tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16822583713289404592024-02-07T05:30:14.766-05:00Books Books BooksWriting About What I Read and SeeFarshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-45303178194172027392013-11-18T23:53:00.001-05:002013-11-19T00:37:52.738-05:00Audio Books<style>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Due to the happy arrival of
2 grandbabies, I find myself on the road a lot: 1 hour (with luck) to visit
baby Hannah, now 20 months old; and 7 hours (including pit stops) to visit baby
Leo, now 18 months old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unless there’s
terrible traffic, with the radio for company and the beautiful scenery outside
my window, the 1 hour trip goes by in a flash; but the 7 hour trip can seem
interminable:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the radio comes and goes,
about half of the drive is exceedingly ugly, and there’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">always</i> traffic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I’d been urged to listen to
Books on Tape for a very long time – back when they really were on tape! – and I
tried it once.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On a 6 hour drive from
Washington DC to New York City, I listened to I CLAUDIUS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">And I hated it.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I took this trip often and I
would gage my progress more by the time that passed than by the landscape:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>three hours; half way there!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">But while I CLAUDIUS, may
have taken 6 hours of listening, it felt as though <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">centuries</i> had passed, with emperors coming and going, with
innumerable battles won and lost, and with an astonishing number of poisonings
and murder. As I’ve never been one to stop something I’ve started – I never
walk out of the theater during a bad play, concert, film; never leave a book
unfinished – I continued to pass the centuries with Claudius.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">And vowed never to listen to
a book on tape again.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">But:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>7 hours?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And annoying traffic despite being on a 12-lane highway?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And huge stretches of ugly shopping centers,
one right after another?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">With the advent of <a href="http://audible.com/" target="_blank">Audible.com</a> where you can easily download an entire book onto your mobile phone
and never have to change a tape or CD, I decided to try again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">And I love it!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">For one, I don’t feel as
though I’m wasting my time during these 7 hours. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>And as I’ve learned to choose my books more
wisely – to only listen to stories that stick to one lifetime; and to choose my
Reader carefully – I find that listening to books makes the time go by
quickly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I confess that some [very few]
times, I’ve even stayed in my car after I’d reached my destination, just so
that I might pause the book at a more opportune moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Don’t tell Leo!)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The act of listening to a
book instead of reading one is a completely different experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a very real way, an audio book is a
continuation of an oral tradition that is the beginning of all literature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And for most of us, having stories read to us
is one of the first ways in which we become familiar with language; it can
bring you back to that happy time when books were read aloud, especially for
you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s also a way to preserve the
sound of language as spoken today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Wouldn’t it be grand if we could know how words sounded in Shakespeare’s
day instead of making a guess at it? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Of course, when you listen
to a book, its Reader makes choices for you that you might not yourself have
made – for better or worse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You also
can’t catch all the nuances of language and style, as you can’t slow
down the pace or re-read passages you particularly like or that need
clarification.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I tried a few times to “bookmark” a particular page I liked, or to
replay a passage or two that I found unclear, but that didn’t seem to help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Besides, if the “<a href="http://users.wpi.edu/~bmoriarty/imgd2000/docs/McLuhan1.pdf" target="_blank">medium is the message</a>” then
each one requires a different approach, and with audio books, it seems best to
just let the words wash over you, to get into the mood and not into the
details.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">And this is why you must
choose your book and Reader carefully.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">A book I love but hadn’t
read in a long time is William Faulkner’s LIGHT IN AUGUST, so I decided to
listen to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This proved a poor choice,
as the book includes lots of southern and other dialects and has a plot that goes
forward and backward in time, both of which require a lot of concentration. So although
the book had an excellent Reader, I found it difficult to grasp or appreciate
enough of the novel while also paying attention to my driving.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Summerset Maugham’s OF HUMAN
BONDAGE failed because the Reader (male), tried to approximate the voices of
the women – which is not at all necessary! -- by giving them squeaking voices
and mincing manners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hated the story,
the characters, the entire experience:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and
it was the Reader’s fault.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will avoid
him in future.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">But I thoroughly enjoyed the
historical novels of Hilary Mantel – WOLF HALL and BRING UP THE BODIES – as it
brought to life Tudor England as told through the eyes of one of its major
players, Thomas Cromwell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are quite
detailed novels, but I already “knew” most of the major characters so that made it
easy to follow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m looking forward to
the next volume in this series.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Of late, I’ve also listened to “celebrity” Readers – Colin Firth reading Graham Greene’s
THE<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>END<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>OF<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>THE<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>AFFAIR (swoon!); and Jeremy Irons reading Vladimir
Nabokov’s LOLITA.</span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/UwU1UnMUTzA?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Irons’ reading of LOLITA is
a revelation; it is laugh-out-loud funny; it is poignant; it is tragic; it is
beautiful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">His Humbert is clueless at the same time
that he is defensive; he is pleased with himself at the
same time that he is angry and embarrassed. Beautiful language is used to
tell a tragic and comic tale, and Irons manages
this to perfection. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> There are lots of descriptive
“lists” in this book – of landscapes, of types of people, of the American
systems of education, of law, of love, of passion – and they are as acutely
read as they were written. Perhaps they’re even better, as in Irons' reading of
them, they don’t feel like mere lists but are melodious and funny…. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Listening to Irons makes the novel resonate and reminds us of its brilliance. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">But one of the
main problems with audio books -- no matter how wonderful! -- and why reading a book is usually better than listening to
it, is that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in the audio book, the Reader
can replace the character as written. Irons completely replaces Humbert.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Forever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Despite Nabokov's physical and mental description of Humbert, I will
no longer be able to imagine him for myself. (I can’t even picture James Mason
as Humbert any more!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">) </span>For me, </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Maurice Bendrix <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> Colin Firth; Humbert Humbert <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> Jeremy Irons – and not the other way
around -- f</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">rozen that way forever:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>goodbye imagination.</span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>I’ll never listen to a “celebrity”
Reader again; I’ll never listen to anyone I can “picture.” <b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">**</span></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">And no matter the Reader, </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">as most of the books we listen to
were written to be read, </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">that's probably the best approach to the material, the best approach to this particular medium. When you're doing the reading, the writer's words
won’t just wash over you, but you’re free to slow down, to stop, to re-read,
and to savor each and every one of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when you're doing the reading, you collaborate with the writer in creating the characters, the
settings, the emotions, the emphasis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is, of course, what the Readers of these audio books have done; but
when you read rather than listen, <i>you </i>get to do it yourself: the story, the
characters, the setting – the book is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yours</i>!
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Still, I won’t stop
listening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(After all, 7 hours!)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I only listen in the car, never at
home:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>home is reading space.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">But when in the middle of a
good listen, I can choose to go to the grocery store that’s 6 miles away rather
than the one that’s just across the street. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">What’s wrong with that? </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">- - - - -</span>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">** </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Note:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My son-in-law, Robert Shapiro, is a [wonderful]
reader for Random House and others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
can download his books; and as you don’t know what he looks like, you can use
your imagination to picture anyone you want when you listen!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-20479403915183817342013-01-20T06:08:00.000-05:002013-01-20T07:18:53.108-05:00The End of a Chapter<style>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When
I read a book I always take note of how many pages there are in the chapter I’m
beginning and bookmark its last page. I
don’t know exactly why I do that; but as I rarely put a book down in the middle
of a chapter, perhaps it’s that I like to know what I’m in for! </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A
3-page chapter? 5 pages? 40? I can read
several chapters like that at a sitting.
</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">140 pages? I think I’ll wait until morning….</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As
I read, I sometimes look ahead to see how many pages are left in the chapter and feel
a sense of accomplishment when I reach it, as if it were a job well done. Then I can close my book with satisfaction and
move on to my next activity.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Of
course, the best chapters don’t always cooperate. They're the ones that raise questions that
make one especially eager to start the next chapter.
In such cases I know that I won’t be able to sleep – or do anything
else! – so I stay up and read the following chapter,
however long it is, until I’ve finished it.
And so on and on…. As you can imagine, this
results in many, many late nights for me!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In
my recent post on <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2012/07/willing-suspension-of-disbelief-but-can.html" target="_blank">The Willing Suspension of Disbelief</a>, I wrote that I’d had an
accident that resulted in a break to my left wrist. After surgery and months of physical therapy
I felt better; I was back in the
Berkshires and ready to reopen <a href="http://fineoldbooks.com/" target="_blank">my book store</a> for the summer season.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But
that was not to be….</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I
had another accident that was far more serious than merely breaking my wrist (although
I did that, too!).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So: another surgery and more physical therapy…and
my store remained closed.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">During
that time it occurred to me that perhaps this accident signaled “the end of
a chapter” for me – I guess I'd missed that first signal back in June! – and I’ve
decided to close my store.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This
coming spring and summer I'm going to have a big sale of all the things in my
store – <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/10/seasons-end-photos-from-my-store.html" target="_blank">books, artwork, library antiques, art, furniture</a>. Everything!
Watch for it.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The
years at <a href="http://fineoldbooks.com/" target="_blank">Farshaw’s</a> have been happy ones for me, so it’s not without some
sadness that I leave it now. But the end
of a chapter also signals the beginning of the next, and I'm looking forward to that. I don’t know exactly what
my next chapter will be, but I have lots of ideas and am very excited about the
new adventures -- the new chapters! -- that are ahead. Stay tuned.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And until next time, I wish all of you very happy [bedtime] reading, however you choose to do it! </span></span><br />
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbmq6hikKbzvkXu1Er0aJopmQ8i3bhEvIQ8eo_-R7Seh2C3f7xQXgb2Qw9zJgzt9N7zCfIgHQxR07IUQwa2stTu5Bucmb_P3lbrL7SwCOe_givbcQUYJ-U4Z_ZJWA5pqrEP6AFNWQSij8/s1600/Happy+Reading+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbmq6hikKbzvkXu1Er0aJopmQ8i3bhEvIQ8eo_-R7Seh2C3f7xQXgb2Qw9zJgzt9N7zCfIgHQxR07IUQwa2stTu5Bucmb_P3lbrL7SwCOe_givbcQUYJ-U4Z_ZJWA5pqrEP6AFNWQSij8/s400/Happy+Reading+1.jpg" width="280" /></a></div>
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Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-42203012566453468222012-08-31T18:25:00.006-04:002012-09-01T13:31:02.753-04:00"Reports of My Death Are Greatly Exaggerated."<style>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">No:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>not <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain" target="_blank">Mark Twain</a> this time, but the Printed Book.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I’ve often written about how the <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2012/03/here-we-go-again.html" target="_blank">media keeps reporting the death of the printed book</a>; about how printed books are used as a <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2012/01/year-of-my-blog-in-review.html" target="_blank">medium for sculpture</a>; </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi_69zB2nwVUdfXjuIh8Pb5HYFpPvm7LYn0G0uSp1lxhVblWur7-TBDhAliHQq7aIr88AMcio5fjJpT3LnATnL2xGimOOZ8m77dII3andFQUUizHBCBJVoQih8ce0o3tc4h7zBapojTiA/s1600/Bird+Book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi_69zB2nwVUdfXjuIh8Pb5HYFpPvm7LYn0G0uSp1lxhVblWur7-TBDhAliHQq7aIr88AMcio5fjJpT3LnATnL2xGimOOZ8m77dII3andFQUUizHBCBJVoQih8ce0o3tc4h7zBapojTiA/s400/Bird+Book.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">about how many use them for purely <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2012/01/year-of-my-blog-in-review.html" target="_blank">“decorative” purposes</a>; about how the printed book is not as <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2012/03/here-we-go-again.html" target="_blank">“pure” an experience as is reading an eBook</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We book lovers – and booksellers! – can be moved to feelings of despair.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">But despair not.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Negative reports about booksellers and books are a part of the printed book’s history from its birth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Gutenberg" target="_blank">Gutenberg</a>’s introduction of movable type allowed large print runs rather than the calligraphed scrolls that required the laborious and skilled labor of scribes; but with the publication of the <a href="http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/permanent/gutenberg/" target="_blank">GUTENBERG BIBLE</a>, the question of whether books should be made for ‘all’ to read was cause for worry – and even anger – by the church, as it wanted to be the only interpreter of the holy book. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidEXTlWe0IUTg_VV9UA_zZqy9OUeNvCKiPUPR4IkDtvpZHzmvglV1nRRTUPJbORldcxEjhkeNxT7vl8HJN4QIW6H5GgRdBfZDblvczjrSRFNbsjSgfltrm9sUBhDOqf13ZbHD922ZgiBI/s1600/Gutenberg+Bible.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidEXTlWe0IUTg_VV9UA_zZqy9OUeNvCKiPUPR4IkDtvpZHzmvglV1nRRTUPJbORldcxEjhkeNxT7vl8HJN4QIW6H5GgRdBfZDblvczjrSRFNbsjSgfltrm9sUBhDOqf13ZbHD922ZgiBI/s400/Gutenberg+Bible.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gutenberg Bible at the Ransom Center, University of Texas</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">In a more recent diatribe, no less a philosopher than John Locke wrote this of books and booksellers in 1704:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgGxcotscfAgJzklQJ0QkRtOxREVVLML4PrDtuHthJWthM2UhPzzLPo4VXP2IoafWI847ZdHYeDBkUeKzdSnY93HSOBhpSOE0loYiG_jox8O138wT7YuofbU7cGNrFnoqiPoeOzsx8_Wc/s1600/Scan+-+Version+4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgGxcotscfAgJzklQJ0QkRtOxREVVLML4PrDtuHthJWthM2UhPzzLPo4VXP2IoafWI847ZdHYeDBkUeKzdSnY93HSOBhpSOE0loYiG_jox8O138wT7YuofbU7cGNrFnoqiPoeOzsx8_Wc/s640/Scan+-+Version+4.jpeg" width="492" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">by Edward Gorey for his agent, John Locke, the lineal descendant of philosopher Locke</td></tr>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">So today’s preponderance of wishes for and reports of the “death of the printed book” is, perhaps, merely the most recent in a long history of debates on this topic.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">And along with examples of [what I consider] the misuse and denigration of the printed book, I’ve had enthusiastic response to posts about the uniqueness of <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/10/some-thoughts-about-books-as-objects.html" target="_blank">books as objects</a>; of how people love rooms filled with books, love <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/12/public-libraries.html" target="_blank">public</a> and <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-makes-good-personal-library.html" target="_blank">personal libraries</a> of all kinds; how a room full of books can be descriptive of its owner’s character.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Perhaps that’s why rooms meant to convey intelligence – as in the political interview show mentioned in an <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2012/01/year-of-my-blog-in-review.html" target="_blank">earlier post</a> – often have as background a wall of overstuffed bookshelves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">) </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">People post videos and pictures of <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-makes-good-personal-library.html" target="_blank">libraries</a> on Facebook and elsewhere. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6F607PV_tOCCmO00eDzp9E95rCRBJQcnfRDmWTafc0FGi6toZJ4iItAsCg7lblJX_Yl5bUc9cx-m6Op9vP7J8hlN9rarpMGzbirX3M4HIZocD23gCF6XWb4Q2MpyvjxDpQHdnSDV79AM/s1600/Paris+Library.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6F607PV_tOCCmO00eDzp9E95rCRBJQcnfRDmWTafc0FGi6toZJ4iItAsCg7lblJX_Yl5bUc9cx-m6Op9vP7J8hlN9rarpMGzbirX3M4HIZocD23gCF6XWb4Q2MpyvjxDpQHdnSDV79AM/s200/Paris+Library.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Library in Paris</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbaiUGJK-o0hWlOpfiB9yQuqWPODSp7g7U9NTMs87SZNAUEFX6OTI8WEe_vQVnH1jzSwg8Gcd8UkAhouJj_7hPBmkC1KsIPdz1j0Nr1PTfAJ-lS8P9EvrZkiPGW0hzNSfs9CHYt5ZfeSs/s1600/Exeter+Library_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbaiUGJK-o0hWlOpfiB9yQuqWPODSp7g7U9NTMs87SZNAUEFX6OTI8WEe_vQVnH1jzSwg8Gcd8UkAhouJj_7hPBmkC1KsIPdz1j0Nr1PTfAJ-lS8P9EvrZkiPGW0hzNSfs9CHYt5ZfeSs/s320/Exeter+Library_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exeter Library</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6F607PV_tOCCmO00eDzp9E95rCRBJQcnfRDmWTafc0FGi6toZJ4iItAsCg7lblJX_Yl5bUc9cx-m6Op9vP7J8hlN9rarpMGzbirX3M4HIZocD23gCF6XWb4Q2MpyvjxDpQHdnSDV79AM/s1600/Paris+Library.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8OYoB5cqPMjKCZVUbiMRWVhoohsS-GTODaNzT2sOmIe7-hRwwjm1S4m0hGyG5eEMRzX8_uoOB0TkUzv9t0s0Is7TM1bgTPXHDh6BWsbgXU9Dnep-z2j_7kXhA6oos3_B3vEsyH71-l4w/s1600/Book+Arch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8OYoB5cqPMjKCZVUbiMRWVhoohsS-GTODaNzT2sOmIe7-hRwwjm1S4m0hGyG5eEMRzX8_uoOB0TkUzv9t0s0Is7TM1bgTPXHDh6BWsbgXU9Dnep-z2j_7kXhA6oos3_B3vEsyH71-l4w/s400/Book+Arch.jpg" width="270" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of my favorites.</td></tr>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">They create imaginative bookshelves and "<a href="http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/" target="_blank">Little Libraries</a>."</span></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_be38Z9yR0LZCrRMUOdZQB5HaTMGES7ctuYsr8-RI_CW5d2NUcwa6rnv_uytnuMLHupRwZ3fCgTGWYtaqXNT7IgdYSjV0gJXBJVlrvxEkj9cgPk6QMc9J4GwBj60FpHIp_EwXXb3E8oI/s1600/Piano.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_be38Z9yR0LZCrRMUOdZQB5HaTMGES7ctuYsr8-RI_CW5d2NUcwa6rnv_uytnuMLHupRwZ3fCgTGWYtaqXNT7IgdYSjV0gJXBJVlrvxEkj9cgPk6QMc9J4GwBj60FpHIp_EwXXb3E8oI/s400/Piano.JPG" width="265" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6XiKGFV_n56w09e2G776IWxaUoiR3JqREfhmDuyQZlTzoTGwKQ7LVx8d8_iOiv4uGLgXCOOkxLOZZgwzrOaje_g4JB080JF4ilC9FR9LptjN_K0tHs7HTJNo15-zG5GLlK3T6SFhE2ls/s1600/Little+Library+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6XiKGFV_n56w09e2G776IWxaUoiR3JqREfhmDuyQZlTzoTGwKQ7LVx8d8_iOiv4uGLgXCOOkxLOZZgwzrOaje_g4JB080JF4ilC9FR9LptjN_K0tHs7HTJNo15-zG5GLlK3T6SFhE2ls/s200/Little+Library+2.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little Free Library</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjubaxDmyAm_jjxD6DEppoBXdKYgVQPnr9602as3eqj7jGjAci0lQtzADtYLDJAatU4g_JMQd2uvEGqjfUOMfSfCXGFfywzEOxvzbQp5ecL2bv6dm0ylRCAkUgkzIt8LLehQJWPgAiN3Jo/s1600/Little+Library+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjubaxDmyAm_jjxD6DEppoBXdKYgVQPnr9602as3eqj7jGjAci0lQtzADtYLDJAatU4g_JMQd2uvEGqjfUOMfSfCXGFfywzEOxvzbQp5ecL2bv6dm0ylRCAkUgkzIt8LLehQJWPgAiN3Jo/s640/Little+Library+1.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little Free <i>Memorial</i> Library</td></tr>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">They go to book readings and have books signed by their authors.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_mq8W-z5yewFyvAUgVCnBxttD0Wx_YTEkO3-rJLiQoygjdGe4-EnLWcnGY3bxu9OlhsEauZHojct_Yc4xmkDuK-V70gyRBbjEAsoOVIs1iuYMSrtNNEManMongkkw1bnWGnS83Ahx_Kw/s1600/Memoirs.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_mq8W-z5yewFyvAUgVCnBxttD0Wx_YTEkO3-rJLiQoygjdGe4-EnLWcnGY3bxu9OlhsEauZHojct_Yc4xmkDuK-V70gyRBbjEAsoOVIs1iuYMSrtNNEManMongkkw1bnWGnS83Ahx_Kw/s400/Memoirs.JPG" width="265" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Last week I went to a well-attended book reading of author Matthew Dicks’ new novel, MEMOIRS OF AN IMAGINARY FRIEND.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a book about…well, it’s a book about a boy and his imaginary friend!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it’s also a love story; a story of friendship, devotion and self-sacrifice; a story that celebrates and cherishes those who are “different” from most, and helps the reader to understand and cherish them too.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This is the author’s third book, and with each book, the audience for his readings grows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Matt is a good and entertaining reader; is that why they drive long distances to see him?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Readers enjoyed his first two novels; is that why they come?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Of course, the answer is “yes” to both those questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I believe that they also come to make a connection with the author and with other like-minded readers; they want to make a connection through a book.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">And I mean a printed book.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">After all, had they come just to hear him speak, they could have downloaded the book and had the eBook in a minute:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>no need to stand in line to pay for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">But it was the printed book – a “real” book! – that made “real” communication between author and reader and other readers possible.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkZdR8oVhg5bsSWR5Qzt9iAqMIifkkbxLiHheH2k7I5rT-ObWH9_QMtJebVTXGW5SnN2SF_UFsEvfcUXEYTPTezHaADEGGjoNXz0-aHghHc1NRJbbaU_OLoNliz0TcCqP239ZmWbto3pE/s1600/Matt+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkZdR8oVhg5bsSWR5Qzt9iAqMIifkkbxLiHheH2k7I5rT-ObWH9_QMtJebVTXGW5SnN2SF_UFsEvfcUXEYTPTezHaADEGGjoNXz0-aHghHc1NRJbbaU_OLoNliz0TcCqP239ZmWbto3pE/s400/Matt+2.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“To whom should I inscribe this,” asked the author?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">And there’s the opening:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>who? why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Discussions about this novel and his previous ones begin; what those novels meant to the reader; Matt even recommends books by other authors that he admires.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">And there on the half-title is the reader’s “collaboration” with the author on the words the author has inscribed there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Real.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tangible. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">What’s his penmanship like?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did he use marker or ballpoint? (Try to get ballpoint; have one with you just in case!)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can feel the paper – a bit rough in this book – and the indentations made by the pen:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>deep? shallow?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can remember how you felt and how the author looked during this <i>collaboration</i> between you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And you can bring the book home with you and revisit this page again and again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not just words; it’s personal:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">your</i> book and nobody else’s!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Read it; hold it, touch it, smell it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Use your senses to enjoy the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">complete</i> experience of reading.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Take the sense of smell, for example.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All books have a scent, as do the rooms that house them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>MEMOIRS OF AN IMAGINARY FRIEND smells a bit woody, which works well with the slight roughness of the paper and, coincidentally, can be imagined to reflect the plot and mood of the book:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>lost (as if in a forest) and then found.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A stretch, I know, but such a stretch is possible for the reader to imagine with a printed book and is simply not possible with an eBook, not possible when presented with the words alone.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Old books have a particular scent of their own which, of course, has nothing to do with the their subject; the paper in books have a particular property that makes books smell so good, especially as they age: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
<div style="background-color: #ffe599; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">old book smell</span></span></span></b></div><div style="background-color: #ffe599; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: small;">Did you know?</span></span></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #ffe599; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #ffe599; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Lignin, the stuff that prevents all trees from adopting</span></span></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #ffe599; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: small;">the weeping habit, is a polymer made up of units that are </span></span></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #ffe599; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: small;">closely related <span style="font-size: small;">to vanillin. When made into paper and </span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #ffe599; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">stored for years, it breaks down and smells good. Which is</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #ffe599; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">how divine providence has arranged for secondhand </span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #ffe599; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">bookstores to smell like good quality vanilla absolute, </span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #ffe599; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">subliminally stoking a hunger for knowledge in all of us."</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #ffe599; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #ffe599; text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b>- Perfumes: The Guide</b></i> </span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: #ffe599; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Go to a bookstore and take a whiff: and then take a whiff home with you.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The printed book is not dead; and for me it remains a truism that, as Bell's Books' logo has it,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizvCDNpvRJ8IJrKwF_P6RvQB8njNy9jgfHmmPBUz6sofea9aYndArb2jU4SH4uZ1GQfSRdt5MNI5H4XbuNSMrtI0Y7AjWsxbpPSiOeyl-2IWZ7lpEZtAQ8R_tym6CTuGma90doXm3EMyg/s1600/Bell's+Books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizvCDNpvRJ8IJrKwF_P6RvQB8njNy9jgfHmmPBUz6sofea9aYndArb2jU4SH4uZ1GQfSRdt5MNI5H4XbuNSMrtI0Y7AjWsxbpPSiOeyl-2IWZ7lpEZtAQ8R_tym6CTuGma90doXm3EMyg/s400/Bell's+Books.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span></div>Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-17708397073111350102012-07-05T01:55:00.006-04:002013-01-20T06:21:05.411-05:00The Willing Suspension of Disbelief: But can you possibly believe this?<style>
