tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76087390439374124772024-02-19T04:17:04.966-05:00I have good books.Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.comBlogger278125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-17231384087609696462011-07-05T12:07:00.009-04:002011-07-05T13:08:59.968-04:00Gary Panter - Untitled (?)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisV2L9dShmyhDdkJSYTCqPISX0Q_MVVTeXed76pzmL8iSwcsnbKrOrbvBVUfJOV6jY0PZWWdVu_YyZ1PAo6tUUEVrUrSqQG4am1tDSKC5U7ujra2brHhvE8RDtQC_RFbsAGeafgZwdbxJ9/s1600/panter.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 297px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisV2L9dShmyhDdkJSYTCqPISX0Q_MVVTeXed76pzmL8iSwcsnbKrOrbvBVUfJOV6jY0PZWWdVu_YyZ1PAo6tUUEVrUrSqQG4am1tDSKC5U7ujra2brHhvE8RDtQC_RFbsAGeafgZwdbxJ9/s400/panter.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5625909066759717954" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">On Saturday I happened to be passing by one of my new favorite stores, <a href="http://www.desertislandbrooklyn.com/" target="new">Desert Island Comics</a>, and decided to stop in on a whim. I left with a stack of books, including this collection of Gary Panter prints. I'm not quite sure what the deal is with this publication, as there's no information printed anywhere on it. I thought maybe it was called "The Waters Leading to Hell", but I think that's actually the title of the painting on the cover, rather than the book. But it's over-sized (about 11.5 x 15), staple-bound, printed on heavy paper, and looks awesome!</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji3Xsk6VORdAfDqZRZhExsKxWp9sZB0zIAK79AI1JYNpCY0kt5nKAbZYLdKrbG5VZpcqgIILSeXceznofPZRfQaeYAuvyHuLVKAKATvfxa4AmqrS4xq75_5vEO_kFsKGe3LX_Tk6tVSY78/s1600/panter5.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji3Xsk6VORdAfDqZRZhExsKxWp9sZB0zIAK79AI1JYNpCY0kt5nKAbZYLdKrbG5VZpcqgIILSeXceznofPZRfQaeYAuvyHuLVKAKATvfxa4AmqrS4xq75_5vEO_kFsKGe3LX_Tk6tVSY78/s400/panter5.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5625908974922243618" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCmP4qEzlOGBJu7pUJhU2xnDBaozNYM6ojv8JsNs6v_fGs8dmLZjgnjfz3NWe_PN4wgAoxmpA6dCAgsEv8VyCvusoacowpHNAhwd4QcoVsEacjKQpSIg0jKgsrAPLfNiWcyqSMqKq2YNJf/s1600/panter6.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCmP4qEzlOGBJu7pUJhU2xnDBaozNYM6ojv8JsNs6v_fGs8dmLZjgnjfz3NWe_PN4wgAoxmpA6dCAgsEv8VyCvusoacowpHNAhwd4QcoVsEacjKQpSIg0jKgsrAPLfNiWcyqSMqKq2YNJf/s400/panter6.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5625908891201522434" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXAVjDwzVH69PWfVZ_sqsef-6A4YovOtRPNodJF1Bqr9xFrsDG0rE9LU4craYI9oZTuUYhwOSFG1APLsJET4B4okH-6fsnJqvj7DrCRY1KakQRvl6LB5F-8mMS5Q5z8q4kqmrqLUuRwYWC/s1600/panter8.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 139px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXAVjDwzVH69PWfVZ_sqsef-6A4YovOtRPNodJF1Bqr9xFrsDG0rE9LU4craYI9oZTuUYhwOSFG1APLsJET4B4okH-6fsnJqvj7DrCRY1KakQRvl6LB5F-8mMS5Q5z8q4kqmrqLUuRwYWC/s400/panter8.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5625908818659804706" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFJb56stO3H6GwE_icKCfyRSv6andFzaLw3jNh12JXYLdNhbqk_PBTAQUEo1Kf8mQH8kDUzAmnBqE76znruoSfGVWDOypMJ7ig6bmTV30TctiuE3D84WbH8DEbbRWP9PuYs6m1r6O1ZlWq/s1600/panter12.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 148px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFJb56stO3H6GwE_icKCfyRSv6andFzaLw3jNh12JXYLdNhbqk_PBTAQUEo1Kf8mQH8kDUzAmnBqE76znruoSfGVWDOypMJ7ig6bmTV30TctiuE3D84WbH8DEbbRWP9PuYs6m1r6O1ZlWq/s400/panter12.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5625908743531753874" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrIHLoL4QeGLm7fxKHFmihvAMXXSeZeQNReLkJoyOyktzSZDyE17EK6poDkzq2WzrmZGyCpBj5SLrXBtz4RigPY0YhMYaulYRo2n41bdK-Wh03Mqc1jUdd1uGi6AN_EWAMuHgOQicV9Geg/s1600/panter13.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrIHLoL4QeGLm7fxKHFmihvAMXXSeZeQNReLkJoyOyktzSZDyE17EK6poDkzq2WzrmZGyCpBj5SLrXBtz4RigPY0YhMYaulYRo2n41bdK-Wh03Mqc1jUdd1uGi6AN_EWAMuHgOQicV9Geg/s400/panter13.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5625908678402141074" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwh2FCLl87TmTBsKfrxKfdE92ubJGqMHWDsfpr4QfBrkX0QqLkSmAVLSBYE8CGWw6Ul1BU2cHjHFW4goNNbdkaZE0kOjmNqeiO8vUADxuZRz43HWFN9YpkA1113_rEi6y5qPt6OT4XkCvF/s1600/panter15.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 261px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwh2FCLl87TmTBsKfrxKfdE92ubJGqMHWDsfpr4QfBrkX0QqLkSmAVLSBYE8CGWw6Ul1BU2cHjHFW4goNNbdkaZE0kOjmNqeiO8vUADxuZRz43HWFN9YpkA1113_rEi6y5qPt6OT4XkCvF/s400/panter15.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5625908363633131570" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">As a bonus, I was invited to choose from a box of "weird, 80s music trading cards" and managed to score this one of Harley Flanagan from the Cro-Mags. Pretty awesome (and yes, weird).</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMMgKPm4Eg0Nld0Wzy8nHB6zpehIrz4uAXJMC5vHgTBFFoffiTYMgwMpmzwaOA2yl-cZmDak8zJgJF5CfmRGESSHysycgWotSyfpqr8sM8VKZpv1UpfdRlqqllxn_GStULVXLF5uALNUHc/s1600/DSCN1301.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 293px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMMgKPm4Eg0Nld0Wzy8nHB6zpehIrz4uAXJMC5vHgTBFFoffiTYMgwMpmzwaOA2yl-cZmDak8zJgJF5CfmRGESSHysycgWotSyfpqr8sM8VKZpv1UpfdRlqqllxn_GStULVXLF5uALNUHc/s400/DSCN1301.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5625915050960662290" border="0" /></a>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-1923517234675111242011-06-01T09:00:00.002-04:002011-06-01T09:00:16.142-04:00The Fires by Joe Flood<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM9jsjD4NMdJCF4WtTegrQVqXkP045AeUYd1BjHfXRcFTkAmc5E14yn3-hzTOHa8iucUs5nAFE290NhGnPp8ZFMfJ7prmnBGpYC10bpt1ELg9orQlpck-jQ6ahqCRsUsiK7SSDaTL2QFF0/s1600/Scan+2.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 264px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM9jsjD4NMdJCF4WtTegrQVqXkP045AeUYd1BjHfXRcFTkAmc5E14yn3-hzTOHa8iucUs5nAFE290NhGnPp8ZFMfJ7prmnBGpYC10bpt1ELg9orQlpck-jQ6ahqCRsUsiK7SSDaTL2QFF0/s400/Scan+2.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612277991724330162" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">At this point I've read a lot of books about the history of New York City, so much of the content of this book was nothing new to me (in fact, I recognized a lot of the material cited from Robert Caro's </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" >The Power Broker</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> and Jane Jacobs' </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" >The Death and Life of Great American Cities</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">). However, its main thesis was rather unique--that the majority of the fires ravaging parts of the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan in the '70s were caused by a flawed computer model, and not greedy landlords hoping to collect insurance money. In the '60s Mayor Lindsay teamed up with the RAND corporation, a think tank established to provide research and analysis to the U.S. army, to develop a way to govern the city more efficiently and statistically, starting with the fire department. But their methods were deeply flawed, resulting in severely reduced service in the neighborhoods that needed it desperately and new stations opening in sleepy suburban areas that really didn't need them at all. Added to that were lax building codes--it seems like most of the serious fires detailed in the book were made far worse because of illegal constructions the FDNY was unaware of--and firefighters' lack of proper training on how to approach a truss-style building.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" >The Fires</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> doesn't really succeed much in painting a vivid picture of what conditions were like in the fire-ravaged neighborhoods. But maybe that's not really the point of the book. I'd never heard of the RAND corporation before, and found those aspects of the book to be pretty interesting. </span>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-73444419245490266412011-05-31T09:00:00.000-04:002011-05-31T09:00:13.922-04:002666 by Roberto Bolano<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">My god has it been a long time since I've posted anything. No excuses, really, other than laziness--but I'm coming back with something good.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC09ns9sjitng4S7uFty6NWEEUVfUKGT8JoeriNk76xjuEm3CH8EAF9-yO73LAFqcxsc-kpOTmpleb1hYAj12haQa-XSgcwcEZ5heD809eYfIscCZFZmyKqX0pF_f2WFNcnnBtuL-T0vBW/s1600/1.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 289px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC09ns9sjitng4S7uFty6NWEEUVfUKGT8JoeriNk76xjuEm3CH8EAF9-yO73LAFqcxsc-kpOTmpleb1hYAj12haQa-XSgcwcEZ5heD809eYfIscCZFZmyKqX0pF_f2WFNcnnBtuL-T0vBW/s400/1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612691221755430098" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Robert Bolano's </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;">2666 </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">is a 900 page novel that was published posthumously as a boxed set of three paperbacks (as well as another edition in one volume). Such a beautiful package--I love the brown paper slipcase, the red lettering, and the design of each of the individual books inside.</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmSi6iu3TZjNvVxVKMaxyMNyvivEmM3P5s4dv1G55gjuM3SXUHfRs6gCS03cF3RlDPPoYstLVGtqIKSDPK7K_SIywluhVxVIN4NW94DlfR5J3VN1DwcH0rBAYlsGJ_EtIJWJ_TysUlSUAL/s1600/Scan+3.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmSi6iu3TZjNvVxVKMaxyMNyvivEmM3P5s4dv1G55gjuM3SXUHfRs6gCS03cF3RlDPPoYstLVGtqIKSDPK7K_SIywluhVxVIN4NW94DlfR5J3VN1DwcH0rBAYlsGJ_EtIJWJ_TysUlSUAL/s400/Scan+3.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612691050477642146" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJFJMGCz0_oUqbGpGoD7WfigQ97D-4qYhqJp28OrTxYtsLJFzseNPsd23AfraSwLSf1TSiSo0LOq9aS-BazabMvqWJ7BZfMsQERJeWhKPNjp1XNiTgbKu-W2LAyraFajbk2-GYXJ9C1t1y/s1600/Scan+1.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJFJMGCz0_oUqbGpGoD7WfigQ97D-4qYhqJp28OrTxYtsLJFzseNPsd23AfraSwLSf1TSiSo0LOq9aS-BazabMvqWJ7BZfMsQERJeWhKPNjp1XNiTgbKu-W2LAyraFajbk2-GYXJ9C1t1y/s400/Scan+1.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612690506769076098" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVGRzqO6QtRENd0Lu5v4HpywIPhD_slq1aeVk4_DbTkE_rrG7lUQj0b4r8xhf1dumrAtvHNXrkNMJlkF076E7jVNdsb5mDRJtxj4ubturhhcFuBbc0PA5pMV8DR_0FyarKo2uLcnxFI0oQ/s1600/6.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVGRzqO6QtRENd0Lu5v4HpywIPhD_slq1aeVk4_DbTkE_rrG7lUQj0b4r8xhf1dumrAtvHNXrkNMJlkF076E7jVNdsb5mDRJtxj4ubturhhcFuBbc0PA5pMV8DR_0FyarKo2uLcnxFI0oQ/s400/6.