Ann Droyd, pseudonym for David Milgrim, parodies the classic Goodnight Moon for the 21st century.
Lost Novels Found
Flavorwire’s Emily Temple finds 10 Lost Novels the World Found Again. From Jane Austen’s The Watsons to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Narrative of John Smith … there’s something exciting and mysterious about these unpublished manuscripts discovered after our favorite authors’ deaths. The Sea is My Brother, recently published in November 2011 by Penguin Classics, was Jack Kerouac’s first novel. It is the tale of two young sailors on a journey from Boston to Greenland.
The literary critic Stuart Evers said: “It is not a great work of literature. It would never be published today if it wasn’t by Kerouac, but it is fascinating as an insight into him as a writer … He was just jotting down ideas that he would explore with much more gusto in his later work. There is no real narrative, not much happens, but there are flashes of his later work.”
[Pt] : : A Simple Machine, Like the Lever
[Pt] is what I’m reading now. [Pt] stands for page turning. It also stands for partly through. It is on the periodic table of elements: Platinum, an extremely rare and naturally occuring metal found in higher abundances on the moon and in meteorites. It is an abbreviation. It means I’m not going to give you a lengthy book review because no one reads those anyway—there are cooler things to be doing, such as hunting for meteorites and actually reading a book.
I did not intend to start a new book this weekend. I had plenty of other things to be doing, including reading an entirely different book for a freelance review in order to get paid.
But my curiosity has often gotten the better of me, and in peeking at the first lines of A Simple Machine, Like the Lever, I was drawn in by the narrator’s sweet and simple voice. Consequently, I spent the better portion of my weekend curled on the couch with a blanket, my cat, a mug of cold coffee and Evan P. Schneider’s novel. I wouldn’t have asked for it any other way (except maybe always-hot coffee would have been nicer).
I see so much of myself in the narrator, Nick Allander. He bike commutes, lives frugally of necessity, and is observant of the world. Although, by no means do I live as sparingly (he salvages a box of cooking salt from the side of the road, for instance) and I am not so hardy a biker (winter is a nonstarter).
Allander enjoys the smells of his bike commute—freshly-mown grass, fabric softener emanating from the laundromat—and has little interest in collecting “things and stuff” unless they add value to his life and fulfill a need.
Schneider has found a way to communicate, in the most simple and delightful way, the story of a man grappling with the great big things that befuddle most of us: economy, success, life.
A Simple Machine, Like the Lever is published by the very cool Portland-based independent press, Propeller Books, which puts out one title per year. Schneider is the founding editor of Boneshaker: A Bicycling Almanac.
Writers and Their Books
What could be more intriguing for a lover of home libraries than to view those curated by contemporary best-loved authors?
Leah Price peeks into the stacks of six writers for FT Magazine, which I can safely say is the only interest I have in Financial Times. But more interesting than which novels are organized how and on what shelving system, is the connection between a reader and his books.
Gary Shteyngart sniffs his books:
The old Soviet ones really have this strong smell, reminding me, for some reason, of tomato soup in a cheap Soviet cafeteria.
Junot Díaz spent earnings from his boyhood paper delivery route on starting his book collections. He still regrets the one time he chucked books when moving out of New Jersey, and now only gets rids of those that are so damaged as to be unreadable.
Philip Pullman stands by his once-loved books, even those he may no longer enjoy in the same way.
I don’t believe in dissing books I used to love, and I always suspect the moral judgment of people who sneer at the taste of the reader they used to be.
Pullman’s statement struck home. I’ve read many a regrettable novel, but the reader I used to be is one who shaped the reader in me today.
Price’s article in FT Magazine is an excerpt of her book, Unpacking my Library: Writers and their Books (Yale University Press, Nov. 2011).
Nanowrimo 2011
It’s Nanowrimo!
What, do I have to spell it out for you? National Novel Writing Month.
November will heretofore be called The One during which Novelists are Made.
Even more noteworthy, the year 2011 shall be renamed The Era in which Bookish Minnesotan Conquered the Block that Plagues Writers.
[Pt] : : Tana French Mysteries
[Pt] is what I’m reading now. [Pt] stands for page turning. It also stands for partly through. It is on the periodic table of elements: Platinum, an extremely rare and naturally occuring metal found in higher abundances on the moon and in meteorites. It is an abbreviation. It means I’m not going to give you a book review because no one reads those anyway—there are cooler things to be doing, such as hunting for meteorites and actually reading a book.