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It's a given that when we watch theater or film, we must bring with us "the willing suspension of disbelief;" that is, we agree to believe that what we're seeing and hearing is "true."</div>
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It doesn't matter that the stage is often empty or that the sets are only a suggestive representation of a real place; it doesn't matter that those "cats" singing and writhing in front of us are actually dancers; or that a young man bitten by a radioactive spider develops web-making powers and the ability to "leap tall buildings in a single bound" and so becomes that altruistic defender of "good" known as Spiderman (with apologies to Superman).</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEY1asWBZnqcA5Rt87m2J5zn2qnzzf6vSswUAryidWXg7vCizIhS8-TE6_TMWBExewcoLC_b9GzgSdoc5jFN7HlGZiw-sDizWO5d3eFnP5LYHom0FWwfkwYzmNIC8KuQ-X5Dnogwim4d4/s1600/Spiderman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEY1asWBZnqcA5Rt87m2J5zn2qnzzf6vSswUAryidWXg7vCizIhS8-TE6_TMWBExewcoLC_b9GzgSdoc5jFN7HlGZiw-sDizWO5d3eFnP5LYHom0FWwfkwYzmNIC8KuQ-X5Dnogwim4d4/s320/Spiderman.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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But once viewers suspend their disbelief and accept the work's premise, behavior that is illogical for the world we agreed to accept is rarely tolerated by viewers and can lead to eye-rolling and even laughter. Imagine if that "cat" on the stage were suddenly and without reason to begin flying and chirping like a bird! </div>
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There are, of course, less abrupt ways in which the viewer's trust can be broken. </div>
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Because it begins with one absurdity after another, the new film, SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD, prepares the audience for a comedy. </div>
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First, we watch people listen to an upbeat radio announcer say that "The final mission to save mankind has failed," and that an asteroid will hit and destroy the world in three weeks; the announcer continues (in a radio voice that we can all recognize) by saying that, "We'll be bringing you the countdown to the end of days along with all your classic rock favorites." This is funny!</div>
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Also funny are employers extending 'casual Fridays' to the entire week; people arranging blind dates; policemen giving speeding tickets; homeowners mowing lawns and having garage sales; and looters stealing TV's and such -- all in the context of three weeks left to live!</div>
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This is funny stuff! Viewers agree to believe this premise and as expected, they laugh.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfH3_heevDuWW_H676H3WDVclCKCXOL7uQ5aJTo-khxURixhPpug3n4QzHHoXrPvbsuFgaYfjUZCnsGhEt-Tzo1Qa7JDju-yKXGz3EA-YiN15toT3uhJL7sMWjWPrjI_CV8Y_IxVy5uYM/s1600/poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfH3_heevDuWW_H676H3WDVclCKCXOL7uQ5aJTo-khxURixhPpug3n4QzHHoXrPvbsuFgaYfjUZCnsGhEt-Tzo1Qa7JDju-yKXGz3EA-YiN15toT3uhJL7sMWjWPrjI_CV8Y_IxVy5uYM/s400/poster.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
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Then suddenly, the movie shifts -- almost completely! -- into sadness, tragedy, and the desperate need of people to connect and to find a meaning for their lives. There are suicides; there is romance and new love; there are heartbreaking efforts to find closure for past hurts; there is longing to reunite with family and to reconcile with God....</div>
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Viewers are not prepared for this; they become silent; some even leave the theater: we are no longer willing partners to the drama of this film. </div>
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Another common way in which the audience<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">’</span>s trust can be broken is through a preponderance of unbelievable coincidences, some of which appear "just in time." This can definitely bring on the eye rolls, as we think, "Do you really expect me to believe <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i>?" </div>
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But perhaps we<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">’</span>re too harsh in thinking so, as there's that other commonly held belief that "truth is stranger than fiction." And often enough, it is: it just happened to me. </div>
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I went to my son Adam's graduation ceremonies at <a href="http://www.stanford.edu/" target="_blank">Stanford</a> on June 16th. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4137s6Tc2QElbORcyAOBJesfC_1kC2KVO7BAb4a94zpPUxuGSEdwLH2OBQlNAF8wETvzDzGyp2W_k5jNwhUw0w6DsLJF0JT2juf40pF1G3Ac1ryEbN8Nognz0mSZZbr6ynZRAkWLDxPE/s1600/Graduation+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4137s6Tc2QElbORcyAOBJesfC_1kC2KVO7BAb4a94zpPUxuGSEdwLH2OBQlNAF8wETvzDzGyp2W_k5jNwhUw0w6DsLJF0JT2juf40pF1G3Ac1ryEbN8Nognz0mSZZbr6ynZRAkWLDxPE/s320/Graduation+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Proud</td></tr>
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After the ceremonies and celebrations, I fell and broke my wrist. Badly. I was rushed to the ER where, of course, we spent many, many hours -- some of them with me in <span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">“</span>traction<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">”</span> in a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_finger_trap" target="_blank">Chinese Finger Trap</a> like the ones I played with as a child! </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Low tech for a change!</td></tr>
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Of course, I felt awful about spoiling his occasion, but Adam was nice enough to say that he'd been worried about how to entertain us for the rest of the day and that I'd solved that problem for him!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhROw745ib3dlWk5FjygRu9XVRYfBBhoQhGGRXTrKwagDjpkvg1ZEYgunVv84ujpSwStEVtBbqLlxjBuxmIvF2NyBQYeTuROOU20f3C_ak6yv2RSdAP2pBL7OIR8IIt9eWF0oAY9CsW1GY/s1600/Sling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhROw745ib3dlWk5FjygRu9XVRYfBBhoQhGGRXTrKwagDjpkvg1ZEYgunVv84ujpSwStEVtBbqLlxjBuxmIvF2NyBQYeTuROOU20f3C_ak6yv2RSdAP2pBL7OIR8IIt9eWF0oAY9CsW1GY/s320/Sling.jpg" width="264" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me in my Stanford souvenir hospital gown.</td></tr>
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Would you believe that my timing would be so good that my injury did not interfere with Adam<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">’</span>s graduation ceremonies?</div>
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My healing did not go well, and when I got back to Arizona, my friend Jo insisted on taking me to the ER. I've had reason to go to the ER before (not for me) and always went to the Mayo Clinic -- might I have a thing for "brand" names? -- so I assumed that we'd be going there; but my friend preferred a new hospital in north Scottsdale, and as she was the driver, I agreed. </div>
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My splint was too tight and had to be redone. Steve, my PA, asked where I was from and did a double-take when I said the Berkshires. "What's wrong?" Jo asked, whereupon he told us that he'd accepted a position at the Berkshire Medical Center and would be starting there at the end of July!</div>
<div class="Body1">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body1">
Would you believe that I would go to a hospital that I'd never have thought to go to, and there meet someone who will be a Berkshire neighbor? Would you believe that Steve would happen to be on duty on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i> particular day; and that with the very many people working in the ER, he would be <i>my</i> doctor?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Steve said that he was looking for somewhere to live while he went house-hunting, and Jo said, <span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">“</span>Helen knows everybody in the Berkshires including all of the realtors." (This is not quite true, but close enough.) She also told him that I had a space adjacent to the bookstore that I was thinking of renting as a sort-of seasonal B&B -- make that a seasonal <span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">“</span>B<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">”</span>: get your own muffins! -- and that it would be the perfect place for him. Steve agreed that it seemed a good solution. Soon, people kept coming into my room -- the doctor, the receptionist, the admitting nurse, the splint-maker, and so on -- just to tell me how wonderful Steve is and how much I'd like having him as a tenant. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Would you believe that I first told Jo my thoughts about renting the space during our drive to the hospital? Would you believe that I would have Jo -- my ultimate booster! -- with me when Steve came into the room? Would you believe that I had a potential renter almost as soon as I had the thought of renting? And would you believe that I, still a bit uncertain about renting space furnished with so many beautiful things that I love, would "bump into" a potential renter who came with such a bevy of enthusiastic recommendations?</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil7eBSgSp_6i9C5Pct4RzvyoPgxUOfWqihTU8i5xffPYP97sB1hQ69eK7U8VQetOz2nizKBnGpMoelumhBva2hY1RUwPZe7vTeMtzGs1QhQ8q0gdjUV56Rs0OzpU8DxKLWHxFcjOxJp3g/s1600/store.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil7eBSgSp_6i9C5Pct4RzvyoPgxUOfWqihTU8i5xffPYP97sB1hQ69eK7U8VQetOz2nizKBnGpMoelumhBva2hY1RUwPZe7vTeMtzGs1QhQ8q0gdjUV56Rs0OzpU8DxKLWHxFcjOxJp3g/s400/store.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Store</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="Body1">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body1">
I had wrist surgery yesterday and I won't be able to return to the Berkshires until the middle of the month; so, I'm hoping for one more happy coincidence: that my customers and friends just <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">happened</i> to be 'away' or 'busy' during the beginning of July, and that they'll be ready and waiting to come to my bookstore upon my return. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="Body1">
And why can't that be true? After all, "truth is stranger than fiction...!"</div>
Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-34935377484772218552012-05-24T06:56:00.008-04:002012-07-07T21:55:53.906-04:00FOOTNOTE: What Would You Do?<div style="color: #351c75;"><style>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Families. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">FOOTNOTE, the Israeli film which won the award for best screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Film at this year’s Academy Awards, is a film which explores the complex and emotionally charged dynamics of families of every kind: from three generations of a nuclear family to the “families” we create in our work place. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Anyone who’s ever worked in a university anywhere in the world will recognize the claustrophobic and competitive environment of academic life, where departmental congeniality thinly masks the cut-throat rivalry, jealousy and betrayal in its family of coworkers.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">In the 1988 film <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.O.A._%281988_film%29" target="_blank">DOA (Dead On Arrival)</a>, the main character, Professor Dexter Cornell (played by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000598/" target="_blank">Dennis Quaid</a>) has been fatally poisoned, and spends the remaining 3 days of his life trying to find his killer; finally, he learns that he was murdered by a colleague who wanted his tenure!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">FOOTNOTE is suspenseful, but not as heavy-handed as DOA — in fact, it’s highly satirical and sometimes, laugh-out-loud funny! — but nevertheless, it precisely captures that politically charged, egotistical world of academia. Here, the Talmudic Studies department at Hebrew University in Jerusalem is the “family” of professors who carp at each other, who steal ideas from one another, who compete for fame and importance. Even being mentioned as a “footnote” in a work by a respected scholar is cause for pride and is nurtured like a fetish.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The tightly woven, tension-laden world of the Talmudic scholars is mirrored in the background picture the film gives of modern day Israel, where so much of daily life is subject to interactions with security agents; where simply going into and out of a public building like a library requires patience and restraint — and ideally, a sense of humor!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Apart from those security details, the dilemmas faced in FOOTNOTE are familiar ones; the film is also a keenly observed portrait of both </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">domestic and academic life. And in this story, the two lives — the two families — are intricately intertwined. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Father Eliezer Shkolnik and his son, Uriel, are both Talmudic scholars at Hebrew University. But Eliezer is a self-righteous man, humorless and married to old methods and superseded studies. He has isolated himself from most of his colleagues and from his family as well; and he’s locked into a bitter disappointment over lack of recognition by anything greater than one small “footnote” in another scholar’s work. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">By contrast, his son Uriel is an academic star. Charismatic and well-liked, he is a part of the world; he plays racket ball, goes to concerts, and wins the kinds of accolades and honors that have eluded his father. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Talk about a generation gap! Uriel knows how to play the game of life — and the academic game! — while his father does not. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">But Uriel feels some guilt about this, and over and over again, he tries to impress and please his father. Of course, this is an almost impossible task, as his father disparages all those who are welcomed by the establishment that has ignored him. That Uriel is welcomed into that world angers, disappoints and depresses his father further; he is jealous and anxious to belittle his son’s work. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Eliezer is finally recognized by being awarded the most important academic prize in Israel. This totally unexpected prize thrills his son and the rest of his family, and Eliezer is forced to welcome the accolades of those he’d previously scorned.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">In a riveting comic but tense scene set in a tiny, crowded and almost suffocating room at the university, Uriel is informed by the members of the awards committee that the award was meant for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">him</i> and mistakenly given to his father; moreover, it is left for Uriel to tell his father of that decision, to deliver that blow.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">These are, indeed, ethical and personal dilemmas. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">What would you do? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">If you were the father, would you accept the award that was bestowed by those whom you do not respect and have criticized for years? Would you disparage your son and his accomplishments? Would you be angry that your son, and not you, received that prestigious award? Or would you embrace your son and feel exalted by his success? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">What would you do?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">If you were the son, would you give up your prize for your father? Would you sacrifice the truth for him despite his disloyalty to you? Or would you claim the prize that was rightfully yours? Would you be pleased to take your father’s joy from him? Would you be happy to finally exact retribution for your father’s betrayal and lack of generosity toward you?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">What would you do?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">In this fine film, you sit on the edge of your seat waiting for the answers to these questions – if, indeed, there are clear-cut answers to be had.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">And all the while, you wonder:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">What would <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you</i> do…?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Love, honor, trust, truth, loyalty, grace; and rivalry, anger, frustration, loathing, jealousy, betrayal: all the stuff of family is portrayed here. Father and son are each tested; the academic and domestic families are tested: and it is heartbreaking to see....</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/sfsn17MqkBo?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But regardless of what they do to one another, one thing remains a given throughout the film: these two men are bound to each other. Forever.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Families.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Whatever else we can say of them, families hold within them a link between the generations and a hope for the future. And of course, nothing does that quite so well as the arrival of a new baby.</span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Last month I wrote of the birth of my first grand-baby, Hannah Selma. Now I happily write of the newest edition to my family: a beautiful and quite lovely little boy named Leo Nathan.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One child had a girl and the other a boy; but I have both a girl <i>and</i> a boy: how lucky is that?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My family is growing and we are moving into the future together....</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;">
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2DRYWiIGIEJjzq4js1p6_4xMuQaimtPy0v96LUklX5LjppSOHjZby3_WB6HYQHeFGMKN4BeVM7wuravP2L9oYF36DJ9C4EnOBNynzpkW739bkP4uAiYb1ni3KEJgSSEMkJ2dLYM76NvQ/s1600/IMG_2208.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2DRYWiIGIEJjzq4js1p6_4xMuQaimtPy0v96LUklX5LjppSOHjZby3_WB6HYQHeFGMKN4BeVM7wuravP2L9oYF36DJ9C4EnOBNynzpkW739bkP4uAiYb1ni3KEJgSSEMkJ2dLYM76NvQ/s320/IMG_2208.jpg" width="217" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leo Nathan -- and I made this blanket, too!</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEhNX7iMvRUq2_7-UyGW02WQ9qm0z99F2Evq7laN9oex-PrcgXS_e741ovWJ66G8ff7WAK4PXRAg2fRKkMWnf2XTv0CPJ85bzHR3gCUIW2oEDKJ5VbkvorIYkBabDHNUSzum4fnK4GrNo/s1600/IMG_2674.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEhNX7iMvRUq2_7-UyGW02WQ9qm0z99F2Evq7laN9oex-PrcgXS_e741ovWJ66G8ff7WAK4PXRAg2fRKkMWnf2XTv0CPJ85bzHR3gCUIW2oEDKJ5VbkvorIYkBabDHNUSzum4fnK4GrNo/s400/IMG_2674.jpg" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nana with Leo and Hannah</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></div>Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-90739644741519604422012-04-25T22:35:00.008-04:002012-04-26T03:22:36.058-04:00Keep Calm And Carry On<style>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It’s been over a month since my last post to this blog and I’ve many excuses; but mostly, I’ve been very, very busy—even a bit frantic! </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My busy-ness has been all good: the wedding of an old friend of mine, newly reunited with a love she had 26 years ago; guests to take to places all around this breathtakingly beautiful state of Arizona; and best of all: babies!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another beautiful sunset over the mountain at the back of my house.</td></tr>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A few weeks ago, I had my first grand-baby—a beautiful girl named Hannah—and am expecting my second any day now. It’s a lovely, joyous thing to have a new baby in the family; it’s fun and exciting to plan baby showers and go to doctors’ appointments and “birthing” classes! It’s fun to help decorate a baby room and to find beautiful stuffed animals and baby clothes wherever you go. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Guest-decorated bibs and onesies.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yum!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready to play.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hannah & Nana - and I made the blanket!</td></tr>
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And it's quite wonderful to hold a baby in my arms again. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But all this requires that I be in the car and on the road much of the time: wedding almost 3 hours away in Tucson; baby Hannah 1 hour away in Phoenix; expectant mother 6 hours away in Los Angeles…. It’s exhausting! And when I’m home, I’m often frenzied as I try to catch-up with those many things left undone.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Then I remind myself to take to heart those words of wisdom from World War II: “Keep Calm and Carry On.” </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For those not familiar with the phrase, these words were on a poster printed by the British government during the war. It summed up with extraordinary simplicity what citizens needed to do during this time of upheaval and fear: they needed to take care of the business at hand and go on with their lives….</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Original Poster</td></tr>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But the story of the poster does not end with the war; and the newer part of the story begins with a bookseller. (Of course!) </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://barterbooks.co.uk/html/About%20Us/The%20Bookshop.php" target="_blank">Barter Books</a> is one of the largest bookstores in England—and I’ll bet it’s one of the most beautiful, too! It was built into a beautiful old Victorian railroad station; and it manages to be both large and cozy at the same time.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="font16"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTCBPWV5VSxI1cZi0nTF0Qgbl3HLK5vJrC6phsOC5AK7DGS8BA4Kr6SKcjkBCmTXE2kTGWzSfaes0qNyJoPDzsthmS3HmxXW8YZgOWJzrkzLBobWXUGzaUIEomipxv5jy4Zc8cLieXkiE/s1600/Barter+Books+1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTCBPWV5VSxI1cZi0nTF0Qgbl3HLK5vJrC6phsOC5AK7DGS8BA4Kr6SKcjkBCmTXE2kTGWzSfaes0qNyJoPDzsthmS3HmxXW8YZgOWJzrkzLBobWXUGzaUIEomipxv5jy4Zc8cLieXkiE/s320/Barter+Books+1.gif" width="317" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div><div class="font16"><br />
</div><div class="font16" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">And it was here that an original of the “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster was found in a box of old books. As they tell the story on their website,</span></div><div style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><div class="font16"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“After being forgotten for more than half a century, a rare original of the now famous WWII poster was rediscovered in a box of old books bought at auction….</span></div><div class="font16"><br />
</div><div class="font16"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When the bookshop owners had the poster framed and put up in the shop, customer interest was so great that in 2001 the couple started producing facsimile copies for sale - copies which were soon copied and recopied to make of the Keep Calm poster one of the first truly iconic images of the 21st century.” </span></div></blockquote><div class="font16" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Isn’t that grand?</span></div><div class="font16" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="font16" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Here is a 3-minute video that tells the history of the creation of the original poster, with footage from the period; it also shows some fabulous scenes in the old railroad station and tantalizing bits of the store’s interior:</span></div><div class="font16"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/FrHkKXFRbCI?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="font16"><br />
</div><div class="font16" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Barter Books has a <a href="http://barterbooks.co.uk/html/giftShop.php" target="_blank">gift shop</a> and an on-line store from which, among other things, you can buy a f<a href="http://www.keepcalmhome.com/" target="_blank">acsimile of the poster—or even mugs and tee shirts and mouse pads and more</a>—all with the iconic red and white sign on them. Who can resist?</span></div><div class="font16" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="font16" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Beautiful as this shop is, there are many wonderful ways to display books. (See my posts on <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/12/public-libraries.html" target="_blank">public</a>, <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-makes-good-personal-library.html" target="_blank">private</a>, and <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2012/03/here-we-go-again.html" target="_blank">“little” libraries</a>.) And as my blog has somewhat morphed into one that is concerned with the state of “real” books in this electronically focused world, readers have been sending me articles and photos and videos on the subject. As I do want to write about other things, I plan to have a postscript from time to time with more news on the “real-books-are-wonderful-and-can’t-be-replaced” front.</span></div><div class="font16" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="font16" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Here is one such; can we call this an “exercise” library? Whatever you call it, it can't be replaced by eBooks!</span></div><div class="font16"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exercise Wheel? Little Library? Perhaps both.</td></tr>
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</div><div class="font16" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">And wherever you read and wherever you exercise; and whenever you feel the stresses and strains of modern life, or the joy and excitement of new arrivals and happy celebrations: remember not to be “frantic” and instead, think of the mantra:</span></div><div class="font16" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="font16" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON!</span></div><div class="font16" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Believe me, it works!</div>Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-49685485214046502542012-03-12T12:00:00.029-04:002012-03-14T02:57:20.244-04:00Here We Go Again<style>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #351c75;">It can seem as though there’s a conspiracy in media outlets – both written and spoken – to report the coming “death” of printed books. The death is attributed to “villains” such as Amazon; so why is the tone of these reports usually comic at best, and gleeful at worst?</span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">One reason is that the written media (like TIME, for example) enjoys “live streaming” in addition to the text that's in the printed edition, as new and more pointed ads are possible every few minutes rather than only once a week. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I’ve tried reading those "feeds," and I don’t really understand how they serve me. I go to TIME for a thoughtful presentation of the news of the week: if I want on-the-spot news; if I want film snips like “The Funniest TV Clips of the Week;” if I want to instantly know “The Number-One Way to Get a Flight Attendant Angry” or that “Chess Championships Lose Sex Appeal with New No-Cleavage Rule” – all from TIME’S latest “feed” – I can go to Google or Yahoo or YouTube, or even to PEOPLE magazine and the numerous “gossip” sites on the net. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">And sometimes, I do: but that’s not what I want from a [supposedly] sober round-up of the week’s news.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">So: not only do we have the Amazons against us, but printed material doesn’t get adequate support even where we most expect it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I’ve already posted a funny (funny?) <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/11/guest-post-reading-rules.html" target="_blank">NEW YORKER cover depicting book stores without books</a>; here are two more funny (funny?) covers:</span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6HQYvPgoWvCvG9ie2Wgn0LfmsVyylOV5KY7lCs4kYA9__8ZC4Q9SVXE7xx2B2RIFKdm0W0CgBS2UYY7gmnW7Ti6lHFbt3B8TlIYrN00AE0QI2FFOCiEXUdD6ifM6eT4XySvC9sDS6xIQ/s1600/Book+Lover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6HQYvPgoWvCvG9ie2Wgn0LfmsVyylOV5KY7lCs4kYA9__8ZC4Q9SVXE7xx2B2RIFKdm0W0CgBS2UYY7gmnW7Ti6lHFbt3B8TlIYrN00AE0QI2FFOCiEXUdD6ifM6eT4XySvC9sDS6xIQ/s400/Book+Lover.jpg" width="301" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Package from Amazon</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7nfqYrIyKaJ0GqEMlTKPD50MK1lFPTHxahp4BvBsq4U0yoSyz8UahsBfDYfZi8u3J2jeuVU2BJYU_hs-TUmqrita2Iyq_wqiYTXR3Fa6FVEb0WIP2plQPdLQhx5Ri7bxGr-mCVXnRD1U/s1600/Angel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7nfqYrIyKaJ0GqEMlTKPD50MK1lFPTHxahp4BvBsq4U0yoSyz8UahsBfDYfZi8u3J2jeuVU2BJYU_hs-TUmqrita2Iyq_wqiYTXR3Fa6FVEb0WIP2plQPdLQhx5Ri7bxGr-mCVXnRD1U/s400/Angel.jpg" width="261" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Even Angels read eBooks</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Then there’s their “joke” of books being obsolete, an “artifact” one recognizes no longer:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi1ckPLDuKypeEK09YW6CJBkqIvtUfX1Ia_foQC5G6PVxrRNuBtzh6ORSx3y2KdmXdUQZjRuBAvGNXQhToMcZU0WibRfp37LELZtM5pcWUvOmlm7wJV33fCxBOOk7-Lj0X9fS2FNG67nY/s1600/joke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi1ckPLDuKypeEK09YW6CJBkqIvtUfX1Ia_foQC5G6PVxrRNuBtzh6ORSx3y2KdmXdUQZjRuBAvGNXQhToMcZU0WibRfp37LELZtM5pcWUvOmlm7wJV33fCxBOOk7-Lj0X9fS2FNG67nY/s400/joke.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Holy cow! What kind of crazy people used to live here anyway?"</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The Internet is rife with jokes concerning life without printed books:</span></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“We’ll need to buy real doorstops.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">We’ll have to find another way to press and dry flowers.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Our bathrooms will no longer be cluttered.”</span></div></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">You get the picture.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">And even when printed books are appreciated, it can be for <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2012/01/year-of-my-blog-in-review.html" target="_blank">reasons that make book lovers and sellers uncomfortable</a>. Here, an ad for a Prius tells us that although we have e-readers, we “need books for decoration.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin6WG3-yF7W7qRQLjkDcoIZPtfbOFnueZ7zKupqZiKsJOYimPhoF7odqJ-g-qB8cL7P2KNPNzblziRIkkQmQJgz4bPNfVt-m62HHS_U9SJSUQlNl7XYy_iisGFiajQ7Edfg2i_DN3RJVE/s1600/prius.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin6WG3-yF7W7qRQLjkDcoIZPtfbOFnueZ7zKupqZiKsJOYimPhoF7odqJ-g-qB8cL7P2KNPNzblziRIkkQmQJgz4bPNfVt-m62HHS_U9SJSUQlNl7XYy_iisGFiajQ7Edfg2i_DN3RJVE/s320/prius.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Would you buy a car to help you find books for home decor?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">As <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2012/01/year-of-my-blog-in-review.html" target="_blank">noted in an earlier post</a>, books are also being used not for their original function, but as a <a href="http://karanarora.posterous.com/insane-art-formed-by-carving-books-with-surgi" target="_blank">new “medium” for visual art</a>. Here are examples from artist Brian Dettmer:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIYIxS1Fz26zWgYlQEtxYQxDXZt19bdrhyphenhyphenWqhxI7MUyMP-7jj_3uiSe0SaEt291ckZvxs4bHTCpRuUesqAY0bhlw-eP1ARlH_Yx76uDWflI9Va89dQzC9sDkp0wDXEKQFVUchV8IpXlI0/s1600/Brian+Dettmer+1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="367" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIYIxS1Fz26zWgYlQEtxYQxDXZt19bdrhyphenhyphenWqhxI7MUyMP-7jj_3uiSe0SaEt291ckZvxs4bHTCpRuUesqAY0bhlw-eP1ARlH_Yx76uDWflI9Va89dQzC9sDkp0wDXEKQFVUchV8IpXlI0/s400/Brian+Dettmer+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFnXqd7MwkEKjRskzDqValWlpYeQ7zZlM2R6gaGbRQb2hiCFfadjJs12X8bpEcPe-6dc8tkghkbyQX6mclm9CZiQS5wa33df3O67iaSCMoZIlWZb3g5PfWU5h48lSpP73R0vCa7eH6gio/s1600/Brian+Dettmer+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFnXqd7MwkEKjRskzDqValWlpYeQ7zZlM2R6gaGbRQb2hiCFfadjJs12X8bpEcPe-6dc8tkghkbyQX6mclm9CZiQS5wa33df3O67iaSCMoZIlWZb3g5PfWU5h48lSpP73R0vCa7eH6gio/s400/Brian+Dettmer+2.jpg" width="347" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixB86k7XamCN_76BClMT6h4iV0JXDu-6nVdtA5v4ZWab673BhqehYpKRQtrwxopaOOQ_u86u6qaYMcHUmPAFqKo5nMhmfr3xz-wJJNzJ5DM3TJ5gg1nh0vMwQxsTlW9vOxCqX5Q7T2xL4/s1600/Brian+Dettmer+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixB86k7XamCN_76BClMT6h4iV0JXDu-6nVdtA5v4ZWab673BhqehYpKRQtrwxopaOOQ_u86u6qaYMcHUmPAFqKo5nMhmfr3xz-wJJNzJ5DM3TJ5gg1nh0vMwQxsTlW9vOxCqX5Q7T2xL4/s400/Brian+Dettmer+3.jpg" width="311" /></a></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container"><tbody>
