And you are, aren't you?
Allow me to recommend a few books I read this year and loved. These books are anything but boring and predictable, and they're all from terrific independent presses. I reviewed them at The Next Best Book blog - click the links below to read my reviews. Nigerians in Space by Deji Bryce Olukotun Unnamed Press (2014) I'll Be a Stranger to You by Cara Diaconoff Outpost19 (2011) Bessarabian Stamps by Oleg Woolf translated by Boris Dralyuk Phoneme Media (2015) New Finnish Grammar by Diego Marani translated by Judith Landry Melville House (2013) Us Conductors by Sean Michaels Tin House Books (2014) Don't forget! You always get bonus points from the literary community when you buy your books at a locally-owned, independent bookstore. If the reader in your life is secretly (or otherwise) a writer, consider the gift of writing classes. Writers at Work in Los Angeles is a wonderful place to hone your craft and find the support a writer needs to kickstart a new project or see one through to the end. I wouldn't be the writer I am today without Writers at Work. Gift certificates are now available:
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I recently had a chance to spend three days (plus an evening) in the beautiful city of Lisbon. Cobblestone streets, wide open plazas and the gentle churning of the Teju River, all accompanied by the zhhh-zhhh sound of spoken Portuguese. Once I'd learned how to properly order uma bica e um pastel de nata, my most basic needs were met. There was rain, and plenty of it. Living with drought teaches you to love precipitation in all its forms. I destroyed a pair of leather boots walking through history in the rain, and discovered my umbrella has holes in it. I enjoyed every minute of it. Before the trip I got hold of a copy of The Lives of Things (Objecto Quase), a collection of short stories by José Saramago, the Portuguese writer who took the Nobel for Literature in 1998. The first story in the collection tells his imagined history of the actual deck chair whose collapse led to the unexpected death of right-wing dictator António Salazar in 1968. The Centaur is his brilliant and breathtaking story where its horse and human halves are at war with each other, physically, emotionally and erotically. How, for example, can a horse lie down to sleep in a way that will also be comfortable for a man? A political parable, to be sure, but also a heartbreaking story. I stopped in at Livraria Bertrand, located aptly on Rua Garrett, as any book lover must. After all, it claims to be the oldest bookstore in the Western world. There I picked up a copy of two books by Portugal's wonderfully oddball poet, Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935), Disquiet Lisbon and a bilingual edition of O Que O Turista Deve Ver/What the Tourist Should See. Like Saramago, Pessoa is one of Portugal's great literary treasures. In addition to his own poetry, he's particularly known for creating a host of alter egos who wrote poetry, were published in leading journals of their day, and even reviewed each others' work. Any chance it's coincidence his last name is also the Portuguese word for person? A day later, I'm walking under the giant cedar in the middle of the Jardim do Príncipe Real when I spot a VW camper van by the side of the road with matching shelves, quite obviously selling books. I go for a closer look and discover Tell A Story, a small mobile bookstore in a refitted VW camper van that has recently branched out into publishing English language translations of Portuguese writers. Turns out I've already bought two of their books. Disquiet Lisbon is their truncated edition in English of Pessoa's larger work, The Book of Disquiet. I'd also bought their edition of Jesus Christ Drank Beer by Afonso Cruz, a prize-winning novel I can't seem to find anywhere on the English interwebs. The guy I chat with at the Tell A Story van says literature and bookstores are doing fairly well in Portugal, and he suggests a trip to the bookstore at LX Factory, the former textile manufacturing facility-turned-hipster art center. It's a loooong walk down there, and along the way I'm stopped by French tourists in need of directions. Never mind the fact I was fairly lost at that point. But I eventually find my way to the expansive, book-filled Ler Devagar. The bookstore's name translates as "read slowly." Which of course I think we all should do. There's so much more to literary Lisbon: watching tourists take photos of themselves arm in arm with the statue of Pessoa; the antiquarian bookstore with dozens of political posters from the anti-colonial movements in Angola and Mozambique. I'll just end here with a quote from Pessoa's disquietude, and a few more photos. "The part of my life not wasted in thinking up confused interpretations of nothing at all, has been spent making prose poems out of the incommunicable feelings I use to make the unknown universe my