The Literary Pursuit

E. B. White was born in Mount Vernon, New York, in 1899 and was graduated from Cornell University in 1921. After five or six years of trying many sorts of jobs, he joined the staff of The New Yorker magazine. The connection proved a happy one and resulted in a steady output of satirical sketches, poems, essays, and editorials. His essays also appeared in Harper’s Magazine.

Mr White is the author of thirteen books of prose and poetry. His two previous children’s books, Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web, are modern classics, for which he has been given the 1970 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award.

The book in one sentence: Louis the Trumpeter Swan is born without a voice, but leads an extraordinary life despite his disability.

Who would you recommend it to: Well, if you’ve read the other two E. B. White children’s book, you might as well read this and complete the set.

OK bits: Nothing I particularly like in this book.

Boring bits: I found Louis’s father very annoying and pompous.

Verdict: I just didn’t enjoy this book. It was all too goody-two-shoes for me; there wasn’t a real bad guy in the book!

This site, at the front page, calls it a tourist map of literature. I expected it to show Stratford-upon-Avon when I type in William Shakespeare. Instead, what it shows is a map of authors’ names, to show what other authors do readers of Shakespeare read. The closer a name is to the author name searched, the more likely the reader will like books by that name.

It does not relate authors through a similar style of writing or period, but rather what other authors readers have read; so you could type Jilly Cooper and see Paulo Coelho’s name at the outer perimeter of the map, and strangely have Marian Keyes and Helen Fielding on the outer perimeters of the map as well.

An interesting site, but I’m not sure what is the purpose of it!

I don’t like the image of this compact mirror, but I love the concept. Indeed, reading is sexy.

Isn’t this just the cutest (and probably most complicated) bookshelf you’ve ever seen? It’s like a playhouse and bookshelf in one; what a fantastic way to create a reading atmosphere in the playroom! Uroko House is a creation of Point Architects from Tokyo.

Apparently it’s made into a mini-bedroom inside the bookshelf-house. See the pictorial documentation of the making of this awesome bookshelf.

Another one for the kids’ playroom (or library)! The Lego-inspired bookshelf, called Skew Bookcase, is designed by Swedish designers Smånsk. I like that the shelf is stackable and removable; you don’t have to get a whole new shelf when you need more space for new books. The asymmetrical design is also good for books of all sizes. And books won’t fall over without a bookend, since they either lean one way or the other! Read the rest of this entry »