“Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.”-Pablo Picasso
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Monthly Archives: April 2012
A Year in Books/Day 98: The Writer’s Home Companion
- Title: The Writer’s Home Companion An Anthology of the World’s Best Writing Advice, from Keats to Kunitz
- Edited and with an Introduction by: Joan Bolker, E D. D.
- Year Published: 1997 (An Owl Book, Henry Holt and Company)
- Year Purchased: 2001/2002
- Source: Unknown
- About: I revere books, both for what they contain and for what they symbolize. As a result, I can count on the fingers of one hand how many books I have ever highlighted passages in or written notes in the margin of, including textbooks. ‘The Writer’s Home Companion’ is one of the exceptions. Why? It contains so much stellar, spot-on advice for writers by writers. The kind of advice that you will actually heed and apply. The kind of advice that you probably already know, deep-down, but keep pushing away because that is the easy thing to do. The kind of advice that is at once remedial and advanced, that simultaneously disciplines and frees. The kind of advice that we all need to remember as we go about the task and joy that is writing.
- Motivation: Who could resist practical advice by the likes of John Keats, Bernard Shaw, Ursula Le Guin and Natalie Goldberg all in the same volume? Not this girl.
- Times Read: Countless
- Random Excerpt/Page xi: “Writing is a solitary sport, but none of us can do it without good company at crucial moments. Most of the writers I’ve known are pulled and tugged between their wish for the quiet aloneness necessary for their work, and their longings for human connections. We write both to express ourselves and to be heard by others, but first we have to learn how to tolerate ourselves as we work at our writing. The authors of the pieces collected here share honestly, and often humorously, their thoughts and feelings about writing and the writer’s life, and can provide you with the good company you need to get on with your own work.”
- Happiness Scale: 10
A Year in Books/Day 97: The Dictionary of Disagreeable English
- Title: The Dictionary of Disagreeable English A Curmudgeon’s Compendium of Excruciatingly Correct Grammar
- Author: Robert Hartwell Fiske
- Year Published: 2005 (Writer’s Digest Books)
- Year Purchased: 2005
- Source: Writer’s Digest Book Club
- About: I love this book. I know what you are thinking! “I know how to spell. I do not confuse or misuse words.” Neither do I. Even if your English is already agreeable, it is a great reference tool. It reminds you that linguistic sloppiness is never okay. It’s also an interesting study in how language is casually and unknowingly degraded on a daily basis.
- Motivation: We’ve covered this one before: I think reference books are sexy.
- Times Read: 3 or 4 or 70. I don’t know!
- Random Excerpt/Page 342: “20. guesstimate. Use estimate, for crying out loud! It’s the same word!”
- Happiness Scale: 8
A Year in Books/Day 96: Marilyn Mon Amour
- Title: Marilyn Mon Amour The Private Album of Andre de Dienes, her preferred photographer
- Author: Andre de Dienes
- Year Published: 1985 (St. Martin’s Press)
- Year Purchased: 1991
- Source: I bought this book in high school. I remember the mall (City Center) and who I was with (my mom and her best friend Debbie) but I cannot recall the name of the book store!
- About: However slight the connection, men just love to claim that they had an affair with Marilyn. Usually in book form. Fancy that. It’s almost a sub-category of the cottage industry that is the Marilyn biography. And they were never simply lusty flings or misbegotten one-night-stands. They were all, pretty much to a man, life-altering, planet-shifting Love Affairs. According to the gents in question, that is. The reality must be very different. Out of all of these claimants, Transylvania-born photographer de Dienes stands out as one of the most believable. The hundreds of photographs he shot of Marilyn between the years 1945-1953 testify to the fact that they had a viable working relationship; there’s obviously a sense of trust and friendship between photographer and subject. Since I don’t want to turn this from a review into a treatise, we’ll leave the veracity of his story for another day and another form. Instead, we’ll hone in on the real focus of his book: the photographs. What photographs they are! The majority date from the earliest days of her modeling career; they are undoubtedly the best pre-stardom images ever taken of her. They’re lovely. That’s right. Lovely. No big, loftily descriptive words are necessary, not when one word is so wholly perfect and concise. Her wardrobe of all-American basics (she was broke and had to supply her own clothes for the road-trip shoot of 1945) remain fresh and alluring; they set off her glowing, innocent beauty without detraction. This is the definitive Marilyn Monroe book.
- Motivation: I was a teenage girl, studying acting. This play world was extremely compelling to me at that time.