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</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiblNrGgtRjwU0Sjg1X7k_ZeIc7USh-JlDL4KUgWkXVdopZDCA2AMzGFqRxtr3628HrBTdF_C0USoyP2rvGb2K6wXwaOIrgfsUbvvD2BA0B0j_juqMQnt2h4bm_MXjo_wEOvPB6zM28SYg/s1600/Brian+Dettmer+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiblNrGgtRjwU0Sjg1X7k_ZeIc7USh-JlDL4KUgWkXVdopZDCA2AMzGFqRxtr3628HrBTdF_C0USoyP2rvGb2K6wXwaOIrgfsUbvvD2BA0B0j_juqMQnt2h4bm_MXjo_wEOvPB6zM28SYg/s320/Brian+Dettmer+4.jpg" width="251" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And a video of artist Su Blackwell's work:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://1.gvt0.com/vi/_GWblPDRoiE/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_GWblPDRoiE&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_GWblPDRoiE&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Exquisite works, but why use books for these? Why not just use paper and make bases of wood or leather? And isn't this somewhat disrespectful to books? (Or don't you think so?)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Libraries and librarians offer little help. With the growth of ebooks and the advent of new laws requiring wider aisles for patrons in wheelchairs, many libraries have had to rethink their “mission” – as repositories of great books? as lending institutions meant to serve popular preferences? – and decide what to discard in order to create the required space.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The <a href="http://www.pittsfieldlibrary.org/" target="_blank">Berkshire Athenaeum</a> in Pittsfield MA is one of the oldest libraries in the United States; it's a lending library that was also a repository for fine and rare books. When faced with the need for more space, they decided that their primary function was that of a lending library; to that end, they sent to auction all books that hadn't been “borrowed” for 50 years. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Except for their extraordinary Melville and Berkshire collections which aren't part of the lending library, we – in our “Bibliofind Book Auction 'hat'” – auctioned off thousands of their books; 14 of them earned world record prices.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The main branch of the venerable <a href="http://www.nypl.org/" target="_blank">New York Public Library</a> had an even more arbitrary way of choosing what books they would discard. In their wisdom, they decided to get rid of any book in which the page “broke” when its corner was folded!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Never taking into consideration the quality of the paper typical of the period; or the book’s value; or the importance of it as an artifact and historical document – the information was on microfilm, after all! -- among the things the library threw into the trash were thousands of early American pamphlets, including coveted ones from the time of the Revolutionary War. Thomas Payne, Benjamin Franklin, and the like: all went into the trash.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Fortunately, a diligent bookseller was tipped off, and he rescued them before they could be carted to the dump. Every year at Christmas, he sends a greeting card on the cover of which is a photo of one of these pamphlets along with the date it was discarded and its approximate value. (Often enough, in the thousands.) Inside, a single line reads, “Your tax-payer dollars at work.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">And new libraries? More and more, they contain row upon row of videos; row upon row of popular paperbacks like those of Danielle Steel; and they give classes in meditation and yoga and crafts. I don’t have anything against a places like these, but what makes them “libraries” and not community centers? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Where libraries treat videos and mass paperback fiction as equal to – or more important! – than other books, they do no service to the future of printed books.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Now, the latest blow: Congress has accused Apple and some publishers for “price fixing” by charging between $9.99 and $12.99 for ebooks. As a result, it's expected that ebooks will go down to $5.99 each. What will <i>that</i> do to the market for printed books?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Full disclosure here: I read ebooks. I travel a lot and I can carry far more ebooks with me than I can printed books. And I can always keep old favorites near me.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">But it is a totally different reading experience. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">My bookseller friend and <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/10/guest-post-bookshop-movies.html" target="_blank">guest-poster</a>, Pamela Grath, had a <a href="http://booksinnorthport.blogspot.com/2012/03/no-purer-love.html" target="_blank">recent post</a> on her blog, <a href="http://booksinnorthport.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Books in Northpor</a>t, which I urge you to read. There she tells of an opinion that ebooks are a “purer” form of reading in that one is not “distracted” by the object that is a printed book. The writer she’s questioning also claims that “we’ll get used to it” just as people got used to going from reading hand calligraphed parchment scrolls to reading printed books. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This is not quite true, as the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">experience</i> of reading scrolls is very different from that of reading books: and it's the experience that makes the difference. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I like to go back and forth when I read a book; I like to keep a finger on an earlier page so that I can jump around easily; I like to curl the page and read both sides of it seamlessly. I like to hold the page between my fingers, the book in my hands. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Hasn’t it been said that “the medium is the message?” Well, it’s certainly a big part of it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">There’s nothing “pure” about the ebook experience of hyper-links and </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">pop-out definitions</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">, and the changing of fonts and of the brightness of the background; there’s nothing “pure” about glass-encased photos of beautiful hand-colored illustrations or photogravures. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">On the walls of Bill Gates’ home hang huge screens on which there are ever-changing full-size photos of many important paintings. Is this pure? More to the point: are these <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">art?</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">As I noted in <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/10/some-thoughts-about-books-as-objects.html" target="_blank">an earlier post</a>, one learns a lot about history and taste and materials when something’s read in its original form. Scrolls, for instance.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The Torah consists of the five books of Moses. You can read these five in a printed book – the first five chapters in the Bible – or you can read them in a scroll, as originally presented. In synagogues throughout the world, heavy Torah scrolls are lifted, unrolled to that week's pertinent passages, and read. </span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilni5sW65f-qldPQY84gHmmiEAsVd5iJktn_qOaXxv6_GECGEzPr6bx9B0dKfEMTuKMB81Kw6oP5F3kItz6rm1Z0gRmzTJ55EZGFcdg0CwvYUPMbHLbDRmj4xndlN7QWQVQsyncwg_fOA/s1600/TorahScroll.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="377" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilni5sW65f-qldPQY84gHmmiEAsVd5iJktn_qOaXxv6_GECGEzPr6bx9B0dKfEMTuKMB81Kw6oP5F3kItz6rm1Z0gRmzTJ55EZGFcdg0CwvYUPMbHLbDRmj4xndlN7QWQVQsyncwg_fOA/s400/TorahScroll.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Torah Scroll </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRlDUtOrtb0S_FPMAU9tKiNCvaGYlwnJzJDy061cGcScAgWos_SY-WZem2GOQpJ2d3LvLyLh7KwCdi0nV9EtuCgIugnXYOWL0o2b_8I3qQHlqAYz5BCzKBX0q9WgE8lD0CSHBitNMiICU/s1600/torah+rabbi.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRlDUtOrtb0S_FPMAU9tKiNCvaGYlwnJzJDy061cGcScAgWos_SY-WZem2GOQpJ2d3LvLyLh7KwCdi0nV9EtuCgIugnXYOWL0o2b_8I3qQHlqAYz5BCzKBX0q9WgE8lD0CSHBitNMiICU/s200/torah+rabbi.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Torah Scroll</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial;">You can hear the crackle of vellum, parchment, paper; you can see cracks in the ink from years of rolling and unrolling; you can <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">physically</i> appreciate that this is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">one</i> story, <i>one</i> continuous history that rolls on and on like the scroll itself; you can feel a sense of awe as you are reminded that this is how the words have been read for centuries. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">It’s a different experience from reading these five books in a printed book, one page at a time. Reading it as an ebook would be yet another and quite different experience. But better? Purer? I think not….</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Perhaps it’s just a matter of preference which of these experiences feels best to you, feels “purest.” But I think it’s more than that; and I think that the “more” is what will keep printed books alive. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">In THE BOOKS IN MY LIFE, Henry Miller wrote, </span></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“When you have possessed a book with mind and spirit, you are enriched. But when you pass it on you are enriched threefold.” </span></div></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">There’s a gratification that one gets from a printed book that cannot be duplicated, and the sharing that books make possible is part of that gratification, part of that experience.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Last week, <a href="http://npr.org/" target="_blank">NPR</a> had a story about <a href="http://www.npr.org/2012/03/07/148170088/little-free-libraries-hope-to-spark-lending-revolution" target="_blank">little libraries</a> – sometimes only the size of a birdhouse! – which are popping up all over cities and towns; many even on front lawns. </span></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Put a little library on a short post like a mailbox, put it in your front yard and fill it up with books. Then people can help themselves for free.</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">“ </span></div></blockquote><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvLWAIx1uPD0Ha0vEzMMkjlXme8xf4Ss6Zv5yZ1uki61z4E1Ius1eRlF4v4IMiPMoG-1FswhEAAZtcZRHxWzJgsmSXCj0WFj5c1C3LdjSwfogFjrT3T_Bdkd7sg2D2U5HojGkjVs0uhYo/s1600/Little+Library+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvLWAIx1uPD0Ha0vEzMMkjlXme8xf4Ss6Zv5yZ1uki61z4E1Ius1eRlF4v4IMiPMoG-1FswhEAAZtcZRHxWzJgsmSXCj0WFj5c1C3LdjSwfogFjrT3T_Bdkd7sg2D2U5HojGkjVs0uhYo/s400/Little+Library+1.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Little Library in the Suburbs</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidxoo941yt3KUTFNoLvI9XhWx09w0EJwHUGQVLgjCr0DTm7g6hl449vfqKMw3c9_VgsfsbHXQ5nqE6uZMAfpBtcqYax44LJv5_i4pSvRMLM3xEJAGRhvvkq_j_mNvcvxcV2IF_SyChBaQ/s1600/Little+Library+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidxoo941yt3KUTFNoLvI9XhWx09w0EJwHUGQVLgjCr0DTm7g6hl449vfqKMw3c9_VgsfsbHXQ5nqE6uZMAfpBtcqYax44LJv5_i4pSvRMLM3xEJAGRhvvkq_j_mNvcvxcV2IF_SyChBaQ/s400/Little+Library+2.png" width="362" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Little Library in NYC</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Take a book; leave a book. And people love it.</span><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Arial;">"My kids will run over there. I've run into friends of friends who I don't know well dropping off a book at the free library and finding, oh, this is just the right age and reading level for my daughter and taking it home. I mean, there are all of these nice, little serendipitous connections that happen with your neighbors."</span></blockquote> <span style="font-family: Arial;">And</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Arial;">"One of the things that always just amazes me is how many people hug [us] when we actually put [books] in. We constantly get emails that say 'I've met more people than I have in 20 years.' People are always happy. My favorite thing to do is sit on my porch and read a book and watch people open the library."</span></blockquote><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr9VMR_WiaF2zfuhoBA3yk5aaaRqKACxb8Px8s03_AcSw4vVrMM9e5u2quOaIV9XrsHz_al0k2mvaBCqohlz_lJZ0PLwQgCdzf0wvuiCzaQaGYTvDjOYK4QgPI_KRc7fSWvRVBA0RbLWE/s1600/Little+Library+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr9VMR_WiaF2zfuhoBA3yk5aaaRqKACxb8Px8s03_AcSw4vVrMM9e5u2quOaIV9XrsHz_al0k2mvaBCqohlz_lJZ0PLwQgCdzf0wvuiCzaQaGYTvDjOYK4QgPI_KRc7fSWvRVBA0RbLWE/s400/Little+Library+3.png" width="260" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A NYC Little Library </td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial;">The <a href="http://www.npr.org/2012/03/07/148170088/little-free-libraries-hope-to-spark-lending-revolution" target="_blank">“Little Library”</a> movement hopes to build more libraries than Andrew Carnegie had built, and to have them throughout the world: they have already sprung up in 17 different countries. (We have one at our town dump!) </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">No yoga classes in these...!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">What other “object” engenders such devotion, affection? What other “object” can bring so many diverse people together? What other “object” inspires so many memories: memories that we share with others, even strangers?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Here is something that was given to Farshaw’s Books by a grateful customer; he – and we – are linked to its author through time and a common passion:</span><br />
<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi60OQN9ZgtRpjOOHdPW93f-9NUlPW1qk4IAeTo2iDHI1Lp9mErYHJ64udRrbTBi5UWrdJ1pAHHEEVR1EmMmY_1xdHgVOSJ9Xc5Yx7G1Mp-zfB08LTu6Zm2Pkxrt0Rf9JQj9hhevC-WtzA/s1600/last+will.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi60OQN9ZgtRpjOOHdPW93f-9NUlPW1qk4IAeTo2iDHI1Lp9mErYHJ64udRrbTBi5UWrdJ1pAHHEEVR1EmMmY_1xdHgVOSJ9Xc5Yx7G1Mp-zfB08LTu6Zm2Pkxrt0Rf9JQj9hhevC-WtzA/s640/last+will.jpg" width="488" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">To which I say: "Amen."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial;">Enjoy this 2-minute film; it communicates a love for printed books; and tells us in a pleasing way that books are forever: that there is nothing more “pure” than a “real” book.</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/SKVcQnyEIT8?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-13765315998719022112012-02-14T22:21:00.015-05:002012-03-06T06:07:17.043-05:00A Valentine Bouquet<div style="color: #351c75;"><style>
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</style> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This post is unlike any of the others I’ve done, but with only 18 posts in all, I suppose that I haven’t yet established a pattern.... </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #351c75;">I’ve written about books as objects; about auctions; about theater and opera and film; about public and private libraries; about aspects of literary analysis and different ways of telling stories; and I’ve written about my store. I’ve even had “guest posts” and plan more of them.</span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Besides, this is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">my</i> blog, so I can post anything I want! </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Today is Valentine’s Day and the airwaves are filled with the films and the music of love; and everywhere, flowers are being brought and sent.</span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“Classical” music stations seem to be spending much of the day playing romantic waltzes and tangos; and primarily classical music that has been used as themes in romantic films. Actually, this post is a perfect follow-up to my last one about telling stories without [necessarily] using words. Here, music is the main story-teller, and it inspires the action.</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #351c75;">So as a Valentine from me to you – and through the wonders of the Internet – here is a “bouquet” of music and video to make this a romantic day, wherever you are and whatever you’re doing.</span> </div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Enjoy.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ravel's "Bolero" in the movie, TEN starring Dudley Moore and Julie Andrews:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/SR2EDUUTXk0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial;">Rachmaninov: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> THE SEVEN-YEAR ITCH starring Marilyn Monroe: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/F7CnSPMPt68?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
<div style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> SOMEWHERE IN TIME starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour: </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/iEILaEPkjaM?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Tangos:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> from an old Rudolph Valentino film:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/5Zl7resIK4Q?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> from Robert Duvall’s film, ASSASINATION TANGO: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/89uVgN3bD4s?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> from the film SHALL WE DANCE starring Jennifer Lopez and Richard Gere: </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/oUnFv2eN4tU?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> and several breathtaking clips from TANGO ARGENTINA: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/-2mVJDQyyWg?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/507p1QN1TsQ?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/DMyANG4ugZo?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Waltzes:</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #351c75;"> from <a href="http://youtu.be/LycynyQT91Y" target="_blank">THE ARTHUR MURRAY DANCE PARTY</a>, a television show from the 1950’s:</span></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #351c75;">the New York City Ballet performing THE MERRY WIDOW, choreographed by George Balanchine and featuring Peter Martins:</span></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/WjY9v9p5dlA?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div> <span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #351c75;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #351c75;"> Disney's spin on Tchaikovsky's "Sleeping Beauty Waltz:"</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">And one of my favorite pieces, a “bouquet” of sorts: Natalie Dessay and Delphine Haidan singing the “Flower Duet” from the opera LAKME:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/XI-jDKp44BQ?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And finally, The Kiss: </span></div><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpQETFvq8K0x4Fg5kphuTqLzMtQdm02qRs7Rul_svyTveu9dzDIqMP3IKsMoMvFHjuh3odRFk9fTFZttJ-KddvDHfeNGh8ohr5BQB-edBscvyp94qpCpRkqTqFb73TPFRI6N6nXHa8osw/s1600/The+Kiss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpQETFvq8K0x4Fg5kphuTqLzMtQdm02qRs7Rul_svyTveu9dzDIqMP3IKsMoMvFHjuh3odRFk9fTFZttJ-KddvDHfeNGh8ohr5BQB-edBscvyp94qpCpRkqTqFb73TPFRI6N6nXHa8osw/s640/The+Kiss.jpg" width="443" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Kiss</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial;">Happy Valentine’s Day!</span></span><span style="color: #351c75;"> </span></div>Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-14612823610319387162012-02-04T07:47:00.025-05:002012-02-12T02:11:36.715-05:00Telling Stories Without Using Words<div class="MsoNormal" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Is it possible to tell a story without using words? </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Yes. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">It’s been done for centuries; and sometimes — even today — it can be the most effective way to tell a particular story well.</span></span><br />
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</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #351c75; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKZx8x4Kcbg0Tx97wMCThPL5F2iyO2zM_pm1i0UxVib7I4n0gD8qgJ6_EqTYi1qTeNd-eEn66OS0PgeK2o5hp9RqqaQ8txenfuuElF64Yc003W5sa2Dsah2ETaYztPhf5pk7CJ54uO74w/s1600/The-Artist-poster.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKZx8x4Kcbg0Tx97wMCThPL5F2iyO2zM_pm1i0UxVib7I4n0gD8qgJ6_EqTYi1qTeNd-eEn66OS0PgeK2o5hp9RqqaQ8txenfuuElF64Yc003W5sa2Dsah2ETaYztPhf5pk7CJ54uO74w/s400/The-Artist-poster.jpg" width="300" /></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Last month the Hollywood Foreign Press Association gave the prestigious <a href="http://www.goldenglobes.org/" target="_blank">Golden Globe award</a> for best film in the comedy/musical category to THE ARTIST, a film without words: a silent movie. Never mind that this film was not exactly a comedy; this silent film was appreciated by both the critics and the movie-going public; they were moved, touched, and involved in a story presented silently on the screen. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Words and the stories they tell seem inseparable, but neither is necessary for the other. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Cave paintings, of course, are an early example of story telling without words. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Those who have been in or have seen photos of the <a href="http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/?lng=en#/fr/02_00.xml" target="_blank">caves in Lascaux</a> remain astonished by the sophistication of the art and “stories” painted on its walls. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQwgTuU1AfXkHFr4Fr2JSCl-NfYXzRSt2OVSL0stVN9GwgmPTPguuuzj4tRKOmlUCHGcYrc_6s0k-PDe8GP3jpG1-kQl9KvlBUzG0Zt0VjzukE2G0gts9hvdQMlp2_JBA86gGbmCeE0o0/s1600/Lascaux_painting1.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQwgTuU1AfXkHFr4Fr2JSCl-NfYXzRSt2OVSL0stVN9GwgmPTPguuuzj4tRKOmlUCHGcYrc_6s0k-PDe8GP3jpG1-kQl9KvlBUzG0Zt0VjzukE2G0gts9hvdQMlp2_JBA86gGbmCeE0o0/s200/Lascaux_painting1.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cave Painting, Lascaux</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ1laGmU_JRCZKtr3IOIXsva7mUot5F2hT2YsbVh8pdq1vLaxsIxbfP16jLIrlrvGSmS6IADWIx1qKBXkosfrOCeAbpMgGrQ9_dKLQMFxRZLeG0oUMG7wBh3Wkcok2_a7MRIpBUwmL4n0/s1600/220px-Lascaus2.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ1laGmU_JRCZKtr3IOIXsva7mUot5F2hT2YsbVh8pdq1vLaxsIxbfP16jLIrlrvGSmS6IADWIx1qKBXkosfrOCeAbpMgGrQ9_dKLQMFxRZLeG0oUMG7wBh3Wkcok2_a7MRIpBUwmL4n0/s200/220px-Lascaus2.JPG" width="200" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cave Painting, Lascaux<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Paintings, sculptures, music and dance continue to tell us stories: of devotion, of history, of emotion and thought.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Pantomimes have been performed for centuries. Even in the most sophisticated of societies, people like the famous beauty, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma,_Lady_Hamilton" target="_blank">Lady Hamilton</a>, gave performances of what she called “attitudes:” frozen poses and tableaus from myths and other tales.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwbrOzBvLfO01OOG6oN9UR9tT_vWaIWx_YuQ7AlfhxDqPl_HrB8YFJkfjolBVNoawNrLK-oydXE94LCYe-x8YPRqwGZ3KxucTEz5RIrLFL-9YgAycDF13w2vPmztUyz5ikniLfTlIRwz0/s1600/94px-LadyHamilton.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwbrOzBvLfO01OOG6oN9UR9tT_vWaIWx_YuQ7AlfhxDqPl_HrB8YFJkfjolBVNoawNrLK-oydXE94LCYe-x8YPRqwGZ3KxucTEz5RIrLFL-9YgAycDF13w2vPmztUyz5ikniLfTlIRwz0/s320/94px-LadyHamilton.jpg" width="250" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Lady Hamilton as a Bacchante</i>, by <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Louise_%C3%89lisabeth_Vig%C3%A9e-Lebrun" title="Marie Louise Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun">Marie Louise Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun</a>, 1790–1791</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Books, too, can tell stories without words. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #351c75; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoRLSJwmCFhWa9Jz75bLV3acdQzs7KT24f_BeqzgdFmUfq0KK85ssKOCLyfFrlcqR4ahszxLFe4nC5EXmcrjYYmTAvy79G_gGVwAy_p4j_96MgFlg6zUyK_CIiEddV_ZJcRgf2dIvA-2w/s1600/Maus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoRLSJwmCFhWa9Jz75bLV3acdQzs7KT24f_BeqzgdFmUfq0KK85ssKOCLyfFrlcqR4ahszxLFe4nC5EXmcrjYYmTAvy79G_gGVwAy_p4j_96MgFlg6zUyK_CIiEddV_ZJcRgf2dIvA-2w/s320/Maus.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I’m not thinking about comic books with their “bubbles” of dialogue; I’m not even talking about more serious “graphic novels” like Art Speigelman’s Pulitzer Prize winning <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1611731" target="_blank">MAUS: A SURVIVOR’S TALE</a>, which uses cartoon art to tell the story of his father’s survival in Nazi Germany; for in these, too, there is dialogue, and there are words to describe the characters’ actions or thoughts.</span></span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">What comes to my mind is the Belgian artist <a href="http://www.escapeintolife.com/artist-watch/frans-masereel/" target="_blank">Frans Masereel</a>’s stunning woodcut novels: graphic, powerful stories and social criticism told without a single word.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span>Through the stories he tells in woodcuts,</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“Masereel pitilessly castigated man’s ugliness, while praising his beauty. With rare force, he carved the image of the misery man calls down upon himself, but which he has the power to prevent if he would. With the intensity that characterizes him, he extols humanity, and a society…in which all men are brothers.”</div></blockquote></div><blockquote style="color: #351c75;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">— (Maurice Naessents, Preface to AVERMAETE)</span></span></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="color: #351c75; float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Woodcut from Masereel's THE CIT<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">Y</span></td></tr>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">So powerful were Masereel’s novels — despite having no words — that the Nazi’s banned his books; and he was even forced to flee from Paris during World War II.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span> </div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="color: #351c75; float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">THE CITY</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQQvFOg_8YQisEoEzD_-vT72W83pTMls2Gpyt_pLZ3vDKfxyqtUMizgoRfcPujXjnYB-sLEp-3pDN4pnz4l7jRI5nq-g5NN6v27lHkDNYDhBAkQ2LmaWPjh-n9xq1lu7-8kGbmrhBWslY/s1600/Masreelcity16.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Masereel’s work had a lasting influence on many artists — most famously <a href="http://www.bpib.com/lyndward.htm" target="_blank">Lynd Ward</a> and contemporary artist <a href="http://www.drooker.com/" target="_blank">Eric Drooker</a> — and his work remains highly esteemed throughout the world.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lynd Ward from GODS' [sic] MAN</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lynd Ward</td></tr>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Film would seem a natural medium for telling stories without words; it was, after all, first called “motion” pictures! But though that’s how film began, it's "talking" — speaking words — that's become the way to tell a story on film. Even so, today's movies have elements of the silent film within them. Chase scenes, for example, have become a staple of many films, and would be just as effective with silent movie style musical accompaniment as with the screeching tires which accompany them now.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">THE ARTIST has stripped away the words and is a throwback to that earlier way of story-telling on film.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Anyone who’s ever seen a movie knows the basic story of THE ARTIST: it's the story of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PEwYr5X5hk" target="_blank">Greta Garbo, moving gracefully from silent movies to “talkies” as opposed to her leading man, John Gilbert</a>, who could not manage it; or it’s <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045152/" target="_blank">SINGING IN THE RAIN</a> — the famous <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000037/" target="_blank">Gene Kelly</a> film which tells the story of that change. It’s also <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047522/" target="_blank">A STAR IS BORN</a> (1937, 1954,1976) and countless other stories about show business success and failure.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Yet THE ARTIST manages to make this old story new — and ironically, it makes it new by using an old format: it’s black and white and silent.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">And this film is much more than simply a retelling of those familiar stories. As actor <a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/person/15842/James-Cromwell" target="_blank">James Cromwell</a> (who plays the chauffeur in the film) says in his article, <a href="http://news.moviefone.com/james-cromwell/the-artist-silent-film_b_1227963.html" target="_blank">”Why the Quietest Movie in My Career is Making the Most Noise,”</a> the film is </span></span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“not just an homage to a bygone era, it [is] a story that would be as contemporary today as it was [then]…[as it depicts] the idea of the world moving on without you, and the knowledge…that we are replaceable.”</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span></div></blockquote><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Who among us cannot identify with that? (Certainly, booksellers can!) And what better way to make that universal fact seem timeless than to illustrate it using the storytelling methods of a “bygone” era?</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">All of the other films released in time for the awards season are ones with words, often lots of them! But the words do not necessarily move the plot along, or foreshadow what’s to come, or reveal a person’s character.</span></span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #351c75; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifY5OffhBeVUnhWyhzLAlGWoR-Di1J8bRjqow3N7grr9BN3x4ZtpWJPa0-OwAb3D0pKcX3fWWARXBIP7C9GybaH-HDki2DrwfhCRSNVyanMfR_R4a5YMXL3IbgfJ4opqG5EOj6a3WVxkE/s1600/A+dangerous+Method.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifY5OffhBeVUnhWyhzLAlGWoR-Di1J8bRjqow3N7grr9BN3x4ZtpWJPa0-OwAb3D0pKcX3fWWARXBIP7C9GybaH-HDki2DrwfhCRSNVyanMfR_R4a5YMXL3IbgfJ4opqG5EOj6a3WVxkE/s1600/A+dangerous+Method.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">A DANGEROUS METHOD purports to show the birth of modern psychoanalysis through the interactions between Freud, Jung and their patient (the future — and first female — psychoanalyst), Sabina Speilrein. This is a wordy movie in which the words serve to obscure what is actually occurring: Jung is using word-therapy to rationalize an affair with this young woman; and to try to establish himself and his methods as superior to Freud’s.