Please Save the Waltz for Zelda on Her Birthday

Repeat after me: Zelda Fitzgerald was a writer. Zelda Fitzgerald was a writer. Zelda Fitzgerald was a writer. What is more, she was good. Not just every day good, either, but envy-inducing good. The real deal.

She was born 113 years ago today. Help celebrate her legacy by getting your hands on a copy of her 1932 novel, Save Me the Waltz.

Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, 1922.

Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, 1922.

 

[Alternative Muses] Coming and Going: Jane Austen/Clifford Odets Mashup

Jane Austen died on 7/18/1817.

Jane Austen

Jane Austen

“Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings.”-Jane Austen

Clifford Odets was born on 7/18/1906.

 

Clifford Odets, 1936

Clifford Odets, 1936

“Life shouldn’t be printed on dollar bills.”-Clifford Odets

Ten Quotes and a Photograph in Honor of Henry David Thoreau’s Birthday

Happy 196th Birthday, Mr. Thoreau!

  • “It is what a man thinks of himself that really determines his fate.”
  • “Simplify, simplify.”
  • “The world is wider than our views of it.”
  • “How vain it is to sit down and write when you have not stood up to live.”
  • “Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.”
Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

  • “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away.”
  • “Things do not change; we change.”
  • “One is not born into the world to do everything but to do something.”
  • “A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.”
  • “It’s not worth our while to let our imperfections disturb us always.”

Happy 130th Birthday, Franz Kafka!

Happy Birthday to Franz Kafka! Here he is, looking suitably, well, Kafkaesque.

Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka

QUOTE: “Books are a narcotic.”

SOME WORKS: Amerika; The Trial; The Castle; A Country Doctor; The Metamorphosis; The Village Schoolmaster; Letters to Felice

A KEEPSAKE:

Franz Kafka Tote Bag by Little Shop of Joy

Franz Kafka Tote Bag by Little Shop of Joy. $5.00

James M. Barrie Died 76 Years Ago Today; Here He is Looking Melancholy and Youthful

James M. Barrie, prolific Scottish playwright and the father of Peter Pan and Wendy, died on 19th June 1937. He was 77. Here he is, looking serious and melancholy.

James M. Barrie, 1901

James M. Barrie, 1901

QUOTE: “The most useless are those who never change through the years.”

SOME WORKS: The Little Minister; Quality Street; The Admirable Crichton; Peter Pan; Alice Sit-by-the-Fire; What Every Woman Knows; A Kiss for Cinderella; The Old Lady Shows Her Medals.

A KEEPSAKE:

Crichton's Island, Postcard Map of James M. Barrie's The Admirable Crichton by Craig Wetzel

Crichton’s Island, Postcard Map of James M. Barrie’s The Admirable Crichton by Craig Wetzel. $3.00