The Impossible Cool of Patti Smith

It's awards season for the books industry, and today the National Book Foundation announced its twenty finalists for the National Book Awards. Among those included in the non-fiction category is Patti Smith's autobiography "Just Kids," covering her years as muse to photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.


Reviewer Tom Nissley sums up "Just Kids" so beautifully:

"Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe weren't always famous, but they always thought they would be. They found each other, adrift but determined, on the streets of New York City in the late '60s and made a pact to keep each other afloat until they found their voices--or the world was ready to hear them.

"Mapplethorpe was quicker to find his metier, with a Polaroid and then a Hasselblad, but Smith was the first to fame, transformed, to her friend's delight, from a poet into a rock star. "

What is it about Patti Smith that makes her so compelling, like a young Mick Jagger?

(The National Book Award winners will be announced on Nov 17 in NYC.)

The Secret Writings of Marilyn Monroe

Hello all!

Here's new book of note: Farrar, Straus and Giroux today released Fragments, a collection of  “poems, intimate notes, and letters” by Marilyn Monroe. The glossy tome is packed with pictures and references to the many books in Monroe’s life. (She loved to read and was often spotted with a book during breaks on film sets.)

Here's a snippet from the publisher: "These bits of text—jotted in notebooks, typed on paper, or written on hotel letterhead—reveal a woman who loved deeply and strove to perfect her craft. They show a Marilyn Monroe unsparing in her analysis of her own life, but also playful, funny, and impossibly charming. The easy grace and deceptive lightness that made her performances so memorable emerge on the page, as does the simmering tragedy that made her last appearances so heartbreaking."


PS: Howard Jacobson won the Booker Prize for the Finkler Question!

Weekend media bits....

Happy Monday everyone...Here are a few little newspaper gems that caught my eye this weekend:

Rosie Blau, the books editor of the Financial Times, wrote about what it was like to be a Booker Prize judge with a new baby.

"Reading 138 books over the head of a suckling child felt, at times, like the worst possible way to enjoy or judge literature," Blau wrote. "I can’t imagine ever not wanting to read a novel but I did occasionally suffer mediocrity overload....

"From the deepening hollow of my sofa, my reading took me cottaging in a Cambridgeshire toilet, into the home of an Indian untouchable, along the path of the down and seriously out."

She adds: "That we can tell and experience the same stories in an infinite number of ways is, for me, the glory of fiction. The uniqueness of life is repeated – again and again."

The only thing I remember reading with my newborn daughter was Goodnight Moon. The fact that Blau read 138 novels is, well, amazing. The Booker Prize will be announced tomorrow...can't wait to see who wins! (Here's the short list.)

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Next up, Jack Spade (husband of Kate.)


The Wall Street Journal caught up with Spade in its
20 Odd Questions column.

He reveals all sorts of interesting facts about himself. For example: "The neatest stores I've been to recently are Dave Eggers's Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. and his 826 Valencia Pirates Supply Shop in San Francisco. He sells things like invisible paint. In Brooklyn, you have to swear in, and say you're a superhero and will abide by the rules. In San Francisco, there's a big pirates' chest that my daughter loves. If you find a gem, you can redeem it for a gift, but you also have to sing or dance."

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Next, Rachel Donadio spends 36 hours in Rome for the NYT:



Donadio's most offbeat stop: A cemetery.

"Like Père Lachaise in Paris, the Protestant Cemetery (Via Caio Cestio, 6; 39-06-574-1900; cemeteryrome.it) is one of Rome’s most meditative and overlooked spots," she writes. "The final resting spot of non-Catholics for centuries, the cemetery counts John Keats among its permanent residents — his tomb reads 'Here lies one whose name was writ in water.' Besides romantics, there’s often a steady stream of graying lefties, who pay tribute to Antonio Gramsci, the founder of the Italian Communist Party."

A name writ in water.
Lovely.

Print Is Not Dead: Anthology Magazine

Hello everyone.

I'm crazy about this new decor magazine called Anthology. It was created by Anh-Minh Le, a regular contributor to The San Francisco Chronicle Datebook and Home & Garden sections, and by Meg Mateo Ilasco, who has authored six books, including Craft, Inc. and Crafting a Meaningful Home. The duo have adopted the motto "Print is not dead," music to my ears! Anthology is printed quarterly, but you can also get a sneak peek online.

Have a look:









The enterprising editors have also done this fantastic video:

Print Is Not Dead from Anthology Magazine on Vimeo.

Love!

