Tears and Joy
Date, 2008

It is with both tears in my eyes and joy in my heart that I must announce Daniel M. Jaffe’s last column for “Talking Across the Table”—July 2008—begins today. After two-and-a-half years of interviewing some of the more interesting writers on the scene today, Dan, himself a compelling writer, author and translator, has been offered opportunities that bode well for his future. It pains me that he will no longer be a regular contributor on BiblioBuffet, but as a friend I would not think of doing anything other than wishing him the best and encouraging him to grab them.

His departure reminds me yet again that one of the hardest parts of being an editor is the relationship that can develop between a writer and his editor. It doesn’t happen all the time or at every place, but I am pleased to say that here at BiblioBuffet it does. I am friends with each contributor. Some, like Dan, were friends before the professional relationship began. Others became friends once they came on board as contributors.

Dan’s contributions to BiblioBuffet include teaching me, by example, what editorial sensitivity means, and why it is so important. He forged a relationship between the UCLA Writers’ Program and BiblioBuffet. He introduced me and you, our readers, to important writers, authors, translators and other practitioners of the written word. Most of all, he explored through his interviews what it means to work with those tools called words, what inspiration is and does, what meanings can be drawn out of the created work. They are interviews that take a personal approach, and in that way they provide an intimate look not only of the interviewee but at the process, dynamics and flow of the craft. Dan, thank you.

Some of you may have noticed design changes at BiblioBuffet. We are working with a new web designer who is doing a wonderful job of implementing our ideas. There won’t be any radical changes—it will still be classic B&W with no ads and no flash—but the logo has become a bit cleaner as has the Table of Contents (home) page. Brief descriptions of new content are on the TOC so you can check out each column before clicking on the link. We’ve added more “Books & More Books” pages including a Writers’ Resources page of trusted sites and blogs, separated out the Book-Related pages into one for blogs and one for sites, changed the bookstores page into Book Places, Specialty because we are now featuring primarily genre rather than general interest bookstores, remainder dealers, and will soon be adding regional bookseller associations so you can easily find independent stores in your area. A Literary Humor and Games section is the place to find, well, humor and games that readers and writers will enjoy, and a Shopping page that specializes in items of interest to booklovers and readers. The Book Festivals pages (both U.S. and World) have links to all the book festivals I can find by state or country. Descriptions, city, month and of course links are also included. And then we offer a Book Donations page that lists organizations I have checked out as being worthy of your donations of books. There are so many families, cities, schools and libraries that can use either your donation of books or money. Please look here, and help if you can. 

Upcoming changes include the addition of an RSS feed, streamlined and efficient archive pages, and more. Since I view BiblioBuffet as a reader-oriented site, I encourage each of you who has an opinion on our changes or an idea that you’d like to see added or implemented to contact me. I definitely want to hear from you!

This Week. . .
BiblioBuffet does not maintain a blog, but a couple of our contributors do. Managing editor Nicki Leone (“A Reading Life”) began Will Read for Food, a blog that came about because, as she puts it, it is “an exercise in shameless self-indulgence . . . An important part of my reading life happens after I close the book and start to think about what I’ve just read. Inevitably, I want to talk it out with someone.”

I asked Nicki if she wanted to make the blog part of BiblioBuffet, but she declined, saying that this was where she ran with things that were less thought out than her columns, where she didn’t have to worry about structure and audience. It’s vibrant writing, this slightly different side of her, but oh, is it fun, particularly her current interest—the libraries of Dracula, Hogwarts, Victor Fargas, Umberto Eco, Harriet Vane, Dufflepuds, and Theodore.

Tripping Toward Luidity: Estella’s Revenge belongs to columnist Andi Miller who terms herself a “reader, writer, blogger, college English instructor, editor, maniac nutcase.” Her blog reflects all these things, and her “voice” is sufficiently unique to make this one of those blogs worth reading on a regular basis. That’s saying a lot since there are a lot of them—googling “book blogs” brings up 125,000 results—out there. Her latest thing is the RAT (Read-a-Thon) when she can squeeze it in among the packing boxes. Good luck on the move, Andi!

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

Lauren