ArtBreak

This was ArtBreak's 23rd year here in the Shreveport area. 23 years of bringing together, in once place, the incredible art of children and young adults (through 12th grade). Awesome work. I am particularly fond of the elementary school art. The teachers don't have much time with the children and can only cover (at most schools) very basic techniques. Despite this, the children's innate abilities shine through; their use of color and design is something adult artists work hard to achieve. Notice how many children make art of their animal friends? (see Flicker images) Not to neglect books and reading, I've posted a couple of cute pieces (by future booksellers or librarians?).

Reading a novel - you inhale the experience

What a great quote from Reading Lolita in Tehran: (courtesy of Biblio Bloggins)

“A novel is not an allegory. It is the sensual experience of another world. If you don’t enter that world, hold your breath with the characters and become involved in their destiny, you won’t be able to empathize, and empathy is at the heart of the novel. This is how you read a book: you inhale the experience.”

Field Maple Triolet

by Liz Bassett

Thinking of you, I see a tree,
and open sky and birds and sun
inside my head.
                             My heart blows free
thinking of you.
                             I see a tree
and you are there, a rolling sea
of light-filled leaves; of love begun.
Thinking of you, I see a tree,
and open sky, and birds, and sun.

I love this poem!

How Cool! Bookplates Galore @ My Home Library

Once again I've found something totally unexpected while looking for something else (isn't the internet great sometimes?). I've just finished reading Pat O'Shea's The Hounds of the Morrigan and was researching her works, etc. because I really enjoyed this book and wished that she'd written other stories (alas, no, not that I can find). Anyhoo, I ran across the My Home Library site where artists have created lovely, original bookplate designs that can be downloaded. A simple design by Joan Aiken is shown above (wouldn't this look great on a t-shirt?). The book reviews section of My Home Library has recommendations and reading suggestions by young and older readers. The Hounds of Morrigan was 6th on a young reader's list of castaway books. I agree with Sorcha; it's a great read!

April 20 ~Birth of Detective Fiction Day~

Garrison Keillor's, The Writer's Almanac, reports that April 20th is the day that detective fiction was born. On this day in 1841, Edgar Allen Poe first published The Murders in the Rue Morgue. This wasn't the first mystery story; it was the first story where someone pieced together clues and made deductions using scientific reasoning. In searching for an image of Poe to use in this post I ran across a bookseller's copy of The Murders in the Rue Morgue and Other Stories with such a cool cover that I just had to post it. It's so colorful. I just wish I had the greenbacks to purchase it myself. Maybe it's just right for YOUR collection? (image property of E&C Books,Ltd.)

Tom Cruise in town

The word on the street is that Tom Cruise is in town with his wife (hmm, what's her name? oh yeah, Katie) who will be starring with Diane Keaton (notice I know HER name) and Queen Latifah (and hers) in a movie being filmed here in S'port city. And, Tom and Katie will be living on my street (well, on my street but in a ritzier zip code). It would be interesting to see him in person. And, I'd really like to hear what Scientologists believe. Yesterday a 14-year old was telling me the basic tenets of Scientology. You know how kids are...I couldn't decide whether she was giving me HER version of the "religion" or what. If she was telling the truth, OMGoddess, they really believe we are the spawn of brothers from another planet? I'm not sure it's worth it but maybe I'll hunker down and actually read about Scientology. Also heard that James Earl Jones was going to be in town for the filming of another movie (don't know which one). I just love that man's voice! He came into our bookstore in Juneau, Alaska (Big City Books - alas, no longer in business) 15+ years ago and bought so many books we had to mail them to him. He's a man who enjoys reading!

Wordsworth Rap

Wordsworth's I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud now has a rap version. I'm not a huge fan of rap but this is kinda cute. If you'd like to hear a more traditional version try Kymm Zuckert's reading. Quite enjoyable! Her reading is to be found at the LibriVox site whose goal is the "acoustical liberation of books in the public domain." Great resource for us aging baby boomers, that is, unless our hearing goes as well as our eyesight.