own." I don't often have an excuse to wear my jersey for the Greek national football team, but today as I headed to the LA Central Library downtown for a marathon public reading of Homer's great epic poem, The Odyssey, I was definitely in the tank for Team Ελλάδα. This fantastic event was just one in a series of Odyssey-related activities around LA this October organized by the Library Foundation of Los Angeles. The Odyssey Project has included lectures, shadow puppet shows, readings by living poets and a modern Greek-style vase by Peter Shire that's traveling the County. It was jointly sponsored by the library, the Library Foundation and an organization called Readers of Homer. They organize these giant participatory readings of The Iliad and The Odyssey all across the country. Turns out, they're onto something. More than 200 people signed up to participate in LA. The reading ran from 10 a.m. until 5:30 (or so) p.m., with people coming and going throughout the day to read their assigned segment, or just sit in the audience and listen. The room was ringed with white curtains and the lights turned down low. Images of old maps, roiling seas and ships were projected onto the walls, changing from time to time to match the story. A low, droning, haunting music played in the background. The text appeared in superscript above the readers' heads. I was reader #80. Backstage in the green room I ran into David Kipen of Libros Schmibros, who launched The Big Read when he was at the National Endowment for the Arts. He was reader #77, and we giddily whispered to each other about how exciting this event was. While reading his section, he briefly donned a glittery gorgon hat. Reader #79 read her lines in Spanish, and played a recording of a song as part of her segment. Reader #81 read her first few lines in ancient Greek. That's the kind of enthusiasm I'm talking about. As I rehearsed my own lines and listened to others reading theirs, it was the emotions that really struck me. In the brief 33 lines I read on stage, Odysseus was, by turns, bombastic, sarcastic, arrogant and brave. I've read The Odyssey at least twice before, but never really felt the story or the character of Odysseus quite so clearly. That's what public engagement in the arts is all about, and we literary people know how to do it right. Photos by Melissa Wall
What happens when a group of diverse women writers take on gun culture in America? You get The LA Word: Exploded Guns. The LA Word is making our second appearance at this year's LitCrawl NoHo, October 22 at 9 pm. I'll be reading with four other terrific writers you should be reading. Our work this year will include memoir, fiction and conceptual poetry, all on the theme of guns. That's right: we're putting the "verse" in "controversy." But don't just come for us. This year's LitCrawl NoHo promises to be even bigger and better than last year's fantastic debut. More than 170 Los Angeles-area writers will be reading at 30 events across North Hollywood. The readings take place in coffee houses, bars, restaurants, art galleries, comic book store, a sex shop and more. The LA County Library's bookmobile will be on hand, as will the LA Public Library's Library Store on Wheels. The LA Word will be reading in the lobby of the Laemmle NoHo 7 movie theatre (map) at 9 pm. LitCrawl readings begin at 7 pm and run in three rounds. I'll be reading with The LA Word in round three, beginning at 9 pm. After our reading is done, head over to a party at the Federal Bar, where GuerrillaReads (another literary project of mine) will screen video readings of many more LA authors. All LitCrawl events are free. Come hang out with LA's best and most provocative writers. Get all the details and meet my fellow LA Word writers here. Learn more about the LitCrawl NoHo here. THE LA WORD: EXPLODED GUNS
Five LA writers talk about guns. What could go wrong? Wed, October 22, 2014 at 9 pm (add to calendar) Laemmle 7 in North Hollywood (map) If you know indie publishing, then you know Akashic Books. Founded by punk rocker Johnny Temple and an early denizen of the Brooklyn literary scene, Akashic's slogan is Reverse-gentrification of the literary world. The publishing house first made a name for itself with books by such emerging authors as Nina Revoyr and Chris Abani. Akashic has also had a strong focus on authors from the Caribbean, and they established a highly successful place-based noir series from authors and cities all over the world. Then they hit the big time with their children's book for adults, Go the F*ck the Sleep, which is now available in a Jamaican patois translation and an audio version read by the snake man himself, Samuel L. Jackson. Akashic also has a couple of themed web series with very short stories (750 words max): Their noir series, Mondays are Murder, is followed by stories of parental misadventure on Terrible Twosdays and finally their drug-induced Thursdaze. Each series is updated every