August gets a bad rap as the month of withering lawns, miserable heat, and end-of-summer ennui. An article published in Slate actually argued that it should be abolished from the year altogether. Before you start tearing pages out of your calendar, let me remind you that August marks the advent of Fair season, which means it’s the first of only a small handful of months when it’s socially acceptable to eat spaghetti and meatballs on a stick. August also happens to be the only month in the English language that is also an adjective, National Goat Cheese Month, and (most importantly) the month of my birthday. It’s also the kick-off of hurricane season, and here in Chapel Hill we’ve been getting some pretty woolly weather. First there was the earthquake that rumbled up the East Coast on the 23rd. Then we had some hefty winds from the outskirts of Hurricane Irene on Saturday. Fortunately, I was set for any emergency. I have a survival kit under my bed that includes five good books, emergency rations of cookie dough, and dental floss. My motto: always be prepared.

1. Survive the storms.  In case of a weather emergency, make sure your bookshelves are well-stocked. The New Yorker supplies a helpful list of five books to cozy up with during a hurricane.

2. Un-educate yourself.  I’ve always heard that you learn the most important lessons in life outside of school. I therefore feel completely justified in mail-ordering every single item on this list of the thirty least educational books ever published.

3. To arms, readers, to arms! According to this alarming article, 70% of adults in the United States haven’t been in a bookstore in the past five years. I find this hard to believe. If it’s true, then we the 30% a weighty task before us. Rather than despair, I suggest you all go to your favorite local bookstore and buy as many books as you can carry. The mother country thanks you. 

4. Reading makes you better. Better at what? At everything. I don’t understand this picture, but I like it.

5. My kind of tattoo. Earlier this month, I flirted with the idea of getting a tattoo. I was tempted to get a picture of Benjamin Franklin tattooed on my right thigh, but I decided that his face didn’t lend itself to tattooing and besides, I’m not really into pain. Instead, I tried to dye my hair red and ended up staining the bathtub permanently orange. If I’d realized that this was an option, you can bet your last tomato that I’d have it all over my back.

6. I wish I’d thought of this. Sometimes I get the urge to alphabetize my bookshelves. Other times I prefer a more thematic approach and organize them by subject matter or genre. Nina Katchadourian sorts them so that the titles on the spine make up hilarious, painfully apt mini-stories. It’s one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen.

7. More books as art. Slightly older, but utterly enchanting: take a gander at these high-quality images of medieval calligraphy.

8. Next time you’re in Paris, check into their swanky book-themed hotel. Each of the twenty-six rooms pays homage to a different writer.

9. If that’s a few hundred euros north of your budget, stop by the Paris’s legendary English bookstore, Shakespeare and Company. There’s a bed upstairs where all manner of famous writers (or, at the time, aspiring writers) have laid their head free of charge. I’m not sure what you have to do to convince the owners that you’re worthy of sleeping there. I’m guessing it involves Homeric recitation, on-the-spot Haiku composition, and cartwheels. One guidebook recommends bringing your own pair of sheets. Apparently they haven’t been changed since Hemingway slept there.

10. And finally, what you’ve all been waiting for. (Even if you didn’t know it.) Your favorite authors have now been reinvented as Lego characters. If they sold these in stores, I’d clear out the shelves. Also, when did Louisa May Alcott start looking so much like Princess Leia?

Okay, September. I have enough cookie dough in my fridge to last through a hurricane apocalypse. Do your worst.

I don’t know where you are, geographically, dear reader, but these North Carolinian “April Showers” would be better described as “April Tornado Warnings.” Well, they ARE tornado warnings. The rain has been sporadic and steaming and will soak you to the skin in a matter of minutes. I haven’t had to bathe in weeks.

So there’s that…

1. Lit Mags and Journals. Long live the lit mag! Whether you pick up a glossy copy of Harper’s Magazine while dinner simmers or peruse Glimmer Train online (much better than spending an hour on Facebook), there’s new fiction out there–vibrant, contemporary, short fiction just begging to be read. Doing some of that writing yourself? Check out Poets & Writers for contests and calls for submissions.

2. A Well-Read Man. In the last two roundups I featured essays about the importance of dating a girl who reads. Just to be clear: a well-read man is likewise hard to find. Check out these 75 Books Every Man Should Read and see if you or your man is up to snuff (what does that even mean?).

