While I focus on things other than blogging this month, I’m running a series on independent bookstores. Below Marie Mutsuki Mockett (Letter from a Japanese Crematorium) praises Green Apple Books of San Francisco’s Richmond District. She also recommends cheap eats in the area. The Green Apple is a booklover’s fantasy — an old Victorian with atmospheric amber lighting, unaligned book . . .
Metafilter offers an unexpectedly riveting collection of links and comments about crayons. Or maybe it’s just 4 p.m. on a weekday.
William Faulkner was a conventional Southern man of his time in at least one way: his weakness for sorority girls.
“Many recent Poet Laureates have not entirely hidden their political views, even if they haven’t manned the barricades… But Charles Simic may be a special case.”
Emily Cook of Minneapolis, guest-blogging at Bookslut, reports that everyone at Milkweed, Graywolf, Coffee House, & Rain Taxi is okay after the bridge collapse.