For those who love a good mystery/detective novel, Tana French’s novels will not disappoint. I’ve been reading them like candy—perfect for Halloween!
tanafrench.com
Think along the lines of Steig Larsson—fantastic psychological and case development, un-put-downable and full of intrigue. French’s mysteries are not a series (a new detective is on each case), but the previous story introduces the next detective, so it kind of feels like you’ve been inside the heads of Dublin’s complete police force. French writes about more than just murder and solving the case … pardon the clichéd and indescriptive way I am about to say this: her stories make me THINK. I guess that means you should read them so you know what I mean.
In the Woods won the 2007 Edgar Award for Best First Novel.
One Minneapolis, One Read
A city-wide book club is invading Minneapolis’ literary scene this fall as readers share conversations about Michele Norris’ The Grace of Silence. This community event is part of a new project, One Minneapolis, One Read.
Norris describes her family’s experience as the first black family on the block in a South Minneapolis neighborhood. Author events and discussions will promote a dialogue about race and create a positive forum for communities and neighbors to discuss issues and build relationships with one another.
To get involved, pick up a copy of the book and attend an upcoming event (view the event listings here.)
Get Punched
A punch card for literary geeks! Get rewarded for attending author events and other bookish shingdigs in the Twin Cities: 12 punches gets you $15 (!) redeemable at Magers & Quinn, Common Good Books, or Micawber’s. Learn more about the Twin Cities Literary Punch Card at LITPUNCH.COM, and check out the list of upcoming punch-eligible events.
[Pt] : : Monkey Business
[Pt] is what I’m reading now. [Pt] stands for page turning. It also stands for partly through. It is on the periodic table of elements: Platinum, an extremely rare and naturally occuring metal found in higher abundances on the moon and in meteorites. It is an abbreviation. It means I’m not going to give you a book review because no one reads those anyway—there are cooler things to be doing, such as hunting for meteorites and actually reading a book.
This extraordinary journal, Monkey Business: New Writing from Japan: volume 1/2011 (A Public Space), is filled with poems, short stories, a short manga, and an interview with the highly lauded Japanese writer, Haruki Murakami. Edited by Ted Goossen and Motoyuki Shibata, the journal was originally written in Japanese; this translated version is a selection of works from several Japanese editions.
I have been most intrigued by Sachiko Kishimoto’s The Forbidden Diary, the fictional and mystical diary of a woman who is consumed with discovering the truth in an urban legend about the “cancel-out apartments,” a fabled place somewhere in Tokyo where residents sometimes vanish if a similar tenant moves in: same last name, same age, same hobby, for example. Kishimoto’s story is innovative and engaging, and I was sad to learn that it was just an excerpt from the complete Forbidden Diary, thereby leaving the mystery of the cancel-out apartments forever unresolved for me. I could not find any reference to a translation of the whole story.
Monkey Business was inspired by the Chuck Berry tune (later covered by Elvis) with the lyrics “too much monkey business for me to be involved in.” The editor, Shibata, describes the journal as “[offering] nothing in the way of ‘concept’ or ‘lifestyle’ … no useful information.” Even still, I will hang on to the nuggets of wisdom I’ve found within these pages. An excellent, creative, and entertaining literary journal. Now, please, print the rest of Kishimoto’s Diary.
Rap Genius Explains It
One thing I have never been good at is lyrics: deciphering them, memorizing them, or singing them. When I hear a song I like, it’s most often because of the rhythm and harmonies more than the lyrics (maybe why I am a huge fan of electronic and classical music). But I do appreciate well-scribed tunes when I finally figure out what is being said.
The solution: Rap Genius, whose “aim is not to translate rap into “nerdspeak”, but rather to critique rap as poetry.”
I found this site googling the lyrics to the Arctic Monkeys’ new song “Don’t sit down cause I’ve moved your chair.“
Break a mirror
Roll the dice
Run with scissors
Through a chip-pan firefight
Go into business with a grizzly bear
Just don’t sit down cause I’ve moved your chair
Rap Genius interprets the song phrase by phrase; for instance: “Breaking a mirror supposedly gives you 7 years bad luck, why not break the mirror and see for yourself though? Roll the dice of life and take a chance. Running with scissors isn’t safe but why not see if you can do it and live. This whole part is about taking a chance and seeing what happens.” Later, in explanation of the title line “don’t sit down…”, Rap Genius says, “Even after all that wild shit just make sure you check your chair. You don’t wanna look like a fool when you fallen [sic] on your ass.”
I still wonder: what type of person would move someone’s chair? Certainly, no friend of mine.
