City’s inestimable and long struggling (but “long dazzling!”) publishing house, will be throwing itself a 75th birthday party on Thursday, October 27. (They just redesigned their website and colophon, too.)
●
●
The Little Bookstore That Could
This independent bookstore in Alabama has a novel concept–selling only signed copies of books. Alabama Booksmith is just one of many independent bookstores looking for new ways to survive in the world. This Millions interview with Janet Geddis, the founder of Avid Bookshop in Athens, Ga, is both hopeful and inspiring.
●
●
Rudyard the Rebel
Remember the Rudyard Kipling poem where he says the British government should be scalped? We don’t either. However, a forthcoming book of lost Kipling poems, 100 Poems: Old and New, shows his anti-establishment side. An excerpt from the aforementioned poem, “Laudatores Actoris Empti:” “Come, let us lightly scalp the brood / Of ‘educated middle classes’ / Who, much perplexed with ‘views’ and ‘goals’ / Now govern London – and our souls”
No You’re Crying
A lost letter from a dying mother to her young daughter was found in a used bookstore in Bishop Auckland, England, and has been returned to its rightful owner after 15 years. Related: on donating books to unexpected readers.
●
●