Although I’ve lived away from it almost as long as I lived in it, New York City will always be home to me. When I say New York City, I mean Manhattan. I was born there on New Year’s Eve, spent my first years living on Broadway, attended the famed H.S. of Music & Art, roamed the fabled coffee houses of Greenwich Village and still live on that island in my dreams.
Returning to “my city” for Book Expo America led me to think of the enduring magnetism of this metropolis where anything is possible – good or bad. And of all the great books that have featured the city for atmosphere or as a catalyst. These should be on your list:
Non-Fiction Here is New York — E.B. White World of Our Fathers — Irving Howe The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge – David McCullough Just Kids – Patti Smith
Fiction The Age of Innocence — Edith Wharton The Great Gatsby — F. Scott Fitzgerald The New York Stories of Henry James — Henry James A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith Call It Sleep – Henry Roth Invisible Man — Ralph Ellison Breakfast at Tiffany’s — Truman Capote Wonderful Town: New York Stories from The New Yorker – multiple authors The Alienist – Caleb Carr
After you take a few bites of “The Big Apple”, I’m convinced you’ll develop a taste that keeps bringing you back.
NYC is noted for excelling at many things; that includes producing and inspiring some of the world’s best writers. Flavorwire shares its list of New York’s 100 most important living writers.
One of my literary heroes is O. Henry (1862-1910). Although he lived only 47 years, he produced some 600 short stories, defined by their keen insights about humanity and usually punctuated with a twist ending. Born in North Carolina, O. Henry moved around the country but his most prolific writing period started in 1902, when he moved to New York City; while there, he wrote 381 short stories. Visit Pete’s Tavern (est. 1864) in Gramercy Park and sit at the booth with the plaque stating that William Sydney Porter — pen name O. Henry — sat in that very same booth when he wrote The Gift of the Magi, his most famous story.
O. Henry loved New York, its people, places and potential. It has been reported that his last words were “Pull up the shades so I can see New York. I don’t want to go home in the dark.”
Amen.
Who kept the faith and fought the fight; The glory theirs, the duty ours. – Wallace Bruce
As the political rhetoric of the next Presidential election heats up, much bloviating has focused on what people said and did in the lead-up to the Iraq war. Everyone wants to be on the right side of history but history is still in flux. Regardless of your political leaning, you’ve probably noticed how people’s view of the Iraq war has changed over the years, just as the view of the Vietnam war has evolved. This adjustment of judgment is the psychological nature of all humans, not just politicians, pundits and media personalities.
One opinion that has secured firmed footing, regardless of how we feel about war: soldiers who serve in our name, risking life and limb, are heroes. Literature helps us understand and fully appreciate the lives and sacrifices of those who serve in our military, as well as the heroic families that sacrifice to support them. It also enlightens our understanding of how society (that’s us folks) relates to soldiers … and how we can show our appreciation.
Regardless of which war interests you, and whether you prefer non-fiction accounts or novels carrying the theme, great books to enlighten and inspire readers abound. Here are some recommendations:
Non-Fiction Red Tail Captured, Red Tail Free — Alexander Jefferson with Lewis Carlson (WWII/Europe) Unbroken — Lauren Hillenbrand (WWII/Pacific) The Ghosts of Hero Street: How One Small Mexican-American Community Gave So Much in World War II and Korea — Carlos Harrison (WW II, Korea) Dispatches — Michael Herr (Vietnam) Jarhead — Anthony Swofford (Persian Gulf) Thank You For Your Service — David Finkel (Iraq) Fobbit — David Abrams (Iraq) Plenty of Time When We Get Home — Kayla Williams (Iraq) The Face of War — Martha Gellhorn (various)
Fiction The Red Badge of Courage — Stephen Crane (Civil War) A Farewell to Arms — Ernest Hemingway (WW I) Catch-22 — Joseph Heller (WWII) The Thin Red Line — James Jones (WW II, Pacific) Johnny Got His Gun — Dalton Trumbo (WW II) Paco’s Story — Larry Heinemann (Vietnam) Tree of Smoke — by Denis Johnson (Vietnam) The Things They Carried — Tim O’Brien (Vietnam) The Yellow Birds — Kevin Powers (Iraq) How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes! – Maya Angelou
The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example.—Benjamin Disraeli
We who are left how shall we look again
Happily on the sun or feel the rain
Without remembering how they who went
Ungrudginly and spent
Their lives for us loved, too, the sun and rain? – Wilfred Wilson Gibson
Your silent tents of green
We deck with fragrant flowers;
Yours has the suffering been,
The memory shall be ours. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I deliberately did not read anything about the Vietnam War because I felt the politics of the war eclipsed what happened to the veterans. The politics were irrelevant to what this memorial was. – Maya Lin
From where I sit at my computer, I have a view of a spectacular Prairie Fire Crabapple tree that is in full bloom at this time of year. A glorious cloud of deep pink blossoms sway gently with every soft spring breeze. It’s one reminder of the miracle of flowers that reappear in colorful abundance each year at this season. This got me thinking about the role flowers play in literature. It’s not all a bed of roses.
