Jul
2
We See Change When It’s A Sea Change
July 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment
The origin, history and nuance of words and phrases will usually excite the mind of a writerly type - and I say let’s revel in it! Thanks to the internet there are vast and deep rabbit holes filled with wonderful word sites of all kinds. An example of a recent foray into the web of words is when I finally found quite by accident the word for the uncomfortable feeling my husband gets when he touches velvet: Haptodysphoria. This is a big issue around here because I have a lot of velvet in my wardrobe! Another example of word-joy is the following: I’ve been thinking and blogging about Change, it being “the year of change” and all, and the phrase “a sea change” came to mind. I spent a lovely afternoon researching the origin of this delightful string of words and here is a bit of what I found and where I found it -
From Michael Quinlion of “World Wide Words“:
“Shakespeare obviously meant that the transformation of the body of Ferdinand’s father was made by the sea, but we have come to refer to a sea change as being a profound transformation caused by any agency. So pundits and commentators who think it has something to do with the ebb and flow of the tide, and use it for a minor or recurrent shift in policy or opinion, are doing a grave injustice to one of the most evocative phrases in the language. I wish a figurative full fathom five to such people.
The point at which it stopped being a direct quotation and turned into an idiom is hard to pin down, though it seems to have happened only in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The Oxford English Dictionary finds the first allusive use in one of Ezra Pound’s poems from 1917. But examples can be found a little earlier than that, as in The Great White Wall by Julian Hawthorne, dated 1877: “Three centuries ago, according to my porter, a sea-change happened here which really deserves to be called strange”.”
And…
From Grammarphobia:
The phrase was coined by Shakespeare in The Tempest to describe the vision of a drowned body. In Act I, scene 2, Ariel sings to Ferdinand about his father, Prospero:
“Full fathom five thy father lies:
Of his bones are coral made:
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.”
The entry for “sea change” in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language includes this modern quote from the playwright Harold Pinter: “The script suffered considerable sea changes, especially in structure.”
P.S. I’d love to know if there is a word for the following phenomenon (if you know of it, please comment) - An odd experience when writing where I bounce a word into a sentence even though I am not quite sure what that word means, and then I look it up and find that it is the perfect word for what I am trying to express. In these moments it is almost like a muse has planted a seed. How could I have known without knowing? Did I subconsciously already know the definition of this word?
Jun
29
The Book Is Not Enough
June 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Since when did our reading entertainment need to be supplemented with extra entertainment? Are books so boring and plain that they must be interactive and instantly downloadable or have bar codes on their spines linking them to our cell phones for access to extra content located in cyberspace? The only digital enhancement to books that I think is actually an enhancement is the project that was born out of the Google law suit, a project which aims to digitize every book for use in the Book Rights Registry. This endeavor may actually benefit authors - rather than exclusively lining the pockets of corporate eBook profiteers:
Google scanning project to ‘transform’ publishing
New head of independent Book Rights Registry speaks out (techradar.com)
From bad news to benefactor, Google woos publishing industry
In his first public interview, the expected executive director of the Book Rights Registry called the involvement of Google in publishing a “transformation” moment for the industry.
Micheal Healy will be responsible for finding authors and copyright holders and doling out shares of income arising from Google’s ambitious plans to digitise every book ever published.
In an interview with the Copyright Clearance Centre, Healy said the project will result in “turning every public library into a world-class research facility. You have to see the revolutionary character of that.” -
For the complete article, click here.
Jun
24
Viral Fiddling
June 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
A few moons ago I posted about a modern phenomenon I call DIGITAL FIDGETING. I am honored to see that the concept has taken wings and is flapping about in the book blogosphere, viral-style, as every young meme should. First, my friend and local mama/bookblogger Marla cited LiveWires for a piece she wrote for her excellent blog The Relaxed Writer with some truly useful advice on the subject of procrastination via Digital Fidgeting, and now it seems the concept has flown over to Write to Done where resident blogger Mary has crafted her own interpretation: How to Stop Digital Fiddling and Start Writing. I think we all know now what we need to do to stop all this procrastination (there are even some tools out there for muting the digital fuzz that distracts us from our real purpose). More importantly, I was amused to see in WTD’s post that in the translation from blog to blog to blog, the term “Digital Fidgeting” has been replaced with “Digital Fiddling”. Personally, I think the word fiddling has dirty connotations which is precisely why I titled my newborn meme Digital Fidgeting. Hard to spell correctly, yes, but way classier don’t you think?
