The Guardian published a list of top 10 graphic design books this week. #7 on the list is "Paul Rand: A Designer's Art." A long time ago, I received this Rand book as a gift. Here's the story and a short description of this now out-of-print classic.
Category: Classics
Graphic classics coming soon
Ginsberg's "Howl" and Dante's "Divine Comedy" and the life story of Anne Frank are being published as graphic books in the upcoming weeks. They look interesting, especially the movie "Howl," which is the purpose for the graphic book (as movie tie-in). Here's a look at what's on the horizon, plus links to the "Howl" movie trailer and a YouTube video of the Frank biography.
Carson McCullers’ eyes on me
In a Hitchcock movie, her eyes in this photo would move, and she'd reach out and touch me.
Books from the week: war, mud & more
Some books I came across this week during my usual perusal of all things about books.
I discovered Wakoski’s “Greed”
Confessional poet Diane Wakoski wrote "The Collected Greed Parts 1-13" over several years. She writes in the introduction that she wanted to pontificate about life, to moralize, and yet somehow to write a poem which would have a nobility to it. And so she did.
No beach reads here
Seven books I'll be reading on my patio these first weeks of summer.
It’s about the soldiers
Bernard Fall's "Street Without Joy" is a military account of the French Indochina War published and revised in the early 1960s. I've got a book collecting urge to buy it. Not a paperback added to a cart on Amazon or Barnes & Noble or Borders, rather a signed, rare edition from an antiquarian bookseller. Here's why, and what's going on in my gently mad bibliophilic thinking.
Once lost, now the 1970 winner is found
The winner of the Lost Man Booker Prize, awarded to a novel published in 1970, was announced last week. It's the first book of J. G. Farrell's Empire Trilogy.
What you’ll find “In Almost Every Picture”
"In Almost Every Picture" is a series of quirky photography books that contain images found and published by Dutch art director Erik Kessels. It's a weird but clever idea that's become collectible. Check out the slide show.
Hans Fallada’s must-read masterpiece
Melville House, an independent publisher, has rediscovered and reissued books written by the once popular German novelist Hans Fallada. His last novel, "Every Man Dies Alone," wasn't available in English until Melville House hired a translator, Michael Hofmann. From reviews of the book to interviews with the publisher to articles about both, the message is clear: this book should not to be missed.
My Reading Table gets a make-over
I keep piling books on the reading table to the point where it becomes another book shelf. So, the RT has been reorganized. Here's what moved off and what it looks like now, with descriptions of the 12 books. Realistic versus hopeful.
Not your typical March Hare & Mad Hatter
Jamison Odone retells and illustrates Lewis Carroll's 1865 classic "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" with stick figures. The small, engaging book is to be released the same day as Tim Burton's new movie about the girl in Wonderland. Seems like a great combo to me.
The zombies are back on TLC
I'm once again trying to embrace the night of the living dead lurching it's way down literature's tree-lined classic lanes. I don't like it but hey, the zombies are doing phenomenally well for publishing sales.
Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” in 2010
I've not read this Russian classic, although I made an attempt in 2008 and 2009. I'm resolving to try again in 2010. Here's my story, with thoughts about translators Peaver & Volokhonosky and the Maudes.
The unforgettables: 2009
All Sides Weekend on WOSU 820 AM NPR News last Friday included a discussion about unforgettable books read in 2009. Here's my complete list.
The Longest Chapter 