a dancing star!

Jonathan Glancey writes passionately about Selexyz Dominicanen in The Guardian’s very own ShopTalk section. The bookshop is integrated within the architectural frame of a 13th century Dominican Church, with its enormous bookcase a commanding presence and counter-point to its now secularised altar. Seldom have the twin pursuits - truthfulness and faith - come face to [...]

If reading is an exploration of uncharted lands, then books as gifts are beacons that illuminate and guide.

Quite a coincidence. I was flying out to Surabaya the other week and picked up a book by Eric A. Johnson & Karl-Heinz Reuband. Not the usual airport fare, I agree, but pickings were slim. Do compare the cover of their book with Richard J. Evans’s The Third Reich in Power, 1933-1939.

It’s the same photograph, [...]

You know how it is sometimes. You see her; she catches your eye. Sometimes it’s hard to keep your resolve.
Soon enough, you’ve taken her home and do what comes naturally. Then you realise that you’ve done this before. Years ago. And it wasn’t even that great the first time around.
So you bring her back to [...]

The misery continues. After my last post on despair - on the withdrawal from reading life, or the duplicity that is Amazon’s recommendations - I embarked on Robert Fisk’s monumental The war on Civilisation, its 1283 pages traversing the life of Bill Fisk and the modern Middle East that was bequeathed to us by his [...]

For two successive days this weekend, I wandered around Kinokuniya determined and a little anxious to make a purchase; not just any purchase, of course, but a “something” that will restore some semblance of balance between the forces of light and darkness, wisdom and ignorance. A tall order, and no doubt a reflection of recent [...]

Philosophical Myths of the Fall, by Stephen Mulhall, is my 15th purchase of 2006. It is a fine book, and follows his earlier effort On Film. Stephen taught at Essex’s Philosophy department during my time in the mid-1990s; he lectured in an always clear and exhilirating manner, free from the ego-dramatics that consumed Mark [...]

I must tell you all about the new kid on the block, Books2Anywhere.com (www.books2anywhere.com). Their website is basic, without screaming graphics or user ratings; you can’t read excerpts and individual book information (publishers, etc) is non-existent. Oh, and they “only” sell books.
But their pricing is very competitive and they don’t over-charge on shipping either, unlike [...]

There is usually little reward to accompany the swelling of one’s throat; perhaps a hidden blessing, the littlest joy, is the lowering of expectations, in not being expected to speak; or, conversely, in the discretionary powers of being able to forestall conversation. Such soreness eventually requires a visit to the doctor’s, however much [...]

Blake and I were first brought together by a shared fondness for books. He was joint-owner of the now-defunct “Blake’s Books”, an online store specialising in used scholarly books. What is startling is that our relationship has lasted the best part of 9 years, and survived (on my part) several job changes, shifts in learning [...]