NoOne's Not Writing About Harry

First, a disclaimer: BookGirl hasn't read any of the Harry Potter books, so there's not much she can say about their content or quality. And since she's not a fantasy fiction fan, she's unlikely to read them in the future. Now...

Is there any newspaper on the planet that isn't running a Harry Potter story this week? The bigger question is whether we'll be reading anything different from what we read when the other books in the series were published. So far, I'd have to say that the answer to both questions is "no."

Last Sunday, Ron Charles, senior editor of the Washington Post's "Book World," joined the parade in his article, "Harry Potter and the Death of Reading." He cited some of the depressing statistics that we've heard regularly from others on his side of the Potter debate:

• A 1994 study by Alan Sorensen at Stanford University reported that "in 1994, over 70 percent of total fiction sales were accounted for by a mere five authors." (It's hard to imagine that the statistics have improved since then.)
  

• In 2004, the National Endowment for the Arts released Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America, which gauged the reading habits of America from 1982 to 2002. People were asked whether, over the past12 months, they had read any part of a novel, short story, poem, or play, excluding anything read for work or school. If they'd read the first two pages of, say, "Mandingo," (BookGirl refuses to link to this), the survey considered them literary readers. The results? The proportion of Americans reading "literature" declined from 56.9 percent in 1982 to 46.7 in 2002.
  

The Harry Potter phenomenon hasn't really changed this, says Charles. And although he doesn't mention it, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, federal tests administered every few years to students in grades 4, 8 and 12, seems to agree. NAEP found that "the percentage of kids who said they read for fun almost every day dropped from 43 percent in fourth grade to 19 percent in eighth grade in 1998, the year 'Sorcerer’s Stone' was published in the United States. In 2005, when 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,' the sixth book, was published, the results were identical" (read the full article in the New York Times here).

Understandably, Charles finds the diminishing number of readers of fiction discouraging, and he's equally disheartened by the people who tell him "I don't read fiction...I have so little time nowadays that when I read, I like to learn something." (Coincidentally, someone said virtually the same thing to BookGirl last week. One possible implication, with is so silly that BookGirl can't take offense, is that BookGirl, who reads mostly fiction, isn't interested in learning anything. The other, more important, implication is that one doesn't learn anything from reading fiction. This one does offend BookGirl.)

But Charles's main point is that the Harry Potter phenomenon isn't about reading at all, but about marketing. Being a Potter-Head, suggests Charles, is less about a gratifying personal experience with a book, and more about the experience of homogenization: becoming like every other Potter-Head:

"Perhaps submerging the world in an orgy of marketing hysteria doesn't encourage the kind of contemplation, independence and solitude that real engagement with books demands -- and rewards. Consider that, with the release of each new volume, Rowling's readers have been driven not only into greater fits of enthusiasm but into more precise synchronization with one another. Through a marvel of modern publishing, advertising and distribution, millions of people will receive or buy "The Deathly Hallows" on a single day. There's something thrilling about that sort of unity, except that it has almost nothing to do with the unique pleasures of reading a novel: that increasingly rare opportunity to step out of sync with the world, to experience something intimate and private, the sense that you and an author are conspiring for a few hours to experience a place by yourselves -- without a movie version or a set of action figures. Through no fault of Rowling's, Potter mania nonetheless trains children and adults to expect the roar of the coliseum, a mass-media experience that no other novel can possibly provide."

This was the only genuine insight in Charles's article, although his implication that a kid would want to "step out of sync with the world," rather than be just like every other kid, seems naive. And while I agree with Charles's premise, I'm also certain that there are those who read Harry Potter books not because they want to run with the pack, but simply because they're drawn to the genre and/or enjoy the characters and plot and want to see them develop.

Frankly, I don't understand why people feel that they need to take sides on Potter. I'm delighted to see kids pick the books up, and like many other adults, I bought one for a child whom I hoped to entice into reading more often. In fact, if the Potters get anybody -- including adults -- reading, I'm thrilled. Charles, on the other hand, is distressed that adults are reading Harry Potter instead of books he considers better entries in the fantasy category, such as "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell" by Susanna Clarke and Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials."

I appreciate Charles's point that there are many, many deserving books that sell many, many, many (add about 100 more "manys" here) fewer copies than the Potter series, and this makes me sad. Unfortunately, for those who read the Potters for the reasons Charles outlines, neither Clarke's nor Pullman's books would fill the need that the Potters satisfy.

So if folks want to dash down to their favorite neighborhood bookstore dressed as -- whomever --- to celebrate the publication of the latest Potter, more power to them! Who knows, maybe they'll walk out with another book in addition to the one they've long been anticipating (BookGirl is feeling particularly optimistic today).

Mia Leijonstedt's Books

Mia Leijonstedt is a Finnish artist who creates unique handmade bookbindings and artists' books. See some of her striking work at GalleriaMia. In particular, check out the Unique Books and Book as Art links. Note that to the right of each book image are additional photos that provide book and/or page details.

Thanks to TJBookArts for the lead to Leijonstedt. Check out her site for useful book arts information and links, including her own tutorials.

Warrior Passage, Mia Leijonstedt

"This concertina book consists of double-sided mono prints overlaid with free-hand writing in silver ink and raised abstract symbols in copper dust. The covers of the book are made of two sheets of etched copper with a leather cord."

Circle Accordion Mock-Up

I spent some time yesterday in my studio working on a book -- finally!. The result was a small mock-up ( 3 " x 6") of a circle accordion in one of Alisa Golden's books. It's a simple structure : an accordion attached to covers. The covers are attached in such a way that when the book is fully open it forms a modified circle. My variation includes 2 sections with pockets, alternating with two sections without.

I used Canson cover-weight for the cover and some left-over decorative papers for the pages. My only revision to Golden's instructions -- besides the size -- was to use paper strips rather than linen tapes to attach the sections to each other and to the cover.

I enjoyed this so much that I may start working my way through the book, making a collection of mock-ups, then choosing the structures I like best for the next step.

