Because You Need More Books

The San Francisco Big Book Sale starts today and ends on Sunday. The Friends of the SF Public Library site has all the details, including:

This year we will offer over 200,000 books covering more than fifty categories. Our special "Best of Book Bay" section will feature collectible rare books, first editions, as well as just plain strange books discovered by Friends volunteers.

Books sold on Sunday are priced at only $1 or less! If you're running out of room, consider the oven. I mean how often do you really use it anyway? (via SFist)

Hey All You Zombies

Few people think zombies actually exist. But many hold they are at least conceivable, and some that they are ‘logically’ or ‘metaphysically’ possible. It is argued that if zombies are so much as a bare possibility, then physicalism is false and some kind of dualism must be accepted.

(an excerpt from the lengthy 'Zombies' entry in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy via The Morning News)

Book Report

I have a bad habit of staying up half the night reading and I'm really no good without at least eight hours of sleep. But, the night before last, around 11pm, I decided I would let myself read just the first chapter of Marcy Dermansky's debut novel TWINS before bed. Of course, I didn't get my eight hours that night. I simply couldn't stop after just one chapter. I had to find out how Chloe and Sue would survive their tumultuous coming of age. Depending on who was narrating (they both took turns), I found myself rooting a bit for one over the other. In the end, though, I wanted them both to succeed. Identity is a curious thing. I've experienced for myself how traumatic yet amazing sisterhood can be and also how our roles (the "smart" one, the "pretty" one) can be so limiting, so often completely wrong, and yet so hard to escape. Dermansky's novel is like a really good therapy session, painful at times--it will break your heart--but cathartic and ultimately rewarding.

In the Mood to Decorate

I've been thinking how great it would be to add some gorgeous wallpaper to the area right above my fireplace mantle--something dramatic (a silhouette of ravens a la Poe, perhaps?). I'm guessing I couldn't afford the work by Benicia, CA based Bradbury & Bradbury Art Wallpapers (pictured above is their Lion and Dove frieze), but it's definitely inspiring.

The Play's the Thing... (SF)

to do this weekend. I'd hoped to have an interview for you with Christine U'Ren, the author of Improper Ambitions, but I've been slammed and the rest of the week isn't looking much better. Anyway, I couldn't wait to post a real review because it closes on October 2nd. So go see it. Details here.

Photo: Marie Antoinette. More photos by Vigee Le Brun here.

Kimono Culture

On Sunday, September 25, scholar and author Liza Dalby will present the lecture, "Modern Girls (Unless They're French) Don't Wear Kimono" at The Berkeley Art Museum. (via Flavorpill)

A Thanksgiving Story

For the longest time I never really "got" Thanksgiving. In my experience it meant seeing my normally placid mom edge ever closer to a Joan Crawford-style nervous breakdown--and always over something as innocuous as marshmallow-topped sweet potatoes or canned, yes CANNED, cranberry sauce. My sister and I were her less-than-enthusiastic assistants. And as for Dad, his only contribution was carving the turkey. Unless you count asking every fifteen minutes when it was going to be ready. As a result Thanksgiving “dinner” gradually became brunch and since it was not a meal to be particularly savored (witness the green bean casserole, which consisted of canned green beans and Durkee’s french fried onions), it lasted all of about 15 minutes. Including the pumpkin pie. Anyway, this Thanksgiving I'm joining my friend Gabrielle, who happens to be a stellar cook, and her boyfriend Bubbi (rhymes with hubby) in Portland. Side trip to Astoria, where they filmed The Goonies, included. And I can't wait to visit bibliophile Mecca, Powell's City of Books.

Image: Getty, j8179-001

& Whatnot

I'm a bit overwhelmed with work this week, but here is what's wonderful elsewhere:

Get sucked into Cecil Vortex (if you haven't already) and be sure to sign up for The Richard Brautigan Poem of the Day. It's not always Brautigan, but it's always good.

I'm so looking forward to reading my copy of Marcy Dermansky's new novel TWINS. Could it have something to do with the fact that my sister and I, although we're not twins, currently live together and are somewhat co-dependent? Perhaps.

This morning in a sudden urge for self-improvement, I downloaded Sebastien's French PodClass #10, hoping to learn a few phrases on my morning walk to work. Instead I was treated to a full-fledged conversation in French (too advanced for me, I'm afraid) by the charming Sebastien and co. and, even better, some French rap. Tomorrow, if I'm still feeling the urge, I'll start with class #1.

If you're in SF, I'm hoping to see you at the Makeout Room tonight for the reading to benefit Katrina victims.

Smart and Sexy

Mozart's wife Constanze is often "portrayed as a vulgar, bubble-headed sex kitten, lacking any appreciation of her husband's phenomenal gifts..." writes Jane Glover, the author of Mozart's Women. The author asserts that Constanze's intelligence was a perfect match for her artistic husband who admittedly owed much of his success to her efforts. For a fictional portrayal of Mozart's relationship with his wife and her three sisters, read Stephanie Cowell's lovingly researched Marrying Mozart. (My short review of Marrying Mozart is here.

