For you in the book- or magazine-editing world, this will tickle. (As with the Shakespeare info posted June 21, I grabbed this visual from one of the newsletters from the Maine Writers and Publishers Association. Neither the editor, Joshua Bodwell, nor I know whom to credit for the original image.)
Books and water don’t mix, but that doesn’t mean a scuba diving vacation can’t also be packed with books and book talk. Hubby and I spent a lovely vacation scuba diving in Bonaire (Netherland Antilles) in the Caribbean, near Venezuela. We stayed at Bruce Bowker’s Carib Inn, a long-time haunt of ours and other guests who appreciate its low-key, laid-back atmosphere. I brought three books on my Kindle. Turns out, I didn’t need to do that, because the Inn has a book swap cupboard (shown). I wonder how many guests actually use that offering. (I’d be afraid of starting a book I’d have to leave behind, but probably I’m unclear on the concept; that is, no one would care if I took an unfinished book on the plane when I left.)
Anyway, I think the cupboard is great. But fyi, the three books on my Kindle were that kind-of-well-known one about some guy named Grey; Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn; and Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden. I’m still reading the latter and enjoyed the first two. You would think with only two dives a day, taking about five hours altogether, including prep and follow-up time, that I’d have gotten more reading done. The other great thing about a dive vacation, however, is the people you meet in the process. If you’re fortunate, you enjoy some of them enough to spend additional time with them, e.g., over dinner. Not everything is diving and reading, right?
One of the people we connected with turned out to be a librarian! Funny how I just liked her right off the bat, before I even knew her vocation. Over dinner one night she talked about her work and her place of employment, The Library Company of Philadelphia. She commented on its history, and here I’ll quote from the website: “The Library Company is America’s first successful lending library and oldest cultural institution. It was founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin as a subscription library supported by its shareholders, as it is to this day.” Now, really, how cool/serendipitous a new friendship is that?
Others we enjoyed extra time with included a Canadian violinist who has played and will again at Carnegie Hall, and her boyfriend, who is an IT manager with the major communications company Quebecor; a Boston-area clinical research associate and photographer; and a family from Ottawa who had all different jobs and the patriarch of which enjoyed engaging my husband in conversations about the differences in our governments and our personal points of view on items in the news, including the Trayvon Martin case in Florida.
I enjoy the concept of how “the universe” brings things to you. Who was the last person(s) you met serendipitously associated with an interest of your own?
I have to pass this along. Newsletter editor Joshua Bodwell just supplied the below image as part of this week’s newsletter from the Maine Writers and Publishers Association. I don’t know whom to credit for the original image, but enjoy!
I have succumbed. I decided to take advantage of Amazon’s template for displaying and commenting on my favorite books. It’s just a neat way to see the covers and read a quick sentence by me about each, then to click to read more about the book, and then, if you want, to add to the shopping cart and go from there. Or, of course, to make a note to yourself and go support your local bookstore! I’ve named favorite books in the categories of memoirs, nonfiction, novels, and writing self-help. See the new tabbed section “Favorites” in the menu above. What do you think of this addition?
P.S. Once you’re in that section, use the back-arrow to return to this blog.
P.P.S. I’ll be away from my computer now until June 17, when I return from a scuba-diving trip to the Caribbean island of Bonaire (Netherland Antilles). Post to come!
The year was 1979. The project was to develop the upper grades (7 – 8 ) of a new elementary-school reading program … on an insane schedule. Two of us were acting on tips while also searching on our own for the proper reading selections to fit in the proper grade-level and thematic holes … again, to occur in record time. We were at work editing and fielding people’s questions/requirements each workday, and in libraries each evening and weekend reading for possible selections.
Down to the wire, we had a science fiction unit underway for inclusion in the grade 8 text. We had it completed except for needing some little story or excerpt that would fit (as I recall) on two pages. We found it! It was a Ray Bradbury short story. I’ll be darned if I can remember which one; I don’t have the books anymore and it was over thirty years ago. But I do remember it was a fantastic story with a great twist of an ending. We ran it over to the Permissions department to get the okay asap.
Word came back a few days later. Too bad that we were working on deadline. Too bad that we were an educational publishing house working on tight, tight budgets. Ray(‘s agent?) was charging $3,000 for the right to use it in the textbook. I don’t think we’d paid more than a thousand for anything at that point. What I do remember is the sinking heart and the despair I felt when I heard the figure and assumed we couldn’t pay it.
My boss said, “Fine, grab it.” Say what? This was my introduction to understanding that budgets were guidelines but not the final word, and that my boss did understand what we were all up against. It was also my introduction to the amazing story-telling talent of Ray Bradbury, and to the concept that one needs to know what one is worth and stick to it.
