[A Holiday Shopping Spree for the Bookworm] Second Stop: Terrific Friends by Diana Shafer

I love bookish goodies almost as much as I love actual books, and reading. Being a bookworm is not a hobby: it is an all-enveloping, personality-defining lifestyle. The holiday season is just getting started, which means it is time to go shopping the literary way! Over the next two weeks, I will take you on a virtual bookish shopping spree to some of my favourite lit sites!

In 2013, we visited some wonderful literary museums. This year, I am delighted to showcase several amazing book-themed Etsy shops. Let’s get started!

TERRIFIC FRIENDS BY DIANA SHAFER

This shop is full of whimsical, beautifully rendered prints of famous writers. They’re all very witty. Try falling in love with just one. I dare you.

MY FAVOURITE PIECES:

SHOP INFO:

  • TERRIFIC FRIENDS BY DIANA SHAFER: ETSY STORE
  • LOCATION: BOISE, IDAHO
  • ARTIST: DIANA SHAFER
  • ARTIST INFO: HERE

Happy Birthday, Dearest Emily!

Happy Birthday, dearest Emily!

Emily Dickinson

Birthday Girl Emily Dickinson (Born 10 December 1830).

FIVE EVERYDAY FACTS ABOUT EMILY DICKINSON:

EMILY ELIZABETH WAS A MIDDLE CHILD, SANDWICHED BETWEEN OLDER BROTHER (WILLIAM) AUSTIN AND YOUNGER SISTER LAVINIA (NORCROSS).

SHE WAS KNOWN FOR HER SIMPLE WARDROBE OF MOSTLY WHITE CLOTHING.

EMILY HAD A PET NEWFOUNDLAND DOG NAMED CARLO.

SHE WAS A GIFTED BAKER.

EMILY WAS A DEDICATED AND WELL-EDUCATED GARDENER.

“I am out with lanterns, looking for myself.”-Emily Dickinson

Daily Diversion #116: “Nature” is What We See*

Whenever I hike through the 733 acres of our local cemetery, I have to stifle the compulsion to declaim poetry to an audience of tombstones, trees, and birds. Instead, I turn the words inward, or whisper them under my breath. The shadow-poets I prefer change with the seasons. If winter’s sharp, cold, stinging reach is perfect for Sylvia Plath, then the gloriously still warmth of spring is the natural home for the distilled, profound and subtle Emily Dickinson.

Two graves and wildflowers

Two forlorn graves and clumps of wildflowers are the perfect audience for Emily’s poems.

*“Nature” is what we see” is the opening line from an Emily Dickinson poem.

[News] Putting a Face to the Poet: Is This Emily Dickinson?

According to experts, the answer is yes. It’s only the second known image of the poet, and the first showing her as an adult. ‘Tis a big deal, no?                                                                                                                                                                  Still No New Pynchon Photo, but Here’s Emily Dickinson-The New York Times

Emily Dickinson gets a new look in recovered photograph-The Guardian

 

 

 

A Year in Books/Day 157: Selected Poems & Letters of Emily Dickinson

  • Title: Selected Poems & Letters of Emily Dickinson
  • Editor: Robert N. Linscott
  • Year Published: First edition:1959/This edition: ???? (An Anchor Book)
  • Year Purchased: 2001/2002
  • Source: This was a hand-me-down from a long-time friend.
  • About: If Emily Dickinson was alive and writing today, she would probably blog her poetry under a pseudonym. Since she was born in 1830, she composed reams of golden verse and hoarded them away in dark bureau corners. After she confined herself to home-a situation that was gradual, and not a fierce, sudden statement-she kept up with the outside world via the epistolary arts. Letters make the best (auto)biographies. They are a time capsule, a locus for self-mythology and the only genuine source of a person’s thoughts, feelings and actual opinions. For these reasons, I have long loved volumes with the chutzpah and heart (not to mention access to original material) to combine professional output with personal words. This book is a winner all around.
  • Motivation: Emily Dickinson is one of my preferred poets. Neruda is always and ever in the top spot, but she holds a place of honour in the court.
  • Times Read: Cover-to-cover:2/Random poems: countless
  • Random Excerpt/Page 288: “You wonder why I write so. Because I cannot help. I like to have you know some care-so when your life gets faint for its other life, you can lean on us. We won’t break, Mary. We look very small, but the reed can carry weight.”
  • Happiness Scale: 10+++
    Emily Dickinson

    Ubiquitous Emily Dickinson photo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)