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Words, words, words: yet everything important we learn about Jung in this film is learned from his <i>actions</i>: the way he enjoys beating his female protégé; the way he “talks” his reluctant mentor, Freud, into joining him on a working tour of America, yet thinks nothing of taking his privileged, clueless self to a first-class berth and leaving Freud — speechless! — in tourist. And finally, we get to know Jung’s driven personality best through the words <i>written </i>on the screen at the film’s end: he had a nervous breakdown and emerged from that breakdown as one of the most influential of psychiatrists. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">In a better film, these written words would not have been necessary; perhaps the film needed more action. Certainly, the spoken words didn't avoid the need for writing that explanatory note on the screen….</span></span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #351c75; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheimYB6ax7O5rVQNIJ-gX0VrkvCmzYlsOv4ojCyNVHgI32MENXbzDKDFFbQJlqLu6v73uupgggHJsK2gbAmJf3zKMvT-2fdIr1GuQzaaKQDJnA4DON7VvezwGjEJX8lKShJmOk4-G16TE/s1600/1+Tinker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheimYB6ax7O5rVQNIJ-gX0VrkvCmzYlsOv4ojCyNVHgI32MENXbzDKDFFbQJlqLu6v73uupgggHJsK2gbAmJf3zKMvT-2fdIr1GuQzaaKQDJnA4DON7VvezwGjEJX8lKShJmOk4-G16TE/s1600/1+Tinker.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY is a wordy film about British spies that is based on the John Le Carre novel of the same name. This is no James Bond thriller: there is little action; there are no car chases; and few murders. Instead, it’s primarily about words, paper, and power. As must be true of real espionage, the words are often <i>meant</i> to obscure, are <i>meant</i> to cover up what’s actually occurring. (This slow-paced, wordy film can be so obscure that some reviewers joked that it should be seen early in the day, when the mind is still “fresh…!”)</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">It’s an interesting film; yet perhaps the most exciting scene — the one that has you sitting on the edge of your seat, the one which makes you understand that these wordy old men do dangerous work and can themselves be dangerous — is a scene with almost no words.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Throughout the film, one is silently shown stacks of papers that are housed in intelligence headquarters: papers read, filed, put on dumbwaiters, stored. In this suspenseful scene, we watch a spy try to steal a file. There he is in a building filled with other spies, trying to remove classified papers from the building. Without getting caught.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">He needs to sign in and out; he needs to relinquish his briefcase; he needs to make appropriate small-talk; he needs to keep his cool…. This scene is riveting, and gives one a fuller picture of the world of spies and spying: a fuller story than the one they’d been conveying with words.</span></span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #351c75; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJYuOO1O004y6SwyNW3p-PeGCXlN1o_ozgZqs1x0xWwl6nAKd54mA8ZjxeaF47ougl4NIuqgeatLMXHFmNWI8p1jV9euC3a9b2u-sNGhWhvIEKHGf55GMnqv8Ibxr12ybjHf6dftGVJGk/s1600/Carnage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJYuOO1O004y6SwyNW3p-PeGCXlN1o_ozgZqs1x0xWwl6nAKd54mA8ZjxeaF47ougl4NIuqgeatLMXHFmNWI8p1jV9euC3a9b2u-sNGhWhvIEKHGf55GMnqv8Ibxr12ybjHf6dftGVJGk/s1600/Carnage.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">CARNAGE is a Roman Polanski film based on the play, GOD OF CARNAGE. Like the play, this is a wordy story of two couples — strangers — meeting to discuss what’s to be done about a violent playground altercation between their 9-year old sons.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Theater is a wordy medium. Even when film was silent, theater was not. Nevertheless, in this wordy play which has four adults say unbelievably horrible things to one another, the scene in the play which most roused the audience was a strictly visual one: a guest vomits all over a table laden with precious “cocktail table” books. The audience roars.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The film is almost like a stage reading, but even the shortening of the title shows an attempt here to be less wordy and more visual. As with the play, that very visual vomit scene gets the most audience attention. But the thing that brings the point of the story home — and is not in the play — is a wordless scene at the end of the film.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">For almost two hours, we listen to four adults saying the most outrageous and uncivilized things; we see all kinds of fighting — couple against couple, husbands against wives, women against men, men against women — in their attempt to deal with their children’s bad behavior. We watch as relationships change, perhaps permanently. Then, in this final scene, while their parents are still arguing, we're shown [from a silent and respectful distance] the two boys playing together again: as though nothing bad had ever happened between them. The boys are more civilized, more rational -- more adult! -- than their parents.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Here, we see silence telling a story, and telling it very well. Again, <a href="http://news.moviefone.com/james-cromwell/the-artist-silent-film_b_1227963.html" target="_blank">James Cromwell makes the point quite clearly</a>:</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“Ultimately, acting on any film…is telling the truth while pretending it’s fiction. It’s often very difficult to do with words...because [words] so rarely mean what we use them to say.”</span></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I can end here — but I won’t; because although "a picture is worth a thousand words," often enough, it’s not: you need words to know the whole story. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I hope you enjoy this “story” that's been all over Facebook; the words are very important.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #351c75; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidPXxWIgfj6vc3219u5l-U1w0SDOmKEC23xhrvT5AcIp7NjJJdmejDdg2aiVbs31AzMtA3JERzr-HyfZB7YCMyiSUvsZZ5BXQKb50uHm7RJuBdTRNct3eOf22LNwsSo9q1u-lGEI0kfDI/s1600/PoleDancer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidPXxWIgfj6vc3219u5l-U1w0SDOmKEC23xhrvT5AcIp7NjJJdmejDdg2aiVbs31AzMtA3JERzr-HyfZB7YCMyiSUvsZZ5BXQKb50uHm7RJuBdTRNct3eOf22LNwsSo9q1u-lGEI0kfDI/s640/PoleDancer.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-53579933387016966082012-01-19T03:33:00.004-05:002012-01-19T12:14:22.226-05:00Comments Posted on My BlogMany of the comments posted on my blog are quite interesting and insightful; and they leave much room for thought. I know that many blog readers don’t read the comments, so I’ll share some of them here.<br />
<br />
My last post, <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2012/01/year-of-my-blog-in-review.html" target="_blank">The Year (of My Blog) in Review</a>, prompted some sympathetic comments on behalf of the author, Nina Sankovitch, whose book, TOLSTOY AND THE PURPLE CHAIR, I’d panned. The book was a record of her year reading a book a day as a means of “healing” herself after the death of her sister. <br />
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About this post, two people I respect felt that I was, perhaps, a bit hard on the author and her book.<br />
<br />
Karen wrote, <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">“Ouch, go gettem, Helen! I admire a mind that is clear on her opinions….”</blockquote>And Pamela wrote, <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">“In defense of Nina Sankovitch (I have not read her book), I want to note that grief is a very strange country to inhabit and that she was probably doing the best she could to go on after losing her sister…. Maybe it shouldn’t have been a book—clearly, it wasn’t a book for you at that time—but I have read essays and letters and such by other people who took up books in times of grief, and one of the things they have in common is that almost every written word the grieving reader encounters, however trivial, seems to take on a different coloration and become a personal message from the Universe. And really, that’s quite wonderful, isn’t it? Anything written out of that kind of grief is almost like a letter from another plane.”</blockquote>I suppose I was feeling a little defensive when I responded, as follows:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">“My initial reflex was to feel chastened by suggestions that I have been hard and unkind in my analysis of Nina Sankovitch’s book. (I faced the same discomfort when I had to grade my students’ papers!)<br />
<br />
I certainly don’t want to be hard on people; but I do want to be honest.<br />
<br />
It’s interesting to note that when I wrote some pretty awful things about Tolstoy in my <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/08/would-you-believe-war-and-peace_1181.html" target="_blank">post on WAR AND PEACE</a>, not only did no one complain about it, but I was cheered by many. Of course, it becomes more sensitive when it is a living author who is being discussed; nevertheless, I think it’s important to remain honest in one’s assessment of a work, no matter the circumstances. <br />
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I’m certainly sympathetic to the author’s grief: but it does not excuse bad writing. If one can grant Sankovitch the right to use reading as a way to ease her grief, and for finding in each book a lesson to be learned and a reflection of her own experiences, we can’t grant her the right to make statements which mean nothing—‘The book is perfect, a genuine communication of the heart.’—nor to use a false premise for her ‘project.’<br />
<br />
If reading can, indeed, ease her suffering, why must it be a book a day? Why can’t books or authors be reread? Some books that could have helped her might take longer to read; some favorite authors might elicit new insights in a rereading of them. Choosing an inch-wide spine has nothing at all to do with reading as a healing mechanism; instead, it seems more like an arbitrary decision—or one which she thought would help her get a book published!<br />
<br />
In this day when it is more and more difficult for good writers to get their work published, I think we need to be extra diligent in doing what we can to discourage publishers from publishing books of poor quality—or from publishing them because they have some kind of “gimmick” to recommend them.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"> It’s not called literary ‘criticism’ for nothing!”</blockquote>As for Tolstoy: although most agreed with <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/08/would-you-believe-war-and-peace_1181.html" target="_blank">my assessment of WAR AND PEACE</a>, several suggested that I give Tolstoy another chance by reading ANNA KARENINA. So, I plan to do that—but not quite yet!<br />
<br />
I made some errors in a few of my posts, and those were caught by readers. <br />
<br />
I’d said that one could see <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/08/jude-law-as-hamlet.html" target="_blank">Jude Law’s HAMLET</a> on Netflix, but I was mistaken. The best you can do is see scenes from it on YouTube; but there are lots of scenes there, so you’d practically be seeing the entire play!<br />
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In my post, <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/10/some-thoughts-about-books-as-objects.html" target="_blank">Some Thoughts About Books as Objects</a>, I’d said that I had friends who had Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s set of Homer. Well, I was wrong on 2 counts: The set was of Euripides, not Homer; and my friends no longer own it: they’ve sold it! If you want to see those amazing books, you'll find them at the Armstrong Browning Library at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.<br />
<br />
The post on <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-makes-good-personal-library.html" target="_blank">What Makes a Good Personal Library</a> prompted someone to say that “Most of the voluminous private libraries I’ve seen are for show only.” <br />
<br />
In my reply to that, I noted that this is certainly true of some private libraries. After all, there are people who buy books by the yard or beautifully bound books of blank pages and the like (see <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2012/01/year-of-my-blog-in-review.html" target="_blank">The Year (of My Blog) in Review</a> for more on that). <br />
<br />
But I also commented that such people still chose books to look at rather than a collection of Rolex watches—which I’ve also seen in some houses I've gone to! And I noted that<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">“many private libraries can be ‘personal’ ones as well—which is what I titled my post—in that books in them need not be valuable, but only important to [the owner] in some way: important enough to drag heavy boxes of books from place to place, as I (and others) have done over and over again.”</blockquote>The post on <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/12/public-libraries.html" target="_blank">Public Libraries</a> had Marash Girl tell us the sad news about her local libraries:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">"Here's to the little local library, the library that is disappearing, the library that opened our hearts to books, the library that we walked to on our way to [school], the library that is not economically viable in the greater scheme of things. After Newton, Massachusetts closed all of its village libraries, it built the most expensive high school in the U.S. Go figure. If kids don't learn to love books/libraries/knowledge from their earliest days, what good is the most expensive high school in the U.S.?"</blockquote>I agreed with her:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">"One doesn't need an expensive school. (Didn't Socrates do all his teaching in a grove?) All one needs are good teachers and good libraries. Now, even universities build libraries at the outskirts of the school, or in one awful case, underground! You can go to school in these places and never even know that there <i>is</i> a library! In days of old, the library was the center of schools and communities."</blockquote>In <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/12/what-readers-can-learn-from-woody-allen.html" target="_blank">What Readers Can Learn from Woody Allen</a>, I used Woody Allen to ask the question of whether or not it’s appropriate to focus on the life of the artist when analyzing the artist’s work. The answer to this question is not so clear, as is indicated by Freckles’ comment:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">“My first reaction is this: actors, writers, musicians, sports figures, etc. are lauded for their talents and then burdened with the public’s need to like them. Why? Why do I need to like Woody Allen and approve of his life choices in order to enjoy his films?</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Because he is famous, I am exposed to ‘inside information’ that would otherwise be none of my business. I may not like the information, but the facts themselves do not detract from his talent—just from my ability to enjoy his talent. For me, Allen’s ‘scandal’ does muddy the waters of what used to be clear enjoyment. It sneaks up on me and puts a damper on things. I have, however, made a conscious decision to continue seeing his films and to try to enjoy them.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Mel Gibson, not so much….</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">I’m glad Shakespeare didn’t have to contend with tabloids and documentaries; he would have never made it.”</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>And finally, in my <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2012/01/year-of-my-blog-in-review.html" target="_blank">last post</a> I had photos of sculptures made out of books and asked the question, “are they ‘art’ or are they the destruction of books by other means?”<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqJ0Zj90MZBtkvQDOX_wuBJwodQoLjj7ka9ARjjWm8DBje-peXr9QORjpJ4Zuj9kRwQA8xHLu-u118I8qaQWah3bRmXtvRuGQHfcbltKjmneg2hSF0ldfyI6m7yC_5xDK1qZ4itup1_9E/s1600/6395748403_5d949337ea_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqJ0Zj90MZBtkvQDOX_wuBJwodQoLjj7ka9ARjjWm8DBje-peXr9QORjpJ4Zuj9kRwQA8xHLu-u118I8qaQWah3bRmXtvRuGQHfcbltKjmneg2hSF0ldfyI6m7yC_5xDK1qZ4itup1_9E/s400/6395748403_5d949337ea_z.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is it a book? Is it art? Is it craft?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>One commenter suggested that these were not art, but “at best, a form of recycling…” But commenter Karen made an intriguing point when she wrote:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">“I share your uneasiness about the implications [of sculptures made from books], and THAT is probably what makes them ‘Art.’ The fact that they were left on the doorsteps of libraries and bookstores anonymously adds to their mystique. They are skillfully executed, to be sure, but skill alone does not make art. It’s the imagination, the edginess it causes, the attention it brings to a world that is morphing so fast that one can hardly hang on to what they love before it is swept aside by the winds of change. It’s a commentary on the changing nature of choice.”</blockquote>Let’s hope that in all this change and with all these choices, books will maintain their important place in our lives and in society.<br />
<br />
Have you a comment on any of the comments?Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-3119973524604066122012-01-02T21:12:00.007-05:002012-01-03T07:49:58.149-05:00The Year (of My Blog) in Review<div style="color: #351c75;">You can hardly pick-up a newspaper or magazine; can hardly turn on the radio or TV, without getting a rundown of the year in review. Here's mine: The 2011 Year of the "Books Books Books" Blog in Review – and a few additions to begin the year 2012.<br />
<br />
There are only 15 posts on my blog. I began it in August with the post, “<a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/08/what-im-planning-more-or-less.html" target="_blank">What I’m Planning, more or less</a>” which told a bit about me and my reading history, and what I planned for my Blog. <br />
<br />
What it didn’t say was that I began the blog in a fit of pique over a book I’d been reading called TOLSTOY AND THE PURPLE CHAIR. It’s a “project” book, and project books annoy me—whether it’s a recipe-a-day or a book-a-day, such projects seem artificial to me, not a natural part of one’s day, of one’s life.<br />
<br />
This book’s project was to read a book a day for a year. And the project had strict rules: no re-reading books that had been read before; no author could be read more than once; only books “with a width of one inch” (!) would be chosen; mystery books were for Sundays; books must be finished by midnight; and every book read must be written about.<br />
<br />
Nina Sankovitch’s book was well reviewed in the New York Times, and it is that which prompted me to read it. I’d hoped it would provide me with a list of books worth reading; and that I would glean new insights into books and writing.<br />
<br />
But much of this book illustrates the author's struggle to justify her project, to give it a plausible purpose; but unfortunately, she does not succeed. <br />
<br />
Sankovitch’s sister died after a short and devastating illness. As a result, Sanksovitch was </div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;">“caught in a bramble patch of sorrow and fear. My reading…was pulling me out of the shadows and into the light." </blockquote><div style="color: #351c75;"> She tells us that</div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;">“Now that [my sister] had died [and my family was devastated], I was doing what I could to recover…for everyone in my family. I was reading.”</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="color: #351c75;">"In reading books, I was finding my sister again.”</div></blockquote><div style="color: #351c75;">And--perhaps most unbelievably!--she identifies her reading project and herself with </div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;">“an impoverished Cuban man," a character in one of the books she’s reading, because they both have “hope for the future. He has faith in Castro’s revolution; I have faith in the power of books.”</blockquote><div style="color: #351c75;">What? (Or as my children would say, “Puh-<i>lease!</i>”)<br />
<br />
Which leads to another problem with this book: Sankovitch tries to shoehorn every one of the books she reads into a lesson that will ease the pain of her sister’s death. Sometimes this works, but more often, it doesn’t.<br />
<br />
So many books read much too quickly! Ultimately, we learn little about them other than a bit of the plot, and how the characters and the lessons they learn feel similar to Sankovitch's own experience; <br />
<br />
So many books read so quickly that we, the readers, get little beyond a series of platitudes repeated over and over again in different words, no matter what she happens to be reading, as in:</div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;">“We cannot control events around us, but we are responsible for our reactions to those events.”</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;">“The meaning of my life is ultimately defined by how I respond to the joys and the sorrows…”</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;">“[The character] comes to understand then that his own sanity depends upon his accepting what he cannot change.”</blockquote><div style="color: #351c75;">OK: we get it!<br />
<br />
And although Sankovitch states that “the purpose of great literature is to reveal what is hidden and to illuminate what is in darkness,”(?) when she does spend some time describing and analyzing her one-day–to-read-it books, she uses words and phrases that tell us nothing: </div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;">“This book is perfect, a genuine communication from the heart.”</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;">“[We are] connected to the rest of humanity...by the size of our hearts."</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;">“The world shifts, and lives change.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">“I would find...the always within never.”</blockquote><div style="color: #351c75;">Here, once again I must ask—“What?”<br />
<br />
I know how difficult it is to write, so I hate to say it, but I think that the New York Times was wrong: this is not a good book. Sankovitch is probably a good reader and a good writer, but I think that here—perhaps because she turned reading into a “project” and read the books too quickly, chose some of them too poorly—she couldn’t do the books (or herself) justice.<br />
<br />
So my blog was to be an antidote to this approach: I would read books over and over again, I would write about books and film and theater; and as a slow reader, I wouldn’t predict how frequently I would post.<br />
<br />
And that’s how it began: Analyses of <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/08/would-you-believe-war-and-peace_1181.html" target="_blank">WAR AND PEACE</a>, books of <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/09/food-writing.html" target="_blank">food writing</a>; a review of <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/08/jude-law-as-hamlet.html" target="_blank">Jude Law as HAMLET</a>; a reflection on the difference between <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/09/live-in-hd-versus-live-at-met.html" target="_blank">Live in HD and Live at the Me</a>t, etc.<br />
<br />
And then, the Blog took on a life of its own. I'd posted my musings about <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/09/auctions.html" target="_blank">book auctions</a> and <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/10/some-thoughts-about-books-as-objects.html" target="_blank">books as objects</a>, and these generated a huge—and surprising—interest from readers in many parts of the world. So, the discussion continued: of <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-makes-good-personal-library.html" target="_blank">private libraries</a> and <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/12/public-libraries.html" target="_blank">public libraries</a>; a bit about <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/12/what-readers-can-learn-from-woody-allen.html" target="_blank">literary analysis which used the films</a><a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/12/what-readers-can-learn-from-woody-allen.html" target="_blank"> of Woody Allen for its examples</a>; thoughts about the rising fear that books—and <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/11/guest-post-reading-rules.html" target="_blank">bookstores—would soon be a thing of the past…</a> And here we are.<br />
<br />
As these thoughts continued to reverberate, readers sent me suggestions for posts, and even sent me things to post. Here are some of them:<br />
<br />
Danny wrote, “Here's a magnificent blog I thought you'd enjoy: <a href="http://www.neglectedbooks.com/" target="_blank"><NeglectedBooks.com></a><br />
I do enjoy it. And it’s the perfect companion to the book I’ve been reading and which I highly recommend: SECOND READING. NOTABLE AND NEGLECTED BOOKS REVISITED, by Jonathan Yardley.<br />
<br />
The posts on <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-makes-good-personal-library.html" target="_blank">Personal Libraries</a> prompted Johanna to alert me to an astonishing and rather depressing article in the New York Times called “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/garden/06books.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&emc=eta1" target="_blank">Selling a Book by Its Cover</a>” which talks about “book solutions” and expresses surprise that there are people who want “more than pretty bindings: [they] wanted the option of being able to read [their] books.” (Imagine that!)<br />
<br />
The article tells of “books wrapped in silver paper to match the silver hardware in the room….<br />
<br />
You think that’s bad? It gets worse: </div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;">“For the spa in Phillipe Stark’s Icon Brickell, the icy glass condo tower in Miami, 1,500 books [were wrapped] in blank white paper, without titles, to provide a ‘textural accent’ to the space.” They bought “mass-market hardcovers that flood the used book outlets — titles by John Grisham and Danielle Steel, or biographies of Michael Jackson— because they are cheap, clean and a nice, generous size.”</blockquote><div style="color: #351c75;">And worse: </div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;">“A TV news program wanted linen-wrapped books chopped in half to fit the shallow, faux-shelves of a political interview program.”</blockquote><div style="color: #351c75;">Moreover, the writer of this NY Times article thinks "book lovers" should be grateful that physical books are being “kept alive” by the “library artist” who is more “than a mere book dealer.” (“<i>Mere</i> book dealer?” That would be me…)</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">A not-to-be-missed <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/01/05/garden/20110106-BOOKS.html" target="_blank">slide show</a> is included in this article, and the last 2 items in it are “books” that have been used as a medium for the creation of “art.” <br />
<br />
Which brings me to Andre, who wrote to me about this very subject: “I thought these very beautiful and <a href="http://thisiscentralstation.com/featured/mysterious-paper-sculptures/" target="_blank">mysterious sculptures [made from books]</a> which have been turning up anonymously in honor of libraries and books around the world was worth a look....”</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">I took a look, and here are photos of some of those sculptures:</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-fjzLeYuELnR9_PbgJePWHBX34nKvSOU3DX2OvNn4rvxgNpW-mdpGLMLrfCfuOiWdHECt_L0oRZf5wYJVAjSgwSfqh8PHXCuo14Hq7ZtTfeUkeZgPeOzhvf4dsGSA_cl7f1LNRNqCcbQ/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-fjzLeYuELnR9_PbgJePWHBX34nKvSOU3DX2OvNn4rvxgNpW-mdpGLMLrfCfuOiWdHECt_L0oRZf5wYJVAjSgwSfqh8PHXCuo14Hq7ZtTfeUkeZgPeOzhvf4dsGSA_cl7f1LNRNqCcbQ/s320/2.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpryRlDhDtkIH978T5jgqvJJdkKb5UsHVUEL0n_omsCe48H4JXA6qW8y9CbBPUmsRUMBJU-w2mHR1o6Lo92uZI1l3ynALpn-QVLsZB6j4LAQBCAzia_5LJ7-uLixWvXf9IqpbTq6q42x0/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpryRlDhDtkIH978T5jgqvJJdkKb5UsHVUEL0n_omsCe48H4JXA6qW8y9CbBPUmsRUMBJU-w2mHR1o6Lo92uZI1l3ynALpn-QVLsZB6j4LAQBCAzia_5LJ7-uLixWvXf9IqpbTq6q42x0/s200/1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;"></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic95gsf7uIRvQQgKX7whh9qQLQAQBjeWBbj664yVcZWwnHIRdsy4tqaaAD-ww4di85xtiiuG4rkPCi8bveZbA-cKSbMXbmzhRX7W5E-8eMnZn4QsPufBMDCu7fJWX66cVc7XbmveEF3kA/s1600/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic95gsf7uIRvQQgKX7whh9qQLQAQBjeWBbj664yVcZWwnHIRdsy4tqaaAD-ww4di85xtiiuG4rkPCi8bveZbA-cKSbMXbmzhRX7W5E-8eMnZn4QsPufBMDCu7fJWX66cVc7XbmveEF3kA/s320/4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><div style="color: #351c75;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuL0MuEynuvC7HQt1Kd8XqNSgfroTy4pShrlX8QVde6SxZsj7JcxzpW3Q8W_96rVu29c-ZFoql5JTkdZ-EM5rriaaivIPy-5jmyAe6O6WAO6nOWycDAhCwFkNNQir0S5NjwGMLzaOAtHo/s1600/5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuL0MuEynuvC7HQt1Kd8XqNSgfroTy4pShrlX8QVde6SxZsj7JcxzpW3Q8W_96rVu29c-ZFoql5JTkdZ-EM5rriaaivIPy-5jmyAe6O6WAO6nOWycDAhCwFkNNQir0S5NjwGMLzaOAtHo/s320/5.jpg" width="301" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxZUj4H8PxtdVUlaYTG3jyx2vUuVlJnIq9cmYnX4rROoRc32AzXDVwSu9AIu-Oe5PvmDpWb1BXk31TEdb5UcED1x6SkVhD9J9_JASKmmQ0qcJv4PLellm6p_p1COhWeWtodjXTWTn7DCY/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxZUj4H8PxtdVUlaYTG3jyx2vUuVlJnIq9cmYnX4rROoRc32AzXDVwSu9AIu-Oe5PvmDpWb1BXk31TEdb5UcED1x6SkVhD9J9_JASKmmQ0qcJv4PLellm6p_p1COhWeWtodjXTWTn7DCY/s320/3.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE9Ww1uw1qhA80JlrpI1xyYXAQxBdbwwYj_t9pWbpaVoJsQrmBsuWoryQgo5pDkFPevt-RfQMVcNlbLJOCSuI4K2OCO3f6Tq3Jjp-jymgKAy4x4JY8yLDUbwmUDeTWnC_WEg_MnkBWWRM/s1600/Arthur+Conan+Doyle%25E2%2580%2599s+The+Lost+World.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE9Ww1uw1qhA80JlrpI1xyYXAQxBdbwwYj_t9pWbpaVoJsQrmBsuWoryQgo5pDkFPevt-RfQMVcNlbLJOCSuI4K2OCO3f6Tq3Jjp-jymgKAy4x4JY8yLDUbwmUDeTWnC_WEg_MnkBWWRM/s400/Arthur+Conan+Doyle%25E2%2580%2599s+The+Lost+World.jpg" width="376" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Staying on theme by having a Tyrannosaurus Rex bursting from Doyle's LOST WORLDS</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I don’t know what to make of this or quite how I feel about it. Some of these are, indeed, beautiful: but are they “art” or are they the destruction of books by other means? Do they “honor” libraries or make a mockery of them?</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
I'm curious to know what you think about this.</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
So that was my Blog in 2011: behind us now. </div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">Now it's the year 2012, during which you have 365 (make that 363) days to: <br />
<br />
Read. <br />
<br />
Make art using any medium you like. <br />
<br />
Write to me as much as you want; I will always reply. <br />
<br />
And most importantly: <br />
<br />
Visit your local booksellers: we are <i>not</i> and <i>never have been</i> “mere!”</div><div style="color: #351c75;">- - - - - - - - - - -</div><div style="color: #351c75;"></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;">Postscript:</span> </div><div style="color: #351c75;"></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
Apologies to those of you who receive blog posts via email for receiving an unfinished post. I simply pressed the wrong button -- publish instead of preview -- and off it went. (Could this have been the result of too much celebrating?)</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">The internet is an unforgiving medium; but I hope that <i>you</i> will be forgiving...<br />
<br />
Thank you, and have a very Happy New Year.</div>Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-44628306847135923822011-12-24T03:46:00.013-05:002011-12-24T14:43:31.772-05:00What Readers Can Learn from Woody Allen<div style="color: #351c75;">I’ve always liked Woody Allen. Not so much the slapstick stuff – I usually can’t get into slapstick – but the wit, the insights, the ease with which he demolishes long held beliefs which few dare question: he’s willing to say that the emperor is naked....<br />
