I'd Rather Be Reading

What better time to think about Maurice Sendak than Children’s Book Week ( http://www.bookweekonline.com/ )?   Never met him, but he’s one of those icons, those amazing “I grew up with this book!” author/illustrators from our youth. And who hasn’t read his books to kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews? Lord knows I have. We all remember the big hoopla surrounding In the Night Kitchen, don’t we? How shocked we were when some library somewhere banned it? It was because the small boy, falling dream-like through the sky, was sporting the full (albeit teensy) monty. How hysterical to think of that now, right? Those were more innocent times, I guess. While I was working at Borders in Oak Brook, Sendak was developing his Where the Wild Things Are opera in Chicago. So one day, since I had to head to Chicago from the ‘burbs anyway, I brought along a poster of Where the Wild Things Are . Just in case I could get to the rehearsal studio, meet him, and get him to sign it. Amazin...

I love seeing people – catching people – reading. It’s so low-tech, so comfortable, so solitary. It’s heartening to drive by a person sitting on a bench with a book, or standing in a long line behind a reader. I used to toss around the idea of a photojournalist-type project: take photos of people reading, wherever you find them. Like the guy I saw yesterday, stretched out on the short wall that separates West Beach from the running path. He was lying on a cement wall , but he looked as content and comfortable as if he’d been lounging in his backyard in a hammock, probably because he was totally absorbed in his book. Wish I’d had my camera. So to that end, I’ll make that a goal for this month – since I already carry my camera along nearly everywhere I go, I’ll use it more often, to catch people reading. I’ll post those photos here in my blog, and maybe some on facebook. With that goal in mind, allow me to take this opportunity to remind everyone that May is Get Ca...

My Bus Driver Told me to Read The Dead To be fair, he’s more educated than the average bus driver. Daniel is seemingly a bottomless pit of smart-ness, often surprising his passengers (UCSB students, mostly) with his literary/movie/political/religion knowledge and tidbits. So when we had a casual discussion (and how did THAT happen?!?) about books, he said, “You’ve read James Joyce’s The Dead , right?” Well, no…I haven’t. “How about Dubliners ?” No, sorry. “Well, you’ve read A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man , then?” Still no. “And you call yourself a book person?!?” he blurted in frustration. Actually, yes – yes, I do. In fact, I proudly, to this day, still call myself a book person. A bookseller, for years, a book reader, a “Book Woman,” as a favorite t-shirt declares, but most importantly, a book person. But not because I’ve read every important, famous, well-known book under the sun – far from it. I’ve mostly found myself falling into thril...

Well, we're well into 2012, and it's time to get in gear with one of my resolutions: "write more." So I spent a few hours today ordering, oddly, business cards for myself. A strange incentive, I know. But having a card that screams, in about five different ways, that I'm (trying to be) a writer - well, I think it just lends itself to making me (more of a) writer. So, cards are ordered and new iPad is more than just a fantasy- I'm even closer than ever to pulling the trigger and making that major purchase. Next on the list: get my butt in the chair and do some (more than ever) writing, dammit! But as always...I'd rather be reading. K8