The Green Room

Links

2011-02-02T20:28:00.000-08:00

Just popping in to post a couple of links I thought worth passing on.

Gender Gap on Wikipedia in the New York Times.

Funny facial hair photos.

Blogging break

2011-01-29T22:48:00.000-08:00

I've already unintentionally stopped blogging, having not posted in the last week, but now I'm going to make it official. I'm in the wrong headspace for blogging and for most reading, and a different part of the internet has captured my attention. I may still post occasionally, probably just links and maybe photos, reviews if I get round to reading anything. I'll not be actively blogging, though.

I'm still reading all the blogs I always read, and I'm still around, and hopefully I'll be back to the blog eventually.

Friday Ephemera #71

2011-01-21T08:30:00.000-08:00

Louise Brooks, the woman who supposedly popularized bobbed hair in the 1920s. I'm starting to think about my senior thesis this week, and this photo has a vague relation to it. Sorry, I can't remember where I found the photo.

Downton Abbey

2011-01-20T08:30:00.000-08:00

I've been watching Downton Abbey, the recent BBC miniseries that's now showing on PBS. We've had two episodes so far, out of four, and I'm quite enjoying the show.

In 1913, Hugh Bonneville is Lord Grantham, and when his two his two nearest heirs die, he's left when the question of whether to fight the entail of his estate. He has three daughters, but the estate is entailed on the male line, and the next male heir is a Manchester solicitor, resolutely middle class. The wonderful Maggie Smith is the dowager Lady Grantham, who, when someone mentions having to wait until the weekend, asks, "What is a weekend?" with perfect seriousness.

Like all the best stories about English country estates, there's as much drama downstairs as up. Mr. Bates is Lord Grantham's new valet, but he has a war injury which makes him unable to do some of the duties expected of him.

Period drama is nothing new for the BBC, but they do it so well we keep watching it. This is a great show no matter how many times this sort of story has been done, and I'm excited to see the second half.

Review: Women of the Klan

2011-01-19T08:30:00.000-08:00

Women of the Klan, by Kathleen Blee, tells the story of the Women of the Ku Klux Klan, an organization which existed in concert to the 1920s KKK. It's a delicate tale to tell, of course, given the KKK's history of racism, antisemitism, and violence, but Blee does it relatively well.

Blee asks what place women have in right-wing movements like the KKK. She presents the KKK of the 1920s as full of contradictions. The men's Klan used women as symbols, showing them as potential victims in order to bring men to their cause. On the other hand, the women who joined the KKK were often in some respects progressive and feminist. Women used their role in the KKK to increase their political power in the early days of women's suffrage.

The book suffers from lack of extant information. The KKK was shrouded in secrecy, and in the years after its heyday many of the original members have died or ceased to remember accurately. I don't think Blee made the best use even of the information she had. She conducted oral interviews, but quotes from these were infrequent. I thought she could have made more use of particular women's experiences, especially those who were average members and not leaders. The book seemed to go in circles, repeating things already said in a different way. It was worth writing, certainly, and worth reading, but it didn't live up to expectations, I'm afraid.

Sherlock

2011-01-18T08:30:00.000-08:00

When Sherlock first aired on the BBC last August, there was a lot of talk about it. I started the first episode, and didn't even get as far as meeting Sherlock before I decided I wasn't in the mood. I definitely stopped too soon. The show is created and written by Steven Moffat, the writer of Doctor Who, and Mark Gatiss, who also sometimes writes (and acts) for Doctor Who.

Sherlock is a modernized Sherlock Holmes. I've never read Sherlock Holmes, so I can't judge how it relates to the canon, but on it's own merit it's a fabulous show. There were only three 90-minute episodes, three more to come next fall. I'm super impatient.

The acting is lovely. Sherlock is mesmerizing. With the exceptions of the unfortunate Asian stereotyping in the second episode, the stories are great.

Some shows are sort of... impregnable. You can't take them and play with them, because they don't leave room for that. Sherlock, on the other hand, almost seems like it's written with fans in mind. Everyone takes a show or a book and contemplates how it might have gone differently, or what might have happened in between scenes. Sherlock both leaves this open and makes suggestions. For example, people assume Sherlock and Watson (we call him John, here) are gay hilariously often. The two have a great dynamic, whether or not you want to form theories about them.

So that's my latest television obsession.

Links

2011-01-16T08:30:00.000-08:00

109 cats in sweaters.

Beautifully calm and simple photography by Glen Erler.

The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic. This exhibit, which looks fascinating, is soon to be at Odegaard Library on the UW campus.

Cyperspace When You're Dead. Do you ever wonder what would happen to your internet self if you died? That's what this article is about. It's fascinating.

Full Steam Ahead. Apparently, Seattle's very steampunk.

Friday Ephemera #70

2011-01-14T08:30:00.000-08:00

Bingo in the summer, New Ulm, Minnesota, circa 1975. Photo by Flip Schulke, thanks to the U.S. National Archives. I'm craving summer, can you tell?

Still here

2011-01-13T08:30:00.000-08:00

I'm not dead, just for the record. Classes started last week, and I had most of last week's posts written ahead of time so they went up, but then I got sucked in to school and I haven't read anything that wasn't for school since. The new quarter hit me harder than expected.

I do want to talk about what I'm reading for school, though, as well as various bits of television I've just seen, so hopefully I'll manage to get those posts up next week.

My new classes are great, and all is more or less well.

Links

2011-01-09T08:30:00.000-08:00

Doctor Who nesting dolls (and other fun Doctor Who stuff).

Scandinavia and the World, a webcomic about national stereotypes.

Books Read in 2010

2011-01-08T08:30:00.000-08:00

Friday Ephemera #69

2011-01-07T08:30:00.000-08:00

1902, from the Illinois Urban Landscapes Project. I've taken to searching flickr Commons for random things related to whatever I'm musing on at the moment. This time I searched "metamorphosis".

Review: Charitable Getting

2011-01-06T08:30:00.000-08:00

I've put off reviewing this, which I don't normally do, and I'm not sure why. You know I find Sam Starbuck fascinating, and Charitable Getting deals quite directly with a lot of the things that make him interesting.

The story centres around SparkVISION Consulting, a company which runs fundraising campaigns and PR for charities. The company is headed by Bo Sparks, a charismatic and slightly unusual fellow. The employees of SparkVISION are our heroes, ordinary people though they may be. It's an eccentric sort of office, full of gossip, secret love affairs, dancing bananas, and the occasional chance to torment the interns. Tanya Montray is a journalist who believes that Non Prophet, a popular blogger, is employed by SparkVISION, and she's determined to find out.

Much of the book is concerned with life on the internet and how it interacts with life in the real world, and how blogging relates to journalism. As a blogger myself, this is rather interesting, even if I am only reviewing books most of the time and not talking about news. But the internet has always fascinated me, and I think it's good that there are books out there that talk about it. As is said in the Afterword, this is a book that in 80 years will be completely out of date, so rooted is it in the world of late 2009. Sometimes it's worth it to spend a whole book talking about the present, to not worry about whether a book "lasts". It captures history in a way other books don't. I imagine that when students in 2111 are writing their theses about extribulum and the emergence of blogging, this will be a crucial text.

Having spent years reading Sam Starbuck's blog, I know the story draws heavily on his life. In some ways this spoiled the mystery of Non Prophet's identity. For anyone less familiar with the author, though, I don't think the book is at all predictable. As a story, this is mostly just a cheerful office novel, full of the ordinary dramas of people's lives. It's very readable and funny. It does have greater depths, though, and for anyone interested in the internet this is an important book, both in terms of the story and in terms of the writing of the book itself.

Challenges for 2011

2011-01-05T08:30:00.002-08:00

I'm not a big fan of reading challenges, but there are some out there that I know I'll completely without even thinking about it, so I figure I may as well sign up.

The first of these is the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I seem to read historical fiction no matter what, and I'd kind of like to read more of it consciously, so this seems like a good challenge to sign up for. I'll be doing the Daring & Curious reading level, which is five books, though there's a chance I'll read more than that.

I also want to do the Bibliophilic Books Challenge again this year, but I haven't found a link to it yet.

Review: Ballet Shoes

2011-01-04T08:30:00.000-08:00

Noel Streatfeild's Ballet Shoes is one of those classic kids' books I failed to read as a child. I wish I had; I know I'd have loved it. But I've read it now, at any rate, and it's one of those kids' books that holds up well to adulthood.

