An artifact of being a teacher and having Winter Break is that my 2024 book-writing year ran late February ’24 to early February ’25 rather than a normal January-December. First up, the non-book things:
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Two Months at the Library – Part 1 of 2
I love libraries. I don’t often visit them because I own a book store, but the idea that we have built temples to free books and knowledge is lovely.
I wrote a paper or two in school at a big, old, stone library. There was always a feeling of discovery, to walk through the dimly lit stacks, heading towards a hidden away carrel, looking to both sides at all the amazing volumes with tantalizing titles. Some hadn’t been checked out in months or years, and library collections should be pruned, but the idea isn’t that just the most important or popular books are available. Rather, a full variety should be ready for that one time that someone needs a particular book. Libraries are for everyone.
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A Real American Book! 2023 in Review
Annual “year”-end post! My 2023 book-writing year ran not from January through December, but late February ’23 to early February ’24. This is a remnant of using winter break as a final push back when I was in an academic calendar. First up, the non-book things:
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A Real American Book! 2020 in Review
It’s after mid-February, so it’s past time time for my annual “what did I do for the last 12 months” post. Rather than running January 1st to December 31st, my book year runs from about the end of January to the start of February because I teach and traditionally the winter break is a productive time.
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A Real American Book! 2019 in Review
It’s that time of year when my winter break is over and I tell you about the previous 12 months of book work. Continue reading
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A Real American Book! 2018 in Review
It’s that time of year again, when I list what I did for this book in the last 12 months and apologize that it’s taking so long! Last year in such a blog post I mused on what it’s like to research and write.
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Remembering Robert J. Walsh
Robert J. Walsh died last month. This is sad news.
I had the pleasure of meeting Rob for lunch in Los Angeles three years ago, and I’m going to jump to the middle of the story here for some levity and type three important words: Guitar-shaped pool.
But let’s start at the beginning.
A Real American Book! 