Always Reading

Your Vacation Destination

2009-05-21T12:01:00.001-04:00

Dude! Where are you going on vacation?

Say hello to Al Franken while you're there.

Can absorb cares.

Dressed up for you!

The most interesting state.

Reading Chris Walken's Thoughts

2009-05-13T09:00:00.003-04:00

I think he's marvelous. (photo by Yang)

The cat inspired the question mark?

I can't take zoos at all either. Depressing no matter how fine they are. ( Cat hairs on this post are courtesy of Eddy.)

Chris Walken is one of my favorite actors --ever. ever. He's up there with Marlon Brando and Gary Cooper in my favorite list. He's my favorite thing in the movie Annie Hall (it's a small scene but wonderful)

Poor Unread Books!

2009-05-05T01:50:00.000-04:00

Just one small group of books on the endangered shelf.

Some gems can be considered losers... this explains why our local thrift shop gets withdrawn books that got loads of great reviews from The Guardian and Kirkus, and are like ... unread! Very sad.

Blimey! I read bits of this in the library and thought... Geeez! Obviously inspired by Jane Austen, but a bit too much~ Filled with run-on sentences that are packed with information.

This person wrote a number of books too, is she familiar to anyone? I'd rather re-read Jane than spend time on this one. Now I feel bad for saying that, and should give it a go.

Bookstores, Blurbs, Beginnings

2009-04-28T08:33:00.007-04:00

I was at a bookstore and saw these "If You Lived..." books. If you lived in Colonial times... or if you lived back when Martin Luther King was still alive. Makes you think.

I finished all of the books I was reading sort of all at once. It felt that way. Now I started 3 new books, Mr. Pip by Lloyd Jones, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith, and An Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott. I'm finding less time to read, I'm on the road more, so I was smart enough to get all three books on Kindle where I can keep them all in one place. (In the past weeks I was carrying a lot of books around, or it felt like I was, I would forget I left Stargazey in the car, and would hike someplace and have to read something else, and I was worried about losing or damaging a library book since all the ones I checked out were in pristine condition.)

I found two more novels at the thrift shop: The Concrete Pillow a mystery by Ronald Tierney and Coast to Coast by Frederic Raphael ... and I almost passed on Coast to Coast until I saw a blurb on the back:

"Bleakly enjoyable, and filled with some really terrifically hateful conversations." ~ The Guardian

You don't see that kind of blurb everyday.

Once I got the book home I saw that the the author also wrote some screenplays and this book is sort of a companion to his 1967 dialogue for the Audrey Hepburn film "Two for the Road" - a film I like a lot. I haven't started on this novel yet. I can juggle many books, but not too comfortably if I start them all at the same time.

It's weird enough to be at the beginning of 3 books, without starting 2 more. I usually stagger things so this doesn't happen. Summer slows me way down too, lots of activity and pleasant distractions. Winter is my prime reading time.
One of the reasons I started the blog was I noticed I was reading a lot less last summer. I'm glad for the Virtual Book Club, too.

Messy Reading

2009-04-23T11:04:00.007-04:00

I got a postcard with a picture of P.G. Wodehouse on it, so I made a little shrine to reading - the candle was too bright so a put a bottle in front of it. I really enjoyed the banana book and the Sedaris essays. Coal is interesting too (half done with that one.) I haven't started the Edith Wharton novel yet, but it's hard to leave a library empty handed. I have a mess of books to finish and am currently reading one I found in a dusty pile at a thrift shop. "I am Mary Dunne" a novel by Brian Moore. (1966.)

I found a typo in my copy of Stargazey... can you see it?
Typos used to really bug me when I was a teen, now I just shrug them off. I don't care. In my early twenties, I caught a typo ( one that everyone missed and it cost the company much $$$$$$$. ) I came back from vacation, glanced at a series of ads I'd had nothing to do with, and saw the same typo in the body copy of each one. I said "Er, in this sentence it says Pam Am Airlines instead of Pan Am!" To make matters worse / funnier, the head of the copy department was a woman named Pam. Ultimately, she was responsible. A dozen of her people had proofed that ad, and she had too. Proofing is not that easy.
That was the turning point for me, I began to think typos were funny little gremlins and was no longer outraged by them.

I prefer to read about crazed spring cleaning days rather than actually having one myself. Thankfully I'm married to a person who finds those super obsessively neat women boring. We like neatness, but we also like pillows and hairy pets and book piles and people hanging out. My neighbor is obsessively neat and just thinks the world of her sanitized self. It is kind of VERY uncomfortable over there, but then I'm sure she disapproves of my casual approach to cleaning and defense of certain germs.

Reading Others

2009-04-20T09:43:00.010-04:00

Read this most interesting book on Kindness. Seems like I'm surrounded by opportunities. People are always misunderstanding others - it seems we cut people little slack anymore. I learned that whining and ranting are extremely popular nowadays, and that they are kind of dead ends if overdone. Revenge is a very scary dead end. I once asked an acquaintance what he would do with a million dollars and he said "First off, I'd have my enemies dealt with!" Yikes. And he was serious. Am I old fashioned for not having any enemies? Is someone out there eyeing me as their enemy? Does someone perceive me as a self centered, rude, unkind jerk? Am I just a couple of blue funks away from being denounced?

Things I never knew about O'Connor. (From The Financial Times Book Section.)

It was an eye opening book. Just when you think you have some subject figured out... you realize you don't at all.

Ants in America

The Library has one small sex shelf, but not an entire sex section. Shouldn't there be a whole room full of books on the subject? A lot of people out there doing it ~ they may need books!

The Old Paris Review Interviews are interesting.

Almost Thursday Reading

2009-04-15T17:01:00.002-04:00

" I do not know how to express the admiration I feel for this wonderful book without seeming to be extravagant. I am usually not lavish with my praise, but indeed the book impresses me as among the very greatest novels I have ever read. It is wholly beautiful; it is saturated with wisdom and humor and tenderness." ~ H.G. Wells

Poor Contemptible Knut Hamsen (born Knud Pedersen in 1859 ) He wins a Nobel Prize in 1920, has written a couple of great books (Hunger, The Growth of the Soil) and then at about seventy years of age begins to act out in both violent and demented ways. In his eighties, frail and nearly deaf, he meets with Adolf Hitler and sees Hitler as a really nice guy. He sends his Nobel Prize to Goebbels as a gift, and angry Norwegians burn Hamsen's books. I read a bit of a biography of Hamsen and had to put it down--it was too depressing. Clearly he had become unhinged and paranoid in his golden years, but people didn't see it as mental illness back then. He was simply a traitor. I didn't know about Hamsen's craziness until I'd read and enjoyed three of his novels. My Norwegian friends tell me he was a great writer who suffered from early onset dementia and appeared to be both lucid and angry at times. Others argue he simply took on a whole new personality, believed himself to be reborn, and was quite sane. Max Von Sydow, who played Hamsen in a film said that the writer was both naive and pitiable. He had isolated himself and lost touch long before he became a contemptible fellow.

I hope I die before my brain crumbles and I do something really terribly horribly stupid.

