4 posts tagged “fiction”
- Paul Auster's Book of Illusions: Just wow. Auster's Timbuktu was so much more than a "dog book," and this book managed to communicate so much about art and grief I know I'll be picking it up again to learn and see more than I did this first pass through. Auster's characters really live for me, which usually makes his books that much more heartbreaking.
- Jeanette Winterson's Art & Lies: Strangely blogged about earlier this month, this is one of my favorite books of all time. Winterson's mastery of language impresses, surprises, and makes my spirit soar. Recommended most highly.
- Mark Waid's Kingdom Come (painted by Alex Ross): Dramatic story of the DC superhero universe, a bit overdone on the Biblical front, but filled with nerdy in-jokes and beautifully painted by Ross.
- Warren Ellis's Transmetropolitan (art by Darick Robertson): I had read through most of the series, except the final two books, previously. This past week, I started mortoring through them again, intent to see the thing through. I was well-rewarded and consider this among my favorite comic series.
- James Patterson's Hide & Seek: Guilty pleasure, Patterson's books. Borrowed this one from my in-law's library and, honestly, I mainly read it last night in order to clear more space on our bookshelves for the TEN Discworld novels I brought home yesterday. Really, after the last four books, this was almost shameful to read.
- Several artsy crafty magazines leading up to February/Thingaday, including Somerset Workshop, Somerset Studio, Cloth Paper Scissors, Adorn and this month's ReadyMade and Domino. I absolutely LOVE the Somerset publications and CPS, always learn something fun and inspiring via Adorn and RM, but I hated Domino. I picked up their green issue, which may have made the spendy designer things all the more infuriating. I clearly am not anywhere near their target demographic: According to Domino, the easy ways to green your home were $28/yard wallpaper, $1700 coffee tables, $350 tablecloths, $700 blankets, $165 jeans...The not-so-easy things? Joining a CSA, using cloth napkins, reading books (!!!), turning down your themostat, buying in bulk, and shutting off the firkin' faucet while you brush your teeth. I AM NOT KIDDING.
Whew. Toomuchcoffeewoman, mayhaps?
Anyway, next up is Howard Norman's The Museum Guard. I know nothing of the book or the author, except that I found it on my bookshelf; I may blame my stint volunteering at The Book Thing of Baltimore for this. All I know is that it is on my shelf and mine to read. :)
red disc of hosannas.
Anyway, after reading a few of the opening pages, I prepared to return to work. I paused, glanced at the cover, Winterson's words still swirling in my head, and thought about the process of making a slipcover for my copy of the book. What images and words would I use? What would the purpose be? The thought turned over in my mind.
While handling the book, turning it over and considering that process, a slip of paper fell out:
as an apple falls,
as rain falls,
because you must.
Use gravity to anchor your desire.
I thought about the process of writing out Winterson's words, how it made me slow down and take them in differently when I was transcribing them versus just reading. The work of interpreting/translating figures heavily into Paul Auster's Book of Illusions, which I finished earlier this week prior to picking up Art & Lies, and likely influenced this line of thought.
What if I transcribed the entire book? What if I made my own unique copy of Art & Lies, not just a slipcover but the entire book?
What the purpose would be? How long would such a thing even take? How would I handle the nine pages of Der Rosenkavalier printed at the book's end? I've no idea if this will every be actively pursued, but it's been percolating in my mind all morning while I should be making graphs and charts for a work report.
Posted by neighbor Girl Wonder and reposted by me just 'cos:
1. Grab your nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag 5 different people.
This is actually from the third book I picked up because the first (Choose Your Own Adventure: Prisoner of the Ant People) only had 115 pages and the second (Every Day Matters) didn't have page numbers.
From my current read, Paul Auster's The Book of Illusions (highly recommended!):
We made the four o'clock flight to Albuquerque with twenty minutes to spare. Ideally, I should have taken the Xanax by the time we reached Holyoke or Springfield, Worcester at the latest, but I was too wrapped up in talking to Alma to interrupt the conversation, and I kept putting it off. When we drove past the signs for the 495 exit, I realized that there was no point in bothering to take them.
I did this back in October, but it didn't have the request to tag people them. Hm. I tag Jazz, Lorri, Riotous Lionness, Very Scary Carnival and WB Mook.
Originally from spooktastic.
Instructions:
* 'nearest' means you can't rummage around for a 'cool' or 'intellectual' book. Really, whatever your hand falls on first. Let's hope it's not porn. (Or should we hope it is?)
- Grab the nearest book.*
- Open the book to page 123.
- Find the fifth sentence.
- Post the text of the next three sentences on your blog along with these instructions
I'm close to finishing Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, and it's always close at hand:
"Who do you work for?"
"Spyglass magazine."
The bad weather lightens a little.
