One of my favorite books is Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden. I've read it many times, but the first time, I borrowed it from a friend in the third grade. She had a hardcover edition that was oversized. The cover shows us Mary in a yellow coat looking over her shoulder while pulling back a wall of ivy. I remember resting it on my lap while I read it. It had heft and weight and smelled of paper and ink and a little of my friend's house. Even now, though I don't have a copy of that exact edition, it's part of how the story lives in my mind whenever I think of it or reread it.
And I thought of that reading experience this weekend after walking through some of the exhibits at the Morgan Library. The museum has a fantastic, if small, exhibit on Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, which includes original art and handwritten original manuscripts. (Undeniably amazing.) But it also has a Gutenberg Bible, letters and original manuscript pages from the likes of Dickens, Eliot, and Hemingway, and a number of illuminated prayer books and bibles. At the end of the summer, I also went to an illuminated manuscript exhibit at the Met which blew my mind a little bit.
Standing in front of a book that's a thousand years old--a thousand years old--with an eReader and a blackberry in my bag made my brain want to implode. That's a millenia of ways to read all within a few square feet. And those centuries-old books are so full of craft. People spent years and years perfecting their skills to make those books. The calligraphy, the artwork, the bookbinding, papermaking . . . it's a work of art. One that you can tell a person, or many people, put care and attention and love into. All books are works of art, even today. Care goes into the choosing of typeface, the layout, design, presentation. Every single detail is taken into account.
The lack of physical presence is one of my worries about ebooks. And that's not to say that I don't like ebooks, or digital books, or whatever is currently developing. I think it's exciting and interesting and part of the future of reading. But have we figured out the craft of creating them yet? Right now, they seem more about convenience and availability, not design or art. A good story is a good story no matter how it's presented, but a good package makes the reading experience even better. None of the digital readers are what I'd call beautiful yet. (Ok, maybe the iPhone is the exception here.) But I think we'll get there, so that reading a digital book has the same physical presence, evokes the same sensory memory that reading The Secret Garden--and so many other books--has always had for me.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Big City, Small World
The first year I lived in the city, whenever I went back to my small Pennsylvania hometown for the holidays, I would hear from high school classmates, “Didn’t you move somewhere crazy?”
On one hand, sure, I guess I did. I got run into by an old man in a wheelchair the other day (being pushed by a teenager) while I was standing perfectly still on a street corner. Which is only the most recent in strange things that have happened in the last eight years--and one of the most mild.
But New York, and especially Brooklyn, most of the time feel even smaller than my hometown. Even though there are millions of people in this city, and even though I see so many different ones every single day, I also see familiar faces. I can get on the subway and it’s not all that unusual for one of my best friends to get on the same car. Walking from one of my favorite indie bookstores to the B&N down the street, recently, I ran into another friend and we stopped to talk books and art until we both got too cold. And, of course, children’s publishing is an even smaller world, where everyone knows everyone, and you’re never at an event by yourself. Occasionally even when that event has no relation to publishing (but of course everything to do with good taste).
I always get a warm glow when I run into someone I know. It leaves me smiling. Seeing friends when you expect them and when you least expect them makes this vast city cozy. And surprising, and familiar, and, yes, strange. And it makes it home.
Cue Cheers theme song.
On one hand, sure, I guess I did. I got run into by an old man in a wheelchair the other day (being pushed by a teenager) while I was standing perfectly still on a street corner. Which is only the most recent in strange things that have happened in the last eight years--and one of the most mild.
But New York, and especially Brooklyn, most of the time feel even smaller than my hometown. Even though there are millions of people in this city, and even though I see so many different ones every single day, I also see familiar faces. I can get on the subway and it’s not all that unusual for one of my best friends to get on the same car. Walking from one of my favorite indie bookstores to the B&N down the street, recently, I ran into another friend and we stopped to talk books and art until we both got too cold. And, of course, children’s publishing is an even smaller world, where everyone knows everyone, and you’re never at an event by yourself. Occasionally even when that event has no relation to publishing (but of course everything to do with good taste).
I always get a warm glow when I run into someone I know. It leaves me smiling. Seeing friends when you expect them and when you least expect them makes this vast city cozy. And surprising, and familiar, and, yes, strange. And it makes it home.
Cue Cheers theme song.
Monday, September 21, 2009
With a Little Help from My Friends
"A friend is one who walks in when everyone else walks out."
"Understand that happiness is not based on possessions, power, or prestige, but on relationships with people you love and respect."
"Wherever you are, it is your friends who make your world."
"A best friend, in my opinion, is someone who you can be foolish in front of, you know, be yourself."