I still can't believe he gave Goebbels his Nobel Prize for Literature... that just freaks me out.

~~~~~

The Appalachian Trail book: This is just a guidebook to tramping through... not that I would ever want to walk the entire trail. I'm happy enough to spend little bits of time on it here and there ~ so far I've walked a few dozen miles of it in Pennsylvania and New York. (not counting the miles of it I've traveled over & over again in New York.)

I haven't kept track, and I'm not always up for a hurried scramble either, although I have hiked with groups that do that, and will definitely hike with them again. I prefer to stop and observe a lot of little things, but sometimes with the group it's more about how many miles you can go in eight hours or so, especially when some of the people have to get home by a certain time. I'm a little less enthusiastic about crawling and climbing through places nicknamed the squeezer or the agony than I was when I was a kid, but then what I consider a thrill has changed a bit since I was ten years old.

I take a book with me, since some hiking groups like an hour long lunch stop / rest period. I usually take a novel.

This film is coming to my town and I hope to see it. A kind of domestic horror movie -- an eerie call from beyond the grave. Creepy.

Note:
To find out who wrote the description of New Orleans in the last post, I discovered through another blogger that all you had to do was google the first line! It was a page from Bob Dylan's memoir.

Places in Reading

2009-04-08T07:50:00.017-04:00

I go through definite phases in my reading, where I might read several books sequentially. I went through a travel book phase once ~ mainly books on France. France is an endlessly fascinating place. But I also enjoy reading about places like Antarctica.

But there's always something else going on ~ even as a kid, I would read a variety of things. I pretty much indulge in this type of reading every week. A classic, a memoir, something spiritual, a big adventure story, a fun book, a food book, a how to book, some sort of travel guide, plus assorted newspapers and magazines. Once I've gotten a good start into each book and decided, yes, this is something I want to spend time with, then I know I'll finish the book. I could read them one at a time, much in the same way I can sit in one place and watch a half-dozen episodes of the Twilight Zone back to back when they have the marathon on television. I keep my place in each book, and when I settle back into it, I usually re-read a page or two to get back into the flow.

I've read the back of the postcard many times over the years, and always wonder what the Underhills are studying. I usually end up guessing art history, or picture them in chef togs. I just don't know what those Underhills are up to. They give no clue. But the postcard reminds me of a E.M. Forster type of novel in which Underhills have some exciting and some unfortunate adventures in Paris, which leads to some great and sudden change in Mrs. Underhill. It's 1928 and the Underhills don't know that they'll lose their fortune in the upcoming stock market crash. They meet Gertrude Stein and Mr. Underhill strikes up a friendship with Picasso that goes very sour. Mr. Underhill will sigh a lot and wish they'd never come to this place! He will perhaps return to Maryland alone.

I always like it when a memoir includes descriptions of a place. Can you guess who wrote it?

The best place to read this book is at a table with a nice cuppa and a biscuit or cookie. I'm overly familiar with the biscuits listed in the book, as well as many other kinds of tea biscuits, cakes, and cookies. I have a number of favorites, but like with books, need to taste them all in the span of a year. The book is perfect for the biscuit enthusiast, and there is a cake/bread/cracker/cookie/biscuit Venn diagram ~ always fun to add to the confusion with a Venn diagram. There's also a chapter on dunking, which brought back memories of some fabulous dunks of yesteryear, and made me wonder why I stopped dunking. But the book reminded me ~ bottom sludge and breakage were factors.

A slice of cake, a piece of toast, or a biscuit with your tea or coffee is grand. Add a book, and it's heavenly.

Do You Read ...Outdoors?

2009-04-02T09:48:00.003-04:00

The WPA guide to NYC has been a great read... and it's filled with maps and illustrations too. The wonderful thing about this Works Progress Administration Guide is that it can still be used, all these years later. The old neighborhood has hardly changed. Bodegas and newsstands may move, change owners... but generally my old neighborhood ...the landscape... looks just the same as it did way back when.

Met a man on the street ~ sitting on a bench, reading. He said the book he was reading was very good. He said he didn't want to be photographed reading outdoors, because he is against looking like a person who would be reading on the street. He said he didn't normally read on the street, but usually read inside a Starbucks.

"I don't want to project that image" he said.

I was confused. He explained that people look homeless when they read on the street.

I haven't been reading a lot of new fiction since I've been putting loads of free classic books onto my Kindle. Re-reading some very excellent Daniel Defoe (Moll Flanders and Robinson Crusoe.) I find if I take my Kindle everywhere, I end up getting a lot of reading done. Much more than if I lug around a selection of books. (Which I used to do.) I no longer have to carry a huge handbag or tote to hold all of my books. I'm back to reading as much as I want wherever I want, but not much new fiction.

I've started to read Stargazey too, so far so good!

A Little Ray of Sunshine

2009-03-29T14:50:00.004-04:00

I've been reading up a storm, and mostly away from home ... so blogging has been difficult. Someone recommended A Little Ray of Sunshine by Lani Diane Rich, which they called a smart, funny chick-litty type of book. I haven't checked it out yet. Chick Lit usually lets me down, but I've been told this one won't.

I've been reading a huge mix of things and am enjoying re-reading The Wind in the Willows which is marvelous.

Reading labels. This one was interesting, but American Absinthe? Really?

Interesting article on cruelty. It reminds me of a short story I read where this kind nurse (who imagines she has monumental healing and mystical powers) often feels depleted after being so wonderful, and to regain some energy (or her edge) does little cruel things to people that she usually fawns over. It gave her a little kick, like a sip of champagne to cause a little pain. I wish I could find the short story anthology it was in. It was a weird story, and twisted.

Stuff and Nonsense

2009-03-24T13:47:00.001-04:00

A Jamaican deli near my home has added this chair. I'm tempted to sit and read there.

My Current Reading

2009-03-22T08:17:00.003-04:00

I'll be hiking a lot more this spring and summer since I joined a couple of outdoorsy groups. This is part of my reading material. I doubt if a bear would actually eat me--a bear would probably just eat my arm and maybe part of my face. Still, I wouldn't care for that.

Diagrams and Charts

2009-03-18T10:43:00.003-04:00

I drew this diagram to help me understand why I don't read much in these three areas anymore. The central red area (area #1.) represents an author G.K. Chesterton, new to me, but his writing got me thinking... In the past I wouldn't have included mystery in my diagram, and I would have had a simple venn diagram of sci fi and fantasy. Not all fantasy includes sci fi though.

G.K. Chesterton’s the Man Who Was Thursday( a Nightmare) is a wild mystery story filled with strange yet entertaining twists. The story begins in the Saffron Park neighborhood of London. The hero of the story, Gabriel Syme rebells against the status quo and refuses to be zany. He speaks out as a normal person. Being a regular guy, the crazy world he lives in seems even more surreal. As I read the book, the thought popped into my head -- Vonnegut must have liked Chesterton -- then my mind wandered to Douglas Adams, Tolkien ... so I began assembling a list of other authors that might appeal to Chesterton fans. I had put Orwell down, but later did a little online research and discovered that while Orwell read everything that Chesterton wrote, he had declared that G.K. was the worst sort of anti-semite. (Orwell defended his friend P.G. Wodehouse when Wodehouse was accused of playing footsie with Nazis.)

More research showed other people creating what looked like sky maps of authors. One author in the center of the reading universe with others hanging in the blue space around him.

My primitive chart was going OK until I decided 1. to add Poppy Z. Brite (which lead somehow to adding Kafka ) and 2. I didn't know enough mystery authors to make the chart work. I started this chart awhile back and now I can't figure out how it works. Should have made notes.

My charts lead me to other subcategories. I'm reading a good Forensic Mystery by Kathy Reichs now. The chart could grow and grow... subcategories abound. I researched Vonnegut, who seemed to say no other author had influenced him, but great socialist leaders did. That didn't sound right to me, since Kurt was a great reader of fiction as a child and young adult, so... how can you not be influenced by the creativity in stories you devour? Maybe he was misquoted.

I was in line once at a post office near Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in NYC, reading a paperback-- The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. I heard people whispering behind me somewhere. It was a long inefficient line, so typical. I thought I heard a writer's name being whispered, and some book titles. I finally turned a little to see what the strange muttering and whispering was about. Directly behind me, looking really exhausted, was Kurt Vonnegut, holding a large box. Too dumbfounded to speak to him, I just smiled-- there was eye contact, but I couldn't think of anything to say. My thought might have been Me Friend, Me not talk about you as if you not here. I looked beyond him to the jerks whispering about him in line. Maybe I should have offered to let him go ahead of me, but I didn't think of that. I turned back and stayed facing forward as people in front of me turned and gawked at him. Who is He? someone asked in a loud whisper.
Now I was sorry I had turned and looked at him. He was in this long line with people and no one said "Hi Kurt" or anything, they just mumbled stuff, and explained who he was to others standing in line. It felt awful to me, and I'm sure it had some kind of depressing affect on him. The line was stalled, we had maybe a dozen people ahead of us and a half dozen behind us. The slowest postal worker ever was doing something in slow motion behind the counter. Outside it was a brilliant breezy spring day, lots of daffodils in planters, budding trees along the avenues. Inside it was overheated and airless. We stood and waited.

The New Animal

2009-03-12T01:07:00.002-04:00

When I was a kid we had the How and Why books. Flimsy and inexpensive, they were pretty much replaced by the Eyewitness series.

What are Words For?

2009-03-10T00:00:00.002-04:00

" Poppycock! Balderdash I say! Bugduggery I say! I think a good swear word, creatively placed shows mastery of the English language." ~ Craig Ferguson

I have to agree.

Once when I was visiting Donegal, I was telling a male cousin about this tourist from Manchester who'd been in town and trying for days to get me to visit his hotel room. I had said no & had been very rude, but every day he'd pop up wherever I was and try to chat me up. Finally the guy told me he'd had a vasectomy. I told him if he didn't leave me alone I'd pick up a chair and bash his F-ing skull open with it. He scurried off and never bothered me again. Apparently he was offended.

But my cousin was horrified by the fact that this man had tried to lure me with the vasectomy remark. Indeed, it was a new low in trying to pick up a woman, but... had I whipped out my F word too soon, I would have never gotten to hear the word vasectomy while on holiday, or the word my cousin uttered in while in shock.

Cousin: He said THAT? What a Bletherumskite!!!!

Me: What???

Cousin: Nothing, em, I meant to say he was... indecent!

Me: No-- what did you just say... leather-um-what???

Cousin: Nothing, nothing it's a terrible word, just slipped out, sorry, sorry...

It took me awhile to figure out he'd said Bletherumskite which was considered a truly filthy word in his home growing up. It's a word with several meanings, one being the lowest scummiest type of lying scoundrel there is. Much Worse than bastard, which everyone in town used with carefree abandon -- like when they were looking for something. "Well, I'm off to work --where's my bastard coat?" or "My bastard keys have gone missing again!" I once heard an old woman who'd been menaced and then stung by a wasp say: "I've no quarrel with bees, they're furry and they contribute -- but wasps are bastards!"

"The whole concept of the swear word is strange to me. You create words that are naughty to say and then you don't let yourself say them. It's pointless, it's like, alright, there's a collection of letters, put them together and that's the word that we must never say... What the hell is that? It's completely stupid and pointless." ~ Craig Ferguson

Imagine certain novels with no swear words. Wambaugh's latest is loaded with them --it would be unrealistic if he had tough cops and rough gang members swaggering through the pages being careful not to use a bad word.

Thrift Store Books

2009-03-09T00:03:00.004-04:00

I like looking through the books, always surprised at the things I find. Want to take many books home with me, but limit myself to spending a dollar or less. Sadly, if I'm on foot I will pass up a huge volume of something I want, only to go back and find it gone. (Now I know to just buy it if I really want it, and leave it at a friend's office directly across the street from the store.) In the case of the old hymnal above, a photo was enough--but if I found a hymnal in really bad shape in the trash, I might take it for collage purposes. recycle, right?

I have not read any of the books pictured above.

Another blogger sent me a news item that revealed that many British peeps pretend to have read certain smartypants books to impress others; 1984 by George Orwell topped the list I think.

I'm embarrassed to reveal that I've read Down and Out in Paris and London by Orwell three times in the past twenty years. I'm never embarrassed to reveal that although I gave it a half-hearted try years ago, I could not get into reading 1984. I don't feel bad.

If a bunch of smartypantsers were discussing 1984 at a cocktail party, (the British ones all pretending they read it...) I could just enjoy listening in, and if asked anything, I could mention some of his other works and/or simply say I haven't read Nineteen Eighty Four ... (maybe adding a yet as if I was planning to, or maybe ask why I should read it --but so far I've never been to a party where it was brought up.)

In the thrift store, I did find a good book by Ignazio Silone (who has been compared to Orwell, so that's something, right?) and find it highly readable so far--(more on Silone once I've finished the book )-- Bread and Wine.

A quick film of my visit to the thrift store, with the easy listening station they play supplying the soundtrack.

Remembering Christopher Nolan

2009-03-08T01:30:00.005-05:00

Christopher Nolan (poet, novelist, author of the memoir "Under the Eye of the Clock") died in a Dublin hospital a few weeks ago. Nolan was paralyzed, but as he said, he became liberated when he was able to type on a keyboard thanks to special technology.

His mother described his early works:
“He wrote of a family visit to a cave that was illuminated by electric lights: He said it was ‘a lovely, fairy-like effect to the work of nature,’ ” she told the Associated Press in a 1987 interview. “It was just that turn of phrase,” she said. “I thought, that’s unusual for a child of eleven.” ~ Bernadette Nolan

His father Joseph, a part-time farmer and psychiatric nurse, read his son poetry and passages from James Joyce’s “Ulysses.” Christy, as his family called him, took to writing early: He published “Dam-Burst of Dreams,” a collection of poetry, at 15. Even then, critics compared it to Joyce.

His novel, The Banyan Tree might be a good read for the Virtual Book Club sometime this year.

.

Reading Haiku

2009-03-06T06:35:00.001-05:00

Glorious the moon
therefore our thanks, dark clouds
come to rest our necks. ~ Basho

Nightfall,
too dark to read the page
too cold. ~ Jack Kerouac

Many years ago someone gave me a book called Pomes All Sizes by Jack Kerouac. Kerouac embraced non-traditional haiku, not worrying at all about how many syllables to count. Once I stopped counting I saw a lot more haiku floating around in the world.

Every morning (except Sunday) I get The Irish Times delivered to me in bed. As I decide whether or not to get up or fall back asleep, I riffle through the sections of the paper. Yesterday morning I saw this haiku in the science section. Maybe it's not really a haiku, but to me it is, and it stuck in my head all day, in a nice way. Moonlet is not a word you see every day. Newspapers, I've discovered, are filled with unintentional haikus.

