Wednesday, October 27, 2010

 

Bad Books

That's Bad Books, the indie rock band. Their music page on facebook is offering a chance to win a nifty limited edition bundle along with the new record. Very nicely packaged in a hollowed-out old book with their trademark critter on the cover. (Don't just like it, love it.)

Friday, October 22, 2010

 

Next on the list?

Cooler weather has arrived and with it my thoughts turn to winter days spent with books in the rocking chair by the woodstove. Of late my reading has been haphazard - although really, when has it been otherwise - and I find myself craving one of my annual attempts at a more sustained reading project. Multi-volume or multi-part, engrossing, new-to-me but a classic to everyone else, something looming on my life list like a rare bird spotted once in a lifetime. In recent years: Montaigne, Pepys, the Iliad and Odyssey. Winter brings out an aptitude for sustained concentration in me and I don't want to let this go to waste, good yankee that I am. So this year? Certain names loom large, both on my bookshelves and in my imagination. Such as Proust. Last time I attempted Proust, I made it through most of volume two. I actually loved the dreamy prose but couldn't stick with it somehow and want to try again. What about Anthony Powell's massive series A Dance to the Music of Time? Which I own in hardcover and paperback and have never cracked open. Or some of the Giant Famous Russian Novels I've never read? They're supposed to be really good, I hear (War and Peace, etc). Or maybe Dante's Divine Comedy? How about an extended foray into the writers of ancient Greece and Rome? Or the entire oeuvre of some author I've always meant to read but never have (Woolf - besides Orlando, Faulkner)? Good choices to have to make. I'm enjoying mulling it over. Suggestions welcome.

I visited two libraries this week, in different nearby towns, because each one contained something I dearly wanted to find out about. Something which was not available on the internet. How often can you say that any more. Did my heart good, call me old-fashioned.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

 

State of the art

I dreamed this week that I had great big blisters on the sides of my fingers from painting too much. I don't think it's possible to form calluses from holding paint brushes, but you never know. I've been outside painting painting painting during this glorious stretch of fall weather here in Maine and now I'm feeling tired and looking forward to some quiet studio time as the cold really settles in. Some recent good news on the art front: I've had a painting accepted into a juried show at the Portland Museum of Art. Feeling really good about that, but not letting it distract me (much) as I keep working on the new stuff at hand. Good news is always welcome. Particularly since I recently realized that this past season I had work in twice as many places as last year, but sold half as many paintings as last year. If I hear the phrase "In this economy..." one more time... Luckily the book biz continues to provide me with some income. "In this economy" (Doh!) people seem to be buying used books more than ever.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

 

Solvitur ambulando

Huge time sink. I do love it, but man oh man. All this stuff - blogs, youtube, facebook, twitter, tumblr. I can't keep up so I'm not even going to try. I'm going to go take a walk instead.

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