Inside Hollywood's Rare Books Addiction

Highbrows might scoff that Hollywood doesn't respect serious literature, but they obviously haven't discovered the biz's high-end rare-book scene. Johnny Depp collects first-edition works by Jack Kerouac, Arthur Rimbaud, Dylan Thomas and Edgar Allan Poe.

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Combining Form and Function for Book Storage

Bookcase design is a mix between interior design and woodworking, and it requires creating something that is large enough to store books, sturdy enough to withstand the occasional bump, yet visually appealing and not distracting, bulky or ugly. There are a lot of different bookcase design styles to choose from, including vintage woodworking, modern glass or even some other materials.

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Ten rules for writing fiction

Get an accountant, abstain from sex and similes, cut, rewrite, then cut and rewrite again — if all else fails, pray. Inspired by Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing, [The Guardian] asked authors for their personal dos and don'ts.

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The 20 Most Beautiful Bookstores in the World

With Amazon slowly taking over the publishing world and bookstores closing left and right, things can sometimes seem a little grim for the brick and mortar booksellers of the world. After all, why would anyone leave the comfort of their couch to buy a book when with just a click of a button, they could have it delivered to their door? Well, here’s why: bookstores so beautiful they’re worth getting out of the house (or the country) to visit whether you need a new hardcover or not.

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Henry Miller's Commandments

From Henry Miller on Writing:

1. Work on one thing at a time until finished.
2. Start no more new books, add no more new material to “Black Spring.”
3. Don’t be nervous. Work calmly, joyously, recklessly on whatever is in hand.
4. Work according to Program and not according to mood. Stop at the appointed time!
5. When you can’t create you can work.
6. Cement a little every day, rather than add new fertilizers.
7. Keep human! See people, go places, drink if you feel like it.
8. Don’t be a draught-horse! Work with pleasure only.
9. Discard the Program when you feel like it–but go back to it the next day. Concentrate. Narrow down. Exclude.
10. Forget the books you want to write. Think only of the book you are writing.
11. Write first and always. Painting, music, friends, cinema, all these come afterwards.

January 2012

BOOKS ACQUIRED

1. A Book of Mediterranean Food, Elizabeth David. ISBN 0-14-046027-6. 2012.01.09
2. The Works Of Plato, Ed. Irwin Edman. ISBN NA (Simon & Shuster, Inc., 1928). 2012.01.09
3. Deaf To The City, Marie-Claire Blais. ISBN 0-919630-43-X. 2012.01.09

BOOKS READ

1. The Great Operas: Lohengrin (Wagner), J. Cuthbert Hadden. ISBN NA (T.C. & E.C. Jack, London, 1911?; Frederick A. Stokes Co., New York). 2012.01.02
2. Running Wild, J.G. Ballard. ISBN 0-374-25288-2. 2012.01.02
3. Urban Agriculture, David Tracey. ISBN 978-0-86571-694-0. 2012.01.11
4. The Hobbit, Or There And Back Again, J.R.R. Tolkien. ISBN 0-04-823147-9. 2012.01.18
5. J.R.R. Tolkien, Alexandra Wallner, Ill. John Wallner. ISBN 978-0-8234-1951-7. 2012.01.18