Let’s see what the experts say:
fiddle (n.)
O.E. fiðele, related to O.N. fiðla, M.Du. vedele, Ger. Fiedel, all probably from M.L. vitula “stringed instrument,” perhaps related to L. vitularia “celebrate joyfully,” from Vitula, Roman goddess of joy and victory, who probably, like her name, originated among the Sabines. The verb is from 1377; the fig. sense of “to act idly” is from 1530. The word has been relegated to colloquial usage by its more proper cousin, violin (q.v.), a process encouraged by phraseology such as fiddlestick (15c., originally “the bow of a fiddle;” meaning “nonsense” is from 1621) and fiddle-faddle (1577), which is unrelated, being a reduplication of obsolete faddle “to trifle.” Fiddler’s Green first recorded 1825, from sailors’ slang. Fiddler crab is from 1714. Fiddle-head “one with a head as hollow as a fiddle” is from 1887. Fit as a fiddle is from 1616.
Hmmm. I’d say “fiddling” does seem to do a rather fine job of communicating the concept at hand. Now let’s look at “fidgeting” and compare:
fidget (n.)
1674, as the fidget “uneasiness,” later the fidgets, from a 16c. v. fidge “move restlessly,” from M.E. fiken “to fidget, hasten,” from O.N. fikjask “to desire eagerly” (cf. Ger. ficken “to move about briskly;” see f*ck). The v. fidget is first attested 1672 (implied in fidgetting).
Wait, what? It seems that fidgeting is the word with the dirty connotations. Furthermore, the word fidget is not at all as useful for our purposes as the word fiddle. Plus, the Etymology Dictionary spells fidgeting incorrectly. Weird indeed.
Well, let’s just say that I think Digital Fidgeting sounds better and is better. So let’s re-infect our viral culture with the cooler term, shall we? Why is it cooler? Because I think the metaphor is more effective. Definitions be damned!
Breaking the rules well is what art (and meme-making? and branding!) is all about.
NPR had a good show recently on the concept of Viral Culture and something interesting called Nanostories. Listen here.
Jun
22
Are you lost in the e-Dust? Click here for help.
June 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment
You know you’ve found a great columnist to follow when each column is as fun to consume as a really snappy novel. My favorite columnist, Mark Morford (Notes & Errata), tells us in his biting, snarky and brilliant tone “How to stay relevant” in our “Technofreaky whipsaw culture” if you feel like it’s leaving you in the e-dust…
Did you think I was going to say Twitter? Tell you to join Facebook? Maybe urge you to start an obscure blog and join arcane forums over at ARS Technica and then launch a podcast in which you rant about, say, the Wall Street Journal’s cute new SpeakEasy blog, where you enjoy posting anonymous comments about how the world needs another aggregate culture blog written by conservative white New York elites about as much as we need, well, conservative inbred white New York elites?… [the rest, here]
And here, as a companion to your ebook, is the phone we all will have in five years. Holy technoramus Batman!
In other news, well, you know, book related stuff, Book Patrol (A Haven for Book Culture) tells us about a book shelf made of books. How very self referential.
The Perfect Shelf for Your Kindle, IPhone or E-Book Reader
The folks at Not Tom design studio have done it; perhaps unintentionally.
The good old book has become the fodder for what might be the perfect charging station for your electronic reading devices.
Here’s how the design came about:
The idea for the Book Book Shelf came from the realisation of how many books are discarded on a regular basis. These particular books were to be thrown out at the end of a jumble sale and we wondered what more could be made of them. We like the idea that value can be added to many discarded items through ingenuity and redefinition of context.
…the rest , here.
Jun
18
11 Steps
June 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment
From Boston.com:
“Wired editor Chris Anderson, who was promoting his new book, “Free,” quipped that the book is a “format” with “long battery life” and “high screen resolution.” Anderson, who came to prominence with “The Long Tail,” his book about selling less of more online, suggested books will survive in various forms.
How those forms nurture each other commercially is the main issue.”
(for the complete article, go here.)
I love the idea of a book being a “format” with a long battery life. When I shop for toys for my daughter I always choose a gizmo that does not take batteries. Batteries are annoying and expensive. It’s this simple truth that causes me to doubt the endurance of ebook appeal. You just don’t want to have to worry about how much charge is left on your book. Period. It’s bad enough that we have to keep our telephones charged.
Look here: There is a “wikiHow” on how to write and format a book. Apparently it’s only an 11 step process. Why then has it taken me years to get to the second step?