Address label on an old LIFE Magazine.

Her name and address
Dingle, birds, green witch, nutmeg
my thoughts fly to her ~ Avid Reader

The Glass Family

2009-03-05T07:32:00.001-05:00

Buddy Glass, of course, is only my pen name. My real name is Major George Fielding Anti-Climax. ~ J.D. Salinger

Bits

2009-03-03T00:31:00.006-05:00

As much as I like the fortunes, I'd like to see bits like this inside cookies.

This is my new Lucky Hat. A nice present sent to me by a friend. Thank You although you do not read this blog (or even know it exists.)

I've been reading books on walking--there are many books on walking it turns out and one leads to another, now I have a pile of books on walking to read and one is filled with local walking maps making me anxious to get started.

I am beginning a quest to visit & photograph 48 different libraries this year. I have a list, and some are pretty far away ~ ( one is in Port Jervis, NY.) I quested over to a couple of libraries just down the road on Saturday. This was one of them. It had nice chairs. I sat down for awhile.

I always like to read these little Q and A things.

I'm hoping to find this during my quest. I can take a book out of any one of 48 libraries and return it to my local library. I actually envy the guys who drive around returning the books. I plan to find out the schedules so I can interview and photograph one of these people.

YA YA YA

2009-03-02T00:00:00.000-05:00

The cover illustration cracked me up a little. Or the crack did. But just a little.

In the YA room of a library

Teensreadtoo.com is an interesting site to visit.

Weekend Update

2009-03-01T11:44:00.003-05:00

As it turns out, Henry was a comic strip--I have no memory of this strip, just the Henry children's books. Henry was mute except for the very rare word or sound. Found this picture on a Carl Anderson site. Anderson created Henry.

I started reading "Biting Moon" by Martha Grimes.

Also from the library, a collection of poetry and
Writers at Work (second series of The Paris Review Interviews.)

(I tried to look at two Louise Erdrich books, but was thwarted when some crud flaked off a page onto my hand.I can only hope this flaking crud dust was due to someone reading while eating and not something worse. Both novels had the same messed up pages. People should be extra careful with library books while slurping.)

The Kindle 2 takes some getting used to, more options to play around with. I can only imagine a Kindle 3 will be out next year, and I'll probably want that version too.

I read a review of Stephen King's novella UR, and doubt if the reviewer actually read the story. He said King's character used a "Kindle-like device" in the story. But it's very clearly a Kindle. The guy orders it from Amazon and calls it a Kindle. The reviewer also got some facts about the story wrong-- sounds like he heard about the story from a friend of a friend. It was a short novella and a fun read, it got me thinking about how interesting a story can be when time is a major element or a character.

Last week I met two teens at the local cafe. One teen had a new iPod (He'd had several previous iPods) and the other said he was holding out for a Kindle. His birthday was coming up and he'd saved enough money for a good supply of Kindle books and half the cost of the reader itself He was hoping to get his parents to spring for the rest. I was surprised any teenaged boy would prefer a Kindle to an iPod, but this teen was a readaholic. I don't meet many teens like him, but I do meet kids who love reading much more often than I did 10 years ago. One of these days I might inherit a family iPod. I'm the only one in the family who doesn't have one. Since there are always new models coming out, I'm thinking I can snag a used one.

Suntorp ~ How goes the Nietzsche?

From a Little Golden Book

2009-02-28T03:10:00.004-05:00

This was one of my favorites as a kid. It was a hot muggy unbearable summer day and I had walked to the local drugstore with my older brother. He usually saw his sisters as nuisances, so I don't know how I got to tag along. He called us all "Sis" as if we had no individual names. When we got to the store, I went to look at the metal book display and asked for this book. He was flirting with the girl behind the counter, and agreed to buy me a book, but when he saw it was a Christmas book, he told me to choose something else. It was stupid to get a Christmas book in August, he said. I said I liked the snow in the book and refused to put it back. He argued, tried to foist a Henry book off on me -- *Henry was a kid with a giant bald head who was obsessed with lollipops-- (as if!) and finally gave up. He thought I was stupid,and I didn't care what he thought. I thought he had no imagination if he couldn't think about snow in August.

*Later I looked at the Henry book and it wasn't horrible or anything--it just seemed so at the time.

Reading Here

2009-02-27T08:36:00.007-05:00

Reading a Bestseller here ... can you guess what book this page is from?

Currently reading: a novella by Stephen King. English professor Wesley buys a Kindle, and gets a pink Kindle with special powers. Is this mutant Kindle an evil device? We shall see... A fun read so far. In this story Obama is President and Mickey Rourke is up for an Oscar. I hope King keeps this up, because it's fun.

The Kindle 2 arrived yesterday and is smugly superior to my Kindle. I'll post about it later.

Books as Playthings

2009-02-26T10:09:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's a book, of sorts.

I was given a pop-up book one Christmas, and at first it seemed fantastic, but it was more about the pop up than story-- interesting from a design standpoint but disappointing for a reader. Later when I took weekend jobs in bookstores I saw more and more toy books. Books as playthings, Books with wheels in the shape of a truck. Books that had to be more than a book to be interesting to a kid, especially a kid who disliked books and loved toys. Growing up I met plenty of kids who disliked the library, didn't like to read, that's nothing new--some had reading difficulties, some just preferred sports or toys. My own kids gave any toy books that came into their lives a quick once over and never bothered with them again. No matter how I tried to engage them with the toy books, they wanted the no frills real thing.

Oxford Pockets

2009-02-25T00:13:00.003-05:00

I found an Oxford Pocket Classic at a thrift shop. (Smaller than the Modern Library Classics --shown here underneath.)

This is a 1960 edition, and was priced at 7s 6d.
The s. must stand for shillings, ( and the d. for pence? ) I wonder what the equivalent pricing would be in 1960 in the USA?

I checked here, but was too lazy to do the math. Anyone?

By the mid 1980s Oxford had changed the book design. A bit cheaper and cheaper looking as well, but the books were the same size as the original pocket classics.

I haven't read Shirley yet. I did go through a Bronte phase years ago, and back then I preferred Ann's writing.

A Reading Annoyance

2009-02-24T05:03:00.006-05:00

I bought a book of D.H. Lawrence short stories at a used bookstore and being distracted by a *bookslide that I may or may not have caused, I didn't really flip through it before buying. Normally I don't mind little notes in books, but this was too much! Just about every paragraph had a note, and most were undecipherable.

And the note jotter also underlined almost every sentence.

And yet I read the book, trying to just ignore the scribbles and underlining. Why? Because I needed to read it and didn't want to look for another copy of the book.

*I had touched a book in the back of the store and it was part of a huge jumble of overlapping stacks that almost reached the ceiling (like a book mountain) but I was in the front of the store when the slide actually occurred minutes later. I was the only customer but the owner told me that slides happen at odd times; that sometimes he opens the store in the morning and a slide has happened sometime during the night. I looked at the slide area and it was bad. I paid for my books and left.

News Tidbits

2009-02-23T00:00:00.008-05:00

The Virtual Book Group has its very own blog which will be open to the public soon. I can pretty much guarantee that none of the *books pictured above will be chosen for group reading this year.

Our first book discussion will take place the last weekend in March ~ Out Stealing Horses by Per Pettersen.

Does anyone use book plates anymore? I rarely see them, but found this one in a young adult book about the Civil War.

The big news around our house is not about this **old Kindle from last year, but the Kindle 2 that we ordered. Just got news that it will be delivered in March! We're looking forward to comparing the two gadgets.( I still haven't fully explored the capabilities of the old Kindle because I'm lax when it comes to reading instruction booklets.)

*To be fair I did skim two of the books pictured and was kind of (very) freaked out that Margaret Sanger, Margaret Mead and the others were lumped in with Hitler for being destructive. The Fulton Sheen book had a lot of fun tidbits like ... having a child is the cure for boredom. (Trivia: Actor Martin Sheen took his professional name from Fulton Sheen because he greatly admired him.)

**The old Kindle shown above has a page from King Coal by Upton Sinclair on the screen.

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Phrase Books

2009-02-22T10:00:00.004-05:00

My collection of phrase books is not what it used to be. It topped out at over one hundred, but over the years has dwindled to a dozen. What appears to be James Joyce on my desk is really an old French phrase book that lost its cover long ago. To keep it from falling apart, I made a new cover for it, layering pages from a magazine with glue--and it worked out.

The Irish phrase book is one of a few that I have. I make my grocery lists out in Irish. caora finiuna, aran, seaclaid (grapes, bread, chocolate) forgetting weights and measures since that would require too much brain power.

I have several French phrase books. One devotes more than a page to books, which is impressive, and they all include very useful phrases like "Get out of my way! "You're a moron!" and "Leave me alone!" My favorite was "Ooh La La" which was translated as "Man Alive!"

Some Irish phrase books include poems that Irish school children learn. Important old sayings are included as well. "The windy day is not the day for scallops!" means don't start a new project in the midst of chaos. (scallops refers to thatching the roof of a cottage.) Don't ask your dad for a favor just after he's been fired from his job.

I once had a little Vietnamese phrase book ~ I picked it up because I was eating at a Vietnamese restaurant a lot, and was speaking to the owner more and more. She laughed bitterly at the phrase book as much as I did, since it included phrases like:
"Put your hands up in the air!" "Drop any weapons you have!" "Get down on the ground, quickly!" and "I am an American--Your friend!" There were many helpful pages for the American GI, for town or jungle.

The Educated Man

2009-02-21T05:00:00.000-05:00

This is an ad from the 1950s. Is it still true of the general public today? What will the future look like? It makes me wonder.

How About "Out?"

2009-02-20T07:58:00.002-05:00

Barbara suggested reading the prize winning Out Stealing Horses by Per Pettersen for our Virtual Book Group. Tut Tut's library is holding a copy for her, and I have access. If we give everyone plenty of time to find a copy, should we choose this for our March read? Just to get the group going?

Also, should we be working on a list of books, one per month? I propose that Subtorp give some book suggestions for April, if we agree to one book per month. And should some months be dedicated to authors instead of one book?

Classics + Comics

2009-02-20T06:53:00.004-05:00

So many people misunderstand classic literature (to me it's any book that stands the test of time, but that's just my view.) I had a very bad introduction to classic lit thanks to a girl who lived in our apartment building named Hopey Finkelstein. Her name was Hope but everyone called her Hope-y. It always bothered me a little that she actually liked being called Hopey (rhymes with soapy) and she would correct me when I called her Hope.

Anyway she was a whole six months younger than I was and one day started telling me about this book she'd read the day before called Wuthering Heights. She talked about Cathy and Heathcliff, and as fast as I could, I got to a library and checked out a copy. At the checkout desk the librarian assured me I wouldn't be able to enjoy that book and offered to help me find something more suitable. I was eight years old and I got a little huffy with her. (I was a bit conceited about my reading abilities.) I got the book home and my mom raised her eyebrows at my choice but said nothing. I struggled through the first chapter and gave up. My pride in reading "above level" was crushed. I was frustrated and thought Hopey must be a genius to breeze through this classic book in a day! I felt stupid-- classics were for intellectuals and I was obviously not one of those. I was just Hopey's friend, Dopey. I stayed away from Hopey for awhile, and soothed myself with some Little Golden Books.

Much later I discovered that Hopey's mom had sat down with her and a Classics Illustrated version of Wuthering Heights! But because of that frustrating experience I steered clear of both classic comics and classics. I thought that classic books were for brilliant people and the comic versions were for people like me who couldn't read the actual book. The whole thing depressed me.

In middle school I was forced to read Great Expectations and that book changed forever the way I felt about classics, because I could understand and enjoy it! Hooray! I used to think classics were dull period pieces or just dull, but I soon figured out you could learn an awful lot about people and life in general from writers like Balzac and Zola and a good classic is timeless and enthralling. I remember being in my twenties... putting down *La Bete Humaine with awe ... and being in shock for a few moments. Now that's a good story. Same thing with Hardy's Jude the Obscure. Page turners by Mark Twain and Daniel Defoe... I was hooked. But timing is important too. I can't force myself to read on if I can't get into a book after 30 pages or so.

I found a Classics Illustrated version of Great Expectations at the library, (top photo) and I can honestly say, as much as I love both comic books and graphic novels, it didn't do all that much for me--maybe because I already knew the story so well. ( I'm not giving up on CIs though, I'll find one to enjoy.)

There are plenty to choose from.

* Important: If you plan to read La Bete Humaine, don't read any reviews, as there are spoilers. It's an intense psychological thriller and most reviews give away all of the shocking bits.

Theme Thursday: A Library in a Small Town

2009-02-19T01:06:00.001-05:00

Perfect building, (former church) friendly & helpful librarians, good children's room and a lot of good books. What more can one ask of a library? The town of Sloatsburg, NY is nothing fancy, as any Sloatsburger will readily admit. But they have two things that feed the soul: Harriman State Park and a good library. I don't live close enough to visit often, but it's always a treat.

Sloatsburg was once known as the Village of *Pothat, so here is a hat tidbit from poet Carl Sandburg.

*A friend insists it was once called Pot Cheese Gulch but I refuse to believe it.

Trivia: George Washington definitely slept in Sloatsburg during the Revolutionary War.

More Odds and Ends

2009-02-17T08:24:00.012-05:00

I bought this old book last week. South Wind by Norman Douglas. It will hang around on my bookshelf until I find time for it.

Took this one out of the library because I can't resist a venn diagram.

The John Lennon Bio (of my earlier post) went downhill fast after rock & rollers & women entered the picture. The author really loathes certain rock musicians, and spoiled many descriptions by being so biased. It's obvious he had low opinions of certain Beatles, as well and a very high opinion of one wife (Yoko.) while telling the reader that "Nobody liked Cynthia." I can't enjoy a biased biography. The author also likes gossip and speculates a lot about people, maybe this happened, that might have happened, maybe... John's mother Julia wanted to have sex with John because she took naps with him sometimes, Yoko was incredibly good at reading tarot cards and seeing the future. John was (!?) possibly the reincarnation of Yoko's famous grandfather. I was really disappointed. I feel everyone should be given a fair shake. (The author was quite good at poisoning the well while claiming to be unbiased.) I like Yoko and her artwork very much, but the author ranks her as one of the best artists on earth. He really kisses her bottom big time in this book.

Update on the Brautigan book of an earlier post: I liked it, and wish my personal journals were as interesting.

Has anyone seen this book? How to Talk to Girls --I'm a little curious.