"We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can hope to find in our travels is an honest friend." -Robert Louis Stevenson
" 'You have been my friends,' replied Charlotte. 'That in itself is a tremendous thing.'" --E. B. White, Charlotte's Web
"To let friendship die away by negligence and silence is certainly not wise." --Samuel Johnson
"What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies." --Aristotle
"The greatest happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved--loved for ourselves, or rather, in spite of ourselves." --Victor Hugo
"Friends may change and friendships evolve, but they never truly end because they are not merely the destinations of a passing moment but the journeys of a lifetime."
"A friend is a person who reaches for your hand and touches your soul."
"Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget."
"There are not many things in life so beautiful as true friendship, and not many things more uncommon."
"I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don't believe I deserved my friends." --Walt Whitman
"The making of friends, who are real friends, is the best token we have of a man's success in life." --Edward Everett Hale
"I do not wish to treat friendships daintily, but with roughest courage. When the are real, they are not glass threads or frost-work, but the solidest thing we know." --Emerson
"Nothing makes the earth seems so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and the longitudes." --Thoreau
"It is the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter." --Marlene Dietrich
"My God, this is a hell of a job. I have no trouble with my enemies. I can take care of my enemies all right. But my damn friends, my goddamn friends. They're the ones that keep me walking the floor at night." --Warren G. Harding
"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked." --Bernard Meltzer
"If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friends, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country." --E. M. Forster
"Two persons cannot long be friends if they cannot forgive each other's little failings." --Jean de la Bruyere
"Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It's not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything." --Mohammed Ali
"The most beautiful discover true friends can make is that they can grow separately without growing apart."
"People say true friends must always hold hands, but true friends don't need to hold hands because they know the other hand will always be there."
"Friendship is certainly the balm for the pangs of disappointed love." --Jane Austen
"Meaning that if someone is really close with you, your getting upset or them getting upset is okay, and they don't change because of it. It's just part of the relationship. It happens. You deal with it." --Sarah Dessen, Just Listen
"It struck her that she was very lucky in her life's people." --Kristin Cashore, Fire
"Understand that happiness is not based on possessions, power, or prestige, but on relationships with people you love and respect."
"Wherever you are, it is your friends who make your world."
"A best friend, in my opinion, is someone who you can be foolish in front of, you know, be yourself."
"We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can hope to find in our travels is an honest friend." -Robert Louis Stevenson
" 'You have been my friends,' replied Charlotte. 'That in itself is a tremendous thing.'" --E. B. White, Charlotte's Web
"To let friendship die away by negligence and silence is certainly not wise." --Samuel Johnson
"What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies." --Aristotle
"The greatest happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved--loved for ourselves, or rather, in spite of ourselves." --Victor Hugo
"Friends may change and friendships evolve, but they never truly end because they are not merely the destinations of a passing moment but the journeys of a lifetime."
"A friend is a person who reaches for your hand and touches your soul."
"Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget."
"There are not many things in life so beautiful as true friendship, and not many things more uncommon."
"I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don't believe I deserved my friends." --Walt Whitman
"The making of friends, who are real friends, is the best token we have of a man's success in life." --Edward Everett Hale
"I do not wish to treat friendships daintily, but with roughest courage. When the are real, they are not glass threads or frost-work, but the solidest thing we know." --Emerson
"Nothing makes the earth seems so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and the longitudes." --Thoreau
"It is the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter." --Marlene Dietrich
"My God, this is a hell of a job. I have no trouble with my enemies. I can take care of my enemies all right. But my damn friends, my goddamn friends. They're the ones that keep me walking the floor at night." --Warren G. Harding
"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked." --Bernard Meltzer
"If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friends, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country." --E. M. Forster
"Two persons cannot long be friends if they cannot forgive each other's little failings." --Jean de la Bruyere
"Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It's not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything." --Mohammed Ali
"The most beautiful discover true friends can make is that they can grow separately without growing apart."
"People say true friends must always hold hands, but true friends don't need to hold hands because they know the other hand will always be there."
"Friendship is certainly the balm for the pangs of disappointed love." --Jane Austen
"Meaning that if someone is really close with you, your getting upset or them getting upset is okay, and they don't change because of it. It's just part of the relationship. It happens. You deal with it." --Sarah Dessen, Just Listen
"It struck her that she was very lucky in her life's people." --Kristin Cashore, Fire
Monday, September 7, 2009
I <3 NY
NYC is not an easy place to live. The rent is high, the crowds are thick, the subways are stinky, the greenery is sparse. It's easy to find things to complain about. But when you love it, you really love it. I had one of those weekends.
