On the business of books
I just finished reading an article in The Nation, by Elisabeth Sifton, which appeared in the June 8, 2009 edition:
The Long Goodbye? The Book Business and its Woes
Sifton's essay is a must read for all book lovers -- readers and writers alike. Her essay details the current state of the publishing world from an insider's perspective; Sifton is the senior vice president of Farrar, Straus & Giroux. She is also an author: The Serenity Prayer: Faith and Politics in Times of Peace and War (Norton). She packs a lot of information in the essay, providing a radiant light on the writer as krill in the book's disrupted publishing chain.
Highly recommended.
Book Launch 2.0
This made me laugh!
What I'm reading...
Reality is Broken: Why Games Make us Better and How They Can Change the World, by Jane McGonigal
Alone - The Classic Polar Adventure, by Admiral Richard E. Byrd
Ever since I read Into Thin Air: a Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer, http://amzn.com/0679457526 I can't get enough of these adventure stories. I've just started on the one by Byrd. Part of what draws me to these stories is trying to figure out what motivates them to face such hardships, once they come eye to eye with the enormity -- and the sheer odds of failing -- that the project presents. I get the desire, the planning, the packing, the juggling of funds to start the adventure. I even get the day to day of it. I keep saying that writing a novel is like climbing a mountain. I think we share the same kind of heart, but mine demands constant coffee and temperature control!
Chicago Blows Snow: Two Minute Man
Chicago Snow at the Crossroads
Primary Colors
More art play...I like this one a lot.
The Ends of the Book: Authors, Readers, Public Spaces (Yale)
Martin Luther King Jr
Shadow City
What I'm e-reading...
I've had the pleasure of reading on the Kindle Fire for about a month now. I've taken it through its paces and I really like it. You are able to connect to your local library, if you have a current library card, and you can check out e-books. It's all very simple. You search the library, as always, and place the e-books on hold, if they are not immediately available. The library notifies you via e-mail when the book is ready. You check it out electronically and it is sent to your Kindle account on Amazon.
I know there is some concern from publishers about the availibility of e-books at the library. It's a fine balance, but I have always had a library card, and I have always purchased books. Some books are keepers and you want them at hand, even on your electronic bookshelf. The e-library allows for a twenty-one day read. I'm always reading multiple books at a time and, often, that is not enough time for me with one book. If I'm interested enough, I will purchase it.
What I'm e-reading:
The Best American Essays 2011 (Best American Series) by Edwidge Danticat
Snowing on Dearborn
Chicago Snow - 2012
Red, Blue, Lines, Spheres, Shadows
When I can't get out with my camera, and the writing needs a break, I find myself experimenting with photoshop.
Full Moon Rising -- Chicago
Polar Bear
Full Force Nature on the Weather Channel
Full Force Nature is running a segment on the Chicago Blizzard; it will be on the Weather Channel tonight at 8 p.m., central time. Here are some of the clips that I sent them from that night:
Update on 2012-01-06 15:01 by Therese Flanagan
I watched Full Force Nature last night on the Weather Channel. The sheer force of those winds -- they were hurricane strength -- and then the driving snow, was amazing to watch. The individual stories were great, and how fortunate that everyone was rescued. I know I couldn't have stayed put in a car, or bus, for ten hours watching the snow pile up around the windows; I would have tried to get out and make my way west within the first hour where I would have been found days later by cadaver dogs, a frozen stiff, but having died happier for the attempt. I need to watch more episodes of Survivor Man. It all reminded me of the Robert Frost poem, Fire and Ice: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173527
They used the lightning strike and clap of thunder from my clip, and repeated it three times in the segment for emphasis. Good job, Indigo Films!
Winter tableau, with cars
Chicago (time lapse)
Baptism, of a kind
I took this shot in Millennium Park, in Chicago. I don't know if you've had a chance to see Crown Fountain, but on your next stop to Chicago, stop by and see what the Spanish artist, Juame Plensa, designed.
http://explorechicago.org/city/en/things_see_do/attractions/dca_tourism/Crown_Fountain.html