Yoko Ono, lover of rare books and antiquarian book fairs

Yet another reason Yoko Ono is awesome: she loves to collect rare books, and feels that going to antiquarian book fairs can be as thrilling as going to a horror movie (though the experience is of course not one of horror, she says). What got her started on the path of bibliophilia? "My father was my influence. John Lennon was a lover and a collector of old books, as well. He was an avid reader, which is not known so much." (Book Patrol)

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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ultranaut

I don’t get the popular hatred of Yoko at all, she seems really cool.
schabot

Yoko Ono dropping John Lennon’s name in an interview? Shocking!
- Keith
  
  Yes, why would anyone mention their beloved dead spouse, who also happens to be a world famous musician? It’s unimaginable why anyone would bring this up when speaking about a subject they shared together in life.
  - dculberson
    
    Yeah! So strange, so very strange. Almost like a human. But we must be careful anthropomorphizing these creatures. The famous are not people, amirite?
- robnit
  
  Why does she feel we need to hear his last name to know who she’s talking about? So odd.
Wuss Brillis

I love it when she knits blindfolded on the Instant Karma (Yet another reason John is awesome) video.
scifijazznik

Yes!
valdis

@robnit: Keep in mind that for anybody under 30, John Lennon has always been dead, and if she had said just “John”, all the people who didn’t know Lennon was her husband wouldn’t have any referent who John was – and the fact that she kept her own name rather than going by “Yoko Lennon” (or would it be “Ono Lennon”, that always trips me up) doesn’t help there.

True story – Around 1984, Julian Lennon was on the charts with his own album “Gavotte”. I was in a record store, and overheard these two kids found a copy of John’s “Shaved Fish” album. One asks “Who is this guy?”, and the other replies “I dunno, I think it’s Julian’s kid brother…”.