Mail (Male) Call

Greetings, Colleagues--

As I mentioned last month, I am now sending periodic e-mail notifications of upcoming Bookmen meetings and other events from my personal address rather than work.  That change has generated many more error messages and bouncebacks than I normally get, so please let me know (by clicking on the link in the right-hand column of the blog that says "Steve") if you are no longer receiving those messages.  (The last one went out Jan. 30.)  Ditto if your e-mail address has changed or you no longer wish to be on the mailing list.

Thanks!

Cheers,
Steve Honley
Semi-Benevolent Facilitator
Bookmen DC

John Waters on books as gifts

Greetings, Colleagues--

Several weeks after the fact, I happened upon a New York Times Q&A ("Season's Greetings, with a Wink") with John Waters that contained the following bon mot (among others):

WHAT KIND OF GIFTS DO YOU GIVE?

I always give books. And I always ask for books. I think you should reward people sexually for getting you books. Don’t send a thank-you note, repay them with sexual activity. If the book is rare or by your favorite author or one you didn’t know about, reward them with the most perverted sex act you can think of. Otherwise, you can just make out.

No comment!  Cheers, Steve

dopey while freezing

Steve asks me to post this item that Robert has run across while reading The Leonard Bernstein Letters:

A rather nice précis of Seven Middagh. Editor Nigel Simeone claims this letter documents their "earliest contact" in what turned out to be a long, fruitful collaboration and that the misspelling "Brittle" is a "humorous reference" for Britten. The letter certainly contradicts Sherill Tippins' claim in February House that the Bowles brought Smith into the house (rather than vice versa).

Madame Zilinsky

This is who Madame Zilinsky reminded me of …  [click here!]

Mary and the Mendl's Son

A recent issue of The Times Literary Supplement (11/29/13) includes Daniel Mendelsohn's introduction to the Folio Society's "Alexandriad" (pictured below). The issue also contains a re-review of Renault's The Charioteer, published sixty years ago. Unfortunately, each article is behind the TLS paywall. As was Mendelsohn's "Personal History" in the 1/7/13 issue of The New Yorker about Mary Renault in his life, both before and after their first meeting. These are worth reading if you're on friendly terms with your local library. There is a supplementary video, however, which anyone can see. The playback can be quirky (web traffic?) and oddly improves when expanded to your monitor's full screen (by clicking on the icon of a rectangle with arrows coming out of each corner).

Mendelsohn Renault tweet

"So proud to have been able to write the Introduction to the Folio Society edition of Mary Renault's Alexander Trilogy."

Mendelsohn Cavafy tweet

This afternoon's "afternoon poem" is this masterwork of 1930 by Cavafy:

   The Mirror in the Entrance

In the entrance hallway of that sumptuous home
there was an enormous mirror, very old;
acquired at least eighty years ago.

A strikingly beautiful boy, a tailor's assistant,
(on Sunday afternoons, an amateur athlete),
was standing with a package. He handed it
to one of the household, who then went back inside
to fetch a receipt. The tailor's assistant
remained alone, and waited.
He drew near the mirror, and stood gazing at himself,
and straightening his tie. Five minutes later
they brought him the receipt. He took it and left.

But the ancient mirror, which had seen and seen again,
throughout its lifetime of so many years,
thousands of objects and faces—
but the ancient mirror now became elated,
inflated with pride, because it had received upon itself
perfect beauty, for a few minutes.