Ford Writes Elegy for New Orleans
Richard Ford, who lived in New Orleans for years, writes an elegy for The Guardian. An editor asked him who could write about the tragic city and although Ford had many names, many possibilities, they couldn’t locate any of those authors. So after recounting many of his finest New Orleans moments, Ford writes “I write…
continue readingABA announces Bookseller Relief Fund
The American Booksellers Association announced that it is creating a Bookseller Relief fund to assist independent bookstores affected by Hurricane Katrina. Checks should be made payable to ABA/Bookseller Relief Fund and mailed to the ABA’s office at 200 White Plains Road, Tarrytown, NY 10591. Please write “Bookseller Relief” on the outside of the envelope. “Our…
continue reading100 Years of Assistance in Playing the Ponies
Frank Deford has an interesting piece on SI.com about the 100th anniversary of the Daily Racing Form printing the esoteric and confusing past performance statistics for horse races. Deford writes “The scales fall from your eyes when you learn to read past performances. There are various signposts in your youth which speak to growing up:…
continue readingRIP R.L.
More sad news today… North Mississippi blues legend R.L. Burnside passed away last night. The AP reports “Burnside died Thursday morning at the St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. His health had been declining for some time, said Matthew Johnson, owner of Burnside’s record label, Fat Possum.” Burnside was a sharecropper early in his life…
continue readingMS Bookstores Destroyed
Publishers Weekly continued their investigation into the status of bookstores in Louisiana and Mississippi and received unfortunate news yesterday. Hurricane Katrine inflicted irrevocable damage on Susan Daigre’s Bookends Bookstore in Bay St. Louis, MS. Also destroyed was Pass Christian Books in Pass Christian, MS, run by Scott Naugle and Richard Daley. “Both of those stores…
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