Boekhandel Selexyz Dominicanen in Maastricht, The Netherlands, opened for Christmas five years ago inside a former Dominican cathedral. See the beautiful photos. I hope they have a good church history section. (First seen here)
All posts by Phil
Making Money Within Book Culture
I can’t say I fully understand this point of view, but it does seem respectable. Ron Hogan talks about making money from your book reviews and promotions in light of the paid promotions done through the #FridayReads hashtag on Twitter. I suppose it’s all about the appearance of promoting something because a publisher asked you to, not because you actually like it, but if a publisher asks you to potentially promote something you would likely not have discovered on your own and that you do, in fact, like, the problem seems only one of appearance.
Maybe I’m just not a member of the anti-commercial club.
Top 10 Short Stories
“What makes for a great short story? Thrift, action, and a twist.” A friend from college, Tim McIntosh, offers a list of great shorts.
Our Daily Bread, by Lauren B. Davis
Albert Erskine, 21, is “mountain,” which distinguishes him and his clan (all more or less family) from the “townies” of Gideon. They keep to themselves, and they don’t spill their secrets to anyone. Life, as Albert describes it, is a river of sewage; you have to swim through it the best you can and keep your mouth shut. He lives near the top of North Mountain, which has gorgeous views of the sunrise and sunset almost every day, but the Erskines aren’t a nature-loving, life-affirming clan. They are horrible perverts who abuse themselves and their children in every way. Albert has tried to separate himself from his uncles (who have been making moonshine for years, but are branching into methamphetamines now), his grandparents and mother, but he can’t leave. He doesn’t want to abandon the children, ages 2-15, who can only dodge and hide from the adults to survive.
Tom Evans is a father who lives in town and loves his wife dearly but wonders if she really loves him. He doesn’t understand what’s bothering his son, Bobby, but then who can understand a 15 year old? Bobby’s distant, doesn’t seem to fit in—kind of like his wife actually. Maybe an anniversary trip, a special meal on the day they returned to Gideon as a couple, will spark her interest again. And maybe after a few years, they’ll grow out of their current problems.
Second Helping of Snake, Sweetums?
Book geeks wanting to eat the food described in their favorite fantasy novels are making dishes of raccoon, nettle soup, and grilled rattlesnake. You know, food and eating are things I want to include in my stories, but I should shutup about that until I get several thousand words into them.
Art Density
James Panero writes about the history of art in New York. “Believing that art is as much a social practice as a solitary one, Munk creates paintings made up of colorful, detail-laden maps and flow charts with thousands of data points indicating the placement of artist studios, the addresses of galleries, and the location of art critics within the urban grid.” In areas where many artists of different types live and work together, innovations and masterpieces are born.
New Book, Nice and Shiny
“When people do beautiful books, they’re noticed more,” Robert S. Miller, the publisher of Workman Publishing, tells the New York Times. “It’s like sending a thank-you note written on nice paper when we’re in an era of e-mail correspondence.” (via Peter Sokolowski)
Drilling for Da Vinci
Some people think there’s a Da Vinci painting on the other side of a fresco-laden wall in Florence. They want to drill through the fresco to get to it. Others want to preserve the fresco. “Vasari [who painted The Battle of Marciano in Val di Chiana in 1563] knew how to remove works by other people [meaning Da Vinci’s abandoned work on the same wall] while keeping them intact. What sense would there have been sealing up the Da Vinci, unless you get into childish Dan Brown logic?”
Ah, Mr. Brown. You have sealed your name in history, haven’t you?
Writing Advice, Pointers, Tid-Bits, and Junk
“I like to say there are three things that are required for success as a writer: talent, luck, discipline. … [Discipline] is the one that you have to focus on controlling, and you just have to hope and trust in the other two.” —Michael Chabon
Lies and Drama
“All drama is about lies,” says David Mamet, and he goes on here. A very nice quote.
Also on Tumblr: Awesome people reading, like Ewan McGregor (second link via Jeffrey O.)