One great thing about my town is the many thrift shops. For $1.25 I brought home these books and a nice mug from the Queens Library.

I used to live in Queens (briefly) but at that time I worked every weekend at a book shop, so I rarely used the library. I was also commuting to Manhattan every weekday and worked very near the Main Library on 42nd Street. The nearest library to my apartment in Queens was the Elmhurst Library built in the 1960s. Elmhurst was the biggest Melting Pot of maybe the entire world. (?) Over 100 different languages were spoken there with regularity by the residents. The library had multilingual staff and some volunteer interpreters to handle more than 60 of the languages. I lived near a Geeta Temple and had neighbors from all over the world.

Mishmash

2009-02-16T08:57:00.007-05:00

A page from the Oliver Sacks book I'm reading now. At first Sacks discusses people who hear music in their heads and are able to write it down and play it on piano, then there's the amnesiac who claims he knows nothing at all about music, but the instant he sits at the piano he can play all sorts of classical music. There's the man with Parkinson's Disease who can't stop his violent jerky shaking until he puts his fingers on the piano--then his entire body calms down and he plays Brahms beautifully. Then there are people who live with too much music in their heads, too loud. It's an interesting read.

Besides watching Book TV and finding more and more news shows giving books reviews and interviewing authors (especially RTE and BBC news programs) I also find a lot of book news in various papers. This caught my eye. A dad who lives far away reading to his kids! I was read aloud to a lot as a child, and one of the memories I have is of being on the lap of the person reading to me. That was part of the experience. This seems so odd to me, but then I hardly ever use Skype myself (except when talking to a friend in the DR who is a technology freak and loves to use Skype.) It is kind of fun to use, but it feels weird too.

I never knew anything about his childhood, or that he was half Irish. This is my fun reading for the week.

I have no idea

I read the Ved Mehta book about building a dream house in Dark Harbor Maine. I found it pretty interesting. It was my first time reading Mehta, and I plan on reading all his memoirs in the future.

Soul & Romance

2009-02-15T00:53:00.000-05:00

Soul by Tobsha Learner
One of the books I just finished. Interesting idea. Parallel stories of Julia and her ancestor Lavinia who both find themselves abandoned by the men that they adore. Booklist calls it a steamy page turner. Not my usual cup of tea, but it was good, and it was new fiction, which I had vowed to read more of this year.

I saw a report on personalized romance novels on The Today Show last week. One couple had honeymooned in Pittsburgh, but were discussing in detail their book version honeymoon in the Caribbean. The husband had ordered a romance novel by filling out a questionnaire for the authors but requested the locale for the honeymoon be changed. They put together a book which his wife reads over and over again.

Blogger's Book Club (Part 1)

2009-02-15T00:33:00.001-05:00

The foyer of our virtual book club looks kind of shabby, but we can fix it up later.

Please leave your books club suggestions and/or questions here.
Tut Tut suggested The Poisonwood Bible, which looks good, but is a lengthy book.

Questions:

1.Should we start with a short book?
2.Should we just all read some work of a prolific author and discuss the author as well?
3.How much time should we have to read the book?
4.How often should we check in?
5.Should the book club posts be during the week or weekend?
6.Should we explore new fiction or all types of fiction?

Book Titles (Part 1)

2009-02-14T08:37:00.004-05:00

It's very important to take care of your dinghy. Even if you're not using it much, try and keep it in good shape.

No one likes being fully grown and only 2 feet tall, trust me on this one.

Too late for Theme Thursday.

Never ever be your own lawyer. This book has probably done some damage, turning jerks who think they can be their own lawyers into bigger jerks with some knowledge of the law.

This would probably be a good book to read if you just want to learn something about the trial process, (even though you have no intention of representing yourself.) It might be a good book to read if you have trouble standing up for yourself in general.

Have you ever been in a courtroom where some jerk has decided to be his own lawyer?
It's sheer torture.

Like Candy & Update on 109

2009-02-12T19:50:00.011-05:00

Book advert in a 1952 paperback.
Prices ranging from 25 cents to 75 cents.

Rack of paperbacks today.
Prices ranging from $6.99 to $10.85.

Often as a kid I'd pass up candy for books.

The problem was, you'd have to save your pocket change for awhile and then go to a special store to get a book. Candy was everywhere, and it was cheap. Candy was always available, always sweet, waiting to trip you up and make you spend some of your savings.

What I'm reading now. I love Oliver Sacks, and the blogger known as JGH actually met and spent time with the man. She got this signed copy for me! Thank you JGH!

***Update on the Richard Brautigan pg. 109: it seems the bug up ass reader of the previous post chose to call attention to the almost last page of the book. (there was another half page.) I hate reading towards the end of the book --spoilers may be back there!!! I was a little put out at having to go back there to look at page 109.
And guess what?-- all she did was quote the author, who, being depressed, was calling his own book crap. What do you think of that? I was disappointed, and thought it was kind of mean to use his own words like that. I checked the book out and it's sitting here beside me, waiting to be read and appreciated.

Trout Fishing in America

2009-02-12T00:00:00.000-05:00

Jumping Trout by Winslow Homer

For Theme Thursday I decided to post about the book Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan.

La La La ... off to the library and pick up a copy. On my way I stopped at an old friend's house and she decided to walk with me. It dawned on me at some point that she had introduced me to Brautigan's works many years ago! (Okay that was weird.)

"It would be interesting to re-read him now..." she said.

At the library there was only one Brautigan book -- An Unfortunate Woman, A Journey.

Inside were these notes. I didn't notice the mention of page 109, or I would have looked at it. I was in a hurry to take the picture, and leave. I should have taken the book out of the library, but I was still hoping to find a copy of Trout Fishing... at the bookstore. (No luck there either!) I don't know about you, but I think the first remarks were made by someone with a bug up her ass. Maybe it was my ninth grade English teacher... she always tried to ruin books for me before I had a chance to read them.

I love inconclusive fragments -- my whole life has been built on them.

Not page 109, but another page from the book, An Unfortunate Woman. I think I need to read it so I can remark on it myself. Maybe we should all read it, create a group remark, and I'll write it in and get a photo of it.

My fish post sort of fell through. And what about page 109? This post needs a sequel.

Gardening Books

2009-02-10T09:41:00.006-05:00

There was a time... I had a fascination with dictionaries that started when I was about seven years old. I had some type of dictionary and thesaurus on every shelf. Dictionaries for foreign languages, even a visual French dictionary. Miniature dictionaries were everywhere (I even had one very tiny one in my hand bag.) I had slang dictionaries, a rhyming dictionary, dictionaries for business. Recently I heard an author saying that when she was about seven or eight she borrowed the beautiful big dictionary her friend's family had in order to copy it into a notebook. After about 100 entries she gave up. But I understood her thinking she could complete a task like that. That's how I thought as a kid, and I did the same thing she did in a way, trying to copy my sister's school biology textbook so when I took biology some years later, I'd have the textbook down cold.

Since 2006 there has been a noticeable steady downtown in the sale of gardening books and an upturn in the purchase of decorative items and furnishings for the garden. People put more statues, flags and whimsical things around, add more benches, buy cushions, and hardly ever pick up a trowel. And yet DIY backyard gardening was all the rage just a few years ago. Boomer bookshelves were then stuffed with books by Ann Raver, Barbara Damrosch, Rayford Reddell, Eliot Coleman and many more wonderful authors and gardening freaks. People talked about their favorite gardening books, everyone seemed to have favorites.

Ordering Spring by artist Janet Fish. The painting reminds me of J's post on seeds.

Book Dads

2009-02-08T23:00:00.009-05:00

When I was a kid it was mainly my dad who taught me to read, with my older siblings and mother acting as reinforcements. My dad was relentless and that was okay because I loved the attention, and he was really very sweet about it. We were very much alike in personality, looks, and in our general attitude towards life. His hard work paid off as I skipped a grade in elementary school and was always placed in the top reading group (once I was alone in my own reading group, which was both isolating and a relief.)

After my dad passed away I still spent a few summer vacations with my grandfather, who had always enjoyed having me read aloud to him from my stash of books, and explain what I was doing in school. (When I was very young I thought maybe grandpa couldn't read, since he wanted me to read to him, but I soon discovered he was a readaholic himself.) I'd worked and volunteered at a couple of retirement homes during my high school years, and seriously considered a career in Gerontology. I began reading a lot of books on aging. I really enjoyed the company of older people.

These older people always told me what to read. During my first year of college I worked in restaurant coffee shop and these old guys would come in and sit for hours at the counter. After awhile, these dad-like customers started showing up with worn paperbacks for me, books they wanted me to read. One regular brought me Christy by Catherine Marshall. She was one of his favorite authors. And that's how it went, they knew they could give me a book and quiz me about it later on. I read whatever they gave me. I remember when two old dudes got in a heated argument with each other over authors, and what books I should and should not be reading. The guy who had brought in Christy didn't want me to read anything that wasn't inspirational.

My dad's personal bookshelf was filled with books on theology, nature, history, philosophy, socialism, poetry, and some top-notch novels. One of his favorite books was The Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda. I also recall seeing books written by Luther Burbank and Audubon's Birds of America.

Portrait of Luther Burbank by Frida Kahlo

Final Jeopardy

2009-02-06T00:45:00.001-05:00

Last night I watched Jeopardy for the first time in months. But I missed the Final Jeopardy question.

I had no idea. All I could think was Ring Lardner-- one of the losers on the show guessed Lardner too. Wrong!

The answer was (Alfred) Damon Runyon (1884-1946) His style was so outrageous and individual that it's called Runyonesque. The style relies on metaphors, slang, and present tense storytelling. (Source: The Reader's Encyclopedia - Wm. R. Benét)

I've never read any of Runyon's work, but have seen Guys & Dolls, and did enjoy the film based on his story The Lemon Drop Kid (Bob Hope played the kid.)

Statue: Theme Thursday

2009-02-05T00:13:00.000-05:00

Statue of Strindberg by Carl Eldh.

“People are constantly clamoring for the joy of life.
As for me, I find the joy of life in the hard and cruel battle of life - to learn something is a joy to me.”
-- August Strindberg (1849-1912)

Strindberg was a Swedish poet, playwright, essayist, and novelist, and also wrote a lot of good short stories ... here is the first paragraph of one of his stories.

Conductor Crossberg was fond of lying in bed in the morning,
firstly, because he had to conduct the orchestra in the evening,
and secondly, because he drank more than one glass of beer before
he went home and to bed. He had tried once or twice to get up early,
but had found no sense in it. He had called on a friend, but had
found him asleep; he had wanted to pay money into the bank, but had
found it still closed; he had gone to the library to borrow music,
but it was not yet open; he had wanted to use the electric trams,
but they had not yet started running. It was impossible to get a
cab at this hour of the morning; he could not even buy a pinch of
his favourite snuff; there was nothing at all for him to do. And
so he had eventually formed the habit of staying in bed until late;
and after all, he had no one to please but himself.

-From "The Sluggard"

*The Red Room, a novel by Strindberg has long been on my 'to read' list.
Strindberg also wrote fairy tales and some well reviewed autobiographical works, which include: The Son of a Servant, A Fool's Defense, and Alone.

*Considered by many critics to be the first example of modern Swedish realism. A friend recommended it for its irony and sarcasm.

What Are You Reading?

2009-02-03T07:00:00.000-05:00

Sometimes Book TV stops people on the street and asks what they're reading. Almost every reader they stop suddenly becomes engaged and fairly eloquent. Readers usually mention three or four books, and if not for the time constraint, they'd probably talk about a dozen more. Most people say they read several books at a time; a nonfiction bestseller, a good novel or two, and then mention an author they've been thinking about. It's interesting to see what people are reading and how they're open to all types of books. One man mentioned Richard Wright because he'd read Native Son years ago and wanted to re-read it and other works by Wright now that Obama was in the White House. An excellent idea.

What are you reading now? What books would you like to read this year?

For fun, I would like to read Fripsey Summer but I don't know if I could find a copy.

Saintly Reading

2009-02-02T10:35:00.019-05:00

I first read about "The Lives of the Saints" in Frank McCourt's book, Angela's Ashes. I ran right out to get the books. He was right-- fascinating stuff.

Saint Grimi ~ The patroness of the hot hermitess.

This lead me to write my own book. Sensing that everyone around me (*including me!) wanted to give their children unusual names, I came up with Saintly Names for Baby. 500 pages of great baby names and their meanings.
(self published)

A Sampling of Girls Names with Meanings:

Alkelda - Constant giggler.
Bibiana - Falls in love with drunkards.
Burgundofara - Sickly.
Casilda - Lifelong career in the prison system.
Devota - Overly fond of birds.
Eulalia - Overly fond of sailors.
Emerentiana - Will request to go into foster care.
Grimonia - Refuses to leave her room, writes death poetry.
Macra - Has fiendish invisible tormenters.
Matrona - She of very weak & loose bowels.
Rufina - Bulimic and accident prone.
Theneva - Unwed teenaged mother.
Zita - Food hoarder who steals people keys.

And Boy's Names:

Agabus - Will live with his parents forever.
Benno - Not potty trainable.
Callistus - Very smug, prone to sarcasm.
Chrodegang -Unattractive, prone to constant chanting.
Dogmael - Forever a toddler.
Fabian - Has a disdain for women.
Odo - Frivolous party boy prone to severe migraines.
Poppo - Annoying
Remaclus- Into extreme self denial.
Werenfrid - Vegan animal activist, never bathes.
Woolos - Devoted to random acts of unkindness.

But wait! Don't toss the book aside once you've named your saintly children --
This book includes a wealth of saintly child-rearing tips! Don't send Alkelda to an all-girl's school, search Romuald's room daily, and never ever throw a pirate themed birthday party for Helier.

* my children are:
Grimbald - who collects germs; Amedei, who is constantly in tears; and Ebbe who keeps reminding everyone that she is wise and holy.

January 2009

2009-02-01T12:08:00.000-05:00

Books I finished from December starts: Gonzo by Jann Wenner

January Books read: (Jan 1-7 ) Old School by Tobias Wolff, Happy Trails (Short Stories) by Julie Hecht

Started: Rita Mae Brown's Hounded to Death (Fox Hunt Mystery) What can I say, I didn't like it.

Jan 8-15 : Read: The Job by Sinclair Lewis, The Odd Women by George Gissing, both were good reads

Started: Kipps by H.G. Wells, finished it a week later, and enjoyed it.

Jan 16-23 : Free Air by Sinclair Lewis, Life, Interrupted (Spalding Gray & Others) Promises to Keep by Joe Biden,
Dark Harbor by Ved Mehta

Jan 24- 31: Started Dangerous Laughter Short Stories by Steven Milhauser, The Lifted Veil by George Eliot. A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas. Finished the Abigail Thomas and most of the short stories.

Books started but not yet finished: Twelve Men by Theodore Drieser, Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, The Slim Princess by George Ade,

Absurd Books

2009-01-31T12:23:00.018-05:00

