From the Boston Globe:

Google Inc. is giving 2 million books in its digital library a chance to be reincarnated as paperbacks. As part of a deal announced Thursday, Google is opening up part of its index to the maker of a high-speed publishing machine that can manufacture a paperback-bound book of about 300 pages in under five minutes. The new service is an acknowledgment by the Internet search leader that not everyone wants their books served up on a computer or an electronic reader like those made by Amazon.com Inc. and Sony Inc.

On Demand’s printing machines already are in more than a dozen locations in the United States, Canada, Australia, England and Egypt, mostly at campus book stores, libraries and small retailers. The Harvard Book Store will be among the first already equipped with an instant-publishing machine to have access to Google’s digital library.

From Wired:
Starting Sept. 29, Bostonians can stop in the privately owned Harvard Bookstore in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and have their books printed in front of them. Or they can order it over the phone and have the store deliver it — by bicycle.

There’s a certain irony to that, too, according to Google spokeswoman Jennie Johnson, since the bookstore is right next to Harvard’s library, one of the libraries that partnered with Google to turn its millions of books into an online library of the future.

“Most people can’t get into the Harvard Library, but you can print their books next door,” Johnson said.

So yes, we’re getting one of the machines. I can’t wait to see it work!

Last evening I was lucky enough to be invited to a dinner with John Irving, thrown by Random House, to celebrate the forthcoming publication of Last Night in Twisted River. About 16 booksellers and a handful of publishing people joined Irving and his wife at a restaurant in Boston. I was not expecting him to be so charming. What normally happens at these dinners is that the author rotates from table to table between courses. My table got him for the entree. I learned a lot of things last night, such as that he writes the last sentence of a book first. Writing seems to be a laborious process for him. Often things come to him while he’s doing other things. Also he knows a lot of famous people. He mentioned Michael Ondaatje and Edmund White. And he thinks Hemingway is way overrated. Because he worked on the screenplays for some of the movies made of his books, he’s spent a lot of time with celebrities too. Wilford Brimley took men to brothels! Who knew! My brain is still trying to wrap itself around last evening, hence once long paragraph here. I left the restaurant thinking that John Irving was perhaps one of the most charming authors I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. Now I have to go back and read his older books again.

I’m leaving tonight for Florence, Italy! I can’t wait. I’ve got a stack of books to bring with me, including some of your suggestions–thanks for them. It’s going to be hot. It looks like it will be 95 to 100 degrees everyday we’re there. Luckily the wedding we’re attending is actually in Fiesole, among the hills of Tuscany on the outskirts of Florence. I’m hoping it will be a little cooler there. I’ll take lots of pictures and fill you in when I get back. Have a good week everyone!

Hello, remember me? Last you heard, I was recovering from an unexpected appendectomy–are they ever expected? Turns out it left behind an infection and I spent another week in the hospital. I’m slowly recovering. So far June has been a giant time suck.

I’ve managed to read a bit in the past weeks. The new Lorrie Moore The Gate at the Stairs managed to take my mind of the pain for a while in the hospital as did Binnie Kirshenbaum’s The Scenic Route. I should probably go back and re-read portions though as the morphine made it difficult to concentrate completely. Since I’ve been out, magazines, books, and television have been my friends. Luckily I don’t lack for a supply of books or for people to bring them to me. I’m hoping to get back to the blog this week with some actual book related postings as my energy levels are finally returning day by day. Thanks for sticking with me!

I haven’t been posting lately because I’m experiencing a sort of writer’s block. With each book I read, I sit in front of the computer but no words come out to describe how I feel about it. Perhaps it’s winter’s arrival. I’m assuming it’s just a phase.

I’m off to Atlanta tomorrow for Thanksgiving. When I get back, we’ll be well into the holiday season. I hope lots of people come looking for books! It’s one of the few chances I get to handsell on the floor. I’m planning on bringing a bunch of books to my parents. Maybe readng in a new environment will spark the critical juices again. Has anyone read The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher? I’m going to bring that one with me as well as Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz. I’m not sure what to bring for a third. Happy reading everyone!

I don’t usually talk politics here, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to post this hilarious flow chart from BoingBoing (who got it from someone else):

Are you laughing yet? Flow charts have gotten a bit gimmicky lately, but they can still be funny. My absolute favorite is from Toothpaste for Dinner:

I’m not sure what your politics are, but I’m definitely in the Obama Bush/Cheney/McCain/Palin hating camp. I’m definitely getting out to vote on November 4th, also because there’s a question regarding eliminating the state income tax. Say what? Yes, I like having my roads plowed in the winter, so I’m going to say no.

Yes, we finally managed to get to a gun range! The Mancheseter Firing Line Range is a short one hour drive into New Hampshire. We started off with a Ruger .22, progressed to a Beretta 9 mm, and finished with a Smith & Wesson .38. Fun was had by all. The folks at the gun range were particularly nice and helpful to us. Afterwards, we ate at really lovely restaurant called Cotton, along the river before heading back to Boston. If you click on the photo above, you’ll see more pictures of our adventure.

I’m stealing this post from Mr. Bookdwarf because he’s written a better version of our Friday night than I could have:

Despite the looks my co-workers gave me when I told them my Friday night plans last week, there are plenty of valid reasons to want to go out to a shooting range. I feel that I can’t really have a solid opinion about gun control without at least knowing how to work one, without appreciating the people who use them for sport and competition. Plus, it hardly seems fair to let the political right in the US be the only people who know how to work firearms. I don’t want to be the only liberal in the shelter when the zombie apocalypse happens, right?

Anyway, it seemed like a good idea. Megan and I determined that we should go out to a shooting range and spend an evening firing some weapons with a couple of her co-workers. Google suggested the misleadingly-named Boston Gun Range in Worcester (pardon me, I’d been spelling it with an H, as Worchester, which is a terrible slight) where Fridays are “Jack And Jill” nights, involving free gun time for the ladies.

Or rather, Fridays were Jack and Jill nights.

It turns out that they got shut down months and months ago after an alarming string of suicides. Of course, while fighting the police-ordered injunction, the Gun Range hasn’t updated its web page. Or its phone message.

We didn’t find any of this out until we got to Worcester on Friday night and found the range locked and shuttered, without even a “CLOSED” sign out front. So, then what? Obviously, the four of us drove around past the nudie bars and automotive spring repair shops on the outskirts of town until we hit Worcester Center. We briefly got lost in the Abandoned Warehouse district, and then stumbled upon the Gentrified Abandoned Warehouse district, featuring loft condos (natch), a discount meat store (”We Towed You So” emblazoned cheerfully across the parking lot), and a tapas bar called Bocado.

Inside, we found mediocre tapas, moderately priced wine, girls with low-cut dresses and boys with over-gelled hair and french-cuff shirts. It had the promise of a decent evening, despite the presence of mango salsa on the menu. Authenticity in food is certainly overrated, but mango salsa on tapas, especially in a place that prides itself on a Spain-only wine list, indicates an unfortunate confusion of Spain and Latin America.

Still, I was more or less satisfied with my meal until a band set up and started playing Buena Vista Social Club-ified covers of American pop standards. That pretty much topped it. I will say no more of the evening or of the fair city of Worcester, which I am sure has some lovely people in it somewhere.

Now you know what I do on the weekends. Also, the “We Towed You So” still makes me giggle.