Book Meme

I'm stealing this book meme from Book Dragon, another reader and bookmaker whose blog I read. Feel free to steal it in turn.

Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror? I've never been drawn to science fiction or horror. If I had to pick, I'd choose fantasy, since there's a lot of leeway in how "fantasy" can be defined. Book Dragon, for example, mentions magical realism.

Hardback or Trade Paperback or Mass Market Paperback? There's something about the trade paperback that calls to me. They're simply more tactile than hardbound books and, of course, easier to carry around. That's important, since I never leave the house without a book.

Amazon or Brick and Mortar? I'd always rather be in a bookstore and always rather peruse books in person. Having said that, Amazon makes it sooooooo easy to find what you want -- and the pricing helps when you're buying art books and book arts books. (Now, say that really fast five times).

Barnes & Noble or Borders? Much as I like independent bookstores and frequent them, Barnes & Noble was one of the first, with its cafes and lounging areas, to create an atmosphere where customers could sit and peruse books, which is a good thing. They get some credit for that, and you'll see me there from time to time.

Hitchhiker or Discworld? Neither, but I do recall reading Hitchhiker years ago -- or was it the t.v. show? Hmmmmmm.

Bookmark or Dogear? Dogear? Never. If I don't have a proper bookmark, I'll use anything available -- a napkin, a leaf, a ticket stub. I actually have very nice bookmarks that people have given me over the years, but, mostly, I end up with the ones I pick up at bookstores.

Asimov's Science Fiction, or Fantasy and Science Fiction? Neither, although I've read the former and like what I read.

Alphabetize by author, Alphabetize by title, or random? I don't alphabetize. Instead, I group by genre. My husband, who alphabetizes within genre, is aghast.

Keep, Throw Away or Sell? I keep books that are meaningful to me or that I simply loved reading. I never throw books out. Instead, I either sell them on Amazon, or I donate them to my local library. My husband, when I met him, possessed every book he'd read since the age of 3; under my benevolent influence, he now has only every book he's read since the age of 12.

Keep dust-jacket or toss it? Keep. But really, who cares (Who cares?Aaaaaaarggggggggh! says my husband)?

Read with dustjacket or remove it? On. Like Book Dragon, I occasionally use the front flap as a bookmark.

Short story or novel? I prefer novels; I also like essays about books and reading -- Anne Fadiman's are excellent.

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? I didn't find the first Harry Potter very compelling (so sue me), and quit while I was ahead. I did read a couple of the Snickets.

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? It's easier to pick up your train of thought when you've stopped at the end of the chapter, but I'm not, you know, religious or anything about it.

"It was a dark and stormy night" or "Once upon a time?" Definitely the former. Although it's hard for me to read that line now without seeing Snoopy.

Buy or Borrow? I don't like to borrow from friends, because I'm never quite sure when the mood's going to strike me to read a book, and also because I feel a bit of a responsibility to the person I borrowed it from to like the book (hugely neurotic, I know). I'm borrowing more than ever from my library these days, and electronic renewal has made that much easier. And, yes, I buy. And buy. And buy.

Buying choice: Book Reviews, Recommendation or Browse? Book reviews and browsing in equal measure. Recommendations less so.

Lewis or Tolkien? I'm assuming that the reference here isn't to Lewis's theological writing. In any case, neither. I'm really striking out on these author categories, aren't I?

Collection (short stories by the same author) or Anthology (short stories by different authors)? I'd rather read a collection of stories by one writer. It's fun to troll for recurring themes.

Tidy ending or Cliffhanger? Tidy endings can be very satisfying, of course, but since life isn't very tidy, open-ended endings resonate more.

Morning reading, Afternoon reading or Nighttime reading? My dream job would be Professional Reader. Not a book critic, not a book editor or publisher, nothing that required me to do anything with what I'd read other than enjoy it (or not). I can read any time, anywhere, but I read more in the afternoons and before bed.

Standalone or Series? The only "series" I truly enjoy are mystery series. Mysteries lend themselves well to continuing characters, and there's a certain comfort in continuity. I'd guess that about every fourth book I read is a mystery. It's like a sorbet between courses.

New or used? Both, but I don't want to read something that looks like the dog's chew toy. Have some respect for your books, please!

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard? I honestly don't know how well-known Sarah Caudwell is (sadly, she died in 2000) but I love the dry humor of her charming legal whodunit series: The Shortest Way to Hades, Thus was Adonis Murdered, The Sirens Sang of Murder, and The Sybil in Her Grave. For some reason, I have a thing for British women writers -- Muriel Spark, P.D. James, Penelope Lively, Penelope Fitzgerald. Someday I'll have to get that taken care of.

Top 5 favorite genre books of all time? Well, if you consider "literary fiction" (I hear my husband snorting now), then I can play. Even so, there's no way I can list a definitive five books, simply because I'd obssess, anxious that I'd left out THE book. Let's just say that I love these books among many others: Pride and Prejudice, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, The Great Gatsby, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and Alice in Wonderland.

Favorite genre series? I loved The Borrowers series as a child, and still do. Now, P.D. James's Adam Dalgliesh series comes to mind.

Currently Reading? No One Belongs Here More Than You, by Miranda July; Suite Francaise, by Irene Nemirovsky; Special Topics in Calamity Physics, by Marisha Pessl; and dipping, for what seems like an eternity (not that there's anything wrong with that), into The War Against Cliches, by Martin Amis.

Book Lust

One of the best things about blogs is that they remind us that we're part of a larger community. For a little over a year I've been finding and reading blogs that focus on books and reading. There are some that I think of as "professional" blogs -- Bookslut, say, or Identity Theory. But the ones I like best are those written by people whose business isn't books or publishing. These "bookbloggers" love books, reading, and words enough to take the time to write about them, and to do it well. They're the people who write about how they go about choosing the next book they'll read and the excitement of making the selection; the ones who go into a bookstore or library without a specific book in mind, just for the pleasure of perusing the shelves. They can't stop buying or borrowing books even though they don't have time to read them all. Some of them even read books about reading books (is BookGirl blushing?).

