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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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One Stroll Down Madoc Street, Three Bookstores

November 12, 2010 in bookstore, essay, travel, used books by Kim | 1 comment

Where is Madoc Street?  In Llandudno, of course.  Don’t ask me how to pronounce that name, I really think the Welsh just throw in consonants willy-nilly to confuse English speakers. We used Victorian seaside town of Llandudno for our Northern Wales home base for three days.  It’s a beautiful area of the world, gorgeous coastline, beautiful mountains, and a castle around every corner.  One day the boys went golfing on a genuine ‘links’ course, and the girls, Kelsey and me, shopped and ate our way through the town.   After stuffing ourselves at the Albert Pub and vowing to never eat at another restaurant in Llandudno, we started back to the hotel and tripped over three bookstores.

Siop Lyfrau Lewis Bookshop - Only marginally organized by genre, this store is a delight for those who love to sort through stacks of books to find a gem.  Books are in a variety of conditions, some are pristine, others not so much.  It’s really a treasure hunt type of store, it may be frustrating to dash in for a specific book, but perfect for good search.  The books were cheaper than the going rates at Hay-on-Wye.  I found Essays at Large by Solomon Eagle, the title reminded me of one of my favorite books, At Large and at Small by Anne Fadiman.  For all I know her title is related to Eagle.  If so, then the circle is complete because I bought his book in tribute to her.  Plus, the title of the first essay is “Reading in Bed,” a favorite activity.  Lord of the Flies was Kelsey’s required reading for the summer and we couldn’t find it in any of the Hay-on-Wye bookstores, but here, buried under a three foot stack of books, was a gold embossed edition.  After successfully retrieving it without collapsing the tower of books on top of it, Kelsey wondered about it’s ‘cool factor.’  Is it better to have the paperback everyone will be reading or something different?  I told her what I wish I understood at 13, it’s all about attitude.  Mark it up to look well-read and thought over, then carry it with confidence.

There is a relatively large selection of Welsh books and cards.  We bought a card that says “Happy Birthday” in Welsh, at least we think that’s what it says.  Oh well, the recipient won’t know any better either.  [Address:  21 Madoc St, Llandudno, Conway, UK  Tel:  01492 877 7000]

Madoc Books – This is a stunningly beautiful store, practically an art gallery of books.  It’s an antiquarian shop containing rows of shelves each filled with neatly placed and tagged leather bound books.  I walked through enjoying running my hands over the books.  While there was a smattering of literature, the focus was on history, natural history, travel, topography, religion, most with an emphasis on Wales.  There are choices in English and Welsh.  The books are pricey.  This store is for the collector or people like me, the voyeur.

There is “best” list for everything in Great Britain, one day we were fortunate to visit the “best loo in Great Britain” and while it was quite nice, as bathrooms go, we found it humorous that such an award existed. Kelsey patiently waited for me to meander around the store Read the rest of this entry »

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Housing Works Used Bookstore Cafe – New York, NY

October 1, 2010 in essay, short story, used books by Kim | 2 comments

Fighting AIDS One Book at a Time

I don’t know of another bookstore in the US like Housing Works Bookstore Cafe.  The entire premise is to raise money for AIDS programs; it’s a thrift store for books.  I keep thinking I must have been in other ‘charity’ bookstores (other than at a library), but can’t come up with one.  To date, Housing Works has helped over 20,000 men, women, and children with AIDS/HIV.  The public contributes in a variety of ways.  Housing Works offers memberships.  For example, a $60 annual fee entitles the member to 10% off all purchases.  Book donations stock the store, in fact there was a table of books donated by Chronicle Books, but unlike most used bookstores, the public is actually giving the books to the store without receiving a credit.  If that was an option in LA, I’d happily give my books to a charity bookstore (I already give my books to the library, but I’m open to spreading the love).  And, of course, you can do what I did-buy books and eat there.

The Bookstore

It’s all for a good cause, but is it a good bookstore?  You bet.  The atmosphere is used store perfection:  wood floors, dark bookshelves, open space for lounging or holding events, a wide selection.  In the essay section I found a volume of Michel de Montaigne’s Essays that has been on my ‘to be purchased’ list for over a year.  In classics I found Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time which I passed up the day before at Posman Books.  The book was discounted and it was for a good cause, so I succumbed.  But the prize was waiting for my in the short story section.  A book rack displayed recommended books and there was Nathan Englander’s For the Relief of Unbearable Urges. Half an hour earlier, I was shopping at McNally Jackson and almost bought Englander’s book; at Housing Works I practically lunged for the book wondering why no one had snatched it before me.

