Masters of all they survey A couple of stories, before we get rolling, as demonstrations of why I love this nutty business. In Seattle a couple of weeks ago I bought something wonderful. I’d paid a healthy price for it, but I knew it was good. So, after doing quite a bit of research on […] More >>
Archives for October 2016
The New York Effect
Celia and Adam’s wedding was a great success. Most of the house guests and hangers on have departed, and… Holy Smokes! It’s time for another freakin’ book fair! Where did the time go? I must say, this year’s 40th annual Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair sort of crept up on me. Yesterday, when the boxes […] More >>
The Perfect Hotel
(Our daughter Celia Gibson was married on Saturday and is now Celia Novello. Anticipating pre and post wedding craziness, I wrote this week’s blog last week.) I was twenty-three years old when I read my first Raymond Chandler novel and I immediately wanted to inhabit it. I didn’t need to be Marlowe. I just wanted […] More >>
Seattle, 2016. A Redeye View
A week ago Friday morning I left Cape Breton and drove twelve hours down through Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine, and New Hampshire, to my home in Gloucester, Mass. I did a few chores there, payed a few bills, repacked my bag, and flew to Minneapolis-St. Paul. From there, colleague Rob Rulon-Miller and I drove […] More >>
A Boy and his Book
In February of 1964, in my freshman American Literature Survey Class, I first encountered Moby Dick. Our teacher was Daniel Hoffman, a worthy poet, critic, and educator who’d go on to publish two dozen books, one of which, Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe was nominated for the National Book Award. All in all, […] More >>