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612688938871495298" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Each of the covers wraps around from left to right to create one large image.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCgR1q8ry7lbY7KAM93zLxoAqCUie2QdnQWjVf9a9boiRRkkQ5xlNGxkLabXo4IDEMw7Lgi4WBifp2cBpNIT1QdW4hjRbxTns6XsZrWR3m8CXNLQJtyrIPtrt-po5tent5jK-LmsM5Vlg3/s1600/7.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 274px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCgR1q8ry7lbY7KAM93zLxoAqCUie2QdnQWjVf9a9boiRRkkQ5xlNGxkLabXo4IDEMw7Lgi4WBifp2cBpNIT1QdW4hjRbxTns6XsZrWR3m8CXNLQJtyrIPtrt-po5tent5jK-LmsM5Vlg3/s400/7.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612688902031171970" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">As for the content of the book, it's actually divided into five parts, each one loosely connected to the next, from a group of critics in search of a reclusive German author, to an untold number of serial murders in Mexico, to the Eastern front of World War II, and back again. I love a good literary mystery, and while it didn't follow that storyline for the entire book, I nonetheless enjoyed it. I didn't read it all at once, taking breaks between some of the sections, so that by the time I got to the end of part four I'd nearly forgotten how it started, but it didn't bother me. It may be sprawling, and at times feels a little aimless, but by the end the many plotlines come together.<br /><br /></span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRSrBlhJUFxS7cES79KMqR2PB5uI_VgozIHWESHsRsaxWOHcXWswK8SvbDX5rEvtjOpb61imfeDVnRg4hhyphenhyphenr0o7GtFF4Y4LapzSv8yniIathFQcYuxiMzbFOzrw7RqYWYOsX1QkJrlduel/s1600/3.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRSrBlhJUFxS7cES79KMqR2PB5uI_VgozIHWESHsRsaxWOHcXWswK8SvbDX5rEvtjOpb61imfeDVnRg4hhyphenhyphenr0o7GtFF4Y4LapzSv8yniIathFQcYuxiMzbFOzrw7RqYWYOsX1QkJrlduel/s400/3.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612691169247092082" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I wish all long books were published in parts, as a 300 page paperback is much easier to cart around on the subway than a 900 page one. </span>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-48405869408580122332011-04-04T22:18:00.000-04:002011-04-04T22:18:49.308-04:00In Cold Blood by Truman Capote<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRPWg6TNnA94plUGU21lVbSkxSxbi5MLii9H_z6j1fs6nlEt-jlX1VIHCXuHEZcsg7lat4B3gvjOqeXcIGOmKJ5SZWQNj4oCVf17S_fnWsGI1bVwPbt_9ePZf4kAyax6g2M10syHfjaPXr/s1600/cold+blood.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 313px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRPWg6TNnA94plUGU21lVbSkxSxbi5MLii9H_z6j1fs6nlEt-jlX1VIHCXuHEZcsg7lat4B3gvjOqeXcIGOmKJ5SZWQNj4oCVf17S_fnWsGI1bVwPbt_9ePZf4kAyax6g2M10syHfjaPXr/s400/cold+blood.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591501159569101906" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Here's one I should definitely re-read. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;">In Cold Blood</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> is widely considered to be the first non-fiction novel, the story of a 1959 murder of an entire family in rural Kansas and its aftermath. Some have challenged the authenticity of the story, accusing Capote of changing some of the details to suit the book that he wanted to write. Whatever the true story might be, it doesn't change the masterfully chilling and elegant writing. I bought this copy without a cover at a used bookstore in Nashville, not sure which one, shown here with the spine. I wish I'd found one with </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.buffyholt.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/truman-capote-in-cold-blood.jpg" target="new">a dust jacket</a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">.</span>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-24313076973064705472011-03-14T09:00:00.000-04:002011-03-14T09:00:08.386-04:00Expelled from Eden by William T. Vollmann<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGBS__Cu-WvDHXT_fe4gAq91RR5T_IJqALh9f-HJHb8b3JMR7XY-p0veh9LVGsRZgyBQNjhr2Y-ZrPBem41gVRVTL8llfntAJI5UlXPf7yhFAv0sRx5WCDjGDW9iZMK5cbwMadEWPpD16z/s1600/Scan+8.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 270px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGBS__Cu-WvDHXT_fe4gAq91RR5T_IJqALh9f-HJHb8b3JMR7XY-p0veh9LVGsRZgyBQNjhr2Y-ZrPBem41gVRVTL8llfntAJI5UlXPf7yhFAv0sRx5WCDjGDW9iZMK5cbwMadEWPpD16z/s400/Scan+8.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5583741403362664146" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">My first introduction to William T. Vollmann came in an interview in </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;">BookForum</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> about five or six years ago. I was intrigued, and decided to start with the then recently published </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;">Expelled from Eden</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">, which collects excerpts from all of his novels, as well as essays, journalism, interviews, and letters, providing a window into Vollmann's voice, style, and breadth of work. I'm not sure I read the whole thing (certainly not straight through), rather leafing through it, reading bits of it here and there. Since then I've endured a number of his books (I think endured is the right word--while beautifully written, the subject matter is often bleak and horrific) and intend to read more. Eventually. I haven't worked up the nerve to tackle </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;">Imperial </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">yet (1,200 pages about the California county right on the Mexican border) but I'll get there.</span>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-70821292163256933002011-03-09T09:00:00.001-05:002011-03-09T09:08:33.791-05:00Type and Typography by Ben Rosen<a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdoVkw2Vat6JDpwk7ugFuQXL-NZr79mxDk0bwY0cwADIDXIECk3MSd7Glsu-g-bIRXEeoehUEr_a5gr1upunCO4bf9cxEWluqXLSPh9SX5BmLjjQOJ-TR-zlYI_V2FJJKMvKtenRnSoFbV/s1600/DSCN0038.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 334px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdoVkw2Vat6JDpwk7ugFuQXL-NZr79mxDk0bwY0cwADIDXIECk3MSd7Glsu-g-bIRXEeoehUEr_a5gr1upunCO4bf9cxEWluqXLSPh9SX5BmLjjQOJ-TR-zlYI_V2FJJKMvKtenRnSoFbV/s400/DSCN0038.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581021547663944930" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I bought this typography book at an estate sale a couple of years ago. (Please excuse the slightly blurry and unappealing photo.) The books were so cheap that I just kept adding more to my pile (I walked out of there with more stuff than I could carry and it all came to about $8). A 1960s typography book? Why not? I'm not a graphic designer but I do have an appreciation of type and letters in general, and lately find myself paying more attention to the typefaces that I use and what they communicate.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihw02O65bUwfNH4MICPt_xg2xKabGv1ctxBRsGP5RASnv6oj59VBe5rTMRMcD5qj3-I9fQH8K5WVmSG-_x0BYNY2sFuESwprHCSXfIlCHCr6KNQNQ0RjekCmGN6KO4G62_s6I_XUA9njTu/s1600/DSCN0039.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 252px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihw02O65bUwfNH4MICPt_xg2xKabGv1ctxBRsGP5RASnv6oj59VBe5rTMRMcD5qj3-I9fQH8K5WVmSG-_x0BYNY2sFuESwprHCSXfIlCHCr6KNQNQ0RjekCmGN6KO4G62_s6I_XUA9njTu/s400/DSCN0039.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581021501523946722" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">A closer look at the logo on the front, which I love. Although I must say, I love the front of the </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/insect54/2403249668/in/photostream/" target="new">paperback edition</a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> even more.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqhZzxIKqn-13uHkj1rQgIOoByQPRZvxP8L0R_Sd1WLMwv3oUBIeYtGrPd5gLpAYvDUJqTTbynuY2cfa4ginDV9TkCv7XN36VKhIh-b1pyOkKpPfYZ4CDF94VSkRQI3Zrln32xpM-94R5Z/s1600/DSCN0041.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqhZzxIKqn-13uHkj1rQgIOoByQPRZvxP8L0R_Sd1WLMwv3oUBIeYtGrPd5gLpAYvDUJqTTbynuY2cfa4ginDV9TkCv7XN36VKhIh-b1pyOkKpPfYZ4CDF94VSkRQI3Zrln32xpM-94R5Z/s400/DSCN0041.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581021373622116546" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Most of the typefaces showcased in the book are pretty basic--this book was published nearly 50 years ago after all--though still widely used today. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; ">(By the way...I just noticed that the letter R appears twice in the above example. Anyone have any idea why?)</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgztio749OvLZghI0Hwumhpb_W4TgLddnmbMuGlMzpcVKYahILNR_OJtW-RjxO4fiWjfJRexMXYb-DQsGumBvbRlQGyw97VgVtoD4kQIMlezhDLM_BmCyb0r8ZMqw1XWbKf5eup4upE5yCw/s1600/DSCN0046.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgztio749OvLZghI0Hwumhpb_W4TgLddnmbMuGlMzpcVKYahILNR_OJtW-RjxO4fiWjfJRexMXYb-DQsGumBvbRlQGyw97VgVtoD4kQIMlezhDLM_BmCyb0r8ZMqw1XWbKf5eup4upE5yCw/s400/DSCN0046.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581021324427809346" border="0" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; ">There's also something I find visually appealing about looking at all of these alphabets, especially when some of the letters are blown up to be very large. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxThs2dCsRVy4vLb_AdAHuBvpJMSsWx-WNuXJToHyU7PaLWdR8D-V_FwVJT1o7o_4Lddm6DK3AzYET0VxFwfMXG_d1RTEuputGA83CvA0mzikUo9gmo60KP8XNLnV-geDPtO8RMC57r6lg/s1600/DSCN0047.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxThs2dCsRVy4vLb_AdAHuBvpJMSsWx-WNuXJToHyU7PaLWdR8D-V_FwVJT1o7o_4Lddm6DK3AzYET0VxFwfMXG_d1RTEuputGA83CvA0mzikUo9gmo60KP8XNLnV-geDPtO8RMC57r6lg/s400/DSCN0047.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581021245699616002" border="0" /></a><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnxflApdYblsa3AdksUNor1H-FwnO_f5DQmyCCfVj1dV1k9o_0qGIQDhiloHdIG1N6dqnVkkaE1c6AG30b1rrkWok2aaOBHahbQ-N2_Zs505vfppUFsWaYCMjeuHYJ7bWbTAvWpdwaXCFk/s1600/DSCN0049.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 340px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnxflApdYblsa3AdksUNor1H-FwnO_f5DQmyCCfVj1dV1k9o_0qGIQDhiloHdIG1N6dqnVkkaE1c6AG30b1rrkWok2aaOBHahbQ-N2_Zs505vfppUFsWaYCMjeuHYJ7bWbTAvWpdwaXCFk/s400/DSCN0049.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581021172620701058" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">There are also a few pages illustrating how type can be used in advertising and other commercial work, and that's where it gets a little more exciting.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggeC0Ndm-14szb6hnbKx64PLTgRPsdGd3OcXAIhwOZDpEewIviA5ncKw6bAS4X6TDtiUJLfSarSc9PBFAjPDf5ggmK0Gd-7gT8Rsj3uKIftwgui6A2GhMyLaFgiLN5BBcyk7FqXn8r848v/s1600/DSCN0043.