I went to the US Open for the first time on Thursday night, which was so much fun. A perfect late summer evening, quality time with my sister, a full moon, and seeing the last set from four rows back because the match ended so late. Going home I had train issues that could have made me hate the city. When I tried to make the connection to my train, it was not stopping at that station, you see. So I would have had to go in the opposite direction for a stop and then switch. At 1:30 in the morning. Instead, I went out to the street and got a cab--which is a treat for me. Riding over the Brooklyn Bridge and along the BQE, looking out at the city's lights with the windows down, was the perfect end to an already great night.
Other things that I <3-ed about NYC this weekend:
* reading in the sunshine on the Brooklyn Promenade
* the Cyclone
* Nathan's fries
* fantastic fireworks over the boardwalk at Coney Island
* lots of guacamole with friends
* Prospect Park
* the full moon
* the feeling of autumn in the air
* friends
* hearing one of my favorite albums wafting out a window down the block when I walked by
* and literally as I typed the last, a FIREWORK went off outside my window!
I went to the US Open for the first time on Thursday night, which was so much fun. A perfect late summer evening, quality time with my sister, a full moon, and seeing the last set from four rows back because the match ended so late. Going home I had train issues that could have made me hate the city. When I tried to make the connection to my train, it was not stopping at that station, you see. So I would have had to go in the opposite direction for a stop and then switch. At 1:30 in the morning. Instead, I went out to the street and got a cab--which is a treat for me. Riding over the Brooklyn Bridge and along the BQE, looking out at the city's lights with the windows down, was the perfect end to an already great night.
Other things that I <3-ed about NYC this weekend:
* reading in the sunshine on the Brooklyn Promenade
* the Cyclone
* Nathan's fries
* fantastic fireworks over the boardwalk at Coney Island
* lots of guacamole with friends
* Prospect Park
* the full moon
* the feeling of autumn in the air
* friends
* hearing one of my favorite albums wafting out a window down the block when I walked by
* and literally as I typed the last, a FIREWORK went off outside my window!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
A Decade's Worth of Random Thoughts
Two days ago, I opened up the little black moleskine I keep in my purse to make a note, and realized I had only one page left. I bought this moleskine just before I left for my junior year abroad . . . almost exactly ten years ago. And it's one of the things, along with my wallet, keys, and a pen, that I always make sure I have with me before leaving the house.
Reaching the end made me stop to think about everything that has happened in life since I first cracked it open: the year studying in England, my first broken heart, graduating from college, moving to NYC to start my career, family dramas, world dramas, friends made and lost, apartment hunting and moving, books read, re-read, loved, recommended, or abandoned, discoveries of all kinds, friends and family members' weddings & babies. Basically, the period of life in which I grew up. It's neat to compare what's written here with the journals I've kept during the last ten years, too. There's a lot of telling in the journals, but the random snippets from the moleskine are just as revealing and memory-triggering. It's full of notes from talks I've gone to, brainstorming for talks I've given, lines from articles or books I like, funny things friends have said, t-shirt ideas, lines of poetry (most of which never became anything more than that), illustrators I like, authors I want to read, shopping lists, and other random thoughts and observations.
Here are just a few:
words I like: chthonic, tiptoe, lamppost, unfurled
the curl of pianist's back
open by chance or appointment
Umberto Eco: "'who dunnit?' is a theological question"
things i don’t have keys to
Ira Glass: "notice the people who won’t go away"
grocery list: milk, butter, eggs, whipping cream, raspberries, dark chocolate
shopping list: shelves, hammock stand, pillows
Friend: “I don’t like worms, but leeches concern me.”
At final Harry Potter book street party at Scholastic:
Woman 1: "So what’s going on here besides the book releasing?"
Woman 2: "Oh, the book releasing. That explains the capes."
How do you share ebooks? If one sibling finishes book and starts another, how do you pass the finished one to other kid?
Reaching the end made me stop to think about everything that has happened in life since I first cracked it open: the year studying in England, my first broken heart, graduating from college, moving to NYC to start my career, family dramas, world dramas, friends made and lost, apartment hunting and moving, books read, re-read, loved, recommended, or abandoned, discoveries of all kinds, friends and family members' weddings & babies. Basically, the period of life in which I grew up. It's neat to compare what's written here with the journals I've kept during the last ten years, too. There's a lot of telling in the journals, but the random snippets from the moleskine are just as revealing and memory-triggering. It's full of notes from talks I've gone to, brainstorming for talks I've given, lines from articles or books I like, funny things friends have said, t-shirt ideas, lines of poetry (most of which never became anything more than that), illustrators I like, authors I want to read, shopping lists, and other random thoughts and observations.