It's naive to think that these bloggers and I are kindred spirits, but I'm enough of a romantic to think that readers and book lovers do connect in some significant and fundamental way. (To those who would write BookGirl to say that she's wrong and thereby destroy her carefully nurtured illusion, she would prefer that you didn't.)

English is my second language. I have a vivid memory of my first grade classroom in the U.S. I received a mimeographed sheet with a series of illustrations and several words underneath each one. My classmates and I were told to circle the one word that best described the corresponding picture. At least I think that was our assignment. In any case, not knowing any English, I colored in the pictures and handed in my sheet. How I made it to second grade is still a mystery. Was it my proficiency in arithmetic? My good behavior? If so, the math skills diminished at a steady pace between grade school and college, and my behavior deteriorated once I learned enough English to speak to the student across the aisle.

My strongest memory of second grade is the reading class. There was a large box with color-coded tabs on the teacher's desk. Each tab corresponded to reading material that was appropriate to a specific reading level. By then I knew enough English to understand that the color-coded materials were used to assess the reading level of each student, who was then assigned to a peer reading group. Somehow, I managed to land in the top-level reading group by the end of the year.

At home I spoke the language of my native country, since my parents never learned to speak fluent English. But with their encouragement, and that of the teacher who helped me get my first library card, I became quite the library rat. I didn't get much guidance on reading material, though, so I was wonderfully, wildly, indiscriminate in my choices.

Other readers' backgrounds may be very different from mine (although I expect some are similar), but I like to think that we share an enthusiasm -- is it too much to call is a passion? -- that's difficult to explain if you haven't experienced it, but fairly simple to recognize in someone else if you have.

I guess it's not surprising that I'd take up book arts -- as in bookmaking -- and that I enjoy it as much as I do. And although I've been reading much much longer than I've been making books, I sense that there's an affinity among bookmakers similar to the one I've experienced among readers. I'm loving being part of another cool community that cares about books.

Let's Hope He's Wrong

John Mark Eberhart, book editor of the Kansas City Star, thinks that the National Book Critics Circle's Campaign to Save Book Reviews may have just the opposite effect: more newspapers getting rid of book critics. Check out his comments here.

Arts Coverage and Artblogging

Terry Teachout, the Wall Street Journal's drama critic, wrote recently about several topics that are of rising interest to me these days. One of them is the cut-back in arts coverage in newspapers, particularly book coverage and stand-alone book sections (Teachout fails to mention the related firing of respected arts critics by these newspapers). The other is what some believe to be a connection between the reduced coverage and the rise of "artbloggers." As to the latter, Teachout mentions a "testy" column by Time's film critic Richard Schickel , in which Schickel said: "I don't think it's impossible for bloggers to write intelligent reviews. I do think, however, that a simple 'love' of reading (or movie-going or whatever) is an insufficient qualification for the job. . . . we have to find in the work of reviewers something more than idle opinion-mongering."

Teachout disagrees with Schickel about the value of artbloggers, noting that some of the most thoughtful and informed writing about the arts appears in blogs (Note: the thougtful and informed bloggers he mentions are, in fact, journalists who happen to blog about their subject- e.g., Tyler Green, who blogs on the visual arts at Modern Art Notes, and Teachout himself.) Teachout does admit a distinction, though:

"One of the most important civic duties that a newspaper performs is to cover the activities of local arts groups -- but it can't do that effectively without also employing knowledgeable critics who are competent to evaluate the work of those groups. Mere reportage, while essential, is only the first step. It's not enough to announce that the Hooterville Art Museum finally bought itself a Picasso. You also need a staffer who can tell you whether it's worth hanging, just as you need someone who knows whether the Hooterville Repertory Company's production of "Private Lives" was funny for the right reasons.

"...blogging, valuable though it can be, is no substitute for the day-to-day attention of a newspaper whose editors seek out experts, hire them on a full-time basis, and give them enough space to cover their beats adequately. The problem is that fewer and fewer newspapers seem willing to do that in any consistent way. I don't care for the word "provincial," but I can't think of a more accurate way to describe a city whose local paper is unwilling to make that kind of commitment to the fine arts.

"...I got my start reviewing second-string classical concerts for the Kansas City Star 30 years ago. Now that such entry-level jobs are drying up, I fear for the future of arts journalism in America."

I couldn't have said it better myself, which is why I quoted Teachout instead. So, folks, as I've said before (click here for a recent post), if you're interested in getting involved in stemming the tide, join the National Book Critics Circle Campaign to Save Book Reviewing by clicking here.

Experimenting with Image Transfers

I've been thinking about using image transfers in my books. They appeal to me for their translucency, that semi-transparency that evokes mystery. I also like the "ghostly" quality that you get from some transfer applications. My success with media-to-media transfers -- that is, transferring images from, say, paper to paper, or paper to fabric -- has been erratic, so I thought I'd try another approach.

I've been experimenting with a process (and product: Omni Gel) that leaves you with an acrylic film that you then apply to your chosen medium (so far I've used the transfers only on fabric and paper). I used PVA to adhere the transfers, but I could have used other methods, such as stitching. After trying various papers and fabrics to back the images, here are the combinations that were the most successful. Here's what I learned from this experience (no doubt there are exceptions to these guidelines, but they were useful to me in this instance):

• I had the best result using images with simpler lines and larger blocks of white/light backgrounds. This allows the pattern/color of the substrate to which you apply it to be seen through the transfer.
• Smaller, repeated patterns on the substrate -- your fabric or paper -- worked well. Patterns that were too larger or two spaced apart were lost when I laid the transfer over them.
• A substrate with lighter colors worked best.

Here are a few examples, some more successful than others:

This is a transfer onto fabric. This image has quite a lot of white in it, so the pattern of the fabric shows through well. It's less important with this type of image that the pattern in the substrate be small and regular. In fact, it's not.

