BookLust

Luverly Linky Links

A mish-mash of bookish links I'd like to share on a sunny Monday afternoon:

Feel creative? Love old catologuing cards? Well then get involved in the cARTalog!

The cARTalog grows from the empty drawers of the University of Iowa Libraries’ main card catalog, which was retired in 2004. A small community of library staff—motivated by both nostalgia and library subculture-- has come together to give the card catalog cards themselves a rebirth, in order to celebrate the role of this honorific icon within the world of libraries as well as the UI Libraries’ sesquicentennial...You can get involved by participating in one of the above projects, or by creating your own. Projects could develop out of using a group of cards or simply one. You can respond to the cards format (size and material) or content (book title, subject words, author). You can submit and donate your piece to the cARTalog project for it’s growing collection OR, if you choose to keep your card catalog piece, we ask that you provide us with documentation (written and photographic if possible) so that we can document and credit your participation.

Take a look at some of card catologue creations in their gallery! Oh and the above image is entitled Card Up My Sleeve and was created by Shirley Sauls of LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Many thanks to Iliana for this amazing book link!

What colour is the alphabet? Take a peak at this enchanting book, Alphabet in Colour, by Vladimir Nabokov, and illustrated by Jean Holabird.

Vladimir Nabokov could hear color. As he described it –

perhaps “hearing” is not quite accurate, since the color sensation seems to be produced by the very act of my orally forming a given letter while I imagine its outline. The long a of the English alphabet . . . has for me the tint of weathered wood, but a French a evokes polished ebony. This black group also includes hard g (vulcanized rubber) and r (a sooty rag being ripped). Oatmeal n, noodle-limp l, and the ivory-backed hand mirror of o take care of the whites.

For anyone who has ever wondered how the colors Nabokov heard might manifest themselves visually, Alphabet in Color is a remarkable journey of discovery. Jean Holabird’s interpretation of the colored alphabets of one of the twentieth century’s literary greats is a revelation. Nabokov saw rich colors in letters and sounds and noted the deficiency of color in literature, praising Gogol as the first Russian writer to truly appreciate yellow and violet.

Hats off to Bookish for this bountiful link.

Big fat congrats go to...

Pete Anderson, of Pete Lit!
His short story Casey's Real Turn at Bat has been published in the 12th issue of basball zine Zisk Magazine. And an earlier story, Ectoplasm, can be found online in issue 11 of Storyglossia.

Kate Sutherland of Kate's Book Blog has a short story published in the latest issue of This Magazine. You can read her story online here, as well as read an interview with Kate here. There's a very fetching picture of her along with the interview!

All the Blog News that's Fit to Print

What's this? A positive write-up on blogs in a print publication? Has Hell finally frozen over?

Ok, pardon the sarcasm, but some of you get where I'm coming from. I have been rather perturbed, of late, with the excessive negative view of blogs by some of those print people.

Well, thankfully at least one guy gets it. I highly recommend reading Ivor Tossell's Web column, which can be found every Friday in the Globe and Mail's Review section. He often highlights and discusses blogs that have caught his eye. This week Ivor touched upon the annual Bloggies, a popular award for the best blogs in the blogosphere. Rather than talk about the blogs that won this year, Ivor decided to focus on the blogs which were nominated but did not win. In Ivor's words:

Here are some stand-outs from the finalist pool, each of which wins my Sparkling Elf Fantastic Website Golden Trophy award. Badges are available on request.

Here's a list of the blogs Ivor mentioned:

overheardinnewyork.com
chromewaves.net
stuffonmycat.com
drawn.ca
dooce.com

Naturally I'm thrilled to bits that DRAWN! was mentioned, since I am a contributor on that blog (though a delinquent one of late).

Congrats, Johnny, and hats off to Ivor Tossell!

The Blogging Point

Look who's joined the party! Let's all give him a warm welcome, now, shall we?

I'm looking forward to what Mr. Gladwell posts on his blog; he has a fascinating approach to all his subjects. I always enjoy readin g his articles in The New Yorker, and I thoroughly enjoyed The Tipping Point. Haven't read Blink yet; anyone out there have anything to say about Gladwell's 2nd book?

