Tag Archives: Books

Shopping for the Bookworm: William Faulkner Mini-Edition

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I put together this edition for the purpose of showing off a painting that I adore! Lest you get bored, I padded it with a few more related products from Etsy. Enjoy!

William Faulkner Canvas by CustomLife

William Faulkner Canvas by CustomLife-$359.00

What an inspiring, center-of-attention piece! I’m not sure how much writing I would get done with Faulkner lording it over me like that. I’m afraid I’d have to banish him from my studio. He would look wonderful above my bar, though.

William Faulkner Necklace by ART HISTORY NERD

William Faulkner Necklace by ART HISTORY NERD-$20.00

I love jewelry that hasn’t been mass-produced by the tens of thousands. It’s a good thing that I have self-control, or I would own way too many pieces featuring writers’ mugs. I like Faulkner’s pipe and pensive pose here.

A handsome1956 edition of Faulkner’s 4th novel (originally published in 1929). I love old books. Okay, I love books in general. Older ones just happen to be my favourites. This volume, with its gold embossed spine, is no exception.

Original Illustration-William Faulkner Quotation by Obvious State

Original Illustration-William Faulkner Quotation by Obvious State-$24.00

Quote + Art=happiness.

A Year in Books/Day 195: Murder on the Menu

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  • Title: Murder on the Menu Cordon Bleu Stories of Crime and Mystery
  • Editor: Peter Haining
  • Year Published: 1991 (Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc.)
  • Year Purchased: I have no idea when this book was purchased, but it was given to me in 2010
  • Source: A hand-me-down from my mom
  • About: Murder on the Menu is a collection of stories about killing people by poisoning their food, or other dark dinnertime deeds. So fun! So lighthearted! So hunger-inducing! I love literary meals. I think it’s fascinating how authors represent the most basic of human needs in their writings. If you’ve never looked at fiction from that angle, you should give it a try. This crime compilation naturally focuses on the macabre, but the principle stands. The selection of authors is unexpectedly varied, offering a wider appeal than similar books.
  • Motivation: People are always giving me books they no longer want. They know I will be kind. Or sell them when they aren’t looking.
  • Times Read: 1
  • Random Excerpt/Page 76: “Captain Michel had but one arm, which he found useful when he lit his pipe. He was an old sea dog whose acquaintance, with that of four other old salts, I made one evening on the open front of a cafe in the Vieille Darse, Toulon, where I was taking an appetiser. And in this way we fell into the habit of foregathering over a glass within a stone’s throw of the rippling wave and the swinging dinghys, about the hour when the sun sinks behind Tamaris.”
  • Happiness Scale: 7

[19 August 2012] This Week’s Lessons in Reading and Writing

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What I’ve (re)learned in the last week.

  • The rush that comes with writing fiction is like nothing else in the world. It feels entirely different from writing reviews or essays; not better, just different.
  • Liking writers, artists or performers is one thing. Enjoying fictionalized accounts of their lives is another. Some of these books are wonderful; others are boring or just plain bad. I am currently reading one of the former and one of the middle. The disparity in levels of enjoyment is huge.
  • Outlining an entire story and writing the opening 3 paragraphs in your head whilst still in bed is the best way to start a day.
  • I feel sexiest while tapping away at my keyboard, trying to bang out everything that is in my head before it dissolves into nothingness. Even though I am usually wearing yoga pants, a tee, too much moisturizer and a baker’s dozen of hairpins.
  • Taking five books and three magazines (and my Nook) on a road trip lasting 60 hours, start to finish, somehow does not seem excessive.
  • The WordPress community is just that: a community of supportive, wonderful, mostly awesome people. Some of them even allow you to write short stories based on their photographs. Thank you, lovelies.
  • Even when crazy shit happens (like this), reading a book makes it better.

