Salmuel L Clemens as a book critic

It comes as no surprise to me that Mr. Clemens would have decided opinions on the writings of others. Anyone who has read beyond Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer would be aware that he was a man of far ranging interests and concerns. NYT has an article about the discovery of marginal notes in books from his personal library donated to the Redding Connecticut Library.
"In honor of the centennial of his death on April 21, the library granted The New York Times permission to examine this trove of books and record notes and markings Twain left behind in their margins."
Since the books were in circulation for much of their existence, and the library collection was culled of slower moving items at times (as all library collections are), there are not a large number of the Clemens/Twain volumes left.

Kipling family Jungle Book found

In the process of cataloging the holdings at Wimpole Hall, the home of Kipling's daughter Elsie from 1938 to 1976, a copy of the Jungle Book given to Josephine Kipling was found. BBC news story here

The Death and Life of Great American Cities

I would have thought that I would have read this book long ago, but I'm getting around to it now. Although Jane Jacobs makes it very clear from the start that she is talking about large, great cities; that her ideas won't be the right prescription for small towns and even small cities, from what I've read so far I think there is something to be gained.

Activity is the key to safe, viable areas. There needs to be a variety of uses and a steady stream of occupants for much of the daytime. There needs to be a reason to be there. All of this is applicable to creating any public space in my opinion. A space established with only one purpose and no supporting destinations to feed it is destined to be a underused space, or a mis-used space.

William Faulkner influenced by authentic plantation diary

New York Times has a story today on the Leak family Mississippi Plantation diaries that were read by a friend of the family, William Faulkner. Evidently the diaries have been readily available and used for much research into antebellum life of the south, but the link to Faulkner had not been realized. Story here

John Bower Books at Words and Images

Words and images is now carrying the 6 books of Indiana photography published by John Bower. John and his wife travel the roads of the state, looking for the unique images that define places. Each book has a theme, beginning with his original work documenting the second story of many old buildings--the one that didn't get re-muddled over the years.
John is a member of the Indiana Artisan Project.

Reading a book a day!?!?!

I just cannot imagine setting this type of goal. I manage to get to many books during a year, but I can't even say I finish one a week. Right now I'm working on HG:The History of Mr. Wells. I never realized just how many books he wrote. I've been a fan of his History of the World for years.

NYT article

A Quest to Read a Book a Day for 365 Days

Lists of books

Yesterday I happened across one of those lists of books you should have read on a friend's FaceBook page. It was from the BBC and the remark was that most people had only read about 6 of the 100 listed. Another person in my office did some further research and it seems that the list was distilled from a list of 200 books nominated as favorites to BBC in the spring of 2003 as part of the Big Read project. As part of the rabbit trailing that has occurred in following this train of thought I came across a list of 110 books that the Telegraph in UK suggests as the perfect library.
That list is here.

Another Article on the Return to 100 Aker Woods

There's a new character in the gang, Lottie the Otter.
Felicia Lee in NYT discusses sequels and anticipation of the release

A New Pooh Story!

Return to the Hundred Aker Woods

Hot, Flat and Crowded

Finished Friedman's Hot, Flat and Crowded this weekend. Although he subscribes to the viewpoint that we have just enough time, starting now, to fix things; I can't help but be depressed at the prospects ahead.

A New Day at The National Endowment?

Rocco Landesman has been confirmed as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. While he is poised to make the case that the arts are drivers in community and economic development....
From the NYT story of August 8th...
The new chairman said he already has a new slogan for his agency: “Art Works.” It’s “something muscular that says, ‘We matter.’ ” The words are meant to highlight both art’s role as an economic driver and the fact that people who work in the arts are themselves a critical part of the economy.
“Someone who works in the arts is every bit as gainfully employed as someone who works in an auto plant or a steel mill,” Mr. Landesman said. “We’re going to make the point till people are tired of hearing it.”
However he is also indicating that the dispersion of funding throughout the nation will not be a guiding principle, but rather the support of perceived excellence. Which raises the question, how does the level of expertise improve without support?

Weird Indiana now in stock

We now have Weird Indiana in stock at Words and Images/The Train Place. As well as Weird Ohio, Weird Kentucky, and Weird Illinois.