My Aunt Colleen knew we loved books, so when she visited from Pawtucket, she'd bring a box of goodies for us. Each book had a tiny label in it that said the name of her local book shop ( Little Acorn Book Shop) and the address. The effect these labels had on me was to make me want to visit the Little Acorn Book Shop. (but I never did, and the way things go, it probably no longer exists.) I pictured it to be a cozy, perfect little shop, anyway.

She gave us both new and old books, and in one gift box was a mint condition copy of a book called Charley Weaver's Family Album-- Out of all the books Colleen gave us, this was the most absurd one. We didn't even know who Charley Weaver was.

Everyone in Charley's family looked exactly like him. Charley was the alter-ego of Cliff Arquette, an actor who was famous I guess when radio was a huge deal. The book jacket states that Jack Paar brought Charley out of retirement, to appear on his new television show.

He is the grandfather of a group of actors, those Arquettes -- (the first names escape me.) Anyway, years passed and the book was lost, and I forgot it existed, or so I thought.

A few summers ago I was hanging out with friends, talking about books and pop culture, and this book popped into my head. I tried to describe it, how silly it was, but I couldn't. Later a friend went online and found a copy through the Amazon.com website. She secretly ordered it as a little joke gift for me and surprised me with it some days later.

It arrived and my friend brought it over to my house. We sat on the patio, where she read this page aloud to me, and we poured over the photos in the book laughing like idiots.

That night she and I attended a fund raising event. Sitting at our table, we started getting the 'stupid giggles' over something in the book, and a serious looking man approached us and wanted to be let in on the joke. Without thinking, we tried to describe this book to him, which only resulted in our laughing so hard we almost cried.

The man had never heard of Charley Weaver, explaining he was much older than us girls and wasn't up on all the latest people in pop culture. (!) The man turned out to be a judge, and spent the rest of the evening talking with us. We stopped trying to explain who Charley Weaver was, but every time we made eye contact, we'd get the inappropriate giggles again, so we forced ourselves to just look at and listen to the judge tell his stories of being a judge. (none of which I remember.)

I put the book away, and many months later when I glanced through it again, I noticed a tiny label in it. Could it be?

William Somerset Maugham

2009-01-30T09:46:00.003-05:00

I went through an intense Somerset Maugham phase after reading Of Human Bondage. Who am I kidding? I'm still going through a Maugham phase. I re-read one of his short stories this week. Like Steinbeck, he's highly re-readable because he really understands people and creates true characters. I still don't think I've read everything he's written, but I have read everything I could find in libraries and bookstores. You can find some of his work at Project Gutenberg.

This one looks interesting & it was well reviewed.

Self & Elf

2009-01-30T00:00:00.001-05:00

I need help, but am keeping these books to myself ~ no suggestions or quotes.

It's funny how self improvement books often shed a light on the flaws of others. A friend of mine was telling me about a marriage therapy book that she and her (now) ex husband both read while still married. He thought she was the one needing the exercises in the book, and began describing her as passive - aggressive. She told me the book described his behavior to a T -- "Totally passive- aggressive." Both thought the other needed to change and viewed themselves as the sane calm person "putting up with" the controlling one. It was sad, because they are both really good people who both missed the point of the book.

I've done this with self help books too. Suddenly I'm labeling my closest friend an emotional vampire and it's time to confront her while ignoring my own inner vampire. Maybe my pretty good relationship with someone I truly care about is toxic and must end now. The scary thing about self help books is the sheer number of victims they manufacture when they are supposed to empower the SELF. They also give people the freedom to bore others with stories of betrayals they've endured, all those backstabbers out there. (self reflection is hard.) When it comes to self improvement books, they should be handled with care. There is nothing more boring than someone who has memorized a Leo Buscaglia book but uses it to tell others how they should act instead of being gentler and more loving themselves.

I have found books on death/dying/grieving very helpful and have purchased them for myself and others. When my cousin suddenly became a widow I gave her three carefully selected books. I told her to please forgive me, and not be put off by my gift, she could put them aside and maybe one day she'd want them. I didn't hear a peep about them for 7 months or so, then she e mailed me to say they really helped her a lot although, yes, the gift really irked her at first. She forgave me for being presumptuous, but I don't think I would ever do that again. Buying self help books for others is a real Buttinsky thing to do, not a good deed at all, despite my possible goody good intentions. Self help books should be purchased for oneself.

The Elves and the Shoemaker: Who hasn't wished that some of their work could just be (magically) done for them?

The shoemaker never took advantage of the elves, he never completely gave up even when times were tough. He just needed some help. He was always willing to do some of the work himself.

I remember this story from childhood... why is it I never got tired of hearing it? Maybe because my dad would always describe in detail different shoes, and always make the story humorous.

*xu zek tody slype ... lum mum piu... I won't be buying a self help book for you.

The great sins of the world take place in the brain: but it is in the brain that everything takes place . . . It is in the brain that the poppy is red, that the apple is odorous, that the skylark sings, (and that we love and hate each other). —Oscar Wilde

*scrabble dictionary words

2009-01-29T11:39:00.000-05:00

The future will be better tomorrow.

- George W. Bush

Oates and Acorns

2009-01-29T07:44:00.001-05:00

Joyce Carol Oates has written more than 50 novels...
and over 400 short stories. I think I've only read one of her novels, and one short story. She was quoted as saying writing was not her top priority, her husband was.

The Man who Planted Trees by Jean Giono. An eco fable, I received this as a gift in 2001, a book on tape that I listened to over and over again in the car. I can't recall what happened to it, but the story was very uplifting. To sort through a sack of acorns and plant mighty oaks...well worth reading. Here is an animated video of the first part of the story. (Thanks R.L.!) This is a great gift book for anyone.

Easy Reader

2009-01-28T08:29:00.000-05:00

Who else remembers Morgan Freeman on The Electric Company as Easy Reader? He was our favorite!

Top to bottom, left to right --
reading stuff is out of sight!

Easy Reader that's my name
reading, reading, that's my game
I groove on all the words around
as long as they written down
reading heavy reading tough
I never seem to get enough...

I'm a first class gen-u-wine readin' freak~ ~ Easy Reader

I wonder how many kids learned to read and to sharpen their reading skills by watching Sesame Street and The Electric Company?

Here's a short, fun Reading vid.

(Photo from The Electric Company Archives)

To All The Books I Have Not Read

2009-01-27T13:47:00.011-05:00

After looking at this book in a library last week, I decided to do a little research on Joseph Conrad. We own some of his works, but have never read one that I know of ( assigned reading of a short story or novella in school is always possible.) In my mind I placed him with Melville and London, without knowing anything about him or his writing style. I vaguely recalled the film Apocalypse Now was based on Conrad's Heart of Darkness (which is in my bookcase.) I didn't know that he was a British author, a Polish author who learned his perfect English in his twenties.

John Updike died. One of my favorite short stories, A&P was written by him. I read it when I was a very young teen, with great interest. And yet I never continued on, to see what his novels were like. Someone even gave me a copy of The Witches of Eastwick and I lost it before opening it. I think I left it in a cab. (If I ever got back all the things I left in cabs I'd have a big pile of hats, gloves, scarves, umbrellas, about twenty eight books, and one nice jacket.) Anyway, Updike wrote a lot of novels, I should put at least one of them on my library list.

To all the books I have not read, I cannot fit you in my head, I know you're on the shelf, and I often tell myself, I'll get to you one day...

--sung to the tune of --To all the Girls I've Loved Before-- (Willie Nelson & Julio Iglesias. ) Here's Johnny Carson messing with Julio & the song.

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2009-01-26T13:55:00.001-05:00

a bit of a poem by Sam Walter Foss (1858-1911)

The Turtle Chapter

2009-01-24T20:18:00.008-05:00

The third chapter of The Grapes of Wrath is the turtle chapter. I didn't know about it the first time I read the book. It was another school reading assignment, we all had used copies of the Viking Critical Library edition, and I was the fourth student to carry my copy around. It was nicely battered, yet inside the pages were suspiciously pristine. We were supposed to read the book one chapter at a time, which was impossible for me, so I read on, going back to check the assigned chapter before the class discussions. I knew not to offer much in the discussions, so as not to be bullied later by kids who loathed "goody two shoes reader types." I mostly listened in every class anyway because I was shy and whenever I had to stand and answer a question in class my voice would quaver or I'd stammer or forget what I was going to say. Forgetting what you were going to say was horrible. My mind would simply go blank as I stood to speak (we were required to stand.) And there was always the chance of somebody behind you softly whispering reee-TarrHd (followed by muffled giggling.)

The first time I read the turtle chapter I was in awe. I went back and carefully re-read it. It was unusual. Hmmmm... I wondered what kind of class discussion would follow. Not good, as it turned out. Not many kids liked the chapter. Dull, hard to get through--endlessly boring. I was sitting there, thinking it isn't even three pages long, and they act like it's a hardship to read.

Steinbeck's book was not just a social history of the dust bowl and migration to California, we were told. The turtle symbolized the struggle of the migrants and the environment they were fleeing. Our teacher reminded us that the turtle's shell is a house or home and protects the turtle. Home is where Tom Joad returns, only to find his family huddled in the dusty shell of their home. When the home is lost, security, comfort and healthy conditions are lost.

A few powerful individuals are able to withhold security and comfort from the much larger group. The turtle keeps going, through the dry dust because there's nothing else to do, giving up is not an option.

My high school copy of the book had an interview with Steinbeck in it and letters he'd written concerning the story. This bit was my favorite: Steinbeck answering a question about the migrants.

I admire them intensely. Because they are brave, because although the technique of their life is difficult and complicated, they meet it with increasing strength, because they are kind, humorous, wise, because their speech has the metaphor and flavor and imagery of poetry, because they can resist and fight back and because I believe that out of those qualities will grow a new system and a new life which will be better than anything we have had before.
~ John Steinbeck

I fell in love with Steinbeck after reading that.

Steinbeck said he created four layers in the book, and that readers could take from it whatever they wanted, (the mythic, the social history, the symbolism, and whatever else the reader could find in it.) What a genius.

Incidental Reading

2009-01-24T11:05:00.009-05:00

I call it my incidental reading, the books I find while at the library for another purpose (To write in a quiet study area, to hear a lecture, or meet up with a friend.) I used to always have to leave with a book, which lead to library books piling up at home, a huge stack I couldn't possibly get through, and then there would be fines for overdue books.

On Wednesday I found a small volume that contained essays about Spalding Gray written by friends and family, also some of his unfinished writing. It was very sad, but at the same time, Gray was fascinating and had much to say. I saw him in NYC as the narrator of the Thornton Wilder play "Our Town" and after that, one of his monologues, which I have to say, were brilliant, because they got you thinking about so many things. (Saw another one on the Sundance channel after his death.) I remember when Gray went missing. It was a big deal here, because he was more than well known, he was well liked. Later we heard he jumped from the Staten Island Ferry.

So I read these essays in between my planned reading.

( Gray played the Grape Nuts munching psychiatrist who won't listen to Liev Schreiber in the film Kate & Leopold. )

Besides reading this way I've learned to read just a chapter of someone's memoirs at the library. I read a chapter of Hume Cronin's this week. I don't have to bring every book home.

Scribner's Rocked

2009-01-23T00:00:00.002-05:00

"I worked at Scribner’s bookstore from 1967 to 1972. The Strand was just a short period after that, and I didn’t like it. I worked in the basement, and it wasn’t very friendly. Scribner’s, though, was beautiful. People there took being book clerks seriously—you had to read The New York Times Book Review. I read a lot of French poetry: Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Nerval. Paul Bowles. Biographies of Yeats or Diego Rivera. And I could look at all the art books I wanted during lunch."
~ Patti Smith

I felt the same way about the Strand, back then there were 8 Miles of Books and a slight element of unfriendliness. Now there are 18 Miles of Books and it feels like a mega-store, selling toys and crap.

Scribner's was always my favorite, and the staff was incredibly upbeat and helpful. When it went out of business a series of clothing stores came and went, and now it's a cosmetics shop. The interior is beautiful still.

Rock of Ages ~ A very readable little volume that begins with swing, blues, and country to show the roots of rock. I was given this book one Christmas ages ago, and since then there of course have been updated versions to include new forms of rock, new performers and to update the stories of older rockers. It's pretty much all you need unless you want to study the subject very seriously. (written by Ward Tucker & Stokes) There is also a large format illustrated History of Rock put out by Rolling Stone Magazine, but it has less information and I didn't find it all that interesting compared to this little gem.

H. G. Wells Tt-tt!

2009-01-22T00:00:00.000-05:00

I've never seen the word tut used like this before, solo. I've only known it as the exclamation Tut-tut. Later in the book, one of the characters says " Tt-tt! " as an exclamation. Kipps was written in 1905 and is a comic novel. I've been distracted by other reading and so am just finishing it tonight.

Glad I discovered so many titles by H.G. Wells. A few of the light novels are on my to read someday i hope list.

This Tut-tutting reminds me of one of my favorite ice cream flavors. Tutti Frutti (which generally means all fruits to the Italian ice cream maker.) Tutti Frutti is similar to my other favorite ice cream flavor Spumoni. If done correctly, spumoni is tutti frutti with chocolate, pistachio and whipped cream within the ice cream. It's the foamy whipped cream that gives Spumoni its name (spume = froth or foam.) Both come from old Italian dessert items that were served with liqueurs, biscotti, and/or ice cream.

Reading Nonsense

2009-01-21T18:19:00.007-05:00

When I was a kid, I'd spy these advertisements disguised as witty humor and I'd always be disappointed. They were never funny, and sometimes they were creepy. Sometimes I'd imagine they'd be saying completely bizarre things, and since they were clearly hallucinating a giant canary, why not?

I asked friend to make up some new words for the cartoon. He said "that's the worst drawing of a penguin I've ever seen!" Then he wrote some new captions for me. He did a pretty disgusting job!

Inauguration Reading

2009-01-19T18:40:00.006-05:00

A new beginning. I've been reading Michelle an interesting book on Michelle Robinson Obama by Liz Mundy and Promises to Keep by Joe Biden. I saw the authors talking about their books and reading excerpts on Book TV and that got me hooked. I grabbed the Kindle and started reading. Biden is an excellent writer with a story to tell. I thought I was going to take a break from biography and memoirs. Not yet.

