Secrets Hidden in the Stacks

The Book Traces project at the University of Virginia documents annotations, marks, and objects found in library books, creating a record of readers’ engagement with the book as a physical object.
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The Book Traces project at the University of Virginia documents annotations, marks, and objects found in library books, creating a record of readers’ engagement with the book as a physical object.
Published this month by Little, Brown, David Sedaris Diaries: A Visual Compendium features images and artwork from the best-selling author’s 153 diaries, which he composed over the past forty years.
The published correspondence of famous poets often accounts for more real estate on bookstore shelves than their books of poems. For academic scholars who spend their weekends in the special-collections rooms of libraries, the value of these books is obvious. But what are they worth to the general reader, or the practicing poet?
Haruki Murakami on the importance of mystery; the National Book Award in Poetry longlist announced; James Patterson donates books to troops; and other news.
Flaubert’s travel diary up for auction; sixteen books that explain this year’s election; PEN reports on missing Hong Kong booksellers; and other news.
October book recommendations; National Book Award winner Phil Klay’s open letter to Donald Trump; how novelists write about climate change; and other news.
Elizabeth Bishop’s correspondence; the physical history of the book; novels written by comic book creators; and other news.
What literature can do that op-eds cannot; Ian McKellen returns $1.4 million memoir advance; James Hannaham wins $15,000 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction; and other news.
Kimiko Hahn elected president of Poetry Society of America; discovery of original German Darkness at Noon manuscript prompts new translation; Daniel Clowes on his career as a graphic novelist; and other news.
Emory University opens Seamus Heaney letters archive to public; rewriting adoption stories; Valley of the Dolls at fifty; and other news.