A Year in Books/Day 194: The 50 Most Unforgettable Actors of the Studio Era

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Lon Chaney Sr., still from The Miracle Man (1919)

Lon Chaney Sr., still from The Miracle Man (1919) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

  • Title: The 50 Most Unforgettable Actors of the Studio Era
  • Text: Frank Miller/Foreword by Robert Osborne/Introduction by Molly Haskell
  • Year Published: 2006 (Chronicle Books)
  • Year Purchased: 2010
  • Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
  • About: This book is a TMC Film Guide. It is straightforward but well-done, with each actor receiving a short bio, complete with vital statistics; a breakdown of their ‘essential’ films; and behind-the-scenes trivia. It’s best for classic film neophytes or fanatics-anyone in-between will likely be bored. Among the fabulous fifty, you’ll find: Barrymore, Chaney, Colman, Garfield, Gilbert, Keaton, Kelly, Ladd, Lloyd, Muni, Poitier, Powell, Taylor, and Valentino.
  • Motivation: I’m running out of ways to say that I write about classic (especially silent) cinema and really love old movies. I even buy books that I know I am not going to learn anything from; it’s an addiction (see above).
  • Times Read: 1
  • Random Excerpt/Page 41: “What amazes audiences discovering Lon Chaney’s work for the first time, along with his impressive ability to transform his face and body, is the humanity shining through even the thickest makeup. Chaney was one of the screen’s greatest pantomime artists, a skill he developed as a child in order to communicate with his parents, both of whom were deaf.”
  • Happiness Scale: 10

A Year in Books/Day 193: Elegy for Iris

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  • Title: Elegy for Iris
  • Author: John Bayley
  • Year Published: 1999 (St. Martin’s Press)
  • Year Purchased: 2001?
  • Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
  • About: I get it, I really do: Iris Murdoch is one of those love them or hate them writers. The Sea, The Sea is one of my favourite novels of the later years of the 20th century, but I understand why her work isn’t for everyone. I don’t care  where you stand on the subject of Iris-as-writer, if you aren’t affected to the point of tears whilst reading her husband’s memoir it can mean only one thing. You are dead inside. Continue reading →

A Year in Books/Day 192: The Right Word II

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  • Title: The Right Word II A Concise Thesaurus Based on the New American Heritage Dictionary
  • Staff: Houghton Mifflin Company Reference Division
  • Year Published: 1983 (Houghton Mifflin Company)
  • Year Purchased: 1980s
  • Source: My lovely mother
  • About: Concise is the key here. The Right Word II is the sparest thesaurus I’ve ever read. Although not meant or marketed as such, I think it is ideal for a bright child’s use: tiny, portable, informative and easy to navigate. I relied on it for countless elementary age writing projects. I was a budding playwright then, before switching to short stories and essays in middle school. During the genre shift, I upgraded to a thicker, wordier thesaurus. I still own both of them, and every other reference book I have ever used. Even though I have not consulted this one in years, there is so much nostalgia attached to it that I cannot throw or give it away. It reminds me of why I wanted to be a writer in the first place, so it will live forever on a shelf in my studio.
  • Motivation: I didn’t need this for school, as one might assume given my age. I’ve always loved reference books, and have been collecting them since I was 5.
  • Times Read: Unknown
  • Random Excerpt/Page vi: “Discriminated Synonymies. The foundation of The Right Word II is a block of synonym paragraphs in which the meaning shared by all the words is supplemented by additional material that discriminates the various shades of meaning for each word.”
  • Happiness Scale: 10 (as a child)

A Year in Books/Day 191: Laurence Olivier On Acting

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  • Title: Laurence Olivier On Acting From Hamlet and Heathcliff to “Brideshead” and Marathon Man, Our Greatest Actor Candidly Discusses His Triumphant Career in an Extraordinary Examination of His Profession and Craft
  • Author: Laurence Olivier
  • Year Published: 1986 (A TOUCHSTONE BOOK)
  • Year Purchased: 1992
  • Source: A bookstore at an outlet mall.
  • About: Every actor, young or old, has something  many things to learn from Olivier. If they say otherwise, they’re just in denial. Or ignorant. Perhaps I should strike a line through that as well and replace it with the (softer?) word naive. Nah. I’ll stand by my original assessment. Let’s move on to the good stuff. Even if you don’t care about the craft of acting (and have never been silly enough to work in or, sanity forbid, train for the theatre), On Acting is really entertaining. Part autobiography, part theatre/film history, and part textbook, it is a mixture that  works. He exposes the thought processes behind his roles, but dishes enough behind-the-scenes stories to keep most people interested. It is superior to his traditional memoir, Confessions of an Actor.
  • Motivation: I was an acting student then; the cover blurb was an excellent sales person.
  • Times Read: 2 or 3
  • Random Excerpt/Page 65: “New actors, new waves, new ideas-it’s all been done before. What we forget is that every new generation is the modern man. We are only watching things repeated with different costumes, new settings, original surrounds. However we look at it, it is still the same jewel, shining from the crown, that was mined between 1564 and 1616.”
  • Happiness Scale: 10+++
    Laurence Olivier, June 17, 1939