Nicholas Kristof's Kids Summer Reading List

From his concerns with the state of American education, Nicholas Kristof offers a summer reading list to help your children staunch the loss of IQ points. I was excited to see Freddy the Pig on the list, an old favorite of mine.

I, of course, would offer up The Hobbit and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

His editorial is here, with links to his blog--where readers have been offering up other suggestions.

Indiana Authors Awards

Released this week is information about the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award.

From: Ray E. Boomhower [rboomhower@indianahistory.org

]
Sent: Thursday, July 02, 2009
Subject: Indiana Author Award finalists announced

The inaugural Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award recipient has been named. Indiana native James Alexander Thom was chosen as the national recipient, and finalists in all categories were named this week by the Award Panel. The winning author in the regional and emerging author categories will each be named on September 26 among the finalists.

This new award seeks to recognize the contributions of Indiana authors to the literary landscape in Indiana and across the nation by the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Foundation, and is funded by the generosity of The Glick Fund, a fund of Central Indiana Community Foundation.

Nominations were submitted from across the state in early spring. Any published writer who was born in Indiana or has lived in Indiana for at least five years was eligible. A seven-member, statewide Award Panel selected the national winner and finalists in three categories from the pool of publicly nominated authors:

* National Author - $10,000 prize: a writer with Indiana ties, but whose work is known and read throughout the country. National authors were evaluated on their entire body of work. Winner: James Alexander Thom; Finalists: Scott Russell Sanders and Margaret McMullan

* Regional Author - $7,500 prize: A writer who is well-known and respected throughout the state of Indiana. Regional authors were evaluated on their entire body of work. Finalists: Jared Carter, James H. Madison and Susan Neville

* Emerging Author - $5,000 prize: A writer with only one published book. Emerging authors were evaluated on their single published work. Finalists: Kathleen Hughes, Christine Montross and Greg Schwipps

"This is a rare and heart-lifting pleasure," said James Alexander Thom. "I can only compare it with that first call I ever got from an editor, so long ago, saying, 'We love your story and we want to publish it.' I am grateful that Eugene and Marilyn Glick honored the storytelling art highly enough to applaud it in such a grand and generous way, and I look forward to applauding those whose work will be so acknowledged in the years to come."

Award finalists in all three categories will be honored on September 26, 2009 at the Central Library in downtown Indianapolis. The day's events will include free public programming such as author lectures, "how to get published" workshops for aspiring writers, and more. An award dinner/fund raiser benefiting the Library Foundation will follow that evening where the winner of the Regional Author and Emerging Author categories will each be named. Thom will serve as the dinner's keynote speaker. Ticket information for the award dinner is available by contacting the Library Foundation at (317) 275-4700 or by visiting www.indianaauthorsaward.org.

Ray Bradbury believes in libraries

Story in Saturday's New York Times about Ray Bradbury's help with a threatened library in California. It seems Mr. Bradbury is a fan of George Bernard Shaw.

Redwall Abbey

I had no idea how far behind I'd gotten on the Redwall Books. I happened to go looking for a Jasper Fforde that I realized I'd missed, and to make the $25 minimum for a free delivery checked on Brian Jacques. There have been three published in the last couple of years that I'm sure I didn't have!

Federal Funding Good News

At the federal level we're seeing progress in realizing the importance of the arts and humanities to the economy and the life of communities, through the improvement in levels of support for both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

New York Time story here

Letterpress in Forbes

Forbes Magazine has an article in the June 8 issue about the revival of artisan letterpress operations.

Forbes online

Where the Wild Things Are

I have to mark my calendar! Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are is being brought to the screen by Spike Jonze. Scheduled for an October release, evidently there are issues brewing within the studio.

Advertising Age article here

Another Independent Bookstore Closes

Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher writes of the imminent closing of Vertigo Books. An interesting part of the commentary the owners provided in a letter to their customers points out the ramifications of local business a little more clearly than most.

"As Warren and Stewart put it: "Your shopping dollars help create the community you want to live in. . . . The money you spend with locally-owned businesses continues to circulate as we pay employees, buy supplies and pay taxes that are used to provide basic services to residents."

Amazon and other online booksellers have an unfair advantage because they still don't charge sales tax.."

And it is worth noting that not only do ecommerce sites not pay local sales taxes; they don't pay local real estate taxes, they don't employ local people, they don't buy groceries locally, they don't shop locally, in short, they don't support the local economy in any way.