Enduring Love

Enduring Love: A Novel

by Ian McEwan

Review:

The story starts off in the English country side, when a hot air balloon crashes and changes the lives of everyone involved. Many innocent people in the park rush to save the passengers from harm and one in particular, a religious extremist develops an obsession with a fellow helper. We witness first hand how one man's stalking can cause pain not only to the two involved, but all others around them. The plot twists and turns a few times keeping the reader at the edge of their seat with every page. McEwan has developed an unbelievable cast of characters that are creepy as well as sad. This is one of McEwan's earlier works and I think one of his best. Overall, McEwan never lets me down as a reader and I highly recommend him to anyone who adores complex characters and exquisite language.

Carnegie Hall Podcasts

* I love to listen to music while I'm reading and stumbled upon this awesome series. Click on the title below and browse. Enjoy!

Sound Insights Carnegie Hall’s Podcast
Carnegie Hall presents the second season of Sound Insights, a podcast on music, music personalities, and, of course, Carnegie Hall.

Poetry & Music

*Click on the title below to read a great little article on music and poetry courtesy of Poets.org.

Parallel Lines and Power Chords:

A Meditative ABC on Rock & Roll and Poetic Composition
by Michael Morse

Chinua Achebe

The Town Hall is located at

123 West 43rd Street

New York, NY 10036

Feb 26 at 8 pm

PEN AMERICAN CENTER PRESENTS
A TRIBUTE TO CHINUA ACHEBE ON THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS NOVEL THINGS FALL APART

Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe is joined by Toni Morrison, Chris Abani, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Edwidge Danticat, Suheir Hammad, Ha Jin, and Colum McCann for this exciting anniversary tribute to Things Fall Apart (1958) -- one of the first African novels written in English to receive global critical acclaim. The evening features a special performance by the Francesca Harper Dance Project with dancers from the Alvin Ailey School. Presented in collaboration with Vintage Books.

The Greenwich Village Antiquarian Book Fair

29th GVABF February 22 - 24, 2008

where:

PS 3 is located in Greenwich Village at 490 Hudson Street

(between Christopher and Grove Streets)

Hours & Entrance Fee:

Friday: 6 - 9pm, $12.00

Saturday: 12 -5pm, $6.00

Sunday: 12 - 4pm, $4.00

The Greenwich Village Antiquarian Book Fair was started by PS 3 parents in 1980 as a fundraiser for the school. It has run every year since then and remains one of PS 3’s largest fundraisers. The fair is organized by parent volunteers and run by a combination of volunteers from the community of PS 3 parents, PS 3 alumni, PS 3 alumni parents, PS 3 teachers, and PS 3 administrators. All money earned from the fair goes to pay for our arts programs.

The Greenwich Village Antiquarian Book Fair brings more than 65 book dealers from all over the country with varied specialties.

Quotations

The Quotations Page is the oldest quotation site on the Web. Established in 1994, this site has over 26,000 quotations online from over 3,100 authors, and more are added daily. Very impressive and a must read for quote lovers.

Roald Dahl

*I do not care how old you are, you must visit The Official Roald Dahl website. I can't get enough of the Monthly Poll section.

My Hound

*Visit My Hound and they will track new releases & events for any author, actor or musician for FREE!

Part of the World

Part of the World
Robert Lopez

Review:

This is yet another Calamari Press title that caught my eye and was really worth the read. Part of the World is a rollercoaster of a ride, from start to finish. At first it seems like a simple storyline, but then the language becomes so familiar that you are bound to find yourself questioning what you just read. I found myself rereading pages and wondering how many times the same conversation took place in total. You have to read this book to decide if you are: a. losing your mind or b. the author is playing a sick trick on you. The word play and poetics of this piece make it all the while worth reading. I loved it and suggest you check out the Indie Press Series event at McNally Robinson Bookstore this Spring.

Indie Press Series: Calamari Press

when: Wednesday, Mar 26th - 7:00 PM

where: McNally Robinson Bookstore

52 Prince St. (between Lafayette and Mulberry)

New York, NY 10012

who: Robert Lopez, author of Part of the World

&

Miranda Mellis, author of The Revisionist

Children's Literature

*This is a very useful site with interesting Links and Book Lists from around the world. The site focuses on Children's Literature and Young Adult books.

