Tag Archives: Books

A Year in Books/Day 3: George Sand A Woman’s Life Writ Large

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Eldre George Sand, fotografi

Image via Wikipedia

  • Title: George Sand A Woman’s Life Writ Large
  • Author: Belinda Jack
  • Year Published: 1999 (Alfred A. Knopf New York)
  • Year Purchased: 2000/2001
  • Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
  • About: An absorbing, fast-paced telling of the iconoclastic French novelist’s controversial life.
  • Motivation: I’ve a thing for biographies of lady writers. No, really, it’s almost an obsession.
  • Times Read: 1
  • Random Excerpt/Page 214: “According to Sand, “The experiment failed completely. I cried with pain, disgust and despair. Instead of finding a friendship that would allow me to unburden my feelings of resentment and discouragement, I found only bitter and frivolous mockery. That was all, and the whole story has been summed up in…words that I did not say [it was nothing], that Mme Dorval neither betrayed nor invented, and which bring little honour to the imagination of M. Dumas.”
  • Happiness Scale: 8 1/2

A Year in Books/Day 2: The Matinee Idols

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  • Title: The Matinee Idols
  • Author: David Carroll
  • Year Published: 1972 (Galahad Books New York)
  • Year Purchased: 1990’s
  • Source: Book Harbor, Columbus, Ohio
  • About: This slim volume covers all of the great American and British matinee idols of theatre and film, from John Wilkes Booth (yes, that one) to John Gilbert.
  • Motivation: I’ve loved all things related to silent cinema and the theatre since I was a child. It paid off because, as an adult, I have dedicated a meaty chunk of my professional output to the former.
  • Times Read: 3
  • Random Excerpt/Page 71: “Murmurs of excitement are heard in the audience as he displays a mounting fury over Fedora’s cross-examination. Fedora cajoles him, pleads with him, screams at him, then accuses him directly of the murder, but he denies the crime. Fedora throws herself at his feet and the scene builds to a point of almost unbearable tension. Finally he snaps.”
  • Happiness Scale: 8

A Year in Books/Day 1: February House

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  • Title: February House
  • Author: Sherill Tippins
  • Year Published: 2005 (Houghton Mifflin Company)
  • Year Purchased: 2008
  • Source: Daedalus Books
  • About: The true story of how Carson McCullers, Paul and Jane Bowles, Benjamin Britten, Gypsy Rose Lee and W.H. Auden all came to live under one roof, in a Brooklyn brownstone, during the early 1940’s.
  • Motivation: The combination of Auden and McCullers, and the quirky communal living aspect, was irresistible.
  • Times Read: 1
  • Random Excerpt/Page 111: “And now-running after the fire engine, laughing, and shivering in the night air-Carson experienced the moment of illumination for which she had been praying. The key to her novel, the image that would allow her to continue, had emerged at last. “I caught Gypsy’s arm,” she would recall, “and out of breath said, ‘Frankie is in love with her brother and his bride and wants to become a member of the wedding!’
  • Happiness Scale: 7

Project 366: A Year in Books

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My goal for A Small Press Life’s version of Project 365 366 is a simple one: to catalogue the vital statistics of one book per day from my collection. I have long been openly fascinated by the psychology of book buying. My own history is full of a long list of complex motivations; I have never, to the best of my memory, chosen a book due to boredom or indifference. As a life-long passionate reader, a sense of excitement has accompanied every ring of the cash register. As the year wears on, I hope to occasionally spotlight others’ books as well. Each entry will show basic information, a random excerpt and a photograph.

Sticking to My Guns: From Mission Statement to Manifesto

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Welcome to the re-branding, the re-launch, the re-awakening of A Small Press Life. The greatest change is that we are now hosted by WordPress. I’ve been largely absent from this site for a year. I have been off chasing my other Small Press Life pursuits, including my mini ‘zine empire. While away, my dedication to the Indie writing and publishing lifestyle has only grown and solidified: I truly cannot imagine going about my time on earth any other way. I am lucky enough to now be able to proclaim that, yes, this small press thing is actually what I do. All of the time. For a living. There has always been generous space in my heart for this little blog; now there is calendar space to match. This means that I can devote an appropriate chunk of my life to disseminating my odd little small press passion in as many forums as I see fit. I intend for this space to benefit greatly.
The original Mission Statement of a Small Press Life stands. In fact, I think that it is pretty damn eloquent. However, there are a few practical things that I would like to add:

*There will be multiple posts a day, by a small but growing list of contributors, Monday through Friday
*The content will be well-rounded, with all of our original themes carried over, expanded on, and added to; much of it will eventually be reader-driven
*We encourage guest contributions!!
*We will eventually be adding fiction, interviews and original art into the mix

A Small Press Life is about fostering a sense of community for all of the Indie Creatives out there. What we do is fairly solitary. While I firmly believe that most of us prefer it that way, we cannot create our work in a vacuum. We have to occasionally come up for air. Finding camaraderie, support, advice or a few minutes’ diversion is often all we need to regenerate our psyche and get back to work with renewed attention. Living a Small Press Life is as much about reaching out as reaching in. There are too few places where this is possible. I hope that this blog becomes one of them.