Proulx’s papers include an early draft of the cowboy romance when it had working titles such as Bulldust Mountain and Swill-Swallow Mountain along with:
“… 4,200 pages of short stories, essays, poems and screenplays; 145 pages of preparatory notes and research and three original notebooks with holograph draft ideas; more than 1,060 pages of holograph diary; more than 10,200 pages of typescript, much of it with holograph revisions and corrections, 2,100 galley proofs, and 1,855 pages of other related materials. Correspondence, including email totals more than 4,500 pages.”
Bringing her rural tales to the big city generates “an odd sense of balance” says the 74-year-old author.
After reading an article about the previous record holder who, at the age of five years and 11 months, had completed all the climbs in Wainwright’s guides, Sail’s parents realized that he had trekked most of them at just 4 years old.
Sail’s accomplishment was documented by his family through photographs and logs and is now being verified by the Ramblers Association.
The hikes are a great opportunity for the family to talk and spend time together but when asked what he likes best, Sail says, “My favourite thing about it is the sandwiches.”
Oh to be five again!
Alfred Wainwright’s seven-volume Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells originally published between 1955 and 1966, is made up of reproductions of the British fellwalker’s handwritten manuscript and is considered the standard reference to the 214 fells of the Lake District. In 2006, a 50th Anniversary Edition Box Set of the guides was released. What a great gift idea for avid hikers!
The UK reading charity Booktrust has just released the results of its survey of over 3,000 children and parents. While the results show that reading has become more popular with children, one in 20 families have less than 10 books and only one in three parents read to their children each day. This is particularly sad since 96% of the children said they enjoyed reading and books.
More results from Booktrust’s press release:
• More dads reading with their children than in previous years: 40% increase since September 2008.
• 60% of children like to share a book with their parents/carers as it shows that they like to spend time with them.
• Households with girls have ten more children’s books than those with boys. One in every 20 family homes in
Britain today has fewer than ten books.
• Children enjoying reading more: 96% of all children surveyed say that they enjoy reading, peaking at 99% among
seven year olds and falling to 89% of 12 year olds (overall, this represents a year on year increase of 5%).
• 56% of all parents and carers (and almost half of all parents of 4-5 year olds [48%]) say their child spends more
time facing a screen, playing computer games and watching DVDs rather than reading.
• Parents and carers of boys are twice as likely not to read with them compared to those who have girls.
• Technology, home entertainment and work (through emails and home working) are impacting on book time.
While flexible working is supposed to enable a positive work-life balance, children are increasingly losing out.
• Bookshelves under threat in a third of British homes: one in three parents and carers (34%) say shelves are
increasingly being filled up with DVDs and computer games, especially in homes with older children (this is the
case in 41% of homes of 11-12 year olds).
• The UK’s all time favourite fictional character according to over 1,300 children is Harry Potter, followed by Horrid
Henry and Tracy Beaker. Action heroes Captain Underpants and Ben 10 relegate children’s classic Cinderella and
Peter Pan out of the top 10. Roald Dahl’s characters including Matilda, Charlie (from Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory) and the Fantastic Mr Fox make multiple entries in the top 20 all time favourite characters.
In an effort to encourage more reading, two free books programmes - Booktime and Booked Up - are giving away 2 million free books to schoolchildren across Britain.
Twitter revealed to me yesterday that I wasn’t the only person thinking about Ian McEwan’s novel Enduring Love as I watched a runaway balloon (thought at the time to contain a six-year-old boy) flying across Colorado. Enduring Love has an incredible opening chapter featuring a horrific hot air balloon accident.
I think that chapter contains some of McEwan’s best writing - the tension is created immediately. The first chapter is so good that it’s hard to not consider the rest of the book as a bit of a disappointment.
The other thing I noticed about Twitter yesterday was that many people cannot spell balloon. A runaway baloon anyone!
I’ve just finished reading Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones and must say, in all sincerity, it is one of the best books I have ever read. I’ll confess I was reluctant to read it at first - it had been on the bestseller lists and I feared that it was just another book that achieved greatness by hype.