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And he is funny. Very funny. Even some of the slapstick films have flashes of this wit, of comedy that’s not physical, but verbal. In SLEEPER, one of his more slapstick films, a man goes into the hospital for an easy surgery; something goes wrong, and his body is “frozen” until he can be cured. When he awakens in the year 2173, he’s told to reflect on the miracle of science he's been privileged to experience. But he is not appeased: to him, a miracle of science would have been to leave the hospital after a few hours and not have gotten a parking ticket!<br />
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And no one who has listened to the discussion of the dietary value of eggs – sometimes good for you, sometimes not – can help but be both amused and satisfied to learn that 200 years from now, it becomes a “well known” fact that things like wheat germ and honey are bad for you, while “tobacco is one of the healthiest things there is.” And deep fat. And hot fudge….<br />
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Satisfying, too, is the way he creates wish-fulfilling experiences we can relate to, as in this memorable scene from ANNIE HALL featuring Marshal McLuen:</div><br />
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</div><div style="color: #351c75;">I also love -- and envy! -- the way he can “define” complicated concepts in one short sentence. In STARDUST MEMORIES, he tells us that he took a course in existential philosophy. On his final exam he was asked 10 questions he couldn’t answer; so he left them all blank – and got a 100% !<br />
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In the same way, he can define a decade – the sixties – in a sentence, tracing a person’s trajectory from hippy-dom to a career in advertising or finance. And in ANNIE HALL, we see him describe an upper west side New Yorker in one spot-on sentence:</div><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;">With ANNIE HALL, Allen began his more “serious” period of film making: that is, while many of these films are still very funny, there is much less physical comedy, and there’s an increasing effort to deal with more serious subjects: the state of the universe; the difficulty of interpersonal relationships, of preparing for the future, of knowing what one wants; the struggle to understand the purpose of one’s life; and the moral imperatives that must guide one’s actions.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;">Nowhere is that better stated than in the film MANHATTAN, and in particular, in</span> <a href="http://youtu.be/IeqbRbAyC4M" target="_blank">the scene in which Allen talks to his friend while standing next to a schoolroom skeleton. </a><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqBbwHya4g2pj2zYco_gCbyb0LXDVDLYhyphenhyphenGqxmA1cgh-NGCnZVpPMyZyPP6I7BuTu-xMajMQlNv4ACwQQeR5_dU3YOfF770SuHVjZNjGKEKyvZbxhElbAdiIqhXifvFM2vB1KSmY7DT0c/s1600/Manhattan.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqBbwHya4g2pj2zYco_gCbyb0LXDVDLYhyphenhyphenGqxmA1cgh-NGCnZVpPMyZyPP6I7BuTu-xMajMQlNv4ACwQQeR5_dU3YOfF770SuHVjZNjGKEKyvZbxhElbAdiIqhXifvFM2vB1KSmY7DT0c/s320/Manhattan.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Woody Allen in a scene from MANHATTAN</span></td></tr>
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</div><div style="color: #351c75;">Allen confronts a friend who betrayed him, and his friend tells him not to “turn this into one of your big moral issues…. I’m not a saint, OK?”</div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;"><b>Allen</b>: “But you’re too <i>easy</i> on yourself! Don’t you see that? That’s your problem….you rationalize everything; you’re not honest with yourself. You cheat a little [on your wife], you play around with the truth a little with me: next thing you know you’re in front of a Senate Committee and you’re naming names, you’re informing on your friends.”<br />
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<b>Friend</b>: “You’re so self-righteous! We’re just people! We’re just human beings. You think you’re God!”<br />
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<b>Allen</b>: “I gotta model myself after someone! …what are future generations going to say about us? It’s very important to have some kind of personal integrity. I want to make sure that when I’m [dead] I’ll be well thought of.”</blockquote><div style="color: #351c75;">You watch a scene like this, you hear these words, and you can’t help but think that Woody Allen, the creator of them, has admirable moral standards; that he is someone worth emulating.<br />
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And then: he has an affair with the daughter of Mia Farrow (his “significant other”). He has an affair with a young girl whom he helped raise.... <br />
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What?!? Really?!?<br />
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PBS TV’s <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/" target="_blank">AMERICAN MASTERS</a> series recently devoted two nights to Woody Allen. Here, he’s shown as the creative genius that he is; as the highly prolific and imaginative filmmaker; and one of the very few filmmakers to have complete control of the content and production of his films; <br />
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Here, he is shown to be more egocentric than collaborative – he won’t discuss film roles with his film's actors because he doesn’t like talking to them! – and one who seems to realize a great deal of what he wants in his films during the editing process;</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
Here, Allen tells us that his film collaboration with Mia Farrow went well “until things suddenly started to fall apart in our relationship…." (Talk about understatement!)<br />
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Here, in the very few minutes devoted to the subject in a 4 and 1/2 hour documentary, we are told that Woody Allen’s work did not suffer as a result of the sensational trial and custody battle that ensued: that [like any narcissist], "Woody was able to compartmentalize” the different parts of his life. And to rationalize: rationalize and ignore any unpleasantness. "What was the scandal?" he asks in one interview.<br />
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This is so contrary to the dialogue he wrote for MANHATTAN (and for so many of his other films) that it's no wonder that Allen says in this documentary that he didn’t like MANHATTAN and was sorry that it had been released…!<br />
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But if Allen understands neither his misconduct nor the "scandal" it caused, his biological son, Rowan Farrow, clearly does. This is what Rowan said of his estrangement from his father:</div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;">"He's my father married to my sister. That makes me his son and his brother-in-law. That is such a moral transgression. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;">I cannot see him. I cannot have a relationship with my father and be morally consistent... I lived with all these adopted children, so they are my family. To say Soon-Yi was not my sister is an insult to all adopted children.”</blockquote><div style="color: #351c75;">So: What can readers learn from Woody Allen? </div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><span style="color: #351c75;">Well, readers can learn that the writer is NOT the same as the tale he tells. Or that he is ALL parts of the tale: the good, the bad; the moral and the immoral. The reader can learn that, perhaps, studying the lives of writers and artists does not help in understanding the work; that the work must be examined on its own merits..</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;">Woody Allen tried to tell us this himself in his film, SWEET AND LOWDOWN, which Netflix describes as a “fictional biopic about a jazz guitarist…that separates an obnoxious man from his heavenly musical ability.” </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;">You simply can’t interpret the art by using what you know of the life of the artist.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;">But on the other hand:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;">All those many, many films that feature betrayal and deception, like HANNAH AND HER SISTERS, in which Hannah’s sister has an affair with Hannah’s husband;</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;">All those many, many films like CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, MANHATTAN, WHATEVER WORKS, which pair old men with young – sometimes very young – women;</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;">And all those many, many films that display a dilution and finally an abandonment of the moral standards he’d originally expressed in dialogue like the one in MANHATTAN. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;">In 1989's CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, the “hero” has his young mistress killed; it’s a crime he unable to bring himself to do by himself, and it is a crime he gets away with. But the immorality of his actions and the fact that he is not punished for them changes him: his belief in God is shaken; his understanding of the meaning of life is lost; and he is distraught, worried, distant, and filled with guilt and despair.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;">By the time we get to 2005's MATCH POINT, the “hero” is not only perfectly capable of killing his mistress by himself, but thinks nothing of killing her innocent next door neighbor so that the killings will seem the result of random robberies. And after a short bout of sleeplessness and worry that he'll be caught, he becomes perfectly happy to have gotten away with it; perfectly happy to enjoy the good life he gained through murder; perfectly happy to move ahead and not give his heinous actions a second thought.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;">Why hadn’t we noticed this tendency of Allen’s? Perhaps because it did not neatly fit our image of him; perhaps because this is not funny stuff….and we expect funniness from this "master" of film. And the documentarians excuse him by never giving any of this more than a passing glance – even expressing admiration of him for being able to “compartmentalize” so well….</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;">It’s hard to know how and if a writer’s life informs his work; it’s hard to know whether or not we do a disservice to the work by delving into the life. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;">So: Do we really know anything much about William Shakespeare? And does it matter?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;">What do you think?</span>Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-31555771873319068622011-12-06T09:16:00.017-05:002011-12-19T04:02:54.402-05:00Public Libraries<div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;">There seems to be so much interest in terms of books as “objects” that one can practically have a blog devoted to that subject alone! I have received heaps of email on the subject. (Strictly speaking, email doesn’t really come in “heaps” – but it really felt like it!) It’s quite an interesting subject, to be sure, and I will revisit it from time to time.<br />
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My blog post, <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-makes-good-personal-library.html" target="_blank">What Makes a Good Personal Library</a>, prompted a wide range of opinions, from “how fabulous to have a personal library,” to “how pretentious,” to “save trees by reading eBooks,” and everything you can imagine in between.<br />
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But there’s something about walking into a room full of books – whether it’s a library or a bookstore or a friend’s living room – that feels wonderful: the scent; the muffled silence (as many sounds are absorbed into the walls of books); the colors and patterns of the book-filled shelves; the enticing anticipation created by all those beckoning spines…. <br />
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While some libraries fill you with a sense of ease and comfort when you walk into them, others fill you with wonder – and awe. <br />
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Public libraries are a luxury that all of us can enjoy. In New England, every tiny village was built around its own library. One might think that this creates an unnecessary redundancy, but local libraries can give you a very homey, welcoming feeling; it’s a place where you see familiar faces and know exactly where to look for the books you want. It can be so welcoming a place that you are drawn to visit it more often than you might a larger and less intimate one.<br />
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But there are other libraries that offer a completely different experience. When you step inside one of those, you often find that you need to pause for a moment, look around, survey the scene, and drink in the room’s “landscape” before you venture further inside.<br />
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I recently stumbled upon a website which featured “<a href="http://www.thebestcolleges.org/amazing-libraries/" target="_blank">The 35 Most Amazing Libraries in the World,</a>” and the libraries are – <i>amazing</i>! Each of the 35 libraries is photographed and described so as to explain why they were chosen. It’s an informative list, and although I’ll be posting some photos here, I urge you to <a href="http://www.thebestcolleges.org/amazing-libraries/" target="_blank">visit the site</a> and look at them all.<br />
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I have been fortunate enough to have been in some of these libraries – Trinity College Library in Dublin, the Bodleian in Oxford, the British Museum Reading Room in London, the Vatican Library, the New York Public Library, Yale’s Beinecke Library, the Boston Public Library, the Morgan Library in New York, the Peabody Library in Baltimore, Phillips Exeter Academy Library in New Hampshire, the Library of Congress – and I can say that every time, my experiences exceeded my expectations. <br />
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No matter how august the setting, how precious the books, how steeped with history the building, you can always find a friendly-faced librarian who is eager to show you around, to share the library’s treasures with you. (And what treasures there are!) Book lovers seem to love book lovers, wherever they appear. <br />
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In a few of these libraries, I was given special, behind-the-scenes tours, and while that was, indeed, exciting, it’s the reading rooms – the rooms everyone has access to! – that gave me the most pleasure. You can view and even touch unimaginable treasures in these repositories of civilization and history; you can do research; you can even read! (I have to admit, though, that just looking and wandering around is what I most enjoy.)<br />
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When in such libraries, I feel much as my children did when they looked at our<a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/10/some-thoughts-about-books-as-objects.html" target="_blank"> [temporarily owned] copies of the 2nd and 4th Shakespeare Folios</a>; I feel the magic, the wonder, the awe. I tread softly and touch slowly, carefully. And I feel lucky. <br />
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Here are photos of some of the libraries featured on that website which I found particularly interesting.<br />
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The <b>Stockholm Public Library</b> was built in 1928, and I’m surprised at how modern it looks. I love the way the visitor is surrounded by books, and that the books on the balconies are also open to view and are accessed by an open staircase. Such balconies remind me of one of my “dream” libraries: the one belonging to Henry Higgins in MY FAIR LADY!</span></div><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPLhyphenhyphenEwSwV0_scQhZ6nTHeeSnzOljxqPGL6gYfKAS-bwqllkrBdWfdKx01uLCxvTAmv0cbdwVwufM-S8Fv3UhWvFMlbEIl1veDpZbSCTy1iNqVrgIMpvv7EKG0-5QPByb8qlCNstCHiuM/s1600/32-stockholm-public-library.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPLhyphenhyphenEwSwV0_scQhZ6nTHeeSnzOljxqPGL6gYfKAS-bwqllkrBdWfdKx01uLCxvTAmv0cbdwVwufM-S8Fv3UhWvFMlbEIl1veDpZbSCTy1iNqVrgIMpvv7EKG0-5QPByb8qlCNstCHiuM/s400/32-stockholm-public-library.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Stockholm Public Library</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Hw_UUIWHKOHMhEc0mX5RPgmNozD2kCHx1epE2iv8OJ0yD7Rv1Jf37Lh-c231JaN3XWKzBOslJbPg6TACMUsazHhO6NGzf7pUDDcMNHrP3iBrMleybD3qkFPg691ShUCl_Zy-mIphacQ/s1600/30-jose-vasconcelos-library.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Hw_UUIWHKOHMhEc0mX5RPgmNozD2kCHx1epE2iv8OJ0yD7Rv1Jf37Lh-c231JaN3XWKzBOslJbPg6TACMUsazHhO6NGzf7pUDDcMNHrP3iBrMleybD3qkFPg691ShUCl_Zy-mIphacQ/s320/30-jose-vasconcelos-library.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="color: #351c75;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jose Vaconcelos Librar<span style="font-size: small;">y</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">How’s the <b>Jose Vaconcelos Library</b> in Mexico </span>City for modern? While this architecture can be considered impressive, I prefer the books to take center stage rather than the architecture. Here the books don't beckon to me adequately, but perhaps it feels different when you're actually inside the building.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"> The <b>Library of Alexandria</b>, Egypt, is another modern space. If you’re wondering where the books are, at the moment there are only 500,000 books in a space that is meant to hold over 8,000,000! </span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="color: #351c75; float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYvmiRT89oca5ypGi3sioW_LQcAAEmYdmSo1E0q5AiULumBivst0BAkCBe9Q34d0duR2Qt3JCCyfTfvitMXwOO72H3xqtHuUEL_T6p-ePqXW5FHevFGXw3bzQhYYlmebHMarnfkjC1Slo/s1600/28-library-of-alexandria.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYvmiRT89oca5ypGi3sioW_LQcAAEmYdmSo1E0q5AiULumBivst0BAkCBe9Q34d0duR2Qt3JCCyfTfvitMXwOO72H3xqtHuUEL_T6p-ePqXW5FHevFGXw3bzQhYYlmebHMarnfkjC1Slo/s320/28-library-of-alexandria.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="color: #351c75; text-align: center;">Library of Alexandria</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</tbody></table><span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"> It is hoped that this library will recreate the library that was known as the “greatest library in antiquity” before it was destroyed.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_cx8cw9XUyFqnYIe7MTHrGMSWiyd9-SDXmfJegpcZ3bBlSEtCDSWNRCKPN2fwoFDuGDLeeSszkvda1JdaQ1IxDZC-ebZA1lCymw-fulvxIqv241qThtkryhHSpGBx3jDGcwfENt8fq7Y/s1600/27-exeter-academy-library.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_cx8cw9XUyFqnYIe7MTHrGMSWiyd9-SDXmfJegpcZ3bBlSEtCDSWNRCKPN2fwoFDuGDLeeSszkvda1JdaQ1IxDZC-ebZA1lCymw-fulvxIqv241qThtkryhHSpGBx3jDGcwfENt8fq7Y/s320/27-exeter-academy-library.jpg" width="145" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="color: #351c75;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phillips Exeter Library</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Famed architect Louis Kahn designed the modern <b>Phillips Exeter Academy Library</b>. The building won many architectural awards, and it was even used as a commemorative postage stamp! While this photograph emphasizes the architecture and looks rather cold, this is one of the libraries I visited, so I can tell you that it doesn’t feel that way when you’re inside. There are many intimate spaces in which small groups can gather, the collection is notable, and the books are very accessible. </span></div><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;">When I worked as a reference librarian and book purchaser for the Howard County Library in Maryland, we got all of our inter-library loans from the <b>George Peabody Library</b> in Baltimore. Howard County is midway between Baltimore and Washington D.C., and Columbia, a modern, “planned” city – the first of its kind in the U.S. – was built there. With all the competitive people working in that cosmopolitan government and business corridor, it's easy to forget that Maryland is a Southern state and fought for the Confederacy during </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVj3msW_t876Y3UG-3NfH9y6JXpnhqUEuOijMSNbsRvM4HlwiqmiZBLph-JbAdcRNcQgaaVOIkpB8DM6b2QqS7oXd5_P60XWpMOaz-HfZHqy2vkQPgXC2PWAbdyjYU0n5zVrbgmnVUPu0/s1600/26-george-peabody-library.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVj3msW_t876Y3UG-3NfH9y6JXpnhqUEuOijMSNbsRvM4HlwiqmiZBLph-JbAdcRNcQgaaVOIkpB8DM6b2QqS7oXd5_P60XWpMOaz-HfZHqy2vkQPgXC2PWAbdyjYU0n5zVrbgmnVUPu0/s320/26-george-peabody-library.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75;">The Peabody Library</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="color: #351c75;">the Civil War; but when you step into the Peabody, you're quickly reminded: those ornate iron railings on the balconies almost shout "New Orleans and the South! It's a wonderful library.</div><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
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</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;">The <b>Trinity College Library Long Room</b> has become something of a tourist attraction. Those roped-off bays are a bit off-putting, but if you really want to do research, you can arrange an appointment and work there. I love libraries that have such open “bays.”</span><br />
<br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijoGzqJX877OAZ6765MDkOkXGVEG76qF9xceE0IebLYr-2aruf6M5mFlYCUO89xGf7W3v6gBDYYWIoQADl3ya4Z3En_zgD289x5sz7v7dn6kYkFCjtnR2eDJFufCZkgWyfgjlKXFlEzIY/s1600/18-the-long-room.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijoGzqJX877OAZ6765MDkOkXGVEG76qF9xceE0IebLYr-2aruf6M5mFlYCUO89xGf7W3v6gBDYYWIoQADl3ya4Z3En_zgD289x5sz7v7dn6kYkFCjtnR2eDJFufCZkgWyfgjlKXFlEzIY/s400/18-the-long-room.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75;">The Long Room at Trinity College Library</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0cI8gJiGtI6nc_T_LV5IcwSeU4Wq1_BcmutSWvebjHxRH2n72PqGgw4eS4b_RvLiojKd-3vfoiOJ5nXQVj2y1ZDDe62wm_LNiZ9_vbsXgr6gb6rNY6ZLL2s0dGJHywhh0Q2hxlex_SQM/s1600/16-morgan-library.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0cI8gJiGtI6nc_T_LV5IcwSeU4Wq1_BcmutSWvebjHxRH2n72PqGgw4eS4b_RvLiojKd-3vfoiOJ5nXQVj2y1ZDDe62wm_LNiZ9_vbsXgr6gb6rNY6ZLL2s0dGJHywhh0Q2hxlex_SQM/s400/16-morgan-library.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="color: #351c75;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Morgan Librar<span style="font-size: small;">y</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The <b>Morgan Library</b> is also a museum, and the book shelves are gated so that you can’t really get at them but can only look at them as a kind of permanent exhibit. But the rooms are magnificent and the exhibits are always worth seeing. Here, too, you can ask for permission to actually use the books.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The <b>Chateau de Chantilly Library</b>: what can I possibly say other than "WOW!"</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi99_yDocTh-SR9AItGNjtx0uia8t8rWKWMMdUk1ID2gzpZct4OuLjHpuYPMp0JVD3DF5hyphenhyphenjG4mSw4fqNSWfvFUnkKmYp76cDWaSNev9BG3UBN-a9hKIJQDaq3GGKxuoyojwXHhVSC1FRA/s1600/24-chateau-de-chantilly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi99_yDocTh-SR9AItGNjtx0uia8t8rWKWMMdUk1ID2gzpZct4OuLjHpuYPMp0JVD3DF5hyphenhyphenjG4mSw4fqNSWfvFUnkKmYp76cDWaSNev9BG3UBN-a9hKIJQDaq3GGKxuoyojwXHhVSC1FRA/s400/24-chateau-de-chantilly.jpg" width="398" /></a></div><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="color: #351c75; float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj41chizP0PlJFvRz4YjcJITvLHwDbZ26R-z0yHuiiB826ls0xE5f1pzwswZ-1HGKDpxAU1cq-bJHqU919N6tBNufvBPQQfeMPu9klskSXN0HeHeOVrdWzGahcRIqnyUcpCvOGDsSUGb0w/s1600/12-abbey-library-st-gall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj41chizP0PlJFvRz4YjcJITvLHwDbZ26R-z0yHuiiB826ls0xE5f1pzwswZ-1HGKDpxAU1cq-bJHqU919N6tBNufvBPQQfeMPu9klskSXN0HeHeOVrdWzGahcRIqnyUcpCvOGDsSUGb0w/s320/12-abbey-library-st-gall.jpg" width="248" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abbey Library of Saint Gall</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">I’ve never been to the <b>Abbey Library of Saint Gall</b>, but one </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">of my favorite books is the exquisite 3 volume monograph of </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">THE PLAN OF ST GALL published by the University of </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">California Press in1979. The original plan was drawn on vellum between the years 820 and 830 CE - and survived! Astonishing that the public is welcome to use this library!</span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt8Cr3cnesZ3uqIMlY_BfrYupu-sT5ifkRTZuRIQ53ISYtL1KI6M0TrZxaZVRLmayjE1Xo3DD1ImjNzBGPDwERnlTSEk-JU7g2xuHNM1TVdn7pgs4TMBhtqMp8oKxQu0YCxO7W5A4bRIM/s1600/9-new-york-public-library.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt8Cr3cnesZ3uqIMlY_BfrYupu-sT5ifkRTZuRIQ53ISYtL1KI6M0TrZxaZVRLmayjE1Xo3DD1ImjNzBGPDwERnlTSEk-JU7g2xuHNM1TVdn7pgs4TMBhtqMp8oKxQu0YCxO7W5A4bRIM/s320/9-new-york-public-library.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The New York Public Library</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="color: #351c75;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr align="left"><td><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;">Sometimes I feel as though I spent a third of my life at the <b>New York Public Library</b>. I lived and went to school in New York, and this was my library of choice. It was a great and inspiring place to study - and a wonderful place to meet people, too!</span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The <b>Boston Public Library</b> was the first public library in the U.S. and is my current library of choice. You can see from this photo what I mean when I say that some libraries are hushed, dreamy, and magical….</span></div><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga51doHEJfR7WjOUpkS59mtqYRarK2JaqIBlDKv69MTrDTzBl06vQ2QHeEaheStFhnVMsGlMqw6xuGYKJCf6Y0vtFvX2QErNetVkK8TILmaHLjw1vEJ7_IBMsOcvQawsLMYY5PsIX3yL8/s1600/7-boston-public-library.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga51doHEJfR7WjOUpkS59mtqYRarK2JaqIBlDKv69MTrDTzBl06vQ2QHeEaheStFhnVMsGlMqw6xuGYKJCf6Y0vtFvX2QErNetVkK8TILmaHLjw1vEJ7_IBMsOcvQawsLMYY5PsIX3yL8/s400/7-boston-public-library.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Boston Public Library</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoDcDEy-HyeZgkQpV4_qj0S-nwaGkY8aH0Y-yresQwBIbW9z7oN03vU9vpgOPfb7i7yuRu9BWCzbKovNRTUk9RgnjXnjVPChCRsZutze6OTxY0ZiEJnO1lXShhBUymvAymwBeS0rdSPdg/s1600/4-yale-beinecke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoDcDEy-HyeZgkQpV4_qj0S-nwaGkY8aH0Y-yresQwBIbW9z7oN03vU9vpgOPfb7i7yuRu9BWCzbKovNRTUk9RgnjXnjVPChCRsZutze6OTxY0ZiEJnO1lXShhBUymvAymwBeS0rdSPdg/s400/4-yale-beinecke.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Beinecke Library</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #351c75;">In addition to being beautiful and having an amazing collection of rare books and manuscripts, Yale’s </span><b style="color: #351c75;">Beinecke Library</b><span style="color: #351c75;"> is also extremely high-tech. That central air-tight column of glass which houses and preserves the most rare of the books is a modern marvel; it’s even been featured in novels and film as the place where the good-guy gets locked into and must find his way out before he stops breathing – or where the bad guy finally </span><i style="color: #351c75;">stops</i><span style="color: #351c75;"> breathing! </span><br />
</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS6WMS_LQMzpe2SvgJmabNTgPOYtdrIabmFbXyo_X_U3Wbl9sgkw0nMq-Brq3O3aOt6rTfd0Fjvw1nONy7lFECg0oNZz2krq_HVVOXSa61YenafjInyZc1qTT8k7SyeoyWwbRDNEOFpg0/s1600/3-british-museum-reading-room.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="108" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS6WMS_LQMzpe2SvgJmabNTgPOYtdrIabmFbXyo_X_U3Wbl9sgkw0nMq-Brq3O3aOt6rTfd0Fjvw1nONy7lFECg0oNZz2krq_HVVOXSa61YenafjInyZc1qTT8k7SyeoyWwbRDNEOFpg0/s320/3-british-museum-reading-room.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Reading Room at the British Museum</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;">The relatively new <b>Reading Room at the British Museum</b> does not have the charm of its predecessor, but it has an impressive collection of books; and I love that such a wonderful museum has a library as its centerpiece.</span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<br />
<div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;">For me, Oxford University’s <b>Bodleian Library</b> is the very definition of what a library should be. One of the oldest libraries in Europe, it has everything: impressive history, important works, and great beauty – inside and out. It consists of several buildings, with the <b>Radcliffe Camera Science Library</b> the most beautiful among them. I love this building so much that I actually bought a paper construction kit of it and made myself a small replica that now sits on my desk. I love to look at it.</span></div><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9CFDOD-gJUH6KyzLVteSko8SOcvh-nhyphenhyphen3iVJKnAfKwsRjXvDYJrD2wkSlN4Z31F90K5j4SoD472ujANEnr6Jfxb8yDpNw2TbL7IufLJ68Vk7tF053CZNsRp1vbCAUttS3P-NmEesZL50/s1600/2-bodleian-library.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9CFDOD-gJUH6KyzLVteSko8SOcvh-nhyphenhyphen3iVJKnAfKwsRjXvDYJrD2wkSlN4Z31F90K5j4SoD472ujANEnr6Jfxb8yDpNw2TbL7IufLJ68Vk7tF053CZNsRp1vbCAUttS3P-NmEesZL50/s640/2-bodleian-library.jpg" width="435" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Radcliffe Camera of the Bodleian Library</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The <b>Library of Congress</b> really does have everything: it is the largest library in the world, “as measured by shelf space and number of volumes.” And just think: <i>it belongs to us</i>! </span></div><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJAdosmTtmauTzFOoHoi5Wl96N44klatasCg3c_kME7h8W6jHfRsMKM3gWQ60owISXqq16JQxMm7Ol26F8N986RaCal5L6oBbh66XDSY2xxeXvLFJlVr-vFUKp64mXleVyG94O2S6-bVs/s1600/1-library-of-congress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJAdosmTtmauTzFOoHoi5Wl96N44klatasCg3c_kME7h8W6jHfRsMKM3gWQ60owISXqq16JQxMm7Ol26F8N986RaCal5L6oBbh66XDSY2xxeXvLFJlVr-vFUKp64mXleVyG94O2S6-bVs/s400/1-library-of-congress.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Library of Congress</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Wouldn’t it be great to travel to all the great public libraries in the world? And in each of those libraries, you’d probably find a fellow book-lover eager to show you around….</span><br style="color: #351c75;" /><br style="color: #351c75;" /><span style="color: #351c75;">But in the meantime: visit, support and enjoy your local libraries! </span></span>Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-86846638939916433022011-11-29T04:31:00.017-05:002011-12-03T01:44:08.453-05:00Guest Post: Reading "Rules"<span style="color: #351c75;"> </span><span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"> </span> <style>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Everywhere one looks, it seems that bookstores are closing or becoming cafés, or that they are selling things other than books: book <i>things</i>, but not books themselves. There is a constant lament from booksellers, publishers, writers and the media about the death of the book, the end of reading. These lamenters tell us we prefer video and film and interactive games and books on tape to actually reading silently to ourselves. <br />
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Most recently, this sentiment was expressed on the cover of the NEW YORKER – one of several they’ve published in recent years heralding the end of book selling, book reading, and book buying as we know it. (<i>Not</i> funny!)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdHoHoqhK-KPWNPb-ptc22_Vws5tJPeV0MsUVChG9cVbllwYaNSF_pKZ5IEjJHbrUOfNhBEYFLNyxApq-F-Ux09QPTV8YpX4_rLqPK3KYDECOalBfFVFgAJHSYbAvUnQ0srGuE2X8Vhi4/s1600/NewYorker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdHoHoqhK-KPWNPb-ptc22_Vws5tJPeV0MsUVChG9cVbllwYaNSF_pKZ5IEjJHbrUOfNhBEYFLNyxApq-F-Ux09QPTV8YpX4_rLqPK3KYDECOalBfFVFgAJHSYbAvUnQ0srGuE2X8Vhi4/s640/NewYorker.jpg" width="468" /></a></div><span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">But if you were to spend a little time “surfing” the web, you would be forgiven for thinking that the naysayers are not paying sufficient attention. There are thousands of books sites on the web. Practically anyone who reads puts up a blog about their book likes and dislikes; there are book review sites in which books are reviewed by committee; there are book discussion sites; book club sites; book seller sites; book author sites; “modern” book sites; “classic” book sites; science-fiction book sites; mystery book sites; chick-lit book sites; book-a-day sites; library sites; and even book sites which review other book sites!<br />