Pauline, Petrova, and Posy Fossil are three orphans, brought home one by one by Great-Uncle Matthew (otherwise known as Gum) after he had filled up the house with real fossils. They are looked after by Gum's niece Sylvia (otherwise known as Garnie) and Nana. Gum goes away on one of his adventures, leaving the Fossils and their guardians provided for for five years. Five years pass, and Gum still has not returned. To earn money they must go to Madame Fidolia's Children's Academy of Dancing and Stage Training. It's not an ideal situation--Pauline loves acting and Posy cares only for dancing, but Petrova wants to drive cars and fly planes. Still, they get along well enough, though the money is slowly running dry.

It strikes me that no modern children's book would be so much about money worries. This, however, was written in 1937. Most of the story is about how the children must find a way to earn money. It's an interesting comparison.

So it's a lovely book, which I wish I'd read when I was younger but which was not spoiled by my being too old.

A stocking full o' books

2011-01-03T08:30:00.002-08:00

Here's the books I got for Christmas. That's the German translation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which I know so well that it's easy to read in German even without a dictionary handy. That copy of Emma is also in German. Quite a German themed stack, given Christopher Isherwood's Berlin Stories, which I'm about to start reading. A new Connie Willis to look forward to, and Miss Marple just for fun.

I'm super excited to finally own Sam Starbuck's two novels, and one of them is signed! I've already reread Charitable Getting since Christmas, so I'll have a review of it soon.

Links

2011-01-02T08:30:00.000-08:00

Just the one link this week, no doubt due to the lull that always happens between Christmas and New Year's:

Book Cover Archive.

Reading in the New Year

2011-01-01T08:30:00.000-08:00

I'm not really the sort for New Year's resolutions, but I am thinking about what I'm going to read in 2011, on this, its inaugural day.

My reading over the last year has been kind of haphazard. I've been reading books I know will keep my attention through my busy class schedule, because I was feeling like I'd stopped reading books purely for fun. I think the balance got a little skewed, though. I used to read classics because I felt like I should, because they might teach me something. I haven't done that much this year, and I think I've forgotten that classics are often classic because they are good. In 2011, I want to read a bunch of classics. I might use the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list as a starting point, not so much because I like the list as because it's got a fun checklist .pdf, and I love a checklist.

I've been in a very thinky mood, lately. I've been rereading old Copperbadge (Sam Starbuck) entries, which always puts me in the mood for study. I want to Be Scholarly about unexpected topics, and I'd like to do some reading in that vein. And finish reading Invisible Cities.

2011 beckons. I'm about to start classes I'm super excited about, probably learning super interesting things (one can only hope). Other exciting plans are in the works. Here's hoping all goes as planned, except for good surprises. We like those.

Friday Ephemera #68

2010-12-31T08:30:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year's Eve! Celebrations at a cafe, sometime between 1910 and 1915, thanks to the Library of Congress. We should all have such festive celebrations.

Best Books 2010

2010-12-30T08:30:00.000-08:00

It seems to always turn out that some of my favourite books are completely obvious, and some take more thought. Both last year and this year, my favourite nonfiction and two of my favourite fiction books were obvious, and the third fiction was not so obvious.

Nonfiction
Bluestockings, by Jane Robinson - This is a wonderful, wonderful book, full of fascinating, hilarious, and infuriating anecdotes about very real women who just wanted the right to learn things. Read my original review here.

Fiction
Blackout/All Clear, by Connie Willis - I know these are two books, in a physical sense, but I don't think they were originally intended to be separate, and they are one story. One giant, glorious story. I read 350 pages of All Clear in one day because I literally couldn't put it down. I learned more about World War II here than I ever did in school. Connie Willis really does just keep getting better. Original reviews are here and here.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, by Helen Simonson - I loved this book. It dealt with all sorts of important issues, and it did so the more effectively because it was such a good story on its own. Original review here.

The Post-Office Girl, by Stefan Zweig - This was a beautiful and very sad book. While the other books on this list are here because I loved reading them so much, this one is here because I think it's important that it be here. Not that it was not a good reading experience, because it was, but it was not the same kind of experience that more lighthearted books were. Read the original review here.

Second Best Books 2010

2010-12-29T08:30:00.000-08:00

I only ever have three or four books that I can call my very favourites, but I read a lot of wonderful books, so it seems unfair to leave them out of my end of the year round-up. Here are my second favourite books, in reverse chronological order of when I read them.

A Proper Education for Girls, by Elaine diRollo - A late addition, but a worthy one. This was a very colourful, very admirable historical novel, which I quite enjoyed reading. Full review here.

Evelina, by Frances Burney - This is perhaps the only 18th century novel I've ever read, and my fondness for it was wholly unexpected. It was a lovely read. Full review here.

A Room with a View, by E.M. Forster - I'm a little surprised this didn't make it onto the Best Books list, but my memory of it seems to have faded too much. But it was another unexpectedly wonderful read, and I'd like to read it again some day. See here.

Parnassus on Wheels, by Christopher Morley - A lovely little story, and a thoroughly bookish one. Full review here.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, by Katherine Howe - Historical, fantastical, academic--in short, all my favourite themes in a book. See here.

The Man of Property, by John Galsworthy - Caught my attention so well that I'm just beginning the last book of the Forsyte Saga. Wonderfully written, and an intriguing story. See here.

And tomorrow, you'll hear about my favourite books.

Behind the Scenes

2010-12-28T08:30:00.000-08:00

Last week I had the chance to see The Nutcracker ballet from backstage at McCaw Hall. For non-Seattleites, McCaw Hall is the big opera house and the theatre where Pacific Northwest Ballet performs. I've been going to see The Nutcracker for years, and I've seen a lot of operas there too.

They do the same Nutcracker every year. Same music, same sets, same costumes. It's been the same for as long as I can remember, so I know it back to front. That's why it was extra exciting to be able to see it from a different perspective.

We were expecting to be led backstage and told, "Sit here, don't move." Instead, they led us backstage, told us where to put our belongings down, and then said, "You can go where you like. If you can see the audience, they can see you, if a boat or a bed or a tree is about to fly at you, we'll tell you to get out of the way." We got to wander around the stage before the show, seeing the backs of walls and all the stickers and graffiti with which they've been adorned over the years. We got to see how the Christmas tree grows, how they run the waves, how the Mouse King works, how they make it snow. We saw ballerinas adjusting leotards, doing stretches, and spitting out the snow.

For me, theatre is one of the few realms where knowing how it works doesn't spoil the illusion. Knowing that one of the guys who carries on the bird cage makes a fish on a stick jump out of the waves just makes the illusion more interesting. But then, I'm a theatre geek.

Review: Bellwether

2010-12-27T08:30:00.000-08:00

Reading All Clear left me booked out. Too much of a good thing all at once meant I could find no motivation to read for days afterwards. Often, the best way to cure that is to pick up another book by the same author, so I ordered Connie Willis's novel Bellwether from the library.

Sandra Foster works at the HiTek corporation, studying fads--hair bobbing in the 1920s, Rubik's cubes, coffee-drinking, smoking, anti-smoking, and so on. She wants to know how they start, but there are so many possibilities it seems an impossible question. Bennett O'Reilly works for the same company studying chaos theory and group behaviour, but the two have never met--until Flip, the incompetent assistant, misdelivers a package. Life at HiTek is certainly chaotic, and fads are everywhere. Bennett, however, seems to be unusually fadless. Fads just slide off him, and this is why when Sandra meets him she is instantly fascinated. She thinks his fadlessness may be a key to the origin of fads, so she does everything possible to keep him at HiTek, including proposing a joint project involving a herd of uncooperative sheep. They face all kinds of hindrances to finding the answers to their questions, but in all the chaos, the answer does seem to be almost within reach.

I have to admit I was a little disappointed. After the completely wonderful experience of Blackout and All Clear, Bellwether was kind of unremarkable. I was probably expecting too much. All of Willis's time travel books have been written in 3rd person, but Bellwether was 1st person, which I've never liked very much. It was also set in Boulder, Colorado in 1995, which automatically makes it less interesting than Oxford in 2060. It was a good story, though. Connie Willis's books always hold together so well. There's always a few themes that the characters seem to be stuck on, and I think these help glue everything together. I liked Bellwether a lot, even if it didn't suck me in the way All Clear did.

