It’s Thursday morning but both Frans and I, randomly, have the day off. I’m having tea in the living room with my laptop, listening to the guy who cleans the yard crash around outside and mumble to himself. I think he’s mumbling obscenities, but I can never quite make them out. Frans is still in bed – for him, it is a borderline miracle to still be asleep at 9am, so I’m going to leave him alone as long as I can. Given the opportunity, I think I could sleep for about three days straight with no problem, but he’s usually awake by 6. Not always bright-eyed and/or bushy-tailed, but once his brain starts rolling it’s nearly impossible for him to fall back asleep.
Enough about sleeping habits. This is supposed to be a post about books. Without further ado, then, my current thoughts on books:
- I’m really enjoying Nigel Beale’s blog. Books, photos, musings, interviews. Unfortunately the photos don’t come through in the RSS feed (at least not on Google Reader) but it’s nice to pop over and browse the actual blog once in a while.
- And have I mentioned I LOVE Open Letter Books? Not just because they publish and write about great books, but also because they’ve sent me TWO freebies already. I just received Jerzy Pilch’s The Mighty Angel in the mail as a result of a giveaway on Facebook. How cool is that? I’m looking forward to reading it, but might save it for the Midwest Trip in July and focus on library books for the next two weeks.
- Words Without Borders is also fantastic. I’m halfway through their Pakistan issue, wishing they published a print version just so I could have a hard copy (yes, I know I COULD print them out myself). They also talk about extremely interesting things on their blog – for example, the fact that Dover has just published Emily Ruete’s Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar, which was originally published in German in 1886 and is apparently the first (auto?)biography ever of an Arab woman. Yes, I want a copy. Now.
- Ooh, what else? How about this: Tony (of Steph & Tony Investigate) has written an awesome review of Angels and Demons (the movie), which includes an evaluation of Tom Hank’s hair. I’m sure I’ll see the movie someday, but between their review and Bob Mondello’s review on NPR, I’m certainly not going to pay theater prices for it. As I’ve told my sister more than once: “Dan Brown? Don’t get me started on Dan Brown.” And then I roll my eyes dramatically. For effect, you know?
- One last thing, as this is getting pretty long. I just got a copy of Nadeem Aslam’s Maps for Lost Lovers from the library – I had requested it after reading an interview with Aslam in the Asia Literary Review. I’m loving the book so far – it’s about a Pakistani immigrant community in England and is beautifully written.
I think that’s all for now, as far as books are concerned. Frans is awake and it’s time for breakfast on our newly-rejuvenated back patio.
Thanks for the plug! I guess we took a bullet so no one else would have to in this case. The NPR review is spot-on. Let me just say that I think it’s likely that Hanks’ hair is second only in awesome terribleness to Nicolas Cage’s all and sundry mullet/pompadour variations.
Also, on reading your front page, and the post after this one, I see that we are in somewhat related professions (and that we have the same laptop – spooky :) ), as I do a lot of graphic/exhibit design for museums and work with people who do what you do (and things similar) all the time, mainly through the National Park Service. In fact, we are bidding on a huge park service job in Hawai’i as I speak.
Yes Emily. Thanks very much for the kind words!
re: your post: You might be interested in listening to interviews with Open Letter’s Chad Post, and Nadeem Aslam over at my site, if you haven’t already done so.
Tony – Cool to meet someone else in the museum/digital “stuff” field! What sort of park service job are you bidding on?
Nigel – Thank you – I will definitely check out those two interviews.