Evan S Connell:  the modern-day Jane Austen who chronicled married life  Mr Bridge and Mrs Bridge are two of the most moving novels about marriage ever written.  Rather than sticking to a formula Connell wrote “whatever he felt like”--sometimes this was essays, sometimes poetry and, at one point, an acclaimed biography of General Custer.  But Connell will be best remembered--at least by his loyal following of critics--for his 1959 best-seller Mrs Bridge and its intriguing sequel, Mr Bridge, which was published a decade later.  Together, the novels portray a marriage, one that would later be depicted by real-life husband and wife actors Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in the 1990 Merchant Ivory film, Mr and Mrs Bridge.  Emma Gosnell  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/9868580/Evan-S-Connell-the-American-author-who-was-a-modern-day-Jane-Austen.html  Find bibliography at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_S._Connell

July 8, 2016  The big news about Barnes & Noble is that after twenty years of battling with Amazon they have finally made a competitive move that Amazon cannot match.  Barnes & Noble, with 640 bookstores in 50 states, is giving self-published authors a chance to get access to their bookshelves.  Meanwhile, Amazon runs one bookstore in Seattle (albeit with 3 more slated).  The news reads best at a quick glance: “ . . . authors have the opportunity to sell their print books at Barnes & Noble stores across the country . . . participate at in-store events including book signings and discussions, where they will be able to sell their print books and meet fans.”  But the devil’s in the details:  the program is for “eligible” NOOK Press authors, defined as “those print book authors whose eBook sales [of a single title] have reached 1,000 units in the past year.”  The in-store promotion is for “those print book authors whose eBook sales [of a single title] have reached 500 units in the past year.”  To try for bookstore access eligible authors must then submit their print books “for review by Barnes & Noble’s Small Press Department and one of the company’s corporate category buyers”.  To participate at in-store events authors need a “review from a Barnes & Noble store manager.”  But how many copies might the chain order?  How long will they keep those precious books in inventory?  Where will they be displayed?  What about returns of unsold copies?  So far there are lots of unanswered questions.  Thad McIlroy  http://www.bookbusinessmag.com/post/interesting-twist-bn-sell-self-published-books/#.V4AXwl2A5zs.facebook

Evan Hunter, original name Salvatore Albert Lombino; pseudonyms Ed McBain, Curt Cannon, Ezra Hannon, Hunt Collins, and Richard Marsten (1926-2005),  prolific American writer of best-selling fiction, of which more than 50 books are crime stories published under the pseudonym Ed McBain.  Hunter graduated from Hunter College (1950) and held various short-term jobs, including playing piano in a jazz band and teaching in vocational high schools, while writing his earlier stories.  His best-known novel is among his earliest:  The Blackboard Jungle (1954), a story of violence in a New York high school that was the basis of a popular film (1955).  https://www.britannica.com/biography/Evan-Hunter

See also http://www.fandango.com/evanhunter/biography/p95207 and https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/96380.Evan_Hunter

The Enduring Appeal of Libraries Around the World by Brooke Showell   Author and Harvard University librarian Matthew Battles writes in Library:  An Unquiet History, “The experience of the physicality of the book is strongest in the large libraries, where the accumulated weight of written words seems to exert a gravity all its own.”  And that gravity still holds weight:  A recent New York Times profile on Japanese decluttering guru Marie Kondo detailed how the best-selling author waited until her 18th birthday (the youngest age admitted) to dive into the national library of Japan’s collection of organizing books.  Yes, libraries are exciting, and they’re becoming even more so.  “ Libraries have always adapted to the changing world around them because they are all about responding to community needs—whether it is providing access to computer technology necessary to succeed in a digital world, to helping newcomers to the U.S. learn English,” says Andra Addison, communications director for The Seattle Public Library.  “Libraries are not simply a ‘nice to have’ service.  They are the only institution that welcomes everyone through its doors—no visa, ID or payment is required.  Every day, libraries help people discover new opportunities, reeducate themselves and transform their lives.”   Read about and see pictures of notable libraries around the world at https://blueprint.cbre.com/the-enduring-appeal-of-libraries-around-the-world/

CIVIL WAR READING

Andersonville  Man's inhumanity to Man--and the redeeming flashes of mercy--this is the theme at the heart of this grim record in fictional form of one of the blots on the nation's history.  Andersonville, the prisoner stockade in Georgia, twenty acres hewn out of a pine woods, counted for more dead in fourteen months of the Civil War than Bull Run, Antietam and Gettysburg combined.  It took a close-up view of Buchenwald when it was opened to war correspondents to bring home the horrors he had read about in Andersonville; MacKinlay Kantor knew he must put into book form the research he'd been doing for 25 years.  Andersonville was a project pre-dating his Long Remember, the now-classic novel of Gettysburg.  https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/mackinlay-kantor-10/andersonville/

The Civil War Trilogy: Gods and Generals / The Killer Angels / The Last Full Measure (The Civil War Trilogy #1-3 ) by Michael Shaara, Jeff Shaara   Michael Shaara reinvented the war novel with his Pulitzer Prize–winning masterpiece of Gettysburg, The Killer Angels.  Jeff Shaara continued his father’s legacy with a series of centuries-spanning New York Times bestsellers.  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29921.The_Civil_War_Trilogy

The Top 12 Civil War Books Ever Written   No series or multivolume works are included, which means that Allan Nevins’ majestic “The Ordeal of the Union” (eight volumes), Bruce Catton’s “Centennial History of the Civil War” (three volumes), and Shelby Foote’s very popular “The Civil War” (three volumes) are not to be found, despite the fact that they all qualify as masterpieces.  I’ve stuck to only nonfiction titles, so fans of Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone With the Wind” or Michael Shaara’s “The Killer Angels” (both winners of the Pulitzer Prize) will be disappointed to see these novels missing from my list.  Authors included are Charles Royster, Bruce Catton, William E. Gienapp, William C. Davis, Charles Bracelen Flood, Ernest B. (“Pat”) Furgurson, and David W. Bligh, among others.  Glenn W.LaFantasie  http://www.salon.com/2010/12/27/civil_war_books_2011/

There are three classic polygamous mating systems:  polygyny (a male mates with more than one female), polyandry (a female mates with more than one male) and polygynandry (both males and females have more than one mate).  http://www.els.net/WileyCDA/ElsArticle/refId-a0022553.html

Basil-Lemon Dressing  http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/basil-lemon-dressing  Thank you, Muse reader!

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1508  August 5, 2016  On this date in 1620, the Mayflower departed from Southampton, England on its first attempt to reach North America.  On this date in 1735, New York Weekly Journal writer John Peter Zenger was acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, on the basis that what he had published was true.  Quote of the Day  Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you. - Wendell Berry, farmer and author (b. 5 Aug 1934)