The Children's Literature Web Guide

www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/

Sites for Writing

1. www.wga.org/
2. www.writersdigest.com/
3. www.nwprutgers.org/

*Here are three very good sites that I use for writing and teaching.
I have attended the Rutgers writing conference before and have found some great tips on the other sites.

C.S. Lewis

*Into the Wardrobe is a site dedicated to C.S. Lewis that has a really cool multimedia tab. The site is worth checking out, especially the images, audio files and the quote of the day. How cute is this vintage photo?

Swaptree

* What is Swaptree? A friend turned me onto this site and I love it! This is a place where you can trade books, music, dvds and video games that you own, for free. Yes, for free! Check out the link and start swapping. Enjoy!

Book Sites

* Here are a few sites that I have had bookmarked for some time now and have been meaning to share. Enjoy!

• http://barrelhousemag.com/
  
• http://nycip.wordpress.com/
  
• www.randomhouse.com/
  
• http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/
  
• www.readingonline.org/
  
• www.bookbrowse.com/
  
• www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/ttpbooks.html

Slaughterhouse Five

Rubin Museum of Art 150 West 17th Street, New York, NY 10011

WHEN: Friday, 2/22 9:30 p.m.

PRICE: FREE with a $7 bar minimum

Slaughterhouse Five is the award-winning 1972 film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's famous novel. It follows the novel's protagonist Billy Pilgrim, who becomes "unstuck in time" and experiences the events of his life in a seemingly random order, including a period spent on the alien planet of Tralfamadore. Introduced by philosopher J. David Velleman, who took part in BRAINWAVE's As Time Goes By discussion with Georges Dreyfus on February 3.

for more info: http://www.rmanyc.org/

Three Cups of Tea

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . .

One School at a Time
by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

Review:
My club met on Friday to discuss this book and it was a good read for all. In the past year, I have been reading many books on Pakistan and Afghanistan, but this adventure was very different from previous ones. The story is a simple one. Man hikes, man stumbles upon a small village, man builds a school, man is a hero. It is amazing the luck this man had throughout his lifetime and just how primitive of a lifestyle he led. The writing was very journalistic and wordy, not a page turner, but readable. Although, I struggled for the first 200 pages, I pushed through because I had to find out if Mortenson ever built the schools and how. A must read for all teachers and book lovers.

sites to check out:
www.davidoliverrelin.com/appearances.html
www.threecupsoftea.com/
Listen to Greg Mortenson talking about Three Cups Of Tea on BBC Radio 5 live
http://gregmortenson.blogspot.com/

Cannibal Books

*Here is a blog of interest, enjoy!

Cannibal Books
http://flesheatingpoems.blogspot.com/

Cannibel Books has three Journals to choose from and individual smaller books for sale at this site. Be sure to check out the Links section for other interesting sites to visit.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Again And Again, However We Know The Landscape Of Love

Rainer Maria Rilke

Translated by Stephen Mitchell

Again and again, however we know the landscape of love

and the little churchyard there, with its sorrowing names,

and the frighteningly silent abyss into which the others

fall: again and again the two of us walk out together

under the ancient trees, lie down again and again

among the flowers, face to face with the sky.

The Almost Moon

The Almost Moon: A Novel

by Alice Sebold

Review:

This is my first Alice Sebold novel and hopefully not my last. I know everyone and their mother has read The Lovely Bones , so I guess that will be my next book being that she only has three novels. This book was slightly disturbing and also predictable. It starts off with a bang and ends with a sigh. The narrator, Helen kills her mother and spends the next 24 hours trying to justify and come to grips with her decision. As a woman who has spent her whole life surrounded by lies, she feels she needs to come to closure with the reality of her family history/secrets and freely face the future ahead. Overall, this was a dark, twisted story that had a raw and slightly happy ending. Check out an excerpt from the book and the author's website below.
Chapter Excerpt: The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold
http://www.alicesebold.com/

Interview With Kerry Madden

*Thanks for the interview Kerry and I look forward to reading your upcoming pieces.

How many hours a day do you spend reading/writing?
I try to write while my kids are in school. I have also written in the car waiting for them outside one practice or another but mostly I work all day when the house is quiet. Once in a while, I go away to write, and that's the best of all - no distractions. I read at night...I read a lot...I read to my youngest daughter.