But I was wrong. The book deserved to be a bestseller - in its own right.
Somehow, Sebold manages to capture the pain and angst of a family experiencing a horrific loss - the murder of their daughter, sister, friend. You can understand the actions of the individuals which could, offhandedly seem irrational, irresponsible or even hurtful. But because you feel their pain, you can understand why they do the things they do.
The sadness is tempered by the fact that Susie, the victim, narrates the story. It’s not that the sadness isn’t there - it most certainly is - but somehow, her presence is comforting. Perhaps it’s this that people suffering such a loss are looking for and that Sebold has skillfully captured. And no matter what your beliefs are about death and what happens thereafter, there is nothing offensive or off-putting about Sebold’s tale and you can actually view what happens from many different angles.
Having read the book, I fear the movie which is due out in December. Could a film adaptation really do this book justice? Fortunately, the movie was put into the very capable hands of director, Peter Jackson which leads me to believe, okay hope, that this will be the best adaptation that there could be.
But that doesn’t mean that I’ll like it. The characters were so real to me, I know that the actors will not match what was in my mind. And viewing the trailer confirms that. Susie doesn’t look like “my” Susie, even Holiday the dog doesn’t match. Also, as I feared, the movie seems to have to spell out some of the details that you simply pick up when reading the novel and looks perhaps to focus more on the hunt for the killer than the story does.
Saying that, I probably will watch the movie - I have a couple of months to psyche myself into it and to have the book pale in my memory. I do strongly recommend that the book be read prior to seeing the movie so that you fully “get” what Sebold was portraying and not the “Hollywood” interpretation.
It has also just been announced that The Lovely Bones has been chosen for this year’s Royal Film Performance. The Royal gala is a charitable event with all money raised going to The Cinema & Television Benevolent Fund (CTBF), which helps families connected to the film and TV industry who are experiencing financial struggles.
But I say it again - read The Lovely Bonesnow before seeing the movie in December.
There is a book about having sex every night for a year, there is a book about eating locally grown food for a year, there is a book where a Julia Child recipe is cooked every day for a year, and there is a book where life is lived according to the Bible’s rules for a year.
They are called annualism books and have been a publishing phenomenon for the best part of a decade. Check out more so called annualism books and our interview with AJ Jacobs, the author of The Year of Living Biblically.
1 Heat by Bill Buford
(learning to be a chef for a year - lots of cuts, burns and shouting. Also this is the best book on this list by a mile.)
2 The 100-Mile Diet by Alisa Dawn Smith & J.B. MacKinnon
(eating locally grown produce for a year - not very easy)
3 Julie & Julia by Julie Powell
(cooking a Julia Child recipe every day for a year - didn’t Julia have really complicated recipes?)
4 The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs
(obeying the Bible for a year - I really wouldn’t want to do this one)
5 365 Nights by Charla Muller; Betsy Thorpe
(having nookie every night for a year - it’s impossible, of course)
6 How I Lived a Year on Just a Pound a Day by Kath Kelly
(like it says on the cover….I was a student once and did, indeed, do this)
7 A Life Stripped Bare by Leo Hickman
(living ethically for a year - I feel guilty just looking at this book)
8 Chastened: No More Sex in the City by Hephzibah Anderson
(not having sex for a year - this one is easy)
9 Self-made Man by Norah Vincent
(a woman being a man for a year+ - don’t people do this all the time now, there’s a special operation)
10 My Jesus Year by Benyamin Cohen
(a Jew is a Christian for a year - this will never catch on)
This week’s weird book room update contains orgies, bird poo, jello and more. And my favourite, the book of the week:
“While the title Le Petomane may not sound so weird, and may even sound quite classy to English-speaking ears, the direct translation is, roughly, “The Fart Maniac” or, as a creative profession, “The Fartiste”. Therefore, it is the subject matter of the book which earns it Weird Book of the Week this time around. Le Petomane tells the story of Joseph Pujol, who from 1887 to roughly 1914, delighted French audiences with the multi-faceted musical and impersonator skills of…well, his anus. A baker by profession, Pujol nevertheless discovered his rare derriere’s ability to inhale or suck water or air, and expel the same with great force. Onstage, these abilities translated to blowing out candles, imitating animals and musical instruments, and even smoking cigarettes, all via the back entrance. Audiences were enthralled and appreciative, and included the Prince of Wales, Belgium’s King Leopold II, and even Sigmund Freud (whose comment, if one was made, we sadly do not have).”