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 294px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggeC0Ndm-14szb6hnbKx64PLTgRPsdGd3OcXAIhwOZDpEewIviA5ncKw6bAS4X6TDtiUJLfSarSc9PBFAjPDf5ggmK0Gd-7gT8Rsj3uKIftwgui6A2GhMyLaFgiLN5BBcyk7FqXn8r848v/s400/DSCN0043.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581021433622371650" border="0" /></a></div>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-89167390718193401712011-03-07T09:00:00.002-05:002011-03-07T09:04:07.614-05:00The Lime Twig by John Hawkes<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_R15kLie59bPF2RCtLVV-jrMh_vEv68tNcyfy5X6zHAEFoCJrhbHMFWWIogQBVO-933W7PEf9AAk8pani4FnxyVXM3jfPeoIF3G0YtgIHcDfojtM76_C06tqyFsVNLowfTQAHzzYVmz7c/s1600/lime+twig.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_R15kLie59bPF2RCtLVV-jrMh_vEv68tNcyfy5X6zHAEFoCJrhbHMFWWIogQBVO-933W7PEf9AAk8pani4FnxyVXM3jfPeoIF3G0YtgIHcDfojtM76_C06tqyFsVNLowfTQAHzzYVmz7c/s400/lime+twig.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581013170786485810" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic; font-family:trebuchet ms;">The Lime Twig</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> is a surreal, avant-garde novel melded with pulp crime fiction. (Many a review describes it as something like Dick Francis meets David Lynch.) The basic story—a race horse heist gone horribly wrong—is told in nightmarish, impressionistic sequences. The cover of the book, featuring a grainy, blurry mess of images that only come into focus when you really concentrate, is a pretty apt translation of my experience of the book.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW0rLt_03YFxwa7Q2xQMrfv2BWUWc4AAYZ4dJvoDBbwzti-E7AHCWrfizYb5bn94Q2D65MEioc_2ZlVsG6zKQH1B5et1jpG4W4V4a-4HnP1PUfnCptgQOqNU8dB5OlKPY6IqQ6ApyZ6T31/s1600/lime+twig+back.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 263px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW0rLt_03YFxwa7Q2xQMrfv2BWUWc4AAYZ4dJvoDBbwzti-E7AHCWrfizYb5bn94Q2D65MEioc_2ZlVsG6zKQH1B5et1jpG4W4V4a-4HnP1PUfnCptgQOqNU8dB5OlKPY6IqQ6ApyZ6T31/s400/lime+twig+back.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581013098079235170" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I can't remember how exactly I first came across John Hawkes—in some chain of online links—but only a couple weeks later I found a copy of </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family:trebuchet ms;">The Lime Twig</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> in a used bookstore and excitedly picked it up, thinking it a nice coincidence. As I was paying for the books, the store owner stopped at </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family:trebuchet ms;">The Lime Twig</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> and got a funny smile on her face as she explained that John Hawkes had been her college writing teacher (which explains why the book was prominently displayed on the wall). I'm not really sure of the point of that story but it's what I remember most about the book when I see it.</span>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-44556466201971613772011-03-02T09:00:00.000-05:002011-03-02T09:00:21.516-05:00The Friend of Madame Maigret by Georges Simenon<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjbIFE9R6IAQ-s2GkIsIWKqlnsh3301i2hMYpi2neIVGOiD0azqX1jFKiCvfVz3i_KQ0feR9DDwZCfzw5x_xbXd1koKwB0O7AlMGOCiSar3vZvuhzQTJUYB5FVq_8JGkGvddTaNrYqrKwg/s1600/madame+maigret.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 258px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjbIFE9R6IAQ-s2GkIsIWKqlnsh3301i2hMYpi2neIVGOiD0azqX1jFKiCvfVz3i_KQ0feR9DDwZCfzw5x_xbXd1koKwB0O7AlMGOCiSar3vZvuhzQTJUYB5FVq_8JGkGvddTaNrYqrKwg/s400/madame+maigret.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578211420999667826" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Georges Simenon might be one my most read authors, maybe because he wrote so many books--around 200--and because they're so incredibly readable (and short). I picked this one up on a shelf at work not long after reading an article about him in </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;">BookForum</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">, so it was a nicely timed find. One of 75 novels starring the fictional police detective Inspector Maigret, this one was written in 1949, about midway into Simenon's writing career. In an increasingly complex investigation, Maigret attempts to prove that a murder has been committed, even though no body has been discovered.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Revisiting this one makes me want to crack open another Maigret novel. I've got at least a few more unread ones on the shelf.</span>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-54677887605587280412011-03-01T09:00:00.000-05:002011-03-01T09:00:11.030-05:00Kramers Ergot #5<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHZ8ySB10rBdgfSDfWuOANS4ymCJGF9uLV7Wr6wRxSE3gfBMaJkx8M4CN-6Xs4FMKx8ZEY1qbM5P090Gdg9smDxLriihvm5LYAU5tCANSodjlA_eONcbcUFBpfIcjnapSyy_Um9edt2_yV/s1600/1.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 371px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHZ8ySB10rBdgfSDfWuOANS4ymCJGF9uLV7Wr6wRxSE3gfBMaJkx8M4CN-6Xs4FMKx8ZEY1qbM5P090Gdg9smDxLriihvm5LYAU5tCANSodjlA_eONcbcUFBpfIcjnapSyy_Um9edt2_yV/s400/1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578207549207597378" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;">Kramers Ergot</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> began as a self-published mini-comic and has grown into a full-sized, extensive comics anthology, and is only getting thicker and more extravagant with each new installment. The fifth issue includes work from twenty contributors, including Gary Panter, Marc Bell, Chris Ware, Ron Rege Jr, Tom Gauld, and Kevin Huizenga, among others. It's a pretty amazing collection. </span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidi_k_uQaLV7NRIaPFiMKWiv2QsLZWWXVpyLbNYC0tdXMias6V78wonX68Iy90UHqvkOaUomRvrwVpc77QzXtmeKJkfbZMQsWxiGrdvy9OUIxUwDu8RHDEtb5qhX1S8h9DIOMq4M1Hl_BA/s1600/2.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidi_k_uQaLV7NRIaPFiMKWiv2QsLZWWXVpyLbNYC0tdXMias6V78wonX68Iy90UHqvkOaUomRvrwVpc77QzXtmeKJkfbZMQsWxiGrdvy9OUIxUwDu8RHDEtb5qhX1S8h9DIOMq4M1Hl_BA/s400/2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578207514327257842" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEOmIlsi2iORg32buwDii7tXO8Nc-4lNq12D6zHP1BPi_ZL-4aJa7qoexCN-4SCyDRoWfyITO84VdQehdp8tB5FWR0hjS5TG1qkQOiNxdFbPM5tn3iFwBqdo_EOpj_tkMiR6Nd6bz-tJuP/s1600/3.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 274px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEOmIlsi2iORg32buwDii7tXO8Nc-4lNq12D6zHP1BPi_ZL-4aJa7qoexCN-4SCyDRoWfyITO84VdQehdp8tB5FWR0hjS5TG1qkQOiNxdFbPM5tn3iFwBqdo_EOpj_tkMiR6Nd6bz-tJuP/s400/3.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578207467820341218" border="0" /></a><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif-ItOKNy4txNH5MaAYlwtcVAQ5Bi8E27e2hUEeUzkUw3BCwBojPOwBbjYFJkRhXc-zGlZyRG8GXmGuACh5BaMFJxrbPa8FVJSAoXwn9eyHREKutypXpNh5R9ROihvNv4LiFVAYA7kd_uU/s1600/4.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif-ItOKNy4txNH5MaAYlwtcVAQ5Bi8E27e2hUEeUzkUw3BCwBojPOwBbjYFJkRhXc-zGlZyRG8GXmGuACh5BaMFJxrbPa8FVJSAoXwn9eyHREKutypXpNh5R9ROihvNv4LiFVAYA7kd_uU/s400/4.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578207432533027506" border="0" /></a><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXfsDwUgmaYATYiMLUefFDAavlAhsuX-NvwJ7eDm4OsmBJ8wLMSEe-ZPrile3wrfpWoVupqXGAwsOmz52_reZHZ7qgZcRn3v5ofI6X35Y6TXtXHdvYAV0NtaI58Xqq01O3-JhpQOQPrYa5/s1600/5.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXfsDwUgmaYATYiMLUefFDAavlAhsuX-NvwJ7eDm4OsmBJ8wLMSEe-ZPrile3wrfpWoVupqXGAwsOmz52_reZHZ7qgZcRn3v5ofI6X35Y6TXtXHdvYAV0NtaI58Xqq01O3-JhpQOQPrYa5/s400/5.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578207391467497986" border="0" /></a><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUkpTiASyVY_Wf_AO_yWXz4P6hASAUUa-jjEnmQnEbR3o3aP9OQ_fLqPm5g0cg7zwOXzqplko5G-essT3IThxnyH6B4GnsP-wkjVN9F2YQAA_s7HwfpZWnskpfDFQ0Dikd_T1OLrI7TRhU/s1600/6.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 259px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUkpTiASyVY_Wf_AO_yWXz4P6hASAUUa-jjEnmQnEbR3o3aP9OQ_fLqPm5g0cg7zwOXzqplko5G-essT3IThxnyH6B4GnsP-wkjVN9F2YQAA_s7HwfpZWnskpfDFQ0Dikd_T1OLrI7TRhU/s400/6.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578207349322687538" border="0" /></a><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVgEbZ4yZvyZm0D1a_Wjgdx0ZMzusdw7AklS8bGeyAad1S5FRXiE-NivnGroOmdePqupjEE4krsKviamGQvs0XgJNJVGGsVDoZRzzTKbJlIs0rn2AY-opJBWugCay4_6Wx4p59Htj6JNY_/s1600/7.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 291px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVgEbZ4yZvyZm0D1a_Wjgdx0ZMzusdw7AklS8bGeyAad1S5FRXiE-NivnGroOmdePqupjEE4krsKviamGQvs0XgJNJVGGsVDoZRzzTKbJlIs0rn2AY-opJBWugCay4_6Wx4p59Htj6JNY_/s400/7.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578207304080253746" border="0" /></a><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje7MMpam_oO16m812SOh_RtHUixzngwFrCLgL71Aptd8fEOSSIZTHIVbETGXokPcXlOenQBP0VvLGnoFRfowOZvooOc_qskGEt8cuaMS-zFTrBvfZIqmqxqhBQwPzYopjT7HZrt4rlgYtY/s1600/8.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje7MMpam_oO16m812SOh_RtHUixzngwFrCLgL71Aptd8fEOSSIZTHIVbETGXokPcXlOenQBP0VvLGnoFRfowOZvooOc_qskGEt8cuaMS-zFTrBvfZIqmqxqhBQwPzYopjT7HZrt4rlgYtY/s400/8.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578207261064533874" border="0" /></a><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwNetfAa5wQ_MdyBWXxX-niOFy8ymzsR1Jsy9duWvogIsZxfBYhVSmGI6mrBoDZvHGK2wym5AuEmzPbTGMzJmnkoveiuwcTlYosmBPBlVC0s3vrFfL-tgpN6Rtjjx3MzubpE6hKmNQhCXQ/s1600/9.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwNetfAa5wQ_MdyBWXxX-niOFy8ymzsR1Jsy9duWvogIsZxfBYhVSmGI6mrBoDZvHGK2wym5AuEmzPbTGMzJmnkoveiuwcTlYosmBPBlVC0s3vrFfL-tgpN6Rtjjx3MzubpE6hKmNQhCXQ/s400/9.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578207203402388146" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I love how colorful this one is, particularly the spine. </span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8j6V1-gJQs4XJr4c2TCn3f5VhvCmvGKzIL7VZHhKmzlhj_eXOlb5SzOWVMKRcwvdhiHBVLVYoPjsTQN7Eu6OMYHYE3Io65SxiJEAE1LxtXZugsNtlEQIKEF5Rx42XJpBqnpiT0i4Uye8Z/s1600/DSCN0022.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 388px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8j6V1-gJQs4XJr4c2TCn3f5VhvCmvGKzIL7VZHhKmzlhj_eXOlb5SzOWVMKRcwvdhiHBVLVYoPjsTQN7Eu6OMYHYE3Io65SxiJEAE1LxtXZugsNtlEQIKEF5Rx42XJpBqnpiT0i4Uye8Z/s400/DSCN0022.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578206572893945154" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The back.</span>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-61501276200398719862011-02-28T09:00:00.001-05:002011-02-28T09:01:22.724-05:00Screw-Jack by Hunter S. Thompson<a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKwytAA5ih_kVhNW-4nMwSJLSYN5xl_lZOg9vSBOKhMT_Ph4ehfgO4JP_4AAbvjKDEd4Xk9jlRMM4Ivmx-AXkmyNBqRVvhD9aD96HOSjaDp_ZBq2vJaOBWu0N8KJgYIysv2elhyphenhyphen7B0bFNP/s1600/screwjack.