- Times Read: Countless
- Random Excerpt: “I was impatient to train the camera on her, to choose the right light to set off her skin and her hair, to capture her expression, to make her move, run, stand still, arch her back, stretch. I wanted to catch hold of whatever it was I sensed lay behind that candid smile, those blonde curls and the pink sweater. In one fell swoop I was intrigued, moved and attracted by her.”
- Happiness Scale: 10+++
A Year in Books/Day 95: John Sloan Painter and Rebel
- Title: John Sloan Painter and Rebel
- Author: John Loughery
- Year Published: 1995 (Henry Holt and Company, Inc.)
- Year Purchased: 2001-2003
- Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
- About: Even though I’ve worked in galleries on and off for years, I had never heard of John Sloan before I bought this book; he’s now one of my favourite twentieth century painters AND iconoclasts. Although he is considered a founder and leading light of the “Ash Can” school of painting, it is a term and categorization that he disliked. Loughery’s biography is almost a twin study-that of its avowed subject and the New York City that he called home for decades. This now-vanished world was peopled by an inspiring cast of real-life eccentrics (Robert Henri, John Butler Yeats, Sloan’s wife Dolly). The result? It almost reads like a novel.
- Motivation: I’m such a sucker for a good biography, even (especially?) someone I have never heard of or know little about.
- Times Read: 2
- Random Excerpt/Page 273: “He wanted no budding academic painters in his class, but neither was he sparing of those students who didn’t worry about technique because of some natural facility. Facility struck him as dangerous. Anything that mattered should come hard, should require thought and labor. To one student whose drawings seemed effortless, Sloan suggested that he use his left hand or, failing that, his feet. Resist anything that comes too easily, he warned. Resist an empty show.”
- Happiness Scale: 9
Yeats at Petitpas (1910) by John French Sloan oil on canvas, Corcoran Gallery of Art (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A Year in Books/Day 94: 1900
- Title: 1900
- Author: Rebecca West
- Year Published: 1982 (Crescent Books)
- Year Purchased: 2000-20002
- Source: Unknown
- About: I just realized that this is the second book with the title ‘1900’ that I have profiled this year. They both set out to chronicle the massive changes that brought the Victorian Era gasping and screaming into the modern world. While the goal is essentially the same, the methodology is jarringly different. The clear victor in the battle, if a battle it be, is the sublime Rebecca West. She, of course, had the same advantage as the writers compiled in the later volume-that of living through the time and world that she wrote about (although she waited eight decades to do so). As an eight year old, she may not have understood things on an intellectual level but she had a child’s intuitive emotions; she experienced the excitement and unease that comes with the changing of the centuries. Her edge is the result of two things: of living long enough to have perspective and, as the sole writer of her book, a cohesion of intent and style. The 90-year-old Rebecca covers a wide swath of historical territory-arts, literature, science, psychology, music and politics-while maintaining clear-eyed yet evocative prose. The photographs spread throughout are stunning and add considerably to the book’s appeal.
- Motivation: Repeat after me, “Rebecca West.” The turn of the twentieth century is also one of my favourite periods for literature, fashion, activism, plays and music.
- Times Read: 1
- Random Excerpt/Page 129: “My father guessed that the designer had probably been a man no longer young, impressed in his childhood by the sort of lectures which were given in mid-Victorian days at working men’s clubs such as the Mechanics’ Institutes. It was possible. The chiton and the amphora and the tag from Epictetus exemplified a curious tendency manifested by many of the new proletariat, which felt herself ill done and wanted a larger share of the best. They craved to be accepted in all the institutions which served the upper classes, though they did not think much of the upper classes.”
- Happiness Scale: 10 1/2
Shopping for the Bookworm: Mystic Moose Book Bags
Since I usually schlep around half a dozen books on my petite person, not to mention all manner of writing paraphernalia, I cannot have too many tote bags (or, that’s what I tell myself whenever I whip out my debit card to add another to my collection). I buy them like some people buy socks or lip balm, which is to say frequently. Continue reading
Diversions-7 April 2012
Here are some recent discoveries from around the ‘net. They are not all literary based but they are still compelling.
- Few things in life beat the sensory joy-fest of clutching a book in your palms. But my love for the written word is too large to be contained by inky pages alone; I’m greedy, I want to read all of the words in the world! This voraciousness has forced me to accept technology in all of its modern mediums, from a Nook to downloadable PDF books. I still buy way too many physical volumes, as curling up with a glowing and buzzing machine is a huge atmospheric mood killer. However, since so many classics are free, it’s painless to give them a test-run before buying a real-life copy. I don’t do that as much as I should because I am a really compulsive book shopper; wandering through aisles between stacked books makes me absurdly happy. But there are times when I appreciate the chance to read something for free without hoofing it to the library. Finding a free downloadable PDF of Alan Watts’ ‘On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are’ is definitely one of those times. I’ve never gotten around to reading this volume-until now. You can find it here.