Jun
16
Selling books is harsh.
June 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment
That’s what booksellers are saying and I don’t doubt it. Just this past weekend I went into one of my favorite book stores in search of a specific book (BONK), was directed to it, picked it up, carried it around the store for 10 minutes, and then did not actually buy it. What went through my head:
1. This month is tight, but I can just order this next month from Amazon.
2. I don’t have time to read this, do I?
3. I bet I can borrow this book from my friend Tanya.
I wonder if it’s the mass panic state we all live in nowadays - that we live in a universe of lack - that caused me to not buy the book I most want to read? On the other hand, I was browsing in one of the oldest local book stores that day, and it crossed my mind how promising it is that this store is still open when about half of the restaurants in town and several large corporate stores have kicked the bucket. It seems that some people are buying books from bookstores more often than they are dining out (and what does it say about me that I’d rather eat out for lunch this week than buy a book I’ve wanted to read for months?)
Here’s the other problem with my behavior. Not only am I a reader, I am a writer - in fact, I’ve just begun to revisit a novel I’ve been working on for several years and I need all the good book karma I can get in order to finish it and then sell it. So, I am going to march right back down there and buy that book today dammit.
If you, like me, need a little impetus to buy books right now, check out the eye candy here, at the Book Design Review.
Jun
11
Book News Digest
June 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment
In recent book news:
1. Google Inc. said it plans to launch a program that will let publishers sell digital versions of their books directly to consumers, a step that would thrust the Internet search giant into competition with e-commerce leader Amazon.com Inc. Google aims to build a “digital book ecosystem” to allow partner publishers to sell access to their titles, even if buyers don’t have dedicated book readers such as Amazon’s Kindle or Sony Corp.’s Reader. The service was expected to launch by the end of this year. (WSJ)
2. This is a bit depressing - but hopefully the publishing decline is peaking this year and publishers will perk up and hop on the next train to the future…
Book Expo exposes problems with publishing industry
By DIANE EVANS - Delmio.com
The declining state of traditional book publishing could be read very clearly at the recent Book Expo 2009 tradeshow in New York. If anything, the show exposed how an elite industry is having trouble coming to terms with an information-based culture, full of self-publishers with digital devices that know no barriers to entry.
The annual Book Expo is where publishers typically come out in force to tout new titles and cozy up to customers, including the nation’s librarians. But since the last Expo in New York in 2007, the number of attendees this year dropped by 11 percent to about 12,000, not counting exhibitors.
A few telling nuggets from this year’s event:
-Major publishing houses, such as Random House and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, cut so far back on floor space that they held meetings in windowless basement rooms… [the rest, here]
3. And the good news is Toni Morrison speaks up for free speech
NEW YORK (AP) — The setting was divine — a duplex on the Upper East Side. The featured speaker, Nobel laureate Toni Morrison.
The subjects: sex, violence and profanity.
In other words, the stuff that books are banned for.
Some 50 publishers, writers and other First Amendment supporters gathered over cocktails Wednesday night to launch the Free Speech Leadership Council, an advocacy arm of the National Coalition Against Censorship, a nonprofit founded in 1974.
Former HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman, who hosted the event at her apartment, is the council’s chair.
“I don’t see how you can be in publishing for 40 years and not care about this,” Friedman said.
Morrison, 78, has long experience with censorship. Her novels “Beloved,” “Song of Solomon” and “The Bluest Eye” have frequently been threatened with removal from library shelves — and sometimes pulled — because of sexual, racial or violent content. [the rest, here]
4. More good news - there is a flip side to reports that the book biz is nearly dead:
Why Write Books?
Elisabeth Eaves
Notes on BookExpo America.
It didn’t feel like a dying industry. The aisles between booths at BookExpo America last weekend were shoulder to shoulder. The whole vast acreage of the Jacob Javits convention center was filled with publishers, sellers, agents and ancillary wheeler-dealers, like the vendor who was handing out leaflets and twirling an umbrella illustrated with famous literary faces, while barking, “As seen on CNN!”
For the biggest North American trade show in an industry whose demise has been much heralded–book publishing has been declared “in decline” since at least the 1930s–it felt positively vibrant. Actual numbers are open to interpretation: Attendees, not including exhibitors, numbered 12,025, up 30% from last year in Los Angeles but down 11% from 2007, when the show was last held in New York. [more, here]
Jun
9
The National Book Festival
June 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Forget the fact that the Prez is so cool he can address multiple nations in their perfectly pronounced native languages, he is also a reader. It’s a nice change from, you know, that last guy.
