November 2011

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Essay Challenge Recap

November 30, 2011 in Challenge, essay by Kim | 1 comment

I coming in just under the wire this year, this challenge must be completed today!!  The Essay Challenge over at Books and Movies is the only one I joined this year, even so, I didn’t keep up with it the way I have the past two years.  Not that I haven’t read essays all year long, I just haven’t kept track or written about them.  Here I am an hour before the challenge ends trying to figure out what I read this year!

Most of my essay reading, in fact these days almost all of my reading, was art based.  My favorite art essay collection was in The Steins Collect catalogue for the SFMOMA.  Combined the essays gave a picture of the family and their experience with and impact on modern art.  The collection was organized by family member:  Leo Stein, Sarah and Michael Stein, and the most famous of all, Gertrude Stein.  By happenstance, I was reading the collection when Woody Allen released “Midnight in Paris.”  The essays provided a scholarship background to many of the Owen Wilson Paris scenes.  I read 10 essays in this collection.

In response to an photography exhibit at the Getty Center about trees, I read an extended essay called The Tree by John Fowles.  I wrote about it for Earth Day earlier this year.  Whew!  At least I wrote about one essay!

 

Although I read it and listed it for last year’s collection, once again I read “Here is New York” by E.B. White while sitting in a cafe in New York City.  It is an essay worth reading every time I go to New York City, it adds a dimension to the visit that doesn’t diminish upon re-reading.

In preparation for the de Kooning exhibit at MOMA, I read two Clement Greenberg essays that discussed this artist:  ”‘American Type’ Painting” and “The Late Thirties in New York.”  Plus, the dense and long introductory essay in the exhibit catalogue “Space to Paint” by John Elderfield.

Last, but not least, is my companion in the car, the Mark Slouka collection Essays from the Nick of Time.  Through carpools and quick lunches this book kept me company.  I have notes and comments throughout each essay, I’ve loved them.  I’ve read “Hitler’s Couch,” “Arrow and Wound,” “Listening for Silence,” and “Historical Vertigo.”  Actually, I’ve read “Arrow and Wound” twice and will probably read it again tonight now that I’m thinking about it.  This is a stellar collection.

That’s it for this year, 19 in total that I can document although I’m certain I read far more.  Next year I’m going to be do better!!  If nothing else, maybe I should buy fewer essays and read more of them.

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Salon says “Support Your Local Bookstore!”

November 29, 2011 in Uncategorized by Kim | No comments

In the latest pitch to keep bookstores alive and well, or at least breathing, Salon.com gave credit to indies for finding and promoting the latest excellent book most of us don’t know:

An independent bookstore brings a lot to a city or a town: a showroom for the latest literary releases, an auditorium where authors share their work and meet their fans, a bookish environment in which to sip coffee and a fun place to browse in the 20 minutes before the movie starts. But what’s less immediately visible is your local bookseller’s expertise and influence when it comes to introducing great books to your community and, ultimately, to the world.

Name the last book you really loved — be it “The Help,” The Hunger Games,” “Like Water for Elephants” or “Game of Thrones.” The authors of all those popular titles and many, many more can testify that independent booksellers were crucial in moving their work from a sleepy shelf against the back wall to a stack prominently displayed on a front table. They’re  the people who helped Harry Potter take off. Local booksellers know their customers better than any computer program, and when they press a book into the right hands, insisting “You’ve got to read this,” their recommendation really counts.

Readers of this blog know that independent bookstores add so much to the community in which they exist, but Salon makes a good point that the promotion of a book by River Run, across the nation from me, can very well have a ripple effect on what I’ll be reading in the next few months.

Salon is asking readers to help promote independents by sharing their stories about great bookstores.  If you have one you’d like to give a shout out to, join their Declaration of Independents and help an independent bookstore stay strong.  Of course, we would love to post any reviews or stories you have about bookstores, so feel free to send them to us also.

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Small Business Saturday – Shop at Local Businesses on November 26th!

November 25, 2011 in Uncategorized by Kim | No comments

Actually shop at them as much as possible, they are the engine that drives your local economy.  But, let’s give the little guys a leg up in the middle of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  Drop by a local business, chat with a real person, and contribute to your neighborhood economy by purchasing a Christmas present, or ten.

 

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Which authors would you invite to Thanksgiving dinner?

November 22, 2011 in holiday by Kim | No comments

Taking a riff from NPR’s story last week about which deceased composers Miles Hoffman would invite to Thanksgiving dinner, I pondered the same question for authors and asked quite a few friends.  Here are the guidelines:  which dead authors would you invite to Thanksgiving dinner?  Which author would you invite to give a reading Thanksgiving evening?