week with new, original fiction, and is free to read. At only 750 words per story, you can get your literary fix while waiting in line at your favorite third-wave coffeeshop, and they're a much better way to while away those empty in-between moments than the latest Flappy Bird replacement. My own very short story, The Preaching Game, was recently published on Mondays Are Murder. It's set in Charlotte, North Carolina, where there are so many churches you'll die before you can visit them all. Read it right now. My senior year in high school, my friends and I rented a beach house for spring break. We did the usual: listened to music too loud and too late, consumed a lot of unhealthy crap, and built a miniature model of Stonehenge on the beach out of driftwood. During the down time, I read Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. My friends laughed when they saw what I'd brought along for spring break reading. Some of them still laugh about it today. That's how I learned you're supposed to read light, mindless drivel on the beach. I've still never learned that lesson. Sure, I read all sort of things, not all of them Edifying or Improving, but I don't think of reading as topographical. My reading is mostly needs-based, and little opportunistic. As spring comes to a close I've just finished reading HHhH, the acclaimed novel by Laurent Binet that tells the story of an act of great resistance during World War II while also exploring the challenges of writing historical fiction. Very readable, and very recommended. I'm following that up with The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad, set in the no-longer-faraway corner of the world where Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan meet. I'm about halfway in and it's completely captured my imagination. Also on my to-read list for this summer:
Yes, I'll probably pick up the latest Inspector Lynley mystery from Elizabeth George too, since I've read all the others, though I may not admit it on Goodreads. I'm always on the lookout for more stuff to read. If you have any summer reading suggestions, do let me know. The new-and-improved Brand Library in Glendale really is all that. The 5,000 square foot mansion - named Miradero when it was built in the early 1900s - has been part of the city's library system since 1925. Over the years, many of the original interior features had been covered over by cheap architectural treatments, and bookcases full of books and audiovisual materials in a rather hodgepodge layout. The Brand Library is known for its music and art collection, including books, sheet music, CDs and videos. The renovations have made quite a difference. Drop ceilings have been removed. Original murals have been recreated. Window frames have been restored. Where the space was once dim and a bit dingy with fluorescent lighting, it's now bright and airy. The front rooms are filled with comfortable chairs and tables that I'm going to check out next time I need a quiet place to write. The floors are covered by what look like early 20th century-style rugs. Be sure to take a look at the small, framed recreation of what the original walls looked like in the front room. Library materials and the check-out desk have been moved to the back of the building, where they connect with the art galleries. The only sad note was that the front doors to Miradero are no longer the main entrance to the building. It's worth walking around to the front for a look at those doors, the historical marker, and the palm-lined view down to Grandview Avenue. (That's where I took my newest author photo.) Today, you enter through these modern glass doors on the side: If you think the Jewel City is only about the Boulevard of Cars, the Americana or great Middle Eastern food (and it is all those things too), visit the Brand Library too. Just be sure to save one of those comfy chairs for me.
I'm not talking about my Want To Read shelf on Goodreads, or my Wishlist on Audible. I mean the books I already own, piling up on various flat surfaces around the house, waiting to be read. From where I sit right now I can reach out and touch
Not so long ago, it dawned on me that I won't live long enough to read all the books I want to, perhaps not even all the books sitting right here in my house. That was a sobering brush with mortality. With all the busy-ness going on in life, sometimes I forget to set aside time for reading. Then I find myself in a bookstore making some amazing discovery, and I walk out the door with another gem (or two) in my hands. I reckon that's how they pile up. At least they're not lonely while they sit there, waiting for me to find time for them. I'll keep buying books, that's for sure. And listening to them, downloading them and checking them out from the library. They'll keep piling up, and I'll be happy to see them every day. What books are waiting for you? |
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