Links

2010-12-26T08:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Boxing Day!

The possible fate of Amelia Earhart.

A story in cookie dough.

The prettiest parking lot ever.

An article about being on stage at The Nutcracker, which I saw from backstage last week (and which you'll hear more about sometime this week).

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T08:30:00.000-08:00

Have a lovely day, don't drown in wrapping paper, don't eat too much food, and stay cosy! Happy Christmas!

Friday Ephemera #67

2010-12-24T08:30:00.000-08:00

1947, The first Christmas tree given to Britain by Norway as thanks for their support in World War II. Thanks to the National Archives.

Review: A Proper Education for Girls

2010-12-22T08:30:00.000-08:00

I often have difficulties with historical novels, especially those set in the 19th century. Something about the voice feels false. This was a lot of the reason I didn't like Geraldine Brooks's March, and I know there have been other books I set aside because I couldn't get past the false Victoriana. Some authors, however, do Victorian well. A.S. Byatt is a perfect example. Her Victorians never seem jarringly overdone.

Elaine diRollo's novel A Proper Education for Girls has likewise succeeded. In 1857, Alice and Lilian Talbot are two loving sister separated by their eccentric, domineering father. After a scandalous affair, Lilian is married to a missionary and sent to India. Her husband, a hypochondriac unable to bear the climate, is no match for her, and soon she is exploring the Indian countryside, painting its plants and learning the Indian customs. Meanwhile, Alice is still at home, looking after her father's Collection. The entire house is overrun with all manner of odd contraptions, art from around the world, display cases of ancient artifacts, and anything else that could possibly qualify as an example of human ingenuity. Guests hang their shirts on a stuffed bear's paws and trip over statues of Greek goddesses. The family in turn trips over the guests--inventors invited to the house to perform their experiments and then forgotten about. Aside from Alice and her father are the elderly female relatives--Mr. Talbot's mother and aunts, who are entirely on Alice's side and who spend their days in the conservatory, which has been filled with tropical plants and is now a blooming hothouse. Alice, with the dubious help of Mr. Blake, the photographer Mr. Talbot hired to photograph the Collection, works to figure out what Lilian is up to in India. In the days leading up to the Indian Mutiny, Lilian learns the skills necessary to travel India alone, and so return to England to save Alice from the extremely sinister plans of her father and his friend Dr. Cattermole.

Alice and Lilian are just two of the fabulous women you know must have been hovering on the edges of Victorian society. They are knowledgeable, capable, and unafraid of flouting traditional gender roles. Alice's lack of traditional femininity, however, proves dangerous. Dr. Cattermole, along with many historical 19th century doctors, believes he can cure perceived social ills (like Alice's independent thought) with surgery. This part of the book is horrifying, frustrating, and fascinating in equal measure. Knowing Elaine diRollo has a PhD in the social history of medicine, you know she's telling a true story. Ultimately, of course, the women prove victorious, which is thoroughly satisfying.

This is a wonderful book. Beautiful and bloody, it paints the Victorian era in more color than we usually see through our vision of sepia-toned old photographs. It makes us aware of the horrible opinions and actions women were sometimes submitted to, and gives us the satisfaction of knowing that in the end, the women won.

Christmas in Seattle

2010-12-21T08:30:00.000-08:00

My annual Christmas visit to Pike Place Market. Where the pasta is striped and they'll clean your crabs for free.

Happy Winter Solstice!

Review: The Forsyte Saga: In Chancery

2010-12-20T08:30:00.000-08:00

I'm always surprised by finishing DailyLit books. I read a chunk of the book every day, and suddenly I'm ten from the end so I read them all at once, and suddenly I've finished a book I barely thought about reading.

However busy I was this quarter, I kept reading In Chancery every day. It's the third book of the Forsyte Saga, after The Man of Property and Indian Summer of a Forsyte, which is a novella. I read both of those last spring, and now I've finished the third.

It is 1899, or thereabouts. The Forsytes are growing older. The oldest generation are, one by one, dying. Their children are now in their forties, though middle age does not stop them living, having affairs, marrying. Their children are just growing up, falling in love, going off to fight in the Second Boer War. Like with the first books, the title is very apt, though you don't realize how apt until well into the book. The characters are in a kind of limbo--in chancery. They are trying to bring about changes in their lives, but this involves waiting for things to happen and making tiny movements towards the larger goal.

The main draw of the Forsyte Saga, for me, is John Galsworthy's writing style. The plot is interesting, but not captivating, and not many of the characters are really likable. You can sympathize with them, but they are not amiable, not charming. Usually, I like to read about people I like. Galsworthy's writing makes up for all that, however. He picks out moments and describes them beautifully. He talks about emotions without making anyone seem emotional. The inner workings of the Forsyte family are fascinatingly described. Galsworthy has developed a special language for Forystes. They have their own view of the world, their own systems of communication, their own way of getting things done. They are a very believable family. As someone who does not have a very large family (at least, not that I see), this is fascinating to me.

I thoroughly recommend reading the Forsyte Saga. It's wonderfully written, and a perfect portrait both of a family and of an era.

Links

2010-12-19T08:30:00.000-08:00

Physics proves Santa Claus exists.

Embroidery art -- houses with roots.

Coyote found floating on a piece of ice in Lake Michigan.

For Seattleites: Swanson's Nursery has a camel, a miniature donkey, and two reindeer for the holidays. I went to see them yesterday, and got to pet the camel's nose, which was way too much fun.

Festivities

2010-12-18T10:32:00.000-08:00

The Crumpet Shop in Pike Place Market in the snow, Pike Place Market in its holiday finery, and jam thumbprint cookies. I used the recipe from Joy of Baking, doubled, minus nuts, and with strawberry jam.

Friday Ephemera #66

2010-12-17T08:30:00.000-08:00

A photochrom of a fishmarket in Bergen, Norway, circa the 1890s. Thanks to the Library of Congress.

Easy bookish charity

2010-12-16T21:15:00.000-08:00

If you use Google Chrome, install this extension. Chrome for a Cause will count how many tabs you open between now and December 19th, and will donate money to charity based on that number. One of the charities in question donates books.

Happy Birthday Miss Austen!

2010-12-16T10:21:00.000-08:00

Jane Austen turns 235 today, and she's looking pretty good for her age. There's a blog tour going on for the occasion, and it's got lots of giveaways, so that's the place to be today.

Gifts

2010-12-15T08:30:00.000-08:00

There's a certain danger in giving books as gifts. It's the same problem that arises with recommending books. My mother kept recommending her favourite books to her book group, and no one ever liked them, so she just stopped recommending them. Our favourite books feel like ours, and suggesting them or giving them as gifts feels like offering up our own work for judgement. On the other hand, books make a convenient gift. You don't have to figure out what to give, just which one to give.

I'm a terrible gift giver. I make things for people because it takes less work and less thought than buying things (I know this seems counterintuitive). For most holidays and most people I just skip the gift entirely. But there are one or two people I'll give books to. It's only people whose taste I know extremely well, or people whose taste I think I have some chance of shaping.

The books I'm most inclined to give are those which I've found most readable. Not necessarily the best, but the ones I sped through and read aloud. Connie Willis is one author whose books I think would make a good gift. To Say Nothing of the Dog in particular--fabulous and interesting and lighthearted. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand would also make a good gift, and while we're on the name, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.

Do you give books as gifts?

Christmas cheer

2010-12-14T12:00:00.000-08:00

I'm about a day out from being done with finals (another five pages of essay to write), and in the mean time I'm distracting myself finding funny Christmas things on Etsy. I figured I'd share them, since I'm too burnt out studying to write actual content.

Click on the images to go to their Etsy pages.

End of year meme

2010-12-13T08:30:00.000-08:00

I realize December isn't half over, but I was drawn in by the lure of a good meme (stolen from my 2008 self).

-How many books read in 2010?
52, so far.

-Fiction/Non-Fiction ratio?
44 fiction, 8 nonfiction

-Male/Female authors?
19 male, 33 male (some of the authors are counted twice, this is just how many books I read by each gender)

-Favourite book read?
You'll have to wait a couple weeks for my official favourite post. I have at least 4 favourites.