News from the Library of Congress
President, Mrs. Obama to be Honorary Chairs of National Book Festival
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will serve as Honorary Chairs of the 2009 National Book Festival, organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress. Now in its ninth year, this popular event celebrating the joys of reading and lifelong literacy will be held on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., between 7th and 14th Streets from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (rain or shine). The event is free and open to the public.
“We are delighted that the President and Mrs. Obama are committed to bringing this inspirational event to people of all ages nationwide,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. “The National Book Festival has become a true American institution. It is a joyous and very popular celebration of books and reading in the Washington, D.C. area.”
The 2009 National Book Festival will feature about 70 award-winning authors, poets and illustrators in pavilions dedicated to book subjects ranging from history and biography to mysteries, thrillers, poetry and prose, and books for families and young people. Festival-goers can meet and hear firsthand from their favorite authors, get books signed, have photos taken with PBS storybook characters and participate in a variety of learning activities.
The complete story, here.
Have you checked out BookDaily yet? Read the first chapter of any book for free.
Jun
4
Arts & Crafts.
June 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment
I’m feeling crafty this week. I’ve begun growing my own lettuce and repairing, however clumsily, several old sweaters that I would normally throw in the Salvation Army pile. In celebration of this new crafty version of myself (I hope it survives beyond the fluke stage), here are a couple of book related creative inspirations…
For your listening pleasure, check out NPR’s recent installment of All Things Considered:
Book Hands Down Recipes That Skipped Generations
All Things Considered, May 23, 2009 · Before World War II, before the interstate highway system spread across America, before chain restaurants and huge industrial factory farms, dinner was a very different prospect.
Food was local and so were the recipes, handed down by memory and scrap paper from generation to generation. At the tail end of the Depression, the Federal Writers’ Project set out to record and preserve the country’s food lore for a book that would have been called America Eats.
But the war intervened, and the book was never published. The essays and recipes were hidden away in dusty boxes in the Library of Congress.
Now these documents are seeing the light for the first time in decades. Writer Mark Kurlansky has published a selection of them in his new book, The Food of a Younger Land. From Mississippi hoecakes to Indian persimmon pudding to Oregon’s “blue ruin” moonshine, the book takes a meandering tour through a long-gone culinary landscape.
You can still find many of the dishes in the book on tables around America — if you’re willing to do a bit of detective work, Kurlansky says. What’s truly been lost, he says, are the social structures surrounding the food. Very few people these days remember Rhode Island May breakfasts, North Carolina chitlin’ parties or Italian feasts in the neighborhood kitchen.
Listen to the show, here.
And for your viewing pleasure, consider books as visual art:
Book Sculptors at BAM (from Book Patrol)
Guy Laramée, Pétra (2007). Sandblasted encyclopedias, pigments
13 x 11.25 x 8.5 in. Courtesy Gallerie Orange, Montreal and the artist
Photo: Guy L’Heureux © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SODRAC, Montreal.
Wondering what to do with those old encyclopedia’s or those obsolete white pages that keep landing in your driveway? Perhaps a trip to the Bellevue Art Museum might help.
“The Book Borrowers: Contemporary Artists Transforming the Book” is the latest installment in the Bellevue Art Museum’s (BAM) ongoing Material Evidence series.
Jun
1
Story
June 1, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Ultimately it boils down to Story. Even the poems I’ve loved are more than just words strung together - they are dense bites of stories. A good song, even if instrumental, will feel as if we have descended into a story. Humans are hardwired for narrative and plot, and books are only part of the story. It’s the verbal storytellers* who have provided us with the richest and most enduring stories, fodder for nearly everything we read today. And before language, I imagine humans described adventures and relationships through movement, vocal tone, beat, and gestures. It’s just what we humans do. We tell stories.
There is some good work going on out there right now in regard to story preservation. Hearing Voices collects bits and pieces of stories heard on American public radio in sixty-minute streams of “driveway moments” connected by a weekly theme, with the help of a guest host. StoryCorps Griot is another ongoing initiative, which ensures that the voices, experiences, and life stories of African Americans will be preserved and presented with dignity.
Sit back and take a listen to some stories, here, and for some homework, why not write down or tell a story to someone today. I am sure it will be quite easy to find a willing audience.
Another bit of fun: The Hearing Vocab Lexicon.
*The griot (pronounced gree-oh) in West African tradition is a role of honor, designating someone who maintains community tradition and memory through storytelling, music, and dance.