Monthly Archives: August 2012

A Year in Books/Day 189: Virginia Woolf

Posted on by
4
  • Title: Virginia Woolf
  • Author: Mary Ann Caws
  • Year Published: 2001 (The Overlook Press)
  • Year Purchased: 2002
  • Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
  • About: The beauty of this volume is not in famed academic Caws’ disappointingly standard-issue prose but in the abundance of photographs decorating the pages. It’s a wee book you can read in an hour. The eclectic images of Woolf and her circle will make you pick it up again and again; most of the photos do not suffer from being over-published. They are fresh and compelling. My favourite is the back of a stripe-shirted (Dora) Carrington.
  • Motivation: Virginia Woolf! There’s nothing more to it than that.
  • Times Read: 2 or 3
  • Random Excerpt/Page 36: “Monk’s House was a perfect place for living and for visitors, for Leonard’s gardening and their writing. Endless discussions took place there, some of which are recounted in Virginia’s letters. Work went on constantly wherever Virginia and Leonard were, whether in Hogarth House or Monk’s House.”
  • Happiness Scale: 9 (for the photographs)
     

     

     

     

     

     

     

Daily Diversion #32: A Little Kindness

Posted on by
10

I work at a gallery. Downtown, part-time. I manage the company-wide blog, answer random questions about grammar, dole out directions to places I have never been, and sell artsy things. If you lack the ability to visualize how artwork should be framed, I will come to the rescue with the perfect design. My eye is better than yours, anyway.

The postal worker assigned to our route is fantastically nice and funny. He slathers it on a bit thick at times, but is unfailingly amusing. He also has the solid recommendation of being a playwright.

We did not have any incoming mail today. This was the only delivery.

The pink really popped in the bright light of the gallery.

The pink really popped in the bright light of the gallery.

Every day, the mailman gives one customer a rose. Continue reading →

A Year in Books/Day 188: Hollywood Royalty

Posted on by
6
HearstAbout1910

William Randolph Hearst, circa 1910. He threw all of the best parties, thanks to his sweetheart Marion Davies. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

  • Title: Hollywood Royalty
  • Author: Gregory Speck
  • Year Published: 1992 (Birch Lane Press Book/Carol Publishing Group)
  • Year Purchased: 1990s
  • Source: Library sale
  • About: San Simeon, William Randolph Hearst’s estate, was the setting of countless celebrity-gilded parties. An invitation for a weekend stay was not only a passport to bask in temporary opulence so extreme it made members of the movie colony seem like paupers in comparison, it meant that you had truly arrived on the Hollywood scene. Close your eyes. Conjure up a dinner party of seven courses, attended by some of the most fabulous classic movie stars. Your curiosity probably takes the form of many questions, with the big one being: What would they talk about? The setting of Hollywood Royalty is real, the occasion is imaginary and the conversation is composed of snippets from published interviews. Fact and fiction cross borders, on an evening removed from time, to mingle as seductively as the stars in Hearst’s dining room.
  • Motivation: I like when lines are blurred. I love classic film.
  • Times Read: 1 or 2
  • Random Excerpt/Page 160: “I (Olivia de Havilland) learned a lot from Jimmy Cagney, and he was always so sweet to me. On A Midsummer Night’s Dream he was very nice to me, and I was so flattered. He would come into my little canvas dressing room, and we would just talk about everything. I couldn’t believe it, for he was already a great star, and it was my first film, way back in 1935.”
  • Happiness Scale: 10

A Reading List a Mile Long: Daedalus Books Midsummer 2012 Edition, Part I

Posted on by
5

After re-arranging my studio, and putting the overflow stock neatly on shelves, I discovered that I have room for about 15 more books. Does this mean that I will stop buying them? Not a chance. They will probably be stacked waist-high on the floor within a year, but I promise to attempt restraint. (If it wasn’t for the library and generous family and friends, it would be much worse.) Thankfully, I receive a few book catalogs a month. I enjoy fantasy shopping in them, much as I did with toy flyers when I was a child. If something looks really compelling, I pull out my trusty reading journal and jot down the title and author on my “To Read” list. New books are added quicker than I can cross off old ones, but that is part of the joy of keeping such a record.

The Daedalus Books New Arrivals Midsummer 2012 catalog has so many interesting offerings that I have decided to split my greedy, greedy pickings in two. Here’s Part 1. Enjoy!

 

  • The Great Life Photographers by The Editors of Life (photography)
  • Hemingway Cutthroat by Michael Atkinson (mystery)
  • Schools of Tomorrow by John & Evelyn Dewey (education/society)
  • How to Mellify a Corpse: And Other Human Stories of Ancient Science and Superstition by Vicki Leon (history)
  • Selected Letters of Martha Gellhorn by Martha Gellhorn (history)
  • Kafka’s Soup: A Complete History of World Literature in 14 Recipes by Mark Crick (literature)
  • A Blue Hand: The Beats in India by Deborah Baker (literature)
  • Rules of Civility: A Novel by Amor Towles (fiction)
  • A World Without Bees by Allison Benjamin & Brian McCallum (nature/science)
  • She Always Knew How Mae West, A Personal Biography by Charlotte Chandler (performing arts/biography)
  • The Art of Small Things by John Mack (visual arts)

 

A Year in Books/Day 187: Grammatically Correct

Posted on by
8
  • Title: Grammatically Correct The WRITER’S ESSENTIAL GUIDE to punctuation, spelling, style, usage and grammar
  • Author: Anne Stilman
  • Year Published: 1997 (Writer’s Digest Books)
  • Year Purchased: 2002/2003
  • Source: Writer’s Digest Book Club
  • About: This volume is essential. It’s like taking a refresher course in grammar without having to socialize with anyone. I enjoy that. I’m guilty of knowingly flouting some of the rules in the book but at least I am aware of my transgressions. You should be, too.
  • Motivation: A writer needs reference books. Many, many reference books.
  • Times Read: Cover-to-cover: a few/As reference tool: countless
  • Random Excerpt/Page vi: “For one thing, I’ve sought to liven up what can be a somewhat dusty subject by excerpting passages from very quotable literary works, both classic and modern. Academic explanations of how to use a certain punctuation mark or stylistic technique are all very well, but a “real-life” illustration can be a lot more convincing-and entertaining. My thanks here to all those authors whose work I have cited.”
  • Happiness Scale: 10

A Year in Books/Day 186: Votes for Women

Posted on by
Reply
  • Title: Votes for Women The Struggle for Suffrage Revisited
  • Editor: Jean H. Baker
  • Year Published: 2002 (Oxford University Press, Inc.)
  • Year Purchased: 2003/2004
  • Source: Unknown
  • About: Twelve of the fourteen contributors are professors, so this book has a decidedly academic quality. If that’s not your usual cup of tea, don’t be scared: the voices, although straightforward, are distinct and the chapters highly readable. Continue reading →

Daily Diversion #31: This is the easy time…*

Posted on by
2

Holed up in a beam of sunshine. Earl Grey on the side, steam lifting from its dark surface. A fugitive book that’s been on my to-read list for 9 years.

Wintering by Kate Moses

Wintering by Kate Moses

Captured from Daedalus for $2.98.Turned in to a reason to get up early, when the sun dazzles without heat. Doing its part to wake me. Efficient. Now I can read.

The perfect combination, rendered wistful. Out of reach.

The perfect combination, rendered wistful. Out of reach.

In the company of words, time is pliable. Plastic. Continue reading →