RIP, Ray Bradbury. (If anyone knows what short story that was, please Comment!)
This is the first time author Dan Zevin has given a reading in a barn.
I really enjoyed the reading, although it went on longer than it might normally and longer than I might have preferred. The “why” behind both of those too-long judgments is the same: because there were children involved. I enjoy watching kids, but I also enjoy walking away from them as soon as my fascination wanes. Dan Zevin’s kids, around ages seven and four, were listening and reacting as he read. Cute at first, then a bit of a drag. Credit to Dan’s wife, she tried to calm them down, and then removed them. Kudos. For the same reason, I thought the reading could have been truncated because it dealt with raising kids (I have none) and learning to appreciate your aging mother’s needs for your companionship (I have no aging mother). So, you see, clearly, the reasons I had any negative reaction at all were not reasons you, dear reader, may share.
If you like humor, if you enjoy children, if you love family, Dan Gets a Minivan is a no-brainer purchase. Get it, read it, then gift it to someone you love (or keep it where guests can get a chuckle). Dan Zevin is a very funny writer. Dave Barry even says so on the cover of the book. He blurbs: “Dan Zevin is a major talent. I want to kill him.” Since buying the book at the signing, I’ve seen it reviewed in People magazine (3 out of 4 stars) and in The Wall Street Journal (a rather jaded reviewer, though he has to admit by the end of his critique that the book really does hit home). BTW, the Comments in that link to the WSJ make for good reading too.
This author, Dan Zevin, is both talented and connected. He has earned every bit of the attention being paid. I’m very upset with his publisher, however, which is Scribners. On the second page of the first essay, the author’s editor kept this in there: “So don’t give me any aggravation, alright?” Can you guess what upsets me about that sentence? I refer you to a wonderful article on all right vs. alright by Grammar Girl.
What was the last humor book you read? Do you remember what you especially liked or disliked about it?
My review of The Book Lover, Maryann McFadden’s third novel, is the newest addition in the “Book Reviews” tab above. Click there and Have a read. I wrote about Maryann McFadden in a post earlier this year called “A Room to Write In.” Click here to refresh your memory. Have any of you read a McFadden book before?
Southport (Maine) Memorial Library on Memorial Day 2012
The battle, including his funny story, was written up in a book by James D. Hornfischer, The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors (“tin can” was the nickname for a destroyer). Dad gave that book to each of us kids when it was published, in 2004. It was the only way he could tell us anything close to his true experience. If you’re ever looking for another reason to say why books should keep getting published, remember that one.
Hornfischer’s book is not a memoir, but it helped me to fill in the blanks my dad wouldn’t touch. It helped me comprehend the devastation, the enormity of war, and why my dad focused on everything but, the rest of his long life. He focused on family, on responsibility, and on enjoying his time. He created a life for his kids that helped us believe the world was a good place.
Imagine eight animated adults chowing down at a table like this, in a small town in Maine.
(Image credit: Rick Scully)
We all brought some food dish, and our instructor-turned-friend, Lily King, provided the setting (picnic table in the driveway between the family’s old New England house and a side yard of grass, trees, and kid-centered paraphernalia), liquids (nonalcoholic), and wait-staff (her competent and willing daughters). We slid into place around the table. Random chatter accompanied the passing and serving of our gustatory choices. The aromas swirled, the sun shone, the temperature was in the seventies, and the time was all ours.
We got organized (thank you, Lily) and went around the table twice. The first time, each of us commented on the greater or lesser degree our writing had progressed during the year. The second time, each of us recommended books from our year’s reading that others might enjoy. The interactions around each person’s contribution were spontaneous and idiosyncratic. These words are how I experienced the luncheon: happy, caring, respectful, hopeful, grateful, utterly convivial. We agreed to make the reunion an annual affair.
Driving away, I mused what my overall impression was. Last year we’d come together as strangers, more than one of us uncertain whether we could or would apply the label “writer” to ourselves. Last Sunday was a day created by eight writers, some in more advanced drafts or stages, but all of us knew we were writers. Thank you, Lily. Thank you, all. Can’t wait till next year!
Thank you to all who voted for the Yours In Books blog during the Goodreads/AAP Independent Book Bloggers Award contest (my blog posting April 10, 2012). The winners in the various categories have been announced, and even though Yours In Books didn’t take the prize, it was one of fifteen finalists in the Publishing Industry category. No small feat! You can read all about it here. I feel wrapped in a clean dust jacket resting on a feather bed. Thank you!