Another image on the same fabric. Again, the image has the qualities of a pen and ink illustration, so there is a good amount of "white space" that serves to make portions of the image transparent.

Here's an example of an image that has some very dark areas (the woman's hair), so that portion of the image is fairly opaque. There's also the question of whether the image and the substrate work well together, and I wasn't thinking much about that during this experiment. One one level, these don't go together well at all; but if contrast was your intention...

The paper to which the image is adhered was the scrap paper covering my table. There were some images stamped on it, and I wanted to see how those would show through.

Paper again. See the lines/grid on the image. When I printed the image, in error I had put paper in the printer that had already been printed on. So the image of the girl overprinted on paper that had an insurance claim form on it. Happy or unhappy accident? Depends on how I end up using the image.

This too is an image adhered to paper. As with the image above, this one overprinted on another sheet of "claim form" paper.

This paper clearly doesn't have a small or regular pattern on it. Nevertheless, it worked well, in part because this is a large image (about 5 inches in height).

I printed this image on fabric (same "claim form" paper) overprint.

This final transfer is one I made a few weeks ago. It's paper-to-paper, using acrylic gel medium.

It'll be fun figuring out how to incorporate these into my book work.

Doing

I spend a lot more time on the Web now than I used to. It's dangerous for me. When I want to learn or practice something that's out of my comfort zone, I tend to spend too much time doing research and reading about it instead of doing it. Research and reading are way fun; they're also a safe option to taking action .

As with most things in life, this issue has two sides. The other side is that I'm a learning junkie. There's little else that I prefer over learning. And, boy, was the Web ever made for someone like me. I can dig as deeply as I have time to spare into any and all topics that strike my fancy. Interesting details surface that enrich what I already know, and altogether new and fascinating subjects emerge -- all the time. The Web was made for inquisitive and curious people; and for procrastinators.

Making art is the big thing outside my comfort zone these days. Inspiration is everywhere -- on the Web and off. When I was working at BLF (Big Law Firm), I could work for twelve hours straight without skipping a beat. Part of it was my nature, and part of it, admittedly, was that there was always something more to be done, but a lot of it was the mastery I felt in what I was doing. Doing something I know how to do well feels terrific -- almost as good as learning.

But the type of art I'm exploring now -- working with paint and ink, combining fabric and paper, manipulating digital images -- brings no sense of mastery with it. I'm starting from scratch, and while a certain amount of R&D is good under the circumstances, too much can paralyze. It can even fool you into believing that you're doing something. And the clincher: I don't even know if I'm going to like what I'm doing even when (and if) I learn to do it well.

What's the solution? I'm not sure there is one. In any case, not a quick or easy one. Getting comfortable with what I'm doing is the only solution that truly makes sense. And you get comfortable by doing. I know this. I KNOW this. So I suppose this post is, more than anything, a public pep talk. Studio time first thing in the morning, regularly. Got that? You heard it here first.

And What Does It Get Us?

The Columbia Journalism Review yesterday posted a story by Craig Flournoy and Tracy Everbach about the fall-out of the slash (through layoffs, buyouts and attrition) of 30% of the journalists at the Dallas Morning News. The authors spoke to nearly half of the 200 who left, and dozens of those who stayed. The report is an indictment of the paper's management, and of its "strategy" to be responsive to its subscribers. It's well worth reading.

I've been posting over the past few months about the recent cuts in book sections and book coverage in various metropolitan dailies -- and as a result, the firing of respected book critics -- here, here, here, and here. Arts coverage (including book reviews) is often the first to be hit, but this story makes it clear that it's not the only area affected by the panic afflicting some newspapers, whose strategy seems to consist of firing as many journalists as they can to lessen their costs. Instead of looking for new and untrammeled paths around the admittedly tough issues caused by digital competition, they seem to be destroying what readers turn to newspapers for (see Mark Bowden's article on the gap that newspapers fill). Flournoy and Everbach, both in their interviews and hard analysis of the Dallas Morning News' content, paint a disturbing picture of the effects of this behavior.

Have the Morning News' actions translated into more readership (or at least more satisifed readers)? Hardly. From October 2006 through March 2007, the daily circulation of the paper suffered a decline of 14.3% compared to a year earlier. This is more than twice the decline of any other large newspaper. And reader satisfaction has fallen 19%, according to the latest survey.

Esther Thorson, an associate dean at the University of Missouri's School of Journalism, whose recent study examined four years of financial data at hundreds of newspapers, and who has studied media for 20 years, says that "those who try to cut the newsroom to maintain profitability are doomed to failure."

“'That’s not a business model,' she says. 'That’s a death model.' Thorson found that larger newsroom investments would translate into greater profits. 'A newspaper is a rich environment of information and entertainment,' she said. 'That makes it a fabulous locale for advertising. But if your product is degraded and circulation plummets, why would advertisers want to invest in that?'"

Gee, even someone without my background in marketing can figure that one out.

Meanwhile, back on the arts desk these days, the Dallas Morning News has no architecture critic, no television critic, and no book critic.

(For information about the National Book Critics Circle Campaign to Save Book Reviewing, and how you can get involved, click here.)

Helvetica, The Film!

In an earlier post, I wrote about Helvetica's 50th birthday. I'm not a major Helvetica fan (it's hard for me to be faithful to one typeface), but I surely do love words and design, so how could I not get just a tiny bit excited about the announcement of H's half-centennial. But wait, there's more! First-time director Gary Hustwit has made an independent film, Helvetica, about "typography, graphic design and global visual culture," which is now on a worldwide tour. Leaving aside the good reviews, I tend to trust Hustwit, who produced the excellent documentary about the band Wilco: I Am Trying to Break Your Heart (order it on NetFlix now). (Here's Hustwit's film blog, by the way.)

I already know I'm going to love this film. In fact, I'm going to suggest it to our local art film/indie film/welcome-option-to-schlock film house. I recognize that it's a long shot (even this good film venue may not consider this a likely revenue-generating proposition), but then again, how could you not be interested in a film that Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune, in his review, describes thus:

"...the film says a great deal without raising its voice, lending wit and grace to an inquiry regarding the way a medium, a squiggle or the precise space between two letters affects a million different messages and a billion different eyeballs.

