Bookseller offers volumes from Updike’s personal collection

Mark Stolle, who owns the used bookstore Manchester By the Book in Manchester, Mass., writes that he purchased books from John Updike periodically. He kept most of them at the house but is now bringing a few to the store to sell. Most are inscribed to Updike from well-known authors. If anyone is interested they can contact him by email (Manchesterbythebook@gmail.com) or phone (978-525-2929). Some of you may have spoken with him in Boston, as he attended our conference.

A new in-depth scholarly review of Terrorist surfaces

Amien Kacou has reviewed Updike’s “Terrorist” for Perspectives on Terrorism: a journal of the Terrorism Research Initiative. It’s a lengthy, scholarly article that the editor notes “takes a research article format, which is a nontraditional approach; it offers a thesis, based on an extended, footnoted philosophical study.” It appears online in Vol. 6, No. 4-5 (2012).

Here’s the link, with thanks to Larry Randen for calling it to our attention.

Rabbit, Run included in Banned Books Trading Card Project

Updike once remarked that he liked to think of his books being discovered by a young boy somewhere in Kansas, and that looks like a real possibility, since the Lawrence Public Library in Lawrence, Kansas, seems to be a firm believer in fighting censorship. This year they’ve “assembled sets of seven cards designed by local artists and inspired by banned books or authors.” Updike’s Rabbit, Run was one of the seven. You can buy the sets by mail. This item comes from Jack De Bellis, who probably has already ordered his set.

Here’s the link.