Winter Reading

If you can steal some moments away to read but have finished a book & are flipping through the same 3 magazines, or are at home & can't get out to the library or bookstore, I have a few links. I remember being on more than one trip & in the same situation & not even close to an inadequate newsstand.

Lori of automatism has a good label, magazines + newspapers (& she always has beautiful photographs to share). Poets & Writers magazine's annual Inspiration issue arrived yesterday. I've not had a moment to open it, but it usually lives up to its title. The New Yorker always has good features accessible to non-subscribers, though it's not the same if you don't subscribe. The Guardian has an excellent book site, including links for children & teens, suggestions for seasonal reading.

If you enjoy poetry, The Poetry Foundation's website is excellent with many searchable features. Here's The New York Review of Books (I am only 3 issues behind, ahem). To round off the New York pubs, here's New York magazine which is always amusing. And if you miss Frank Rich in the Times, remember, he moved to NY magazine. Here's his latest column: The Molotov Party. Even if you don't live in the States, you should read it. Make that, especially if you don't live here, you should read it.

I need to finish reading a manuscript but picking it up just before I go to sleep has not been a good idea (& it is a good story). So off to read today. If you've something to recommend, please do. I love having lists to take to the library, bookstore, & newsstand & not just the end-of-the year lists by The New York Times (though theirs is always good).

I'll be back for New Year's Eve. Cheers everyone!

(Woman Reading by Gabriel Ferrier via Art Inconnu)

Reading Tolstoy

You will not hear me grousing about the holiday season. I like to make the best of it. Those who go full-Scrooge seem to think they're original, even witty. (Oy) If you are active on Twitter &/or Facebook, the double-dose of Bah humbug is wearying - & it's only December 1.

Instead, I'm mixing it up with planning outings with friends, solo outings, movies, & reading that feels like a project, but in a good way. This translation of Anna Karenina was a revelation to many, including me, in 2001. It's time to move on to War & Peace; this will be made more enjoyable by checking in with C.M. Mayo's Reading War & Peace & following her links. She's a terrific writer (& teacher) who lives here in Washington, DC (when she's not in Mexico). She's also a very generous blogger.

Now go get that poinsettia or start collecting the spices you need for cookies or mulled wine or decide on a new calendar (there are sales already) or string some fairy lights around a window or mirror. Or take a walk to the library. On the way, buy a toy & take it to the holiday toy collection for a child in need. Cheers!

(Woman Reading by Alexander Deineka)

Week's End - Fiammetta

It's too soon for autumn leaves but the photograph reminds me of fiammetta - little flame. Or, if you want to be picky about it, fiammette (plural, I am assuming & I'm not checking my dictionary. Correct me, I don't mind at all.) I've been reading Boccaccio via Keats (Isabella and the Pot of Basil). I was vaguely aware that Bocaccio was another Italian inspired by a woman who didn't look at him twice. (Petrarch, too.)

This past spring, I won La Bella Lingua by Dianne Hales from Michelle Fabio's Bleeding Espresso. Dianne wrote a charming chapter on Italian's Literary Lions. As soon as I read, "For years I barely glanced at the white marble busts of Italy's grandi that line the shady paths of Rome's Pincio, the gardens above the Piazza del Popolo," I thought/yelled "I noticed!" But Dianne was doing something I have never done in Rome--jogged. I salute her - it's a great place to run.

I'm in more fragile health & feeling Keats-y, so if there today, I'd be walking by that gorgeous view & sighing. Mainly about the horrible news from Italy & France that Roma are being treated worse than usual. I'm beyond upset. (You just knew I'd turn this into something sad, right? An editor once said to me...you turn a lovely poem into the apocalypse every damn time. Crikey. -- he was English. Then he went on to say something rude about melancholic Welsh ethnic stuff. Harumph.)

Where are the writers, the artists, the poets, the philosophers? (They are actually still valued in some fashion in Europe, unlike here in America.) Well, there are protests, yes. I'll find individual names as soon as I post this. But Italy. France. Shame. Your noble pasts will be so much cold marble statuary lining grand avenues if you continue this outrage. We'll leave WWII out of this, ahem, for now. (I'm talking to you, too, Hungary.) Scapegoats. Remind you of anything? Suddenly, flaming red maples, little flames licking at the blue sky don't seem so innocent.

Apologies to Dianne, for using her charming love letter to Italian in this manner. I did not plan it (obviously, or I'd taken more care with grammar). But that's it; I can't do much more today or the rest of the weekend. Here's where you can buy it (& visit Dianne). I definitely recommend it. This know-it-all didn't know most of it (so far). Giulia Geranium is supposed to start again on Tuesday; but I'm postponing it until I see friends off to Sudan next Sunday.