3. Bookish Aphrodisiac. Karl Lagerfeld is coming out with a new fragrance called Paper Passion. That’s right. Book perfume. Lather up.

4. Murder, She Wrote. I love a good mystery novel. Keene. Christie. LeCarre. I went through a phase a few years back where I’d only read those Diane Mott Davidson capers, you know, the ones with punny food titles. Now, from Macmillan, there’s CriminalElement.com–a website dedicated to all things mystery-novel. Dum dum dummmm.

5. Oh my.

6. More of the Same. I can’t stop. But it’s good to know that there are others out there, likewise obsessed. Click.

7. New Lingo. I often find myself walking away from heated conversations thinking “That person must think I’m an idiot. That last thing I said wasn’t even a word.” But sometimes, to get your exact point across, there isn’t an appropriate English word, so you have to improvise. Incongruical. Globalascious. Vicionimous. Sneakidly. If Shakespeare can invent new, useful words, so can I.

8. OH MY!

9. Books as art, as books, as art. I’m moving to a new apartment next month and I think it shows in my book-roundup-preoccupations. Pretty bookshelves, book print linens, and postertext.com.

10. Self-conscious book blogging. You know how children’s TV channels are always making ads encouraging kids to turn off the TV to go outside? Yeah.

11. Algonquin. One of the best parts of being a book-lover has been getting to work with other book-lovers. I get to read and write and mingle with glamorous authors, spending my days in a mode of bourgeois artistic pursuit only enjoyed by Austen characters. I get to think in terms of plot and character, drama and catharsis. This is my last roundup as an intern at Algonquin and I can’t thank them enough for letting me publicly air my love of books for these many months.

Alright, May, don’t let me forget Mothers’ Day again this year.

- Susannah Long, intern

I don’t know about you, but it seemed like “March Madness” extended beyond basketball this year.

1. Date a Girl Who Reads. Last month I featured an essay by a man warning against dating girls who read. Today we have a response from The Monica Bird. My favorite part: “Or better yet, date a girl who writes.”

2. Lifelong Learners. I have a pretty long list of books I need to read. Ulysses, Lolita, The Brothers Karamazov, anything by Orwell … it’s terrible. This list puts things in perspective, though: 100 Essential Reads for the Lifelong Learner. Hear that? I have a LIFETIME to finish my list of essential classics. That’s great news. Now I just have to get people to stop writing new books.

3. Indie Bound. Got a free Saturday to indulge in a little DIY book making? Here’s a tutorial of Basic Book Binding.

4. Beeks (my new lingo for “book-geeks”). The guys who previously rented my house subscribed to a lot of magazines that seem to have never been canceled … I’ve grown really attached to Sports Illustrated and Maxim (I like the ARTICLES). We’ve also been getting Think Geek magazine, a delightful publication that sells smart-people gadgets and Star Wars paraphernalia. Get the skinny on nerd lit.

5. The Personal Library. I think I’ve mentioned once or a thousand times that I don’t have enough shelves on which to keep my books. But I like to dream about the home I will own, someday, the one on fifty acres with the peach orchard and the ponies and the stoic ranch hand named Tuck (his real name is George Tucker, but he hasn’t gone by George in years) … Where was I going with this? Right, dream life, dream library.

6. New Work. I recently finished stage managing a piece of new theater. It’s a wonderful play by a dear friend and UNC student (read here). In the process, I met the founder and staff of Ground Up Productions, a New York-based theater company that puts an emphasis on the cultivation and production of new work. For the first time, I realize that contemporary theater is a living, breathing–not to mention relevant–art form, just like contemporary fiction, and certainly deserves as much love and devotion.

7. Big Wins. I don’t want to be a bad sport or anything, but looky-looky, Google Books, guess you CAN’T just infringe on copyright, illegally distribute intellectual property, and ransack the book industry for your personal gain. I guess not.

8. Practicality. Book-loving isn’t just fun and games; not all head-in-the-clouds mumbo jumbo, no. Here are 9 Cool Things to Do With Old Books. Make shelves or a wreath or a clock or a lamp shade. I keep my turntable propped up on two stacks of books and an old window pane … but that’s more a “poor” thing than a “cool” thing.