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 298px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKwytAA5ih_kVhNW-4nMwSJLSYN5xl_lZOg9vSBOKhMT_Ph4ehfgO4JP_4AAbvjKDEd4Xk9jlRMM4Ivmx-AXkmyNBqRVvhD9aD96HOSjaDp_ZBq2vJaOBWu0N8KJgYIysv2elhyphenhyphen7B0bFNP/s400/screwjack.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578199987084709874" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Originally published in 1991 as a private printing of 300 collectors' copies and 26 leather-bound presentation copies, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family:trebuchet ms;">Screw-Jack</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> was published for the general public in 2000. It's a short little book, consisting of three short stories, including a stream-of-consciousness chronicle of Thompson's first mescaline experience in 1969 and a demented love story ostensibly written by Thompson's alter ego Raoul Duke. It might not be </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family:trebuchet ms;">Fear and Loathing</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> good, but it's pretty good nonetheless. I love the cover, with the giant letters reminiscent of antique wood type.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4R8ai-May3xEg5PUqSlmugZ2nUqfhCETMkm6mJ-TsVnTA3Aj2c8waqHNgyCiG135lsmWjrXh0e-X4311pzbXhBDj9ej9yAVIHVScPpnl8N2BRyMhJJaBFpjvCFEjzx3lt1q8EXbGk7iq3/s1600/screwjack+back.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 294px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4R8ai-May3xEg5PUqSlmugZ2nUqfhCETMkm6mJ-TsVnTA3Aj2c8waqHNgyCiG135lsmWjrXh0e-X4311pzbXhBDj9ej9yAVIHVScPpnl8N2BRyMhJJaBFpjvCFEjzx3lt1q8EXbGk7iq3/s400/screwjack+back.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578199917148872434" border="0" /></a>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-22325135543036658082011-02-22T09:00:00.002-05:002011-02-22T09:09:41.799-05:00Novels in Three Lines by Felix Feneon<a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6lKo1jSqwICm6MW2Cwpm96tIcTWCUouOsrluGca3EGdyLgBH9BbJpD8LIhh6IH-CEQqliL_q3qyU3M8TYT1UvANSN2c2u8ev43Hok8-m6tRr4fFp2Xx1Nl0l0kU9q_21bHYCXKEK9uXYd/s1600/novels+in+3+lines.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 256px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6lKo1jSqwICm6MW2Cwpm96tIcTWCUouOsrluGca3EGdyLgBH9BbJpD8LIhh6IH-CEQqliL_q3qyU3M8TYT1UvANSN2c2u8ev43Hok8-m6tRr4fFp2Xx1Nl0l0kU9q_21bHYCXKEK9uXYd/s400/novels+in+3+lines.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5576203554679233698" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">This is a collection of short news items that appeared anonymously in the French newspaper <span style="font-style: italic;">Le Matin</span> in the year 1906, mostly about criminal activity and other strange occurrences. The anonymous writer proved to be Felix Feneon, a Parisian anarchist and art critic who, though he could have risen to greatness (he was the first French publisher of James Joyce and early promoter of Georges Seurat and the "Neo-impressionists," a term which he coined), preferred to preserve his anonymity, toiling away as an obscure clerk in the French War Department.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The book's introduction is written by Luc Sante, which, admittedly, is what first drew me to this book when I saw it on display in a store. Sante writes, "Feneon's three-line news items...are the poems and novel he never otherwise wrote...They demonstrate in miniature his epigrammatic flair, his exquisite timing, his pinpoint precision of language, his exceedingly dry humor."</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> A few examples:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">"Nurse Elise Bachmann, whose day off was yesterday, put on a public display of insanity."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">A few articles down, the following appears: "A certain madwoman arrested downtown falsely claimed to be nurse Elise Bachmann. The latter is perfectly sane."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The bluntness employed here is almost comical: "'If my candidate loses, I will kill myself,' M. Belavoinne, of Fresquienne, Seine-Inferieure, had declared. He killed himself."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I love all the details that Feneon bothers to mention in the short amount of available space: "Weighed down with bronzes, with china, with linens, and with tapestries, two burglars were arrested, at night, in Bry-sur-Marne." </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">"With a four-tined pitchfork, farmhand David, of Courtemaux, Loiret, killed his wife, whom he, erroneously, thought unfaithful." So much is communicated in just one word, "erroneously"--it really changes the meaning of the statement.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Some of them really feel like poetry: "The schoolchildren of Niort were being crowned. The chandelier fell, and the laurels among them were spotted with a little blood." Who else would have described it in such a way?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">There are so many more great ones. It is, however, not the type of book that you should read from cover to cover, in long sittings. After awhile they start to blur together, and the subtlety and artfulness begins to be lost as you quickly skim through them. Better to savor and ingest it a little at a time.</span>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-51394969535508247742011-02-16T09:00:00.006-05:002015-06-06T21:57:25.879-04:00Candy by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi98k6Up_c-WPUn4o6V0SR5XUZ7wFHLJFPb8c0SMSXbXG5i9cutXEHQQpTkE3qfydmh_lOo0waAt9ULayAosmD2qNhjyrx5BkrpzryiD1O9VOJY4V31cRXvOdQrWRxdLmQ9I4HYar3hDtr6/s1600/candy.jpeg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574105798532504434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi98k6Up_c-WPUn4o6V0SR5XUZ7wFHLJFPb8c0SMSXbXG5i9cutXEHQQpTkE3qfydmh_lOo0waAt9ULayAosmD2qNhjyrx5BkrpzryiD1O9VOJY4V31cRXvOdQrWRxdLmQ9I4HYar3hDtr6/s400/candy.jpeg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 236px;" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">While perhaps best known for writing screenplays (</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">Dr. Strangelove</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">, </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">Easy Rider</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">, </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">Casino Royale</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">, etc), Terry Southern wrote several novels and essays. In the 50s he hung around in New York with the likes of Robert Frank, Larry Rivers, Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg, and so on. During that time he wrote a short story "about a girl in Greenwich Village who got involved with a hunchback because she was such a good Samaritan" (that particular description of it comes from </span><a href="http://www.altx.com/int2/terry.southern.html" target="new"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">this interview</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">). Several people, including the poet Mason Hoffenberg, felt this girl should have more adventures, and the two began writing alternating chapters that grew into the novel </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">Candy</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span>
<span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">Candy</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"> is loosely based on Voltaire's </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">Candide</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">, written as a kind of spoof on the dirty books being published at the time. Candy Christian is a buxom teenager who more or less spends the novel being raped by various people, including her uncle. I realize this sounds horrific and offensive, but it somehow manages to be funny and zany in a dated 1960s sort of way. I was introduced to a number of ridiculous words for "vagina" that I'd never heard before, including "honeypot" and "lamb pit." And yet, I think I liked the book. One of my favorite lines:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"> "'Uh-huh,' said the cynical cop. 'Dr. Caligari, I suppose.'<br />Candy didn't like this kind of flippant reference to an art film."<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbFg6wSgtPXtqTYbb84P76reJLl2EzYnHmNOvjVH3hPAwNBNTTqaFE5psfs2ZUTyFHaej6_PniOZUErBOLHCeZjvi818e6-T6J6GupYwNp032I6NhKESUd3KcjChI5KzwpHbrahIn2ynu8/s1600/candy+back.jpeg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574105693259256866" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbFg6wSgtPXtqTYbb84P76reJLl2EzYnHmNOvjVH3hPAwNBNTTqaFE5psfs2ZUTyFHaej6_PniOZUErBOLHCeZjvi818e6-T6J6GupYwNp032I6NhKESUd3KcjChI5KzwpHbrahIn2ynu8/s400/candy+back.jpeg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 240px;" /></a>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-44771932807324067602011-02-15T09:00:00.000-05:002011-02-15T09:00:05.950-05:00Inferno (A Poet's Novel) by Eileen Myles<a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO3zv5VmiJR2822e3nQvzbVszCmXkJfl2yU7bRYdmYpliFpH8uRcV9Ub4WIUo6fJ3zAH0LREzYERSeJZLNEpeGNIaOWriHd_jfjcTNQqYwL3X1fI9BbsXEZOASvANbn5t-mxdsEH_qGsEb/s1600/inferno.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 264px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO3zv5VmiJR2822e3nQvzbVszCmXkJfl2yU7bRYdmYpliFpH8uRcV9Ub4WIUo6fJ3zAH0LREzYERSeJZLNEpeGNIaOWriHd_jfjcTNQqYwL3X1fI9BbsXEZOASvANbn5t-mxdsEH_qGsEb/s400/inferno.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5573311178587999682" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Reading a novel by Eileen Myles is always a bit of a confusing experience for me, as she tends to write them from the perspective of a character named Eileen Myles, who, much like the author Eileen Myles, grew up in Boston, moved to New York in the '70s, and became a lesbian poet. So it's a novel--which, by definition, is fictional--in which the main character is the author. Or maybe not.</span><br /><br />In a<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> video on her website, she says, "The first fiction is your name, I think that's why I use it in my books all the time...I prefer to use my own name because in a way, there's nothing falser than 'Eileen Myles.' And like everyone else, I really don't know who I am." Which really gets you started thinking about your own name, and how it's sort of an arbitrary couple of words that someone else chose for you, yet really comes to define who you are. But anyway...