Some Favorites

In my unofficial survey (meaning you saw me in the last couple of days or responded to my Facebook status update), Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway, and Mark Twain were the big winners.  F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jane Austen, and Leo Tolstoy came in a close second.  Just tallying the most popular loses the charm of creating a conversational grouping.  One person had Shel Silverstein, C.S. Lewis, and Roald Dahl at the table, all authors who wrote for children and adults at the same time.  Can you just imagine the potential rant on current media saturated childhoods?  It would be gripping.

Another friend had an all Russian table:  Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, and Anton Chekov.  My son’s first comment was “no Russians” regardless of the fact that his favorite novel is The Brothers Karamazov.  I’m a huge fan of Russian literature (one of my college majors was Soviet Studies, I’ve read and enjoyed them) but I kind of understand, a Russian table would make for a loooong dinner.  I’d throw Virginia Woolf in with them and label the table: Depression Eats.  I’d add Hemingway, but I worry that he could feel needlessly inadequate and start acting out, plus he would require a lot of expensive wine with dinner.

The Reading

Mark Twain is a hands down winner here and what an evening it would be!  Imagine what he would write about the current state of our nation?  He was never a fan of politicians and this year would give him a lot of fodder with which to work.  For me, a very close second, maybe even a tie, would be Charles Dickens.  He was famous for his readings and the magical evenings they created.  Although many put him on their invitation A list, I think he may be too much of an attention hog for a dinner party; I like conversations, not monologues.

One friend suggested inviting Julia Child since it is a meal.  That is way too intimidating for me.  It occurred to me though, rather than a reading, the performance could be watching Julia Child cook Thanksgiving dinner for all of us.  That would be a meal not to miss.

My Table

After talking to so many people and hearing several ideas, it’s hard to come up with one.  Since it’s my post, I won’t, here are my latest thoughts:

Fiction and Spirituality:  Fyodor Dostoevsky, C.S. Lewis, and Flannery O’Connor, all three beautifully interwove an excellent story with spiritual themes accessible to everyone.  It would probably be a good idea to include Henry Nouwen who didn’t write fiction, but seems amazingly gracious.  The table may need his charm.

The US and Europe:  Edith Wharton, Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Somerset Maugham, all authors who could write a beautiful tale that portrayed their own society and time, but tended to have a broader view of the world.  Austen less so, but if I’m going to raise any authors from the dead, she’s on first gravy train to dinner.

The Power Table:  since it’s my post and I can do what I want to, this table is full of women who carved a path in their fields and, ultimately, for the rest of us–Dorothy Parker, Lee Krasner, Coco Chanel, and Eleanor Roosevelt.  I’d ask Abigail Adams to sit next me, then write a letter to John describing the dinner and share it during our evening reading.

Who would you ask to your Thanksgiving dinner?

 

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Breaking Dawn – Part 1 Opens Today

November 18, 2011 in movie by Kim | No comments

One of the pleasures of having a teenage daughter is the opportunity to share silly, girlly experiences.  While I understand all of the criticism about the Twilght series, and agree with some, as I’ve written before, I’ve enjoyed the ride.  Even more, I’m grateful for the opportunity to share the sheer reading fun with my daughter.  Kelsey has read the series multiple times, in fact her books look much worse for the wear.  I’ve read it once, in two reading saturated days, just like when I was a teenager.

One of the pleasures of living in Los Angeles is that occasionally we get a Hollywood experience, for us it meant that Kelsey and I had a mother-daughter date to the “Breaking Dawn-Part 1″ premiere and after party.  This is our second Twilight series date, we were able to attend the “Eclipse” event also.  This time was better for the fact that we knew it was going to be a terrific night.  Kelsey decided she wasn’t going to scream as much this time, I told her I was, and there was plenty to cheer about.  While I don’t recall any shirt-popping-turning-into-a-werewolf-scenes, the kiss after the vows was worth losing our voices over.  The wedding scene is beautiful.  The pacing was great, Bella’s nerves were appropriate (remember walking a straight line for several yards can be a challenge for her), and Edwards adoration obvious.

In many ways, this was my favorite movie of the series.  For me, the story is about Edward and Bella and everything else is frosting, sometimes too much frosting.  ”Eclipse” arguably may be the better movie, but this is a romance, let’s not make it anything more.  I liked the character development in “Eclipse” but there wasn’t enough Bella and Edward.  With “Breaking Dawn,” given that the bulk of the movie is about their wedding and honeymoon, we get to revel in their chemistry.  Bella gets a backbone in “Breaking Dawn” and I do wish that we would have seen a little more of that interaction between the two of them as she insisted on having the baby.

The reviews, as if they matter, are mixed.  The New York Times liked the movie and thought it was the best of the bunch.  The Los Angeles Times, not so much.  In some ways, it feels like the battle of the directors, which director did the reviewer like best.

In the end, my favorite scene from all four movies is the last 5 seconds of this one, especially given that this is just a pause before the rest of the story is told on November 16, 2012.  Great finish, even Kelsey cheered.

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