Here are just a few:
words I like: chthonic, tiptoe, lamppost, unfurled
the curl of pianist's back
open by chance or appointment
Umberto Eco: "'who dunnit?' is a theological question"
things i don’t have keys to
Ira Glass: "notice the people who won’t go away"
grocery list: milk, butter, eggs, whipping cream, raspberries, dark chocolate
shopping list: shelves, hammock stand, pillows
Friend: “I don’t like worms, but leeches concern me.”
At final Harry Potter book street party at Scholastic:
Woman 1: "So what’s going on here besides the book releasing?"
Woman 2: "Oh, the book releasing. That explains the capes."
How do you share ebooks? If one sibling finishes book and starts another, how do you pass the finished one to other kid?
Monday, August 3, 2009
Why we do what we do
I read Neil Gaiman's Newbery acceptance speech (in the latest Horn Book) over lunch today, and, as Newbery acceptances always do, it made me a little teary. In a good, "wow I'm so overcome with happiness that books mean so much to people and we get to give medals to writers" way.
And this bit from the very end hits poignantly on the sentiment that makes me feel sure that, however much publishing and books may change with the advances of technology, they'll always be needed.
And this bit from the very end hits poignantly on the sentiment that makes me feel sure that, however much publishing and books may change with the advances of technology, they'll always be needed.
"We who make stories know that we tell lies for a living. But they are good lies that say true things, and we owe it to our readers to build them as best we can. Because somewhere out there is someone who needs that story. Someone who will grow up with a different landscape, who without that story will be a different person. And who with that story may have hope, or wisdom, or kindness, or comfort.
And that is why we write."
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Summer Soundtrack '09
It seems that making mixes is summery thing for me. Here's this year's. Some new bands I've been listening to over the past few months, but also some favorite gems, which I feel are important in any mix.
1. "Be OK" / Ingrid Michaelson
2. "Wake Up" / Arcade Fire
I haven't been able to get it out of my head since the Where the Wild Things Are trailer!
3. "Since U Been Gone" / Ted Leo's cover
4. "Keep Yourself Warm" / Frightened Rabbit
5. "The Ancient Commonsense of Things" / Bishop Allen
6. "Icarus" / Jason Webley
Jason Webley's show earlier this year was one of the best concerts I've been to in years.
7. "Island Garden Song" / The Mountain Goats
8. "Ceremony" / New Order
9. "Billie Jean" / Michael Jackson
I just can't get it out of my head!!!!
10. "Jai Ho" / A. R. Rahman
11. "Wish It Well" / Dead Heart Bloom
12. "Look at Miss Ohio" / Gillian Welch
13. "The Crane Wife 3" / The Decembrists
14. "King of Carrot Flowers Part 1" / Neutral Milk Hotel
15. "King of Carrot Flowers Part 2" / Neutral Milk Hotel
16. "Poses" / Rufus Wainwright
17. "Old Old Fashioned" / Frightened Rabbit
18. "Black Star" / Gillian Welch's cover
19. "Days with You" / Jason Webley with Sxip Shirey
20. "15 Step" / Radiohead
21. "Martha" / Tom Waits
What? It's a good song!
1. "Be OK" / Ingrid Michaelson
2. "Wake Up" / Arcade Fire
I haven't been able to get it out of my head since the Where the Wild Things Are trailer!
3. "Since U Been Gone" / Ted Leo's cover
4. "Keep Yourself Warm" / Frightened Rabbit
5. "The Ancient Commonsense of Things" / Bishop Allen
6. "Icarus" / Jason Webley
Jason Webley's show earlier this year was one of the best concerts I've been to in years.
7. "Island Garden Song" / The Mountain Goats
8. "Ceremony" / New Order
9. "Billie Jean" / Michael Jackson
I just can't get it out of my head!!!!
10. "Jai Ho" / A. R. Rahman
11. "Wish It Well" / Dead Heart Bloom
12. "Look at Miss Ohio" / Gillian Welch
13. "The Crane Wife 3" / The Decembrists
14. "King of Carrot Flowers Part 1" / Neutral Milk Hotel
15. "King of Carrot Flowers Part 2" / Neutral Milk Hotel
16. "Poses" / Rufus Wainwright
17. "Old Old Fashioned" / Frightened Rabbit
18. "Black Star" / Gillian Welch's cover
19. "Days with You" / Jason Webley with Sxip Shirey
20. "15 Step" / Radiohead
21. "Martha" / Tom Waits
What? It's a good song!
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