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I like </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.bookforum.com/inprint/017_03/6364" target="new">BookForum's review</a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> of the book, as it really sums it up pretty well, so I'm going to post some of that here:</span><br /><p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">"Loosely, <i>Inferno</i> tells the story of Myles, who left Arlington, Massachusetts, where everyone "lived in a roughly catholic world," to make her way as a writer in New York City. As the title suggests, the book owes something to Dante's <i>Divine Comedy</i>. Instead of a dark wood, though, we start out in a college lit class learning Pirandello from a woman with a beautiful ass, "perfect and full," and from there the tour—gossipy, funny, crass, earnest—continues.</p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Hell is scraping to pay the rent, working as a bouncer at a bar up by Columbia where you can still feel the aura of '68. It's being trained to give handjobs at a massage parlor. It's "inspecting lesbians because I was pretty sure I was going to be one. But I wanted to be a poet first." Purgatory is taking speed and working for James Schuyler. (See Myles's 1994 <i>Chelsea Girls</i> for more on both.) It's Deleuze's <i>Masochism</i>, grant applications, and a dog named Rosie. It's when "I didn't look like a woman or a man and didn't live here or anywhere." A clash with Amiri Baraka. A crush on Nan Goldin. St. Mark's Poetry Project. Touring Germany with Sylvère Lotringer and other Semiotext(e) writers, getting upstaged by Kathy Acker, peeing on Goethe's lawn.<br /></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Heaven, though, is Alice Notley and Ted Berrigan's kitchen. It's roaming the city with flyers for poetry readings. It's sex in a tent in a loft. René Ricard buzzing your apartment in the middle of the day...The prose often goes loose and raggedy, yet it always stays in focus. It's a novel in the way Elizabeth Hardwick's <i>Sleepless Nights</i> and Renata Adler's <i>Speedboat</i> are—that is to say, on its own terms."</p><p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">A novel on its own terms. I think that's a pretty good way of characterizing what I was getting at at the beginning of this post.</p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Also, I feel the need to mention that you can actually choose between two different covers for this book. It's an interesting idea--and I'm glad that I got to choose this one, as I really did not care for the other one--but at the same time, I kind of think a book should have one cover. Or, since publishers are always repackaging books, at least one cover at a time. (Actually, I guess I should say one American cover at a time, as almost always the international editions of a book will be published with different covers.) A book cover is so visually defining, and I like the idea of the cover art being really iconic and in a way contributing to the book's identity. Which I guess must be a scary thought for the writer.</span><br /></p>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-21900895793374557242011-02-14T09:00:00.002-05:002011-02-14T09:15:01.852-05:00To Be Young, Gifted and Black by Lorraine Hansberry<a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFRWoDlZjJ0JSDwJu5429jDZ40r3LR5AKGIgi51NzsW2ytl4yRDHnmq_Gayo1QPMEB5Nuyw9EGsqJ7ZovQBrNjeRIQ89vMTZWrfI0JH_3LJiQTXqReVId6QuEpzS1k5KfwngdCQ2gLU-sd/s1600/ygb.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 242px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFRWoDlZjJ0JSDwJu5429jDZ40r3LR5AKGIgi51NzsW2ytl4yRDHnmq_Gayo1QPMEB5Nuyw9EGsqJ7ZovQBrNjeRIQ89vMTZWrfI0JH_3LJiQTXqReVId6QuEpzS1k5KfwngdCQ2gLU-sd/s400/ygb.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5573300298551252786" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I actually just finished reading this for work (I'm officially <a href="http://www.facebook.com/signetclassic" target="new">on Facebook now</a> but strictly as part of my job) and it was pretty great. When I first picked it up, I thought it was going to be more of a memoir. But rather, it is comprised of passages from Hansberry's plays, interviews, letters, etc, so that the structure is a bit less conventional. Which I think works in its favor. I underlined quite a few passages:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">"I can be all filled up that day with three hundred years of rage so that my eyes are flashing </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">and my flesh is trembling--and the white boys in the streets, they look at me and think of sex. They look at me and that's all they think. Baby, you could be Jesus in drag--but if you're brown they're sure you're selling!"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">"Do I remain a revolutionary? Intellectually--without a doubt. But am I prepared to give my body to the struggle or even my comforts?...I think when I get my health back I shall go into the South to find out what kind of revolutionary I am." (Sadly, she did not get her health back, and died of cancer at the age of 34.)</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdK39sxsB0omfVMpd8sYyOylPOpCFJHMsF3bYapqTmyEBUmhbMq8SvFeBAwwaKhmhlr-sixIlsWUIPTSqwXo-V2tJiJw7VmStODC97Z4ECq-uIDhyZNHEFmSmw6ljXggNx_w-sCpmM_afb/s1600/ygb2.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 293px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdK39sxsB0omfVMpd8sYyOylPOpCFJHMsF3bYapqTmyEBUmhbMq8SvFeBAwwaKhmhlr-sixIlsWUIPTSqwXo-V2tJiJw7VmStODC97Z4ECq-uIDhyZNHEFmSmw6ljXggNx_w-sCpmM_afb/s400/ygb2.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5573300187848325474" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">There are a number of photographs, documents,</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL_auH_NDs4sqL7fjVfUaus9UpQi457rykhlYTpATIKuZsrZHmTsjo9r0-GA0lIQL8Zt8GVoArQVFPFUjjX3x0_rAEiUkd4qX3JgdDUdjxm9xPkwLu_N8EZ5rrOUULSlakBQny9t58lc8R/s1600/ygb3.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL_auH_NDs4sqL7fjVfUaus9UpQi457rykhlYTpATIKuZsrZHmTsjo9r0-GA0lIQL8Zt8GVoArQVFPFUjjX3x0_rAEiUkd4qX3JgdDUdjxm9xPkwLu_N8EZ5rrOUULSlakBQny9t58lc8R/s400/ygb3.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5573299924748285954" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">illustrations, newspaper clippings, and more dispersed throughout the book. </span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwGHi3BjI97lo6dY3ri5fsGn-k0_FhvKksuSS4nTbIXz0Z1yIL4OEGy5tmgChto3ir0Ia3v24UbSsjOrBEhEmNJJdT-2de2AwT4wNen_t_H_Wdcyo6q-BksApDq1W_fWcbkzurBiLqRtmn/s1600/ygb4.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 348px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwGHi3BjI97lo6dY3ri5fsGn-k0_FhvKksuSS4nTbIXz0Z1yIL4OEGy5tmgChto3ir0Ia3v24UbSsjOrBEhEmNJJdT-2de2AwT4wNen_t_H_Wdcyo6q-BksApDq1W_fWcbkzurBiLqRtmn/s400/ygb4.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5573299707502342722" border="0" /></a>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-77624360759915861882011-02-08T09:00:00.001-05:002011-02-08T09:00:11.752-05:00The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman<a style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Dw0gPq7U173Cv_e9Fl8JnO9YTRyDcjQCNsN7pDZjCarPuylDuW0KUWBg514KDfkpDu9ILCwVUSaY3M_69ZwLM0CKEIsnyx-yd4kEKakr8K7fsgxKVix9s9s4L81Se_BYlN53-ZlrGkMo/s1600/maus.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 279px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Dw0gPq7U173Cv_e9Fl8JnO9YTRyDcjQCNsN7pDZjCarPuylDuW0KUWBg514KDfkpDu9ILCwVUSaY3M_69ZwLM0CKEIsnyx-yd4kEKakr8K7fsgxKVix9s9s4L81Se_BYlN53-ZlrGkMo/s400/maus.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568080296996098850" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;">Maus </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">might be one of the most well known modern graphic novels. A winner of the Pulitzer Prize, widely studied in schools, and generally lauded in not only the graphic novel world but in the world of literature in general, it is the subject of both praise and controversy. This edition collects both </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;">Maus</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;">Maus II</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> in one volume</span>.<br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFMWpmaLivcS6zWqqfZxTvltYo0mypYxI7SVAPTcHd_6Oikhr8F7DI_g9S2sb1l8ZNQpwcZ_EMPGCPB7Oad3i7VpsuhGd5MDD7JvD05K5um2or7G6HgNkaIfPBUHEqiULMAHswbc-k5K4r/s1600/1.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 321px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFMWpmaLivcS6zWqqfZxTvltYo0mypYxI7SVAPTcHd_6Oikhr8F7DI_g9S2sb1l8ZNQpwcZ_EMPGCPB7Oad3i7VpsuhGd5MDD7JvD05K5um2or7G6HgNkaIfPBUHEqiULMAHswbc-k5K4r/s400/1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568079854172969202" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;">Maus </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">tells the story of Art Spiegelman's parents' life under Nazi occupation, as told to him through interviews with his father. The book alternates between modern-day Rego Park, Queens, depicting Art's interactions with his elderly father, and the elder Spiegelmans' life (or lack thereof) in the Warsaw ghetto, and later in the concentration camps.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6M6lGPtdWmXJhyv7Cs7Gw_CsUYb5bv3J4cD73wqt-7eAUWSEwspku7zjw70NzM7F3cbkHqXYZjjsOxtZzOpqY7lSX5tLzGr-fqlKW0awsp2JU5aiX0OhAfiJrIoDREz2Gjcx0drVIdWnL/s1600/2.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 276px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6M6lGPtdWmXJhyv7Cs7Gw_CsUYb5bv3J4cD73wqt-7eAUWSEwspku7zjw70NzM7F3cbkHqXYZjjsOxtZzOpqY7lSX5tLzGr-fqlKW0awsp2JU5aiX0OhAfiJrIoDREz2Gjcx0drVIdWnL/s400/2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568079657251486082" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">What is perhaps one of the most famous and iconic aspects of the book is that the characters are drawn as animals--the Jews as mice, the Nazis as cats, the Poles as pigs, and the Americans as dogs. I've read some criticisms of his characterizing Poles as pigs, but it doesn't really bother me. Spiegelman certainly doesn't believe that Jews are really vermin--it's more the symbolism, and the ability to distance oneself from the story by seeing them represented as animals, rather than people.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ3x2_FNH3mc-iKonditDYtImqwzYG2TUfVlP41cY3uhGruaxdTzJBfN8Y_QIDBTQaGUrAIrFPGiWJx0jr3wCzlWc9ZgsSCXOKCi93VtnKheNwHekwy5-YeQFeuXTlnR0pSZKsZIfF0LDW/s1600/4.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 316px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ3x2_FNH3mc-iKonditDYtImqwzYG2TUfVlP41cY3uhGruaxdTzJBfN8Y_QIDBTQaGUrAIrFPGiWJx0jr3wCzlWc9ZgsSCXOKCi93VtnKheNwHekwy5-YeQFeuXTlnR0pSZKsZIfF0LDW/s400/4.