Why my reaction to Englander?  A few weeks earlier, Claire e-mailed me and said I had to read Englander’s story in the New Yorker’s 20 under 40 issue.  People tell me I have to read stuff all the time, and I love hearing recommendations, but often it feels overwhelming to add them to the sea of books on my desk.  But, Claire isn’t the biggest fan of short stories, so I paid some attention.  When she asked the next day if I had read the story and sent me the link, I knew I needed to read it.  It’s gut wrenching and  impeccably written, Claire describes it best in her post.  Needless to say, I felt like I hit the jackpot when I found it, I almost took a picture of it to send to Claire.

Any used bookstore where I can pick up two books I passed up at regular prices within 24 hours of seeing them qualifies as a good bookstore in my opinion.  Plus, they serve a mean quiche.  Check out the two amusing signs I found in the store.  FYI, Housing Works and McNally Jackson are less than two blocks apart, making for a nice duo excursion.

If you know of other charity bookstore, other than those associated with libraries, please tell us about them!

Housing Works Bookstore Cafe

126 Crosby Street

New York, New York   10012

Tel:  212.334.3324

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Hay-on-Wye Part 3: My Favorite Bookstore

September 15, 2010 in bookstore, essay, used books by Kim | 2 comments

I was walking back toward the car when something about Hay-on-Wye Booksellers caught my eye, it may have been the sunny white door and windows, causing me to veer in even though I was short on time.   The store is a rabbit warren of rooms and passages on at least two floors (maybe more, I was mindlessly meandering).  With books stacked everywhere, I was curious what was around every corner and happily lost within this literary maze.  In fact, more than once I wondered if I had wandered into a different store, but there was an energizer bunny of employee that was constantly bustling from one section to another with stacks of books in her arms.  I figured I’d use her as the proverbial crumbs to lead me out to the street again.

One large room was full of art books, logical since art is one of the store’s stated areas of specialty (along with design, architecture, history, military, theology and nature).  I think every book Phadion ever published was represented, so many that when I walked past the Phadion store in London I didn’t go in, I felt like I’d seen its entire publishing history.  I found old exhibition catalogues for a fraction of the cost of what I’m paying now, there seemed to be some real art book deals in addition to great variety.

Upstairs I found stacks books of essays and letters and felt like I tripped over the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  What better to read traveling through England than the essays of Charles Lamb?  The books weren’t arranged in any sort of alphabetical order, so I sat down and worked through the piles winnowing out four different versions of his essays.  I ended up with a 1921 Collins’ Clear-Type Press edition of The Essays of Elia with original engravings.  It’s the engravings that attracted me, Lamb lived in a Read the rest of this entry »

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Essay Challenge Complete!

August 5, 2010 in Challenge, essay by Kim | 2 comments

As much as I love essays, I seem to get distracted and wrapped up too much in books.  I decided in July I would make a concentrated effort to read essays–in part to finish the essay challenge (I’m actually completing a challenge), in part to develop a habit of reading essays, and in part because I just seem to do better if I set a specific goal. The full list for the month is on the essay page, but here are a few thoughts:

I Love Anne Fadiman

I spent a good portion of my essay reading reveling in Ex Libris. If you love books and you haven’t read her volume of essays on reading and books, buy it right now and read it.  Anne’s parents raised her in a reading household and, as a mother who is trying to do the same with her children, it’s reassuring to see that she loved it.  One essay describes how her family loved to discover long, difficult words.  In our family, my husband collects words all year long (most from the word-a-day service from dictionary.com), writes them on 3×5 cards and then during meals on our big family vacation (because three meals a day, every day, for two weeks is too much family conversation for teenagers) he quizzes all of us.  Kyle tries to find meanings from his Latin classes, I tend to know the word or just make up a definition, and Kelsey is highly motivated by the dime the kids get for every correct definition.

For our upcoming vacation, I’m going to copy “Never Do That To A Book” and read it over a leisurely dinner.  We are a family of doing everything to a book.  We stick things in them, we prop them open, I write all over mine, we use them as door stops (two summers ago we used The World is Flat, last year War and Peace, and I’ve been trying to  use the volume of law review journals that Keith edited 20 years ago this summer, but he keeps putting that hefty book away), our books are under the car seats and stuck willy nilly through out the house.  My kids will be astonished to hear that our treatment of books, something we love, would offend some people.

Her “You Are There” essay rang true for me.  Whenever I travel, I look for books about where I’m going (Idlewild Books is a great resource).  My stack for Read the rest of this entry »

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