tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-110054802024-03-12T21:58:33.098-04:00Metamora BooksWhat we're reading and doing these days at Words & Images in Metamora, IndianaBookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.comBlogger119125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-42614302035372480172016-05-16T09:22:00.000-04:002016-05-16T09:22:59.752-04:00The Art of the Name: Charles DickensOne of everyone's favorite novelists, whether recognized or not (how many times have you intoned "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times"?) created a vast array of characters peopling his universe. The linked article suggests that names are not quite so creative these days--I would suggest the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchitt as worthy successors to the tradition.<br />
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<span><a href="http://daily.jstor.org/charles-dickens-minor-characters/" target="_blank">Charles Dickens and the Linguistic Art of the Minor Character</a></span>BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-21355619394995632962014-05-16T09:12:00.002-04:002014-05-16T09:12:23.113-04:00Mary Stewart was the author I grew up withJust saw the NYT story announcing the death of Mary Stewart on May 9th. My sister and I grew up reading her novels, repeatedly. I still own some of them. Nine Coaches Waiting was one of my favorites, and Madam, Will You Talk?. I may have to plan some rereading.<br />
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/16/books/mary-stewart-british-writer-who-spanned-genres-dies-at-97.html?emc=edit_th_20140516&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=28017628" target="_blank">NYT story</a>BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-88315790325753388172014-03-31T08:20:00.000-04:002014-03-31T08:20:02.815-04:00Mark Twain, SuperstarAnother feature on my favorite. <br />
<a href="http://www.salon.com/2014/03/22/how_mark_twain_became_mark_twain_the_amazing_story_of_the_lectures_that_made_him_a_superstar/" target="_blank">mark twain, lecturer</a><br />
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BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-65025971050932649262013-03-04T09:00:00.000-05:002013-03-04T09:00:21.293-05:00Rudyard Kipling PoetryIt seems there's a new collection of various verses from Rudyard Kipling that are going to be included in a new Cambridge edition being released this week. Now, one must wonder, given the prolific nature of Kipling's work--was there a reason these pieces were not published previously?<br />
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One group is described as being humorous verses that seem to have been composed on the fly to entertain his fellow passengers on a sea voyage. It is easy to imagine that the author never intended those to be among his "greatest works", but amusing they might be. <br />
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Sometimes the fact that we can find work that was not published prior may be subverting the author's own intentions concerning how his body of work was to be remembered.<br />
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<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/25/rudyard-kipling-poems-discovered">http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/25/rudyard-kipling-poems-discovered</a>BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-20932304873802514682012-11-02T09:27:00.000-04:002012-11-02T09:27:09.608-04:00Still Peter Rabbit, and his friendsThere is an interesting sounding exhibit these days, through Jan. 27 at the Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Avenue, at 36th Street; themorgan.org. of Beatrix Potter's letters to young friends. The premise is based on illustrated letters of that era, and includes some by others to demonstrate that there was a tradition of sketches along with the message. As well there is consideration given to some of the spinoffs of the Potter empire, including a board game. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/02/arts/design/beatrix-potter-the-picture-letters-at-the-morgan.html?pagewanted=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20121102&_r=0" target="_blank">NYT story here</a><br />
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This brings to mind the fact that the tale of Little Black Sambo was written as letters to the children back in England from their mother while she lived in India. And I believe that the Peter Pan stories were in some part begun as tales to entertain young friends. Small efforts that spun off to take on a life of their own once out of their creators' collective hands.BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-32543076145339025282012-10-11T08:47:00.002-04:002012-10-11T08:48:11.451-04:00Peter Rabbit Rides Again!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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NPR this morning aired an interview with Emma Thompson on her new book <em><u>The Further Tale of Peter Rabbit </u></em>, authrorized by whomever is controlling the Beatrix Potter interests these days. Peter takes a trip to the Scottish countryside. <a href="http://www.npr.org/2012/10/11/161708397/emma-thompson-revives-anarchist-peter-rabbit" target="_blank">NPR story online </a> BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-57560494581679593812012-10-02T11:23:00.000-04:002012-10-02T11:23:31.506-04:00SerializationIt seems the newest trend in E-books is serialization. <br />