"The real achievement of the picture, though, is the way it sharpens your eye in general and makes connections between form and content, and between art and life. By rounding up a great group of eloquent obsessives eager to explain their feelings about a font, Hustwit has come up with 80 unexpectedly blissful minutes."

Be still my heart.

Helvetica, by the way, is Latin for "Switzerland." Who knew?

The Impotence of Proofreading

Taylor Mali is an English teacher and Slam poet (check out his web site here and his blog here). In graduate school, I was (briefly) a teaching assistant in the English department of a large university. Some of my students' papers were not too far off the mark from Mali's piece (sigh), except they weren't nearly as amusing. If they had been, I might have given the writers a better grade. By the way, that's poet Billy Collins on the sidelines. Thanks to Book/Daddy's Jerome Weeks for the introduction to Mali.

First Gershwin Prize for Popular Song

In May, Paul Simon received the first-ever Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song (named for George and Ira). PBS broadcast the celebration nationally on June 27. It's been a beautiful day in the mountains, and I'm feeling just a titch nostalgic, so here's my selection from the program: Paul Simon and George Harrison singing 'Homeward Bound' on Saturday Night Live in 1976.

More Studio Pix

My studio started out as an office, and it still serves that purpose as needed, but with the introduction of wireless communication into our home, my office is pretty much anywhere I want it to be. And since Steven's work requires him to keep a slew of computers going at all times, that equipment is available to me as well when I need it. So after moving some files to another part of the house, adding my worktable, and reconfiguring the space, the room now functions primarily as a studio.

We built it as an addition off our bedroom, approximately 15' long by 11' wide. Formerly, our bedroom opened onto a deck, overlooking our back yard and the moutains in the distance. We chopped off that portion of the deck, kept the double-doorway (but not the doors) to help keep the new space separate. Directly underneath is the addition to Steven's office, which originally followed the footprint of our bedroom.

I'm one of those people whose mood is affected in a major way by physical environment, so I wanted the space to be pleasing to my eye (which almost immediately makes it feel comfortable) and to be bright and airy. Having grown up in Florida, the one thing I need above all things is lots of light, so tall windows, which I keep open as much as possible, run the length of one wall. Another wall has a glassed double door that opens onto our deck -- since my worktable is up against, it functions primarily as a window. The ceiling is gabled and high, and we installed a large ceiling fan, since we get the afternoon sun straight on. I wanted a calming space, so the walls are painted a very pale violet, as is the ceiling (the color of the walls in our bedroom is a touch deeper). The floors are inexpensive wood painted off-white. The curtains are simple sheer cotton/linen and affixed to curtain rods with those easy clip thingies, so no sewing was involved. (I'm convinced that those clip thingies were invented just for me. Why didn't I invent those?)

I feel a sense of well-being just walking into this room, which is exactly what I'd hoped for as I was planning the space. So, I have no excuse not to create; it's all up to me (yikes!).

When we first added on the room, I designed this cabinet with drawers and shelves as a built-in. The shallow drawers hold papers up to a certain size, the other drawers are for supplies and such, and the shelves contain books and other supplies. To the right, on the small teal table, is a set of drawers I bought at Ikea, which I'm in the process of painting. They're great for all kinds of odds and ends.

This desk holds all my electronic equipment: printers, copier, and docking station for my laptop. There's a scanner on a small cart with wheels underneath the desk. The shelf to the right used to be in our bedroom and I keep a small stereo and CDs here. Half the time I listen to music while I'm working; the rest of the time I'm tuned in to books-on-tape/CD).

On the table to the right is my "get-up-and-go" supply tote (I love this thing!). It's always stocked and ready for a class or for a visit to a friend's studio. Behind it is the sewing machine that I have yet to use. I bought it a few years ago so that my mother could use it when she visits us for a month in the summer (I've gotten some great sofa pillows and a beautiful shower curtain out of the deal). Recently I decided that I wanted to start doing stitching on paper, so I dusted it off and put it in my studio as a reminder. I have some rubber stamps that I used to keep in a drawer. About a year ago, I took a class at Random Arts (Jane Powell and her husband Paul's fabulous store) and loved her system of putting stamps out on the equivalent of tiny shelves (pieces of wood about two inches deep) screwed into the wall. It's a good way to see what you have, and provides a bit of visual interest.
I built a giant, free-standing bulletin board (about 7 feet high) to which I tack images that inspire me or simply make me happy. The surface is made of cushy ceiling tiles. I stretched rows of seven different vintage fabrics around the front and stapled them to the back of the tiles, then a friend built a frame around the whole thing. There's a small desk here that I placed on bricks to bring it up to the height of my worktable. It holds supplies that I use often and some work-in-progress. You can hardly see it at top left, but I hung a small candle chandelier that I found at a salvage shop. I sanded off the rust and painted it the same color of the floor and the cabinet, and added some tall violet candles (it's a shame, of couse, but for safety's sake it's never lit).
This is the main view from my studio. The trees are at their lushest in the summer, so I see the mountains only through the windows of the trees. Fall is my favorite season; the leaves begin to fall, giving me a better long-distance view, and I get to enjoy the amazing canvas of fall colors on the mountains.

Book Arts Cheer

I've been feeling a bit under the weather for the last couple of days. Maybe my last post did me in after all. Now, what never fails to brighten my spirits? My worktable, naturellement! I've written about my love affair with this table before, including its design (here and here) and its unqualified beauty (here). So I took my first pix of THE table and my studio. Any bookmaker who's worked at a standard-height desk or table knows what a joy it is to work on a surface whose height is geared to book work. And, oh, the bliss of having one whose height was tailor-made for moi!