-Least favourite?
Perfect Happiness, by Rachel Billington. Terrible Emma sequel.

-Oldest book read?
Much Ado About Nothing. No ancient Greeks this year, I'm afraid.

-Newest?
Probably All Clear, that came out in October.

-Longest book title?
George Knightley, Esquire: Charity Envieth Not.

-Shortest title?
Emma again, same as last time I did this meme.

-How many re-reads?
Three--two Jane Austen and 84, Charing Cross Road. I can't believe I didn't reread Tam Lin; I know I started it.

-Most books read by one author this year?
Three each from Helene Hanff and Dorothy Sayers.

-Any in translation?
Grammar is a Sweet, Gentle Song and The Little Prince. Both French, huh.

-And how many of this year's books were from the library?
31. I embraced my library obsession this summer.

Links

2010-12-12T08:30:00.000-08:00

Doctor Who dresses.

Borrowed library books: a rainbow.

Book art advent calendar on Nathalie Foy.

The end is in sight! Another two pages of one paper, and then a whole ten page paper, and I'll be done.

Friday Ephemera #65

2010-12-10T08:30:00.000-08:00

1918, Isisford, Australia. Kids on kids! Thanks to the State Library of Queensland.

Review: All Clear

2010-12-09T08:30:00.000-08:00

I spent last Sunday reading over half of this 640 page book, when I should have been writing a final paper. I just couldn't stop. I had to know what was going to happen.

All Clear, by Connie Willis, is the sequel to Blackout. I would recommend reading them right in a row; All Clear assumes you remember Blackout well. I read it in September, so fortunately I still had a pretty good idea what had happened. Reading them right in a row sounds a little overwhelming, though. These are powerful and suspenseful books. Finishing All Clear left me feeling exhausted, and I'm still thinking about it days later, unable to really start another book.

Polly, Eileen, and Mike, Oxford historians from the year 2060, are still stuck in the London Blitz in 1940. They are dealing not only with nightly bombs, but also worry over why no one has come to rescue them and a nagging fear that they may have somehow changed history. Prevailing time travel theory says that historians can't change the past, but small discrepancies between their knowledge of history and their living experience of it provoke suspicions that something they've done has caused changes which could be disastrous. World War II was full of moments which, had they gone slightly differently, would have completely changed he outcome of the war. But they do have options--other historians have been to the war, and there's hope that one of them could take a message back to Oxford. But the world seems to be conspiring to keep them in 1940, and options are disappearing fast.

As with Blackout, I've come out of All Clear feeling much more knowledgeable about World War II than any class ever managed. All Clear makes the war feel immediate. Though the characters from 2060 know Britain wins the war, their worries over changing history make them as uncertain of the future as any of the "contemps". And knowing Connie Willis's writing, I know she's not afraid to put her characters through a lot of difficulties.

The book is full of a sense of things coming together. Time is a chaotic system, but that doesn't mean it doesn't all add up to something. Polly, Mike and Eileen frequently feel like the world is trying to keep them in 1940, and you can tell that there is a coherent explanation for all this. This is what makes the book so suspenseful. You know that if you just read one more chapter, a little bit more of the picture will come clear.

This was a wonderful book. I feel like I'm not doing it justice, but I loved it, and I couldn't put it down, and I really do have to read everything else Connie Willis has ever written.

Reading classics

2010-12-08T08:30:00.000-08:00

Ever since I read Evelina I've been meaning to read more classics. I really enjoyed Evelina, and A Room with a View, and the Forsyte Saga, and all the other classics I've read in the last couple of years. There's a reason classics are classic--they generally deserve it.

I sometimes feel like some of the books I read I read because blogland is into them. All the 20th century domestic fiction is very big on all the book blogs I read, so I wind up reading a lot of books like that. Don't get me wrong, I do really like those books, but I wonder if I'd be reading them now if I hadn't started reading about them on blogs. When I started reading more grown-up books somewhere along the line I gravitated more towards classics, but I've since stopped reading as many of them. So maybe it'll be a New Year's resolution to get back to them. Bearing in mind I never make New Year's resolutions in much seriousness.

Of course, I have no real thoughts as to what classics I want to read. What are your favourites?

P.S.

2010-12-07T10:08:00.000-08:00

I think I had a dream last night about a really great bookshop with a whole bunch of the books I've been meaning to read... Darn real life.

In the mail

2010-12-07T08:30:00.000-08:00

They always say the internet is the death of snail mail, but all the most exciting mail I've gotten in the last couple of years has been due to my presence on the internet. I've had mail from Singapore, England, Ireland, and now Canada. Not really knowing anybody from any of those places, sans internet I never would have been in contact with them.

Unknown Masterpieces just arrived in the mail, in a package which, to my entertainment, is labelled all in French as well as English. It came from a giveaway held by the lovely Nathalie Foy during NYRB Reading Week, and it looks very intriguing. Good writers on good books is always a plus.

Thank you!

Links

2010-12-05T08:30:00.000-08:00

New N.E.E.T. magazine.

Untranslatable words.

Fun song lyric typography.

Pretty advent calendar.

Life

2010-12-04T08:30:00.000-08:00

It's getting on towards the end of the quarter! I only have one more week of classes, and a paper and two finals the week after that. I'm so ready for this quarter to be over. My classes have been really interesting this quarter, but they've also been a lot of work, and sometimes I feel like I spend so much time just getting things done that I don't have time to really think about what I'm doing. I'm hoping over break I can think about some of the things I've learned this quarter, and maybe start to write about them coherently. On the other hand, I might just want to spend my two weeks sitting and reading mystery novels.

When not obsessively checking my planner, I'm starting to think about the holidays. Chanukkah started on Wednesday, and though I'm not Jewish, my roommate is, so we've got menorahs and blue and white paper chains all over the place. And Christmas is imminent. I love Christmas. Pine trees, cookies, decorations, Ukrainian eggs, presents. It's one of the best seasons for crafts, and I'm definitely excited to actually have time for them. But I've got to get past finals first.

So that's what's up here. Look out for some Christmas-related posts in a week or two, and in the meantime, bear with me while I finish reading about Islamic science and writing papers about love-related clichés.

Friday Ephemera #64

2010-12-03T08:30:00.000-08:00

Ah, San Francisco. Such hills. Photo by Håkan Dahlström.

Review: Strong Poison

2010-12-01T09:20:00.000-08:00

I first started reading Dorothy Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey novels after reading Connie Willis's novel To Say Nothing of the Dog, which makes a lot of references to Lord Peter. I was drawn in by the promise of the relationship between Lord Peter and Harriet Vane. Of course, there are four whole novels before Harriet Vane ever appears, but I've thoroughly enjoyed reading them, and at this point I'm much more interested in Lord Peter than in his romances.

When we do meet Harriet Vane in Strong Poison, she is on trial for the murder of her former love, Philip Boyes. She's a mystery novelist, and has recently done a lot of research into arsenic for a new novel. Unfortunately for her, Philip Boyes just happens to have died of arsenic poisoning. Lord Peter, clever fellow that he is, is convinced she is innocent, and sets out to prove it (simultaneously setting out to convince her to marry him).

I found the plot a bit uneven--preoccupations from the first half of the book seemed to disappear in the latter half. I confess the book may have suffered from my manner of reading it, since I read a lot of it and then put it aside for a while. Still, there weren't really enough suspects, and I think both the investigation and the book suffered from a lack of leads. On the other hand, I found myself particularly interested in Lord Peter's character in this book. His feelings about Harriet Vane were intriguing, and they made him rather more real, though also more complicated.

So on the whole, it was satisfying, as Lord Peter novels always are.

Invasion of Picasso

2010-11-30T08:30:00.000-08:00

271 previously unknown Picasso paintings have been discovered.

There's a Picasso exhibit on at Seattle Art Museum right now that I haven't been to yet--now I'm really going to have to go see it.

La Lecture de la Lettre (Reading the Letter), 1921

Review: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

2010-11-29T08:30:00.000-08:00

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, by Helen Simonson, was a glorious book. I loved it entirely. Its existence seems so improbable I love it all the more.