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Ok March, I don’t want to see your face for at least another year.

-Susannah Long, Intern

I always get anxious when writing the word “February.” There are just so many ways it can go wrong. It’s like “Wednesday.” Very confusing. And does anyone really pronounce that first “r”? We should just change it to “Febuary” and call it a day. Well, call it a month.

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1. Shelf Heaven. I have a great and ever-growing number of books. It’s actually become a debilitating book-hoarding problem. They will find my body, ten years hence, buried beneath the hardback collections of Nancy Drew and Happy Hollister novels. However, I have identified the problem while I’m still young, so there may be time to save myself. What? No, I’m not getting rid of my books. I will just fill my house with bookshelves.

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2. Oddballs. At Algonquin we get some strange inquiries, but the AbeBooks Weird Book Room keeps track of bizarre books that actually got published. Things like: The Astronaut’s Cookbook, So You Want To Be A Shaman, and, my personal favorite, Blessed are the Cheesemakers. Any one of these titles would make a great gift–or a terrible gift depending on the recipient’s sense of humor.

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3. Adaptations at the Oscars. Check out the L.A. Times rundown of the books that made the movies that made the cut for Oscar nominations this year.

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4. Blurbs. You gotta take a good blurb where you can get it, but Mike Sacks’ fictional author “Rhon Penny” is aiming high, soliciting a blurb from the elite and illusive Thomas Pynchon. Rhon suggests that Pynchon’s review could read:

“If I had a disease that made me retch every time I read a great sentence, I would never stop vomiting while reading Ron Penny’s latest novel!” [Note the misspelling of "Rhon." This will get people talking.]

Enjoy.

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5. Tell-Alls. Why do I love books? Because books continue to be the one medium in which any public figure will spill his or her guts, along with everyone else’s secrets, all wrapped up in a shiny dust jacket. And, lucky for me, “the memoir” is in vogue right now. Although, Charlie Sheen is reportedly writing his own–working title: When the Laughter Stops–I think I might skip it.

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6. Catharsis. Writing often functions as a way to express what’s held inside–to voice pain or joy, to share an experience with others. Read this e-mail conversation between Joyce Carol Oates and Meghan O’Rourke: Why We Write About Grief.

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7. Lit Landmarks. Dr. Ruth Richardson found what is believed to be Dickens’ inspiration for Oliver Twist’s poorhouse. I KNOW. The Cleveland Workhouse is scheduled to be demolished, if it cannot be saved by activists and historians. Here is the article on Richardson’s discovery and here is the website where you can help save the literary landmark.

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8. Better Love, Better Heartache. Here’s an essay by Charles Warnke, You Should Date an Illiterate Girl, outlining the pain and suffering of dating a girl who reads. “Don’t date a girl who reads,” he says, because “she insists that her narratives are rich, her supporting cast colorful, and her typeface bold.” It’s brilliant–though also makes a compelling case for illiteracy.

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February, why you gotta be so short?

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–Susannah (Blog Intern)

1.

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2. Jump ahead! 5th grade! Our surly teacher is pacing the room, one hand cradling his chin, the other hand holding a thin book. His brow is furrowed, his posture is stooped, he’s reading slowly–enunciating and spitting a little.

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“I’m sorry, Bumper, I crossed the line.” He pauses. Breathes out sharply, like he’s solving a riddle. “I’M SORRY, BUMPER, I CROSSED—THE LINE.” He snaps the book shut and looks us over. “What does that mean? ‘I crossed the line.’ Tell me, what does he MEAN by that?”

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That was the week we read Alan Arkin’s The Lemming Condition, about the little animals that fling themselves off of cliffs. We also read a Dahl story about a man who could see through things, enough to see a clot moving towards his heart, spelling imminent death. Then we read about an astronaut, floating in space, having to twist his space suit shut every time a meteor shaves off one of his limbs. Floating. Floating. Dead. Sure, this was terrifying, but I’ve never met a man who expected more reading comprehension out of a bunch of ten-year-olds. A class like that will really blow the Judy Blume out of—wherever.

