The Stacks

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On hand rails and old books…
Book Adjacent Winston Pei Book Adjacent Winston Pei

On hand rails and old books…

You can’t really tell from looking at this photo, but years of people sliding their hands along this wood railing have polished the outside edge so smooth that it feels like polished marble. Everything else around me was rough and “natural,” even the exposed grain and scratchy texture of the rest of the railing. Then out of the blue, this uncanny unexpected smooth…

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Happy Birthday, William Morris!
Bookish Calendar Winston Pei Bookish Calendar Winston Pei

Happy Birthday, William Morris!

Born on this day in 1834, William Morris is perhaps best known as an artist and designer, and a major force behind the Arts & Crafts movement. But he was also a poet and novelist, connected to the Pre-Raphaelite movement of the mid-1800s, and also the founder of the Kelmscott Press in 1891.

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Shop Local
Bulletin Board Stacey and Winston Bulletin Board Stacey and Winston

Shop Local

While we here at the Butterflies & Aliens Library are always happy when people get books into their hands, we’re especially delighted if it happens by way of an independent bookseller. As part of supporting such efforts, we have begun adding connections to the Shop Local initiative of Bookmanager, a Canadian company that provides bookstore management software to many independent booksellers in Canada and the US.

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Bibliotherapy: The Power of Story
Book Life Stacey Kondla Book Life Stacey Kondla

Bibliotherapy: The Power of Story

The past couple of weeks have been challenging. Not because work has been particularly hard or because anything bad has happened. Just because I sank into a bit of depression…

So, what helped me recently was completely escaping reality with a book series…

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A Happy Cyberpunk Birthday!
Bookish Calendar Stacey and Winston Bookish Calendar Stacey and Winston

A Happy Cyberpunk Birthday!

Okay, it’s not precisely the birthday of cyberpunk, but it is the birthday of one of the authors who pioneered the genre, William Gibson… born this day in 1948, and who introduced the world to cyberspace in his 1982 short story “Burning Chrome” and his 1984 debut novel Neuromancer.

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Pi Day 2021!
Bookish Calendar Stacey and Winston Bookish Calendar Stacey and Winston

Pi Day 2021!

As the official unofficial family holiday of our Chief Alien… and because PIE… we here at the Butterflies & Aliens Library of Literary Eccentricities & Rarities want to celebrate by sharing a selection of cookbooks and food-related books from our collection, plus a vintage geometry book from 1951.

And, of course, PIE.

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