In the small village of Edgecombe St. Mary in the English countryside, the retired Major Ernest Pettigrew lives alone. His wife is dead, his son is a banker in London, and his younger brother lives in the next town over. When his brother dies unexpectedly, he becomes friends with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani village shopkeeper. They both love books and a good cup of tea, and both have been left behind by the deaths of their spouses. As the friendship between Major Pettigrew and Mrs. Ali grows and subtly, almost imperceptibly, becomes something more, the village looks on with a certain amount of suspicion. As Mrs. Ali says late in the book, "A couple may have nothing in common but the color of their skin and the country of their ancestors, but the whole world would see them as compatible." These two have a much more real set of common interests and opinions, but in the face of the world that may not be enough.

Major Pettigrew is wonderful. He is old-fashioned in all the best ways--courtly, honorable, and decorous. He has a fabulously dry sense of humour. He is constantly being thwarted by people--his son Roger, his sister-in-law Marjorie, the village ladies, all of whom just don't seem to see the world the same way the Major does, don't understand how to be truly sensible and civilized. You cannot help loving Major Pettigrew. Mrs. Ali shares many of the Major's views on the world, and she has an equally dry sense of humour. It is this that makes the book so funny. Both of them are constantly giving people well-deserved rebukes for their behaviour, but they do it so dryly that no one ever notices.

The book is about family, both the inherited and created kinds. It is about being happy and making happiness, about race and class and appearances. It does all this so effectively because it is at heart a damn good story. It is wonderfully romantic, the more so because it is the story of romance in unexpected places.

The book is surprising in many ways. The main characters are older. The book is unafraid to assert values the younger characters think are old-fashioned and unnecessary, unafraid to be quiet (though it's not undramatic), unafraid to make judgments on people's foibles, while still accepting their foibles as very human. I can't think of any other book that is quite like this one, which makes it so much more valuable. I really can't quite express how much I love this book. I stayed up until nearly one in the morning to finish it. It's going on my list of books to foist on people. I don't know where I first read about it, though I know it's made the rounds in blogland, but seriously, thank you, whoever recommended it.

Photos and links

2010-11-28T08:30:00.000-08:00

Photographic evidence of my Thanksgiving. My reading material (more to come on that subject very soon), more snow photos, and pumpkin pie.

A couple of links:

The @ in translation.

Libraries in literature quiz at the Guardian (at which I failed miserably).

Book list

2010-11-27T08:30:00.000-08:00

Well, this list is going around Facebook and the blogs, so I might as well do it. It's not a very good list, repetitive and with some questionable content. This is the one that supposedly the BBC said the average person has only read 6 of. But I do like a list. Bolded are the ones I've read, in italics the ones I've read bits of.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot

21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen

36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne

41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan

51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville

71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce

76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79 .Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt

81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazu Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

I've read 33.

Friday Ephemera #63

2010-11-26T08:30:00.000-08:00

Denny Hall, this Monday in the snow, the same building I posted a 1900 photo of last week.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T08:30:00.000-08:00

I'm rather snowed in at the moment, so this ought to be a fairly quiet Thanksgiving--we'll celebrate properly on Saturday. For now we are baking pie and drinking hot chocolate and staying cosy.

Have a good day! Don't eat too much, and don't let the food distract you completely from being thankful for things.

Snow day reading

2010-11-24T08:30:00.000-08:00

Suzzallo Graduate Library in the snow (and Hi there, crazy guy in shorts on the right)

The last time it snowed worth a mention, I wrote a post about books I thought should be read on a snowy day. Since the snow is here once again to inspire me, I figured I'd do another such post. They're chosen not necessarily because they're about winter, but because I think they'd be good choices for curling up with a blanket and a cup of tea on a snowy day.

Nameless by Sam Starbuck
This one actually does involve snow, but it also involves magic and mask-making and small town life, and it would go very well with a nice calm day. Read more here.

The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt
I associate cosy winter afternoons with big dense books, and The Children's Book is probably the epitome of a big dense book. It's magical and historical and glorious. Read more here.

Farthing by Jo Walton
Alternate history plus murder mystery--you've got to have at least one mystery novel on the list of snow day books, and this is a particularly interesting one. Read more here.

Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley
This one certainly isn't big or dense, but if you wanted to spend your snow day reading a series of short books, this one and its sequel, The Haunted Bookshop, would be perfect. Read more here.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
I realize this is mostly set in the summer, but I still think it would be a good book for a snow day. It's about books and history, which qualify as cosy for me, and it's an extremely satisfying story. Read more here.

Winter wonderland

2010-11-23T08:30:00.000-08:00

It's been snowing almost nonstop since yesterday morning. I can't remember the last time we got this much snow before Thanksgiving. Perfect weather to curl up inside with a book. Or go to Narnia.

A visit to the Falkland Islands

2010-11-22T08:30:00.000-08:00

My mother found this book somewhere, and it's fairly hilarious. It's a collection of Falkland Islands recipes, submitted by individual islanders. Many of the recipes sound distinctly bizarre and/or unappetizing. Lettuce Soup, Smelt Roll Mops (fish salted and left in vinegar for a week), Brain Fritters, Penguin Egg Pavlova, Bosworth Jumbles, Scurvy Wine.

Bosworth Jumbles have the best story. "Bosworth Jumbles, A.D. 1485. According to a well used recipe and handy hints book (Published around 1925) belonging to Joanna Summers' Nan, Mrs Dorothy Newman, this recipe was picked up on the battlefield at Bosworth, having been dropped by the cook of Richard III."

Cures for various common difficulties are also advised. "To Alleviate Rheumatic Pains. Bathe the parts affected in very hot water in which potatoes have been boiled." "Remedy For Boils. Place 1 teaspoonful of gunpowder in a good thick fig. Eat one 3 times a day before meals till the boils disappear." "How To Tell the Age of an Egg. Put in a glass of water. When fresh the egg will sink to the bottom. When 3 weeks old the egg will be nearly on its side, broad end up. When 3 months old it will stand straight up, wide end just showing. When very stale it will rise much higher above the water."

These are so clearly real people's recipes with their real stories attached, and it's such a random find. I don't know how it made its way to Seattle, but I like that it did. It provided very good fun, reading out the recipes.

Links

2010-11-21T08:30:00.000-08:00

Sportswomen of the past.

Nobody expects the ~~Spanish Inquisition~~ Los Angeles tea party! (Not related to the political group, I promise)

Fabulous felt art.

May the Force of typography be with you.

This is a room with a view

2010-11-20T08:30:00.000-08:00

Friday Ephemera #62

2010-11-19T08:30:00.000-08:00

Denny Hall, the first building on the current University of Washington campus, taken in 1900 by Calvin F. Todd. Image thanks to UW Libraries.

Review: The Forgotten Garden

2010-11-18T08:30:00.000-08:00

Something about this time of year makes me want fairytales. Maybe because I was reading The Children's Book this time last year, and it fit so well with the usual November weather. I've been wanting to read about Victorian England, fairtyales, mythology, nature, art, families, history.... And then I realized that I had just the book sitting on my desk, waiting to be read.

The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton, is about the mysteries within families, the difficulties of knowing who you are, and gardens. On the night of her 21st birthday, Nell Andrews is told she isn't who she thinks she is--her parents are not her parents and her sisters not her sisters. Her name isn't even really Nell. When she was four years old, in 1913, she was found sitting alone on the wharf in Maryborough, Australia, with nothing but a child's suitcase, and no memories of where she came from. In the suitcase is a book off fairytales written by a woman called Eliza Makepeace. Many years later, in 1975, Nell finally goes to England in search of her family. Eliza Makepeace is her only clue, and she leads the way to Blackhurst Manor in Cornwall and the mysteries of the Mountrachet family. But Nell isn't able to solve the puzzle, and it's not until she dies and her granddaughter Cassandra takes up the search that the mystery is unraveled.

The book follows three time periods, more or less. There's Nell in 1975, Eliza Makepeace in her childhood, and Cassandra in 2005. Characters often weave between these times, popping up again, still keeping secrets that have lasted decades. If the title has the ring of The Secret Garden, there's reason. Frances Hodgson Burnett even makes an appearance, and I think the book is meant to be a bit of a homage to children's books like it. The book itself, however, is certainly not a children's book.

One theme in the book I found particularly interesting was that of obsession, almost to the point of madness. It seems to run in the Mountrachet family. They want things they can't have and they'll go to rather frightening lengths to get them, even when having them isn't really perfect. It was rather frightening and definitely not quite sane, the way two characters in particular want things and can't give them up, and it's their attempts to get these things that really causes the drama of the book. And though they're not quite sane, you never feel like this is unrealistic, which makes it even creepier. It's actually quite a tragic book--so many of the characters are victims of circumstance.