Discussions stem from Michale Pollan’s book, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto which the university handed out for free to all incoming freshmen. Professors have also been encouraged by school officials to use the book in their classes.
While students are excited about how the book has fuelled debate which in turn has served to connect students to one another, local dairy farmers are none-too-pleased. They see Pollan’s call to action—Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.- as an attack on modern farming and are seeking an opportunity to present their side of the story to students.
Pollan’s blaming of scientists for the preservatives in food and the replacement of true nutrition with ‘food’, has also drawn criticism from at least one UW-Madison professor. John Lucey, who is a food scientist as well as a professor wrote on a university web site that scientists have helped preserve foods longer, improved food safety and cut meal preparation time for busy parents.
In Defense of Food was chosed by UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin who started the “Go Big Read” program where the campus is asked to read the same book. She said she chose Pollan’s book because of its coverage of several topical national issues.
“This is our core business at the university — taking something that interests a significant number of people and let people talk about it from every conceivable point of view,” Martin said. “I love this give and take. That’s what a university is about.”
Wilma Macfarlane started by asking lawyers and law students to bring in their “once-read” books which were then sold off to staff members. Profits go to charity - first the United Way and now the Raise-a-Reader literacy program.
Who could resist the lure of Macfarlane’s home-baked goodies and three books for $5? I know I couldn’t!
Yesterday, the folks in the AbeBooks marketing department spent the day working at Woodwynn Farms - a project designed to tackle homelessness on Vancouver Island.
In their words….“Woodwynn Farms is a therapeutic community for the homeless, offering an opportunity to change peoples’ lives with educational and work programmes based on responsibility, dignity, independence and the principles of peer-to-peer help.”
The farm itself is about 20 km from our office in a beautiful part of the Saanich Peninsula. There’s a sea view in one direction and a view of roaming countryside in the other. The farm needs a lot of updating and our task was to repaint the exterior of a large barn. Founder and Executive Director Richard LeBlanc has long-term plans to grow organic produce but there is still much work to be done before it becomes a fully functioning farm where homeless people can become involved in a viable business.
It was a good day - the sun shone and the barn was painted. Thanks to Richard for this opportunity and it will be interesting to see how this project develops. The farm is still looking for donations and volunteers - perhaps you can help.
(By the way, the dog is not a member of the marketing department)
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.
Avid readers planning a wedding may wish to take a page out of this couple’s book. I accidentally came across their blog which includes photos from their library-themed wedding. If the thought of themed weddings has you muttering “cheesy”, you’ll want to take a look - from what the pictures show, their wedding was very elegant and fantastically creative. Just take a look at their handmade invitations:
At their reception, each table was named after a writer and was decorated with a book by that author and a framed image of the writer. Genius!
Penguin is to republish In Praise of Older Women by Hungarian emigré Stephen Vizinczey - a 1960s novel that’s been out-of-print for several decades reports the Bookseller.
The début novel—a coming-of-age tale about a young man’s sexual education following his departure from Hungary in 1956—was originally self-published in 1965 when the author was a writer and producer working for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It went on to become the first and only self-published novel to top the bestseller lists in Canadian literary history.
The book was subsequently published in the US and in the UK, where Pan brought out a paperback in 1968. Around 600,000 copies were sold, with rave reviews coming from the likes of Margaret Drabble and Michael Frayn.
This parent should be caned and then forced to write 1,000 lines of “I must not object to classic books that offer amazing, inspiring stories about prejudice and forgiveness.”
How could you not want you child to discover Atticus Finch?