Introducing Myself
September 2, 2007

For me, Sundays used to mean lovely, relaxing rituals—early morning hours spent with thick newspapers and good coffee, a lazy trip to Esau’s for my favorite Jalapeño Scrambled Eggs, an afternoon curled up in a hammock or on a sofa with a good book in hand and cats in lap, followed by a roasted chicken dinner with steamed green beans, Caesar salad and a good wine.

It’s not been the same since BiblioBuffet began. Sunday is now deadline day, a wind-up-and-get-it-done kind of day. The new week’s issue has to be ready to go live that night. Like most people I have a full-time job, which means I devote weekends to preparing the content. Don’t get me wrong. I love it, but I want to regain some of my favored rituals at least in part. That means a few changes.

The first is the addition of this short editor’s letter which will serve to introduce each week’s new content, make announcements and share personal thoughts. (I also invite you to contribute to it through comments, ideas, suggestions, even criticisms to which I can respond.) Second, my column, Reviews & Reflections, is going from weekly to bi-weekly. This will allow me to concentrate on improving its quality with more in-depth commentary.

This month, Daniel M. Jaffe, in Talking Across the Table, presents a fascinating interview with Natasha Sajé who shares her ideas on the role of  rhythm and repetition in poetry. Even for non-poetry readers, her insights offer a unique perspective into the relationship of language, concepts and body. A lovely person and a lovely interview.

Henry L. Carrigan, Jr. happily dives into his favorite southern music and the history behind the station that is, well, home to it in Readings. If you love country music, want to learn about its beginnings, then he has the book for you.

Nicki Leone, in A Reading Life, shares her love of quality (not necessarily expensive) foods with a review of a tangy book that tops the trend of the eat-local books crowding the bookshelves today. 

What do the dollar store, hurricane preparedness items and books have in common? Check out Anne Michael’s thoughts in Seasoned Lightly.

Bookmarks do more than simply mark our place in a book. They tell stories, mark history, share a culture. Laine Farley takes us on a trip to China with her bookmarks in On Marking Books.

Kat Warren, a new occasional contributor, is a passionate list-maker. Her favorite form, for which she is justifiably famous in Readerville, is theme lists of books. Check out her newest one in Bibliopinions.

This has been a silly week for me. Silly-crazy and silly-crazed. In celebration of that, I wanted to share the addiction that unites us all: biblioholism. What forms of this disease do you have? See your choices in Reviews & Reflections.

And while you’re here, don’t forget to check out our Literary Amusements page where each day offers a new literary factoid as well as a new reading quote. And for a special treat visit the National Library of the Netherlands, which has put together an online exhibition of 100 of their biblio-pieces including block books, decorated paper, engravings, book bindings and more in English. Thanks to Kimbooktu for the link.

Until next week, read well, read often and read on! And thank you for reading BiblioBuffet.

Lauren