I'll admit I was about 100 pages ahead of the plot the whole time. I knew it was inevitable who Nell's mother was going to turn out to be, way before Cassandra did. I think my trouble with plotlines like this is that it's how I would write it so I always know how it's going to turn out. Of course, this didn't really kill my desire to finish the book and find out how it all went down. This is a long book--550 pages--which involves a lot of interwoven plots and clues and characters, and though it's perfectly easy to follow, I'm sure it took some doing to write.

It's a lovely book--eerie and magical and historical. It's not deep or dense in the way The Children's Book is, but it does touch on some similar themes and have a similar mood. It's a children's book for grownups, in a way, and that makes it extremely satisfying.

New book

2010-11-17T08:30:00.000-08:00

I think I'm in a book-buying slump--this is the only thing I bought at Baker Street Books last weekend. But I'm excited about it, so that's all right. I've been meaning to read E.F. Benson for ages and ages. I think I first heard of it when I encountered the miniseries (which I haven't really watched), and I've heard it recommended by various people in blogland. I gather these books are reminiscent both of P.G. Wodehouse and Evelyn Waugh, which is a great recommendation for me. Plus, Nancy Mitford wrote the foreword. The bookstore had a bunch of these books, and two different editions of this one, but of course I had to pick the one involving a Mitford.

Hopefully I'll get to read this soon!

Baker Street Books

2010-11-16T08:30:00.000-08:00

Last weekend my parents and I visited Baker Street Books in Black Diamond, Washington. The town is tiny enough that if you go there you should have no trouble finding the place, and I'm not joking when I say it's worth a day trip just for the bookstore if you're close enough. It's large and cosy and full of good used (and some new) books. The building was apparently built in 1885, which certainly adds to its charm. And complementary coffee, which I hear was actually really good (I don't drink coffee). The "literature" section, though it didn't take up much space, had a great selection. You'll see what I bought tomorrow.

Book out of the blue

2010-11-15T08:30:00.001-08:00

I've had the good fortune to win a book! Nathalie Foy had an extra copy of Unknown Masterpieces: Writers Rediscover Literature's Hidden Classics, published by NYRB, and held a giveaway for it, and now it's winging its way in my direction.

You know I love books about books, and this one looks particularly interesting. In the spirit of Anne Fadiman's Rereadings, it's got essays by writers about specific books--the double draw of well-known authors and a book about books. I'm looking forward to it, though I admit I feel a bit guilty that I failed to participate properly in NYRB Reading Week but still acquired a book. But I'm determined to sit down and read all my NYRBs soon.

Thank you!

Photos

2010-11-14T08:30:00.000-08:00

A visit to Black Diamond, Washington yesterday, satisfactorily grey and damp. The zeppelin is from the lovely bookstore there, which later this week I'll do a whole post about.

Cheerful Weather for the Wedding?

2010-11-13T08:30:00.000-08:00

I keep hearing rumours that they're making a movie of Cheerful Weather for the Wedding. People keep finding their way here looking for confirmation of the rumours, because I read the book last July. Sorry everyone, I don't know any more about it than you do! I've heard Sinead Cusack is in it, I've heard Emily Blunt is in it, and I've heard (yay!) that David Tennant is in it, but IMDB doesn't seem to know anything about it.

Does anyone have any more information? I think it would make a very interesting movie.

Friday Ephemera #61

2010-11-12T08:30:00.000-08:00

Woman reading in garden, thanks to the George Eastman House Collection on Flickr.

Too much knowledge

2010-11-11T08:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Veteran's Day! I got up at 5:45 a.m. to register for classes!

I had an unusually hard time choosing classes this quarter. I'm so overwhelmed with work right now I can't tell what looks interesting or doesn't look interesting, or what I'd rather learn, or whether it will be too much work. I'm definitely still taking German, though.

As for my other classes, though I've already registered, I'm less certain, and my schedule is definitely subject to change. Do I want to learn about the Social History of American Women in the 20th century, or the Jazz Age? The German-Jewish Tradition? DNA and Evolution? Everything is so interesting, I seem to have lost my ability to figure out what interests me.

I'll figure it out. I'm just having a moment in which there is too much to learn and not enough time to learn it in.

Persephone in the mail

2010-11-10T08:30:00.000-08:00

This is apparently the week for posting about lovely publishers. My Persephone Biannually arrived in the mail on Monday, which is always tremendously exciting. Mail all the way from England!

It includes information about their new books, blurbs from bloggers, and a short story by Eva Ibbotson (who died recently, you may remember), which I'm super excited to read. Persephone Books makes me so gleeful, and I really couldn't tell you why.

Visual NYRB

2010-11-09T08:30:00.000-08:00

I confess I like these books as much because they're pretty as because they're good.

NYRB Reading Week is here!

2010-11-08T09:42:00.000-08:00

Just another reminder that NYRB Reading Week started yesterday. I've got another book I really need to finish because it was due at the library last Saturday (oops!), so I may or may not get a chance to participate. I have the day off on Thursday for Veteran's Day though, so I'm hoping that in addition to getting a bunch of homework done, I'll get a chance to do a bunch of reading.

In lieu of talking about new-to-me NYRB's, I'll talk about ones I've already read. Though I did not read them in the NYRB editions, they have now published lovely copies of both Elizabeth von Arnim's The Enchanted April and Tove Jansson's The Summer Book. I'd apparently just finished The Summer Book when I started this blog, and The Enchanted April was read the summer after that.

Though apparently I was not overly impressed with The Enchanted April at the time, it's one I remember very fondly. I rather think the fact that it's stuck with me says more for it than whatever quibbles I had at the time. It's colourful and full of lovely characters, and in being escapism for the characters it becomes escapism for the reader.

The Summer Book, by the creator of the Moomins, is a wonderful story about a little girl and her grandmother living on an island. I don't know quite how to describe it, but it's full of childlike philosophy and magic, and it's lovely.

I've just paged through 31 pages of NYRB's on their website to figure out which I own and which I've read, and now I want to read them all.

Links

2010-11-07T08:30:00.000-08:00

The Button Lady. Lovely photos of a fabulous button store.

Deck of cards sweater.

The Exquisite Book. This has been all over blogland, and deservedly so. It's a play on the game Exquisite Corpse.

Gorgeous library photos.

Friday Ephemera #60

2010-11-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was election day, and this year is the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage in Washington state, so let's have a suffragette for the occasion. It was taken between 1910 and 1915, but I don't know where. Thanks to the Library of Congress.

The reading cup is full

2010-11-04T09:42:00.000-07:00

I've had enormous amounts of reading to do for my classes lately. Four days a week I have to have things read, and the reading tends to be long and dense. Interesting, but very time consuming. So, by the end of the day, no matter how excited I am about the book I'm reading for fun, all I want to do is curl up and watch TV. Now that I've finished Single Father, Gilmore Girls is my show of choice--it's an old favourite, and I'm slowly rewatching the whole thing. Sometimes Sarah Jane Adventures also makes an appearance.

Do you think there's a maximum capacity for reading in a day? I would imagine the 24-hour read-a-thons I hear about in blogland fill that capacity, but there must be a difference between what you read for class and what you read for yourself. There's something comforting about curling up and reading a novel all day, but the same is not true about assigned reading.

The book that's falling by the wayside in all this is The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton. It's very intriguing, and involves Australia, which I've been interested in lately. I just wish my reading quota didn't already feel so full.

Sick day in the Shire

2010-11-03T09:27:00.000-07:00

I was going to post about more fun stuff from my semantics class, but I'm sick this morning and am probably going right back to bed after I post this. In lieu of real content, have a pretty photo.

I know I found this on A Bloomsbury Life, but I don't know where it came from before that. I love it; I want to live there. It's like the Hobbit gatekeeper's house.

Also, hello David Tennant fans! I had no idea mentioning his name would bring me up in so many Googlings.

Single Father

2010-11-02T08:30:00.000-07:00

I've just watched the last episode of Single Father, the new miniseries starring David Tennant. We know him from Doctor Who, of course, but it's impressive how little he's been typecast. He's been a crazy Death Eater, Hamlet, an alien, and now a single father, and somehow every time all you think about is what he's doing now.