People are talking about this new way of thinking: ( after eight years of it's totally OK to be dumb and closed-minded. ) Now maybe it's a new beginning, a time to smarten up in all sorts of ways. be smarter about how we live, work, eat, and play. Be more open and compassionate. Have a respect for science.

There will be hard times ahead. We may need to rethink what The Good Life really means.

going uptown to visit miriam

2009-01-18T00:00:00.000-05:00

I love looking at maps of NYC neighborhoods, staring up at skyscrapers, and wandering around the city aimlessly. I've heard about the WPA Guides, but never owned one until now. **Thanks, Tut-Tut!** It's very interesting. (I'll show some of the inside next weekend.) The first time I heard about WPA guides was when Steinbeck mentioned them in his book Travels with Charley. He owned a full set of them, and often wished he'd brought them along on his journey.

just wanted to share my favorite nyc poem with you, i know there are many nyc poems, but this one is my personal favorite and has been since high school.

this one
is my

favorite.

going uptown to visit miriam by Victor Hernandez Cruz

that line ...i hope i don't see sonia on the street... makes me smile every time. every time i read this poem i'm there on the train.

Born in 1949, Cruz moved to NYC at age 5 from Puerto Rico. He began writing poetry as a child and had his first collection of poems published in the 1960's. A Nuyorican (New York Puerto Rican) he began using what is now referred to as "Spanglish" in his writings very early on.

Marge and George

2009-01-17T11:11:00.001-05:00

A line of poetry from Marge Piercy's memoir, Sleeping with Cats. Marge and her man live with five cats in Massachusetts. I just sampled a bit of the book via Kindle after trying to remember the title of a Marge Piercy novel I read a long time ago. From the sample I'm curious enough to go to the nearest library- (which not only owns a copy, but also has 43 other books by Piercy.) Looks like a Marge Piercy read-a-thon might be in my future. Her memoir got excellent reviews except by a few people who assumed it would be strictly a book about cats. Obviously cats are important to Piercy, but this is her memoir, after all.

Prolific poet and novelist Piercy retells her life from the bottom up, starting in working-class Detroit.
~ Library Journal

A little something from the Letters page of The Financial Times.

But I care not for the people who live now and will not be living when the long-run comes.

I remember reading Middlemarch and Silas Marner, but the George Eliot novel I liked best was The Mill on the Floss even though I've been told it isn't 'as good' as Middlemarch. I have only the vaguest of vague memories of Silas Marner since it was assigned reading in school.

Educating Avid

2009-01-16T00:01:00.002-05:00

This book has been with us forever. Purchased second-hand, it's a 1977 printing of a 1930 classic.

My favorite for a winter day is any soup you can make in ten minutes.

Can a soup be prepared in ten minutes? Certainly, if you follow the guidelines. The longest part is bringing the water to a boil. But that time doesn't count. ~ Edouard de Pomiane (there are twenty soup recipes in this little book.)

A joke from a jokebook I purchased in Ireland (some local guy was selling this booklet of jokes and stories he'd collected over the years.) I'm very big on buying all the local author offerings, and so I have a lot of little religious books, 'history of the area' type books, fairy lore, and local guidebooks that tell you how to find Holy places like St. Brigid's Well, The Hidden Dolmen, St. Kevin's Holy Stone. I'm very fond of these books.

I'm still reading the books I mentioned in my last post.

Please do enjoy a bit of a book related clip from Educating Rita

Reading That Leads to This

2009-01-15T11:56:00.000-05:00

Reading "The Odd Women" by George Gissing lead me to Kipps by H.G. Wells. (An excerpt was in the back of the Gissing book.) I had no idea just how prolific Wells was, or that he had written comic novels. Isaac Asimov called Wells The Shakespeare of Science Fiction; and I always thought of Wells as someone who wrote a few good SciFi novels. You can find more than eighty of his works available on Kindle. I'm starting with Kipps, a 256 page novel based on his own life experience. (95 cents.) I'm really enjoying the story.

Reading The Job by Sinclair Lewis, lead me to one of his minor works Free Air, a simple love story, a "road" book with a woman at the wheel.

Comments left on this blog lead me to read Old School by Tobias Wolff (enjoyed it) and to also order Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes on Kindle. It's nice to have a good variety of unread material in this little machine ~ it's like carrying a little bookshelf in your handbag or briefcase, and you can pick a book out according to your mood. Everyone's recommendations go on my library list, so eventually ...

A few nights ago I watched (and read) an old silent movie.

Valentino tells a story to Gloria Swanson. It was oddly riveting!

King's Daughters Libraries

2009-01-14T11:55:00.002-05:00

Recently renovated King's Daughters Library in New York.

Founded January 13, 1886, ( yesterday was their anniversary) The International Order of The King's Daughters and Sons is an international and interdenominational organization of Christian men and women dedicated to service in Christ's name. The objects of the Order are "the development of spiritual life and the stimulation of Christian activities." I believe this organization started in the American south. Some of the original southern libraries have closed due to declining use.

Its threefold program is Religious, Educational and Philanthropic, with the purpose of training its members for Christian Service.

Motto:

"Look up and not down;
Look forward and not back;
Look out and not in:
Lend a hand."

( I feel like adding ...Gee... you're grand! )

An architectural ... attempt. It looks like an airport.

Lots of parking and conveniently located in a shopping strip with a large food market just across the parking lot.

Inside it looks like an airport, too. While very comfortable for quiet study, the collection of books is small.

In Palmyra, New York, The King's Daughters Library sent out this announcement:
Did you know you can surf the web while sitting in the gazebo on the grounds of the Palmyra Library? The library is now offering wireless internet access. Canal travelers in the summer, business people passing through, and local residents can now connect to the internet with their laptops, PDAs, or cell phones. To try out the hotspot, bring your OWWL card and laptop to the Main Desk. A Guest Pass is available for non-resident visitors..

Craggy Island Authors

2009-01-13T00:00:00.000-05:00

"Ride me sideways was another one!" Mrs. Doyle talks about a dirty novelist here. Mrs. Doyle is actually the quite adorable Pauline McLynn.

Ardal O'Hanlon and Pauline McLynn (who played Dougal and Mrs. Doyle on Father Ted) are both authors. I read Ardal's book while on a visit to Craggy Island ( Actually Inisheer .) Later I read The Woman on the Bus ~ one of Pauline's books.

Ardal O'Hanlon's novel was re-named for sale in the United States. The terrible US title is "Knick Knack Paddy Whack." Glad I have the original.

Mobile Book Shop

2009-01-12T17:05:00.003-05:00

Visit a mobile book store in India on Anil's blog here.

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Reading with your Inner Child

2009-01-11T00:09:00.000-05:00

Children's books are great for a rainy day read.

Paddle to the Sea by Holling C. Holling was one of my favorites as a tot, and still makes my top five list. You can read Paddle here -just click on each page to move the story along.

Libraries

2009-01-10T00:17:00.001-05:00

I used to wish that libraries always had fresh baked cookies and endless cups of tea for patrons. I found one library that has a lovely cafe, (with decent snacks and sandwiches) not far away, and within my library system. Another much nearer library has book discussions every month or so, and you should see the food they serve (bowls of fresh fruits, coffee, tea, desserts.) I was pleasantly surprised at the quality, but the quantity floored me. Only a dozen people showed up to discuss books.

There are 47 libraries in my system. I have visited 14 so far. I meant to visit them all this summer, but when gas prices went up, I stuck to libraries that were close by and had the best quiet study areas.

I am happy not to have to re-shelve. Me and Dewey Decimal never got along that well. I prefer the Harvard Yenching Classification. No, actually I prefer a big random pile of books.

Trading Books

2009-01-09T06:00:00.000-05:00

I decided to stack all the books I don't want anymore next to my bookshelf, and friends can help themselves. I picked up two unwanted books today from a friend's stack. I picked the two smallest books -- one is called Virtues of Friendship and Loyalty edited by William J. Bennett. I also chose a smaller book ~ a tiny picture book of roses with descriptions. Something I'd never buy new, but like to look at, and one day I might leave it behind at a coffeeshop or cafe.

What I'm reading right now: The Job by Sinclair Lewis. (and also The Odd Women by George Gissing. ) Both books are about women who venture out into the workforce. So far I like them both very much. Hope to finish the Lewis book tonight, then pick up the Gissing book again.

Money

2009-01-08T00:03:00.005-05:00

The Financier by Theodore Drieser - Frank Cowperwood is the wheeler-dealer in this great American success story.

Washington Square by Henry James: Catherine will not get even one button of her father's money if she chooses to marry a fortune hunter.

James Taub's nonfiction work Too Good To be True: The Outrageous Story of Wedtech is a highly readable book on the Wedtech scandal which took place during the Reagan years. I found this book by accident, but the story was so amazing, I couldn't put it down. Later, recommending it to a friend at a library, I noticed another book on the scandal and read that one too. It was just such an incredible story. Taub called it vast deception, and it was.

Jonathan Kozol Rachel and her Children (1988) I'm not surprised that someone found a story to tell about a homeless family living in NYC. This kind of book is sometimes difficult to read.

There are so many Money how-to books out there, how to invest, secrets that millionaires know and you don't, how to get out of debt, how to become rich...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About two months ago,I happened to walk past the Old Martinique Hotel in Manhattan. It's the Holiday Inn Martinique now, and it's a hotel I would never ever stay in. I found myself shocked to see it looking resplendent - I got emotional, and even upset that they'd kept the name Martinique, that the building was still standing, that so many people would stay there, never know what suffering had occurred...

Fresh out of college, I got a job that was just a block away from The Martinique Hotel. And for a year I lived about six blocks away from the place. Every day I'd walk past the hotel at least once, and it was a complete horror. It was one of the city's welfare hotels, often called Hell Hotels and you never needed to go inside to see the hell, it spilled out into the streets around The Martinique. A lot of people looked at the families in these hotels and shrugged, maybe they were drug addicts, or just lazy, wanting a free place to live. But no one would ever chose to live at The Martinique. People would be safer almost anywhere else. Women and children had nasty accidents at The Martinique. The hotel's interior (and water and electrical systems) were in shambles before they ever decided to move the homeless in. The rat problem was unbelievable. People lived like animals there, and sad families would hang around outside the place on hot summer days. It was a place of complete and utter misery, and it was just a few blocks from the bustle of Macy's Department Store.

Every single time I walked past the Martinique I would think about the haves and have-nots, maybe I would wonder what it would be like to be an eight year old kid living there, or think about families who live paycheck to paycheck, barely getting by, (they could end up here...) but always I'd think about about my money theory of the moment. It's one thing to have a theory about money, and it's something else to have children and no support system, no way of earning enough money to keep body and soul together.

"The dirty, dangerous Martinique Hotel symbolized New York City's welfare hotel scandal. Now the scandal is ending. The last family moved out of the Martinique last week; the city works to fulfill its promise to close all the hotels by July 1990." - The New York Times.

American Politics

2009-01-07T12:52:00.004-05:00

The Living and the Dead By Paul Hendrickson (1996)
Hendrickson's meticulously researched book on Robert Strange McNamara (and five other people whose lives he touched : a nurse, an artist, a Quaker, a Marine and a young man from Saigon.) One of the reasons I wanted to know more about McNamara was ... well, I realized I didn't know anything about McNamara or the Viet Nam War.

My favorite quote from this book? Lyndon Johnson in hysterics, wailing "Bob, can't you help me? Bob, you've wrecked my presidency!"

“Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.”
~ Hemingway

Thankfully I am not exposed to politics or people discussing politics on an hourly basis. That would drive me insane. However I do enjoy a good book about Eisenhower every so often. Good thing hundreds of them have been published.

I didn't read many political books last year, maybe six. Not my favorite subject, but especially not in an election year. Maybe this year I'll do better, become smarter, have thoughts.

American Humorists

2009-01-06T07:08:00.000-05:00

Looked at the library... and nothing struck me as particularly hilarious in the Humor section. Give me some Dr. Seuss and a Mad Magazine. Still I sat with some of these books, looked them over, and discovered that they were 20% to 40 % humorous. Maybe the overdose of political correctness today has taken some of the funny away, this joke is mean, that one is kind of sexist, the funny must be just right.

Some literary put -downs from a joke book.

Mark Twain may be our most famous humorist. Then there's the New Yorker magazine crowd. (Benchley Parker, Thurber, etc...)
Some of Ring Lardner's sports stories were funny enough that even if you had no interest in sports, you still enjoyed the stories. Stories that spotlight human foibles always seem to work.

I've read some modern humor collections; stories by Woody Allen ~ The Kugelmass Episode is a favorite. Steve Martin, Dave Barry, ~ I've never read any Garrison Keillor, I tried listening to an audio book by P.J. O'Rourke once. He seemed very confident, had his schtick together, but it fell flat somehow. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood or it was his voice, I don't know.

I remember someone telling me about Norman Cousins and the laughter as medicine movement, and please take joke books as gifts for cancer patients because a Jackie Mason book can help them heal. Is anyone still doing this when they visit hospitals? Some say that chimpanzees laugh. A few people say a lot of other animals laugh.

To laugh is to be self aware, I forget where I read that. I don't feel very self aware this morning.

"Comedy is the art of making people laugh without making them puke."
- Steve Martin

" I am a writer. I spend my days kneeling in the muck of language, feeling around for gooey verbs, nouns, and modifiers that I can squash together to make a blob of a sentence that bears some likeness to reason and sense. Imagine my ecstasy when I come across a hard, clean, bright, shiny number. Behold this gem of precision, perfect in its clarity and radiating mathematical reasonableness and arithmetical sensibility in every direction. I am free at last from the slime of words. Are shadows stretching their spectral arms to embrace the decline of day? Do vespers sound their quotidian knell? Does the gloaming echo with prelude to the nightingale’s descant? No! The sun sets at 7:56, and shut up."
-P.J. O'Rourke

Please leave a humorous comment.

American Travelers

2009-01-05T11:08:00.003-05:00

Forget those bad travel stories where American travelers end up in prison or set off for a new life and suffer... (although these were interesting reads.) I'm talking about interesting or good travel, without much torture, anyway. I think the first travel book I read was Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon. Then Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck, On the Road by Kerouac. But going way, way back, children's book author Lois Lenski took me places, like to Arkansas, and she included maps. She wasn't writing about fun travel when she wrote about the children of itinerant farm workers, but it was interesting all the same.

Maps are always a plus as far as I'm concerned. This one is from From Here, You Can't See Paris: Seasons of a French Village and Its Restaurant by Michael S. Sanders. There are a of foodie travel books and they rarely disappoint.

