London’s Dickens Museum reopens after makeover [courtesy of Bloomberg Businessweek News]
[Book Nerd News] The Dickens Museum Reopens
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Author Archives: maedez
The Dead Writers Round-Up: 7th-10th December
- Cicero died on 12/7/43 BC. “A friend is, as it were, a second self.” (On the Laws; Brutus; On Duties)
- Willa Cather was born on 12/7/1873. “There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.” (O Pioneers!; My Antonia; The Song of the Lark; One of Ours)
- Thornton Wilder died on 12/7/1975. “An incinerator is a writer’s best friend.” (The Bridge of San Luis Rey; Our Town; The Skin of Our Teeth; The Matchmaker)
- Robert Graves died on 12/7/1985. “There’s no money in poetry, but then there’s no poetry in money, either.” (Good-bye to All That; The White Goddess; I, Claudius; The Greek Myths)
- Thomas De Quincey died on 12/8/1859. “The public is a bad guesser.” (Confessions of an English Opium-Eater)
- James Thurber was born on 12/8/1894. “Love is what you’ve been through with somebody.” (The Owl in the Attic and Other Perplexities; My Life and Hard Times; My World and Welcome to It; The Male Animal (with Elliot Nugent); The Secret Life of Walter Mitty)
- John Milton was born on 12/9/1608. “A Mind is its own place and in itself, can make a Heaven of Hell , a Hell of Heaven.” (Paradise Lost; Paradise Regained)
- Dame Edith Sitwell died on 12/9/1964. “I am not eccentric. It’s just that I am more alive than most people. I am an unpopular electric eel set in a pond of goldfish.” (Clowns’ Houses; Alexander Pope; I Live Under a Black Sun)
- Emily Dickinson was born on 12/10/1830. “I’m nobody, who are you?”
- Luigi Pirandello died on 12/10/1936. “Drama is action, sir, drama and not confounded philosophy.” (Six Characters in Search of an Author; The Rules of the Game)
- Damon Runyon died on 12/10/1946. “I came to the conclusion long ago that all life is six to five against.” (Guys and Dolls; The Damon Runyon Omnibus)
- Mark Van Doren died on 12/10/1972. “Bring ideas in and entertain them royally, for one of them may be the king.” (Spring Thunder; Winter Diary; Collected Poems 1922-1938; The Transients)
[All images are in the Public Domain and are courtesy of Wikimedia Commons]
[Intermezzo] Wherein I Offer You a Few Disjointed but Heartfelt Memories of My Dead Friend Frank on Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
Dear World,
Frank died at 87 1/2 years old. Picture this: When he was a tow-headed little boy, just a toddler, his parents dressed him in short pants and a striped shirt and posed him on the hood of the family Model T, grinning. Feisty. He was named after a prominent ancestor, Benjamin Franklin, and they shared more than a name: both were brilliant, larger-than-life, charismatic. Actually, he came from a long line of characters: a grandfather who died, in his 90s, as the result of a bar fight, a father who was an early aviator. That family bred their men big, bold, and memorable. Frank, my Frank, my friend, came of age during the Great Depression. He had an older brother, equally brilliant; when it came time for Frank to attend college in ’37 or ’38, there was no money left. None. His brother had the degree that Frank would never get. He didn’t sweat it, moved on with life. Somewhere along the way he met a beautiful lady and they got married. Everything changed on 7 December 1941. Continue reading
[Book Nerd Links] Art, History, and a Very Funny Video
- WPA Wants You to Read [courtesy of the Paris Review]
- Product Capsule: First Christmas Card [courtesy of Retronaut]
- A Book Critic’s Hilarious Response to E.L. James as “Publishing Person of the Year” [courtesy of Flavorwire]
Daily Diversion #74: Beat Cat
She’s a calico with excellent taste.
Zizi Jeanmaire digs The Beats, too. After much deep feline reflection she marked out, with a lazy lick to the page, the following passage as her favourite: “My roshi said when the word comes out in a flash it’s not a word, it’s your true mental state; when you search for the right word, it will never be the right word.” (Gary Snyder to Allen Ginsberg, 4 September 1961)
Quote
“Every writer I know has trouble writing.”-Joseph Heller
NMNPHX December Spotlight Awards Recipient
Nicole of NMNPHX has selected A Small Press Life as one of the recipients of her Spotlight Awards, for the month of December. Every month, she aims her beam at just 3-5 blogs. We are truly excited and humbled to receive such a nice shout-out. If you’ve never visited her blog, you should check it out now!
[Book Nerd Links] 10 Famous Writers on How to Read
10 Famous Writers on How to Read [courtesy of Flavorwire]
Voices from the Grave #48: Iris Murdoch on Philosophy and Literature
The introduction is slow, so feel free to skip straight to the good stuff: Iris talking. She’s fascinating.
Have a Bookish Sunday Evening!
Jove Decadent by Ramon Casos i Carbo, 1899.
A Small Press Life: Books. Art. Writing. Life. Tea. 