Monet wows Paris once more

Hello my dears. Happy Tuesday. If you have a moment today, check out the Michael Kimmelman's Critic's Notebook in the New York Times. Kimmelman, the Times' brilliant art critic, reviews the Monet show that just opened at the Grand Palais in Paris. He calls the exhibition "ravishing." The same word could be applied to Kimmelman's gorgeously written piece, which reminds me of why I can't live without the NYT on my doorstep daily.

"Poor Claude Monet. Like white noise, he's everywhere and invisible, the staple of countless dentists' offices. Old hat for more than a century now. Is it too late to recapture some of the shock and thrill that caused horrified Parisians in the 1870s to perceive his work as 'leprous'? " the critic asks. "Amazingly, no, it's not."

I really want to see this show!

(Monet's self portrait, above, via Art Prints on Demand.)

Mario Testino's Take on Kate

Taschen is out this month with its Testino tome on Kate Moss, the legendary model and muse of the legendary fashion photographer. It's 230 pages of glossy goodness -- for $1,000. It's a status symbol for your coffee table! I'm saving up for Lady Gaga...

What are you reading?

It's my seasonal question...



At the moment I'm reading Jonathan Franzen's Freedom (love it...and yes he is all that!)
Next, I plan to read Ken Follett's "Fall of Giants." (It's nearly 1,000 pages long. It could be my winter and spring reading too!)
In between: I'm studying James Beard's On Bread. (One of my cousins recently gave me an awesome starter, renewing my quest to make the perfect loaf of bread.)

So what are you reading!?


Photo above by Allister Ann via Lomography.com.

(Some of your previous responses here on the EM reading list.)

Weekend in review....

This is my unofficial media roundup for the weekend.
Just a few bits I found especially interesting...

First off, Ken Follett has a new book coming out called "Fall of Giants." It's a novel that follows royals and commoners through World War I and the revolution and it's good, says the NYT, which ran this lovely illustration (below) by the phenomenal Grady McFerrin with their review...


Roger Boylan, who reviewed the Follett book, writes: "The giants of the title, the crowned heads of Europe, are solidly ensconced in their palaces when the story begins in 1911 but all gone (except King George V of Britain) when it ends, in 1924. In between, various upheavals remake the world, affording plenty of scope for action, and Follett takes full advantage of this opportunity."

I'm a Follett fan anyway. Add royalty and scandal and I'm blissed...

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Next, Rita Konig had a wonderful piece in the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ has been ramping up its lifestyle coverage and, wisely, grabbed some of the former Domino staffers to help out...

Rita writes about interior designer Todd Romano's
decidedly "Unoffice-y Office."

The photos are by Johnny Miller:


There's also a very cool virtual tour:




It looks better in person so visit it here.

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Finally, we went to see The Social Network. I LOVED it...Rooney Mara (who was recently cast as the lead in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo") stole the opening scene playing Mark Zuckerberg's girlfriend. (Her character's name is Erica Albright and there's
much discussion at the moment about whether or not Ms Albright actually exists.)

Anyway, Rooney is gorgeous (various Wireimage photos below) and I can't wait to see her in Dragon...



Ok, that's all from me...Have a lovely Monday everyone. I'll be back here tomorrow night!

Shoes Lebowski

Our rescue kitty, fattened up!!


Isn't he cute!!?

My new banner and blog layout...

Hello my dears, I'm very happy to announce several key changes to my blog! In keeping with my new focus here at the English Muse (writing mostly about books), I asked illustrator Lori Langille to create a new banner. Take a look and let me know what you think!

I love Lori's work -- sort of Victorian eclectic. Her day job includes producing illustrations for a variety of newspapers and magazines in Canada and the US. In the evenings, she updates her fantastic design blog, Automatism.

Here are a few more of her works. (Check out her website for more!)





Have a lovely Monday!

Is Jonathan Franzen all that?

The Franzen frenzy started a month ago when TIME magazine put the author on its cover and labeled him the "Great American Novelist." I finally have a copy of his new book, Freedom. (My reading this weekend). I'm anxious to see if he's really all that.

Any thoughts?

(Illustration above by Joe Ciardiello for Barnes and Noble Review.)

Prada 2010 Fall/Winter Look Book

Hello darlings. Is there anything that gets the mind and imagination working quite like the printed page? The other day I wandered into Prada in Beverly Hills. And while I couldn't quite afford anything on the racks, they were happy to let me leave with
one of their lovely new (and free!) lookbooks.

Take a look at some of the images:









The hefty-sized lookbook features styling and artwork by OMA (Alexander Reichert & Fausto Fantinuoli) as well as photography from Phil Meech. It has that cool Internet, on-the-street fashion blog vibe, but printed on craft paper. I wish I had all the back issues!

What's your favorite lookbook?