He plays Dave, married to Rita, with whom he has three children, plus they each have a child from previous relationships. In our make-believe of a beginning, Rita dies suddenly in a car accident. The show tells the consequences, which are numerous and messy and sometimes lovely.

Many of the twists and turns of the show would be melodramatic in other hands. The writing and the fabulous acting make this perfect. The characters are flawed and realistic, the kids are especially great, the relationships complicated. I loved the whole thing.

Scary stories

2010-11-01T08:30:00.000-07:00

Halloween was yesterday, and I know one is supposed to read spooky stories for Halloween, but I didn't. I've never been a fan of ghost stories. I remember people in elementary school reading those Scary Stories books, or Goosebumps, but I was just never interested. Now everybody in blog land is reading ghost stories, but I'm not. Granted, I don't have time anyway, but if I'd wanted to read one, I'd have made time.

I like funny Halloween stories, and I like stories about unexplainable happenings provided those happenings aren't creepy (which is hard to find, for Halloween). I don't particularly have any conclusions to make from this preference of mine, but I thought it was interesting all the same.

NaNoWriMo started eight and half hours ago, so if you haven't started writing yet, you should get on that. Have a happy November, full of pumpkin pie!

Halloween Links!

2010-10-31T08:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!

Apple Pie-rate Ship.

The Interactive Novel. This sounds awesome and Sam Starbuck-y (which you know I love).

Book Dominoes.

Pumpkin diorama.

Photos

2010-10-30T08:30:00.000-07:00

It's been quite the week. Zombies and humans have had their final battle and many brains have been eaten. The entire marching band has played in the street outside my window. The combination of Halloween and two birthdays has resulted in the consumption of much sugar. Many papers have been written.

One of my roommates carved the pumpkin.

Friday Ephemera #59

2010-10-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

I'm continuing my tradition of posting the best pumpkins Google images has to offer for Halloween. Found here, here, and here.

NYRB Reading Week

2010-10-28T08:30:00.000-07:00

November 7-13 is NYRB Reading Week, hosted here by The Literary Stew and Coffeespoons. I discovered NYRB a couple of years ago when my father bought me a couple of their books, and I've become quite a convert. I've read The Dud Avocado, The Slaves of Solitude, and The Post-Office Girl. All of them have been clever, unpredictable, and (in very different ways) lovely. I own several more and I've been meaning to read them, so this event is perfect.

The book I'm most eager to read is Indian Summer, by William Dean Howells. I don't know much about it, but I gather it's sort of a romance--possibly a little similar in tone to The Season of Second Chances. Hopefully I'll have time during that week to start it, at least.

Review: The Season of Second Chances

2010-10-27T08:30:00.001-07:00

I first heard of Diane Meier's novel The Season of Second Chances at Cornflower Books. The premise sucked me in and induced me to order the book from the library even before it made it onto my to-read list. The book has proved to be not quite what I expected, but something very interesting all the same.

Joy Harkness, Columbia professor who specializes in Henry James and Edith Wharton, is invited to move to Amherst, Massachusetts to participate in an experimental liberal arts program. She has no attachment to Columbia--no close friends, no romantic entanglements, an inconvenient apartment--and Amherst is offering more money than she thinks she deserves. So she goes. Impulsively (an adverb completely out of character for her), she buys a falling down but potentially beautiful house. She hires Teddy Hennessey to fix it up for her--he's 35 but essentially just a big kid, still living with his mother--and he does. The college and the town welcome her in, involve her in their personal dramas, force her to be more connected to other people than she's ever been before. She keeps expecting it to be over, life to go back to "normal", but by the end her definition of normal has changed.

The book has an unusual style. Joy narrates, and much of the story is told sort of anecdotally, even conversations. On the one hand, this is the first time I've ever read a first-person novel that I thought sounded like someone would actually tell a story. I've never liked first-person stories; I always think they feel contrived, but this didn't. On the other hand, this very second-hand way of hearing about events and characters makes it hard to really understand those characters and their motivations. I sometimes felt like people's appearances were over-described--Joy doesn't care much about clothes, so it seems odd for her to describe them in so much detail. Food also felt a little over-described, and so did the details of Joy's house, sometimes, though that is much more integral to the story and makes more sense. Over all, the writing was intriguing, and my complaints are fairly superficial.

Joy reminds me of no one so much as Helene Hanff. I've read a lot of Helene Hanff this year, and certain details--Joy's clothes, her gripes about her apartment, her voice--all reminded me quite forcibly of Helene Hanff. As with all good books, though, the comparison wore off because I got too wrapped up in the story to notice it. And there are certain differences, too.

I have a feeling I won't remember this as a "college book", though that was what drew me to it originally. It's about the characters and their interaction with each other, not their interaction with university life. This is very much a coming of age, feel-good book--so much so that I'm putting off reading another book that I suspect will have a similar feel until I've read something in between. It's very believable, and quite satisfying, with a fairly unpredictable ending. So over all, really very good.

Sad news

2010-10-26T08:30:00.001-07:00

I've just heard Eva Ibbotson died last week. She's one of my favourite children's books writers, author of Which Witch?, The Secret of Platform 13, Island of the Aunts, and Journey to the River Sea. Her books are magical and hopeful and colourful. She was 85, died in Newcastle, England, born, I was surprised to discover, in Vienna, Austria.

I can think of no better obituary than to say I loved her books as a child, would doubtless love them just as much if I read them now, and am feeling compelled to read everything else she ever wrote. If you've never read any of these lovely books, you really should, no matter your age.

You can read more about her life on Wikipedia and in the Guardian.

NaNoWriMo--your one week warning!

2010-10-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

In one week it will be November 1st, and you know what that means! National Novel Writing Month is upon us! For the unlikely people who have not heard of NaNoWriMo, the point is to write 50,000 words of a novel between 12:01 a.m. on November 1st and 11:59 p.m. on November 30th. The point is not to write the next great American (or English or French or Chinese or Finnish) novel--the point is to write the novel you've always said you'll write one day, and to give yourself a deadline to do it in. I know it is entirely possible. The first year I participated I wrote 60,000 words, and I wrote 50,000 in half a month in July one year.

I'm not doing NaNo this year, though I'd like to. I have two reading and writing intensive classes, a lot of German homework, and a job. I don't need to be more stressed, and I would like a tiny bit of a social life. This year is not the year. But please, don't let busyness deter you. Half the point is to be crazy and underslept along with a bunch of other crazy people.

Put your plotting hat on--or don't, and make it up as you go--and get ready to write.

Links

2010-10-24T08:30:00.000-07:00

A little red wagon--for grown-ups.

1920s Halloween Costumes.

On 10/10/10, 10 photographers took 10 photos each.

A house among books.

What will the world look like in 1000 years? Postcards from the future.

Secret Elevator Bookshelves.

Candlemark and Gleam. Extribulum-inspired publishers. I suspect they're going to do some interesting stuff.

Warm Cats.

Photos

2010-10-23T08:30:00.000-07:00

This pretty much sums up my week.

Friday Ephemera #58

2010-10-22T08:30:00.000-07:00

Have a map. 1675, by a fellow named Jan Jansson, and I think it's of Norway. Found here.

In pictures

2010-10-21T08:33:00.000-07:00

I don't often post about books that you don't really sit down and read, e.g. coffee table books, but I've long had a fascination with the history of costume, and there are a lot of great books of fashion images. Some of them are just as informative as any less pictorial book, and with something as visual as fashion, a picture really is worth a thousand words. One of my favourites is the ridiculously enormous two volume book Fashion, from the Kyoto Costume Institute. I can't believe I own the thing--Amazon lists it at $168. But if somebody ever owes you a really nice birthday present or you can find it at the library, you should go for it.

Spirit

2010-10-20T08:55:00.000-07:00

Whether or not you're already dressed, put on something purple today. In honor of all the people who have recently (or ever) committed suicide because of homophobia (whether or not they were in the news), all us cool kids are wearing purple. It may not have any concrete effect, but it's good to know that there's a bunch of other people out there wearing the same color for the same reason.

