Bookity

is an adorable Etsy shop, right up a reader's alley.

Literary pin from the Bookity Etsy Shop.

She also makes wonderful garlands from old books and atlases:

Shakespeare Garland

P.S. How perfect is this? She's from the city of Reading in the United Kingdom!

One Big Happy

The comic strip One Big Happy, by Rick Detorie has been running a series of book-related strips this week. This was the first in the series:

Copyright Rick Detorie, as seen on Creators.com

If you missed them in the AJC (bottom of the left comic column, next to Family Circle), you can visit the website Creators.com to see the whole series (just click the blue "Next" button to the right to move on to the following day's strip). You'll meet the much beloved, much beleaguered "Library Lady" in the second strip (thanks for the library love and occasional shout-out, Rick!)

The Creators.com's Comics section is a good place to keep up with all kinds of comics, be they political or just something you can't find in your local paper. The website also includes all kinds of syndicated advice/lifestyle/health columns and opinion pieces from every point of view. Browse around - you never know what you'll find!

Community Input Meetings

The Atlanta-Fulton Public Library system is holding meetings to solicit opinions regarding the new East Roswell, Milton and Alpharetta branches.

East Roswell Library – Thursday, March 31, 7:00 p.m. at East Roswell Community Center, 9000 Fouts Rd., Roswell 30076

 

Alpharetta Library – Tuesday, April 5, 7:00 p.m. at Alpharetta Senior Center , 13450 Cogburn Rd., Alpharetta 30004

 

Milton Library – Tuesday, April 12, 7:00 p.m. at Milton Court Room (located in Milton City Hall), 13000 Deerfield Parkway, Ste., 107E, Milton 30004

 

You can also share your opinion via an online survey, or by sending an email to librarycomments@fultoncountyga.gov.

The Sweet Sixteen of Books

The Morning News' 7th annual Tournament of Books began today: Jonathan Franzen's Freedom beat Teddy Wayne's Kapitoil, and will advance to the next round*.

To view all the brackets, and follow the excitement :), check it out here.

To play along at home, print this.

*I haven't read Kapitoil yet (I'll have to check it out of the Gwinnett County Library - it seems Fulton County doesn't own a copy *cough, cough*), but Freedom is a tough one to beat...

Quote of the Day

"Libraries, and librarians, do the Lord's work."

         Karin Slaughter, writer and founder of Save the Libraries

The quote is from an article in today's AJC: read the rest here.
 

Here a book, there a book

Books for sale in an Anthropologie clothing store.

This is an interesting article from the New York Times, about the increasingly diverse places publishers are finding to sell their wares.

Once I started to think about, I realized how common it is to see books, of one kind or another, in nearly every retail establishment around. From clothing stores to furniture stores to home improvement warehouses, books are everywhere.  And with bricks-and-mortar bookstores increasingly disappearing, it's wise marketing indeed.

Borders closing sale

The Johns Creek Borders dropped its store closing prices again today - they now range from 25% off (books) to 50% off (magazines, greeting cards). I haven't been in since last weekend, but it was already getting kinda cleared out even then, so if you've got something specific in mind to look for, I'd head in soon.

Self Destructing Books

 One publisher has come up with a new twist in the world of ebooks - one that may have important consquences for the titles available from your local library. Read more about it here.

*Visit the AFPL website here to find out more about our library's downloadable books program.

The me I could be

Vanity Fair Magazine has an online slide show of the photographs taken by Steve McCurry on the last roll of Kodachrome film ever produced. McCurry is perhaps most known for his National Geographic cover photo of an Afghan refugee girl (that girl with those eyes!).

The photo below, one example from that last roll, is of a woman reading in a park - a woman I can only hope to be someday! I love in particular how comfortable she is with herself: shoes off, feet up, utterly engrossed in what I can only hope was a wonderful book.

Go check out all the images in the VF slide show here.