It’s All About the Reading!
June 13, 2010

The day is comfortably warm, the breeze lazy. Guests that were due tomorrow cancelled so the last of the cleaning has been postponed. The front porch beckons, tempting me with its deliciously comfortable chair and mountain views. My current books are calling to me, begging me to return to their stories. My soul is very much in need of comforting. So, dear readers, I am succumbing to that siren call of literature. I wish you all a very good week.

Upcoming Book Festivals:
Unfortunately, there are no book festivals coming up this week or next weekend.

The Pub House:
City Lights Publishers is an offshoot of the famous San Francisco bookstore. It was founded in 1955 and has, in the time since then, published nearly 200 books of “cutting-edge fiction, poetry, memoirs, literary translations and books on vital social and political issues” This is a publishing house that challenges the norm and invites discourse. Its categories include (but are not limited to) biography/memoir, California writers, cultural studies, essays, gay & lesbian, literature in translation, politics, surrealism, travel, women. Among their newest releases is Islanders, the story of a young man’s memories of his struggle to find intimacy as he comes to terms with his past. Set in the cataclysm of the last years of the Vietnam War, it moves between the fishing towns of the Atlantic Coasts and the ruined cities of he Northeast, exploring the relationship of identity to place. For an interesting take on an old subject, check out The Black History of the White House, which presents the extensive but often hidden behind-the-scenes history of those who helped to build it or were forced to work there.  The book juxtaposes significant events in White House history with the ongoing struggle for civil rights that runs from the first slave-owning presidents to the first black First Family.

Imaging Books & Reading:
Vilma Reading a Book is the title of this painting by southern California artist Robert Patrick. What I like about it is its utter simplicity, the delight of reading in a world without technology demanding attention. The woman, her cat, and her book on a warm evening. What could be better?

Of Interest:
Are you a Sherlock Holmes fan? Do you delight in the minutiae that Baker Street fans argue over? If so, you should, if you don’t already, know about The Baker Street Blog. “Blogging about the world of Sherlock Holmes since 2005,” it proudly announces, “but where it’s always 1895.”

And what a worthwhile blog it is! Among recent topics are one on Holmes in comic books and graphic novels, another on the assistance of SH in getting a job, and a superb video of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle talking about his creation of Holmes and of his interest in psychic matters. I recommend this blog highly.

Until next week, read well, read often and read on!

Lauren