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3. Middle school was a productive time in my career as a reader. This LIST of the 100 greatest children’s novels is pretty comprehensive. I loved them all. And then I took 8th grade English with the Joan of Arc of Middle School teachers. Spelling books? Hell no! She wanted us to make our own lists, words we encountered in our reading, words we cared about. Bench marks? Who cares? She posted a list of banned books on the wall and made them available to us at any time. None of those children’s novels in our classroom library. We had real books. She gave me Toni Morrison and Ursula Heigi. I learned more about hate, passion, jealousy, devastation, and manipulation that year than I had in the rest of my school career (and that’s saying something). She’s still blowing my literary world wide open–she sent me a link just the other day for THE BLIND OWL (the article boasts, “This book will end your life”). She thought I’d be interested because it looked “dark.”

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Love it.

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4. And then there was high school. I had a wonderful teacher for Honors English my junior year. She reminded me of Meryl Streep, a little in looks and a little in attitude. She’s an author. We read the classics. It was a wise, erudite year of great American literature and poetry readings and, at the end of it, we all milled around with our hands tucked in the pockets of our linen jackets just like Gatsby….

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I don’t know what I’m talking about anymore.

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It was like this:

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Love,

Susannah Long (intern extraordinaire)

au·gust

adj.

1. Inspiring awe or admiration; majestic: the august presence of the monarch.
2. Venerable for reasons of age or high rank.

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All the other months are defined by placement in the line-up and characterized by things like weather. All the other months are NOUNS (well, except for “March” and “May” … riffraff).

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1. Living Forever. Or at least being heavily memorialized. In November, the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library will open, complete with rejection letters, his Purple Heart, and the cigarette-stained typewriter.

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2. Drink By Th’ Book. I know that we often promote cocktails here on the Algonquin Books Blog, but we’re not the only ones slightly obsessed by the finer aspects of literary culture. At 1022 South in Tacoma, WA, you can order your drinks from the handy Lit section of their bar menu. Cheers!

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3. Library Rescue. “Booksellers band together!” 18 booksellers in Charlotte, NC, teamed up to raise funds (and stock) for the struggling public library. It was really a beautiful thing: Chains like Barnes & Noble linked arms with the tiny indie shops and everyone raised money and sang. (There might have been singing, maybe, I don’t know.)

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4. Buried In Books. I love my books, I do, but this is just weird.

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5. Know Your Covers. Being able to identify great book covers is a virtue. You might have to fact check me on that one, but I’m pretty sure that’s the case. Fortunately, Sporcle.com has your back. You get 6 whole minutes to identify 24 covers. Ready, go!

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6. Spine Art. Mikey Stilkey’s “book sculptures” are a different kind of cover art. He paints on the spines of books, his characters inspired by the fictional world to be found INSIDE the books. I’d like to install one of these babies in the living room.

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7. Lit Shots. For all the strong associations between authors and alcohol, no one ever says anything about the brooding, boozy nature of readers. For those of you stalwart soldiers, pushing through heavy tomes with just a snifter of brandy to light the way, I give you The Reader’s Drinking Game. (My favorite? “J.D. Salinger: Every time there is a symbol of lost innocence, drink a highball. Then spit it all over someone you love.”)

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8. Educational Videos.

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Homework: use the word “august” at least once today.

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-Susannah

Let’s be honest. Does anyone really love July? I mean, there’s a reason “Hotter than July” is a saying. Because no one can really imagine anything hotter than July. If you’re in the West, it means 115-degree temperatures. If you’re in the East, it means soul-suffocating humidity. If you’re on fire, you’re like, “Hey, at least it isn’t July.” So, it is in these trying, seasonal times that we cling to the things we love. Ice, slushies, ice water… and, of course, books.

1. A True Paperback.

2. Required Reading. If you’re a procrastinator, like myself, it’s always best to work toward a deadline. “I will finish this paper by midnight.” “I will clean the bathroom before the fungus grows eyes.” It helps me focus. Here’s a list of 30 books to read before you’re 30, putting a deadline on self-education. (Note: If you are over 30, you may read these twice before 60, or three times before 90).

3. Write-Alikes. We all love to play the celebrity-doppelgänger game. Were my face slightly more symmetrical, I probably would look like a cross between Pee-Wee Herman and Heidi Klum, thank you. Now you can enter samples of your fiction into this search engine to find out your Celeb Write-Alike!