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<a href="http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/e-books-expand-their-potential-with-serialized-fiction/" target="_blank">NYT Article</a><br />
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Now where have we seen this before???<br />
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Hummm.... let's see<br />
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Dickens and Trollope published in serial form in magazines, to boost circulation. <br />
Some things just never really change, but to some people they seem shiny and brand new.BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-55248829132355182672012-08-13T08:55:00.002-04:002012-08-13T08:55:45.838-04:00Larry McMurty has stock reduction auctionLarry McMurty has decided that his store, Booked Up, doesn't need the level of inventory that he has been running with. Primarily as a reduction in the legacy he is leaving his family, the plan is to reduce the business to one store in Archer City, TX. In the recent New York Times article <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/13/books/larry-mcmurtrys-book-auction-in-texas.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120813" target="_blank">HERE </a> the usual tropes of online selling and the demise of the physical book are visited. <br />
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The bright spot is that some of the buyers at the auction are aspiring new used book store proprietors.BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-64858029559229626132012-02-05T12:08:00.003-05:002012-02-05T12:11:54.884-05:00She's not Jane AustenSince we're long time Jane Austen fans, my sister gave me Death Comes to Pemberly as a Christmas gift. P.D. James is certainly not Jane Austen, in any way that I can see. This turned into one of those books that I just kept reading to see how she was going to resolve things, not because I thought it was a great read. And I can't say that her resolution was particularly satisfying.BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-69597361799545617122011-12-13T09:57:00.004-05:002011-12-13T10:03:13.002-05:00The Amazon PloyLet's see. How can we get other people to do the heavy lifting, and then swoop in and take the sale? Let's give people money for doing their research in someone's store, and then buying from us online! What could be the problem? <div><br /></div><div>Amazon strikes again! While the bricks and mortar stores in your town support the local economy and invest in the local community, Amazon just wants your money--thank you very much. Let us hope that you never need to buy something, right now, right here, in your hands immediately, after all the stores on your Main Street have been driven out of business.</div><div><br /></div><div>Richard Russo discusses Amazon's latest move in the New York Times, read his column <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/opinion/amazons-jungle-logic.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=thab1">here</a></div>BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-89915185501703500732011-11-16T09:12:00.003-05:002011-11-16T09:16:24.143-05:00Nashville Tennessee gets a bookstoreNYT today has a story about Ann Patchett partnering to open an independent bookstore in Nashville. The store is named Parnassus, purportedly in honor of the Greek site. It appears that Ms Pratchett and her partner Ms Hayes are either woefully oblivious to the Parnassus bookstore of Christopher Morley's novels, or coyly not making that reference obvious. <div><br /></div><div>Story<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/us/ann-patchett-bucks-bookstore-tide-opening-her-own.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha28"> here</a></div>BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-27970624639943654052011-10-03T09:27:00.003-04:002011-10-03T09:30:01.213-04:00Hooray for Maurice SendakMaurice Sendak has written a new book, but he doesn't care what you think and he may never write another. Who knows? What he does want to do at this stage of his life is read. <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/maurice-sendak-at-83-a-portrait-of-the-author-as-a-cranky-old-man/article2177811/">Interview with him in the Globe and Mail </a><div><br /></div><div>"Oh, screw the world. Why should the dumb world know what I think?"</div><p><br /></p><!-- end of page 3 -->BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-41643806227010257472011-09-19T09:23:00.003-04:002011-09-19T09:28:39.325-04:00Beecher-Stowe Descendant finally reads THE BOOKNYT has a commentary by a descendant of Harriet Beecher Stowe in their Disunion section that is following the developments of the Civil War.