Tag Archives: Books

A Year in Books/Day 132: Whatever became of…? All New Ninth Series

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  • Title: Whatever became of…? All New Ninth Series Over 100 profiles of the most asked about personalities from television series, documentaries, and movies
  • Author: Richard Lamparski
  • Year Published: 1985 (Crown Publishers, Inc.)
  • Year Purchased: 1990/1991
  • Source: Antique Barn vendor, the Ohio State Fair
  • About: The cover tag says it all, so I won’t rehash what you just read 5 lines above. The best thing about Lamparski’s series is who he focuses on: B-movie and television stars, flashes in the pan, and former A-listers who, through fickle chance, faded into obscurity instead of attaining permanent icon status.
  • Motivation: I was a teenager when I found these books at the public library. I was deep in the early rapturous phase of discovering old movies. I was also a theatre student. To this day, many of my favourite actors and actresses are the little-remembered also-rans.
  • Times Read: Countless
  • Random Excerpt/Page 74: “When her parents were cast in the touring company of No, No, Nanette Leila (Hyams) remained in New York City, studying dramatic acting while she supported herself by modeling. Oliver Clive, a noted artist of the time, called her “The Golden Girl” because of the delicate coloring of her skin and hair. According to the New York Times she was the first model to appear in advertisements for Listerine mouthwash.”
  • Happiness Scale: 9 (even in our IMDB universe)

A Year in Books/Day 131: After the Fall

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  • Title: After the Fall A Play in Two Acts/Final Stage Version
  • Author: Arthur Miller
  • Year Published: 1964/This edition: 1987 (Penguin Books)
  • Year Purchased: 1990/1991
  • Source: Unknown
  • About: No matter how hard I want it to be otherwise, After the Fall has always left a bad taste in my mouth. Although he’s not my favourite American playwright, I love Arthur Miller. I do. My love even survived not only reading Death of a Salesman (which I adore) in my high school AP English class, but watching multiple film and television adaptations over the course of a few days. That’s asking too much, yet my love and respect remained intact. After the Fall, based on his relationship with second wife Marilyn Monroe, goes a step too far for my taste. The whole enterprise, although undoubtedly cathartic for Miller, is tainted by the too-fresh dirt of his ex-wife’s grave. All writers write, to one extent or another, about people they know and experiences they have. (I’m no different.) I’d like to think that most of us are sensible or compassionate enough to do it from behind at least a slightly opaque veil, without dozens of raw and neon-bright references to friends and family. Especially when they were-and remain-one of the most famous people in the world. If you were to reduce the play to just Maggie’s lines, it would almost read like an autobiographical monologue by Monroe. Unless you do that to yourself, it’s a bit icky. Now here’s where I must pause and tell a tale on myself: if After the Fall was top-notch Miller, I’d probably be more forgiving. I know I’m a hypocrite but great writing gets me every time. This isn’t great writing; it’s a curiosity piece, an exercise in egoism, condescension and hand-washing. It’s not a good look for one of America’s best playwrights.
  • Motivation: I’ve loved plays for nearly as far back as I can remember; not just in performance, but in text. I would read aloud all of the parts, like some sort of egocentric table reading. I guess I was theatrically inclined even then, loving the interplay between words and action that is missing from straight fiction. I wrote my first play in the 5th grade. Even though the short story is my (near exclusive) fiction medium, I write with play craft in mind.
  • Times Read: 3 or 4
  • Random Excerpt/Page 84: “That decency is murderous! Speak truth, not decency. I curse the whole high administration of fake innocence! I declare it, I am not innocent-nor good!”
  • Happiness Scale: 6 for subject matter and over all execution/10 for the few passages where Miller’s writing soars
    Arthur Miller, American playwright

    Arthur Miller, American playwright (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

     

[Alternative Muse of the Month] Katherine Mansfield Fun Facts!

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In honour of our first Alternative Muse of the Month, we are preparing to go into Official Katherine Mansfield Mode. Until then, here are some random facts about the short story writer.

  • Kathleen (Katherine) Mansfield Beauchamp was born in Wellington, New Zealand on 14 October 1888.
  • Her cousin was writer Elizabeth von Arnim (Mary Annette Beauchamp), best known for her novels The Enchanted April and Mr. Skeffington.
  • Her second husband was English writer John Middleton Murry.
  • Her best writing was done during her final, tuberculosis-plagued years.
  • She was an excellent cellist.
  • She was highly influenced by Anton Chekhov.
  • Her brother Leslie was killed in World War I.
  • She spent her last months desperately seeking a cure for the tuberculosis that eventually killed her on 9 January 1923. She died at Georges Gurdjieff’s Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in Fontainebleau, France.
  • She remains one of the most important-and best-short story writers of the 20th century.

