#bibliomanes

[bibliomancie]

No One Loves a Crow

We watch it ache and screech,

Tortured for some mercy in its misery,

We’re not allowed to wring its neck

All because the law can love a crow

Every time I mention its pain,

I get scolded. Chastised. Reminded.

This is farming country: and no one loves a crow

They eat the eyes of helpless, newborn lambs

All because farming country loves a lamb

Especially one they can eat themselves

The call on the phone goes nowhere,

Just like that now flightless, punished bird,

Concerns dismissed by automated machines,

No one bothers to come after the tone,

All because no one loves a crow.

[libriaco]

Un libro

«Cosa portiamo stasera come regalo?». «Non saprei proprio; però ci hanno invitato a cena e non possiamo presentarci a mani vuote». «E se andassi a comperare un libro?». «No, l’ultima volta che siamo andati da loro, ho visto che ne hanno già uno». «Allora no, pensiamo ad altro».

A. Castronuovo, Dizionario del bibliomane, Palermo, Sellerio, 2021

[eyranbelanore]

Bookworm

Bookworm, Bibliophile, Bibliomane, Bibliolater, Bibliomaniac. Each term describes the same thing. The Book Lover. Someone who revels in ornate leather spines, Who buries their noses in piles of pages, Who sees more than inked words when they open a novel, Who has no trouble putting aside their smartphone, In exchange for a thick leather bound tome. Who’s place of happiness and sanctuary comes in the from of a library, With shelves stacked high in order of alphabet, genre and colour. It is someone who can read the words on the page, and create a world in their head. Who can hear and speak with the characters formed in another’s mind within their own. Who’s biggest pain is in seeing dog eared corners marring perfect paper. Who’s fantasies and dreams can become near reality, as they put pen to paper later. And carve a magnum opus, their own world, their own heroes, from the inspiring voices of many beloved authors before them. As only those who read make the best writers.

[rabbitcruiser]

Bibliomania Day

Stephen Blumberg loved books. It has been written that “it was his habit to read constantly through the night, cat-napping, walking, reading, dozing, waking, reading again, never fully sleeping.” Stephen Blumberg didn’t just love books, he was a bibliomaniac. Bibliomania is when someone has a strong love of books, where they collect them to the point of hoarding, and social relations and health may suffer. Symptoms may include acquiring more books than would be useful for any reason or getting many copies of the same book. The term was coined by John Ferriar, who published a poem in 1809 with the word as its title, for his friend Richard Heber, who had the condition. The term became used to describe obsessive book collectors. That same year, Reverend Thomas Frognall Dibdin published Bibliomania; or Book Madness. Bibliomania is different from bibliophilia, which is a healthy form of love for books.

On March 20, 1990, Stephen Blumberg’s bibliomania caught up with him. He was arrested for stealing more than 23,600 books (weighing 19 tons) from 268 libraries, universities, and museums. It had taken him over 20 years to steal them, and he got them from 45 states, Washington D.C., and Canada. After originally being thought to be valued at around $20 million, the value of the books was estimated at $5.3 million. He is known as the number one book thief in American history and became known as the Book Bandit. The books he stole, which included a first edition of Uncle Tom’s Cabin among other rare books, became known as the “Blumberg Collection.”

An acquaintance of Blumberg, Kenneth J. Rhodes, turned him in for a $56,000 reward. During Blumberg’s trial, a psychiatric doctor let it be known that Blumberg had gone through psychiatric treatment as an adolescent. The defense claimed that Blumberg had stolen the books because of psychiatric issues beyond his control. According to the defense, Blumberg had thought he was saving the books from destruction by stealing them. He thought that the government was trying to keep them so that everyday people wouldn’t have them, and he thought he was acting as custodian of the books and doing something good. Because he was well-intentioned, he said he would have never sold any of the books for a profit, and hoped they would go to another person who would take good care of them after he was gone. Nonetheless, he was sentenced to 71 months in prison and given a $200,000 fine, and insanity or psychology wasn’t factored into the decision. He was released on December 29, 1995, and has since been arrested for burglary multiple times.

On Bibliomania Day, we remember Stephen Blumberg and his remarkable feat of stealing over 23,600 books. Could you buy, steal, or gather together that many books? Probably not, but you aren’t the world’s most famous bibliomaniac. Perhaps on Bibliomania Day, you could at least try.

