- Ian reports that plans for Portland's Mugglefest are proceeding apace. Sounds like it's going to be a crazy day up there on July 20-1!
- Jenny Uglow's Nature's Engraver is getting some good press, including this brief note in the New Yorker and a Michael Dirda review in the Washington Post.
- New blog: The Iconic Books Blog, an effort of Syracuse University's Iconic Book Project. Link added to the sidebar.
- The Philadelphia Inquirer has a story on Jill Jonnes' new book Conquering Gotham - A Gilded Age Epic: The Construction of Penn Station and Its Tunnels. Also in the Inquirer a week or so ago, Ed Pettit's review of The Gentle Axe, a 'sequel' to Crime and Punishment with Ed declares "worthy." Over at Bibliothecary Blog, Ed comments on my review of At Midnight on the 31st of March, noting that he found a radio script and that his local library has the book shelved in adult non-fiction for some reason. Meanwhile, I've been looking into some of Case's other books, which have not been reprinted. Once I've hunted them up I'll be sure to add comments.
- NPR noted this week that Bonham's will be taking bids on two previously-unknown collections of John Steinbeck letters. Also from NPR, a conversation with author Mark Usler about "odd town names and the stories behind them."
- Scott Brown has more on the week's Gotham news; he suggests that a comeback is possible, but rather unlikely. My new copy of Fine Books & Collections just arrived this week; I haven't gotten a chance to read it yet, but it looks marvelous as always.
- ephemera wants to know about your (non-book) "grail quest" - "a passionate search for an item thought impossible to find." "Are you on such a quest? I'd like to hear your story, especially if you have been searching a long time for a single item - an item that is known to exist, thought to exist, or once existed but is now lost to history. It doesn't matter why you are looking for the item, it only matters that you've been actively seeking it out."
- Joyce has posted some useful videos - how to make yourself a leather strop for sharpening knives, and how to add ribbons to a bound journal. She also comments on an Amazon print-on-demand plan announced this, which doesn't sound like very good news.
- Travis reports that Thieving Intern Denning McTague's sentencing has been set for 2:30 p.m. on 12 July.
- BU religion professor Stephen Prothero has an essay on the Gospel of Judas in the NYTimes, in which he comments on many of the recent books written on the text since its release last year.
- Ed and Michael both comment (here and here) on Alina Tugend's NYTimes piece about giving away books.
- In the Washington Post, H.W. Brands reviews Michael Barone's Our First Revolution (my review here).