    Laurence Olivier, June 17, 1939 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

     

A Year in Books/Day 190: Feminist Ryan Gosling

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  • Title: Feminist Ryan Gosling Feminist Theory As Imagined from Your Favorite Sensitive Movie Dude (Unauthorized)
  • Author: Danielle Henderson
  • Year Published: 2012 (Running Press)
  • Year Purchased: 2012
  • Source: This was a birthday gift from my mom.
  • About: Based on the hilarious blog of the same name, this book is every bit as good as the original source. I do not have an opinion on Ryan Gosling. Is he a fine actor? Word-of-mouth and critical response indicates as much. Is he as good-looking as many people think? That’s a matter of opinion. Until a year ago, I never even gave him any thought. As soon as I saw the first blog post, I was in love. With this concept. Feminist theory coming out of the mouth* of an actor known for his positive sentiments about women? Next to photographs of him looking thoughtful and sensitive (really, is there any other kind?). The very idea cracks me up. Hey girl, indeed. *(Naturally, he never said any of the quotes attributed to him in the blog or book. Is that a detraction? Nope. In fact, it makes it even better.)
  • Motivation: I’m a feminist with a sense of humor. There are lots of us, by the way, and this book is proof.
  • Times Read: More than once, and I’ve only had it one week.
  • Random Excerpt/Pages 62 & 99: “Hey girl. We’d be more successful at reclaiming public space for women if we were willing to address the patriarchal fixtures that made it unsafe in the first place.”/ “Hey girl. I literally have no idea how to react to someone who hasn’t read Judy Blume’s Forever.”
  • Happiness Scale: 10+++

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

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Here’s the companion piece to Part I, delivered as promised.

  • Travelling Heroes In the Epic Age of Homer by Robin Lane Fox
  • America Dreaming How Youth Changed America in the 60’s by Laban Carrick Hill
  • Fanny and Adelaide The Lives of the Remarkable Kemble Sisters by Ann Blainey
  • The Booklover’s Guide to the Midwest A Literary Tour by Greg Holden
  • Script and Scribble The Rise and Fall of Handwriting by Kitty Burns Florey
  • Flannery: A Life of Flannery O’Connor by Brad Gooch
  • Rimbaud: The Double Life of a Rebel by Edmund White
  • The Tremendous World I Have Inside My Head-Franz Kafka: A Biographical Essay by Louis Begley
  • The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith by Joan Schenkar
  • Woman of Letters Irene Nemirovsky and Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
  • My Paper Chase True Stories of Vanished Times by Harold Evans
  • Paris to the Past Traveling Through French History by Train by Ina Caro
  • Vedic Ecology: Practical Wisdom for Surviving the 21st Century by Ranchor Prime
  • The Life of David by Robert Pinsky
  • Saint Augustine, Tarsicius J. van Bavel, ed.
  • All Hopped Up and Ready to Go Music from the Streets of New York 1927-77 by Tony Fletcher
  • The Red Prince The Secret Lives of a Habsburg Archduke by Timothy Snyder
  • Renaissance Florence on 5 Florins a Day by Charles FitzRoy

I’ve learned a few things from typing out this list.

  1. It should have been split into 3 parts.
  2. I am obviously intrigued by anyone with a secret life.
  3. Literary biographies are even more of a personal thing than I thought.

Plus, a bonus revelation:

  1. If I read all of these books (and everything else on my ever-fattening To-Read List) I would not only never write another word, I would spend 20 hours a day reading in bed. For the rest of my life.