(The beautiful Jen Gotch photograph via Joanna Goddard's Cup of Jo)

La Grotta Azzurra

Here's an article I missed when first published in The Guardian, about a favorite writer, Shirley Hazzard, who is (or was in 2006) living part-time in Italy (again). This time on Capri. It's always been the south for her & her late genius husband, Francis Steegmuller, another favorite. For that alone--diluting the Tuscany-festish--I salute them. Hazzard's memoir Greene on Capri is compressed & in crystalline prose, as always. The photochrom travel series from the Library of Congress is lovely & public domain, so give it a visit & post some of their images if it suits. There are two images on Julie's site today from Capri, as well. A hat tip to the LOC; their blog is in the right sidebar under writers, readers.

No hat tip to the Azzurri - they couldn't stop an admittedly terrific & determined Kiwi team. Congratulations to friends in Welly. I'm making myself sick by being such a good sport. In fact, I am not very well & will be putting up a postal break soon. Cheers.

On the Phone - Charmed, I'm Sure

I will call, just a moment. Keep repeating to self: Go to the party, you idiot cow. What is wrong with you?" Oh, I should be kinder to self? As in, I never speak to people the way I speak to myself. Right. What could be so scary? You've done this most of your life. Why didn't I read the book beforehand? Shall not pretend to have done so. Shall remain calm in manner of Bridget...oh no, that wasn't charming. Funny, yes. Goal: no funny business (tonight). Especially no unintentional slapstick. No, you absolutely cannot go in nightgown & ballet slippers. Only maniacs, people under 20, & Julian Schnabel wear their pajamas at public events.

Oof.

[images of AH (except AH reading book) via Lia Chang's Backstage Pass blog. A new-to-me scanner/printer sits just where it did more than 2 weeks ago when a friend dropped it off. Of course it does. AH reading book by Mark Shaw; in pjs, by Alfred Eisenstaedt, both via LIFE Archives]

Verba volant, scripta manent

Words fly away, writing remains.

(One of several ways to translate, don't argue, I'm not up to it today. Truly.) Latin Phrases link for amusement. [photograph by Phil Bray]

Egrets

All types of egrets--I love them & associate them with Chincoteague/Assateague*. Here's a link to Birds of Assateague. That's where the little ponies hang out...you might remember Misty of Chincoteague. The link has some terrific videos of the scenery, birds, & sea. You just haven't lived, I think, unless you see the wild ponies running on the beach. My favorite place on the East Coast, perhaps in the States (outside of a few cities/towns). Unfortunately, it has been invaded by something worse & more obnoxious than kudzu. More on that another day...not in the mood to be sued.

*This barrier island, along with nearby islands and lagoons, is important for migrating birds. It's a World Biosphere Reserve of the United Nations because of its great ecological value.

[real bird photo via Birds of Assateague; girl-egret via bomehian punk tumblr; coincidentally also the tumblr for today's automatism post (right sidebar)]

Corner Window

It reminds me of a flat I borrowed along the way. The books (none in English) were like that, the corner window, too. I read Bellow in French, Camus in Italian & I thought I was a genius. (Wine was involved). [photograph from pearls and tea (live journal which is not live!, via we heart it]

Week's End - Ode to Rome

John Keats died in Rome on 23 February 1821. I may not post next week but could not let the occasion pass without comment. As reported previously, I have embarrassed at least one relative in the Keats-Shelley House & at the Protestant cemetery. I feel less an idiot upon reading that no less a personage than Oscar Wilde prostrated himself for 25 minutes at the grave. (I'm making my way--at last--through Andrew Motion's biography of Keats.)

Giampaolo Macorig's beautiful photograph would have been Keats's view as he walked on the Pincio those last few months. The image of his signature is from the Keats-Shelley House & the organization's website is looking quite spiffy these days; do take a virtual visit. It's very much a destination for writers (& others) living in & visiting Rome. The story of the acquisition of the house is one of cooperation among Anglophones in Rome. (For once. Ahem.)

And finally, here is a sweet article I just saw in the Observer by a reporter who went to Rome with his girlfriend--in search of Romance (& Keats). It has a much happier ending than that of John & Fanny.

Update: Thursday, 25 Feb. (Read in whiny voice.) If we don't lose power (again!), I'll be back next week. Maybe Saturday.

Island Iris

[photograph on Mykonos by lovely Miki**]

The Pensive Reader

The Pensive Reader & The Reader (Lydia Cassatt) via Mary Cassatt - The Complete Works.

Taking the Waters

Rereading, ruminating, & taking the waters. Apartment style, alas, not in a Czech spa town. Though I have done.
[reading in the bath by Nina Leen/LIFE archives; film still/Unbearable Lightness of Being/still photographer Phil Bray]