SHAUN SMITH'S SUNDAY SUNDRIES

A WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF INTERNET CURIOSITIES FROM THE BOOK WORLD

Flappers

Artist Juan Fontanive makes wall-mounted flip books of birds and butterflies.

Nope

Reading a paper book is one of the last things we can do that has not been infiltrated by surveillance and the inanity of the internet mob. Why anyone would want to give that up is beyond me. The always fascinating Laura Miller examines the appalling attempts to create the socially networked ebook.

Fortunate

When 350 high schoolers protested their school’s banning of Sherman Alexie’s novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, some thoughtful folks bought them all copies. Oh how I wish some idiot school board out there would ban my novel.

Hilarious

Want to deal drugs? Amazon’s algorithm can help.

Binding

The Economist examines if its easier to produce a print book or an e-book. As someone who has done the latter, though not the former, I was not surprised by the conclusion.

Relics

Last week was National Library Week in the US. So (go figure) The Paris Review posted a gallery of ten American libraries, while Parade only made it to nine (go figure again).

Quirks

Not to be out done, Quirk Books’ gave us their ten favourite pop-culture librarians. (It gets pretty obscure, folks.)

---

Shaun Smith is a novelist and an award-winning journalist. His work has appeared in numerous national publications including The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, CBC.ca and Quill & Quire. In 2013, his book Magical Narcissism: Selected Writings on Books, Writers, Food, and Chefs was published by Tightrope Books. In 2009, his novel Snakes & Ladders was published by Dundurn. He lives in Toronto, Canada.