Boston skyline from Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge

Another huge book event arrives this weekend at the Hynes Convention Center. The Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair draws rare and used book specialists from all over the U.S. and western Europe and is a great opportunity for the bibliophile to view and drool over each dealer's best (and priciest) volumes. I must remember to leave the credit cards at home! Although I'm not a rare book collector, mostly because I cannot afford it, I love having the chance to pretend that I am as I rove from booth to booth, lovingly caressing each special book that catches my eye. Best of all, dealers often can be encouraged to spin yarns about the history of each title--how it was found and who owned it. Great fun!

Interesting tidbit in yesterday's LA Times--a story revealing how the small publisher MacAdam/Cage (which prides itself on discovering new talent) picked Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveller's Wife out of the slush pile. This astounds me. It's incredible to me that Niffenegger, a writer of her abilities, would trust burying her work in a mountain of slush. I didn't think that this kind of thing happened anymore. (Scroll down to my entry on October 19 for my thoughts on this novel.)