But there are other features that make me swoon at the sight of my table. Although I have a built-in cabinet with some large, shallow drawers in which I store paper, the largest sheets of both decorative papers and text papers spent their lives rolled up in a box. Now they lay comfortably on one of the table's two shelves.

The work surface is formica, which makes it easy to clean; it's large enough that I can have separate areas for cutting and gluing; and it's wide enough that I can keep supplies close at hand but not in my way. Oh, and did I mention that it's on casters? What more could a BookGirl possibly want!?

Photos of the table today, more photos of the studio later.

NOTE: In my previous posts, I mentioned the wonderful craftsmanship and service of Bill Bennert, who made and helped design my table (he also built the tables for BookWorks, Asheville's excellent book arts learning center. Bill doesn't have a web site, but if you are interested in his contact information, please leave a comment and I'll get back to you.

Next...

I'm getting tired of writing about diminishing coverage of book reviews in metropolitan newspapers. Tired and depressed. The National Book Critics Circle blog, Critical Mass, notes that this past weekend was the last for the San Diego Union Tribune's stand-alone book section:

"In short – through the stewardship of Arthur Salm, this was a section which brought the muchness of the world -- as it is represented in books -- to readers in a sophisticated fashion, and looks to be no more. Newspaper consumers, especially women, have continuously said this kind of coverage matters to them, and yet newspaper owners continue to go against that knowledge. Some newspapers have even proven that marketing this part of their Sunday section can actually improve ad sales and maybe even circulation."

For information about the National Book Critics Circle's Campaign to Save Book Reviewing and how you can get involved, click here.

Critical Compendium

If you simply must have one more daily book review web read -- check out Critical Compendium: A Daily Dose of Book Reviews from Around the World. Here's what they say about themselves (Here's what IT says about ITSELF?): Thanks to Scott McLemee at ArtsJournal for the lead.

"What you'll find at this site: Book reviews, and lots of them. Every day we post links and a one or two line synopsis to reviews from newspapers, journals, magazines and web zines. You will also find a sizable list of links to book review sections around the world.
What you won't find: Links to literary blogs. Nothing against them, but this site provides readers with reviews rather than the more open ended ruminations/discussions found on blogs. We also don't link, for the most part, to sites that require subscriptions. That's why you don't see, for instance, the Atlantic Monthly. The Economist, on the other hand, requires a subscription to see the current issue, though previous reviews can be viewed for free. Thus, we link to The Economist."

The Penland Experience - Part 4

A few more pix of my books and page details from the Book Arts workshop I participated in at Penland. You can read my earlier posts about my time at Penland here, here, and here. The colors on my pages are a result of 1) the paints available for use by the class; and 2) pure chance. What surprised me most was how much I liked the palettes. The day before I arrived at Penland, I wouldn't have seen myself using these combinations. Each time I look at my books now, they tell me to keep trying new things.

Your Personal Library Catalog Card

John Blyberg is a librarian. If social, academic and technology issues surrounding libraries are your thing, John's site covers these, and contains a comprehensive blogroll of other sites dealing with these topics. My favorite site feature is the cool Catalog Card Generator. For those of us who loved the tactile pleasure of riffling through the card catalog at our local lbrary, now we can have -- no, make! -- our own. (Be sure to put in --make up-- a "call number" or the card won't generate.)

The Penland Experience - Part 3

I finally managed to take photos of the books I made at Penland, and here are some of those images.

I'd worked only briefly with acrylic paint in the past, so I was looking forward (although with a bit of trepidation), to my two-week Book Arts workshop at Penland, where we were going to paint papers for our books. I wasn't disappointed. We spent days and days painting layers of paint on both sides of large sheets of Arches Cover. We used various techniques and tools to create texture with each new layer. We cut up the papers and used them as pages for the books we made. Altogether, we made about a half-dozen books, each a different structure, each a little more complex than the last.

We supplemented this with other processes: printmaking (making collagraphs on an etching press), carving rubber stamps for mark-making, and using handwriting as graphic imagery. I loved it all. I loved it and I was anxious about it. "Am I doing it right?," I kept wondering. After a while, I stopped wondering. I still wasn't sure, but I'd decided to treat what I was doing as an experiment. After all, if you can't experiment during a workshop, when can you?

So though perfectionism and I are on a first-name basis, I told myself that wanting to achieve perfection at something that others -- notably, our instructor, Laura Wait --had been doing for years was just a titch overambitious. The self-talk helped, and there's something about Penland itself that encourages you to take risks and try new things.

I didn't lose all my fear when I was in the studio (fear of failure, of embarrassment, of whatever else scares us when we feel vulnerable), but what was left was healthy. It was the kind of fear that pushes you to create even though you're not sure of the outcome. And since by nature and habit I really like to know the outcome in advance, managing to live with the ambiguity was a big deal.

I read somewhere today that, in art, the most important thing is to start, and the second most important thing is to finish, and that if you do those two things, everything else will take care of itself. In a fundamental way, that's what places like Penland give you: a start and a finish. And that makes the next time all that much easier.

More to come.

Drum leaf binding (developed by Tim Ely) - the book is approximately 15" high by 3 1/2" wide.

The first two-page spread from the book. We worked with signs and symbols.
I focused on the triangle and the letter 'M'

A close-up of another of the spreads from the book

We overpainted mylar that we'd used underneath our pages as we painted.

A two-page spread from another book

A head-on view of the pages of another book

Another One Bites the Dust

Peter Zane, the book editor of the Raleigh News and Observer for the past decade, tells us in his goodbye column that he's moving to a post as the paper's "ideas writer." He is hopeful (but not optimistic) that the paper will resurrect its book column. This is the latest entry in the decimation of book coverage at various newspapers around the country, including those in Atlanta, Dallas, Orlando, Cleveland, Los Angeles and Chicago. Zane calls it a "literary St. Valentine's Day massacre." I've commented on this before, including here and here. Clicking the National Book Critics Circle Campaign to Save Book Reviewing button on the left column of this site will tell you how you can get involved.