What inspires you to continue being a writer?

I don't have a choice. I get anxious when I'm not working on a story.

Why do you write children's books and not books for adults?

My first novel, OFFSIDES, was considered a book for adults, but I think it's also YA. I have written for adults, and my essays are certainly for adults too. But I found that with the Maggie Valley Trilogy, I wanted to escape back into the world of childhood and write about something I cared about - something that mattered. Before I wrote the first book, GENTLE'S HOLLER, I had fallen into a dark period of ghostwriting and health writing and shadow-soap writing. The lines I had to write like "My that bathrobe looks familiar were humiliating," so I decided to write about something I loved.

Do you think you will ever change audiences?
I will continue to write kids, but I'll also write for adults too.
Who is your favorite author and why? Which books have you read by them? Betty Smith was my favorite author as a young girl. I just loved her. I still do. A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN is a book I've read over and over. I also loved JOY IN THE MORNING. I loved Flannery O'Connor in college and read everything by her and even went on trips to Milledgeville. I tend to fall in love with authors and read everything by them...

If you could have been the author of any novel, which title would it be and why?

I wish I could write like Donna Tartt. I would have loved to have written THE LITTLE FRIEND, but I stand back in awe and admiration.

When you finish your latest project on Harper Lee, what will you tackle next?

A book about a boy called THE FIFTH GRADE LIFE OF JACK GETTLEFINGER.

What advice would you give anyone who wants to become a published author?Work hard, be disciplined, be focused. Treat it like a job. Be absolutely gracious and respectful of people in the business. Don't take no for an answer, but do take advice and feedback from trusted readers to make your revisions sing. Don't send your manuscript out too soon. Take joy in writing. Be protective of your writing time. Read everything...Brenda Ueland and Ralph Keyes wrote great books on writing. Be a good listener too...be aware. Notice things. Write them down.

Jessie's Mountain

JESSIE'S MOUNTAIN is coming on Valentine's Day, 2008. Viking Penguin Children's Books.

(The whole family got in on this one - daughter Lucy illustrated the birds in JESSIE'S MOUNTAIN, son Flannery edited the songs, and daughter, Norah, inspired the character of Caroline, the fairy child, and Kiffen, patient father and husband, grew up one of 13 children.)




BIOGRAPHY
Kerry Madden's debut children's novel, Gentle's Holler, (Viking, 2005) was released in Penguin Puffin paperback in 2007, received starred reviews in both Kirkus and Publisher's Weekly, and is the first in a trilogy of Smoky Mountain novels. Gentle's Holler was a New York and Chicago Public Library Pick and received a Mark Twain Nomination from Missouri, a Maine Student Book Award, and a Young Hoosiers Nominee from Indiana. Louisiana's Song (SCIBA and CYBILS Award Finalist) was published in 2007 and has been selected for the California Readers Collection for Middle Grade Fiction. Jessie's Mountain will be published on Valentine's in 2008 by Viking. She is currently working on a biography of Harper Lee for teens for Viking's UpClose Series. She may be reached at www.kerrymadden.com. She conducts writing workshops for kids of all ages across the country. She is also the author OFFSIDES, New York Public Library Pick for the Teenage in 1997 and WRITING SMARTS. (AMERICAN GIRL LIBRARY, 2002).

Splat!

SPLAT!

A Graphic Novel Symposium will take place on Saturday, March 15 at the New York Center of Independent Publishing (NYCIP) in Manhattan, with keynote speaker Scott McCloud .

The NYCIP is a non-profit educational program (part of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen) dedicated to promoting and supporting independent publishers across the United States.



visit the site for more info.
http://www.nycip.org/graphicnovelsymposium/

Book Videos

* Visit BookVideos.tv to see your favorite authors live. My favorite is the William Shatner link. He is so serious and funny at the same time. Enjoy!

The Arrival

The Arrival

by Shaun Tan

Review:

I often use picture books in my classroom to introduce new themes, yet lately I have been reading wordless books and finding them even more spectacular. The artwork in this book is so surreal and mystical, that you forget the words are missing. It's the graphics that pull you in, not cartoons. This is a great adventure into the dreams and imagination of the immigrant. It is at times a scary, magical and fantastical experience.