How to Observe

Celebrate the day by getting as many books as possible. It’s probably best not to steal them as Stephen Blumberg did, but that’s a decision you will have to make for yourself. You could start by getting some books about bibliomaniacs, such as A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books or The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession. After that your options are limitless. As bibliomaniacs tend to collect any and all books, regardless of their value, you could just start trying to gather up any books you can find. But maybe it’s best to start by getting some of the best fiction or non-fiction books of all time.

Source

[lifebetweenpages]

MY FAVOURITE WRITER-ISH MOVIES

You’ve read the title correctly, and I can hear you saying: “Lifebetweenpages, you’re still not giving us a recap of the books you have read over the past month (plus a few weeks, give or take)! Bad Bookblr creator!” However, instead, I am giving you my list of movies to watch when you are out of ideas for your books, can’t be bothered to read and still want to feel like an intelligent author. We’ve all been there.

I can also hear you saying “But Lifebetweenpages, how can you be a trustworthy authority on writer things? You’re our favourite bibliomane, not our favourite author!” To this, I raise two points:

I have been writing silly little books since I was virtually a toddler, and I have three main projects sitting dejectedly in my Google Docs currently, my novel which I work on most frequently sitting at an upsettingly ‘decent’ 23k words.

I do imagine you would have more faith in me, dear hypothetical followers, seeing as you only exist in my synapses, and I would hope I hold higher opinions about myself than that. However, I believe many of you (hypothetically) should have (hypothetically) guessed that I’m a writer as well as a reader, seeing as all writers read and many readers write.

Now with that out of the way, let’s jump into our list, and by list I mean my ramblings about two very specific movies.

1 - DEAD POETS SOCIETY (1989)

I’ve decided to put the obvious up first, so you can skim through this if you have either watched this incredible movie or have already heard glowing reviews.

With its heavy focus on classic poetry and message of embracing the arts and following your passions, it’s not a surprise that Dead Poets Society has became the artist’s top pick movie and a cliche staple on this sort of snappy list.

When I say the movie focuses on poetry, I mean a much stronger term. Dead Poets Society promotes poetry in a way, showing the viewer the truth, joy and magic that comes with the form of art, inspiring them to go out and seize it. If that doesn’t help sell the movie to you, just note that my friends and I, who come out of every poetry analysis in English class with our eyes glazed over, were inspired to create our own Dead Poets Society, meeting every so often. In fact, we reconvene in two days time at the time of writing, and I still need to pick a poem (and it will be a Sylvia Plath.)

Another element that stands out in Dead Poets Society is the atmosphere of the film, somehow drawing in: a contagious teenage sense of wonder and mischief, world-destroying grief, and that Dark Academia aesthetic that people on the internet adore and my blog leans into all together.

So please, even if you aren’t a writer or reader and have stumbled onto this page confused and startled, give this movie a watch, for your own world to be changed if not just for me.

2 - TICK, TICK... BOOM! (2021)

You know the overwhelming sense of doom that comes with attempting to make your mark on the world? Do you recognise the sense of dread that drowns you whenever you remember the concept of time? Well so did Jonathan Larson, and he documented the experience expertly when writing Tick, Tick… BOOM!

Lately, I’ve been hearing this sound. Everywhere I go. Like a tick. Tick. Tick. Like a time bomb in some cheesy B-movie or Saturday morning cartoon. The fuse has been lit. The clock counts down the seconds as the flame gets closer, and closer, and closer, until all at once -

This was written years before he achieved fame with RENT, years before his genius was appreciated, and years before his untimely death from an aortic dissection. Tick, tick... BOOM! was written when Jonathan was relatively unknown, struggling with balancing work, social life and his art, and completely confused as how to tackle the final fragment that was needed to complete the musical he had been working on for the entirety of his youth, fighting against the tides of the ever-chasing deadline of Superbia's first showcase. Whatever your art is, I imagine you can relate to the desperation of Jonathan.

Andrew Garfield, who plays Jonathan Larson, perfectly portrays the starving artist, ever frantic to please, ever submerged in just how much there is to balance, ever striving to make a difference, and it almost feels as if he has held a mirror up to the artist's soul, portraying all of the irrationality and the unintentional selfishness as well as the charisma and the creativity that I see in myself every time I look into my mind for more than one second.

All of these factors and more that I can't find the words to describe (which is a lot for me, because I always find some words, however shallow they may be) makes Tick, Tick... BOOM! one of my favourite movies. Plus, the songs are absolute magic (I have a very strange favourite - Play Game - how can a song parodying 90s hip hop reflect upon the commercialisation of theatre in such an eloquent way?)

So those are my recommendations for all your tired writer needs, and once you do watch these, my asks are open for you to wax poetic about their glory.