Have a look at some links:

Change.org

GLAAD

Facebook

Just the facts

2010-10-19T08:30:00.000-07:00

I've been reading, for my linguistics/semantics class, about concepts that are ingrained in American (or English, Australian, Russian, Japanese...) culture, which we suppose are universal. Concepts like "freedom" are rooted in American culture and history, and though dictionaries may offer direct translations of the word, the chance that the words completely correspond is slim. American "freedom" implies non-interference, while Russian "svoboda" has a somewhat different emphasis--you cannot speak of svoboda from something, the way you can speak of, for example, "freedom from interruption." Svoboda has a spacial connotation, and it can be given, whereas you cannot give someone freedom. Clearly, translating these involves adding certain connotations and removing others. Understanding that these two words do not mean the same thing, even when they are translated into one another, is crucial to understanding what is meant. There are many similar examples, some of which affect communication between cultures in a way that leads to misunderstanding.

Applying this to literature (as you do), one wonders about reading books in translation. Something I read for class about diminutive name suffixes used several examples from Tolstoy. In Russian, there are lots and lots of possible diminutive forms of names, all with different connotations. In English, of course, diminutives are usually used mostly for children. Timmy eventually grows up and becomes Tim. Russian diminutives don't imply childishness. They are also generally untranslatable. So when we read War and Peace in English, we are missing the shades of meaning implied by diminutive names. There are no doubt many other nuances we miss, and many of our own cultural associations we add. I'd argue that a vast amount of what we love about books is the nuance.

Have you ever noticed some meaning missed when reading translations? I don't know that I've read enough translations, or any recently enough. And it's more in what we don't realize we're missing, I suppose. But what cultural assumptions do we bring to reading that make what we read seem more or less realistic?

If you want your illusions about universal truths completely blown to shreds, read something by Anna Wierzbicka. You know all those English expressions like "as a matter of fact", "hard facts", "just the facts," "in fact"...? We love facts. Yeah, all these expressions don't translate prettily. Nobody else talks about fact like we do.

Review: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club

2010-10-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

Last year Dorothy Sayers was what got me back to reading after a dry spell, and this year she's simply been the continuation of the good reading habits I picked up over the summer. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club is the fourth Lord Peter Wimsey novel, and in my opinion it is by far the best yet. I think this is the first time Lord Peter really becomes Lord Peter. He has gained a certain something--he's more buoyant, but he's also more serious. The book itself is funnier than I remember the previous books being. I have a (bad?) habit of reading all books with Sam Starbuck and his writing in the back of my head, picking out characters I know he'd like. I already know he actually does read and like Lord Peter, and this is the first book where it is vividly clear to me exactly why he likes Lord Peter, and further, where characters with certain Lord Peter inspirations have cropped up in his writing.

Dorothy Sayers has once again distinguished herself in writing a mystery that does not immediately look like a mystery. No formula here. General Fentiman is extremely elderly and not very well, so when he is found dead in his usual chair in the Bellona Club on Armistice Day, no one is surprised. But why wasn't there a red poppy in his lapel, and when did he die? When it becomes clear that the time of his death determines a half-million-pound inheritance, Lord Peter sets out to answer these questions.

This was very good fun, and Lord Peter was very charming, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Links

2010-10-17T08:30:00.000-07:00

Did Americans in 1776 have British accents?

Swan Bones Theater. Lovely, fairytale art.

A Physically Aware Internet.

Fall

2010-10-16T08:30:00.000-07:00

I'm home for the weekend, and somehow it suddenly feels entirely like fall.

Friday Ephemera #57

2010-10-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

Two ladies from the 1910s, dressed for the 1860s.

What I'm learning

2010-10-14T08:30:00.001-07:00

This is definitely one of my more interesting quarters in terms of reading, though I have to admit the volume kind of detracts from the interest. I'm learning all about medieval science and religion, and the historiography thereof. I'm also learning how languages shape and reflect cultures, and about the difficulties of translation and definition and some fascinating language quirks.

I like my history reading best (which is probably good, given I'm contemplating declaring a major in history), and in fact I am procrastinating on this week's history paper writing this post. I'm supposed to be writing about medieval technology.

Your interesting fact for the day: there's an Australian aboriginal language which reckons location not in terms of right, left, in front of, behind, but in terms of cardinal direction. Therefore, if there is a bug next to your foot, someone might tell you, "look out for the bug to your east." If you turn around to look for the bug, it will still be to your east, because directions are completely objective and not egocentric. Someone who wants more room on a couch might say "move a little to the north." Consequently, speakers of this language have incredibly good sense of direction.

Review: Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy: The Last Man in the World

2010-10-13T08:30:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the books you least expect to read are the most satisfying. I worked off my desire to read Jane Austen spin-offs this summer, and in any case Pride and Prejudice was not my main interest. I had a lot of reading to do for class, and I was in the middle of a Dorothy Sayers novel. But I was at home for the weekend, and my mother went to the library, and she brought it home, and it sounded like a nice change from the history of science or linguistics, and so here we are.

Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy: The Last Man in the World, by Abigail Reynolds, is one of a series of Pride and Prejudice variations. Known usefully to the fanfiction world as AU, or alternate universe, these books choose a turning point in the story, a "What if?" scenario, and imagine how the book would run if one or two small things had happened differently. I have always loved contemplating What Ifs, and the most interesting ones are the smallest changes, which spread throughout the story and change everything.

This book's turning point is Mr. Darcy's first proposal to Elizabeth. What if she had been forced by questions of reputation and propriety to marry him? I was very pleasantly surprised by how well this premise was executed. It was well-written, chose excellent moments to throw in hints of the original book, and explored how the change in circumstance would affect the characters in interesting ways. Though the alternate path of the story changed Elizabeth and Darcy very much, I never felt like they had ceased to be Elizabeth and Darcy. The book also added some new pieces of information about the characters, which was seamlessly worked in to what we already know.

This was an interesting "What if?", a satisfying Jane Austen spin-off and an interesting story of a marriage, and it successfully managed not to be absurd, overly angsty, or self-indulgent. I read it all in a day. I think this can safely be proclaimed a winner.

For a walk

2010-10-12T08:30:00.001-07:00

I took the super roundabout way to class yesterday, along the Burke-Gilman Trail. These are the resulting photos. Does anyone know what tree that is in the last picture? They're all over campus and I find them fascinating.

The Novel: Live!

2010-10-11T08:30:00.001-07:00

Starting today is The Novel: Live! Thirty-six authors are going to write one novel over the course of six days in order to raise money for literacy programs, and the process will be streamed live online. Visit the website starting at 10 a.m. today and you'll be able to see it.

I suspect this will be a rather awesome event. There's something particularly interesting about writing when it is treated as a process more than a means to an end. Who knows what kind of novel will come out of this, but the end result is barely relevant. This reminds me of NaNoWriMo--a similarly short period of time in which to write a novel. With NaNo, of course, the point is to just get a novel out like ripping off a band-aid, but there's definitely something special about the process, as well. The Novel: Live is even more about the process.

Links

2010-10-10T08:30:00.000-07:00

Vivian Maier. Chicago street photography. The information on the sidebar is really interesting; you should read it.

Starbucks in Washington, DC has gender-neutral restrooms. Go Starbucks!

Restless General Store on Etsy. I always feel weird linking any place that sells things, because I know the chances of me buying things from them are very very small, and I feel like an advertisement, which bothers me. So if I do link a shop, it's because I think it's got great photography, or interesting wares, or a good idea

European Beard and Moustache Championship.

You are what you speak. A super interesting article from the New York Times Magazine about whether language shapes how we think.

~~Johnny Depp~~ Jack Sparrow visits London primary school to help kids mutiny.

A fabulous spin on post-it notes.

Microwave lime cheesecake. As, living in a dorm, all I have is a microwave, this is very tempting.

New books to read

2010-10-09T08:30:00.000-07:00

I acquired two new books yesterday, one in the mail and one delivered by my mother, with whom I had lunch. I was not expecting The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop, but it sounds like a lovely book-about-books. I read a review of The Season of Second Chances at Cornflower Books, and had to order it from the library immediately. It sounds perfect. I love literature about college--my obsession with Tam Lin might tip you off to that, and I also loved On Borrowed Wings, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, and everything I've ever read about Oxford or Cambridge precisely for their views of university life. I'm tremendously excited to read this, and may have to start it even before I've finished other things.

Friday Ephemera #56

2010-10-08T08:30:00.000-07:00

Actual ephemera, for a change. A screenshot of what's on hold for me at the library.