The Stacks
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Thing Explainer
We here at the Small-Flying-Creatures-with-Pretty-Wings-and-Creatures-from-Other-Places-in-Space Place for Books and Information love playing with words. And we love it when other people play with words. One person whose playing-with-words we love is... named using words we can't use right now.
Let me explain.
I have a problem…
A couple of days ago, one of my favourite (and Edmonton’s oldest) indie bookstores – Audreys Books – finally reopened for in-person browsing, after over a year of online shopping and curbside pickup. I wasn’t able to make it in on that first day, but I absolutely made sure to get in by the second. The act of walking up, pulling open the door, and simply walking in was breathtaking.
A Bookish Memento Mori
So I've started referring to one particular shelf here at Butterflies & Aliens North as my memento mori in books. Sounds better than "I have this growing collection of funny books about death that started with this one book of cartoons about unpleasant ways to die that still makes me laugh out loud every time I read it"...
But, really, there is much truth in both those statements.
Shuttle: The World’s First Spaceship
I’ve had people critique my love of print books as “just nostalgia.” Setting aside for the moment all the archival, psychological, and other reasons why print still holds a prime place in literary culture, what exactly is wrong with nostalgia as a reason for keeping books around.
To wit, my copy of Shuttle: The World’s First Spaceship by Robert M. Powers, published in May 1980 by Warner Books, eleven months before the maiden flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia, on Mission STS-1, on April 12, 1981.
The Well of Being
I was reminded today of the importance of seeking gratitude, thanks to a social media memory of discovering a “Thank You Station” at my place of primary employment, a year ago now. It’s also where I discovered The Well of Being: a children’s book for adults, written and illustrated by Jean-Pierre Weill. It was the perfect book to anchor a thank you station.