<a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/great-aunt-hatties-little-book/"> link here</a>BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-9014675785903428222011-09-15T17:12:00.002-04:002011-09-15T17:14:30.567-04:00Very Cool Mark Twain ProjectA new CD to benefit the Mark Twain boyhood home in Hannibal is being released next week. <div><a href="http://www.prescriptionbluegrassblog.com/2011/09/new-cd-gives-life-to-mark-twains-words.html">http://www.prescriptionbluegrassblog.com/2011/09/new-cd-gives-life-to-mark-twains-words.html</a> As picked up from the prescription bluegrass blog.</div><div><br /></div><div>Stories by Twain with musical additions. I think Sam would have been proud.</div>BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-83814044735727386982011-08-11T08:26:00.005-04:002011-08-11T08:32:05.063-04:00Terry Pratchett and DeathDeath is a character in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, and he's also a reality that Terry finds the need to contemplate. Pratchett has early onset Alzheimer's. He has continued to work, "writing" his books by means of a computer voice to text program. But he realizes that his time of coherency is limited. Assisted death has become a cause that he advocates, traveling to Switzerland to be a part of a recent documentary on the process. This morning on NPR there was an interview with him aired, which will be available as an audio file on the site. <a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/139262401/discworlds-terry-pratchett-on-death-and-deciding">HERE</a><div>
<br /></div><div>As a reader who thoroughly enjoys the Discworld books, I anticipate the upcoming release of Snuff, but I regret the winding down of a creative spirit.</div>BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-22482733536656337522011-08-01T09:27:00.002-04:002011-08-01T09:30:57.101-04:00Faulkner Treasure TroveWilliam Faulkner was the writer in residence at the University of Virginia's Charlottesville campus for two terms beginning in 1957. UVa has 28 hours of tape of his readings, addresses and Q&A sessions available on line, plus transcriptions of the sessions to help where the audio is difficult. <a href="http://www.veryshortlist.com/vsl/daily.cfm/review/1923/Current_cinema/"> Story here</a>BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-24929059801249406002011-07-18T08:43:00.003-04:002011-07-18T08:49:41.534-04:00Austen Manuscript bought by BodleianA considerable portion of <b><i>The Watsons</i></b> in manuscript has been acquired at auction by the Bodleian Library. Jane Austen's last work, unfinished and unpublished in her lifetime shows many characteristics of her style. Beyond the subject matter of a family of women left in straitened circumstances by the death of the clergyman head of the family, such statements as:<div>"Female economy will do a great deal, my lord, but it cannot turn a small income into a large one." are noted as typical of Jane's wit. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jul/14/jane-austen-manuscript-the-watsons">Story in The Guardian.</a></div>BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-61160183105572323992011-07-15T08:33:00.002-04:002011-07-15T08:38:25.446-04:00Classic Pooh<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/15/business/media/disney-returns-to-the-original-winnie-the-pooh.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha25">Disney has decided to revert to "classic" Pooh.</a> Well, Duuuuh!<div><br /></div><div>Some things are just not meant to be slick and shiny, and Pooh and his friends fall squarely into that category. My family has had a long, long relationship with the gang from the 100 Aker Wood. My mother used Pooh as part of the curriculum in her elementary classroom long before he became a Disney standard. Each of the siblings in the family has a character. One brother is Tigger, one is Piglet, my sister is Kanga, and I'm Eeyore.</div>BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-49995465276255653572011-06-24T08:44:00.002-04:002011-06-24T08:46:39.828-04:00Mark Twain Gets a StampIt's about time. The 27th stamp in the Literary Series from the United States Postal Service honors the great American author Mark Twain on a "forever" stamp. Why it took 26 issues to get around to him I'll never understand.BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-66864695481339935322011-06-20T09:22:00.003-04:002011-06-20T09:31:48.257-04:00Uncle TomThere are many books in the canon of American Literature that most people are pretty sure that they know, even though they may never have read the book. Between children's versions, movies and other (read Cliff Notes) means; they have been exposed and have a fully formed opinion. A <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/opinion/14Reynolds.html?