 

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[11 May 2012] This Week’s Lessons in Reading and Writing

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  • My Nook e-Book reader is my friend.
  • Bram Stoker’s Dracula is even better than I remembered.
  • Waking up a little earlier than normal is great for my writing brain.
  • Buying a fat stack of books is a natural high.
  • Success is at least 50% discipline, organization and perseverance. Self-promotion doesn’t hurt any, either.
  • I don’t hear pounding on my front door when I am in the writing zone. Which still does not give someone the right to walk in uninvited, even if this is an apartment. Ahem.
  • I’m not as attractive as I think I am when I am writing. I’m usually quite disheveled, apparently. Perhaps even wild-eyed. Whatever. This is what creation looks like, people. We don’t all look as preppy as Sylvia Plath whilst in thrall to the muse.
  • Taking a holiday-including from writing, however brief-is soul-illuminatingly wonderful.

A Year in Books/Day 130: Passionate Minds

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  • Screenshot of Mae West from the trailer for th...

    Screenshot of Mae West from the trailer for the film I’m No Angel (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

    Title: Passionate Minds Women Rewriting the World

  • Author: Claudia Roth Pierpont
  • Year Published: 2000 (Vintage Books)
  • Year Purchased: 2002
  • Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
  • About: This is a subject close to my heart, and one that I frequently write about: women writers. Especially dead women writers. Twelve women (with different view-points, strengths and contributions), twelve in-depth profiles: each chapter is a study in grace, perseverance, individuality and talent. The subjects present interesting juxtapositions, from the expected (Gertrude Stein) to the controversial (Margaret Mitchell, Ayn Rand); the forgotten (Olive Schreiner) to the unexpected (Mae West). It offers complexity where so often there is indifference or cliché; it’s uplifting and respectful without resorting to heroine worship. Brisk and engrossing, you’ll be hard-pressed to put it down without finishing it in one straight read.
  • Motivation: DEAD WOMEN WRITERS.
  • Times Read: 3
  • Random Excerpt/Page 81: “Because there were no available acting roles for a woman who drove men wild and enjoyed them in bed by the dozen and gave as good as she got and didn’t want to marry and never suffered for any of it, Mae West had to become a writer before she could be a movie star.”
  • Happiness Scale: 10

Visiting The Book Loft in Columbus: Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?

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Books. I love ’em. If you’ve been following my Project 366 (A Year in Books) you know that I am not picky about where I buy them. Although I play no favourites, there is one bookstore I could happily spend the rest of my life in: The Book Loft in Columbus. It is my paradise, my succor. My idea of the happiest place on earth. Time stops in its narrow aisles and cramped corners. Continue reading →

A Year in Books/Day 129: Little Bear*

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  • Title: Little Bear
  • Author: Else Holmelund Minarik
  • Illustrations: Maurice Sendak
Little Bear front cover

Little Bear front cover

  • Year Published: 1957 (Harper & Row, Publishers)
  • Year Purchased: 1957, presumably (I think it was purchased for my mom)
  • Source: My sweet Momma
  • About: Little Bear-a collection of four stories revolving around the sweet title character-was one of the first books I read for myself. I was barely three years old, and entirely mesmerized by Sendak’s illustrations. I especially loved his hat in What Will Little Bear Wear? The writing by Minarik is, of course, simplistic to the extreme (exactly what you would expect from something with An I CAN READ Book tag) but that is beside the point: Sendak is the reason I loved Little Bear and his tame adventures (real and imagined) and childish dilemmas. He is the reason the stories are classics. From the moment I opened the book for the first time-before I could read-I was a Sendak fan, lifelong and passionate.
  • Motivation: I read everything I could get my thin, little hands on. This book, it seems, was always there.
  • Times Read: Dozens or hundreds, I have no idea.
  • Random Excerpt/Page 18:
    Little Bear wearing my favourite hat

    Little Bear wearing my favourite hat

    • Happiness Scale: 10++++, with a side of warm fuzzies.
    Little Bear and Mother Bear

    Little Bear and Mother Bear

    *This is dedicated to the memory and brilliant mind of Maurice Sendak, who died today (8 May 2012).

