Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh but according to experts, the sad reality is that his work has never been fully appreciated in his homeland and a lot of his work hasn’t ever even been seen in Scotland. A new website launched in Edinburgh today hopes to rectify that.
The site features a large collection of Stevenson’s written work including letters and works previously unseen as well as photographs and other personal paraphernalia drawn from collections around the world.
Stevenson is best known for the novels Treasure Island, Kidnappedand Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde but the experts behind the site hope to introduce the world to the author’s larger body of work which encompasses poetry, travel writing, children’s stories, literary essays, and even historical novels.
I know I could learn a lot more about Robert Louis Stevenson. If I was well-versed I would have thought to include him in my Movember Literary Moustaches list!
Jim Carroll, punk-rock poet and musician who is also well-known for his biography of his wild and drug filled teen years, The Basketball Diaries, died on Friday of a heart attack. He was 60 years old.
There will always be a poem
I will climb on top of it and come
In and out of time,
Cocking my head to the side slightly,
As I finish shaking, melting then
Into its body, its soft skin
–Jim Carroll, “Poem”
from Void of Course (1998)
As a city-dweller I get, and have even considered, doing without a car. But I’m stymied at going without toilet-paper. Give me a bog roll made from recycled paper but I won’t use a newspaper prior to processing into a much softer format.
Colin Beavan’s family on the other hand, did go a year without toilet paper. Or a car. Or TV. Or electricity. And nothing new other than food. Oh, did I mention the family included a two-year-old?
It all sounds pretty extreme but the Beavans survived their year-long experiment and as toddlers usually do, the two-year-old adapted easily to the new lifestyle. They experienced year of appreciating what they had and their relationships with people rather than things.
I’ll admit, I don’t think that I could do what the Beavans did but I am wanting to live a little greener and perhaps his book would give me some insight on how to live without the things I couldn’t possibly live without.
Would you like the good news or the bad news first? Let’s start with the bad news so that we can end on a happier note.
Stephenie Meyer has been accused of plagiarism. Author Jordan Scott claims that passages in Meyer’s fourth book in the Twilight series bear “striking and substantial similarity” to parts of his internet book The Nocturne. Representatives for Meyer’s made the following statement:
“The claim that ‘Breaking Dawn‘ by Stephenie Meyer somehow infringes on an alleged book by someone named Jordan Scott is completely without merit. Neither Stephenie Meyer nor her representatives had any knowledge of this writer or her supposed book prior to this claim.”
On the lighter side, Stephenie Meyer is set to be a comic book heroine thanks to the Female Force biographical comic book series. Other women who have had this distinction include, Princess Diana, Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama. The comic books “starring” Meyer are scheduled for publication in advance of the November movie release of New Moon.
Mezrich defends himself saying, “It’s a non-fiction book. It’s a true story. I am a narrative non-fiction writer in a way that other people don’t write. I’m trying to create my own genre of non- fiction.”
FaceBook’s spokesman counters, “Ben Mezrich clearly aspires to be the Jackie Collins or Danielle Steele of Silicon Valley.”
Mezrich is insistant that he followed standard journalistic practice yet he apparently didn’t interview Mark Zukerberg, the founder of FaceBook. Critics also say thta Mezrich doesn’t properly explain how Zuckerberg transformed from a somewhat anti-social student to a huge internet success.
Ben Mezrich speaks with Bloomberg about The Accidental Billionaires:
Harry Patch, known as the “Last Fighting Tommy” died on Saturday, July 25th. He certainly had a good innings - Harry had just celebrated his 111th birthday on June 17.
Verified as the third-oldest man in Europe, Harry Patch was also the last surviving British soldier to have fought in the trenches of World War I. During his lifetime, he saw in two centuries, the reign of six monarchs and the governance of twenty prime ministers.
ABC’s Thursday night TV schedule this week includes a documentary on the life of Harry Potter author, J.K. Rowling. Through an examination of the author’s childhood, parallels with the boy wizard are drawn.
Those of you in North America can watch “J.K. Rowling: A Year in the Life,” Thursday, July 16 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Alana Stewart, ex-wife of singer Rod Stewart and close personal friend of Farrah Fawcett is publishing her diaries that document her friendship with the actress during her battle with cancer.
Stewart, whose friendship with Fawcett spanned thirty years says, “Farrah had originally encouraged me to write this book. It was her idea. However, while I was contemplating my decision, her health took a turn for the worse, and I could no longer seek her advice.”
Stewart received the support of Fawcett’s long-term partner, Ryan O’Neil who said the book would be a “wonderful tribute”.
Editor of O Magazine Gayle King revealed their top4 picks from Oprah’s Summer Reading List:
Columbine by Dave Cullen
When we think of Columbine, we think of the Trench Coat Mafia; we think of Cassie Bernall, the girl we thought professed her faith before she was shot; and we think of the boy pulling himself out of a school window-the whole world was watching him. Now, in a riveting piece of journalism nearly ten years in the making, comes the story none of us knew. In this revelatory book, Dave Cullen has delivered a profile of teenage killers that goes to the heart of psychopathology. He lays bare the callous brutality of mastermind Eric Harris and the quavering, suicidal Dylan Klebold, who went to the prom three days earlier and obsessed about love in his journal.