- Sal at Already Pretty has a thoughtful, well-mannered piece about defying cultural expectations about dressing as we ladies get older. I’m an extremist and fierce individualist with authority issues, so I am not about to turn into a pearl-wringing, neutral-wearing forty-something when the time comes. Although she doesn’t take the discussion as far as I think it needs to go, it’s nice to see it discussed at all.
- The lovely Gala Darling gives detailed pointers about how to have an at-home retreat. Yes, please.
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Vintage hand-painted suitcase by bluebernice
Would it be a bit odd for me to pack a suitcase for that at-home retreat? If I had this one, I definitely would!
- Marc Wavra is a fantastic Cincinnati-based photographer-artist. I’ve been crushing on his colourful images for a few months now.
Mt. Adams Steps by Marc Wavra
- I came across this scrumptious Grilled Portobello and Peach Burgers recipe by Green Kitchen Stories on Design Sponge just in time for grilling season. I want it in my belly now! The photographs are guaranteed to make your jaw drop and mouth water.
A Year in Books/Day 93: Retro Happy Hour
- Title: Retro Happy Hour Drinks and Eats with a ’50s Beat
- Author: Linda Everett
- Year Published: 2003 (Collectors Press, Inc.)
- Year Purchased: n/a
- Source: This was a gift from a close friend.
- About: This is one gaudy book. From the bright, hilarious vintage photographs and illustrations that decorate every page to the cheesy, mysteriously appetizing recipes, it’s a step back into the best of the colorfully bland, chipper Eisenhower Era. If the photos of my grandparents’ home, circa 1955, could be colorized and re-animated, I’m pretty sure this is what it would look like. The menus can, with very few exceptions, be made with on-hand ingredients. Go ahead and plant your tongue firmly in your cheek; now just try to resist deliciously middle-brow dishes with zany names like Elfin Mushrooms, Southern Belle Hot Pecans, Front Porch Nibblin’ Corn, Flip-Flop Fizzee, Red Dawn and Swindler’s Bay Punch. You can’t, it’s impossible! Every time I flip through this not-quite-a-cookbook, I have the throbbing urge to dress up like Amy Sedaris and throw a retro-tastic shindig.
- Motivation: I borrowed this book from a friend on behalf of my mom, who was throwing some kind of small bites and booze party for her lady friends. When I tried to return it to its owner, she insisted that I keep it. Aww, I have fabulous friends!
- Times Read: ?
- Random Excerpt/Page 15: “That’s What I Call Entertainment!: If your budget can handle it, consider hiring professional entertainment other than a band: a magician, juggler, fortune-teller, comedian, clown, or Santa. Be creative!” (I think that I am going to throw a party in December just so that I can hire a Santa. Who does that? Me, I do!)
- Happiness Scale: 10
A Year in Books/Day 92: Herself Defined H.D. and Her World
- Title: Herself Defined H.D. and Her World
- Author: Barbara Guest
- Year Published: 1984/This Edition: 2003 (Schaffner Press, Inc.)
- Year Purchased: 2008
- Source: Daedalus Books
- About: ‘Herself Defined’ follows Hilda Doolittle from Pennsylvania to Europe, where she became the eccentric, world-famous Imagist poet H.D. She was engaged to Ezra Pound before her transformation; they remained close for the rest of their lives. The life story of H.D. reads like particularly imaginative fiction, with the woman poised at the center of it all a robust and singularly odd specimen. In some ways she reminds me of Ottoline Morrell: striking, commanding, polarizing but always interesting. This book is also a damn fine reminder of how thoroughly distasteful I have always found Pound (and his poetry).
- Motivation: I’m always excited to expand the Eccentric Literary Ladies section of my personal library (yes, that’s a real thing).
- Times Read: 1
- Random Excerpt/Page 25: “Although Hilda was only at Patchin Place a short time, she detested it and this was an unhappy period. The bitterly cold city was unfamiliar. How could she anticipate that Patchin Place would become a famous address because of its occupants, Djuna Barnes and E.E. Cummings, writers with whom H.D. later would be associated. What mainly preoccupied her in 1910 was Pound’s neglect.
- Happiness Scale: 8
A Small Press Life: Books. Art. Writing. Life. Tea. 