Category Archives: Project 366

A Year in Books/Day 179: It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be

Posted on July 25, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be
• Author: Paul Arden
• Year Published: First Edition:2003/This Edition: 2007 (Phaidon)
• Year Purchased: Unknown
• Source: My mom, who gave me a bunch of books to either keep or sell. (According to the sticker on the inside back flap, she bought the book at Anthropologie.)
• About: Another corporate motivational book, this one by an ad man from the UK. He was highly successful, and so was this common-sense little volume. It is as easy to digest as your favourite ad campaign, and almost as memorable (the chapter on Victoria Beckham not withstanding). Continue reading →

A Year in Books/Day 178: William Morris by himself

Posted on July 24, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: William Morris by himself Designs and writings
• Editor: Gillian Naylor
• Year Published: This Edition/2004 (Barnes & Noble Books)
• Year Purchased: 2004/2005
• Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
• About: This book is a great reminder that William Morris was also a writer, and not just an artist/designer. Although his aesthetic is instantly recognizable, his words are not. That’s a shame. William Morris by himself goes a long way to rectify that, but I hope that his diverse writings somehow find a wider audience. As the title well relates, you’ll find a blend of his art and words (including excerpts from letters, essays and poems) in this pretty little edition. They have also inserted brief biographical paragraphs for the sake of cohesion. If you have ever been drawn to one of his textiles or wallpapers, why not take the opportunity to learn more about the full oeuvre of the man?
• Motivation: I’ve long been intrigued by Morris.
• Times Read: 1
• Random Excerpt/Page 83: “We have taken a little place deep down in the country, where my wife and children are to spend some months every year, as they did this-a beautiful and strangely naif house, Elizabethan in appearance, though much later in date, as in that out of the way corner people built in Gothic till the beginning or middle of the last century. It is on the S.W. extremity of Oxfordshire, within a stone’s throw of the baby Thames, in the most beautiful grey little hamlet called Kelmscott.”
• Happiness Scale: 8 1/2

A Year in Books/Day 177: Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg The Clash

Posted on July 21, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg The Clash
• Author: Alan Parker
• Year Published: 2004 (Abstract Sounds Publishing)
• Year Purchased: 2006/2007
• Source: Unknown
• About: As a highly detailed discography, albeit with a twist or two, this book is for die-hard fans only. What sets it apart from regular fare is the great love and enthusiasm that Alan Parker has for his subjects, his short but personal recollections of each release, and the nice array of quotes and photographs sprinkled between the data. It is hard for me to be so brief when it comes to Strummer/The Clash, but I will save my words for future reviews of other related books in my collection.
• Motivation: I don’t believe in the concept of personal heroes, but I can say without artifice or exaggeration that Joe Strummer is partially responsible for making me the kick-ass person I am today.
• Times Read: 2
• Random Excerpt/Page 1: “On December 23rd, 2002 I was waiting at Heathrow Airport for a flight to Manchester to spend Christmas with my family. Just before our flight was due for boarding, Pete Wylie called me. Joe Strummer was dead. A heart attack at home, he was only 50 years old when he died. By the time I hit my hometown of Blackburn in Lancashire, the normal Christmas staples playing from pub jukeboxes had been swapped for a new ‘soundtrack’ of The Clash. This would continue for at least five days. My book was almost finished and my hero, one of the men who told me to do this project, was dead.”
• Happiness Scale: 10
  

  Joe Strummer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A Year in Books/Day 176: Charades &c. Written a hundred years ago By Jane Austen and Her Family

Posted on July 19, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Charades &c. Written a hundred years ago By Jane Austen and Her Family
• Year Published: 1895/This Edition: 1972 (Folcroft Library Editions)
• Year Purchased: 1990s
• Source: Library sale
• About: This is one of the quaintest books I own. It is a collection of charades-what we would call brain-teasers-created by several generations of the Austen family, including 3 by the famous author. It offers an interesting peek into one of the forms of family entertainment available to people in centuries past. If you are like me, it is easy to close your eyes and picture this close-knit family gathered round the fire whilst challenging each other with their nifty linguistic puzzles. I don’t have a mind for this sort of thing-I’m afraid I would get bored too quickly-but I am tempted to give it a go one rainy, cold, drunken evening.
• Motivation: Jane Austen!
• Times Read: A few
• Random Excerpt/Page 28: “Divided, I’m a gentleman/In public deeds and powers;/United, I’m a monster, who/That gentleman devours.”-Jane Austen
• Happiness Scale: 10+++
  

  Jane Austen (Photo credit: Wikipedia). Thinking up a new brain teaser, Jane?

   

A Year in Books/Day 175: Memo from David O. Selznick

Posted on July 18, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Memo from David O. Selznick
• Selected and Edited by: Rudy Behlmer (With an Introduction by S.N. Behrman)
• Year Published: 1972 (The Viking Press)
• Year Purchased: 1990s
• Source: Antique Barn, Ohio State Fair
• About: Over the years, and quite by accident, I have amassed a nice sub-section to my Cinema Library, what I call The Lives and Times of Ruthless Moguls. This book started it all. The memos, covering the years 1926-1962, provide us with intimate access to the professional dealings and private concerns of one of the most powerful men in Hollywood during the greatest years of the studio system. Continue reading →