Provenance by Laney Salisbury & Aly Sujo
A tautly paced investigation of one the 20th century’s most audacious art frauds, which generated hundreds of forgeries—many of them still hanging in prominent museums and private collections today
Provenance is the extraordinary narrative of one of the most far-reaching and elaborate deceptions in art history. Investigative reporters Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo brilliantly recount the tale of a great con man and unforgettable villain, John Drewe, and his sometimes unwitting accomplices.
Provenance reads like a well-plotted thriller, filled with unforgettable characters and told at a breakneck pace. But this is most certainly not fiction;Provenance is the meticulously researched and captivating account of one of the greatest cons in the history of art forgery.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.” So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton-and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy.
Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride andPrejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you’d actually want to read.
Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horn by James Gavin Though limited, mostly to guest singing appearances in splashy Hollywood musicals, “the beautiful Lena Horne,” as she was often called, became a pioneering star for African Americans in the 1940s and fifties.
Gavin has gotten closer than any other writer to the celebrity who has lived in reclusion since 1998. From the Cotton Club’s glory days and the back lots of Hollywood’s biggest studios to the glitzy but bigoted hotels of Las Vegas’s heyday, this behind-the-scenes look at an American icon is as much a story of the limits of the American dream as it is a masterful, ground-breaking biography.
Just when you thought it was safe to go to the bookstore…
Octomom, Nadya Suleman has announced that she will be writing her autobiography. (In the copious spare time that a mother of 14 has.) The book is to be co-authored by Wendy Leigh who also co-wrote Life With My Sister Madonnawith Christopher Ciccone.
David Herbert Donald, historian of the Civil War and American South revered by peers for his expertise on Abraham Lincoln died of heart failure on Sunday, May 17, 2009. He was 88 years old.
Donald who first published a book on the 16th President of the United States 50 years ago, leaves behind a legacy of books on Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln, a single-volume biography, was released in 1996 and became so popular that presidential candidates Bill Clinton and Bob Dole both claimed to be reading it.
Convincing a homeless 19-year-old whose mother died of cancer and whose father was killed in a car accident, to have perspective and hope would be a daunting task, if not slightly unsympathetic. But the counsel of one old man did just that for Andy Andrews and it was just the thing he needed to turn his life around.
Jones explains to Andrews that he has a gift of noticing things that others miss. “Your time on this earth is a gift to be used wisely,” he says. “Don’t squander your words or your thoughts. Consider even the simplest action you take, for your lives matter beyond measure…and they matter forever.”
It’s all about perspective and our inborn desire to understand why things happen and what we can do about it.
Andy Andrews’ new book, The Noticer: Sometimes, All a Person Needs Is a Little Perspective, a semi-autobiographical account, teaches about the strength gained from perspective and how hope inspires positive change. Andrews is living proof - he’s gone from living under a pier to penning a book that is now on bestseller lists.
Publisher HarperCollins has decided to cancel the publication of J.G. Ballard’s final book. Ballard died from prostate cancer on April 19. The book which was to be titled Conversations was to be a recounting of the author’s conversations with his doctor, Jonathan Waxman of Imperial College, London.
Ballard’s autobiography, Miracles of Life is now officially his last published work.
The Purdys bought the cottage in 1957 for $850.00 (!). Purdy passed away in 2000, and the upkeep of the structure and property has become too much for his widow, Eurithe, now in her 80s. The property needs up to $50,000 worth of repairs alone and the Al Purdy A-Frame Trust, created to preserve Purdy’s wooden cottage and ensure it remains tied to the literary community, has raised less than $30,000 at the start of April. If you wish to support the campaign, cheques can be made out to ‘The Al Purdy A-frame Trust’ and sent to:
The Al Purdy A-frame Trust
4403 West 11th Avenue
Vancouver, BC
V6R 2M2
Canada
Tax receipts will be issued for donations over $50. For more information contact Jean Baird at jeanbaird@shaw.ca.
And if you’re interested in Al Purdy’s poetry, or the work of other Canadian poets, check out our feature on National Poetry Month in Canada.
Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh but according to experts, the sad reality is that his work has never been fully appreciated in his homeland and a lot of his work hasn’t ever even been seen in Scotland. A new website launched in Edinburgh today hopes to rectify that.
ABC’s Thursday night TV schedule this week includes a documentary on the life of Harry Potter author, J.K. Rowling. Through an examination of the author’s childhood, parallels with the boy wizard are drawn.
Alana Stewart, ex-wife of singer Rod Stewart and close personal friend of Farrah Fawcett is publishing her diaries that document her friendship with the actress during her battle with cancer.
Just when you thought it was safe to go to the bookstore…
Lincoln died of heart failure on Sunday, May 17, 2009. He was 88 years old.
AbeBooks’ Richard Davies has written a feature about famed