A Birthday is a Wonderful Thing!
January 2, 2011

Six years old! BiblioBuffet will be six years old on January 6 and like any five-going-on-six-year-old we are excited! Unlike all other five-going-on-six-year-olds (we hope), we will be having a celebration that includes champagne. And we invite you all to join us for a glass.

The one sad note is that contributor David G. Mitchell has resigned from his column, “Things Said and Done.” The reason is good: his law practice has taken off into such stratospheric heights in the last month that it requires all his attention. We wish David well in all his future endeavors, and hope to see him on occasion.

David’s departure opens the door for us to consider other writers, and we already have several applicants. We are excited about the possibilities, and we look forward to announcing new contributors as soon as we can.

For presents: books. What else? Thanks to the going-out-of-business sale at Borders I got three new books, which I mentioned last week. Several days ago, I used the Christmas gift certificate I received from Nicki (plus a small charge on my credit card) to order some more books (which will arrive in a week or so):

• Cleopatra: A Life
• Savages
• Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
• At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream: Misadventures in Search of the Simple Life
• Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth
• God’s Middle Finger: Into the Lawless Heart of the Sierra Madre
• The Bookshop at 10 Curzon Street: Letters Between Nancy Mitford and Heywood Hill 1952-73

Then in the mail I received two more books, both perfect for me (which often doesn’t happen): The Riddle of the Sands a re-issue of a classic espionage thriller based on the author’s own experiences nearly 100 years ago (Penguin Classics), and A Professor, a President, and a Meteor: The Birth of American Science (Prometheus Books).

But what does that mean for our readers? Simply this: More excellent books to be reviewed in 2011—and maybe an occasional stinker for the fun of it. New writers, new viewpoints, new ideas. We look forward to 2011, and we hope you are along for the ride. Bring some friends too, if you like. It wouldn’t be rude, there is ample room, and the champagne is plentiful.

Upcoming Book Festivals:
With the opening of the new year, the book festivals are starting up again and this upcoming week sees the first two, one in Florida and one in Connecticut.

The Key West Literary Seminar will take place in Key West, Florida, from January 6-16 this year, and places are still open at Session Two (the first session has sold out). The seminar is a four-day event developed around a unique literary theme, this year’s being The Hungry Muse: An Exploration of Food in Literature. Among the featured writers will be memoirists, novelists, poets, historians, journalists, and “all manner of lettered gastronome and gourmand” who will explore not only the foods we eat but “all the things that food stands for in our lives.” (There is also a writers’ program as part of the seminar.) The price is $495 and includes all events and receptions.

The XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut will host Papermania Plus on the  weekend of January 8-9. As a “paper” show, it will have dealers who specialize not only in books but also various antique paper: bookmarks, postcards, photographs, autographs, maps, sheet music, etc. from nearly 150 dealers. You can also bring your books or ephemera for a free appraisal on Sunday from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. Show hours are 10:00 to 5:00 on Saturday and from 10:00 to 4:00 on Sunday. Admission costs $7; senior citizens and college students are half-price on Sunday.

The Pub House:
Thames & Hudson publishes beautifully-illustrated books on art, architecture, design, photography, decorative arts, fashion, style, lifestyle, travel, archaeology, history, and spirituality, as well as a number of titles for children. For science and history lovers, Seeds, Sex and Civilization: How the Hidden Life of Plants Has Shaped Our World promises a ”scientific  detective story” with heroes and heroines, eccentrics, explorers, amateurs, highly dedicated professionals” as well as seeds that “appear to have personalities, ambitions, and ‘strategems’ of their own.” Street Photography Now is an stunning collection of modern day street photography, that is, photography focused on candid depictions of life in public by known and emerging forty-six image-makers whose pictures showcase their perspective of our twentieth-first century lives. The world of animals comes beautifully alive for children (or anyone) with My Favorite Animal Families, a volume that celebrates fourteen species of wild animal families from bears to zebras as they create and nurture their own family units and the rituals that are part of it. Lively texts accompanies the four pages devoted to each animal family and explain why, for example, hippos like to wallow in mud and what noises baby giraffes make. A gorgeous book with valuable information.

Imaging Books & Reading:
One of my favorite online videos ever is that of . I know I have linked this before, but it is worth seeing (or seeing again) because her library is not one you’ll ever see in Architectural Digest, which is their loss. It is an extraordinary collection of books piled every which way and in every corner—an unambiguous statement that here lives a Reader.

Of Interest:
I love it when a superb bookish blog suddenly appears before me. Entomology of a Bookworm did exactly that last week. This is an amazing blog and an amazing blogger who, unlike many, doesn’t seem to suffer blogger burnout. She writes beautifully and always with a sense of awe streaked with humor and honest bluntness (“we’re all sick of ‘Best of 2010’ lists (personally, I stopped reading any but other blogger’s lists, because they do get old)”. But she never loses her sense of joy for books and love of reading, and her writing style is both solid and bubbly, though not annoyingly so. It really is an excellent blog. Bookmark this, everyone, and read it.

Until next week, read well, read often and read on!

Lauren