POETS @ ZieherSmith

ZieherSmith is hosting an exhibit co-curated with Alice Quinn of the Poetry Society of America, POETS. This is an exhibition of artwork in a range of materials by six pre-eminent American poets. A.R. Ammons, John Ashbery, Star Black, Joe Brainard, Mark Strand and Marjorie Welish. A must see for Poetry lovers.

Post Road Magazine

*Post Road Magazine is a great little website that offers some really cool writing online without a subscription. Check it out for criticisms, poetry, theatre, art, fiction/non, recommendations, etcetera. If you like what you read, you can pick up a subscription right off the site.

Brooklyn Reading Works

Brooklyn Reading Works is a cool blog to check out if you frequent the Brooklyn area. Enjoy!

The journal devoted exclusively to the creative nonfiction genre

*Great site, you have to check out.

Creative Nonfiction was the first and is still the largest literary magazine to publish, on a regular basis, high quality nonfiction prose—memoir, literary journalism, personal essay—exclusively. CNF is the singular strongest voice of the genre, defining the ethics and the parameters of the field while broadening its impact through ancillary services and activities such as book series, conferences, education programs and the development of new writers.

Colson Whitehead @ Pianos, NYC

Here is a dark photo from the Pianos/One Story event.

Colson Whitehead

I went to Pianos last night and heard Colson Whitehead read some of his literature at a party hosted by One Story. Here is a small video of the event. The view isn't that good, but you can still hear his voice loud and clear. Enjoy!

One Story

One Story is a non-profit literary magazine that features one great short story mailed to subscribers every three weeks. Our mission is to save the short story by publishing in a friendly format that allows readers to experience each story as a stand-alone work of art and a simple form of entertainment. One Story is designed to fit into your purse or pocket, and into your life.

The One Story Cocktail Hour & Reading Series is a chance for One Story readers and One Story writers to meet, enjoy a cocktail, and mingle in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere. Part private party, part showcase. And just like One Story magazine, one author has the chance to take the spotlight.The night's reader will choose their FAVORITE COCKTAIL and this FAVORITE COCKTAIL will be sold at a fair and reduced price from 6:30pm until 8:00pm.All of this will take place at Pianos, which is located at 158 Ludlow St. at Stanton St. on the Lower East Side NYC.

February 8, 2008
Colson Whitehead
Colson Whitehead is the author of three novels, The Intuitionist, JohnHenry Days (which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), and ApexHides the Hurt, as well as a collection of essays, The Colossus of NewYork. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Granta, Harper'sand New York Magazine. He is currently a fellow at the Cullman Centerfor Scholars and Writers.

DMZ

DMZ VOL. 1: ON THE GROUND

Written by Brian Wood;

Art by Wood and Riccardo Burchielli;

Cover by Wood

The setting is New York City in the near future. A civil war is taking place between the United States of American and the Free States. The Free States are described in the first issue as being "New Jersey and inland"; in issue #8, it is revealed that "the Free States are an idea, not a geographical entity"; the movement began in Montana and made its way east. The Free Armies and the U.S. military met at Allentown, Pennsylvania where both sides decided that they did not want to fight, after which the Free Armies descended on New York; the exact chain of events from hereon has yet to be revealed. taken from: Wikipedia

Never Argue with a Woman

This joke came from Karla, a fellow reader, thanks.

Never Argue with a Woman...

One morning the husband returns after several hours of fishing and decides to take a nap.

Although not familiar with the lake, the wife decides to take the boat out. She motors out a short distance, anchors, and reads her book.

Along comes a Game Warden in his boat. He pulls up alongside the woman and says, "Good morning, Ma'am. What are you doing?"

"Reading a book," she replies, (thinking, Isn't that obvious?) "You're in a Restricted Fishing Area," he informs her. “I'm sorry, officer, but I'm not fishing. I'm reading."

"Yes, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment. I'll have to take you in and write you up."

"If you do that, I'll have to charge you with sexual assault," says the woman.

"But I haven't even touched you," says the game warden.

"That's true, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment."

"Have a nice day ma'am," and he left.

MORAL: Never argue with a woman who reads. It's likely she can also think.