There’s No Place Like Home
March 22, 2009
While I have never been a fan of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, either in the book or movie version, I do like the sentiment above. Home is where my heart lies. I am at my most comfortable when surrounded by those I love and the books in which I have invested myself. My second most comfortable place is my parents’ home. And that is where I will be for a couple of days soaking up some of the considerable wisdom, grace, and reassurance they offer. It is something I realize is precious—and increasingly fragile these days. So I am off. Please enjoy the things I found for you (below). I will see you next week.
Upcoming Book Festivals:
Spring is arriving. So are book festivals. This week, we have four, all centered in the middle of the country.
First up is the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, which takes place in New Orleans from March 25-29. Beginning Wednesday night with the Palm Court Jazz Caf, this five-day festival includes a series of master classes, an opening night gala, musical and theatre performances, writing classes, author presentations, panels and signings, a Tennessee Williams Scholars Conference, a book fair, tours, a Breakfast Book Club, a Literary Late Night, the Great Gumbo Throwdown, and more.
Over in Oxford, Mississippi, they are holding the Oxford Conference for the Book from March 26-28. This year’s celebration focuses on celebrate the life and legacy of Mississippi Gulf Coast artist, author and naturalist Walter Inglis Anderson. Events devoted to his life and words include an exhibition, presentations, musical performances, a special Dinner with the Speakers, poetry, readings, panels book signing and a showing of To Kill a Mockingbird. Schoolchildren are specially invited to attend Friday morning sessions with authors of books for young readers.
The city of Birmingham will be hosting Alabama Bound on Saturday March 28 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at its central library. Twenty authors and several writing groups will offer a lovely day of panels, presentations, signings and Q&As. A delicious lunch can be enjoyed in their Catalog Café so head on over for a wonderful day.
One of the largest book festivals that rotates in various venues around the country is the Latino Book & Family Festival, which will be at Unity School in Chicago on the weekend of March 28-29. This is its tenth anniversary in the Windy City, and they are celebrating by having Raul de Molina, Maria Marín, Susan Orosco, Xavier Serbia among others. Edward James Olmos is, as always, the co-producer of these extraordinary festivals that feature author readings, panels, presentations and autograph sessions, books in English and Spanish, entertainment stages, an ethnic food court, and health forums and testing.
The Pub House:
One of California’s most venerated and venerable publishers, Heyday Books, specializes in “books that foster an understanding of California history, literature, art, environment, social issues, and culture.” Thirty-five years old in 2009, this house is one of the mainstays of the literature of California (especially the central area) with their emphasis on presenting the state’s literary wealth.
Among their books I can personally recommend are Storm , the re-printed story of a particularly violent tempest; The Land of Orange Groves and Jails: Upton Sinclair’s California , a collection of the fierce and funny writings of one of the sharpest pens in California history (not to mention a fabulous cover); Bloodvine, the story of two half-brothers amid a cultural and familial clash, and its new sequel, Riverbig, a multi-generational and cultural tale set in California’s Central Valley; and the upcoming Granite, Water, and Life: The Waterfalls of Yosemite Valley, a fine art photography book of one of the most spectacular features of one of the most spectacular national parks. If you live in, are a native of, or have any interest at all in the non-celebrity parts of California this is a publisher you will want to visit.
Of Interest:
What were the top ten prices paid for books at auction in 2008? According to Fine Books magazine, the 40-volume set of Gould’s Birds, which was sold by Christie’s in London, brought the highest bid for printed books at $2,480,000. Gould was, next to Audubon, the great ornithologist of the nineteenth century and there were forty books, but still . . .
The other nine books were:
- The Copernican Revolution, the first book that established the earth went around the sun, sold for $2,210,500
- Shakespeare First Folio, the first edition of his collected plays, went for $868,000 (a bargain price but with the title page and several other leaves missing the price dropped by a few million than it would have otherwise gone for).
- Algonquin Grammar, at $585,650, is not a book you’ll find on any reference shelves. A grammar book in the Algonquin language that was published in 1666 and used by a young schoolteacher when working among the Algonquin Indians, it is the first time it has been seen at auction in more than a century.
- How to Sail, a practical treatise, sold for $578,500.
- Livre d’Artiste sold for $556,000, not surprising considering that it is not just rare but is one of a kind.
- Colonial Wisdom (“Some Helps for the Indians Shewing Them How to Improve Their Natural Reason…”) sold for $537,000.
- Galileo’s Calculator was the astronomer’s first printed work, and it describes one of his inventions, a calculating device that could be used by gunners to calculate the amount of gunpowder needed to fire a projectile a specific distance. It sold for $506,000.
- 17th Century Flowers, a famous 1613 flower book with 367 engraved plates, sold for $423,600.
- Ming Dynasty Calligrapher, the oldest surviving book printed with moveable type and carved wooden blocks, sold for $394,000.
Now, doesn’t that make the hardcover prices on new books seem downright reasonable?
This Week . . .
I want to tell you about some brilliant, weird, wonderful, horrible and/or tacky bookshelves. It’s kind of amazing how modern design has taken what is a simple thing and applied ingenuity to create some unique places to store your books.
First up is sex, or more accurately, a cleverly designed Sex Bookshelf spelling out the word. It notes that it is only a design, but I think it’s quite well done—aside from the fact that it holds a very limited supply of books.
If that’s a bit too much, how about the Reaction Bookshelf? While it appears as if it will rotate with you on it, making reading difficult at best, it’s actually stable. Still, it doesn’t look very comfy, nor does it look safe to remove a book without having others spill out.
No doubt most of us would love an expanding bookcase that could grow with each new book we brought home. Well, check this out. It consists of five parts which slide out as needed. For those who like to display their books by size, this might work very well.
Oh, this makes me afraid. Very afraid.
For those always on the move, and for students, these collapsible bookshelves, while not holding much, will certainly be easy to take along.
If you live in a New York-style loft with lots of room and you can handle these curved shelves without feeling they are about to reach out and grab your throat, these might work. Interesting and certainly practical, they scare me though.
Ack! These stair bookcases make me dizzy just looking at them. It’s a sure bet I’d never get them because I don’t much like going up a ladder with more than about a dozen steps. But for those who don’t freak at the thought, these are certainly useful.
Uh, elastic bookshelves? I mean, come on. Books are heavy, and who wants an elastic band of bookshelf size suddenly shooting out across the room when it eventually breaks? But if it appeals to you, the Elastico Bookshelf would mean you’d always have a rubber band when you needed one.
Well, this is interesting though I will be the first to say that I have never yearned to own a plywood reading chair. Give me a thickly padded, slightly squishy, well-loved chair and I am willing to reach as far as needed for the book I will read in it rather than get a chair that is as uncomfortable as this appears but keeps my books nearby.
It calls itself a “lean and clean balancing machine,” which I guess it is. But it is being advertised as a bookshelf. You need a “Dura-wall” (whatever that is) for it, but it does have the ability to swing side-to-side depending on where you place your books. Use it right and your bookshelf can proclaim your political leanings to any visitor.
This bookcase fort would work well for the girl or boy with a taste for adventure and reading. It has the additional advantage of housing the bed, so it is easy to take a book to bed. It’s pretty much a case of build-it-yourself, but it does look easy.
Oh my gosh. Of all the bookshelf designs, Topple is the strangest. A rocking bookshelf? It would make me queasy. Even the designer’s page makes me feel off. I’ll pass on this one.
Um, colored boxes for bookshelves. Not for me, but I can see this working well for children and students. With twenty different colors to choose from and a choice of two finishes, the opportunities for creation are pretty much open.
Until next week, read well, read often and read on!
Lauren
|