In Daphne du Maurier’s haunting Rebecca, here’s the description of the flowers seen by the second Mrs. De Winter (who is never referred to by a first name) on the first approach to her new home, Manderley: “The woods had not prepared me for them. They startled me with their crimson faces, massed one upon the other in incredible profusion, showing no leaf, no twig, nothing but the slaughterous red, luscious and fantastic, unlike any rhododendron I had seen before.” How quickly the innocent “faces… in incredible profusion” become “slaughterous red, luscious and fantastic”. The flowers, cultivated by the deceased first Mrs. De Winter – Rebecca of the book’s title – are an omen of things to come, the evolution of welcoming grace into some very luxurious yet dangerous darkness. Flowers – their colors, fragrances and how they grow — make symbolic appearances throughout the novel to powerful effect.
In Hamlet, Shakespeare uses flowers almost exclusively in relationship to Ophelia. Implying that Hamlet’s love for her is fleeting, Laertes calls that love “A violet in the youth of primy nature”, comparing it to a charming, fragrant but short-lived flower. Throughout the play, Ophelia hands out flowers that symbolize different qualities in other characters. Even Ophelia’s death takes place as she is picking flowers and falls into a brook where she drowns: “Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke,/ When down her weedy trophies and herself/ Fell in the weeping brook.”
Harper Lee used flowers memorably in To Kill a Mockingbird. In this story, the camellia represented justice. Just as Jem must nurture Mrs. Dubose’s white camellias, he must nurture the courage he needs to deal with the emotional upheaval of his young life. Fighting her own struggles before she died, Mrs. Dubose prepared a wax camellia for Jem, a camellia that would endure, as his courage must. Although they were not a focal point of the narrative, red geraniums also play an important, symbolic role. The description of Mayella Ewell’s property is like the “playhouse of an insane child.” Yet: “…against the fence, in a line, were six chipped-enamel slop jars holding brilliant red geraniums, cared for as tenderly as if they belonged to Miss Maudie Atkinson. People said they were Mayella Ewell’s.” While the Ewell family was not known to be caring and loving, the presence of the flowers symbolized the predisposition to good that still exists in everyone, no matter how corrupted they might be.
Now and through the coming months, don’t just stop to smell the roses you encounter. Think of what flowers symbolize to you. And give them more thought as you encounter them in the books you read.
Book Expo America (BEA), the largest annual book trade fair in the U.S. will be held in New York City this year from May 27-29. More than 750 authors, hundreds of new titles, 1,000+ exhibitors, and four Author Stages, along with the Digital Discovery Zone (D2Z) provided by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) make this one of the best environments for networking, sourcing, and relationship building in the publishing industry in North America. The BEA website has details.
The 31st annual Printer’s Row Lit Fest, considered the largest free outdoor literary event in the Midwest, is expected to draw more than 150,000 book lovers throughout the weekend of June 6-7 in Chicago’s South Loop. LeVar Burton, the force behind the PBS series “Reading Rainbow,” will be honored at this year’s Lit Fest as recipient of the Chicago Tribune’s 2015 Young Adult Literary Award. The Fest offers block after block of booksellers, vendors, performers and events, hosting more than 200 authors in panels, discussions and other programs. Among those appearing in this year’s extensive lineup are: Erik Larson, Edward P. Jones, Rick Bayless, Amber Tamblyn, David Axelrod, Lawrence Wright, Garry Wills, Aleksandar Hemon, Elizabeth Berg, Neal Stephenson, Scott Simon, Rebecca Makkai and more.