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It is daunting.<br />
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I said in my very first post, <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/08/what-im-planning-more-or-less.html" target="_blank">What I'm Planning More or Less...</a>, that I am a very slow reader, and that I couldn’t possibly read all that there is to read, let alone all that I <i>want</i> to read! Even dipping into these book sites takes more time than I can comfortably manage!<br />
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But help has come my way….<br />
<br />
Since 1985, Judy Pollock – a close friend of mine for more years than I care to mention! – has been president of <a href="http://www.languageatwork.com/" target="_blank">Language at Work</a>, a communication skills training company. Judy has been a reading teacher, a professional actor, and a public speaker; and she has designed many courses that help others communicate more easily and confidently. Her clients range from private individuals to businesses and government agencies.<br />
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But Judy has had a “hands-off” policy when it came to her friends, and it is only since I began this blog and have been whining to her about my slow reading that she has finally come to my rescue. While I can’t say that I am now a speed-reader, I <i>can</i> say that I read much faster than I did only a few months ago. <br />
<br />
I am posting here one of the things she sent me that I found helpful; I hope it helps those other slow readers out there, as well as those who want to supplement their reading skills. If you have questions about her post or other communication concerns, you can <a href="mailto:judith.pollock@languageatwork.com" target="_blank">email Judy</a> directly; or check out her <a href="http://www.languageatwork.com/our-blog" target="_blank">web blog</a> to see what else she has to offer.<br />
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Happy reading!</span></span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">Reading “Rules”</span><br />
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Reading is wonderful, but not for everyone. What I frequently hear is, “How I can get through all the things there are to read? I’m such a slow reader.” Or worse: “I don’t have time to read fiction.” <br />
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Slow readers can learn to read faster, and all readers can improve their skills. Contrary to what we’d like to think, efficient reading requires some work, and most of the strategies are appropriate for non-fiction. But, if you can step up your non-fiction speed, you’ll have more time for luxuriating in your fiction!<br />
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Here are some things to try: </span></span></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">1. Silence the voice that says you have to finish reading anything you start. I give books 100 pages to convince me. If you’re slogging through books you don’t like, no wonder you don’t have time to read anything else. And how can you be excited about starting a new book if it means a mandatory sentence of 300+ pages!</span></span> </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">2. Don’t think you have to read every article in the magazine. Look for articles that you might want to read. Tear them out; throw the rest of the magazine away.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">3. Don’t read every article in the same way. Some will yield their treasures to you with a quick skim.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">4. Identify your reading places: watching TV, in bed, by the phone, in the kitchen. Here is where you should stash potential reading material. </span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Match the material to the place: some things you will skim quickly; some you want to read carefully; some you just need to review; some you want to curl up and read for enjoyment; some you have to work at. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Now you have a stack of quickies by the phone to whip through while you’re on hold. You have magazines for previewing in your TV watching chair. Your current book is by your bed, and the latest gobbledy-gook about your health insurance is on your desk where you will presumably be clear-headed and sitting up straight. </span></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">5. Preview everything you can. Look at the title, subheadings, captions, side-bars, table of contents, index. Many of us begin reading by starting at the first word and plodding along until we either forget what we’re reading or get to the end. If you take the time to preview your document, you will actually SAVE time because:</span></span> </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">You may decide not to read it;</span></span> </blockquote></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;"><blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">If you do decide to read it, the previewing will make the reading easier, and your comprehension and retention will be greater. </span></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">6. Try skimming as an alternative to a thorough reading:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Read the first few paragraphs. Often the first paragraph or two will contain a little story meant to whet your appetite; skip quickly through the little story. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Read the last few paragraphs if they’re short; just the last one, if not.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Read the first sentence of each paragraph. And maybe the last sentence.</span></span> </blockquote></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">While your eyes are skimming down the page, be alert to any <b>Stand Out</b> words. These are words that relate to the subject. They can give you clues about the general idea, or even specifics.</span></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> 7. While you’re reading, pay attention to the structure. To untangle long sentences, look for <b>Agent</b>, <b>Action</b>, and, if offered, <b>Object</b>. Who did what to what? Try this sentence:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The tired farmer, although a mainstay of the economy, a model of persistence and tenacity, and a symbol of hope to those who espouse a simpler lifestyle, today, in spite of his dogged efforts, faces some difficult choices.</span></span></i></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Many a valiant reader would be tired herself about halfway through this thicket. If you see a hard road ahead, latch onto the <b>agent</b>. In this sentence that would be the farmer. Now skim across the word weeds until you spot a nice <b>action</b> for him: Aha! “faces”….and, helpfully right next to it, the <b>object</b>. </span></span> </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This seeking of the <b>Agent</b>, <b>Action</b>, <b>Object</b> activity will help power you through long passages, and if you feel later that you missed something, it won’t be hard to go back and find the missing pieces.</span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">8. Look for key words that direct the traffic for you. Read along in whatever direction you and the writer are going, but look out for signal changes. Words such as <b>but, however, finally, therefore, also,</b> indicate a change in direction. When you get better at this, you can mutter little summaries to yourself as you go – great for comprehension and retention.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">9. The speed-obsessed usually want to know how they can increase reading time. One drill is to practice on easy material, reading at your normal pace for 2-3 minutes, then at a <i>reallyfastpace</i> for 2-3 minutes. Repeat for a while. Eventually your <i>reallyfastpace</i> becomes your normal pace. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">10. Finally, when you finish reading, recite a review of what you read. The first few times you try this you might be horrified to realize that you are not able to summarize your reading, or even – gasp! – to say what the main idea was. Carry on. With practice, you’ll get better. With more practice, this will become automatic (well, easier). And – not surprisingly, your comprehension and retention will improve because you’ll be in the habit of reading for that little test.</span></span></blockquote><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Above all, reading should be fun. If you employ improvement strategies in your non-fiction reading, you should be able to gain some fiction-reading time. </span></span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
And that rules!</span></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1682258371328940459&postID=8684663893991643302" name="_GoBack"></a></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"> </span>Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-37874636055014424432011-11-19T04:28:00.003-05:002011-11-29T04:42:14.880-05:00What Makes a Good Personal Library?<div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">It’s quite difficult to answer the question of what makes a good personal library. </span></span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">For some, it’s a collection of books on one subject of special interest to the owner: Golf, Dance, Art, Science, Fiction.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">For others, it’s one made up of rare books, coveted books, valuable books.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">For still others it’s fine and beautiful bindings, regardless of the subject.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">For me, it’s anything I’ve enjoyed reading and hope to dip back into again.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">And other than books, what else makes a personal library? Furniture, bookends, artwork, beautiful or interesting objects that are meaningful to the library’s owner.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">My personal libraries – and I have two – are primarily made up of some of the duplicates from my bookstore, and of books that I love – important or not; and it encompasses a wide range of subjects. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I have separate copies of some of the same books in my two libraries, as I can’t bear to be apart from them when I’m in my other home. I don’t necessarily need to re-read all of these books, but just passing by and seeing them on my bookshelves gives me pleasure; and sometimes, a flash back to a memory from my past.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">One such is a book from my childhood which disappeared but which I recently managed to find in a dusty old bookshop. It cost pennies when I was a child, but it cost me a great deal to purchase it today. And in re-reading it now, I can see why my mother chose to buy it for me when I was a young girl.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">BEHOLD, YOUR QUEEN is the [quite embroidered] story of the Biblical Queen Esther. It's a “fairy tale” romance that little girls can love, and which makes Cinderella pale by comparison. But Esther is not just depicted here as the penniless, beautiful maiden carried away by the handsome prince; she’s depicted as something of an “action figure," a </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">powerful </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">person in her own right, and one who never lets fear stand in her way as she almost single-handedly saves her people. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">(Perhaps Esther is the precursor to STAR WARS’ Princess Leah? Or the inspiration for her? If so, then creator George Lucas certainly knew this story well</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">!)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Another pleasure of mine is enjoying so-called “quality” paperbacks. (I presume they mean <i>good </i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">quality…?) They are larger than the paperbacks you find at the drugstore, (often equivalent in size to the hard cover) and are made of better paper - strongly glued and sometimes even sewn - and with clear, attractive type. I have lots of these. Even when I own the hardcover, I sometimes have one of these paperbacks along side it. Why? I don’t know why; I just like them! </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Mine are very eclectic libraries, indeed!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">But as I keep saying, books alone don’t make the library. It’s also the artwork and the bookcases, and the rugs, and the furniture, and the like. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #351c75; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDdvF4bUQVSNoDjgnkckp5dGjWN715h-pQ3JBy8guyoPQS_ZLesccEHPkM18hjCvgrEcG4sYzheYSrq4Kph1ZGTvIqfAUvtzuTFmk1GeOJ6pVqlTLndg5GYFjR1dTliAzPX3J3wiVJI1A/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDdvF4bUQVSNoDjgnkckp5dGjWN715h-pQ3JBy8guyoPQS_ZLesccEHPkM18hjCvgrEcG4sYzheYSrq4Kph1ZGTvIqfAUvtzuTFmk1GeOJ6pVqlTLndg5GYFjR1dTliAzPX3J3wiVJI1A/s320/2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I’ve moved a lot, and I’ve carried my books with me from place to place, from state to state, from house to house. Depending on the other features of my library, the same books have a different feeling of importance or playfulness or both.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Here are some photos of a few of the libraries I’ve had through the years, including ones from the previous carnation of my store. If you look carefully, you’ll see that many of the books, furniture and objects are the same, but the “feel” is totally different from library to library: “serious,” relaxed, ornate, modern.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #351c75; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3QUJqShYCXPYP3732v25e-ZE1Qb1zj8a5M0CZV68cyo9X-0A6vNgNxRclHsCnh5pwidA7ve0I025EW2MqFxiH93uf_q8tjP3O-5SWPH3GYpxKcei9qLMxPldo3sZVARE7XtPWwabsbPc/s1600/5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3QUJqShYCXPYP3732v25e-ZE1Qb1zj8a5M0CZV68cyo9X-0A6vNgNxRclHsCnh5pwidA7ve0I025EW2MqFxiH93uf_q8tjP3O-5SWPH3GYpxKcei9qLMxPldo3sZVARE7XtPWwabsbPc/s400/5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #351c75; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjejSNDshBM2yiV7Tpy_6qCwNRzvBC1PRU0MYuFPTlKxAUjr9PaLR3kTJm2N9qmZIDmz_y5ZY8QVCAMvQ_tr5JIVLILn0fwJhq7GbVz87Ljw-O9uCepJoZ9IThO2qi1HEQ8COVvSQyqiH8/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjejSNDshBM2yiV7Tpy_6qCwNRzvBC1PRU0MYuFPTlKxAUjr9PaLR3kTJm2N9qmZIDmz_y5ZY8QVCAMvQ_tr5JIVLILn0fwJhq7GbVz87Ljw-O9uCepJoZ9IThO2qi1HEQ8COVvSQyqiH8/s400/1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span><span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I design libraries for people, and I love to play with the settings. Buying the necessary, the wanted books is easy; making the space one in which the owner would be happy to spend time – one which represents the “who” that the owner is or would like to be – is more challenging. And more fun. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/8b086300-0b20-11e1-ae56-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1du65GRYO" target="_blank">Here is a link to an article</a> in the FINANCIAL TIMES that shows the libraries belonging to several authors: not just the books, but the book cases and other appurtenances in their libraries. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Without reading a word written by any of these authors, you might decide which of them writes books you might want to read, and which of them does not. You might be wrong, but it’s not a bad place to begin, as a</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> personal library can reveal one's soul. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">What kind of library do you have? </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">What kind of library do you want?</span></span> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></div><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span>Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-89694355250386810402011-11-07T03:24:00.010-05:002011-11-17T06:37:39.286-05:00More on Books as Objects<div style="color: #351c75;">I’m delighted by the reception of my last Blog post, “<a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/10/some-thoughts-about-books-as-objects.html">Some Thoughts about Books as Objects</a>.” And surprised. </div><div style="color: #351c75;"></div><div style="color: #351c75;"></div><div style="color: #351c75;"></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">Bookstores are closing wherever we look, yet there are book sites galore online; book clubs are flourishing, and people apparently still have strong opinions about books and how to treat them.<br />
<br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">This post got the attention of many online book sites (two of which I am now enjoying regularly and will tell you about). The one called <a href="http://www.shelf-awareness.com/">Shelf Awareness</a> has two newsletters, one for readers and one for people in the book trade. On November 2nd, they had an excerpt of my post in their <a href="http://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=1595#Quotation-of-the-Day">“Quotation of the Day”</a> section. Not surprisingly, the excerpt they used was of the very few things I said which referred to <i>new</i> books as objects.<br />
<br />
Another enjoyable site but one which is not exclusively about new books, <a href="http://beattiesbookblog.blogspot.com/">Beattie’s Book Blog</a>, the “unofficial homepage of the New Zealand book community” (which I enjoy because many of the books they discuss are not available in the USA) also <a href="http://beattiesbookblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/some-thoughts-about-books-as-objects.html">excerpted my post</a>, but here, the interest seemed to be more about the difference in “feel” between a real book and an eBook.<br />
<br />
And my guest blogger, Pamela Grath, referred to my post in her blog, <a href="http://booksinnorthport.blogspot.com/">Books in Northport</a>, adding to the conversation there, as follows:</div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="color: #351c75;">“My friend Helen at the <a href="http://www.booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/">books, books, books</a> blog wrote recently about <a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/10/some-thoughts-about-books-as-objects.html">books as objects</a>, her point being that there is more to a book than text. I’m sure Helen would not disagree that for those of us who love books, many various aspects—physical, literary, aesthetic and incidental—go into the object we love, and I bring this up because Helen originally wrote of old books, and then she and I and other readers subsequently made the segue, in the comments section following her post, into a discussion of new books as objects and what various people still find valuable in bound, printed volumes." </span></blockquote><div style="color: #351c75;">Later, she made a post of her own called <a href="http://booksinnorthport.blogspot.com/2011/10/more-on-books-as-objectsand-one.html">“More on Books as Objects – and One Important Book on the Subject”</a> that I think you will enjoy reading.<br />
<br />
On the whole, the people who wrote to me were very positive about the future of books as “objects” in addition to their importance in providing information and pleasure. <br />
<br />
You can read the comments at the end of my post to see some animated and thoughtful opinions about the value of “real” books. One of the people who commented is someone who publishes books “in all forms – electronic and paper,” but nevertheless, says that she always publishes “limited handbound copies of all [our] books, because books are magical….”<br />
<br />
But not everyone agrees. One person wrote to protest that the printing of books causes the killing of trees, while eBooks help save them. That’s an interesting point – and would have been posted, had not the sentiment been expressed in some very unsavory language! – and is, perhaps, a topic that can start an entirely new discussion among readers. <br />
<br />
The care and treatment of books is another aspect that stimulated a great deal of conversation. Opinions ranged from the extreme of thinking that books should remain pristine and not be marked in any way, to the other extreme of thinking that every inch of a book should be annotated. <br />
<br />
I’m a proponent of the latter: I believe that annotating a book – making it “yours” – is a gift both to yourself and to the book. I believe that it enriches the reading experience even for those who come to read the book after you. I know that notations in used books have called my attention to aspects of that book which I might otherwise not have noticed; have given me new insights, shown me other possible interpretations. <br />
<br />
Of course, collectible books of great monetary value are a different matter entirely. With these, annotating-readers like me have a “hands-off” policy when it comes to annotating or even signing or pasting in a bookplate. Here, you want marks only by people who have some collectible “value” of their own: the author, an “important” previous owner, a Melville or other credible person whose opinion illuminates the work in new ways, and the like. <br />
<br />
Imagine if there were such a thing as Shakespeare’s annotated copy of Chaucer – or of Petrarch, from whom Shakespeare took many of his tales. I would definitely not put my mark on a book like <i>that</i>!<br />
<br />
So the questions: </div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">Printed books versus Electronic books;<br />
Writing in books or leaving the pages pristine;<br />
<br />
What do you think?<br />
<br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;"></div><div style="color: #351c75;"></div><div style="color: #351c75;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9twyoCu2hfkJNMORqt-xIqcLp53bTsNTs8Qqz-RTmEOz-UQJoB0MNLcXAXYjilkB4Xxv8QPdvPU_CoTFX4MVQTKS5K4BuLWfx67h7UgiwIGi-mnsBCfxQd5qjm01Hn8dpOT9aQye0SqE/s1600/garden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9twyoCu2hfkJNMORqt-xIqcLp53bTsNTs8Qqz-RTmEOz-UQJoB0MNLcXAXYjilkB4Xxv8QPdvPU_CoTFX4MVQTKS5K4BuLWfx67h7UgiwIGi-mnsBCfxQd5qjm01Hn8dpOT9aQye0SqE/s400/garden.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Books?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div>Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-63724193954836115292011-10-26T04:10:00.008-04:002011-10-29T21:49:37.512-04:00Some Thoughts About Books as Objects<div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">I</span><span style="font-size: small;">n this day of eBooks and iBooks and digital publishing; in this day when electronic displays are so sophisticated that one can actually turn pages on the screen and highlight passages and leave yellow sticky notes on the electronic page; in this day when one can carry an entire library of books in a convenient electronic case weighing no more than a pound or two; one is left to wonder about the future of books as physical, printed objects.</span></span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">I sell books. Not eBooks, but real books with pages made of paper. Books rare and old. My books smell of paper and ink. The pages are browned by age, and sometimes smudged with use. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">Some are inscribed to a friend, with an explanation of why the book was chosen and given; some are inscribed by the author to an admirer, or colleague. Some are signed by an owner in childish lettering or in adult script. Some have the signatures of notable figures. (These “association” copies are among my favorites.) Each of these adds to the pleasure of the book, to the understanding of it. And you are linked to the people who’d owned it before you.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">Some are “extra illustrated,” with original sketches or paintings by an artist; or with pertinent extras bound into the book.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">I once had an “extra illustrated” copy of Morley’s LIFE OF GLADSTONE which was a 3 volume set that had been stretched into 10 volumes as a result of the inclusion of so many pertinent extras: engraved portraits of Gladstone and members of his political English circle, hand-written letters from John Stuart Mill, Benjamin Disraeli and many others. In the hands of its owner, this modest book had become a treasure-trove of information, a document and history of the period.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">Some of my books have traveled to me from across continents and generations. How did a lovely illustrated book on palmistry (with beautiful endpapers made from old velum scrolls) make its way from 16<sup>th</sup> century Italy to 21<sup>st</sup> century Massachusetts? How many people touched it, carried it, cared for it? How did they protect it as it crossed oceans and time?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">For me, there is a kind of magic to this; there’s tremendous intimacy shared with those who came before you; and there are innumerable tactile pleasures as well – all of which imbue the words with meanings that cannot be conveyed by the words alone. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">You must hold a <i>real</i> book in your hand, smell the pages, examine the type face, the spacing between letters; must note the shape and size of the book, the weight of it. Only then can you experience the book’s full import. And its magic.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">A book as an object is a piece of history. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">If you care to learn it, you can know a book’s age and place of publication just by recognizing the font used; or by how much spacing (leading) there is between lines of text; or by the amount of linen or acid in the paper; or whether the page edges were individually “cut” for reading as one went along, or machine cut as is common for newer books; or by the garish and graphic covers of pulp paperbacks from the ‘40’s and ‘50’s; or by seeing whether the engravings are copper or steel; or by noting the use of the letter “f” for the letter “s” and the like. You can gage the tastes of the period through the bindings most common to it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">You can spot a smuggled copy of the banned James Joyce book, ULYSSES, even though it has no title on it – or has a fake title, all the better for smuggling! – because the book’s shape is that of an almost perfect square. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">I have friends who have a set of Homer that belonged to Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Imagine!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;"><a href="mailto:mottinc@vgernet.net">Rusty Mott</a>, a bookseller in Sheffield Massachusetts, once had Melville’s copy of William Davenant’s WORKS, London: 1673. He catalogued it [in part] as follows:</span></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #351c75;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">“Signed by Melville on the flyleaf: ‘Herman Melville / London, December, 1849 / New Year’s Day, at sea).’</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">With pencil notations by Melville…comprising check marks, x’s, sidelines, question marks, underlining, plus comments…all illustrating passages Melville felt important, such as whales, religion, monarchs and subjects, nature, knowledge, punishment of sin, etc. In one place he has written ‘Cogent;’ in another, ‘This is admirable,’ and in a third, he compliments Davenant....</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">The existence of this example of Melville’s reading has been known for some time but has been ‘lost’ since 1952.”</span></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv1Paf8Z3A6Mg_Pb3XlAZp3MpjDTxzE9bSPOUWC3YVbofVsFxjTcmxNQUSB5O0-r6SKVRir0Sk2_Ajdv49sy6VR53IX1O2qTDnyxaDvbO45Bl6r6CT_-5UvtasMJhqAALOsC_QlbzVJw8/s1600/Melville.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="66" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv1Paf8Z3A6Mg_Pb3XlAZp3MpjDTxzE9bSPOUWC3YVbofVsFxjTcmxNQUSB5O0-r6SKVRir0Sk2_Ajdv49sy6VR53IX1O2qTDnyxaDvbO45Bl6r6CT_-5UvtasMJhqAALOsC_QlbzVJw8/s320/Melville.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">Imagine!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">What a remarkable book! There’s so much to learn about <i>both</i></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;"> authors as a result of Melville’s notations. How wonderful it was to have held that book in my hands: Melville’s own book! And now, some other lucky person can hold and study it. And care for it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">I once had the prayer book belonging to Carlota, wife of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico. Placed on the throne by Napoleon III, Maximilian was eventually captured and executed by Mexican Republican forces. At the time, Carlota was in Europe trying to get support for her husband. After learning of his death, she had an emotional collapse and lived in seclusion for the rest of her life. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">What were those light round spots and ripples on some of the pages of her prayer book? Were they tears? And which passages of the book brought about those tears? Of course, I’ll never know the answers to any of those questions, but I’m free to imagine and relate to the scene in a way that is not possible without having the book – the object and not just the words – in my hands. As I held the book, Carlota and I were linked across space and time. This is magic.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">Shakespeare folios also feel quite magical. All but a few of them are in libraries, but many years ago, we managed to buy a 2<sup>nd</sup> and 4<sup>th</sup> folio for a client; and we had them at home for a while. Bound in well-cared-for contemporary (of the period) leather, they sat on a table in our living room. Whenever our 4 children were near the table, they became hushed, almost tip-toeing as they walked by: the books were so beautiful, so old, so...expensive! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">Adam, the youngest, was only 4 at the time. He and his older siblings would sometimes stand and look at the folios from a respectful distance. Adam would put his hands behind his back and lean forward so far that he was in danger of falling. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">One day he asked, “Can we <i>touch</i></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;"> them?” This broke the “spell,” and the big girls were quick to say, “Of course we can; they’re books; they’re meant to be touched and read! They’ve been touched and read for centuries!” And then they touched them. Carefully. Very carefully.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">First they caressed the bindings, stroking the leather. Then the two “big” girls – Sarah,12 and Johanna,14 – opened the books and slowly turned the pages, allowing Abigail and Adam, the two little ones, to see and carefully touch the pages. The paper was rippled, and the pages crackled when turned.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMFbAX0akzgurzTEnI2sQ2fGgsdZe8j5-y-t-74YQ1j7EIu_wTk_aJ1hyq_FzmVNg-o0ij-JoV8x_0_9xk2ryTLEEMTFjQaKPjF4uRKkeLpEvMkgvZCEWG5zm-m1qmc638PYxIbAtDb_Y/s1600/folio2a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMFbAX0akzgurzTEnI2sQ2fGgsdZe8j5-y-t-74YQ1j7EIu_wTk_aJ1hyq_FzmVNg-o0ij-JoV8x_0_9xk2ryTLEEMTFjQaKPjF4uRKkeLpEvMkgvZCEWG5zm-m1qmc638PYxIbAtDb_Y/s200/folio2a.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-dVm9NSgzcMijVb3BlNBMes29TxLfgdmJ8BUdHNc68tsGR4FUW5-2vmb9TGjedVvkzeIGIvWA9uaa1v3BtBkXspeSDGqZ2Cfn3JKqgP6zxs1d8hgUl-o25CVBKl_aT_gYHLBYNK9Q_yo/s1600/shakes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-dVm9NSgzcMijVb3BlNBMes29TxLfgdmJ8BUdHNc68tsGR4FUW5-2vmb9TGjedVvkzeIGIvWA9uaa1v3BtBkXspeSDGqZ2Cfn3JKqgP6zxs1d8hgUl-o25CVBKl_aT_gYHLBYNK9Q_yo/s200/shakes.jpg" width="125" /></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">Except for that crackle, there was silence, almost a holy silence…. They treated the books with reverence and awe. Even at their young ages, they knew that they were in the presence of something important and wondrous. They felt the magic, and remember it still....</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;"> Of course, new books are not quite the same, but you can be a book's “first” owner, the first to hold, read and study it. You can learn from its binding and paper and weight and lettering and smell. You can hold a new book in trust for its future owners. You can become part of its history.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">Give your eReader a rest, grab a real, printed book: and feel the magic.</span></div>Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-1423844079578604412011-10-12T02:14:00.011-04:002011-12-06T00:39:06.452-05:00Season's End: Photos of My Store<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="color: #351c75;">This year, the Berkshire Mountain Region of Western Massachusetts (along with its New York State and Connecticut neighbors) is bringing in the autumn by finally and at long last having a bout of wonderful summer weather. </div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">All season long we suffered through rain rain rain; hurricanes (Irene) and even a tornado or two! Or three…. And it was COLD! Now, suddenly, the sky is blue, the sun is shining, the breeze is gentle and caressing. Now, the tourists are gone, but the birds have come back! And the bees. (And the mosquitoes and wasps, too!) Where were they hiding all summer?</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">But still, there’s no mistaking that fall is here. Not just because the tourists are gone, but because there’s the mess of leaves falling everywhere; and there’re the sight and sounds of crops being harvested; and there are the county fairs and sheep-shearing contests and the apple picking. And, of course, we have the beautiful, beautiful trees fairly bursting with bright and vibrant color. </div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9twyoCu2hfkJNMORqt-xIqcLp53bTsNTs8Qqz-RTmEOz-UQJoB0MNLcXAXYjilkB4Xxv8QPdvPU_CoTFX4MVQTKS5K4BuLWfx67h7UgiwIGi-mnsBCfxQd5qjm01Hn8dpOT9aQye0SqE/s1600/garden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9twyoCu2hfkJNMORqt-xIqcLp53bTsNTs8Qqz-RTmEOz-UQJoB0MNLcXAXYjilkB4Xxv8QPdvPU_CoTFX4MVQTKS5K4BuLWfx67h7UgiwIGi-mnsBCfxQd5qjm01Hn8dpOT9aQye0SqE/s320/garden.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">Land and stream behind Farshaw's, my store.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
