Glad you asked. It’s an interesting concept. According to Wikipedia: Oulipo (short for French: Ou vroir de li ttérature po tentielle...

Yesterday's videos raised a specter from my own past: this catchy little diddy from a Reading Rainbow episode I haven't seen in twen...

I came across this time capsule of a video on the Paris Review Daily : Pretty interesting, right? Makes this next video even more imp...

Alright. I imagine some of you may have turned your noses up at yesterday’s post simply because you can’t appreciate the awesomeness that ...

"Riding a freight train out of El Paso, I had my first contact with the Little Blue Books. Another hobo was reading one, and when he f...

Just about perfect. Add a snack tray and I'm sold: -via the ChairBlog

A big thank you to all who entered our contest, and congratulations to April Simms, who was our undisputed winner- with 37 out of 50 correct...

Thanks for hanging out with us! Above are the authors we mentioned this past month, and here are the most popular posts from the same pe...

Good and evil. Love and war. Politics, family, culture- you get all of the above and more in Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns .  ...

You already know him as the Cuban revolutionary turned controversial human rights villain, but did you know he was also one of the sec...

Two messages landed in my inbox when I posted my review of Denis Johnson’s Train Dreams  the other day. The first was an email from my da...

We all know the first line of Moby Dick  by heart. Melville’s “Call me Ishmael” Is probably the most recognizable first line in al...

We launched this site eight months ago with a contest. As you may recall, we gave you a peek into the Billiard Room here at ShelfActualizati...

It's Independence Day here in the US. And really, what better day is there to focus on the doppelgangers of some prominent French-speak...

There are few words to describe how bad that floral print shirt is in combination with the bus driver's vest, but what does Jeffrey E...

We thought we'd start sharing some of our favorite quotes from the books we love, and do it in a way that's easy for you ladies to ...

Thought this was kinda cool. And since it's Sunday, you've probably got time to watch it. Enjoy. EPILOGUE: the future of print f...

“I have started many stories about bicycle racing but have never written one that is as good as the races are both on the indoor and outdoo...

MacEvoy has been putting a bug in my ear as of late about The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides.  I haven't read it, but I did take a l...

So I’m working my way through the ill-fated 2012 Pulitzer finalists- you know, the ones that became entangled in controversy when no prize ...

Alright. Today’s poem-for-the-common-man is short and sweet. There’s nothing overtly profound about it, but it still manages to tear your h...

Come on in and have a seat. We’re just getting started. What did everyone think of “ An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge ?” It’s a...

Yes, friends. It’s that time once again.   This month we’re going to take a trip in the WABAC Machine and examine a story that was ...

We often become so familiar with the distinctive literary voice of an author, that it can be somewhat jarring to hear their actual speaking...

Anyone see “Hemingway and Gellhorn” yet? I don’t subscribe to HBO, but they must have had a free preview a couple weekends ago because I...