monoceros blogs
The Best American series is a favorite of mine. I usually go for the short stories and essays and, more recently, travel writing. The non-required reading always struck me as too avant garde, but this year's is looking good. It's got a beautiful cover by graphic novelist, Adrian Tomine (recommended to me by Boon), and an introduction by King Aragorn. Okay, by Viggo Mortensen. The review considers his introduction to be one of the very best.
The local independent bookstore, Shaman Drum, already has the book in stock, so I got to leaf through a few pages before my musicology class today. It includes work by two writers I admire - David Sedaris (hilarious essayist) and Julie Orringer (raised in New Orleans and Ann Arbor, writes wonderful short stories) - so I'm inching towards getting a copy. Pretty cover, pretty stories. Darn it, I wish I owned my own bookstore. That way I can order all the books I want (and it'd still be considered "work"), organize readings, and maybe hold a writing workshop or two. Ah, the life we live in dreams.
Go read more about The Best American Non-Required Reading 2004 here.
Posted by Monoceros at September 28, 2004 10:44 PMhmmmm hope they'll sell it here too...
Posted by: tiggie at September 29, 2004 4:12 PMmaybe one day our 100-acre-wood can set up our own 100-acre-wood bookstore. Then we'll give each section a pretty name. And our bookstore will be known for playing really good music, have great food and great interior design! Tiggie can also sell her handmade cards.
wouldn't that be lovely???
Posted by: dsd at September 29, 2004 8:33 PM
excellent! i will look out for it in the shops. david sedaris is one funny guy; my copy of "Me Talk Pretty One Day" is getting quite dog-eared from repeat readings. i am particularly interested by the travel writing edition. thanks for the recommendation!
that sounds so fun, DSD! Sigh, if only it were so easy to set up a shop like that! I get first dibs on cashier duty. I love cash registers! Great idea about selling Tiggie's cards! I love them.
Shin, David Sedaris is so addictive! You should try and hear him read out his essays on audio cd. I'm teaching one of his essays tomorrow. Going to borrow a recording of him reading. I hear it's really funny.
Posted by: monoceros at September 29, 2004 9:58 PMcool! i will find out whether the libs stock audiobooks.
i just realised in the previous post, i typed "interested...by" instead of "interested...in" - gahh, grammar slip-up!
Posted by: shin at September 30, 2004 12:10 AMoh! tiggie's cards! wow... can i get help from tiggie's mum too?
yes i've always wanted something like that really... books, music, craft and nibbles... poets, writers, musicians, artists will come and be part of it. *dreams*
Posted by: tiggie at September 30, 2004 10:58 AM