Zane writes:

"...while the rest of the paper reports the news of the day, we [the book review writers] carry news of the spirit...Book reviews are an integral part of the journalistic mission: They bring new information to light, scrutinize ideas shaping our culture, foster debate and encourage people to read -- not only books but magazines, journals ... and newspapers. When newspapers diminish books coverage, they diminish themselves."

The Pumpkins Are Coming, The Pumpkins Are Coming!

What does this post have to do with books? Not a thing, but then, BookGirl reserves the right to write about other things that catch her fancy. Today it's the Smashing Pumpkins coming to Asheville.

The re-united alt-rockers are doing a nine-day gig at The Orange Peel as part of their U.S. comeback tour. Their promoter said that the Pumpkins were interested in doing an East Coast "residency" -- a series of shows in one place -- and asked for an Asheville venue. I'm not a big Smashing Pumpkins fan, but even if I were, the tickets were sold out in less than five minutes, so it's just as well.

The tickets originally sold for $20 (a price set by the band -- nice to see that in these days of wildly overpriced music-act tickets, the Pumpkins are being generous in their pricing. Unfortunately, they're already being scalped on the Internet: $890 at TicketsNow.com as of this morning). Fifty percent of the tickets sold outside the state, with sales in NY, DC, Massachusetts, Indiana, and Canada.

That's more than 8,000 people coming in over the course of nine days. Maybe they'll buy some books at Malaprop's while they here, where they can order the only existing biography of the band: Smashing Pumpkins: Tales of a Scorched Earth. Ha! There's my book tie-in!

The Pumpkins at a recent concert in Paris:

Words, Words, Words

I started reading the major English newspapers during my tenure at my two former BLFs (Big Law Firms), both of whom had London offices (I have a particular affection for arts and books coverage in The Guardian and its blogs). I also scan Canada's newspapers from time to time. On any given day there's usually something of particular interest to BookGirl in one of these, so keep that in mind when you're deciding whether it would be of interest to you -- but, of course, you wouldn't be reading BookGirl unless you shared at least a little of her less-than-mass-market pasttimes.

Today's entry is an article from Canada's Globe and Mail: Vocabulary: Are We Losing Our Lexicon? There are few things that BookGirl likes more than words and language -- and books, of course, are simply a variation on the theme -- so this story of the battle between the linguists and the logophiles was just my cup of tea/coffee this morning. Not because I have a large vocabulary (I don't, a fact I constantly bemoan), but because I love to see and hear words used well, and precisely, and think that people who care enough about words to argue about them are pretty cool.

Here's the subtitle of the story:

"With the Lord of Loquacity in Chicago and schools playing down language to level the playing field, is the mind-expanding power of a well-stocked vocabulary becoming a thing of the past?"

Now, tell the truth, aren't you just dying to read this?

Collecting Journals

I think more about journals now than I ever have. The reason, mostly, is a Creative Journaling class I took at BookWorks with textile artist -- and journal queen -- Heather Allen Swarttouw. I wrote about it here. And while blogs are a form of journal, they're nowhere near as deliciously tactile as the three-dimensional variety.

There's an item and a photo in a recent post in Notebookism that reminded me of how much I've enjoyed buying journals over the years. I now make many of my own, but it doesn't diminish the pleasure of finding just the right journal, and like the author of the post, I particularly like to bring back journals from places in which I've traveled. My favorite to date (I guess this means I'll have to take a photo of it and post it here sometime soon) is a dark leather journal from Venice, with a small piece of round millefiori glass set into its cover. The endpapers are a subtle patterned paper, and each creamy white page has small illustrations of Venice across the top.

And here's a different take on journals (and the people who fear them!) from artist Kelly Kilmer.

Susan

I miss my friend Susan, whom I was fortunate to have as a colleague for several years during my tenure at BLF (Big Law Firm). She's extremely bright and highly capable, not to mention stylish, witty, and generous... well, you get the picture. But to me, one of her finest qualities is her silliness. Hands down. What a joy, working as hard as we were, to allow ourselves the luxury of total and abject silliness from time to time.

Naturally, we were judicious. Because we worked in different cities on the East Coast, we usually reserved our alter agos for nights on the road when we found ourselves in the same town at the same time. There's no point in trying to describe our dialogue or exploits. They were what my husband calls a "Be There" experience. And, in fact, they probably weren't funny to anyone but us.

Susan and I were/are particularly silly about our dogs. She was goofy about her dogs before I was, since my dog, Twiggy, didn't join our family until two years ago. I caught up quickly. Susan has two delightful standard poodles and I have an adorable Shih Tzu (this isn't hyperbole, it's the honest truth). Susan's dogs emulate her curly 'do ("coif" as Susan might say). My 'do and Twiggy's look more alike the longer we co-habitate.

Susan's latest car is a bright red MINI Cooper convertible-- if ever a car had her name on it, it's this one (well, actually, it does have her name on it, but that's another story). Those are the two pups with her -- one riding shotgun, the other in the rumble seat. We don't talk very often these days, but getting this photo reminded me of how much I miss her.

Veddddy In-ter-est-ing

My thanks to my friend, Mary, who posted a link to Personal DNA, an online personality test, on her blog. Having worked all through college as an assistant to the director of my college's Psychological Testing Service, I have a predictable attraction to tests that profess to tell me what I already know.

The test took me about 35 minutes to complete. I'd say it was about 80% accurate, and I think I understand how the 20% discrepancy came about. The category they assigned me is "Faithful Visionary," which to me sounds a bit like a description of a Moonie (Mary's "Benevolent Architect" sounds much more -- well -- benevolent).

One interesting thing was my comparative score on one of the qualities the test measures: "femininity." Relative to the 30,000 other test-takers that Personal DNA claims to have on file, I registered a paltry score of 4 , which means that 96% of the other (I assume) females that took the test had higher showings in that category. I have only my recollection of the types of questions and the way I answered them to go by, but I suspect that the questions likely equated "femininity" with qualities that society has traditionally associated with women -- for example, putting others' concerns before their own (a question I specifically recall from the test) -- qualities that I, partly by choice and partly by circumstance, possess not at all or to a lesser degree than this historical model of womanhood.