A Year in Books/Day 174: Blumenfeld Photographs

Posted on July 18, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Blumenfeld Photographs A Passion for Beauty
• Author: William A. Ewing
• Year Published: 1996 (Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers)
• Year Purchased: 2010
• Source: My lovely Momma
• About: Before reading this book, I could recognize some of the more iconic images of Berlin-born photographer Erwin Blumenfeld as his, but I knew nothing of his life. Although I place value on my own emotional responses to art, music and literature, and as a parallel it could certainly be argued that the end product is all the biography we need, I love back stories, perspective; I’m obsessively curious about context, facts, and individual versions of the creative process. Artistic pathways fascinate me. The 235 illustrations in this thick coffee table volume are, of course, extraordinary. From erotica to fashion to adverts, it is all here; the experimental nature of his work is stunningly apparent. All are sumptuous, provocative, memorable. The biggest revelation for me-and it really was a revelation, make no mistake-is the extensive text, which, in forming a serious and detailed biography, echoes back to my love of concrete information. This two-sided approach gives us a bigger picture (ha!) than either traditional biographies or coffee table retrospectives usually offer. The result is aesthetically pleasing and deeply satisfying.
• Motivation: I love coffee table books and vintage photography.
• Times Read: Once
• Random Excerpt/Page 32: “It is more than likely that Blumenfeld’s mind had not been entirely focused on his work. Ever since his arrival in the Netherlands-indeed, since he had fallen in love with Lena just prior to the war-he had been making art, partly to communicate this passion, partly as a release from the mundane pressures of daily life, and partly as a means of expressing his outrage over the war and the bankrupt values which, in his view, had brought it about.”
• Happiness Scale: 8 1/2

A Year in Books/Day 173: John Stanislaus Joyce

Posted on July 16, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: The Voluminous Life and Genius of James Joyce’s Father John Stanislaus Joyce
• Authors: John Wyse Jackson and Peter Costello
• Year Published: 1997 (St. Martin’s Press)
• Year Purchased: 2002/2003
• Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
• About: Even though they leave us more evidence of their existence than nearly any other (loosely aligned) group of people, opportunities to gain genuine insight into the lives and larger motivations of writers is exceedingly rare, and often unreliable. In according the elder Joyce a thorough and rigorous biographical treatment, the authors have given us a double-wonder: a fresh and informative look at the tender years of the singular writer of Ulysses and an introduction to his amazing father, whose remarkable storytelling ability influenced and shaped his son. Even if, like me, you come to this book because of James, you will leave with a keen appreciation and respect for the complex, colourful John Stanislaus.
• Motivation: See above. I bought it because of what James Joyce means to me. I’m glad I did, because JSJ is second to only John Butler Yeats as my favourite famous father.
• Times Read: 1
• Random Excerpt/Page 97: “Mr. and Mrs. John Stanislaus Joyce decided on a honeymoon abroad. It was another beacon to the world of John’s confident social expectations. As if to spite his mother for dragging him back from there when he was a boy, he took his bride to the capital of the Empire, London, where William Gladstone was currently busy, at the age of seventy-one, forming the Liberal government of 1880. An opportunity to meet Irish members was not to be neglected-to remind some of them the debt owed to John Stanislaus.”
  

  James Joyce in 1888 at age six. Possibly in Bray, a seaside resort south of Dublin. The Joyces lived there from 1887 to 1892. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

• Happiness Scale: 10+++

A Year in Books/Day 172: Who the Hell is Pansy O’Hara?

Posted on July 15, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Who the Hell is Pansy O’Hara? The Fascinating Stories Behind 50 of the World’s Best-Loved Books
• Authors: Jenny Bond & Chris Sheedy
• Year Published: 2008 (Penguin Books)
• Year Purchased: 2008
• Source: Unknown (I think it was a gift from my Mom)
• About: Think of this volume as a book version of one of those biographical dictionaries of famous people and you’ll know what you are in for. Continue reading →

A Year in Books/Day 171: Walking with Garbo

Posted on July 15, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Walking with Garbo Conversations and Recollections
• Author: Raymond Daum
• Editor and Annotator: Vance Muse
• Year Published: 1991 (HarperCollinsPublishers)
• Year Purchased: 1993
• Source: Unknown
• About: Greta Garbo. The Swedish Sphinx. She of eternal mystery. One half of the most famous screen (and real-life, but that’s another story) couple of the 1920s. The great actress may have valued her privacy, both before and after retirement, but she was no shut-in. Continue reading →

A Year in Books/Day 170: Sophia Style

Posted on July 11, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Sophia Style
• Author: Deirdre Donohue
• Year Published: 2001 (Barnes & Noble Books)
• Year Purchased: 2004
• Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
• About: In the physical sphere, Sophia Loren is everything I am not: tall, leggy, busty. Sure, we have a tiny waist in common but, on her, because of her height, it is more of a thing. Her style, on camera but especially in life, matches her features: striking, angular, and beautiful. Of course, even if she wore a potato sack (like Marilyn in that famous early cheese-cake photo) she would out-shine us all. Sophia Style examines and connects her characters’ wardrobes with her personal clothing choices, resulting in a book that is a melange of fashion, film, and personal history: it is really more interesting than it probably sounds.  Whether you love film or fashion, or are just looking to shade your brain from the reality of an ugly word for a couple of hours, it is a quick and fun read. It’s full of gorgeous photos from her first five decades in the spotlight.
• Motivation: Sometimes I just like to look at pretty people in pretty clothes. It’s a nice break from thinking too much, which is how I usually spend approximately 95% of my waking hours.
• Times Read: 2
• Random Excerpt/Page 81: “(Marc) Bohan’s white slip gown in A Countess from Hong Kong is a unique creation, having an exceptional relationship to both Loren’s body and the character she portrays. This quality was requested by the director, Charlie Chaplin, as well as by Loren. Chaplin was very earnest and exacting about the countess’s look, and Loren, awed by this iconic film figure, uncharacteristically deferred wholly to his authority.”
• Happiness Scale: 10+++
  

  Cropped screenshot of Sophia Loren from the film Five Miles to Midnight (Photo credit: Wikipedia)