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568079179467684962" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Flipping through the book I was struck by this panel, in which a fork in a road is drawn in the shape of a swastika.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizwRwsPYCk-EnZb3PPrKD684pvix0a0oXslh4YI1OdF5jF63LZow8LpYS54O9uKTrdGDVYSdJTJJ6FjYl0oLkQ3j2-7Jk4iIhPmCXpOuJtL26Nc6Ba7iWwA7QSnQtnn1gUoeuRwu8PCTvA/s1600/5.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 312px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizwRwsPYCk-EnZb3PPrKD684pvix0a0oXslh4YI1OdF5jF63LZow8LpYS54O9uKTrdGDVYSdJTJJ6FjYl0oLkQ3j2-7Jk4iIhPmCXpOuJtL26Nc6Ba7iWwA7QSnQtnn1gUoeuRwu8PCTvA/s400/5.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568079098394941330" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">There is one section of the book in which the characters are drawn as humans, a comic book within a comic book, called "Prisoner on the Hell Planet," the title of which brings to mind sci-fi comics from the 50s. It tells the story of Art's mother's inability to assimilate back into the world after surviving the concentration camps, leading up to her eventual suicide. It's a pretty chilling sequence, which reminds readers that the story isn't really about mice and cats but about the devastation of an entire population of human beings.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibr-6ukFZYudM1boiHE2AZPJO9-PQL8wxKBpNJcnWYSc39b36dQ6mmkMyTd5DhEwhak4FCYwmAnHfnUxasIwHs2rM0xkuFpfvaoZiyUEOowWBQx2MbokvEql_Y2JFfO1FomJsNploOTOD-/s1600/maus+inside+cover.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 279px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibr-6ukFZYudM1boiHE2AZPJO9-PQL8wxKBpNJcnWYSc39b36dQ6mmkMyTd5DhEwhak4FCYwmAnHfnUxasIwHs2rM0xkuFpfvaoZiyUEOowWBQx2MbokvEql_Y2JFfO1FomJsNploOTOD-/s400/maus+inside+cover.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568080192285572066" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The Maus symbol on the book board underneath the dust jacket is rather striking.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjej6fY238hzcIh6iuBRejbWzJGjeTpZeaehhBdNedBKKv576Horq3Ru-XqJWjuSbtPNXjg8fKtFVzAKfrsGAYepf9mXHuFylLOclThrJGHvMgNy9QmHLH_WP1yfLFt9snm_n9TFoIxQdU1/s1600/maus+endpapers.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 270px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjej6fY238hzcIh6iuBRejbWzJGjeTpZeaehhBdNedBKKv576Horq3Ru-XqJWjuSbtPNXjg8fKtFVzAKfrsGAYepf9mXHuFylLOclThrJGHvMgNy9QmHLH_WP1yfLFt9snm_n9TFoIxQdU1/s400/maus+endpapers.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568080052193985634" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The end papers, depicting rows upon rows of prisoners, whose eyes are still pretty haunting despite their being drawn as cartoon mice.</span>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-59373588300281857582011-02-02T09:00:00.000-05:002011-02-02T09:00:22.629-05:00Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby Jr.<a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZt4oE10t7RPIjAo-ZJIO0MNEh9N1JMw3Y0M8V6EF9XOe8uo3xifOrKx9Enw3vqJqfmPdpEWaIEzlW0oF7iC8jL1Hp9OXxpoeuLhbBTXI99QouixJgTMPWYr8STDjN9qMdpME4G8w8gAM/s1600/Scan.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 264px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZt4oE10t7RPIjAo-ZJIO0MNEh9N1JMw3Y0M8V6EF9XOe8uo3xifOrKx9Enw3vqJqfmPdpEWaIEzlW0oF7iC8jL1Hp9OXxpoeuLhbBTXI99QouixJgTMPWYr8STDjN9qMdpME4G8w8gAM/s400/Scan.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563291967872797890" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Just finished watching the movie version of this book and I feel a little nauseous. I mean holy shit. This is a portrait of the depths of human misery, of a lonely old woman's addiction to diet pills, fueled by an obsession with being on television, and her junkie son, who's convinced that if he can acquire a "pound of pure," all his troubles will be over. It does not end well.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I got really into Hubert Selby, Jr.'s work during my freshman year of college--it may have started after I saw this movie the first time, actually. I'd also just started college in Brooklyn, the setting of all of these books, which might have piqued my interest as well. I read </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;">Last Exit to Brooklyn</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;">Song of the Silent Snow</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">, although I strangely have no actual recollection of reading </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;">Requiem for a Dream</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> (though I know that I did). I wonder how it would hold up for me if I read it again now.<br /><br />I recall that Selby's punctuation was unorthodox, though consistent, something that didn't exactly bother me though I didn't quite understand the point of it. He used forward slashes instead of apostrophes, eschewed quotation marks altogether, and often neglected to indent paragraphs, simply dropping them to the next line. </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Now that I look it up, it seems that he preferred forward slashes to apostrophes because they were just a little bit closer on his typewriter, which</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> kind of paints a picture of someone furiously typing, trying to get out the story as fast as possible before it's gone. Which I kind of like.</span>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-18929542476041532332011-02-01T09:00:00.000-05:002011-02-01T09:00:11.557-05:00Tooth and Claw by T. C. Boyle<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlsKzZhP4LbajPy_xZp_vZSpLu3ehMPXw4RyeWp5ZezkOmv1otU7srZFqJMoVApr0Sp0H1aiXFZwfEkPIIKNhyphenhyphencadP_B5V0XyRjdUHrFcbdfK_YahPkuRi9b0n9wV3FvHeSWNZuHyV0w0/s1600/tooth+and+claw.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 260px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlsKzZhP4LbajPy_xZp_vZSpLu3ehMPXw4RyeWp5ZezkOmv1otU7srZFqJMoVApr0Sp0H1aiXFZwfEkPIIKNhyphenhyphencadP_B5V0XyRjdUHrFcbdfK_YahPkuRi9b0n9wV3FvHeSWNZuHyV0w0/s400/tooth+and+claw.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531452809236727378" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">This is the very first book I found on a "take shelf" when I started working at Penguin and I remember it was so exciting to just be able to take a free book. I'd read the title story in </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;">The New Yorker</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">, as well as one other short story ("The Hector Quesadilla Story," from the <span style="font-style: italic;">Paris Review</span> anthology), but otherwise it was my first introduction to Boyle's work, which often incorporates elements of satire and magical realism. "Hector Quesadilla" stands out in my mind as the stronger and more memorable work, so I think I might have to try Boyle's 1985 short story collection, "Greasy Lake & Other Stories," in which that one appears.</span>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-71207247625751078802011-01-31T09:00:00.001-05:002011-01-31T12:56:55.401-05:00Printing by Hand by Lena Corwin<a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_j6tfGbTGMupGKXLpLB4vG8G_X2jY91vEMmNOI9pvs0rRzb1ZvJC849TP85f_GM35PfqwlLcgrxFnUHM-z3QuRC3WeM5IHaCUtMVt0algEdf697nxs55NXPitKxcNqval7eSLl0MIcrWv/s1600/1.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 397px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_j6tfGbTGMupGKXLpLB4vG8G_X2jY91vEMmNOI9pvs0rRzb1ZvJC849TP85f_GM35PfqwlLcgrxFnUHM-z3QuRC3WeM5IHaCUtMVt0algEdf697nxs55NXPitKxcNqval7eSLl0MIcrWv/s400/1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568083972736322018" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I've been wanting to delve more into textile printing lately, so I dug out this book that I've had sitting in my closet, more or less untouched, for about a year. I felt a little silly, as most of the techniques outlined seem so simple and easy that the fact that I haven't been using it points to pure laziness.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYE2QSgKb-2OhmDB9bRqvx_NPeuTJktAENUV1Mi-CFmsCIKNXUZrMBaUz3Vw0kcgx4iLfldbxav9CnhUGS0q0YGp7XS_Zh-6zP4BJEcPU8k6E7_dEE7N9OjwOZmjo4_2QFCvJdrQLGedFi/s1600/2.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYE2QSgKb-2OhmDB9bRqvx_NPeuTJktAENUV1Mi-CFmsCIKNXUZrMBaUz3Vw0kcgx4iLfldbxav9CnhUGS0q0YGp7XS_Zh-6zP4BJEcPU8k6E7_dEE7N9OjwOZmjo4_2QFCvJdrQLGedFi/s400/2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568083912170500706" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">This spiral-bound book outlines various printmaking techniques, from stamping to stenciling to screenprinting, with basic descriptions of and suggestions for each method,</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7vyNFKdoQFGFeI7bjpC4DVroJu7ZO3LipscBh_4LuTbh-NXPz1QvXRbVOLge8TbMs16wsEH68hM8SL4Jo1Owe0-M7bAaGdz6QuF5sRxMUCHlQiMAHWx0voGhyXAA3f2zJcacjg9R6HDja/s1600/3.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 254px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7vyNFKdoQFGFeI7bjpC4DVroJu7ZO3LipscBh_4LuTbh-NXPz1QvXRbVOLge8TbMs16wsEH68hM8SL4Jo1Owe0-M7bAaGdz6QuF5sRxMUCHlQiMAHWx0voGhyXAA3f2zJcacjg9R6HDja/s400/3.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568083847007067730" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">as well as specific projects employing each one.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8VJQ7gOMV_o8W4PEoZypXfT8XfVg9Fn2HIbCYmP_bw73Lr-vtaxS8JIoMmhk2frXBzx2hc_TgQqRxY9ArGLHbjEMWx2x6H7SEMqLnhMLLzjg3TytD6GcmpmU9TjMgfIdiUi7MZaaPbr7_/s1600/4.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 293px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8VJQ7gOMV_o8W4PEoZypXfT8XfVg9Fn2HIbCYmP_bw73Lr-vtaxS8JIoMmhk2frXBzx2hc_TgQqRxY9ArGLHbjEMWx2x6H7SEMqLnhMLLzjg3TytD6GcmpmU9TjMgfIdiUi7MZaaPbr7_/s400/4.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568083799514621090" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The careful and clear step-by-step instructions also feature accompanying photographs.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBqkrlXbges5sDJP9ZpLSXhbCNGpLEemy5ZA622F_A-U_O1pfcPwcGuj_-Zrh4yw7jYa12cBFwebkrcJ82nvsxvLaRZxhxgY1oD779DI1xqE9SvTwVVJUGgT1cjguYd9jV1Z-hROXlMBJ4/s1600/5.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 352px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBqkrlXbges5sDJP9ZpLSXhbCNGpLEemy5ZA622F_A-U_O1pfcPwcGuj_-Zrh4yw7jYa12cBFwebkrcJ82nvsxvLaRZxhxgY1oD779DI1xqE9SvTwVVJUGgT1cjguYd9jV1Z-hROXlMBJ4/s400/5.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568083704501591634" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I like the photos of all the various materials needed for each technique.