8.31.2008
Man, I can dig tropical, but this is out of bounds
One of these days - when I have a little money for redecorating, and when I can get rid of some of the office equipment in our bedroom - I'm going to do the room over with a vintage tropical look (if there is such a thing) and hang the prints.
I'd also like to someday have a room where I can decorate like they do at Barnes & Noble. Not that I love the Barnes & Noble décor, but I mean they have those huge prints of dust jacket art hanging around on the walls, and I'd like to do the same kind of thing, only maybe not quite as huge. And I'd like to do it with dust jackets from books with a tropical or Polynesian theme. Here are some of my options (but you have to imagine that these would be prints of the dust jackets, and not the actual dust jackets with the creases and chips):
1. This is the cover to a book by one of my favorite authors, James Norman Hall, and his partner Charles Nordhoff. I really like that it's a silhouette and I like the palm trees and the water, but I wish it was a little more colorful.
2. I picked this one partly because I like Hall's stories in the book and partly because it has that little boat with the ricki-tickin' striped sail on the cover, but I'm not sure I'd actually use it. It seems a little washed out, but that may just be because the dj is over 50 years old. (Kind of like me.)
3. Another book by Hall and Nordhoff. The colors are great in this one. I just wish the dude was wearing a cooler swimsuit. And looked more natural. I wonder if his stiffness is a subtle hint to the fact that he's [spoiler alert] dead at the end of the book.
4. Yet another Hall and Nordhoff book cover. This one doesn't actually look very tropical, in the sense that you usually associate the tropics with serene lagoons fringed with palms whose leaves are swaying gently in the trade breeze, and not with people clinging for life to a denuded tree while all their friends who took refuge in the church in the near distance are in the process of being wiped out. But I like N C Wyeth's book illustrations in general, and this one in particular.
5. I'm also not sure about this next one. The artwork is a little simplistic looking, and it needs a bit of red or orange or something in it. Also, there are parts of this book that I find a little disturbing. That probably shouldn't matter, but I can't help associating the insides with the outsides. Every time I looked at it, I'd remember the creepiness.
6. I haven't even read this book - mostly because I don't own it, which makes me sad for more reasons than one - but I don't care. I really like the cover. This one is a definite yes.
7. As is this one (which I also don't own). By the way, did you know that first editions of Robert Dean Frisbie's books are very, very expensive? Just thought I'd share that bit of information with you.
8. I included this one mostly because of the title, and not so much because of the artwork, which is interesting, but not tropical-looking enough for me. Also, I have the same problem with this book that I do with Born in Paradise: certain of the stories really irritate me. For instance, I can't stand Lt Cable. More like Lt Faible. So, I don't know about this one.
The last two are not book covers, but they're so beautiful I would use them anyway. The first one is a magazine cover from some time in the 1930s, I believe.
This last one was I think a travel poster, but it might be another magazine cover. Now there's a cool swimsuit!
8.22.2008
I am not the type to faint when things are odd or things are quaint
I have a favorite new author – Connie Willis, who writes SF books, mostly on the soft side of SF. She’s been publishing since the late 1970s, but I barely started reading her books last March. Although it causes me chagrin, it doesn’t really surprise me: I am frequently a bit en retarde when it comes to trying good things. For instance, I didn’t even start watching The X-Files until after season 5.
Then it took me about four months to find another one of her books. I don’t like to buy books new unless they actually are new, and even then not in paperback. I might be forced by circumstances to pay $4.49 for a gallon of gas, but I draw the line at paying $6.99 or more for a paperback book. So I had to wait until another one of her books and I came into close proximity. This happened in July when, since we happened to be in
To Say Nothing of the Dog is one of the most delightful books I’ve ever read. It's another time travel book, this time dealing with chaos theory and the effectiveness or lack thereof of human effort in making a difference. It's also hilarious. It immediately took its place in my Top Favorites. Of course, the next step after declaring it one my Favorites was to acquire a hardcover first edition copy. In some ways, that’s a little easier than just trying to find any old copy at a used bookstore, especially when humongous used bookstores are going out of business left and right (except Powell’s), because you just go to e-Bay. Of course, going to e-Bay also takes all the fun out of the search. If I had many months or even a year to find the book I wanted, I would avoid e-Bay and extend my search to other towns and other states. But now I was on a schedule . . . for Connie Willis was going to be appearing at Comic-Con in
If you know anything about comic book conventions, you know they are usually extremely crowded with extremely oddly dressed and sometimes scary people milling about. But I was willing to brave that and more in order to get Connie Willis’ signature on my books.
Buying a hardcover first edition of a popular and award-winning title that was originally published ten years ago means you kind of have to ignore the prices at the pump. It also makes you wish you had been paying more attention to the world around you and not waited until season 7 to start watching Stargate SG-1.
Taking the train also gives one an opportunity for meeting people and passing the time in pleasant conversation. Well, if you know anything about me, you know that’s usually a massive joke, but I have been known to engage in pleasant conversation when my co-conversationalist is on the garrulous side. I went to the Con on Thursday and Friday, and both times I met interesting people. On the way down on Thursday, I sat next to a young Marine from
The second panel was just Connie Willis.
She talked a bit about herself and her work, why she chose some of the topics that she did, and what she had forthcoming. She was very funny and it was very interesting. She went on a bit about her belief of what happens to us when we die (someone had asked a question about her book Passage, which is about a couple of doctors trying to find out the causes of near-death experiences).
I wish I could’ve asked her a few clarifying questions about that, because I think I totally disagree with her, but it would have led to tangents unwelcome to the rest of the audience.
While she signed the books, she talked a bit about how exciting it is to find a new author. She mentioned that she had recently started reading E F Benson’s Mapp and Lucia books and tried to pace herself (there are six of them), but ended up reading right through them. All in all, she made me feel very much at ease, which I really appreciated. I hate feeling like a fan, even though I am one.
While I'm in