And this beauty is mine to enjoy; I see it out of every window; I see it wherever I go.</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="color: #351c75; float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqmUJvQPO9S1qx_VziRFieuzA8ru3WbX2gS9GEA9SIOC3UVxLAj09gDg2pyv35nCx6ZNmU_DLTY_UBmqewWlpDSS4223-OeKqOfUpN-ehb75AcF8_8-_iy2n8_Hh3RIpzjAtTPx1311Dc/s1600/stream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqmUJvQPO9S1qx_VziRFieuzA8ru3WbX2gS9GEA9SIOC3UVxLAj09gDg2pyv35nCx6ZNmU_DLTY_UBmqewWlpDSS4223-OeKqOfUpN-ehb75AcF8_8-_iy2n8_Hh3RIpzjAtTPx1311Dc/s200/stream.jpg" width="169" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">Behind Farshaw's</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="color: #351c75;">(I once knew someone who actually immigrated to the United States because he’d seen a Hitchcock film – THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY -- which featured a New England village much like ours, with the trees all decked out in breathtaking color.)</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">Yet this beautiful season which marks the end of tourists also marks the end of my summer selling season at Farshaw’s Too, the rare book and antique store I own. Columbus Day weekend, whether it comes early or late, is the season’s official end. </div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">For me, that means a bit of vacation time with family and friends; it means shopping around for new inventory for my store; it means unpacking and carefully placing my new purchases for optimal viewing when I reopen for the winter holiday season.</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdkBxvZ_jc_aw0JOmj3Peu1HnjFKc0Uae5cnc0piXG37B0_vvJxUpYUFfuETCaa5h5NiNJ-nMDyUN33oWsZBCLdQ7jTAUmVUrnOAAEm3PtBxxLgGs77NPDh646ek8RzhqV6Ad3iWVwrhk/s1600/Map+of+Newark+%2526+Buggy+Ad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdkBxvZ_jc_aw0JOmj3Peu1HnjFKc0Uae5cnc0piXG37B0_vvJxUpYUFfuETCaa5h5NiNJ-nMDyUN33oWsZBCLdQ7jTAUmVUrnOAAEm3PtBxxLgGs77NPDh646ek8RzhqV6Ad3iWVwrhk/s320/Map+of+Newark+%2526+Buggy+Ad.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Remember, everything's for sale!</td></tr>
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</div><div style="color: #351c75;">So now that I’m “officially” closed, I want to tantalize you with photos of some fabulous new finds that you’ll want to purchase come December. Hold off on your holiday shopping until I reopen on Friday, December 16th. It will be worth it! </div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><span style="color: #351c75;"> </span><br />
<div style="color: #351c75;">Be warned: though I'm an enthusiastic photographer, I am not a good one. These photos are simply meant to give you an idea of some of the new things I have for sale. The descriptions here are very general; I expect to have a a more detailed catalog by December. </div><span style="color: #351c75;"> </span><br />
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<div style="color: #351c75;">And remember: everything you see in these photographs is for sale. And I mean EVERYTHING!</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><span style="color: #351c75;"> </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #351c75; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib67Umtekff9h17Jf40eMQJFu22-jXLghuSh2x97oYEFnhCoHTw2B-Ls9CuZR07HB2_tKJuAIZjvSuqBuln_Y2r3Euvy3BA_BVgDVJAVkGEcWQxbPuC9cXzbqce1jSm_a_CdqPK_gYupE/s1600/Annex.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib67Umtekff9h17Jf40eMQJFu22-jXLghuSh2x97oYEFnhCoHTw2B-Ls9CuZR07HB2_tKJuAIZjvSuqBuln_Y2r3Euvy3BA_BVgDVJAVkGEcWQxbPuC9cXzbqce1jSm_a_CdqPK_gYupE/s200/Annex.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="color: #351c75;">These few photos are of two of the three rooms that make up my store. In the back room you can see a huge 1881 framed map of Newark, New Jersey. Huge and heavy! </div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">The photo below shows some of my favorite new finds. The old North Egremont sign hanging from the shelves was a real coup; unfortunately, I live in <i>South</i> Egremont...! </div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">The sculptural looking creature at the side of the sofa is actually an African headdress. It sits on top of a paint can on the floor of the store, but men actually walked for miles wearing that huge and swaying thing on their heads! It has red eyes made of wool, and the bottom of it is ringed with shells. It's quite wonderful.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #351c75; text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeH7hOdHOcmzfCHwApPn4IEG7T46EfY_fF5dVRFB-RuOc9cQ6H0Q4RIykrKnko6bK8TAgypxq7sSeyvMZjmnb1w49dgvpOqfeZp1g4mvE9AEh6DLd38uyXAo1ekEmipaDUAclhWtnQB9E/s1600/Main+Room.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeH7hOdHOcmzfCHwApPn4IEG7T46EfY_fF5dVRFB-RuOc9cQ6H0Q4RIykrKnko6bK8TAgypxq7sSeyvMZjmnb1w49dgvpOqfeZp1g4mvE9AEh6DLd38uyXAo1ekEmipaDUAclhWtnQB9E/s320/Main+Room.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="color: #351c75;">And speaking of Africa: The amazing statue in the photo below is a Congolese Nail Fetish, about 150 - 200 years old. It's about 6 feet tall, and looks a bit pained. </div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhIgogtglp3z4F4_5gVPAOFOyXKQaC8DPXYWTo25DGhGetiTzr2p7XSiW100J7x7P7i9cogeiIiSdYmtZD6beqWkJ2KiXiyMk2sI8KjVzZLzaBDY9nQeQmRh6E73tiCvPBW8VdV5WhJ6I/s1600/Nail+Fetish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhIgogtglp3z4F4_5gVPAOFOyXKQaC8DPXYWTo25DGhGetiTzr2p7XSiW100J7x7P7i9cogeiIiSdYmtZD6beqWkJ2KiXiyMk2sI8KjVzZLzaBDY9nQeQmRh6E73tiCvPBW8VdV5WhJ6I/s400/Nail+Fetish.jpg" width="145" /></a> These fetishes can be dated so precisely because the ones that were used for ceremonial purposes over the centuries were small ones which could easily be carried from place to place. But as with the Native Americans in the United States and the Aborigines in Australia, once the natives met the white man, they began doing their art for trade rather than for ceremony. And the white man wanted BIG ones! </div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">He is quite grand, I think. Even modern: Picasso would certainly think so.</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">But more conventionally modern is the huge Curtis Jere sculpture in the photo below. Signed and dated (1983), it hangs above my desk and is a happy presence.</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">As modern as it is, it makes me think of older and more innocent times. And it makes me smile.</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">(Actually, 1983 <i>was</i> quite a while ago...and it feels like over a hundred years ago to me! So much has happened since then. Blogs, for instance, to name just one small thing.)</div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRK-jW-4pQ_Yj6gi2OMd0PIdA5LFfhLOmWf1RBVqB3UiS2jEWLVUC4Jv_L1TwgTfUndwEr39Sa2ixkkl5xkT49l6Vz-IQZsPrDA2zwxepcuVfxFzKpFQvrwVmHVF7aNZvgZgvhduaCw_g/s1600/Curtis+Jere+sculpture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRK-jW-4pQ_Yj6gi2OMd0PIdA5LFfhLOmWf1RBVqB3UiS2jEWLVUC4Jv_L1TwgTfUndwEr39Sa2ixkkl5xkT49l6Vz-IQZsPrDA2zwxepcuVfxFzKpFQvrwVmHVF7aNZvgZgvhduaCw_g/s400/Curtis+Jere+sculpture.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Curtis Jere Sculpture</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzh7h1SvsfkVmxTIsxoh0zjdE0kdepwGOmQ8lGKN3-BJS816SGfMQFfPLdEVeBqV7s7AHapu2Hoy4l3JINibnkAMJhwu7sGRsw-bLlKG_a92sJRJMoVzjlu2_hnN3KuvEFPBXKycH4Vqg/s1600/Buggy+Ad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzh7h1SvsfkVmxTIsxoh0zjdE0kdepwGOmQ8lGKN3-BJS816SGfMQFfPLdEVeBqV7s7AHapu2Hoy4l3JINibnkAMJhwu7sGRsw-bLlKG_a92sJRJMoVzjlu2_hnN3KuvEFPBXKycH4Vqg/s640/Buggy+Ad.jpg" width="488" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poster promoting sale of 'Modern Transportation,' 1890's Style</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguWmaAWTEkNqeTS8RMy5qN644pquSUVJJAZsdJwy6zfdu51ljTvJBmeD9BQb3EZhfZndUrmOZUIN32B7066afx7sEsJ0axZccj4MQiNDZhTIuQU7zLsQOLrjZ-NV3LfXLEginJYbBtR4w/s1600/Berkshire+Map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguWmaAWTEkNqeTS8RMy5qN644pquSUVJJAZsdJwy6zfdu51ljTvJBmeD9BQb3EZhfZndUrmOZUIN32B7066afx7sEsJ0axZccj4MQiNDZhTIuQU7zLsQOLrjZ-NV3LfXLEginJYbBtR4w/s400/Berkshire+Map.jpg" width="397" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Huge 1853 Linen Mounted Map of Berkshire County w/original wooden poles</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsYz8Tq25Gk4zb9MD0PZ1EYuApkmaXpXca8YB66AL9KoD9NwTp0inHsm8wCAsHLrMCHi0mUH3snmzDseIzE-chVh8YFRGYy6zGRUZy3dMs8e4t41LJP6xrjkvZS4oBS_63dHc2wxVimZc/s1600/Prang+Catalog+of+Chromolythographic+Samples.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsYz8Tq25Gk4zb9MD0PZ1EYuApkmaXpXca8YB66AL9KoD9NwTp0inHsm8wCAsHLrMCHi0mUH3snmzDseIzE-chVh8YFRGYy6zGRUZy3dMs8e4t41LJP6xrjkvZS4oBS_63dHc2wxVimZc/s320/Prang+Catalog+of+Chromolythographic+Samples.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prang Album of Collectible Chromolithography Samples. Scarce.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB0a7c04Qy1UONnVyNfPaMB6N7wYNmG8U-duDjg2pghmjxXlXwrzYZ7tKNkg6GqW8a6l2XBK0zDCQyaRPIR3MAGUSdd0WQpCM-o3NeMrqf01_bAEwAeYetDx4d0Fm9gRVI0vNXVupV-Fo/s1600/Signed+Collected+John+Burroughs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB0a7c04Qy1UONnVyNfPaMB6N7wYNmG8U-duDjg2pghmjxXlXwrzYZ7tKNkg6GqW8a6l2XBK0zDCQyaRPIR3MAGUSdd0WQpCM-o3NeMrqf01_bAEwAeYetDx4d0Fm9gRVI0vNXVupV-Fo/s320/Signed+Collected+John+Burroughs.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Autographed Edition of the Works of John Burroughs</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-i_n8R6ZjPZ3BHwQgLjHfePOaioqXFdJ2ZaPCrgRiVi_YBcrM_VfGJ6599RspGy89PNWlIs0LcIe-wRrnshrGUI4c0NkfxtgMrAmEhCDsWmzmB-Y1vuhvQ74PTz59KeAoe7mLn_Qjwq8/s1600/Signed+1st+Ed.+w%253Aletter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-i_n8R6ZjPZ3BHwQgLjHfePOaioqXFdJ2ZaPCrgRiVi_YBcrM_VfGJ6599RspGy89PNWlIs0LcIe-wRrnshrGUI4c0NkfxtgMrAmEhCDsWmzmB-Y1vuhvQ74PTz59KeAoe7mLn_Qjwq8/s320/Signed+1st+Ed.+w%253Aletter.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Signed 1st Edition Steinbeck w/Letter</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKE9UYHBGuHjCqO-yJQEZgQkR0079pmvdepaYT7OX2D0sBHfWNAha_dEE_2eiE6fmByv-zDOvygNGM_9lyTWjxVqC_Fe9ectq1_9-TGV8YVRqqGiYkoiipM2Mn8D5xLrDfsP2cpzdmJh8/s1600/First+Ed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKE9UYHBGuHjCqO-yJQEZgQkR0079pmvdepaYT7OX2D0sBHfWNAha_dEE_2eiE6fmByv-zDOvygNGM_9lyTWjxVqC_Fe9ectq1_9-TGV8YVRqqGiYkoiipM2Mn8D5xLrDfsP2cpzdmJh8/s320/First+Ed.jpg" width="228" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1st Edition </td></tr>
</tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH-MLVYwEHtFrLouXErNOBrUps1yWS7jOB8iWrXOnArF-1XeT6j3c57Ajmtqm3jHM7iAEoqjpsnDpg8Y8cNTLvgDgwQgPDL8wXRLG7_YRJqhuIl0qGPk1LOWqf9cQTIEErF4nT2ku3ers/s1600/Signed+1st+Ed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH-MLVYwEHtFrLouXErNOBrUps1yWS7jOB8iWrXOnArF-1XeT6j3c57Ajmtqm3jHM7iAEoqjpsnDpg8Y8cNTLvgDgwQgPDL8wXRLG7_YRJqhuIl0qGPk1LOWqf9cQTIEErF4nT2ku3ers/s320/Signed+1st+Ed.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Signed 1st Edition w/Scarce Dustjacket</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_sPw2az3plHUt9kzEOPSkWErjlaE4R1VXRpXyjfRx6JiY7swNgRP0IhU0m_IQbGHMGeME6kBuLC1ehhsrbtlGSB3dLJqPkqpLk1IJdNPydNUNuFhU4nHr2gPZNe_FqbJDbMuQaKvvcYw/s1600/Bookends.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_sPw2az3plHUt9kzEOPSkWErjlaE4R1VXRpXyjfRx6JiY7swNgRP0IhU0m_IQbGHMGeME6kBuLC1ehhsrbtlGSB3dLJqPkqpLk1IJdNPydNUNuFhU4nHr2gPZNe_FqbJDbMuQaKvvcYw/s320/Bookends.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bookends.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp7cQiVeOXInuVpwIqD58ZcJd3EUXn07TaayV2guS98x53RtPQGCpIoUeeHRdivZM7u-Dp8Oa07pBKw-Hryaa0XWGOAjqE_1Lylv7kEyOBp5iGnhuOKVbbshYSvVL4JJbAbXRufVjEZkA/s1600/Bookends%253F.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp7cQiVeOXInuVpwIqD58ZcJd3EUXn07TaayV2guS98x53RtPQGCpIoUeeHRdivZM7u-Dp8Oa07pBKw-Hryaa0XWGOAjqE_1Lylv7kEyOBp5iGnhuOKVbbshYSvVL4JJbAbXRufVjEZkA/s320/Bookends%253F.jpg" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bookend?</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXGOUfT8eOcmhuzu9NyXgWXRsbV02WNC5LQSIr7a_tdVKgjVCaUK3DgMm9q2QpHKe-nWozxfGFgZq84ClcjEFGNJB65v8Q_jZI8wIHU-jdFVT7ppFcf_YbfKtWGYIwTNn02dXPXmvTiJo/s1600/Pen+Carrier+%2526+ink+well.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXGOUfT8eOcmhuzu9NyXgWXRsbV02WNC5LQSIr7a_tdVKgjVCaUK3DgMm9q2QpHKe-nWozxfGFgZq84ClcjEFGNJB65v8Q_jZI8wIHU-jdFVT7ppFcf_YbfKtWGYIwTNn02dXPXmvTiJo/s320/Pen+Carrier+%2526+ink+well.jpg" width="183" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pen & Pen Holder with it's own Inkwell</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIAU54Bh5Y7wM4EKxdyzrrEmRQ2PHxfC3DpXpAgwPyrlvhT-zwfeyGlOk2IeeJqhJe2sdU3zRUvAZVIT8IoQnQofpuzzubl-m9HHwpVwBnyO0T1C5mhyphenhypheniV9OlbSYYHncbZQwoz08SXgbQ/s1600/Original+Kate+Greenaway+drawing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIAU54Bh5Y7wM4EKxdyzrrEmRQ2PHxfC3DpXpAgwPyrlvhT-zwfeyGlOk2IeeJqhJe2sdU3zRUvAZVIT8IoQnQofpuzzubl-m9HHwpVwBnyO0T1C5mhyphenhypheniV9OlbSYYHncbZQwoz08SXgbQ/s320/Original+Kate+Greenaway+drawing.jpg" width="196" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Original Drawing by Kate Greenaway</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsAhPk5pit5lJy515fyKHmqiRtoZZ2F08Ruicr7sfR4XHZEZWgTj-GwXebebGe6pkNPKatZ-fThpAFJjp42woYfA3bQLUIFmWi-MLoLwirvxix3fNrz9Ts8GibMxqApMiCunbiKAuzWCM/s1600/Pencil+Mickey+%2526+Minnie%252C+disney+Studios+1933.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsAhPk5pit5lJy515fyKHmqiRtoZZ2F08Ruicr7sfR4XHZEZWgTj-GwXebebGe6pkNPKatZ-fThpAFJjp42woYfA3bQLUIFmWi-MLoLwirvxix3fNrz9Ts8GibMxqApMiCunbiKAuzWCM/s400/Pencil+Mickey+%2526+Minnie%252C+disney+Studios+1933.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scarce 1933 Pencil Sketch from the Disney Studios.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #351c75;"> And here's the very best:</span></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg840U2bck16-AsYwiLZbDh09KTNE9k0V4gQ9r230UxzE34L1KopuDrVFQp3r6MkAohHzwdn2EFutjpUeLRSqNg_Vovo04XglyRIRufr9CgZs0wJ1XA_XQASYcS8FYQl3GDyw-6kjCKU1U/s1600/Inscribed+GB+Shaw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg840U2bck16-AsYwiLZbDh09KTNE9k0V4gQ9r230UxzE34L1KopuDrVFQp3r6MkAohHzwdn2EFutjpUeLRSqNg_Vovo04XglyRIRufr9CgZs0wJ1XA_XQASYcS8FYQl3GDyw-6kjCKU1U/s640/Inscribed+GB+Shaw.jpg" width="442" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wonderful Inscription from George Bernard Shaw to Douglas Fairbanks Jr.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="color: #351c75;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4yV-sru8haQOfenyhqxJo8MxwDxldgJ3yDwLdSIw4ag8454vfqE3Mf-6_wJVvb2VP1c9n_wlEmZpwr9YvPzizeVdEgokjZH6oBRECdQ0bmy62bgxIyE0gXGJmNNaj5jeVwwXVmg7LKvI/s1600/Bags+of+books+to+catalogue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4yV-sru8haQOfenyhqxJo8MxwDxldgJ3yDwLdSIw4ag8454vfqE3Mf-6_wJVvb2VP1c9n_wlEmZpwr9YvPzizeVdEgokjZH6oBRECdQ0bmy62bgxIyE0gXGJmNNaj5jeVwwXVmg7LKvI/s200/Bags+of+books+to+catalogue.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>I have lots of bags and and boxes of books like the one in this photo to sort, catalog, and shelve before reopening day, but before I do that and before I end this post, I want to mention that Pamela Grath of <a href="http://booksinnorthport.blogspot.com/">Books in Northpor</a>t, last week's guest blogger, told me that visits to her blog spiked dramatically after her guest post on this blog. Of course, we have all of you to thank for that.</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">So: Thank you!<span style="color: #351c75;"> And enjoy the new season.</span></div></div>Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-89372572703741137172011-10-02T21:55:00.011-04:002011-10-03T17:08:01.363-04:00Guest Post: Bookshop Movies<div style="color: #351c75;">This is a “guest” post by my friend and fellow bookstore owner, Pamela Grath. Her store is in Michigan, but her blog, <a href="http://booksinnorthport.blogspot.com/">Books in Northport</a>, is linked from my Books Blog under “Blogs I Follow.”</div><div style="color: #351c75;"> </div><div style="color: #351c75;">Back in 1996, Pamela came to our bibliofind.com site, and I had the pleasure of helping her join and learn the ropes. She and I have never met, but obviously, we enjoy many of the same things – including our April Fools' Day birthdays! – and we have remained in contact over the years.</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">You will see when you go to her blog that Pamela is an enthusiast – about books, about animals, about nature, and about her part of the world – and her photographs are often so stunning that you want to get on a plane and go there immediately! For now, though, we’ll have to content ourselves with her blog.</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">But the best description of Pamela is the one she uses to describe herself on her blog:</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><blockquote><span style="font-size: small;">Blogger, bookseller, philosopher, photographer, writer. Negligent but devoted gardener. Good cook when inspired. No kind of housekeeper at all.</span></blockquote></div><div style="color: #351c75;">Here, without further ado, is Pamela’s post. Enjoy!</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Bookshop Movies </b></span></div><blockquote style="color: #351c75;"><div><span style="font-size: small;">Harold groaned when she told him to read everything again. He thought he’d be bored out of his mind, going back and reading the same books he’d already finished. He was stunned to find that the second time through they were different books. He noticed entirely different points and arguments. Sentences he had highlighted seemed utterly pointless now, whereas sentences he had earlier ignored seemed crucial. The marginalia he had written to himself now seemed embarrassingly simpleminded. Either he or the books had changed. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: small;">– David Brooks, <i>The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement</i></span></div></blockquote><div style="color: #351c75;">I maintain that the same is true of movies, that you can never watch the "same" movie twice, an assertion that shocked the Philosophy and Film instructor whose teaching assistant I was one semester. In our house, David and I are re-watchers as well as re-readers. The other evening we re-watched a wonderfully witty Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts movie, “Notting Hill.” The number of great almost-throwaway lines in the script had us hooting aloud. </div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">The bookstore [someone's big chance: the real <a href="http://kensington.londoninformer.co.uk/2011/06/fears-over-future-of-iconic-bo.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter">bookstore is now for sale</a>] doesn’t play a huge role in “Notting Hill,” but naturally it’s part of the attraction of the movie for a bookseller, and that got me to thinking about other films with bookstore settings. The one that leaps to mind first is the obvious, the popular “You’ve Got Mail.” With Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, who can resist? And the movie has a happy ending, too, with the out-of-business bookstore owner turning children’s book author--probably not the fate of many bookstore proprietors who have gone out of business. Please note that “The Shop Around the Corner,” starring Jimmy Stewart, <a href="http://nomorepopcorn.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/shot-for-shot-the-shop-around-the-corneryouve-got-mail/">the film that inspired</a> “You’ve Got Mail,” was set in a leather goods store, not a bookstore. Whole different kettle of fish, from a bookseller’s perspective. How's the market for leather goods these days?</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">The movie version of “84 Charing Cross,” definitely a bookshop story, was nowhere near as good as the book, but I’m sure it’s hard to make a movie out of years of mail correspondence, with no face-to-face encounters and no action, nothing but the requesting and receiving of books mailed across the Atlantic. Perhaps it ought not to have been attempted. </div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">The Amy Irving character in “Crossing Delancy” works in a bookstore, and, as the organizer of author events, she enjoys the touch of literary glamour on the fringes of her job. The focus of the movie, however, is her search for Mr. Right; as in “Notting Hill,” the bookstore in “Crossing Delancy” is not the main setting of the movie. On the other hand, it’s more than just a brief scene.... Scene? Seen? (Synapses fire, and the mind leaps.) Have you seen “The Answer Man” with Jeff Daniels? Now <i>there’s</i> a film that covers all the bases, from a writer’s life and secrets and his agent’s agonies through the vicissitudes of publishing to the struggles of retail bookselling. I found it riveting and hilarious. </div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">Poking around, I have come up with a couple of movies I never heard of before featuring bookstore themes. Anyone know anything about “The Bookstore” or “Heaven’s Bookstore”? Both are foreign films, the latter Japanese, neither listed on Netflix. I’ve added “The Love Letter” and “Read You Like a Book” to my queue. Will I be disappointed? </div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">Here’s what’s really on my mind: What I'm dying to see are film versions of Christopher Morley’s two classic novels about the bookselling life, <i>Parnassus on Wheels</i> and <i>The Haunted Bookshop</i>. “Could they be updated to a modern setting?” David asked. <i>No, no, a thousand times no!</i> They are period pieces! They are, as I said, classics, <i>iconic works</i> for American booksellers, especially those of us who sell used books and grew up on the Morley dreams. Roger Mifflin <i>must</i> drive the countryside from farm to farm in his horse-drawn gypsy-style wagon in the first story, and the second absolutely <i>must</i> be set in the World War I era. Anything else would be heresy. Please, someone make these movies--but for God’s sake don’t screw them up! </div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse, which ran from 1948 to 1955, apparently presented "Parnassus on Wheels" in 1951. I wonder if it was any good. Why has no one since produced film versions of these stories of the eccentric bookseller from Brooklyn? As printed books become objects of nostalgia, surely the time is ripe, and America is ready, for a movie that would dwell lovingly on this important part of our cultural heritage? </div><div style="color: #351c75;">Postscript: If you don't know Christopher Morley, introduce him to yourself with <a href="http://essays.quotidiana.org/morley/visiting_bookshops/">this short essay</a> on the thrill of visiting bookshops with an explorer's attitude of discovery, and you'll see why we booksellers with open shops continue to adore this writer as the world whirls by our doors.</div>Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-62558589438476559062011-09-25T04:06:00.034-04:002011-10-03T14:42:56.567-04:00Food Writing<div style="color: #351c75;">I’m not a great cook, but I nevertheless love to read books that include a fair amount of food-writing. By that, I don’t mean cook books – I can’t “taste” food by reading a recipe the way some of my “foodie” friends can. And I also don’t mean books like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwyneth_Paltrow">Gwyneth Paltrow</a>’s, which are essentially recipe books with some background about why the author is interested in food, family and healthy life-choices….</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">The food books I love are novels, memoirs, travel books, etc., in which food helps drive the plot; or in which food is the vehicle which illuminates the characters, or is shown to “form” their personalities, or describes their relationships with others; or which illustrate how food and cooking can serve to comfort or empower. </div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">This is a large and varied genre.<br />
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WOMEN WHO EAT is a collection of essays by women in which they describe their various relationships with food. Some are professional cooks, but most are writers who tell of their feelings and memories of food. It’s a celebration of food and of women who enjoy food without shame or apology.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu7jO1A6aY_FkVF5kRXKqvxb_Y9-jzSc8F_1ANYojrJgrAYJ1CbBpsMBq50EhV-QPPeBQTGVef9e5PB6qf7xV5sn6qjKTjBKCiiK8YW0lix9sg40aCzExgVotBYNbrrdN0n6hyphenhyphenle0Jq44/s1600/Women+Who+Eat.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu7jO1A6aY_FkVF5kRXKqvxb_Y9-jzSc8F_1ANYojrJgrAYJ1CbBpsMBq50EhV-QPPeBQTGVef9e5PB6qf7xV5sn6qjKTjBKCiiK8YW0lix9sg40aCzExgVotBYNbrrdN0n6hyphenhyphenle0Jq44/s1600/Women+Who+Eat.jpg" /></a></div><br />
There are lovely essays about bonding with grandparents while working in the kitchen together; there are reflections about the pleasure of making a meal, because it is one of the few activities in which there are no “loose ends,” as a meal “has a beginning, middle, and end.” Simple and clear.<br />
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</div><div style="color: #351c75;">Because I'd had similar experiences, I especially enjoyed the essay by Pooja Makhijan, whose mother would put exotic “aloo tikis” into her lunch box, so unlike the “American” food her classmates had in theirs – and theirs were the kind of lunches she'd always longed for!</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">With the same good intentions, my mother would often pack my brown paper bag with a [healthy] whole tomato to bite into like an apple (juice running down my chin and neck) and a sandwich on rich rye bread. And oh, how I, too, longed for a sandwich on real “American” white bread!<br />
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Most of the essays in this book were entertaining, though none felt entirely "new." And I hope you'll excuse me if I say that they're a bit like appetizers before the main course....</div></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">In Ruth Reichl’s memoir, TENDER AT THE BONE, the former restaurant critic and editor of the now defunct GOURMET magazine remembers a childhood that prepared her for a future in the food world. Reichl describes in sometimes hilarious detail, her early and strange connection with food.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC8mNIEbAzKHCcfGN0LGQSTv6HYPQ0xGcA4rfnfh8d35aXbHf7wkrlqPDzv2m9f7EmSCwLxFGy3IbN_t9HvLE59Zp-Cw4X5h0WcWM5HjzgguVi4tPHhGTUC14tRj-GtpENN8CGUyc4KHY/s1600/Tender+at+the+Bone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC8mNIEbAzKHCcfGN0LGQSTv6HYPQ0xGcA4rfnfh8d35aXbHf7wkrlqPDzv2m9f7EmSCwLxFGy3IbN_t9HvLE59Zp-Cw4X5h0WcWM5HjzgguVi4tPHhGTUC14tRj-GtpENN8CGUyc4KHY/s320/Tender+at+the+Bone.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><br />
Her "manic-depressive" mother loved to entertain, and depending on her mood, or on the latest “bargain” of ready-for-the-garbage food, or whatever decaying carcass she found in her larder, she often served food that was spoiled or moldy. Before the age of 10, Reichl understood that “food could be dangerous” and saw it as her “mission…to keep Mom from killing anybody who came to dinner.” She sometimes stood in front of guests to prevent them from getting to the buffet; and bluntly told her own friends, “Don’t eat that,” as they unsuspectingly plunged their spoons into dishes like bananas in green sour cream. <br />
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</div><div style="color: #351c75;">Her role as “guardian to the guests” made her aware of food in a way that might not have occurred otherwise. She began “sorting people by their tastes” and finding that she could learn a lot about people from the foods they chose and the places in which they liked to eat. And she continued to observe and learn about food as she made her way from New York to a French boarding school in Montreal and a commune in Berkeley; as she came under the wings of people like Alice Waters and James Beard. </div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">Liberally sprinkled with recipes, this adventure in food has a happy ending, as Reichl got to live her passion of cooking and eating and teaching people about food.</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">Nora Ephron’s HEARTBURN is a slyly fictionalized account of her divorce from journalist Carl Bernstein. The novel’s heroine, Rachel, is a food writer, and Ephron uses food and recipes as the conceit with which to describe Rachel’s relationship and marriage, from its beginning to its end.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9XyO6JcBl8aDMu3N5WWEfCf3ZeVB1qv4AMES3e9LuVOL07wd1L2kNG4m9J-Gt_rJOQ9a6STA_R-SOS_dfjph6BBkp065BwZAjdPNH_yQAHT34SquIZS5fhQDMntKqw2Cud7rBkV7WRs8/s1600/Heartburn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9XyO6JcBl8aDMu3N5WWEfCf3ZeVB1qv4AMES3e9LuVOL07wd1L2kNG4m9J-Gt_rJOQ9a6STA_R-SOS_dfjph6BBkp065BwZAjdPNH_yQAHT34SquIZS5fhQDMntKqw2Cud7rBkV7WRs8/s320/Heartburn.jpg" width="196" /></a></div><br />
Seven months pregnant at the time that she discovers that her husband is having an affair, Rachel reviews the trajectory of their marriage: <br />
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</div><div style="color: #351c75;">When first in love, [she] prepares labor-intensive and time-consuming “crisp potatoes;” when they settle into a married life busy with a child and home improvements, it’s the complacency and self-assuredness of “peanut butter and jelly on white bread.” (Yum!) With the knowledge of her husband’s affair, it’s “heartburn” and a punishing refusal to give him her wonderful vinaigrette recipe. Then it’s self-pity and the comfort of mashed potatoes…. Finally, she accepts that she can do without him, and expresses that acceptance by throwing a pie in his face – and by her willingness to give him that vinaigrette recipe after all: in essence, she is saying, “You can have it, and I’m out of here!”</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">Forget the Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson film of the same name; this is a delicious, insightful, and wickedly funny book. And the great recipes are an added bonus.</div><br />
