Welcome to Books at Star Dot Star
Established on-line not too long ago
Medieval Librarian's Curse found in a manuscript in a Barcelona monastery:
"For him that steals this book, or borrows it and does not return it, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him, let him be struck with palsy and all his limbs blasted, let him languish in pain, crying aloud for mercy, and when, at last, he goes for his final punishment, let the flames of hell consume him forever."
This page was last updated on 25 April, 2009
The show must go on
Ever since my childhood during which one of my aspirations was to become a stage actor and thus appeared in virtually all school plays for which I was eligible and then in High School hung around the local summer stock theater and appeared (in the chorus) in several of its productions, I've loved all things theatrical. So a couple of years ago, when at auction I found several hundred theatre programmes from the 1920s though 1990s from theatres in the West End and provincial theatres in Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester etc, I couldn't help but bid on the entire lot. And I did win the bidding on that lot.
Copyright © 2009 Bruce Tober - All Rights Reserved
Since then I've had the pleasure of going through these historic documents and researching them all. Thus far I've added only about 100+ to my listings here, but continue working on them for a couple of weeks every month. I've added these to the rest of my things theatrical, including LP Original Cast Albums, books about all aspects of theatre, stage and screen acting, costumes, set design, musical scores etc. I've highlighted some of them in the column to the right. You can also browse these items by clicking the appropriate links on the left.
Have fun.
Daniel J Boorstin, Librarian of Congress once likened reading to "the sex act — done privately, and often in bed."
Well, if my experience is anything to go by, he got at least one part correct, it is often done in bed.
But, it's not always best when "done privately". My late wife and I used to read to each other in bed late into the night. And, of course we used to read to our children at their bedtimes.
Well, be that as it may, whether together with someone you love or by yourself, I can think of no better way to prepare for a good night's sleep than reading in bed at bedtime. It relaxes, it can provide a bit of humour, or romance or learning or...
And, of course, Star Dot Star Books presents a wonderful array of great bedside table fare.
Disraeli advised us to "Read no history: nothing but biography," but why?
"Read no history: nothing but biography," Disraeli said, and then explained, "for that is life without theory."
Brilliant advice with an equally brilliant reason. For those of us who suffered through all too many history classes taught by boring old pedants who knew little else about teaching history than to make us memorise dates and events related to those dates, the advice (and more importantly, the reason for it) is spot on.
And so my friends, Star Dot Star Books presents a wonderful array of great biographies here.
"A book full of brilliance imparts some of it even to its opponents." - Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), German philosopher, classical scholar, critic of culture wrote, "A book full of brilliance imparts some of it even to its opponents."
And that to my mind means a great book is a controversial one in the message it sends. Some of my favourite pieces of literature are the controversial ones, the ones that send a message, whether I agree with that message or not.
So now's the time to browse through our literature and other catalogues as shown in the column to the left. Enjoy.
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