Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born on this day in 1859. In addition to being a physician and wildly famous author, he was quite the fashion plate.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1890.
QUOTE: “I have frequently gained my first real insight into the character of parents by studying their children.”
SOME WORKS: The Sherlock Holmes books; The Stark Munro Letters; The Maracot Deep; The Lost World; dozens of short stories.
A KEEPSAKE:
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle print by Pemberley Pond. $19.92
I eat better when The Chef is home. I miss that man.
Tasty, tasty dinner.
“You can’t just eat good food. You’ve got to talk about it too. And you’ve got to talk about it to somebody who understands that kind of food.”-Kurt Vonnegut, Jailbird
Rainy Day Window
* “Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards.”-Vladimir Nabokov
Fascinating Early-20th-Century Color Photos of Famous People [courtesy Flavorwire]
There are several writers included. Be sure to come back and let us know your favourite!
I had to do it, eventually.
I am just getting started. The books in the middle box look like they have hatched an escape plan.
I hate packing my books. Even though I am just getting started, my studio already seems bereft of a certain energy.
“A book reads the better which is our own, and has been so long known to us, that we know the topography of its blots, and dog’s ears, and can trace the dirt in it to having read it at tea with buttered muffins.”-Charles Lamb, Last Essays of Elia, 1833.
Marilyn, waiting her turn.
One of my writing specialties is silent cinema. It’s actually one of the great loves of my life, and so is Buster Keaton. Last night, The Chef and I had the rare treat of seeing Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) on the big screen. The show was held in the ballroom of the stunning Cincinnati Music Hall. Clark Wilson provided musical accompaniment on the Hall’s restored “The Mighty Wurlitzer”. This is my favourite Keaton production. I have watched it at least 20 times, but always in the privacy of my home. The joy of experiencing a silent movie whilst surrounded by hundreds of spontaneously laughing people seeing it for the first time is energetic and awe-inspiring. Buster, who made his film debut 96 years ago, would certainly be proud and humbled. It was a wonderful evening to be a cinema buff and writer.
“The first thing I did in the studio was to want to tear that camera to pieces. I had to know how that film got into the cutting room, what you did to it in there, how you projected it, how you finally got the picture together, how you made things match. The technical part of pictures is what interested me. Material was the last thing in the world I thought about. You only had to turn me loose on the set and I’d have material in two minutes, because I’d been doing it all my life.”-Buster Keaton
Deadline. Deadline. Deadline.
Since I’m up against one, I will be playing hooky from the blog today. But,
only after I leave you with a quote and a few photos of my beloved dogs.
“The writers greed is appalling. He wants, or seems to want, everything and practically everybody, in another sense, and at the same time, he needs no one at all.”-James Baldwin
I will always need you darlings, but I have to run off to write a review. Until tomorrow, then.
This is how
my babies
really sleep.
My serious writer face.
“Of all that is written, I love only what a person has written with his own blood.”-Friedrich Nietzsche
Nancy Carroll agrees that it’s wonderful to be back, darlings!
A Small Press Life: Books. Art. Writing. Life. Tea. 