_r=1">recent article in NYT</a> points out that the common perception of Uncle Tom as a bungling, old stooped servent is not the character that Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote about. <div><br /></div><div>Because of the connections that various member of the Beecher-Stowe clan had in this area of Ohio/Kentucky/Indiana, associations with "Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly" are regularly cited for many locations. At least two different communities in two states claim the original of the crossing the river on the ice story, and in that era before dams and locks the Ohio River did freeze some winters. There was even a Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin published by the author because she had so many queries about her story.</div>BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-48077853892134028132011-06-17T13:33:00.002-04:002011-06-17T13:35:57.134-04:00Illustrator does visual interview<b>Shaun Tan</b> received the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award from Swedish Crown Princess Victoria during a ceremony in Stockholm on May 31.<div><br /></div><div>In an interview with Speigel he answers questions with drawings. How cool! page through the interview <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,769089-16,00.html">here</a></div>BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-88382191851041037052011-05-27T09:02:00.001-04:002011-05-27T09:05:19.595-04:00Cincinnati well readAccording to <a href="http://cincybibliophile.blogspot.com/2011/05/cincinnati-one-of-most-well-read-cities.html?showComment=1306501278896#c6127207632806291653">A Boy and His Books</a> there is an Amazon report out that lists Cincy in the top 20 of well-read cities in America.BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-68153455264674332752011-03-30T09:18:00.003-04:002011-03-30T09:25:20.549-04:00Gone with the WindToday's NYT has a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/books/gone-with-the-wind-chapters-get-pequot-library-display.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha28">story </a>about "missing" chapters of Gone With The Wind showing up in the collection of the Pequot Library in Connecticut--quite a ways from Atlanta. It seems that the president of Mitchell's publisher left it to the library along with other materials from his career at Macmillan. Mitchell had wanted the early drafts and all pre-publishing material destroyed because she had a conviction that books should only be judged as the final product, and it is not known how these chapters survived. It may have been oversight, it may have been deliberate, those involved are all beyond asking.<div>Also from that story, this June is the 75th anniversary of the publication. We'll have to make note of that at Words & Images.</div>BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-76100728220010700852011-03-28T16:08:00.002-04:002011-03-28T16:12:46.660-04:00Almost Three MonthsI've been delinquent. I have been reading, just not sharing.<div><br /></div><div>Right now I've started on the first of Trollope's Palliser novels, Can You Forgive Her? But there's been much running around going on, so progress is none to steady.</div><div><br /></div><div>At the shop I've read a couple of Mary Roberts Rinehart's mysteries and novels. I had a stash on a back shelf that I had forgotten.</div><div><br /></div><div>I visited Iris Book Cafe down in Cincinnati last week and picked up some nice Hardy Boys in dust jackets for shop inventory. It's getting tougher to find the older copies of the juvenile series books of that type. I'm really low in Nancy Drews right now.</div>BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11005480.post-62510856327397470192011-01-05T15:16:00.003-05:002011-01-05T15:32:50.161-05:00The Early DaysLately I seem to be concentrating on the early 19th century, particularly in the New York area. I started off with a history of the Erie Canal (<span style="font-style: italic;">Wedding of the Waters</span>), which included the political career of DeWitt Clinton. Then I read a recent biography of Aaron Burr ( a contemporary of Clinton's), <span style="font-style: italic;">The Fallen Founder</span>, which tries to debunk much of the "romantic" Burr myth, and suggests that he was a very normal politician of his times who was pigeonholed by his opponents. History is written by the winners, after all.<br />Now I'm on to a biography of Washington Irving--with a quick detour the past couple of days into reading <span style="font-style: italic;">Salmagundi</span> after I had read up to that point in his career. (Salmagundi was a short lived periodical of political and social commentary produced by Irving, a brother and a friend.)<br />Just today I ran into mention of a history of the ratification of the Constitution which I then ordered from Powells (one of the best sources I know of for books that might be out of print) along with some other work by the same author.<br />One reason for my interest is that the early to mid 19th century was the time when the United States was joining the Industrial Revolution and engaging in many Internal Improvements and the resultant politics needed to implement infrastructure projects. Our own Whitewater Canal in Metamora is a product of those efforts.BookLadyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07239632691963368681noreply@blogger.com0