Book Me a Room

"In 1889, British Prime Minister William Gladstone got out a wheelbarrow and began moving his personal collection of 32,000 books from Hawarden Castle in Wales to their new home about a quarter of a mile away. The new building, now known as Gladstone’s Library, was intended to make his collection available to the public, to scholar’s, readers, and writers of all kinds. Gladstone envisioned it as a 'residential' library, where patrons could stay overnight, take their meals, and get immersed in the collection and their own projects…

     Guest rooms are clean, simple, and recently renovated. Most importantly, they are also very reasonable at about $75 a night, which includes dinner and breakfast. (Though who is going to spend much time in there with all of those books just waiting?)"
— BookRiot
Read more…

"The Algonquin Hotel, known for its rich literary roots and famous former Round Table regulars (including Dorothy Parker and Robert Benchley) and Simon & Schuster announced a partnership that will bring hotel guests and New Yorkers an enhanced visit.
     The two brands are celebrating the partnership by unveiling the Simon & Schuster Suite and a series of author events. A Simon & Schuster package will offer guests the chance to book a stay in the suite to enjoy its creature comforts from its well-stocked bookcase of classics and advanced copies of new releases as well as book memorabilia."
– Publishers Weekly
Read more...

"My stories run up and bite me on the leg — I respond by writing down everything that goes on during the bite. When I finish, the idea lets go and runs off."— Ray Bradbury

Telegram from Dorothy Parker to her Viking editor, Pascal Covici
(from: Nancy Campbell)

"[...] According to [Frank] Rose, 'a new type of narrative is emerging – one that's told through many media at once in a way that's nonlinear, that's participatory and often game-like, and that's designed above all to be immersive. This is "deep media."'
     Kate Pullinger, a Canadian writer who has spent her adult life in the UK, is fascinated by the opportunities of deep media. Pullinger has pioneered 'digital fiction.' She insists that 'my primary concern is to tell stories,' but believes that 'the new technology has the potential to inject a new dimension to storytelling.' She describes digital fiction as 'a hybrid genre,' mixing screen and text in radical ways. Pullinger thinks that 'we have barely scratched the surface in the potential for storytelling.' " — Robert McCrum, Guardian
Read more...

“ 'E-books as we know them are electronic replicas of books, it’s paper under glass,' says Kate Pullinger, author of the children’s novel Inanimate Alice – which can be viewed free online. (She also won the 2009 Governor-General’s Award for her conventional novel The Mistress of Nothing.) 'If you are going to put a work of fiction on a computer, why would you not use the multimedia components a computer has to offer you – image and sound and interactive games?' " — Kate Taylor, The Globe and Mail
Read more...