New in the Queue – February 17

Continuing my random inventory of to-be-read (or in-progress) books, which aren’t necessarily new acquisitions:

• Maus, by Art Spiegelman. Heard a lot about it, but haven’t yet read it. Kelly found it on the military-history table at library sale.
• On Cats, by Charles Bukowski. A collection of poems, stories, and gonzo essays, all of which happen to make some sort of cat reference. Thanks again to Kelly.
• The Afterlife Diet, by Daniel Pinkwater. Don’t know what it’s about, but I know anything by Pinkwater will be a riot. Found at the BCPL’s new little Friends shop.
• The Sketch Book, by Washington Irving. Found at the Housing Works bookstore during a trip to NYC last fall. A collection containing American fables such as Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, as well as various essays. I’m particularly amused by this opening sentence to On the Art of Bookmaking:
  

  “I have often wondered at the extreme fecundity of the press, and how it comes to pass that so many heads on which nature seemed to have inflicted the curse of barrenness should teem with voluminous productions.”

  Funny how gripes about publishing from two hundred years ago would fit right in with Twitter and the like today.

Posted on Friday, February 17th, 2023.