The other way to look at this, of course, is that 96% of the women who took this test have these qualities, irrespective of whether there's gender bias in the questions, and that I'm way out of step with my fellow women (or at least the ones who took this test). BookGirl isn't going to lose any sleep over this -- gee, I almost said that BookGirl wasn't going to worry her pretty little head over it, but that would have been wrong.

If like me, you enjoy this kind of thing, take the test. Many of the questions are thought-provoking, and that's always a good thing.

Each Day Is a Different One

There's little I enjoy more than looking out the windows of our bright front room toward the mountains in the distance. Usually there's at least one squirrel enjoying the kernels of corn that fall on the deck from the birdfeeders. Sometimes Twiggy, who usually prefers to see the world comfortably from his spot on the kitchen window seat, moseys outside too.

I read this quote on Misty Mawn's blog site this morning. How easy it is, isn't it, to forget something this simple yet so true?

"You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one, each day brings a miracle of its own. It's just a matter of paying attention to this miracle." ~ Paulo Coelho

The Penland Experience - Part 2

I'm still processing (what a clinical word that is!) my two-week book arts workshop at Penland. I signed up for the course because I wanted to explore content in bookmaking. I've been taking bookbinding classes for just over a year now, and I've concentrated on book structures. It seemed the way to lay a foundation in book arts, to build a vocabulary and establish a context. If you know me, it isn't news that I tend to be linear and incremental in my approach to things. So it seems that I've intuitively been developing a personal book arts curriculum over the course of the past year.

From the time I took my first book arts class -- at the John C. Campbell Folk School during a week's vacation more than two years ago -- I've been interested in the book as a whole, both form and content. I knew virtually nothing about artists' books at the time, and the more I learned, the more fascinating I found the concept and the books themselves.

It's too early to know how my own style will evolve. I love language too much to exclude words, so text will play a part. But what else? Who knows? I'm clearly attracted to paint and color and abstract forms. Art & Soul was a way to did my toe in this pool, in ways unrelated to book arts. The Penland workshop was a perfect next step, an opportunity to work on new book structures, but with an equal focus on creating imagery and working with paint.

Our instructor, book artist Laura Wait, has a bold, vivid style that attracted me to her work and to the class. She has a background in conservation, too, so she made it clear first thing that "books have to work!" In other words, technique matters. I knew at that point that I'd come to the right place.

More to come.

Laura Wait with one of her artists' books

Detail from another of Laura's books

The Penland Experience

The specifics of my Book Arts workshop aside, my two weeks at Penland were like nothing I've experienced. The environment is designed to make the work the entire focus. The accommodations are spartan, there's no television or radio, meals are short, and the campus is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. So the intensity is built in, which is all to the better. And because everyone is equally absorbed, you feel a kinship with all the perfect strangers that you meet and take meals with and run into at the coffeeshop. Nobody cares how you're dressed or what you do in your "real" life, unless you're an artist. That's worth talking about. "How's your class going?" is the main question at meals. Almost always, it's followed by a comment about how tasty the (french toast, pasta, salad, pesto grilled cheese sandwich) is and how impossible it is that you're still eating three such squares every day.

The view from the Pines dining hall tells you that you're in the country, and the llamas in the field remind you that you're at Penland. For a little solitary R&R I headed to the Craft House porch and the coffee house directly downstairs.

While I was there, PBS aired a three-part series, Craft in America, the first nationally-broadcast series on contemporary craft in the U.S. Penland was featured in the third installment, Community.

More to come soon. Here are a few photos to tide you over.

A great photo by Mary, one of the students in the Book Arts class,
of the view from the Craft House.

Similar view from the Craft House in the evening.
The grass looks like ice, doesn't it?

Part of the ceramic "garden"

A resident llama -- another great shot by Mary

Why It's Foolish for Newspapers to Dump Book Review Sections

By now you've figured out that I'm concerned over the elimination of book criticism at several major metropolitan newspapers. As usual, I direct you to the National Book Critics Circle Campaign to Save Book Reviewing series. Here's background info and how to get involved, if you're so inclined. Of course, NBCC members have a vested interest, since they want to protect their livelihoods, but that doesn't diminish the value of the cause. If you're a Bookie, Critical Mass, the blog of the NBCC Board of Directors, is worth visiting from time to time. Currently, they're running a series of 'so-and-so'-on-what-to-read-this-summer columns.

Mark Bowden, a national correspondent for The Atlantic magazine, in a recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, says that there's still a place for newspapers (gee, that makes at least two of us!).

"Pictures and sound are terrific and cannot be beaten when capturing a live breaking news event, but for conveying large amounts of nuanced information, for investigation and analysis, nothing beats, or ever will beat, the written word. I have always believed that when all the superfluous reasons for buying newspapers have been stripped away, what will remain are readers.

"Which is why it is a mistake for newspapers, including this one, to do away with such things as book review sections and Sunday magazines. Our core audience is educated, well-informed, curious and generally smarter than we are - about more than a few things. Essays about books and ideas, reviews of film, theater, art and television - these are far more important for newspapers today than they ever were in the past."

Women in Art

Music Videos Like They Used to Make

I've just returned from an intense (in a good way) two-week workshop in book arts at Penland. I'll be writing about it after a brief recovery period (mostly, I plan to stare into space for a couple of days). In the meantime, here's an inventive music video for "Ankle Injuries," a song by the British band Fujiya & Miyagi. Visually, its style is part "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel and part "Fell In Love With a Girl" by the White Stripes. A bit of fun eye candy for your day.



An amusing (at least to me) side note: The band identifies its members as as "Steve Lewis (Fujiya), David Best (Miyagi), and Matt Hainsby (ampersand). "

Its influences, according to its MySpace page, range from Captain Beefheart, Serge Gainsbourg, and Roxy Music to Talking Heads, Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, and Dexys Midnight Runners.