Anyway, welcome aboard, Mr. Gladwell. Give 'em hell!

The Glamorous World of Women Bloggers

Yesterday I did something I haven't done in a very long time. I bought a copy of Glamour magazine. But for one reaso n only, ok? Heather Armstrong, creator of the very popular blog Dooce, mentioned recently that she and some other women bloggers were interviewed in the January issue of Glamour. Well, that's just awesome, I thought; I get very excited whenever bloggers get exposure in the media (especially if that blogger is me!), and I get doubly excited if the focus is on women bloggers.

So I flip to the page of the article, and there's a fabulous shot of Ms. Armstrong with her dog. But I start to get concerned about the content of the article when I read the sub-header: Are They Self-Absorbed Exhibitionists? Groovy Free Spirits? Or Just Plain Bored? Meet Them And Decide For Yourself.

The author of this article, Julie Klam, apparently doesn't know much about blogs, and this becomes more evident when I read about the "five women who have blogged and lived to tell the story – for better or for worse." Overall the tone of this article is one that presents women who blog as vacuuous idiots who are lonely and crave attention. There's a woman who blogged while on her honeymoon, a woman who got fired because of her blog (that's the idiot former flight attendant for Delta Airlines who posted pictures of herself goofing around an empty plane) and another gal who confesses that she was just performing for her audience, writing about her life as a "broke-ass chick looking for a rich man, a sugar daddy." Thankfully Heather Armstrong comes across as strong, bright and funny, and the paragraph on the blogger Wendy McClure is positive, too, but I'm confused as to why Glamour did not mention the fact that Ms. McClure managed to get a book published from creating her blog (The book is entitled I'm Not The New Me). There's a multitude of clever, talented, funny and engaging women bloggers out there, and this is the best that Glamour can do? And really, why am I surprised, when I look through the magazine and see compelling articles like 4 Ways to Avoid Holiday Sale-Itis and Men's Secret Dating Language.

So for anyone curious, I will point out a few women bloggers that Glamour neglected to mention, who deserve praise, recognition and respect:

Magnificent Octopus
Part witty, quirky family diary, and part book and arts blog, this is an extremely engaging and intelligent blog from a delightfully unique woman, Isabella, who resides in Montreal, Canada.

Inkygirl
This is a great resource for freelance writers, created b y the very talented freelance writer, musician and cartoonist Debbie Ridpath Ohi. Inkygirl provides a wealth of information regarding freelance writing jobs, writing workshops, as well as many day-to-day practical tips a freelancer needs in order t o stay on top in the business. I recently met Debbie in person, and she is an amazing lady. You can find out more about her fascinating life by also reading her personal blog, Blatherings.

Kate's Book Blog
I discovered this blog about two months ago, and I'm so glad I did! Kate is a very thoughtful and careful writer. Her analysis on books, ideas and writing opens my mind up to fresh, new ways o f looking at the wonderful world of words. Kate is also a published author; her second collection of short stories will be published by Thistledown Press in 2007.

So Misguided
Monique describes her blog as Plain Words, Uncommon Sense on books, writing, tap dancing, technology, and whatever else captures my interest. Monique is, again in her own words, a writer, editor, internet marketer, point-and-shoot photographer, web-aficionado and book reader. Her writing style is elegant and enchanting, and her eclectic blog is chock-full of information and intelligent opinion.

The Bubble
Less than a year ago, the talented and beautiful Hadas left Tel Aviv with her husband and young son to start a new life in the often very cold city of Toronto. Hadas' blog is a fascinating and bittersweet tale of her many travels around the globe as well as in her heart. She also writes about her life in Tel Aviv before she left, expressing a multi-layered array of mixed emotions. Hadas is a gifted photographer, and you must check out her latest photos of Tel Aviv, where she is visiting right now.

So there you go. Some other women who blog, who are anything but self-absorbed or just plain bored. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Glamour.