A Year in Books/Day 128: Fast-Talking Dames

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  • Title: Fast-Talking Dames
  • Author: Maria DiBattista
  • Year Published: 2001 (Yale University Press)
  • Year Purchased: 2002/2003
  • Source: Edward R. Hamilton Bookseller Company
  • About: The best part of screwball comedies is, of course, the dialogue. The plots are usually superfluous and in soft-focus; the snappy writing and whirlwind performances are what make these staples of the 1930s and 1940s so entertaining and timeless. While the male performers were no slouches, the women killed it time and again, routinely giving some of the best comedy turns in film history. The actresses discussed include Claudette Colbert, Rosalind Russell, Ginger Rogers, Carole Lombard, Katharine Hepburn, Irene Dunne, Myrna Loy and Barbara Stanwyck. Whew, what a list! Are you interested yet?
  • Motivation: The title alone was allurement enough. Throw in the snazzy cover photo of Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell from His Girl Friday (1940) and I was a goner. Oh, and then there is the subject itself.
  • Times Read: 1
  • Random Excerpt/Page 103: “Like Harlow, Carole Lombard is often impatient or unhappy with the way her life is going, but her comic response to her predicaments is more rambunctious than raffish. Her sexual morals are definitely higher, but she is also the more accomplished liar. Or should we say, in a more generous mood, that where Harlow makes candor her comic calling card, Lombard is the great pretender.”
  • Happiness Scale: 8 1/2
    Cropped screenshot of Carole Lombard from the ...

    Cropped screenshot of Carole Lombard from the trailer for the film Nothing Sacred (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

     

A Year in Books/Day 127: Heaven is Under Our Feet

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  • Title: Heaven is Under Our Feet A Book For Walden Woods
  • Edited By: Don Henley and Dave Marsh
  • Year Published: 1991 (Longmeadow Press)
  • Year Purchased: 1991
  • Source: Unknown
  • About: Heaven is Under Our Feet, a phrase taken from Thoreau, is a collection of environmentally conscious essays by leading writers, activists and assorted artists (including Jimmy Carter, James Earl Jones, James A. Michener, Sting, Kurt Vonnegut). Spearheaded by musician Don Henley, this book was part of The Walden Woods Project, a collective effort to save the non-protected parts of Thoreau’s stomping ground from developers. It remains an important contribution to, and meditation on, the environmental movement and why nature and our country’s wild places matter.
  • Motivation: As a school girl, I was obsessed with the very idea of this book. I was already a serious environmentalist (in that intense way particular only to teenagers). I loved Thoreau’s writing and had a humongous crush on Don Henley (don’t judge me, please!). So, in short: Environment + Thoreau + that guy from the Eagles=my hot pursuit of this volume.
  • Times Read: 2
  • Random Excerpt/Page 29: “When I first visited Walden as an adolescent more than thirty-five years ago-it was in 1955, or perhaps 1956-I was dismayed by what I saw. The place seemed forlorn, distinctly down at the heels, and not half as wild as I’d hoped it would be.”
  • Happiness Scale: 9

A Reading List a Mile Long: Oxford University Press Edition

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These are just a few of the books I wish I had on hand for an upcoming road trip. Alas, I’ll have to make do with (perfectly lovely) other volumes. But a girl can dream (a dream of reading way too many books)!

  • ReAction! Chemistry in the Movies by Mark Griep and Marjorie Mikasen
  • On the Air The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio by John Dunning
  • Darwin’s Camera Art and Photography in the Theory of Evolution by Phillip Prodger
  • D.W. Griffith’s the Birth of a Nation A History of the Most Controversial Motion Picture of All Time by Melvyn Stokes
  • The Urban Experience Economics, Society, and Public Policy by Barry Bluestone, Mary Huff Stevenson, and Russell Williams
  • Nightmare in Red The McCarthy Era in Perspective by Richard M. Fried
  • Atlas of the Medieval World by Rosamond McKitterick
  • The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History Four Volume Set Edited by Bonnie G. Smith
  • The Basque Country A Cultural History by Paddy Woodworth
  • Paris Tales Stories Translated by Helen Constantine
  • Scotland’s Books A History of Scottish Literature by Robert Crawford
  • A Dictionary of Creation Myths by David Leeming with Margaret Leeming
  • Swing Along The Musical Life of Will Marion Cook by Marva Griffin Carter