Reviews of independent bookstores because buying and reading books is an adventure
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Shelf Awareness posted this picture of a bookstore in Hong Kong and mentioned some of the ways it’s title has been used. Here’s mine, an independent bookseller’s answer to the following question:
“Can I buy the new Barbara Kingsolver book for $9/$8.99/$8.98?”
Tell us how you would use the name of this unique Hong Kong bookstore!
What’s Black Tuesday again? It is October 29, 1929, the attributed day of the stock market crash (it actually occurred over four days); 16 million shares were traded as the market pummeled downward. It wasn’t until November, 1954 that Dow achieved its pre-crash levels or until 1968 were that many shares traded on a single day. We’ve been hearing more and more about the crash in the last year as our own economy brings it alive as no history book ever could. Recently, for a Literary Affairs lunch, I read the short story “Babylon Revisited,” a tale that provides a fuller view of the cost of the crash than any charts or bank statements. The story describes post-crash Paris with flash backs to the Roaring Twenties era, a gut-wrenching difference.
What struck me is the pervading sadness throughout the story. The main character, Charlie, grew rich during the Roaring Twenties, led the high life, then lost his money and his family. His wife died, a victim of heedless living. His daughter is living with his sister-in-law in Paris because he was an unfit father. He is working in Prague successfully restoring his finances. The story opens with Charlie visiting the infamous bar at the Ritz, but it is monument to the past as Charlie and the bartender list the tragedies that befall the former regulars. But not only Paris has changed due to the financial collapse, Charlie returns sober and with limited funds.
He remembered thousand-franc notes given to an orchestra for playing a single number, hundred-franc notes tossed to a doorman for calling a cab.
But it hadn’t been for nothing.
It had been given, even the most wildly squandered sum, as an offering to destiny that he might not remember the things most worth remembering, the things that now he would always remember–his child taken from his control, his wife escaped to a grave in Vermont.
Charlie is in Paris to gain custody of Honoria, his daughter, from his sister-in-law, Marion, who can barely stand to be in the same room with him. She resents how he and her sister lived (Fitzgerald gives snippets through out the story) , and how her sister died. Fitzgerald creates emotional tension Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Babylon Revisited, F. Scott Fitzgeraly, short story, stock market crash literature
Little did I know the role the Dodgers would play in our lives when I married Keith. I heard the stories when were were dating about growing up on the same street with his all time favorite Dodger, Ron Fairley (apparently he would use a bucket of golf balls for batting practice) and two other Dodgers, playing ball on the street with their kids and, sometimes, the players themselves. I assumed that was the past. After we married, we moved to Los Angeles and I learned that life changes when the Dodgers play. In the early years, Keith couldn’t understand why my satisfaction with life didn’t float with the Dodger win/loss record. I didn’t understand why we had to get to a game before the third inning and stay after the stretch, it only took me four innings to eat my hot dog and drink my beer. Quickly, we came to a compromise, I would go with him to Dodger games and he would accompany me to concerts at the Hollywood Bowl. This post-season looked liked it would provide Keith with an emotional high, but it wasn’t to be. As part of his long goodbye to the Dodger 2009 season, Keith agreed to write this post:
Fall is my favorite time of the year. It is a combination of the weather finally (if temporarily) cooling down, fires once again being lit in our fireplace, and Kim cooking warm and hearty food for dinner. OK, while all those things are great, the best part of the fall is the World Series. As a life-long Dodgers’ fan, I am disappointed that they didn’t make it all the way, but I take some measure of comfort that they only lost because Philadelphia had a better team who played up to their potential. However, I grew up the son of a Brooklyn Dodger fan so I was looking for a great baseball book to dull the pain of the Dodger’s loss.
My wife’s suggestion was to check out The Entitled by Frank Deford. Deford, of National Public Radio and Sports Illustrated fame, writes a fast moving, engaging novel of a baseball manager who finally gets his chance to coach in the big leagues. The manager, Howie Traveler, had spent his entire life playing, watching, thinking about and talking baseball. From a baseball “prospect,” to an “all most, a fill in, a “tweener,” Howie was destined to never make it as a player because he was cursed with being a right handed batter who lacked power. After spending years in the minors, he only spent 8 days in the majors. Howie’s love for the game transcended his limited abilities as a player. He just loved being around the diamond and was always accepted as a “baseball man.”
It was fairly easy for Howie to become a minor league manager, but his life’s dream was to manage in the big leagues. His problem was that he had spent Read the rest of this entry »
Head for the bookstore on a dark and scary night
See? It's scary.
Halloween is just magical. Being able to go up to virtually any house in your neighborhood, ring the doorbell, and get free candy–could there be a better holiday for little kids? Plus you get to dress up like the protagonist from your favorite novel. (That was supposed to be a joke but then I remembered the ten million Harry Potters I’ve seen over the last few Halloweens and I realize it’s not a joke anymore–kids do dress up like book characters these days, thanks to J.K. Rowling.)
But let’s not forget the other side of Halloween: the dark and scary side. We can all use a little thrill now and then–the ghost story that makes the s’mores taste sweeter, the haunted house journey that makes your adrenaline pump, the slasher movie that gives you an excuse to cuddle up close to your date . . .
And, most importantly, the graphic novel that makes you clasp the covers closer to you and huddle in your comfy bed, hoping the monsters in your closet stay where they belong all night long.
You probably already know from reading this blog that I’m a huge fan of graphic novels in general. I think there are some absolutely amazing ones out there, some of them beautifully realistic and moving, others gorgeous and fantastical. But of course graphic novels are particularly brilliant at capturing the grotesque and the frightening–a picture may be worth a thousand words but when you combine the right creepy pictures with the right unsettling words, you have something that slips into your brain and discomfits you in ways no other art form can match. Read the rest of this entry »
Michelangelo Distilled
After hours listening to art history lectures, wading through biographies and art history books, I found A Journey into Michelangelo’s Rome refreshingly informative and compact. Angela Nickerson finds the perfect balance between the man, his era, and his art. Michelangelo’s creations are a product of the intellectual fervor, the spiritual upheaval, and the political patronage system of the Renaissance. In the opening chapters, the book gives an overview of the events that shaped Michelangelo’s world. The book then continues with a focus on his life and his work. Without any information, Michelangelo’s works are beautiful, but with the right background, their brilliance grows.
His Art – Technical and Fun
With luscious photographs, Angela leads us through Michelangelo’s life in art, from The Madonna of the Stairs to the Florentine Pieta. Angela points out the unique aspects of each piece of art and the interesting stories behind them. While thousands of words could be written about the Rome Pieta, Angela precisely points out Michelangelo’s mastery:
The composition Michelangelo created involved carving two full-sized figures from one block of marble–a difficult task. Michelangelo bent the rules of proportion to his own purposes: Mary is much larger than Jesus to support the weight of a life-sized figure in her lap, but their heads are the same size, making the difference in size hard to detect. Mary’s size serves as a structural purpose, but it also allows the grieving mother to hold her son on her lap, creating a tableau that is both powerful and tender.
And the gossip about the piece? After it was installed in St. Peter’s, Michelangelo overheard someone attribute the work to another artist. Not happy, Michelangelo carved his name along Mary’s sash. This is the only work he ever signed. I love back stories; I frequently find the art more intimate and memorable after hearing them. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: armchair travel, art history, Michelangelo, Rome, travel book
Claire
Kim