4. Holding Strong. The e-reader’s getting cheaper. Amazon’s projecting fewer paperback sales than e-books (here). I’m going to go hug all my books.

5. Public Broadcast. The Headline: “Tom Stoppard returns to BBC with Ford Madox Ford adaptation“. Stoppard? Ford? BBC? Three of the best things ever!

6. Repair Men (and Women). With all this e-book talk, we need to be looking out for our REAL books. Our vulnerable, droppable, tearable, singe-able, paper-based friends. Here’s a thorough guide to book repair. Love the ones you’ve got.

7. A Book-A-Day. And, if you must e-read, at least use it for good. Reading by RSS feed means that you can fill every electronic nook of your life with great literature.

8. Dating By The Book. There is no greater indication of a good mate than a good book collection. And poor taste in literature is sufficient criteria for breaking it off with an otherwise good catch. Almost makes me wish there was some sort of online dating service that started with matching book taste … Hmmm … click.

July (July, July! never seemed so strange…sing it!)

-Susannah

]]> http://www.algonquinbooksblog.com/blog/why-i-love-books-july-roundup/feed/ 1 http://www.algonquinbooksblog.com/blog/junes-why-i-love-books-roundup/ http://www.algonquinbooksblog.com/blog/junes-why-i-love-books-roundup/#comments Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:04:27 +0000 admin http://www.algonquinbooksblog.com/?p=2564

Ah, June. One of the great, transitional months. Spring becomes Summer. The wool coats get packed away. Everybody moves up a grade, except for the graduates, who get ready to move out. And we officially switch the central air from HEAT to COOL. Personally, I’ve been celebrating the new summer by dancing in my neighbor’s sprinklers every morning after she goes to work. Highly recommended. If that’s not your thing, this hot weather is also the perfect opportunity to hunker down in an air-conditioned bookstore and love you some books.

1. Cliché Police. For every masterful turn-of-phrase out there, there’s a tired fraud preying upon innocent readers. And how could we know better? We’re just wide-eyed book lovers, wishing to believe the best about the authors we love. That’s why we need fearless defenders like Rosecrans Baldwin watching our backs, letting us know when the simple mention of a distant, barking dog, is a red flag for unoriginality.

2. Law & Order: Book Victims Unit. Speaking of defenders of literature, cops in Boise, Idaho, have taken down a serious threat to the book community. For over a year, a 74-year-old woman was pouring condiments into Library book-drops. They finally caught her, red-handed, wielding a jar of mayonnaise with intent to dump. It’s a sick world.

3. Highbrow, Lowbrow, Allbrows. Peter Carey rails against an ever-stupider readership. Bryce Courtenay calls him a snob. Then the lady from Boise starts spraying everyone with mustard. Decide for yourself.

4. Better Addictions. The only draw for smoking cigarettes, as far as I can tell, is rolling the pack up in your shirt sleeve, like River Phoenix in Stand By Me. Now the London-based Tank has saved my street-cred with TankBooks. These little pocket novels (titles include Heart of Darkness, The Metamorphosis, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) are sized and packaged like packs of cigarettes. Now that’s an addiction I can get behind.

5. David v. Goliath. I understand the appeal of the iPad. It’s so slick. It’s so shiny. It’s so portable. And more and more, people are reading their books off of the iPad or other electronic faux-book devices. But in favor of convenience, what are we losing?

6. New News. I’ve plugged blackout poetry before, because it’s poetry that anyone can write … since you’re not actually WRITING anything. Genius. Uncomfortable with vandalizing a book? Just have at the newspaper.

7. Shakespearean Vernacular. One of the pitfalls of being an author, or any type of artist for that matter, might be the overwhelming feeling that you aren’t making a difference. You’re not digging wells or curing diseases. You’re hanging out inside your head all day. You’re a professional at assuming that people care about what goes on in your head all day. Wait! I have a point. But without authors, like Will Shakespeare, we’d be bereft of so many beautiful turns of phrase. Click. So go back to staring out the window, we need you.

8. The Lego Printer. I’m just going to let the video speak for itself.

June, I would say something witty about you, but you just gave me heat stroke.