When we think “American” authors, we tend to assume they are U.S. authors, eh? Oh Canada,
how could we overlook you?! Because I am spending a few days at Niagara Falls, Ontario, I decided to explore Canadian authors and their books. I was amazed, as I expect you will be, to discover that these well-known authors you probably thought were from the States (each name accompanied by one of their best-selling books):
Margaret Atwood – The Handmaid’s Tale
Alice Munro – Lives of Girls and Women (also known for short stories)
Michael Ondaatje – The English Patient
Sara Gruen – Water for Elephants
Robertson Davies – What’s Bred in the Bone
L.M. Montgomery – Anne of Green Gables (series)
Yann Martel – Life of Pi
W.P. Kinsella – Shoeless Joe (became the movie Field of Dreams)
Here’s a list of lesser known (to us) Canadian authors whose books are also highly recommended:
Rohinton Mistry – A Fine Balance
Margaret Laurence – The Stone Angel
Mordecai Richler – Barney’s Version
Joesph Boyden – Three Day Road
Lawrence Hill – Someone Knows My Name
Alistair MacLeod – No Great Mischief
Farley Mowat – Never Cry Wolf
Authors like cats because they are such quiet, lovable, wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reasons. – Robertson Davies
I write every day. I’m always in the process of writing my last book, until the next one. – Farley Mowat
A writer uses a pen instead of a scalpel or blow torch. – Michael Ondaatje
The eskimos had fifty-two names for snow because it was important to them: there ought to be as many for love. – Margaret Atwood
The eager reader is one who learned early on that reading can be fun. Typically, a child’s earliest experiences with books are being read to by an adult. Wanting to hold the magical spell of the lines and shapes on a page, the keys that open new worlds, the child learns to read.
Book●ed blog followers value reading. We love books. Can you imagine never having a book to call your own? In the United States, sadly, countless children do not own a single book. Fewer than half of families read to their kindergarten-age children on a daily basis. Thirty-three percent of low-income 4th graders are unable to read at their basic grade level; sixty-eight percent are unable to read proficiently at grade level. Forty million adults in the U.S. can’t read well enough to share a simple story with their child. One in four Americans grows up functionally illiterate.
Children who are poor readers at the end of 1st grade show decreased self-esteem, confidence and motivation to learn. They fall behind in school. They fall behind in life. We all suffer as a result. This is a scandal that does not have to continue!
Two programs are working diligently to turn the tide of literacy in the U.S.: RIF and Reading Rainbow.
RIF – Reading is Fundamental – is the nation’s largest nonprofit organization working for children’s literacy. In 2014, RIF distributed 1.7 million books to children in underserved communities. Since its establishment in 1966, RIF has provided more than 401 million books for children to choose and keep – “because to understand the value of books, kids need to own books.” There is no charge to the children or their families for the books or other provided by RIF.
In addition to letting children choose their own books from a carefully selected assortment, RIF volunteers generate enthusiasm for books and reading with storytellers, costumed book characters, guest readers and author visits. Programs are tailored to individual communities through collaboration with community members and parents.
Reading Rainbow was an Emmy-winning PBS series that aired for 23 seasons (1983-2006), reaching a nation of elementary school-aged TV-watching children and motivating them to read. For the show’s host, actor LeVar Burton, Reading Rainbow was more than a gig. “My mother was an English teacher, so there were always books around,” he said. “I’d be sitting in Sacramento, California, but I could see and experience things I couldn’t even dream of.” About the lifelong impact of early literacy, Burton observed, “If you can read, you are free. If you can read, no one can keep you in the dark. You can learn anything, inform yourself and make up your own mind.”
Burton’s commitment to Reading Rainbow continued after the series ended. He and a business partner produced a reading app. Realizing that tablet computers are not affordable by everyone, he is taking Reading Rainbow content in an expanded version to the Web. Burton supports reading books in digital format and in print. Although he co-founded a digital technology company, he also is a first-time author of a whimsically illustrated children’s book, The Rhino Who Swallowed a Storm in print because, “…we need to keep turning those pages.”
If you love books, love reading, love children, take a closer look at RIF and Reading Rainbow.
Adding to his Emmy, Grammy, TV Land and NAACP awards, LeVar Burton has just won the Chicago Tribune’s Young Adult Literary Award. He will receive the hone in June at the 2015 Printers Row Lit Fest in Chicago. In a statement from the newspaper, senior vice president and editor Gerould Kern said, “Through his passion, imagination and belief in inspiring your people, LeVar Burton has instilled the hoy of reading, in all its glorious forms, in countless readers and made an impact on many young lives.”
You can donate to RIF in honor of a child you read to or in memory of a parent who once read to you. Share the love.