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVkRU3xxSjVza75rJwWyDYamJ3uTYqDljKhuDx7QVC4ar_tYVYhX6-vY8FOcfpth14IRhyphenhyphen4KGPyUJk3-VRxh72LgPN-AOz1jr9rkr9NheQCim0Kno7TyLxZXUR0tKAJ5Ml6rf-qj-94Hzs/s1600/6.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 302px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVkRU3xxSjVza75rJwWyDYamJ3uTYqDljKhuDx7QVC4ar_tYVYhX6-vY8FOcfpth14IRhyphenhyphen4KGPyUJk3-VRxh72LgPN-AOz1jr9rkr9NheQCim0Kno7TyLxZXUR0tKAJ5Ml6rf-qj-94Hzs/s400/6.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568083654881986114" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">There's a little pouch in the back of the book containing all of Lena's designs, should readers wish to use them in their printing projects. While I like to come up with my own, it's a nice touch to include them--and a lot of the patterns are pretty nice. (My favorite is the one in the second image in this post.)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Now I just have to sit down and get to it.</span>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-36425037519294451182011-01-26T09:00:00.000-05:002011-01-26T09:00:12.263-05:00Lithium for Medea by Kate Braverman<a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyzf-sAEwaMCBFdM52uowqdlfkwpR-7qElBcFdE1zg0ybNsZ-QK3uc_FlyjRJPX1K0gqlQPmOgyIA2z7sSt5w-lOA2cZ7lB4vG2CgPq5P4TDfLXaET388eDL8UH6niO7McUahPDNlj0-qa/s1600/lithium+for+medea.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 271px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyzf-sAEwaMCBFdM52uowqdlfkwpR-7qElBcFdE1zg0ybNsZ-QK3uc_FlyjRJPX1K0gqlQPmOgyIA2z7sSt5w-lOA2cZ7lB4vG2CgPq5P4TDfLXaET388eDL8UH6niO7McUahPDNlj0-qa/s400/lithium+for+medea.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566314436210697522" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Here's another author I was introduced to by a college teacher, through a few photocopied short stories distributed in a class. I decided to check out Braverman's first novel, a tale of addiction, unhappy relationships, and dysfunctional families in 1970s Los Angeles. At the time it was out of print (it's since been reissued), but I found this first edition copy online somewhere. The cover seems weirdly minimalist, though maybe that was the design trend at the time. (I do like the type treatment, but not the font of the author's name.)</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxml-yM3wwZlTR6MYXbwzBYjTMtLk7nNpp9tnsmeH6lmIOOXJP1kDnFgzN18yz5s0eYq9-rzP5iLMHsGHMPTQmp10JwmEWuKUlpsOKcdOIDEXQtgDTWjccS9dTQC25Pr7FBIaIBQgY3LM/s1600/kate+braverman.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 264px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxml-yM3wwZlTR6MYXbwzBYjTMtLk7nNpp9tnsmeH6lmIOOXJP1kDnFgzN18yz5s0eYq9-rzP5iLMHsGHMPTQmp10JwmEWuKUlpsOKcdOIDEXQtgDTWjccS9dTQC25Pr7FBIaIBQgY3LM/s400/kate+braverman.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566314343925079602" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">A very young photo of the author on the back.</span>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-8369423564970191912011-01-25T09:00:00.000-05:002011-01-25T09:00:16.197-05:00Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli<a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNOSn6LJY5dGw9EdIHHdsUvYh0-aj5kXoj7jvf5eHKUj3VxPq7aYLgavrWSX7WhaChaPf9cotcHbVphJiJ5FW2HtLVrQJ0aQkf66OrZ_5_AkNiUwuNDh_A_MzAui1Lo9BWLtm3uwPN7EY/s1600/DSCN9893.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 322px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNOSn6LJY5dGw9EdIHHdsUvYh0-aj5kXoj7jvf5eHKUj3VxPq7aYLgavrWSX7WhaChaPf9cotcHbVphJiJ5FW2HtLVrQJ0aQkf66OrZ_5_AkNiUwuNDh_A_MzAui1Lo9BWLtm3uwPN7EY/s400/DSCN9893.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563287469561769186" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Asterios Polyp, is a professor and architect (though none of his designs have actually been built). After his home is struck by lightning and burns down, he flees to become an auto mechanic in the middle of nowhere, both location and occupation seemingly arrived at randomly.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJGzF9-20to3xp2SF6LTkhfCKhH51W5wxRwsoyvATBTHU404ZB072B3H2ntdW8tINKqeIPfypq-AiicvW2rnYor3FZKi0KaNFynXUBXayy_207BZqv8PNG45GED2Z7OzQsilPxe2IBsHg/s1600/DSCN9897.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 315px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJGzF9-20to3xp2SF6LTkhfCKhH51W5wxRwsoyvATBTHU404ZB072B3H2ntdW8tINKqeIPfypq-AiicvW2rnYor3FZKi0KaNFynXUBXayy_207BZqv8PNG45GED2Z7OzQsilPxe2IBsHg/s400/DSCN9897.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563287369749447458" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The book alternates between present and past, including scenes from his childhood and failed marriage, as well as more abstract and imaginary scenes, such as those narrated by his stillborn twin brother, Ignazio, and digressions on aesthetic philosophy.</span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1V8lJgNQ5WAQa5CcrG49eNprk4IxQXCXahriRxZEvixRQmvUzB9ipQxoRfRP2n5ynXRnagahKbVd9FmLlTWwxBGE0bSuCpj3rvOKCnwKoaK9RNw5wyj4ivc2TKRKegP_hQi-TTRM6qRM/s1600/DSCN9896.JPG"><br /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> </span><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9qCOrUs8UNDeA5BaswP8HqFqtF-jXMe-eVIT9uo79PsE3gvjh3yXA6makNO2pogLahh6mIEMkSNWcBCyvn4FWpgs7rNLfZSJ0_xxTUwfgm9AT9vuMtfWTBDdgRj9Te3p1cauvWkNwRkQ/s1600/DSCN9902.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9qCOrUs8UNDeA5BaswP8HqFqtF-jXMe-eVIT9uo79PsE3gvjh3yXA6makNO2pogLahh6mIEMkSNWcBCyvn4FWpgs7rNLfZSJ0_xxTUwfgm9AT9vuMtfWTBDdgRj9Te3p1cauvWkNwRkQ/s400/DSCN9902.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563287168410329554" border="0" /></a><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK-iCQdEcgIjV__VxqEGCyGSfTIU17-cSzuP6HtkQ_Rn7-f6frVtHwFBINcRpNeBLvqq31_XS69VkJM6XoGvUW_1SINNMhm4PzPaIVCrVxoxxPxQnTV9qWSUCHfC9lodwrhh0U2RbiHQE/s1600/DSCN9899.JPG"> </a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The characters are associated with a particular drawing style, color scheme, and visual motifs. This page makes me think of Will Eisner, maybe because of all the </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.popmatters.com/images/blog_art/m/mpp_2901.jpg" target="new">rain</a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK-iCQdEcgIjV__VxqEGCyGSfTIU17-cSzuP6HtkQ_Rn7-f6frVtHwFBINcRpNeBLvqq31_XS69VkJM6XoGvUW_1SINNMhm4PzPaIVCrVxoxxPxQnTV9qWSUCHfC9lodwrhh0U2RbiHQE/s1600/DSCN9899.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 292px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK-iCQdEcgIjV__VxqEGCyGSfTIU17-cSzuP6HtkQ_Rn7-f6frVtHwFBINcRpNeBLvqq31_XS69VkJM6XoGvUW_1SINNMhm4PzPaIVCrVxoxxPxQnTV9qWSUCHfC9lodwrhh0U2RbiHQE/s400/DSCN9899.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563287237505680322" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Also, I have to say that the characters have some pretty fancy digs. Even Asterios's parents live in an amazing midcentury house with Saarinen chairs and whatnot.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5F2E_c_O1J0oRhKiJtMjgEgb2fPEr1izCtXZsR_fBYW1z6YjT09swGqFR5ZigL43vRI4rngPknpHQ2vw3ToWaGt3yhHQMbk1dukKVnxeCCVDcdq8dSXPk8pIyDoMjnlDoQFKue75cvIE/s1600/DSCN9894.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 277px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5F2E_c_O1J0oRhKiJtMjgEgb2fPEr1izCtXZsR_fBYW1z6YjT09swGqFR5ZigL43vRI4rngPknpHQ2vw3ToWaGt3yhHQMbk1dukKVnxeCCVDcdq8dSXPk8pIyDoMjnlDoQFKue75cvIE/s400/DSCN9894.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563287420896558466" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">This seems like the type of book that you need to read a few times to absorb all of the layers and depths of meaning. I'm only on read #1. I'll have to let you know when I manage to find time for read #2.</span>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-76004621271724564822011-01-24T09:00:00.000-05:002011-01-24T09:00:10.940-05:00No Exit and Three Other Plays by Jean-Paul Sartre<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyhLxAeRsAjVaRPizEIy_w6f-GbEcgsjphdRxsmlvAD5xpciheMrISXz3ie7MdVj_tYb36MkYcYxAJxp29Ls2hjuE7IY4zixfLiNinC4TtiLYmdvaN5aizh4KqzPudbmWwB6bVZ8f9Stk/s1600/no+exit.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 236px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyhLxAeRsAjVaRPizEIy_w6f-GbEcgsjphdRxsmlvAD5xpciheMrISXz3ie7MdVj_tYb36MkYcYxAJxp29Ls2hjuE7IY4zixfLiNinC4TtiLYmdvaN5aizh4KqzPudbmWwB6bVZ8f9Stk/s400/no+exit.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556156595668165906" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Of all the books I've read over the years by Sartre, I think "No Exit" is probably the one that I was most engaged by. It's probably his most accessible, and maybe I was intrigued by the "Hell is other people" aspect. Though apparently that line has been misunderstood for years. According to Sartre:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">"'Hell is other people' has always been misunderstood. It has been thought that what I meant by that was that our relations with other people are always poisoned, that they are invariably hellish relations. But what I really mean is something totally different. I mean that if relations with someone else are twisted, vitiated, then that other person can only be hell. Why? Because. . . when we think about ourselves, when we try to know ourselves, . . . we use the knowledge of us which other people already have. We judge ourselves with the means other people have and have given us for judging ourselves. Into whatever I say about myself someone else’s judgment always enters. Into whatever I feel within myself someone else’s judgment enters. . . . But that does not at all mean that one cannot have relations with other people. It simply brings out the capital importance of all other people for each one of us."</span>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-14287402471426211152011-01-19T09:00:00.001-05:002011-01-19T09:00:17.277-05:00First Stop in the New World by David Lida<a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisLMBfsvvYBer07WNZgtJ6WXJQG9oHYQPdn1kORkjQHFamflqRZtiHxJxsFRWJOLYxjliIVsLj1hPxcgW5CvD_7rVvN1RuORhGkEBy5EF3GULJ3QuqjA6aRNV-n8FFV651LfJzLeAGL1w/s1600/Scan+1.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 276px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisLMBfsvvYBer07WNZgtJ6WXJQG9oHYQPdn1kORkjQHFamflqRZtiHxJxsFRWJOLYxjliIVsLj1hPxcgW5CvD_7rVvN1RuORhGkEBy5EF3GULJ3QuqjA6aRNV-n8FFV651LfJzLeAGL1w/s400/Scan+1.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563292222424008210" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I've never been to Mexico, even though I lived about four hours from the border for several years. After reading this dissection of the culture, politics, and mindset of Mexico City, I'm interested in checking it out, though I'm pretty sure I don't want to live there.