The great Northwest writer Sherman Alexie just received the PEN/Faulkner Fiction award, for his book “War Dances.” This is good news, he’s a terrific writer.
Archive for the ‘Art Books Films’ Category
Alexie Wins Literary Award
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010Hunters of Greenland Photographs
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009An exceptional set of photographs by Ragnar Axelsson of Inuit subsistence hunters, out on the ice in Greenland, hunting as they have for the past 4,000 years. A great book about these amazingly hardy Greenlandic hunters is This Cold Heaven: Seven Seasons in Greenland by Gretel Ehrlich.
I’m sure you’ll agree that Icelandic photographer Ragnar Axelsson is a superb photographer. For more images by him, check out his website:
Crankster
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009Great set of cartoons in the Nov. 1 New Yorker from Roz Chast, long a favorite of mine. Here you’ll see a selection of six ‘toons from:
Crankster: “Selected images from ‘Crankster, the Anti-Social Site for Networking’ by Roz Chast.”
The two-page cartoon in the print version has 24 of Chasts’ social misfits. What a fun sendup of Twitter, Facebook, etc.
(Via New Yorker Humor.)
Meeting Ourselves in Joyce’s Ulysses
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009I’m getting together with friends tonight to read passages from James Joyce’s Ulysses, on the 105th birthday of Leopold Bloomsday famous walk about Dublin on June 16, 1904. Celebrations’s of Joyce’s great novel are underway all over the world today. I enjoyed this fine essay in tribute to Ulysses.
Op-Ed Contributor: But Always Meeting Ourselves: “In honor of Bloomsday, the anniversary of the events of James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses,’ a writer shares how he connected with his grandfather between the covers of the novel.
(Via NYT > Opinion.)
Bristol Museum’s got Banksy
Saturday, June 13th, 2009Banksy in Bristol: “A look inside the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery’s top secret Banksy exhibition. Plans for the summer show were kept from Bristol City Council chiefs until Friday – the day before it was due to open.”
Book Selling Trends Seen at Book Expo: Gutenberg 2.0?
Monday, June 8th, 2009E-Books are ugly: Book design does matter
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009Literary Liars!
Friday, December 12th, 2008Lied About Any Good Books Lately?: “According to a recent British survey in connection with the national Year of Reading, half of all men and one-third of all women have falsely claimed to have read books to impress friends and potential mates.”
(Via Paper Cuts.)
my yoga partner
Saturday, November 22nd, 2008
How cozy it was to sleep in until 7:30 am this morning, something I rarely do. I’d planned to go to Eugene to visit with friends yesterday, but felt the need for being home, for some solitude after seven days of being on the go nonstop, mostly for work. After that kind of week, it felt like being on vacation, being home, getting dishes, laundry, and more caught up.
Last night I relaxed with a film by a favorite director, Alfred Hitchcock. I’d been waiting for a good night to watch Rear Window. I hadn’t seen it in years, and had forgotten how fine Grace Kelly is in that film. Most people will remember James Stewart’s central performance as the photographer. Halfway through, the the DVD cracked up, with pieces of the image missing, then it froze. Back it goes to Amazon! It was brand new. I’ll see Rear Window another time soon. This morning I took my time finishing laundry and other things leftover from yesterday. I’ve also done some short, satisfying sessions of yoga, with Valentine the Wonder Cat purring away on the edge of the mat.
That’s Entertainment
Saturday, June 21st, 2008Wow, lists are far from perfect, but this one is great, with several favorites listed. Maus!
That’s Entertainment: “To celebrate its 1,000th issue, Entertainment Weekly polled its readers and came up with a list of the ten best books of the past 25 years. And the winners are. …”
(Via Paper Cuts.)
collage
Sunday, May 4th, 2008
Inspired by Diana Abu-Jaber’s terrific talks at two local libraries yesterday, I made a bit of a collage with her new book Origin at the center. It’s an excellent mystery, and her previous books are superb too: Arabian Jazz, Crescent, and the Language of Baklava.
I had a great time getting to know Diana and her husband Scott at both of the readings. I’m wishing them all the best for good times and fine adventures as they travel on to readings in Seattle on beyond, during Diana’s Northwest book tour.
Directors’ Cameos in Films
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008“For whatever reason, be it a deep-seated desire to act, a lack of a casting budget, or just ‘if you want something done right, do it yourself’, many directors at some point in their careers have stepped out from behind the camera to act. This is typically in a smaller, cameo role, and often with varying degrees of success: sometimes they’re completely natural and sometimes they bring the film to a screeching halt. And sometimes you’d never even know they were there.
The criteria for the examples below is that for the most part, acting is not their first career, so you won’t see Warren Beatty, Clint Eastwood, or Rob Reiner on this list. So, in no particular order, here we go…”
(Via Cineleet)
Rip This Book?
Friday, February 15th, 2008Steven Levy looks at BookSnap, a new consumer scanner for digitizing books in
Newsweek’s Rip This Book, Not Yet
(Via Library Link of the Day.)
John Cleese Interview
Friday, February 8th, 2008If you a big fan of Monty Python like I am, or enjoyed watch A Fish Like Wanda, be sure to read this interview with John Cleese. What a sharp, funny man.
Interview: John Cleese: “The comedy veteran talks about religion, why Life Of Brian is better than any other Monty Python movie, and the roles he didn’t play (but maybe should have).
(Via A.V. Club.)
Freed From the Page, but a Book Nonetheless
Sunday, January 27th, 2008Freed From the Page, but a Book Nonetheless: “Amazon’s new device could turn out to be the iPod of the written word.”
(Via NYT > Technology.)
Stinky Cheese! Ambassador for Children’s Literature
Thursday, January 3rd, 2008Stinky Cheese! Ambassador for Children’s Literature: “Jon Scieszka, the author of witty and subversive children’s favorites, is to be named the country’s first national ambassador for young people’s literature.”
(Via NYT > Books.)
NYT Critics List Favorite Books
Saturday, December 29th, 2007A Year of Books Worth Curling Up With: “Janet Maslin, Michiko Kakutani and William Grimes pick their favorite books of 2007.”
(Via NYT > Arts.)
L’Engle’s Gone
Tuesday, September 11th, 2007I have to confess I’ve never had the pleasure of reading Madeleine L’Engle, who passed away recently. But as a librarian, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing thousands of people check out out her books over the years. Our patrons love her books passionately. While her passing didn’t make the major news outlets, she’ll be missed by millions of readers all over the world.
L’Engle’s last wrinkle: “Madeleine L’Engle wrote children’s books that were too complicated for grown-ups. I’ll miss her.“
(Via Salon.)
Electronic Books via Amazon and Google
Friday, September 7th, 2007Interesting article, but I don’t see electronic books catching fire with the general public until the electronic readers become far more affordable.
Envisioning the Next Chapter for Electronic Books [The New York Times]: “”
(Via Library Link of the Day.)
John Ashberry headed for MTV
Tuesday, August 28th, 2007All I can add is Bravo, and congratulations to the great American poet John Ashberry.
An 80-Year-Old Poet for the MTV Generation: “John Ashbery, the prolific 80-year-old poet known for his dense, postmodern style, has been selected as mtvU’s first poet laureate.”
(Via NYT > Arts.)