Typepad Woes, Yet Again

As you may be aware, Typepad is experiencing (yet again) more serious issues. What I thought was just an initial down-time for maintenance has turned into another drama where data might be lost once more (this happened to me a few weeks ago where Typepad lost at least 13 images on my blog; I still don't think I've updated them all). I certainly hope the last two posts will be restored this weekend. I want to continue to love Typepad, but at this moment in time I am being greatly tested in my faith.

UPDATE:
As you can see, the pics are now up again, but unfortunately no one (including myself) can accesss my BiblioQueria 14 post, which I find very annoying to say the least. I've sent a Help Ticket to Typepad to find out what the hell is going on with that. If anyone has any answers on how to solve this damn problem (other than looking for another blog host), I'd love to hear it.

I gotta say this though, right now my frame of mind is three times and you're out, buddy.

UPDATE 2:
It looks like the problem with my BiblioQueria 14 post has been resolved. There is now access to the comments section.

After this yet again frustrating experience it has dawned on me that since I first started this blog, I have not done any backup for BookLust. Now I'm not suggesting that this blog is some great magnum opus or anything, but I would be very sorry to lose all the writing that I have done for the past year and a half. So I've saved all the text for the posts, and I've also been printing off all my posts as well, but this job takes a lot of time and paper and ink, so I'm only up to February 2005. I have yet to figure out an easy way to save all the comments. Other than copy and past each section of comments into a file, I'm at a loss on how to approach this conundrum. Any suggestions are welcome.

The bottom line is, at this moment in time I do not fully trust Typepad to protect my data. I have to accept some responsibility in this area, but quite frankly, Typepad is officially on probation in my books.

Born to Blog?

One of my most treasured blog friends is the esteemed RJ, author of The Daily Blague, an exceptional blog overflowing in wit and humour and insight. The Daily Blague hails from the voluminous Portico, an astounding panoply of essays, reviews, letters, recipes, and assorted intellectual ephemera all penned by the unsinkable RJ himself. It is best, I believe, when exploring Portico, to set aside at least a few hours of uninterrupted time; one doesn't 'breeze through' this magnum opus; wandering through Portico is like suddenly discovering a secret vault in your home which houses an astounding library full of undiscovered intellectual delights.

As well as itroducing you to The Daily Blague and Portico, I also wanted to bring to your attention a recent post by RJ, which I enjoyed immensely. In it, he discusses his reasons why he blogs, and in fact, why he believes that he was "born to blog". It's a delightful, elegant ode to writing and blogging.

And so why do I blog? I love to write, and wanted to share my thoughts with a larger audience than my husband and my cats. Although I have many book-loving friends, it's not always so easy to get the time to meet with them in person and discuss books and writing and well ... stuff. I also wanted to share my artwork with a larger audience, and yes, hoped that it might boost my creative career (it has). Without a doubt though, the best part about blogging has been the amazing people I have met (some only online, some in the flesh). People who more than likely I would never have encountered in my daily life, were it not for BookLust. Of course there is a negative side to blogging; yes I have met in my blogging travels a few idiots and blowhards, but that will happen in your day-to-day life, too. It's hard to escape from these people in the 'real world', but it's a whole lot easier to ignore them in the blogosphere.

So like RJ, I think I, too, was born to blog. How 'bout you?

New Orleans State of Mind

No I'm not gonna write any opinions about what's been happening in NO; there are lots of other people who know much more about what's going on there who can say it much better than myself. One of those people is David, who has a blog called Slimbolala, which until very recently, was about many wonderful things, including his unique perspectives of his life in New Orleans. Slimbolala was a New Orleans cornucopia of witty words, delightful photographs and clever quirky drawings by a very talented, funny guy. (Those are his great drawings above).

Well, obviously David and his family are not living in NO any more. They've had to pack up and move to Austin until further notice. I highly recommend you read his many posts about the entire experience, from the first rumblings of Katrina, to his family's trek to a new city, a temporary home. A bittersweet diary, which is both engaging and heart-breaking.

I will miss David's day-to-day missives on his wonderful city, but I know that he and his family will come back home eventually, no doubt armed with a new perspective of New Orleans. I will look forward to those posts. In the mean time, I'm enjoying Slimbolala's views of life in Austin, all from a New Orleans state of mind.