[morphaeus]

url change bibliomanic → morphaeus

[paoloferrario]

Pontiggia Giuseppe, a cura di Daniela Marcheschi, "Un libro che divorerei": pareri di lettura, Palingenie editore, Venezia, 2024

scheda dell’editore: Un libro che divorerei – Giuseppe Pontiggia Un Pontiggia inedito e ‘privato’, nella veste di impareggiabile consulente editoriale. Lettore appassionato, vorace e onnivoro, pertinace bibliomane, Giuseppe Pontiggia era come fatalmente predestinato a quell’invisibile ruolo di consulente editoriale che, per decenni, affiancò alla pubblica attività di scrittore. Ma anche il…

[incorrigiblequixote]

An autistic bibliomane wandering in and out of academia, in and out of disciplines, in and out of odd jobs, dabbling in all the hobbies. Who am I? Perhaps we'll discover that together.

My current hyperfixations (as of August 2024) include: The Locked Tomb series, Agatha Christie's ghost stories, watching all of the Alien movies in a week, sewing cargo shorts, and building 32-square micro homes in The Sims 4 for my vampire equestrians.

[kathylsaltwrites]

First post on my blog since 2022 ✌️✌️

You can find it here:

[persa-tra-i-miei-pensieri]

«Non indugiare nell’acquistare i libri che ti interessano. Ogni bibliomane sa che proprio quei libri ti vengono sottratti, mentre guardi altrove, da mani occulte e rapaci, che l’edizione nel frattempo si è esaurita e sarà difficile trovarne una copia anche in antiquariato»

Cit. "Il lettore sul lettino. Tic, manie e stravaganze di chi ama i libri"

Si mi è successo più volte ma un episodio in particolare mi rimarrà per sempre impresso, la ricerca disperata del sequel di "Archie Greene e il segreto del mago"; ero convinta di aver visto quel libro per poi scoprire non essere mai stato tradotto in italiano tranne la sinossi (li ho trovati solo in francese e chissà quando e se li leggerò)

[rafiocchi]

Oggi non me la sono persa. Francesca Nepori e Antonio Castronuovo hanno presentato “Dizionario del bibliomane” nel suo habitat più autentico: il Salone Teresiano della Biblioteca Universitaria di Pavia. #bibliotecauniversitaria #pavia #libri #bibliofilia #bibliomania #sellerioeditore #books #bookstagram #bookstagramitalia https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp5zxgGoGl-/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[nicksalius]

Il potere della meditazione - J. Krishnamurti

Il potere della meditazione – J. Krishnamurti

Tra i tanti libri, veri e propri mattoni che costruiscono la biblioteca di un bibliomane, ce n’è uno che per misura e grandezza non supera il formato di 11×8 cm, e le 90 pagine. Edito nel 1991 dalle edizioni Shambala, Boston & London, il libretto è un gioiello del pensiero orientale. Contiene una selezione di scritti di un grande filosofo di quella parte del mondo, ma occidentalizzato abbastanza…

[libriaco]

Bibliofobia

La forma più nota e forse diffusa di bibliofobia è quella che molti professori provocano nei loro allievi mediante la frequente incapacità di comunicare la bellezza di certe opere, semplicemente insistendo sul rilievo storico e letterario delle stesse. L’esempio classico della nostra Italia pedagogica sono I promessi sposi, grande romanzo che gli studenti, alla fine dei corsi liceali, di norma detestano perché educati a detestarlo. La patologia si supera per caso: in età matura, qualcuno si trova un giorno tra le mani quel romanzo, ne apre una pagina e resta avvinto. Bastano alcuni capitoli per ottenere una guarigione certa e solida. Purtroppo, sono pochi coloro che casualmente si salvano: i più continuano a disprezzare I promessi sposi per la vita intera.

A. Castronuovo, Dizionario del bibliomane, Palermo, Sellerio, 2021

Immagine: Don Abbondio, Renzo e Lucia dalla copertina del "Corriere dei Piccoli", 8 Gen. 1967

Vedi anche la mia nota QUI.

[bibliomanesbooks]

Second chance will not always be given. Second is not always the same with the first. It’s either you became happier or the worst. You’ll feel the pain.

aril_daine, Sadist Lover

[anthroxlove]

A beautiful sighting of Amber this week... 📚 ( on a sad note: the fact that people deny the abuse happened when Amber still has the scars from the Australia attack on her arms... 💔 )

[ammonitetestpatterns]

yuri nonaka’s collage illustrations for tatsuhiko shibusawa’s mad king, 1966, published by presse bibliomane.