The top travel writers for me are Paul Theroux and Bill Bryson. They've had some great travel experiences. I remember a friend telling me they probably made a lot of stuff up, and I replied that when you travel all the way around Great Britain by yourself, you don't need to make anything up, but you probably have to leave stuff out.

Bryson is interesting because he lived in England for so long. On his return to America, he tried to walk the entire Appalachian Trail. I had that audio book, and I really liked Bill Bryson's voice as well as his story.

American Adman Peter Mayle writes about living in Provence ~ does this count as travel ? I can see there are many categories within travel. Maybe I can include bad travel novels after all. I did read some interesting Margaret Mead in college, and a decade ago our bookshelves held too many outdated travel guides. As a kid I liked reading about explorers, and settled on polar exploration as my favorite read. Sara Wheeler's Terra Incognita: Travels in Antartica was an enjoyable read, but I don't think she's an American, so she doesn't really fit into this post. Oh well.
There's space travel... didn't Astronaut Jim Lovell write about it in his biography? Some memoirs have a lot of travel in them, and some novels are travel / anthpology novels like Far Afield by Susanna Kaysen.

A Wolverine is Eating my Leg ~ by Tim Cahill (I think this one was all travel essays, it was lounging around our house for years and one day it just vanished.)

Read any good places lately?

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness
~ Mark Twain

American Writers: Women

2009-01-04T00:00:00.002-05:00

Where do I begin? There are so many fine American women authors...

Working on keeping my New Year's resolution, I spent some time in the New Fiction section at a library today. I checked out a new book by Rita Mae Brown (bestselling author of Rubyfruit Jungle (1973) and also the author of many mystery novels.) The Julie Hecht book is a collection of her short stories.

Kate Chopin's Story of an Hour is a very short (just over 1,000 words) story with four characters. Her novel, The Awakening is her most well-known work. OOps, that link is wrong, here's a link to The Story of an Hour. I lost the original link.

Flannery O'Connor always had a great sense of humor - in high school she said her hobby was collecting publisher's rejection letters.

Willa Cather had a satisfying writing career. She was able to travel (and had a deep attachment to France) as well as tour on the lecture circuit. She enjoyed the friendship and respect of other great writers. One of her novels, Alexander's Bridge, (1912) was crafted to be as close to a Henry James or Edith Wharton novel as possible. Cather's close friend, writer Sarah Orne Jewett, urged her to find her own voice, which she did.

Recently, I tried to read Helen Hunt Jackson's Ramona, but lost interest. I used to force myself to finish every book, but I've relaxed that rule.

I always wanted to keep track of what I read - the main reason I started this blog. I can't recall everything I've read, but can keep track from now on, anyway, and it's good to get reading suggestions from others.

American Fantasy

2009-01-03T00:04:00.000-05:00

Finally ! Readaholic Mr. Bemis is all alone with thousands of great books. What will happen next? Time Enough at Last was originally a short story written by Lyn Venable and published in the early 1950's in a magazine. I was able to catch part of The Twilight Zone Marathon and make this little movie. This episode, where glasses get broken and no books get read always upset and frustrated us as kids, and is still pretty scary.

Kurt Vonnegut is listed as a Science Fiction / Fantasy / Cult author.

Player Piano ~ (my personal favorite)
The Sirens of Titan ~ (another personal favorite)
Mother Night
Cat's Cradle
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater
Slaughterhouse-Five (The Children's Crusade)
There are more titles by Vonnegut, but I haven't read them yet.

" The more I have identified myself as a writer of fantasy, the less I read it. I'm not sure why that is. I am particularly fond of a certain sort of English novel (that is, by British writers). I find that the slightly more formal and even archaic use of language often works a more powerful spell on me than a more contemporary breezy American style. "
~ Gregory Maguire (b. 1954, Albany NY)

I've read two books by Maguire, Wicked is the re-telling of the Wizard of Oz, and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is the re-telling of the Cinderella story. I enjoyed them both, but especially liked Confessions which was set in 17th Century Holland.

Lots of books by Ann McCaffrey at the library, and I'd never heard of her.

I love Ray Bradbury !

American Authors: Part One

2009-01-02T06:32:00.004-05:00

I enjoy books about working in America. In 1906 Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle showed what it was like to work in the Chicago stockyards. It caused a sensation and launched a government investigation into the meat business. In 1992 Ben Hamper tells all about working at a GM plant in Michigan. In Rivethead: tales from the assembly line, the author is honest and has a bitter sense of humor. (Reviewers compared him to Hunter Thompson and Ken Kesey, although this is a nonfiction work that today would share a shelf with Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed.) It's an especially interesting read today, with the bailouts, looking back at what GM was up to all those years ago when Hamper, a second generation employee, worked there.

The Sun Also Rises is the only Hemingway I've gotten through besides his short stories and the novella (required reading in high school) The Old Man and the Sea. Inside my copy of The Sun Also Rises I found a clipping I'd put there in 2001. (a Hemingway look alike contest group shot.)

I Asked my significant otter to list ten American authors that he would put on his own personal favorites list, he said "hmmm.... Amy Tan, Joseph Wambaugh, Herman Melville, Pearl S. Buck, Michael Crichton, Paul Theroux, E. Annie Proulx,
Stephen King, Sinclair Lewis, Ray Bradbury, Mark Twain, Harper Lee, Douglas Unger -"

"Thirteen - that's plenty," I interrupted. I'm sure he could go on and on, but it's a pretty good 'off the top of my head' list. What authors are on your list?

Amy Tan speaks on creativity and Inspiration. (24 mins.)

Happy Birthday, Mr. Salinger

2009-01-01T00:00:00.005-05:00

Jerome David Salinger is 90 years old today. He is known mostly for writing the novel The Catcher in the Rye.

He was born in NYC, the son of a Kosher cheese man and was expected to find his living in kosher cold meats and cheeses. His mother Miriam surprised her young son when she admitted that she was a Scots- Irish lass who had changed her name from Mary to Marie to Miriam as she converted to Judaism. J.D. tried the kosher food business, served in WW2, and thought about a career in acting. One writing class changed everything for him.

One of my favorite short stories of all time is For Esme with Love and Squalor. It's been called a minor masterpiece, and I agree.

I wanted to slap the matron of honor in Raise High the Roofbeams, but she is a wonderful character, and there is something so familiar in Franny clutching that little book, The Way of a Pilgrim, and moving her lips in silent prayer in Franny & Zooey.

To the Elusive Mr. S. Happy Birthday and Happy New Year.

This post starts off my American Author's Week. Seven Days of American Writing. Salinger was influenced by several American authors (Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ring Lardner, & O.Henry among others.)

I don't know how or when I discovered the short stories of Ring Lardner. I always liked to carry a volume of short stories with me in case of a short reading opportunity, and so I bought lots and lots. (In line at Disneyland or at the DMV ~ you'll need a novel for those kind of waits.) But short stories are very nice ~ reading one is like having a nice cup of tea.

Best Loved Books of 2008

2008-12-31T00:00:00.002-05:00

My choice for one of the best picture books for the little ones: Bats at the Library by Brian Lies. But then, I don't spend as much time with picture books as I should.

Speaking of um ... the library,

These paintings of best loved librarians or patroness types seem to grace every library. I always try to dress like this when I go to the library, hoping to be mistaken for some rich, possible patroness type.

As a kid library lady portraits always unnerved me a little bit. Thank goodness they were never in the children's room. At least these two are smiling in their portraits.

Some of the books of 2008 :
Library Journal's list.

The Best of 2008 according to The Statesman.

Top ten list of Young Adult books from 2008

A few days ago I read a young adult book (12 & Up) just because I hadn't read one in decades. The formula is still the same, ("I am not having this baby at the prom! get me to the hospital!") but I was lucky to get a well-written one. It did strike me as odd that none of the young adults had cell phones. Next time I'll check the copyright date to be sure I'm reading a book from this era. The author, Sarah Dessen has newer books (the latest published in 2008) but I just grabbed a book at random. I'm going to try and check out some of the sub-categories in teen fiction (vampire novels, vampire drug novels, vampire graphic novels, vampire pregnancy novels and so forth.)

I haven't really been reading much Sci Fi, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Thrillers, Chick Lit, Romance, True Crime, Poetry or Erotica either, so that's one thing I want to do in 2009. So many categories out there.

Resolution: Read books from all genres. Be more open to every category.

I read very few newly published this year, I was all over the place, reading wonderful books published in 1903, 1962, 2003, 1886, every year but 2008 it seemed. So I need to read more current stuff.

Resolution 2 : Read a newly published book once in a while.

Walking into a New Year

2008-12-30T00:00:00.002-05:00

Grey Owl was a popular writer, assumed to be at least half native American. He arrived in Canada as a teenager and lived in the woods. After his death in 1938, his friends were shocked to discover he was a white man from England named Archie. He was a generous man and a dedicated conservationist.

One essay by Grey Owl chronicled a series of casual, unwise decisions he made: to stay too long at one cabin, ignoring some small problems which led to his becoming ill and partly lame, and deciding to walk across a frozen lake at night in a blizzard to get to a surveyor's camp. He became snow blind, frostbitten and completely lost. The essay was so terrifyingly well-written I had to remind myself - he obviously lived to tell the tale. Still, the short essay was very educational, because had he died, he acknowledged, it would have been due to his own foolishness. He refused to listen to his inner voice, and took risks he normally wouldn't have taken. He noted that carelessness can cause more trouble than bad luck or misadventures.

Finally! Easy reading while on the treadmill. I can make the font size larger, turning pages is no longer an ordeal, and times flies when I'm reading.

The Lost Art of Walking: The History, Science, and Literature of Pedestrianism by Geoff Nicholson (I sampled this one and it's very entertaining - enough that I want to buy it.)

Walking by Henry David Thoreau (I'm currently reading this one, forty nine cents on Kindle.)

On Foot: A History of Walking by Joseph Amato (This one got such excellent reviews; I hope to find it at the library.)

Wanderlust: A History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit (A complete history)

The Walker's Literary Companion (Editors: Gilbert, Robinson, & Wallace)
Jane Austen, Basho, Charles Dickens, Rilke, Baudelaire, Whitman, Virginia Woolf, Marcel Proust, James Joyce, Frank O'Hara, Eudora Welty, Pablo Neruda, Dylan Thomas, Ray Bradbury, Sylvia Plath and others on rambles, strolls and hikes. (This one has to be good.)

John Burroughs (conservationist, naturalist) b. 1837, was a pioneer of the new school of nature writers. I've been able to find most of his essays and poems online at various sites.

My father considered a walk among the mountains
as the equivalent of churchgoing.
- Aldous Huxley

Books in the News Vol 1

2008-12-29T03:00:00.000-05:00

The Financial Times had a great book section this week, including a short story by T.C. Boyle. I love reading newspapers and can't imagine reading them on a Kindle. I like spreading them out over the kitchen table while having a cup of coffee.

The Wall Street Journal's list was pretty interesting too. On their shelf: Florence Nightingale: The Making of an Icon by Mark Bostridge, Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles, and Lush Life by Richard Price.

I sampled the Hunter S. Thompson biography via Kindle and decided to borrow it from the library. It was very interesting, but after awhile I got tired of the stories of Hunter's drug-fueled antics (which sometimes involved firearms.) Although Jann Wenner did an excellent job with the book, I'd rather read Thompson's writings.

"Hunter was a genius who revolutionized writing in the same way that Marlon Brando did with acting, as significant , essential, and valuable as Dylan, Kerouac, and The Stones." ~ Johnny Depp

I read this memoir and never got around to reading the sequel (in the sequel Fox meets Marlon Brando and they have a brief fling.) Years later, Courtney Love is going around saying she might be Brando's granddaughter, and the name Paula Fox keeps coming up. It turns out that Fox is Love's maternal grandmother. I don't know if the Brando claim is ever proven, but I do plan to read more by Paula Fox in 2009.

The Children's Room

2008-12-28T03:08:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we drove out to the country village of S. and visited their nice little library.

My little nephew *Noddy Boffin, asked me why two of the statue children weren't reading their books. I explained to him that reflection is a part of enjoying a good book, stopping to think about something you've just read, I added. He thought about it and nodded. He said that he reflects too, when he reads.

It was nice to spend an hour in the cheery children's room on a foggy gray day.

We would have liked to have the time to sit and read all of these. The biography collection was huge.

*not his real name.

Inscriptions & Gadgets

2008-12-27T03:00:00.000-05:00

How could Kate part with this book inscribed by the delightful Megan? (It was a nice illustrated dictionary of art and artists.)

Shaw once ran across one of his books in a used bookshop. It was inscribed to an acquaintance of his. To X, with esteem, George Bernard Shaw. Shaw bought the book and added to the inscription ~ With renewed esteem, George Bernard Shaw. Then he saw that it was delivered once again to X.

Reading Gadgets: Books without Paper:

I was watching the editor of publisher's weekly talking about e books a few days ago. She said e books, are wildly popular with people in publishing, as well as the average readaholic, and that they still only represent a tiny percentage of what people read. They haven't had a negative impact on the publishing industry.

Compare: See the Sony Reader, Kindle, and Iliad

The Kindle is not the most expensive, and is the the only one of the three with wireless connectivity.

Reading online sources:

Gutenberg: Thanks to this site I just sort of stumbled upon a story I'd been looking for over the years. In high school I saw a short film that I liked a lot and never could recall the title. But I always remembered the storyline. While scrolling through Gutenberg I came across Ambrose Bierce, and thought "Hmmm... I'm not familiar with him, think I'll check out some of his writing." And as it turns out he'd written the short story that had been turned into the short film I'd seen in school. I'd thought "Incident" was in the title when it was actually "Occurrence." An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. You don't need an e reader to read it though, you can just click on plain text and read the story on the spot on your computer. (Looking at Bierce's online bio I see that there was a French film version: La Rivière du Hibou (1962.) and a Twilight Zone TV episode based on the story as well.)

Japan's Cell Phone novels are mainly written by high school and college-age girls, but the original posting site was set up by a middle aged man who wrote a novel on his cell phone and posted it. Some cell phone novels get published and some make the bestseller list (since cell phone novels fans often buy the printed book to show their appreciation and friendship.)

The cell phone novel craze will never threaten authors. Banana Yoshimoto said that while she has no interest in reading them, they do have value to young girls. "Youth have their own kind of suffering, and I think the cell phone novels have become an outlet for their suffering."

Book TV & More

2008-12-26T03:00:00.000-05:00

I watch Book TV.

There, I've admitted it. Book TV bores the pants off most people I know, but I still have a fondness for it. I like listening to some author talk about his book on the Nerve Center . It's interesting to get some of the story from the author's mouth. It's great when the author is Maya Angelou or Chinua Achebe. On January 18th & 19th Barack Obama (taped in 2004) will be featured on Book TV talking about his memoir "Dreams from My Father."