-Susannah

May is a fantastic month. Not like cold February or boring September: it’s got spunk. The weather turns warm and the flowers bloom and the mosquitoes start breeding . . .  Here in America, we celebrate National Moving Month, Military Appreciation Month, Older Americans Month, Hamburger Month, and Zombie Awareness Month. I’ve rambled long enough. Here’s what was good in books this May.

1. Book Nerd Debates. It’s always a hoot to fill a room with English majors and say inflammatory things about Salinger and Lord Byron. My personal favorite? Did Shakespeare really write all those plays?! Here’s some ammo for your next wine and cheese party. Click.

2. Literature: The Gathering. BookExpo America was this month, drawing crowds of publishers, authors, librarians, booksellers, and faithful readers. Here’s a little insight on the party scene (let’s be honest, we all like free champagne). And a quote by our own Chuck Adams, about Jonathan Evison‘s upcoming novel West of Here, has been tweeted and retweeted: “I see a lot of good writers, but I don’t see a lot of good stories,” said Adams, who has been acquiring books since 1969. “I think this is the best that I’ve ever, ever worked on.”

3. Consumer Appreciation. I love seeing people out and about, just reading. You know–at a cafe, on a park bench, on the bus, sitting at the kitchen table while I hang in the tree outside his apartment building with my binoculars and some trail mix . . . it’s not my fault that good looking men like to read. See?

4. Working Backwards. We all know that many movies have their origins in books. But what if it was wayyy more than you thought? Somebody really creative made these: I Can Read Movies.

5. The Personal Library. I have a bookcase with all the shelves holding two rows of books and then little towers of books leaning against each side. I also stack books around my desk, next to the window, and under my bed.  But last night, I dreamed of this.

6. Operating Instructions. No one ever sits you down and teaches you to use a book. It’s just something you grow up knowing . . . like how to eat or how to punch your sister. It’s natural. But if you ever have any questions about the ways in which you’re operating your books, just consult these instructions.

7. Summer. It’s about time for summer, and we all know that means SUMMER READING! The perfect excuse to read the classics you missed or the guilty pleasure murder mystery you’ve been lusting after. Not only that, you’re allowed to get sand and lemonade in the pages. Don’t have a book yet? Get help.

8. Celebrations. Harper Lee’s beloved novel, To Kill a Mockingbird is turning fifty years old. Fifty! From California to New York to Alabama, book lovers are throwing parties, auctions and tours, and holding reenactments of the famous courtroom scene. I’m going to dress up like Boo Radley for a week–thank you, Lee, for a wonderful book.

Last chance to put up that maypole, for come Tuesday, it’s June.

-Susannah

1. Gearing Up. Admit it: half the fun of every hobby is getting the tricked-out gear. And just when you thought you had the latest in clippable LED book-illuminating technology–Check out this glowing nightlight/bookmark for your bedside table. You’ll never lose your place again.

2. Getting Caught. I’m a chronic book-carrier. The minute I leave the house without a book, I’ll inevitably get stuck in a half-mile line at the post office or a friend will arrive an hour late for a lunch date. Never, ever leave the house empty-handed. Because you also never know when you’ll see a perfect, unexpected reading spot and feel moved to settle in for a few minutes. The Caught Reading column on the Elle Lit Life blog interviews people who dare read in public, where everyone can see.

3. Speed. There’s nothing wrong with being a slow reader. Some of us are not so speedy. Some of us are just fine with that. But if you want to polish your reading game, this website will put you through the paces.

4. Reviews. Every reader is a critic. And sometimes, that’s the only perk to slogging through a truly terrible book. Whether your critique is positive or negative, it’s yours to give, and there are plenty of places on the internet where you can publish a book review. This guy just happens to be particularly amusing.

5. It’ll Change Your Life. We learn so much from books. Math books in grade school and cookbooks in college and gardening manuals when you buy your first house. But fiction teaches us about life–people and relationships–and these lessons are most dear in the years before we hit high school and critical, dissecting English courses. This article by Tim Kreider talks about the importance of reading in early adolescence and how a love of reading can change your life.

You know how when you talk about food for too long, or read your aunt’s copy of Taste of Home, you get really hungry? I just did that to myself with reading. Do not disturb.

-Susannah