<br /><br />The author, David Lida, did just that--an American journalist, he decided to do some sightseeing during a layover at the airport, fell in love with the city, and within a few years he had moved there permanently. That was in 1990; the book is written with 18 years of experience, from the unique perspective of one who is both an insider and an outsider--someone who deeply understands the place and its inhabitants, yet who is not really of them exactly. From the lively outdoor markets and cantinas to the wave of kidnappings by people posing as taxi drivers (this happened to Lida, though he got lucky) to extreme sexual harassment ("I have heard three separate stories of women whose backs were the recipients of the ejaculate of guys who masturbated while riding [the subway]") to the cult of Santa Muerte, Lida portrays a place that sounds completely insane, in both good ways and bad.</span>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-10050890673049340072011-01-18T09:00:00.001-05:002011-01-18T09:00:14.580-05:00Maps: Fields, Paths, Forests, Blocks, Places, and Surrounds drawn by Nigel Peake<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0jj6tAMN37orXS7JvThpKCw1exeIVEYbHfh4vucs8NT76FqWBU8SRmP8nV1oan0UfLz522T5nexB0CjZX9EtAffC1qiZ-bYuBX6A32RAENDJ7WBu4862mhtDjNA70l-PrRrLlXl9D6Yw/s1600/Scan+2.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 286px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0jj6tAMN37orXS7JvThpKCw1exeIVEYbHfh4vucs8NT76FqWBU8SRmP8nV1oan0UfLz522T5nexB0CjZX9EtAffC1qiZ-bYuBX6A32RAENDJ7WBu4862mhtDjNA70l-PrRrLlXl9D6Yw/s400/Scan+2.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563293078119728546" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I've been watching the work of illustrator Nigel Peake for a little while now--I've previously written on here about his </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><a href="http://ihavegoodbooks.blogspot.com/2009/07/ghost-houses-by-nigel-peake.html" target="new">Ghost Houses</a></span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> and one of his </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://ihavegoodbooks.blogspot.com/2010/05/des-constructions-de-panneux.html" target="new">zines</a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">. This short collection of drawings is themed on maps, which I'm particularly interested in--though Peake's maps are not the typical kind.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKfy02zR9E9egy0STd3rZe68cV13ibm_m-u54IYS2CcFVf6_7yXew1fZHCyihgNs4OjZtQAgicUgiAd1qb2_zmtoxwHiXfeIjLeK9gsDh0umw4PSmBKG-YUp21_hXnyTRY3jBKZhNrXeE/s1600/DSCN9916.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 297px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKfy02zR9E9egy0STd3rZe68cV13ibm_m-u54IYS2CcFVf6_7yXew1fZHCyihgNs4OjZtQAgicUgiAd1qb2_zmtoxwHiXfeIjLeK9gsDh0umw4PSmBKG-YUp21_hXnyTRY3jBKZhNrXeE/s400/DSCN9916.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563292890630454194" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">From the book: "Documenting small time adventures and excursions outwith a mile radius from where I call home. From train rides facing backwards, to crammed bus rides in tiny hill-top towns, to bike rides through the backyards of Europe. Records of the vast, unyielding concrete miles of Shanghai, to the paths between mountains and forests in late night French countryside to the old paint splattered wooden floor in London that I sleep on from time to time. In addition to this there are also some imaginings of possible places - cities built from train tunnels and underground arches to invisible concrete cities."</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDx_Ip7VKilzlgqU6RTtlR5SfooZm082DQ_drRaK_uk6sKSqKJhVIEwhpOKLce7kM6ik2YApeddXUoWUxCWb74YqASwhp7PE6QmZTBfzqXWKkL-Q4sqkLwTOc4PtMyFCbH4MbYMvKk58A/s1600/DSCN9913.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDx_Ip7VKilzlgqU6RTtlR5SfooZm082DQ_drRaK_uk6sKSqKJhVIEwhpOKLce7kM6ik2YApeddXUoWUxCWb74YqASwhp7PE6QmZTBfzqXWKkL-Q4sqkLwTOc4PtMyFCbH4MbYMvKk58A/s400/DSCN9913.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563292819665683330" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I love the illustrations, the different interpretations of maps, the watercolor lettering, the colors.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkz1cJleZsKCFkx5IjU2iWC-bq5PRNz1VjqDyEqWqqjnzFdHsK_UMiFcC8DsgIHWPRH2RajVBNjwJ7BoMITrwQjMhp1dCkBmxlo_rufSKabQS_ITdp44UIBSUvY63SRqP1d6CrOIQrF7A/s1600/DSCN9909.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 308px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkz1cJleZsKCFkx5IjU2iWC-bq5PRNz1VjqDyEqWqqjnzFdHsK_UMiFcC8DsgIHWPRH2RajVBNjwJ7BoMITrwQjMhp1dCkBmxlo_rufSKabQS_ITdp44UIBSUvY63SRqP1d6CrOIQrF7A/s400/DSCN9909.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563292751164700738" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">"What makes Nigel's maps so beguiling is the delicate poise between politics and imagination. Each map, he says, is a 'fictional reality.'" (From an essay in the middle of the book)</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdKjLPMU7c4hxm61mjOfTr8ylcy4BFfKtUeLR4W9pGbO9yivb9-zSZ72wuJXlZ-wiZxaf_G2Is0ibMOJfO0y320-WX__WxMLi6dtRemjVu7NWn-d5B6ZoF5zuORHrai-AoGSSCHE_k1Fs/s1600/DSCN9908.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdKjLPMU7c4hxm61mjOfTr8ylcy4BFfKtUeLR4W9pGbO9yivb9-zSZ72wuJXlZ-wiZxaf_G2Is0ibMOJfO0y320-WX__WxMLi6dtRemjVu7NWn-d5B6ZoF5zuORHrai-AoGSSCHE_k1Fs/s400/DSCN9908.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563292688789716322" border="0" /></a><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM5ooIjrhQwvZZvzYcxW8M48f-XoYacZPrI-LJ89td2DgZNXNspXsyweTC9Cw0m0_uAeenrOvx07LCW4pHTBOBswuByNMM3ZDclpR0xetWViHEPZMSWzVP0nvo8pIUUm5Gdb5zoKNHseA/s1600/DSCN9905.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 308px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM5ooIjrhQwvZZvzYcxW8M48f-XoYacZPrI-LJ89td2DgZNXNspXsyweTC9Cw0m0_uAeenrOvx07LCW4pHTBOBswuByNMM3ZDclpR0xetWViHEPZMSWzVP0nvo8pIUUm5Gdb5zoKNHseA/s400/DSCN9905.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563292561021428098" border="0" /></a><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVaOYxJPcwvDfKpQGiSSqMO3USZENtrt1NHA-qJdfPOM6KKoIwXbL9q2XbV_g_3mVQL4xLV_hIU1hoYTKy58k6ZeeyFM_y3N-MWF_Hfb__1H_2tGPsYLx7Bcyz_XoMGjJ36Zrvfzqcq9A/s1600/Scan+3.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 284px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVaOYxJPcwvDfKpQGiSSqMO3USZENtrt1NHA-qJdfPOM6KKoIwXbL9q2XbV_g_3mVQL4xLV_hIU1hoYTKy58k6ZeeyFM_y3N-MWF_Hfb__1H_2tGPsYLx7Bcyz_XoMGjJ36Zrvfzqcq9A/s400/Scan+3.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563292442415670146" border="0" /></a>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-10601632594752339302011-01-17T17:34:00.000-05:002011-01-17T17:33:34.059-05:00Mystery Train by Greil Marcus<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Ds3JifPtGW5PtsUf09yHxXj_UHusHfw78rrIPxbF3FnhRiihW0lxhUqCRCc8Xqo3iBHjUiHqKtlDTuQC0B_rvuKOG1_ZRKlR6v-KF8q5Mb0hOgDkA79Cfii74aI42jkrZJbZ9hFryek/s1600/mystery+train.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Ds3JifPtGW5PtsUf09yHxXj_UHusHfw78rrIPxbF3FnhRiihW0lxhUqCRCc8Xqo3iBHjUiHqKtlDTuQC0B_rvuKOG1_ZRKlR6v-KF8q5Mb0hOgDkA79Cfii74aI42jkrZJbZ9hFryek/s400/mystery+train.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560358359353672482" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Originally published in 1975, </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" >Mystery Train</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> is Greil Marcus' first book, an examination of six bands and musicians, the overall thesis being that rock and roll provides a lens through which American culture can be interpreted. The subjects are divided into “ancestors”--a fairly unknown one-man band from the 30s and 40s named Harmonica Frank (Sun put out some of his records in the 50s), and legendary bluesman Robert Johnson--and “inheritors"--The Band, Sly & the Family Stone, Randy Newman, and Elvis Presley.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">When I mentioned to Dave that I was reading it, he very decidedly asserted that "I hate him." Seems he was deeply offended by Marcus' book </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" >Lipstick Traces</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">, which compares the Sex Pistols to Dadaists, and stated that Marcus draws uninformed comparisons and writes it off as brilliance, and generally is very pretentious.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Some of that might be true, and since I haven't read <span style="font-style: italic;">Lipstick Traces</span> I can't say for certain. <span style="font-style: italic;">Mystery Train</span> might be pretentious, but I enjoyed reading it--there's a bit of that comparison-drawing I just mentioned, but the writing is colorful and engaging, bestowing an almost mythical quality on the subjects. Sly Stone becomes a 70s-era Stagger Lee, and there's enough lore behind Robert Johnson's story before Marcus even gets to him. I might steer clear of <span style="font-style: italic;">Lipstick Traces</span>, but this one's a keeper.</span>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7608739043937412477.post-39318810982157008022011-01-13T09:00:00.000-05:002011-01-13T09:00:12.163-05:00Grounded by Seth Stevenson<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQx4OypHnGV9_D1kSXRO2EHxygths3MUNUKFjwJJYMOYuVS5mYCz_2DTld5_On9pZbT5Egp3vWSb2f2N-I1LgcVOy8wHGVAQ1CtyEyJzAd0f5SS3tFw0mkaTAAYFzWZE0j0ji5i5cSV0U/s1600/grounded.jpeg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 255px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQx4OypHnGV9_D1kSXRO2EHxygths3MUNUKFjwJJYMOYuVS5mYCz_2DTld5_On9pZbT5Egp3vWSb2f2N-I1LgcVOy8wHGVAQ1CtyEyJzAd0f5SS3tFw0mkaTAAYFzWZE0j0ji5i5cSV0U/s400/grounded.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560359042572784002" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Slate writer Seth Stevenson and his girlfriend spent several months traveling around the world without ever leaving the ground--crossing the Atlantic on a cargo freighter, driving through the Australian outback, traveling the Trans-Siberian Railway, bicycling in Vietnam, and so on. The concept of this book seemed really interesting, but I have to say I was pretty disappointed in the execution. Most of the book is spent describing the modes of transportation, which is certainly important to the story, but there's not a whole lot about the places they visited, namely because they never seemed to have enough time to actually see anything. They went out of their way to go to New Zealand, only to have about two hours to race around the city, mostly trying to find some clean clothes to buy. I guess it just goes to show you that air travel, while less romantic, is a bit more practical. At least that way you actually have time to see the place you're traveling to! </span>Sarah Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968869009266007335noreply@blogger.com0