A 6-Year-Old Hero

This story (via Writer's Attic) of five toddlers and a baby lead to safety by a six-year-old ends happily but paints another nightmarish picture of what some families are facing in Katrina's aftermath.

See What Happens...

when I don't make time to catch up on my blog reading? The literarily lyrical Decemberists played at the Fillmore Sunday and Monday night (Stereogum.com) and I almost missed the news that Michael Chabon and Andrew Sean Greer are reading at A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books tomorrow night. (SFist) I may still have time to pencil that one in. I haven't had a chance to mention it yet, but the 826 fundraiser last week, featuring Chabon, Michelle Tea, and many other wonderful writers along with a performance by troubadour Jonathan Richman, was pure fun and so inspiring. Also on SFist, good news for Kepler's lovers: Investors are looking at saving the Menlo Park bookstore.

Wicked New Accessory

Yes, we know that charity bracelets are for a good cause but Linda recently uncovered plastic bracelets that celebrate the seven deadly sins (plus Nihilism for good measure). Accoutrements (you may remember seeing their action figures of pirates, authors, and even a crazy cat lady) are the brilliant minds behind this one and the "cynics" and "smart alecks" out there are grateful. For the record: Linda is sporting Sloth while I'm proudly advocating absolutely nothing with Nihilism.

That said, donating is still very important (we just prefer to do it directly with cash or by purchasing drinks) so here are links to the Red Cross and two great SF-based fundraising events. Red Cross | 500 Club (tonight!--all proceeds go to Katrina relief) | Reading Benefit at Makeout Room (Monday, the 19th)

What Would Jane Austen Do?

This week on Romancing the Tome, Amy has the skinny on an adaptation of Carl Hiassen's bestseller Skinny Dip plus her casting picks (Mike Nichols are you listening?), while I share the latest on Ioan Gruffudd's heroic new project and the scoop on Jane Austen's posthumous reaction to Keira Knightley's cheeky comment at the Pride & Prejudice premiere.

Portrait of a Lady

Improper Ambitions, a new play by Christine U'Ren, promises an inside look at the 18th c. French art world and court life from the perspective of Marie-Antoinette's favorite portraitist, Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun. The production includes other personalities from the period including Manet, Degas, Mary Cassatt, Jacques-Louis David, and of course Marie-Antoinette.

Performances run through October 2nd at SF's Theatre Rhinoceros. More info here.

Image: Self-Portrait in a Straw Hat, by Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, 1782.

Turkey Threatens Pamuk

Snow author Orhan Pamuk has been threatened with imprisonment by officials in Turkey because his comments about the Armenian genocide embarrass them. "If found guilty at his trial, set for December 16, he could be jailed for up to three years," reports The Sunday Times (UK).

Twee House

Q: What if "we" didn't have so much stuff cluttering up our houses/apartments? A: We could live in a Tumbleweed Tiny House.

Image: 12x16 Cross Gable House by Tumbleweed Tiny House Company

SF Benefit for Katrina Victims

Attend a reading benefit for victims of Hurricane Katrina on September 19th at The Makeout Room. Participating authors to include Michelle Richmond, Daniel Handler, and Julie Orringer. (via Return of the Reluctant)

Libraries and Katrina

Joanna Pulcini writes that

"In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, a number of libraries and schools in the State Library of Louisiana and Mississippi Library systems have lost their collections...In Louisiana, the collections in the St. Tammany, Slidell, St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, and New Orleans parishes have all been severely damaged. A number of Mississippi libraries in the Gulf Coast region have lost everything."

She notes that you can make donations to the LLA Disaster Relief Fund here and the MLA here.

Oh, Behave! The "He's Just Not That Into You" Edition

Sample letters copied directly from "The Lady's Guide to Perfect Gentility (1856)."

A lady in answer to a letter in which ther suitor intimates his wish to discontinue acquaintance.
SIR:
I acknowledge the receipt of your last letter, which now lies before me, and in which you convey the intimation, that the position in which, for some time past, we have regarded each other, must henceforth be abandoned. Until the receipt of this letter, I had regarded you in the light of my future husband; you were, therefore, as you have reason to know, so completely the possessor of my affections, that I looked with indifference upon every other suitor. The rememberance of you never failed to give a fresh zest to the pleasures of life, and you were in my thoughts at the very moment in which I received your letter.
But deem me not so devoid of proper pride as to wish you to revoke your determination, from which I will not attempt to dissuade you, whether you may have made it in cool deliberation, or in precipitate haste. sir, I shall endeavor to banish you from my affections, as readily and completely as you have banished me; and all that I shall now require from you is this, that you will return to me whatever letters you may have of mine, and which I may have written under a foolish confidence in your attachment, and when you were accredited as the future husband of,
Sir,
Your as may be,
Henrietta Allston.

"No Water...No Supplies...Nothing for Four Days..."

Video from the convention center.

New Orleans

To be honest I don't really watch T.V. news much, but reading about the destruction caused by Katrina is terrifying enough. Return of the Reluctant has been tracking headlines as they develop. His latest post includes the link to a harrowing blog from the frontlines.

Image: Angel Tomb, New Orleans