by Willis Goth Regier Book of the Sphinx is the product of an obsession.  The more I learned about Sphinxes, the more I wanted to know, and there was always more.  Imagine a curious cat the size of the Sphinx of Giza. My curiosity began with that enormous Sphinx, known through the centuries as Horemakhet.  I wondered what it had to do with Phix, the man-eating Sphinx of Thebes, the one that posed deadly riddles.  These are the two most famous Sphinxes, and there are many more, a vast number.  I set out to find all I could, sort them, … Continue reading Regier’s Obsession · Book of the Sphinx

by Mary Ridder Comparing business activity in the heart of Manhattan, New York, to the Sandhills, Nebraska was fascinating last week. As I walked down 5th Avenue I couldn’t help but see why rural communities and businesses have such unique challenges. While every business must address marketing, the ultimate concern, not all have to   face it where sheer numbers are challenging. I met a manager of a gallery on 7th Avenue and W. 55th Street. The monthly rent is $20,000. And in the first 7 to 8 days of each month, the rent bill is paid. The businesses in … Continue reading Rural Marketing

Kathleen Flenniken, author of Famous, the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry in 2005, will be at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln City Campus tomorrow, Wednesday, October 10, 2007 at 7:30PM.  She will read from Famous and signing books at Bailey Library, 228 Andrews Hall. Continue reading Flenniken in Nebraska

Unlearning to Fly by Jennifer Brice “Unlearning to Fly, a memoir in essays, doesn’t order Brice’s memories so much as allow forces of wind and weather to reveal them. . . . The reader sees in Brice’s stories her family’s attempts at an ordinary life in terrain that would just as soon ‘buck us off its back.’”—Marjorie Gellhorn Sa’adah, Los Angeles Times Book Review “There is a refreshing humility implicit in the way Brice has constructed her memoir; it’s a structure that acknowledges the overall sweep of her life is not unusual . . . but that its particulars are … Continue reading Praise for Unlearning to Fly

The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1855-1872, Vols. 1 and 2Edited by Pierre A. Walker and Greg W. Zacharias “The volumes are beautiful, solidly put together, with big type, wide margins, and copious annotations remarking on cross-outs and misspellings and new words written over old ones. . . . [They] bring a high seriousness to letters that were usually dashed off; certainly the scholars preparing these volumes will have spent many more hours on each letter than did either James or the recipients he was addressing.”—Edmund V. White, The New York Review of Books Read earlier praise for The complete … Continue reading More Praise for The Complete Letters of Henry James

Living Blue in the Red States, edited by David Starkey “The red state/blue state divide, which has come to dominate poll projections, is not as well defined as election-eve pundits claim. . . . [David Starkey] shows that a sense of community often trumps politics, and the similarities between neighbors outnumber their differences.”—ForeWord Read earlier praise for Living Blue in the Red States Continue reading More Praise for Living Blue in the Red States