<div style="color: #351c75;">More and more common in the food-writing genre are the books that tell of people moving to a “foreign” country and navigating their way through that new landscape. And food is a major player in these journeys.</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">In Marlena De Blasi’s A THOUSAND DAYS IN VENICE, American restauranteur and cookbook writer De Blasi tells of her love-at-first-sight romance with a Venetian man she sees across a crowded room – really! – and of her move to Venice to be with him. And for all its beauty, it’s an inhospitable Venice she comes to, steeped as it is in old traditions which have no room for newcomers.</div><br />
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But De Blasi haunts the local food markets at 5:00 AM each morning, and with her knowledge and love of food, she seduces the locals and becomes “one of them.” Then, she repeats this feat in her sequel, A THOUSAND DAYS IN TUSCANY, where she eats at the small local restaurant to which everyone in the neighborhood – including she – brings food for communal dining. Soon, she is one of them there, too.<br />
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</div><div style="color: #351c75;">Passionate about food, De Blasi describes the local produce and the markets and the centuries’ old food traditions with eloquence and ease. You read these books with mouth-watering pleasure – and a longing to become an “insider” in Italy, too!</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">Finally, there’s the food-writing in travel books that have no plots to speak of, but which describe food’s connection to the land, the landscape, the city, the town, the community. These books give you a sense of the rhythm of life there; and you are like a voyeur, looking through the windows of the folks who are living the dream.</div><div style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #351c75;">Peter Mayle’s A YEAR IN PROVENCE and Frances Mayes’ UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN are two such books. In these, we watch the British Mayle and the American Mayes (with their very similar names!) as they renovate fabulous houses with seemingly unlimited funds. Here, too, we see them prepare the local foods of the season, and discover the bounty of the land.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQzc89CMm_rOVZwV-Sw46IbvPehNaX6UmCPyUwgSf27kEbYFTUWv2F5EhP7c1xvUh89Gxf2ncz2iiXVcT1y9RgvZeGO4YsHCCGeOtyorwWcTT_TiwpoGNAIFNseNInXU0_3ErpupBxoS4/s1600/Under+the+Tuscan+Sun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQzc89CMm_rOVZwV-Sw46IbvPehNaX6UmCPyUwgSf27kEbYFTUWv2F5EhP7c1xvUh89Gxf2ncz2iiXVcT1y9RgvZeGO4YsHCCGeOtyorwWcTT_TiwpoGNAIFNseNInXU0_3ErpupBxoS4/s1600/Under+the+Tuscan+Sun.jpg" /></a></div><br />
These are books you can dip into, reading a passage here and there, now and then. And sometimes, you’re rewarded with an unforgettable description of the connection between food and nature and the life cycle, as in this excerpt from UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN:<br />
<blockquote><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: small;">“The fig flower is inside the fruit. To pull one open is to look into a complex, primitive, infinitely sophisticated life cycle…. Fig pollination takes place through an interaction with a particular kind of wasp about 1/8 of an inch long. The female bores into the developing flower inside the fig. Once in, she delves with her…needle nose, into the female flower’s ovary, depositing her own eggs. If she can’t reach the ovary, she still fertilizes the fig flower with the pollen she collected from her travels. Either way, one half of this symbiotic system is served – the wasp larvae develop if she has left her eggs, or the pollinated fig flower produces seed. If reincarnation is true, let me not come back as a fig wasp. If the female can’t find a suitable nest for her eggs, she usually dies of exhaustion inside the fig. If she can, the wasps hatch inside the fig and all the males are born without wings. Their sole, brief function is sex. They get up and fertilize the females, then help them tunnel out of the fruit. Then they die. Is this appetizing, to know that however luscious figs taste, each one is actually a little graveyard of wingless male wasps? Or maybe the sensuality of the fruit comes from some flavor they dissolve into after short, sweet lives.”</span></div></blockquote><div style="color: #351c75;">It’s fig season: enjoy them!</div>Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-39716511131215284042011-09-14T22:33:00.013-04:002011-09-15T00:50:12.317-04:00AuctionsNot so long ago, it was advantageous to attend an auction in order to do well at it. Only then could you get the best price; could you watch the other bidders and decide whether you could compete with them or not; could you see an opportunity and jump in to grab a bargain. <br />
<br />
Not so long ago, if you stayed at the auction to the very end – long after others in the room had spent their allotted funds or gotten what they wanted – you often found that there were so few left in the “competition” that you were able to win many prizes on a small budget.<br />
<br />
Not so long ago, knowledge could mean the difference between success and failure. Once, for example, as the only ones at an auction who could read German, we scored a fabulous book which no one else in the room could know was fabulous!<br />
<br />
Not so long ago, happy chance could mean the difference between victory and defeat, between a bargain and paying top dollar. At one auction, somehow, the other bidders didn’t make the connection that Henry George Wells was H.G. Wells, so I was able to walk off with a manuscript for half of what I’d expected to pay.<br />
<br />
Not so long ago, attending an auction was like participating in an interactive-theatrical event, with the excitement and the anticipation and the unexpected all unfolding as part of a drama.<br />
<br />
No longer.<br />
<br />
At a big New York City auction yesterday, I felt that “not so long ago” was <i>very</i> long ago, indeed, and that everything I’d known about auctions was no longer true.<br />
<br />
Now, everyone in the room knows everything: if they hadn’t already “googled” it, they are busy on their “smart phones” getting the information then and there.<br />
<br />
Now, you have huge numbers of invisible bidders from all over the world bidding against you, not just by phone, but also via the Internet! <br />
<br />
Now, you can’t see most of your competitors, so you don’t know whether they are knowledgeable bidders or just rich folk who are used to getting whatever they want at whatever the price; you don’t know whether they’re bidding from Paris or from around the corner; you don’t know whether they’re buying for resale or for themselves.<br />
<br />
Now, there is no advantage – none! – to being in the auction room, as the internet bidders have become the preferred ones. <br />
<br />
Yesterday’s auction was held up several times – once for about 40 minutes! – in order to accommodate a slow or failing internet feed. When the bidders in the room grumbled about this, we were admonished by the auctioneer that these were “serious” bidders and that the “house” just “couldn’t go on without them.” Someone shouted, “We’re serious bidders, too.” But all that got for us were some pastries, as we continued to wait….<br />
<br />
Over and over again, the internet bidders were given preference over the bidders in the room. Whereas we in the room were pressured into making quick and sometimes hasty decisions –<br />
<br />
“Fair Warning: Going Once, Twice, Sold” – <br />
<br />
the Internet bidders were told, <br />
<br />
“Fair Warning: Going Once ………….. Going Twice…………. Are you sure?……………. Fair Warning: Going Once………. Going Twice………” <br />
<br />
You get the picture.<br />
<br />
The prices were incredibly, sometimes laughably high, and the “professionals” in the room kept shaking their heads in amazement. (And aren’t we in a recession? Aren’t we supposed to be getting these things for a song now?)<br />
<br />
The internet bidders seemed to have limited knowledge and unlimited funds. And the bidders in the room served the auction house well by bidding up items before dropping out and leaving the field to the internet ones; then we [with our pastries] got to listen silently as these invisible bidders bid against one another: Fair Warning: Going Once……….. Going Twice……….. Are you sure….?<br />
<br />
Not surprisingly, the only items that sold for amounts below their estimates were the ones on which no one in the room bid against their internet competitors. Loud complaints were expressed as the people in the room made their way out the door at the auction’s end.<br />
<br />
I was hot and tired and disappointed, but I’d always chided myself for not attending these auctions, and now I’d learned an important lesson: I don’t have to take a 3-hour trip into Manhattan; I don’t have to deal with the traffic and the noise and the heat of the city; I don’t have to worry about finding a cab or getting a good seat at the auction. <br />
<br />
Instead of being in the auction house and bidding up the prices for them, I can claim the internet bidder’s advantage and do it all from the comfort of my living room. And I will. <br />
<br />
Fair Warning.Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-50693966614352022822011-09-06T14:18:00.020-04:002012-03-14T17:58:25.706-04:00“Live in HD” versus “Live at the Met”<style>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I'd never been an opera-lover, but I love the Metropolitan Opera's <a href="http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/liveinhd/LiveinHD.aspx">Live in HD</a> broadcasts, and it has increasingly made more of an opera fan of me. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The operas are broadcast at the same time as they are being performed, so they’re seen “live” all over the world: what a Massachusetts audience sees at 1:00 PM, an Arizona audience sees at 11:00 AM, a California audience at 10:00 AM – and so on, in all parts of the country and all over the globe. It’s exciting to know that others are watching the same event with you, at the very same moment, no matter the time zone. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And in the comfort of your seat and the murmur of the people around you, you can almost feel as though you're an actual part of the same audience that you watch trickle into the Met; it can feel a bit like they’re joining you in <i>your</i> theater; and that the huge chandelier is hanging over <i>your</i> head, as well: the very expression of a theater-goers “willing suspension of disbelief!”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But as the hosts on screen keep reminding us, “There’s nothing like actually being to a performance at the <a href="http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/">Met</a>” – and, of course, that’s true. The acoustics are better at the Met, and therefore, the sound; certainly, the glorious music and those magnificent voices deserve that. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And the excitement of entering that huge and opulent theater cannot be matched by that of even the loveliest local movie theater; or even by watching on the giant screen at <a href="http://www.timessquarenyc.org/">Times Square</a> – though I’m sure there’s quite a feeling of excitement there, too! </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Grand Opera deserves a grand space, and the Met certainly is that!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But in that grand, huge space, it’s often very difficult – if not impossible! – to see the facial expressions of the performers; to see the cut of the jewels; the opulent velvets and silks and lace; to see how hard the performers work – to see them sweat! In the <a href="http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/liveinhd/LiveinHD.aspx">Live in HD</a> broadcasts, however, you do get to see all of that. Occasionally, the camera focuses on individual members of the chorus and of the musicians in the pit: these performers are plucked out of their seemingly homogenous crowd, and are suddenly unique members of the cast in a way that cannot be experienced in the Met. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I like this – and I don’t. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">At the Met, you can see the entire stage at all times, so in a very real sense, you become the “editor” of the action, as you decide where you will look, who you will concentrate on. In the broadcasts, the choices are made for you, and sometimes those choices leave me dissatisfied. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Nevertheless, I prefer the HD broadcasts because of the “extras” that the HD audience enjoys and which the opera house audience does not get to see.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">While the members of the audience at the Met go for a stretch or sit restlessly in their seats, we at the movie theaters get to go behind the scenes. We enjoy interviews with performers, directors, conductors, set and lighting designers – even animal trainers! – and I find those enormously interesting – especially when it’s a conductor’s or a performer’s first time at the Met. Their excitement is contagious! Often enough, the comments they make during these interviews – their interpretations of the roles, their enthusiasm – serve to intensify one’s pleasure in what is to come. And you find yourself rooting for them!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But the “extra” I like best is that during intermissions, we get to watch the crew change the sets behind that closed curtain: and that is a simply wondrous, remarkable experience. Entirely new worlds are created in 20 minutes; and you're on pins and needles, never believing that they'll manage it! I think it's worth the cost of admission just to see <i>that</i>! </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Of course, opera's vary in the complexity of the sets, so some are more interesting than others. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.metoperafamily.org/MET_PLAYER/catalog/search/results/index.aspx?keyword=simon+boccanegra">SIMON BOCCANEGRA</a> is a case in point. This opera personifies what opera is all about: grand passions, timeless themes, extraordinarily sumptuous sets and costumes – and it’s a real tearjerker, too! The sets for this production were staggeringly lavish, complex and diverse. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There were over 130 workmen (yes, all men!) changing the sets. One set was "rolled" onto the stage – with performers already in their places! – while others were built before our eyes. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">With hammers and nails, fabric and boards, a concrete-and-stone street with dark alleys and brooding gray-stone buildings was turned into a lusciously landscaped walled garden with a honey-colored "cottage" and gazebo; the garden and its walls were then turned into a palace throne room, complete with elaborately inlaid marble floors, heavily carved wood-paneled walls, and ornately painted frescoed ceilings...! </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">You watch, and you just can't believe your eyes! Some men hammer “grass” cloth onto the “stone” floor, while others make sure that there are no bumps, no snags, nothing that might make a performer trip and fall. These are experts in their field, and despite their speed, they pay attention to the smallest details.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And all the while, on the lower right-hand corner of the screen, you watch the 20 minutes count down by seconds: at 7 minutes to go, you just don't believe it's possible, and you sit in anxious suspense. 6, 5, 4…. At 3 minutes to go, back stage is still bustling with activity. And at 1 minute, they’re gone! </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Poof! The music begins, the curtains open….</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This is itself a perfectly choreographed “performance.” It is theater. It is deserving of standing ovations. And it is thrilling to see! </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I think that the <a href="http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/%20">Metropolitan Opera</a> is best for <i>opera</i> lovers; and that the <a href="http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/liveinhd/LiveinHD.aspx">Live in HD</a> broadcasts are perfect for <i>theater</i> lovers. Take your pick – or pick them both! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This season’s <a href="http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast/hd_events_next.aspx">tickets</a> are on sale now.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfBY4H4uVMvnhkyGyWIlJGnvokDV8tzP0PGGoHcgGV4Qri1b6XkFObmWmZYQoGDFFumX8WBKTTZqdKBBARXHYsKkUI79HF5ZiVLqlfhcHLY1RmJHtaadiUoRAtYZU4GLDbhEK4FzgxyoA/s1600/Street+Scene.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfBY4H4uVMvnhkyGyWIlJGnvokDV8tzP0PGGoHcgGV4Qri1b6XkFObmWmZYQoGDFFumX8WBKTTZqdKBBARXHYsKkUI79HF5ZiVLqlfhcHLY1RmJHtaadiUoRAtYZU4GLDbhEK4FzgxyoA/s320/Street+Scene.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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</div>Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-4283574270437232282011-08-27T15:41:00.014-04:002011-08-28T02:28:13.593-04:00A 2011 Harlequin RomanceI wish I could take credit for writing this, but it was sent to me by my friend George – who claims that he never reads! But he enjoyed reading <i>this</i> and enjoyed sharing it with his friends, and I’m going to do the same.<br />
<br />
We don’t know who wrote this, but those of you who read or know of Harlequin Romances will recognize the style immediately; and it’s a perfect rendering -- or, as I like to say, "It's spot on."<br />
<br />
So, on this day when so many of us are worrying about Hurricane Irene, I'm sending you some comic relief....<br />
<br />
If you’ve read this before, I hope you enjoy it again.<br />
<br />
Caution: Like all Harlequin Romances, this is Rated X !<br />
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<br />
A 2011 Harlequin Romance<br />
<br />
He grasped me firmly, but gently, just above my elbow, and guided me into a room.<br />
His room.<br />
<br />
Then he quietly shut the door and we were alone.<br />
<br />
He approached me soundlessly, from behind, and spoke close to my ear in a low, reassuring voice.<br />
<br />
“Just relax,” he said.<br />
<br />
Without warning, he reached down and I felt his strong, calloused hands start at my ankles, gently probing, and moving upward along my calves, slowly but steadily.<br />
<br />
My breath caught in my throat.<br />
<br />
I knew I should be afraid, but somehow, I didn’t care. His touch was so experienced, so sure.<br />
<br />
When his hands moved onto my thighs, I gave a slight shudder and I partly closed my eyes.<br />
<br />
My pulse was pounding.<br />
<br />
I felt his knowing fingers caress my abdomen, my ribcage, my firm, full breasts. I inhaled sharply.<br />
<br />
Probing, searching, knowing what he wanted, he brought his hands to my shoulders, slid them down my tingling spine and into __________ [fill in the blank].<br />
<br />
Although I knew nothing about this man, I felt oddly trusting and expectant.<br />
<br />
“This is a man.” I thought. “A man not used to taking ‘No’ for an answer. This is a man who would tell me what he wanted, a man who would look into my eyes and say….<br />
<br />
“Okay Ma’am; you can board your flight now.”<br />
<br />
THE ENDFarshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-13519429890156703792011-08-21T01:08:00.001-04:002012-08-18T01:31:28.936-04:00Jude Law as HAMLET <style>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #351c75;">As much as I hate to agree with Tolstoy (see:</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://booksfilmtheater.blogspot.com/2011/08/would-you-believe-war-and-peace_1181.html" target="_blank">Would you believe,WAR AND PEACE?), HAMLET</a> <span style="color: #351c75;">has never been one of my favorite plays.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I’ve seen innumerable productions, both live and on film, including a memorable one at Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, MA, in which a real mother-and-son duo played Gertrude and Hamlet – thus bringing to the fore the incestuous nature of that relationship, which more typically hovers a bit below the main action....</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I always find HAMLET one of the most frustrating of plays:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Is he or isn’t he?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Should he or shouldn’t he?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Will he or won’t he?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Does he or doesn’t he?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Well, he finally does – but rather too late, I think; as during the interim before he finally does, it causes a lot of unnecessary fall-out, including the deaths of innocents. (Today we might call it “collateral damage….”) </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">But I’m always eager for an excuse to go to Manhattan, so I thought that a star-turn by a movie actor trying his hand at HAMLET was excuse enough.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #351c75; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkkdVieGu34LV2_JlyVSZHKFJn72dp9os2x2Q0dUmdW_nKmmQYXVWApnL0vcMVb7QC_3Uj9qTrrejXQ_wwPtKt-ON_OZa9T7NQLRHwV6jjMvQwVjArgWmeYeD3qW37kQ5_FIkEyKitYN4/s1600/Jude+Law.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkkdVieGu34LV2_JlyVSZHKFJn72dp9os2x2Q0dUmdW_nKmmQYXVWApnL0vcMVb7QC_3Uj9qTrrejXQ_wwPtKt-ON_OZa9T7NQLRHwV6jjMvQwVjArgWmeYeD3qW37kQ5_FIkEyKitYN4/s400/Jude+Law.png" width="260" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The play was in a fairly small theater which made it easy to see the actors’ faces, but I think the sets – mainly a dark bare stage with an occasional huge door or wall and the like – took away from the potential intimacy that this small theater afforded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span></span>On a grand scale, too, were the white lighting effects that swirled over the stage from time to time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This lighting, along with a dramatic musical accompaniment that foreshadowed the action – much as in a film – were a bit jarring.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I wasn’t crazy about the costumes either, as it was all “modern” dress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most wore black:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>black leather bomber-jackets, tight black jeans, gray tee shirts, and the like.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I guess with the costumes, sets and lighting, the director was trying to make this a “current” tale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Hamlet is just like us.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I don’t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">think </i>so…!)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In any case, it didn’t work for me – but then, I’m a sucker for costume dramas, so I may be a bit biased here.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The acting, however, was very, very good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some actors played several parts, and they so disappeared into their characters that you often didn’t notice that it was the same actor until you looked at the Playbill.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">And Jude Law was brilliant:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the best Hamlet I’d ever seen.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">His performance was very athletic, very physical – no moody Dane he!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This Hamlet was bristling with a kinetic, manic energy; and he seemed ready to burst, to explode!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One felt that from the first, he <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">knew</i> what he had to do; that from the first, he had decided to murder his father’s murderer – despite that this murderer was Claudius, his uncle and now stepfather.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Throughout the play, it felt as though only the force of will <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">prevented</i> Hamlet from doing what he knew must be done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How can he make a widow of his mother yet again?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How can he kill Claudius while he was engaged in prayer and thereby send the murderer’s soul straight to heaven?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The questions for this Hamlet – using the very same words as every other Hamlet! – seemed never to be “should I” or “could I,” but only “how to” and “when to.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">And in his delivery, Law also managed to find a tongue-in-cheek humor that really did make this Hamlet seem more “human” than most; and which also helped illuminate some of the self-deprecating undercurrents in the character’s thoughts.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">But most memorable was the sheer physicality of Jude law’s performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was all over the stage:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>sometimes flying like a dancer; sometimes squatting heavily on the floor as if to control himself, as if to hold himself back, hold himself down….</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">His hands, too:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>like a dancer’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every muscle, every movement, every gesture, told us something about this loving but tormented man.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I loved this HAMLET – all 3 & ½ hours of it!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Bravo, Jude Law.</span></div>Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682258371328940459.post-64434066005828461212011-08-15T03:43:00.020-04:002011-11-17T07:21:40.801-05:00Would you believe, WAR AND PEACE ?The question I was always asked when I said that I was reading WAR AND PEACE was, "Why?" And I think that's a most excellent question: why, indeed? <br />
<br />
Well, it's a book one is "supposed" to read; yet I never had. (We students would like to say, "We read <i>in</i> it, but we did not read <i>it</i>…”);<br />
<br />
I loved the film, THE LAST STATION, about the sort-of cult that based itself on Tolstoy's writing, and wanted to read one of the books that prompted this; <br />
<br />
I wanted to better understand why the Communists never banned the writings of “Count” Tolstoy; and<br />
<br />
I read in Hemingway's A MOVABLE FEAST that he'd considered it a great book; and as its style is so different from Hemingway's own, I wanted to see if I could figure out why. <br />
<br />
So now, 3973 pages later, I'm going to try to answer these questions!<br />
<br />
Let me begin by saying that I don’t think of WAR AND PEACE as a novel at all; and in that, I'm in good company, for Tolstoy himself didn’t think it was a novel and claimed that ANNA KARENINA was his first.<br />
<br />
In fact, the romantic stories of Natasha and Andrei and Pierre and Helene seem mere adornments to the book, an excuse to describe battles and to pontificate on philosophy: they are not "real" people, but mere personifications of Tolstoy’s philosophies. And he does not care about them, hastily discarding them once he has laboriously made his point.<br />
<br />
From the very beginning of the book, you know that to whomever else Natasha and Pierre may be engaged or married, they will wind up together: and they do. <br />
<br />
Pierre is in an unhappy marriage with the beautiful and much-admired, flirtatious Helene, and it is this unhappiness that leads him to wander about, ostensibly to learn the meaning of life. <br />
<br />
To that end, he joins various religious groups; tries social experiments on his serfs; engages in war; and “enjoys” heroism and poverty. And just as he finishes his "journey" by deciding that the purpose of life is to live it (!) he finds out that Helene has died. Suddenly. Without reason. In one passing sentence. <br />
<br />
This is not a novel...<br />
<br />
If anything, it is a political and philosophical tract - and a needlessly long one at that! <br />
<br />
On the political side, it stands firmly against war and authority of any kind: neither kings nor generals nor organized religion have his respect. The best that he can say of them is that they are the products of circumstance; and often enough, he treats them with contempt. <br />
<br />
To illustrate these points, he spends many hundreds of pages describing in detail the battles fought between the Russians and the armies of Napoleon. The difference between victory and defeat is invariably attributed to the “chance” emotions and determination of the fighting forces: those foot soldiers on both sides who serve mainly as cannon fodder.<br />
<br />
People like Napoleon and Emperor Alexander are described as vain and often stupid; and that the “brilliance” attributed to them had been written with hindsight and remains dependent on which historian is doing the describing...<br />
<br />
A church of any kind is no better, as it also tries to exert authority over “the people,” while Tolstoy makes clear that the people need to be free, and should listen only to God. (Although God is also an “authority," Tolstoy nevertheless seems to see no contradiction here.)<br />
<br />
This, of course, is the philosophical side of the book. Told in more hundreds of pages, Tolstoy espouses his belief that “the people” should live lives free from all those in authority; and that in any case, it is they – and not the Napoleons of the world – who cause the flow of events which we refer to as “history.”<br />
<br />
Here – as throughout the book – Tolstoy explains, explains, explains as though he’s giving a geometry lesson: if this happens, then that must happen; if this is the cause, then what came before was the cause of the cause. And he does this over and over again — until he finally decides that we can’t really explain <i>anything</i> that happens because we are unable to go back far enough in our study of causes! Surely, he might have done better than that...!<br />
<br />
Now to the questions with which I began:<br />
<br />
Of course the Communists liked Count Tolstoy: he was for ‘people-power’ – and the fact that they became the “Rulers” Tolstoy despised was easily ignored by them. Worse still, the cult of “equality” and self-abnegation which centered around Tolstoy ultimately played into the hands of Communist leaders.<br />
<br />
As for Hemingway: Tolstoy here displays one of Hemingway’s favorite motifs, that of “grace under pressure.” <br />
<br />
Andrei, for example, was a selfish man, ever bored and filled with discontent; then, by experiencing emotional and physical pain and by facing death, he is transformed into a loving, kind and soulful man. <br />
<br />
Pierre, too, is transformed by the difficulties he experienced and becomes more self-assured. He is even physically transformed: from a fat, hard-drinking oaf, to a charming and thin man who looks like…well, like Henry Fonda in the film, WAR AND PEACE!<br />
<br />
But the writing! Again and again, Tolstoy shows us how people - hundreds of people! - think and act; and then he <i>explains</i> it to us! There is no nuance – and no expectation that we might be able to interpret a person’s emotions, a leader’s behavior, the tragedy of a burned and looted city – on our own. Everything is explained in minute detail, as if to a child. <br />
<br />
Compare Tolstoy to Dickens. Dickens shows us the lives of individuals – even if some are drawn as caricatures – and we are allowed to draw our own conclusions about them, and about the reforms necessary to improve life in the England of his day.<br />
<br />
Or compare him to Shakespeare.... <br />
<br />
Tolstoy <i>hated</i> Shakespeare, and had this to say of him:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">“I remember the astonishment I felt when I first read Shakespeare. I expected to receive a powerful aesthetic pleasure, but having read, one after the other, works regarded as his best: KING LEAR, ROMEO AND JULIET, HAMLET and MACBETH, not only did I feel no delight, but I felt an irresistible repulsion and tedium…[and am] of firm, indubitable conviction that the unquestionable glory of a great genius which Shakespeare enjoys, and which compels writers of our time to imitate him and readers and spectators to discover in him non-existent merits…is a great evil, as is every untruth.”</blockquote>For me, when I substitute the name “Tolstoy” wherever the name “Shakespeare” was used or implied, I find that it describes exactly how I feel about Tolstoy and <i>his</i> writing…!<br />
<br />
So: Tolstoy said it for me perfectly....Farshaw@FineOldBooks.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663199582891083995noreply@blogger.com15