Another stack of cookbooks, and The Wine Bible.

The Wine Bible is mine, and the cookbooks are my S.O's. From this stack, He recommends Land of Plenty by Fuchsia Dunlop, The Middle Eastern cookbook, and any of Keith Floyd's cookbooks.
( Keith Floyd on chip pan fires.)

The Wine Bible is a fun and informative read.

Button Update: (Saw the movie Benjamin Button yesterday) Not much like the short story, but we gave it 4 stars.

When the movie began the teenagers sitting next to me were texting and giggling. They were pretty quiet about it though, so it wasn't very distracting. After fifteen minutes or so they appeared to be mesmerised and had put their cell phones away. At the end, one of them whispered "Wow."

We all enjoyed it a lot, and agreed that time itself was like a character in the film. And speaking of time, no one thought it was too long, which is usually a complaint when a movie runs over two and half hours. It didn't remind any of us of Forest Gump at all even though it is compared to Gump since it was created by the same screenwriter (Eric Roth) and there are a few superficial similarities ( A man's life story, southern accents, a mother who reminds her son that surprises in life are unavoidable. )
It was a very different story, though.

Julia Ormond helps narrate the story of Benjamin's life while sitting in a hospital in New Orleans. Outside, Hurricane Katrina is just getting started.

Cate Blanchette plays Daisy
( a wonderful young lady, later to go through a sort of diva phase, raving about sexual freedom and banned D.H. Lawrence novels to a very reserved Benjamin. Benjamin is not naive or innocent, but has a definite set of values.)

Benjamin is elegant from beginning to end, he's a gentleman even as a little old child sitting and reading Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe. Benjamin is a perceptive, soulful and serious person who is accepted by those around him, no matter what age he is or what he looks like.

Daisy and Benjamin first meet when they are both 7 years old. They read Kipling's Just So Stories together (a book that they'll return to a few more times as they age in opposite directions.) *Jared Harris as Mike, had a great style that reminded me a bit of the late Robert Shaw.

Impeccable art direction and casting, a great fantasy with interesting special effects. I've never been a fan of Brad Pitt until now. Elegance.

Eric Roth on how he felt about adapting an F. Scott Fitzgerald story:

"It was a little daunting because he’s 100 times the writer I could ever be. On the other hand, I did some research on sort of what the story was to him because I didn’t want in any way to mess with his legacy. The best I could tell from talking to his biographers of him is that this was kind of a whimsical piece for him. He just needed some money. It wasn’t something that he took deadly serious. He took the effort to write it up in a magazine. It wasn’t even a short story, it was a magazine article really. A number of other writers had tried to do this in various ways. They had all taken different approaches within the story itself. And so, I felt the freedom to take off with my own imagination. And what was left was still the most important thing, which was his idea through actually Mark Twain."

*Roth was thinking of Jack London's writing when he worked on the scenes that included Jared Harris as Mike.

Childhood Favorites

2008-12-25T03:00:00.000-05:00

This is still my favorite Little Golden Book. The writing is superb, as are the illustrations. (This was my introduction to Richard Scarry's artwork.)

Right on Archie! Love is where it's at!

Once I discovered underground comics there was no going back to Archie Comics. I liked going to the East Village to buy The Freak Brothers by Gilbert Shelton, Slutburger by Mary Fleener, and anything by Robert Crumb.

Crumb exposed Frosty the Snowman as urban guerilla.

A few years ago I read this book (mainly because the title was so good.)

~ Your Vigor for Life Appalls Me ~

but I can't recommend it.

The documentary film Crumb (1994 Sundance Winner) is worth seeing.

Benjamin Button & Shakespeare

2008-12-24T03:01:00.000-05:00

We're planning to see the film Benjamin Button on Christmas morning. When my S.O. mentioned that it was based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story, I was surprised. I didn't remember it, but there it was, just four feet away in a volume of his short works that I picked up at a book fair for a dollar. When I think of F. Scott's short stories, Bernice Bobs her Hair pops into my head.

Years ago I gave a Christmas gift of an audio book (Fitzgerald's flapper stories) to a confirmed non-reader. She drove a lot, alone in the car. After many months she mentioned the stories to me. "I lost interest every time I tried to listen. It seemed old fashioned or something... I thought how boring -- then one day I listened to it and realized the stories were fascinating!"

Christmas 1999 ~ I receive a book of words.

and phrases

Coined by Shakespeare. A nifty little book.

A Readable Feast

2008-12-24T03:00:00.001-05:00

A sumptuous story. Zola's Le Vendre de Paris.

I found this book when looking through a pile of cookbooks. It's a fun read. I waved it at my S.O. as he walked past, wondering if I had given it to him one Christmas. He said he bought it, had enjoyed it, and we could give it away. "I'll send it to Tut Tut." I said.

(Unless she's already read it.) Trillin made me want to travel to New Mexico to eat sopaipillas (which I've only had once ~ in Texas) and posole, which I've never tasted.

here's an excerpt (I am too lazy to type it ~ you can click on it for easier reading.)

Hard to Read & Easy to Carry

2008-12-23T03:00:00.000-05:00

I found this bestseller hard to read, hard to get interested in, hard to enjoy. Yet so many people loved it! What's wrong with me? My Significant Otter also lost interest in it after a few chapters. What's the deal? Then we tried to watch the movie. Zzzz. What's wrong with us?

I found the postcard in an antique store. The owner and I puzzled over it. Hard to read.
You can click on the postcard to make it easier to read.

This is all I can make out:

Sat. evening arrived safely about 7 o'clock after a lovely ride
we enjoyed the pageant. Saw Kate Felt & Mrs. Drew
and sister who sat behind us. Mrs. Felt had come over
from Brattleboro Vt. sunday 8 am sitting under some pines in -?-
now where Mr. Head is boarding. & We may stay to dinner.
-?-in Keene at The Cheshire.
Laure (?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So Very Portable

The Modern Library hardcovers. I collected them because they were small, sturdy, and unabridged. My Sig. Ott also collected them, so when we met we were very pleased to see we shared a fondness for these little books. They're roughly 5" x 7". We used to pick them up for a few dollars apiece, but now I see them going for ten or twenty sometimes.

Are You Somebody ?

2008-12-22T03:30:00.000-05:00

It felt honest and true. A keeper. I want to meet Nuala O'Faolain.

An OK read, felt real in some parts and too dramatic in others. Must be hard to grow up proud and privileged and write a memoir about how tough life is and how depressed you are. I felt afterwards I was being judgmental, because it was a somewhat interesting read and it seemed as if she hadn't gotten any love at all as a child.

I enjoy reading memoirs even though at times I've discovered that they contained outright lies. Editors have told authors to be more self deprecating, more of a loser, or asked them to make the people around them seem crazier by making up stuff--(Ed: What if you had her always eating dog kibble as a snack? That would certainly get the reader's attention! Author: Uh, What?! Okay ... hope she doesn't read the book, though.)

Most memoirs seem to swing back and forth: the author is conceited here, and depressive there. a loser in one chapter and a winner in the next. They can be annoying and inspiring and pitiful ... and that's how life is. When reading I try to give the author the benefit of the doubt.

I read that singer/actress Dolly Parton wrote her autobiography out in long hand in several notebooks. Then she went to a lonely cabin and read them aloud to herself. Then she burned them in the fireplace. The end. She thought about the conceit and self pity, the boasting and the nasty secrets revealed about herself and others and decided it was too much B.S. to put out there.

Some fine memoirs include:

The Orchard by Adele Crockett Robertson

Road From Coorain and
True North by Jill Ker Conway

I also enjoyed Anthony Quinn's memoir, One Man Tango

If you have a good book to recommend, please do.

What I was Reading...

2008-12-21T03:00:00.000-05:00

The summer before last I was reading, among other things,

Virginia Woolf's masterpiece Night and Day

With its classic comic structure, minutely observed characters, and delicate irony (it has) invited comparison to the works of Shakespeare and Jane Austen. ~ Rachel Wetzsteon

Henry James In the Cage ~ a very interesting novella: a treat if you like Henry James.

I found these books at my local Barnes & Noble, and not having seen the titles before, grabbed them while I could. Why are they still hanging around when I'm trying to clear out bookshelves? Well, the authors-- hard for me to part with anything by them, (and there is the possible limited availability of these titles to consider) and also because I may want to enjoy a re-read someday.

Reading this Weekend

2008-12-20T10:09:00.000-05:00

Starting on the novels of Victor Hugo. Thought I had tattered paperback copies of some of his works, but didn't.

Reading Anxiety

2008-12-20T04:00:00.000-05:00

Besides constantly nagging my poor mother to buy me must haves like Nancy Drew Mysteries, poetry books, and two sets of encyclopedias... there was the Scholastic Book Club order form.

The Scholastic Book Club gave me much anxiety as a child. We'd get the book descriptions and order form and I'd start to feel dizzy. I'd want many of the books listed. My mother would only allow me to order one or (rarely) two. Bargaining with her was like going in to ask the boss for a raise every few weeks, and the boss just dreads seeing you, sometimes feels sorry for you, but no way in hell are you getting that raise.

Try to explain to a hardworking mom just why you can't live without Silly & Annoying Jokes & Riddles or yet another book about teenager who discovers she's adopted and has a meltdown. There were some kids at school who never ordered a book, but I only noticed the kids who flaunted the fact that they had ordered six books. (Six books!) I never ever ordered more than two books, and I agonized over the order form for days ~ like a true readaholic drama queen. Nevermind the fact that there were better books at the library. The Scholastic Book Club was like a cult and I was a fully hooked follower.

It's summertime and Holly is going away to college in the fall. She stops going steady with Bernie, meets Tony, and then uncovers a secret that threatens to shatter her life !

Reading & Food #1

2008-12-19T13:00:00.000-05:00

One of the most interesting cookbooks I've come across is this one by Henry Hill (watch the film Goodfellas to see Henry as played by Ray Liotta.) Henry loves to cook, and while in the government's witness protection program, there were times when he was limited to buying groceries at the 7/11. As he moves around the USA he adapts his favorite recipes, and still manages to have wonderful Italian meals.

The main thing here is that the recipes all work and are crowd pleasers. When he can, Henry prefers to use the best ingredients and he certainly knows what he's talking about when it comes to food.

Also Cooking for Blokes by Duncan Anderson and Marian Walls is fun and useful. A great gift for any bloke.

Craig Claiborne's Kitchen Primer is a must for someone just starting out, but also useful for the more experienced as well.

When you move to the suburbs, whaddya get as gifts? books on cooking and books on gardening. After a few years, you start clearing some of them out. At one time we had hundreds of cookbooks, and I sold an ancient copy of "The Joy of Cooking" at a yard sale. My significant otter noticed the lack and purchased a new copy. Why? Because it tells you how to cook a squirrel.

(Index from The All-Purpose Cookbook Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker.)

As well as instructions on how to skin said squirrel.

(Illustrations in The... Joy of Cooking were done by Ginnie Hofmann and Beverly Warner.)

note: Gray squirrels are best, those little red ones are gamey and not very plump.

From The Library

2008-12-18T19:08:00.000-05:00

I grabbed the Judi Dench biography quickly and left the Library. Later I realized it was about her career as an actress rather than a typical bio. It was still interesting, covering her career from it's beginnings until sometime before she did the movie *Chocolat with Juliette Binoche and Alfred Molina (and Johnny Depp. )

John Miller wrote the book (The proper title is: Judi Dench with a crack in her voice) and he also co-wrote John Gielgud's memoir An Actor and his Time. (which I plan to check out in the future.)

The Christian Science Monitor got it right when they said this book was "Compelling reading for anyone intrigued by actors and acting..." I am interested, but not intrigued, and so...

*When I was at Waterstones Bookshop in Belfast they had a huge sale going, and I got Chocolat and several other books by the same author (Joanne Harris) at a price I couldn't pass up. Her books are great for foodies to read. I spent a quiet afternoon in a hotel reading her novel Coastliners while a storm raged outside.

Kindle Reading

2008-12-15T14:27:00.000-05:00

Currently reading Bird by Bird (Anne Lamott) Saw it on another blogger's desk , and 2 minutes later I was reading it thanks to the Kindle. I'm just dipping into this one every few days, and already have learned a lot from Lamott.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

just finished reading:

Captain Burle , The Death of Olivier Becaille , and Fécondité (all by Emile Zola)

Zola is a favorite of mine, and I liked finding things I hadn't read yet. Kindle has good collections of classics at bargain prices, so I'm enjoying a lot of essays and short fiction as well as some novels I'd never heard of before. The short work "The Death of Olivier Becaille" was a good read, and very chilling ~ it leaves the reader with many questions and would be excellent for a book group to discuss.

Captain Burle is a cautionary tale, and Fécondité (translated as Fruitfulness) shows the sweetest side of Zola, the man who loved children and mother earth, the man who had hope. Of course historical facts, politics and social commentary are all mixed in -- it was eye opening as all his works are.

Magazine Reading

2008-11-30T15:54:00.000-05:00

I'll take a quick look at any magazine that comes my way now, but in my youth I was crazy for magazines just as I was for encyclopedias, dictionaries, manuals, handbooks, catalogs and maps. I'd collect an alarming number of magazines, getting bundles of old ones at The Salvation Army Store for a dime apiece. Sometimes the clerk just wanted to get rid of the bundles and would ask me to take as many as I could carry for free. I had a long list of favorites that included Scientific American, Redbook, Life, Psychology Today, Ms., Cosmopolitan, Time, Business Week, Popular Mechanics, and many others. I'd read the short fiction in Redbook, the formulaic tales of woe in True Story, look at all the advertising in the old magazines from the 1950's, and read about shipwrecks and polar bears in National Geographic. If I was stuck on a slow subway train an essay on cutworms became fascinating.

October-November

2008-11-27T14:12:00.000-05:00

Good old Ed Koch ! Koch was our mayor for many years and never a dull moment. (Click to enlarge newspaper image)

The Election was much on my mind and I couldn't concentrate on blogging. I was sick of reading that our next president would be McCain. I honestly did not believe McCain could possibly win, but I hated hearing he might. I thought Obama would just squeak by and win it (by just enough that no one could take it away from him.) What was I reading? Mostly magazines and newspapers and Cherie Blair's memoir, Speaking For Myself on Kindle.

August - September Book List

2008-09-18T13:54:00.000-04:00

I was very busy in August and just re-read a few Jane Austen novels besides some mass market crap not worth mentioning.
In September I slogged through some biographies ... (Stalin, Mussolini) Read a few spy novels ( enjoyed The Charm School by Nelson de Mille.) In August I received a gift - an Amazon Kindle, which I was unsure of at first. I ordered some free samples, a load of classics, and a few bestsellers and began to use the Kindle.

Miranda July in July

2008-07-30T12:54:00.000-04:00

A book can be a wonderful gift. This was especially wonderful because it introduced me to new paths to creativity and finding time to be more thoughtful and creative.

Go HERE to learn more about July and loving yourself more.

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