1) Renee Fleming has a new CD out. It's a gooily Italian conglomeration of Puccini and his ilk--some far better known than others, all good. It's retailing in the $15-ish area in stores, and $10 in at least one online place (Barnes & Noble, last I looked).
2) Pie in the Sky series 2 will be arriving in stores on January 26, 2010. Still a ways off, but it's nice to know that the British series, which features a gourmet-cooking-would-be-retired detective, will continue to be released here.
Now then.
Several months ago, I entered a book drawing on Emily's blog. Yes, I got a book: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. It was nice to read Amy Tan; her books were on my list of "things to read when I get a chance...and that chance may not happen for months." I can't say it was one of my favorite books of all time (sorry, Emily!), but it did a really neat job of pulling me into China, as it was incredibly well-researched.
Cooler by far than the book, though, was the notion of someone I knew only through the Internet sending moi a book "just because." (Oh, and the Strand bookmark was an absolutely brilliant touch. She couldn't possibly know that The Strand is one of the places I want most to visit, but it is, and the bookmark and accompanying note will be a treasured keepsake in this bibliophile's scrapbook.)
Huh, thought I. I'm going to have to steal this idea at some point. Emily okayed my borrowing of the idea, and so here goes.
On October 11, I will have been blogging for two years, and I'd like to celebrate it by giving you a book.
Now, I don't have a sitemeter, and I know that Vox requires registration for comments (something which is annoying, I realize). Therefore, I don't know how many people read my blog regularly, but I don't think that there are that many. Still, I'm afraid that I don't see a way to give each and every one of you a book. Sorry! :( College student budget, and all that.
I do want to offer some books, though. I've kept an eye out at library sales/Goodwill/various and sundry book stores and I came up with five fairly diverse books that I thought my "public" might like.
Want a book? Here's what you do:
1) Write a comment to this post saying that a) you want a book, and b) list the books in order of most to least wanted.
2) Check back on Sunday the 4th (ie, a week from today), when I will post the names of the winners. If I don't have a sufficient number of comments to begin book distribution by then, then I will a) be quite depressed (and we can't have that!) and b) extend the deadline by another couple of days.
3) PM me your real name and mailing address, not forgetting to write said mailing address with whatever line-breaks are usual for your country's postal service. For example, if I were to PM my address I would write:
UbiCaritas' Real Name
123 Diva Lane
Cowtown, TX 11111
U.S.A.
Doing this will mean that I will not irritate some postal clerk by having three incorrectly addressed international packages. As they handle the mail, 'tis best to keep them happy. Also, it will teach me how to write addreses for your postal area--certainly a bonus! (Yes, I do mean that seriously. Learning new things is good.)
4) Get your book, read it, and let me know what you think!
I will ship internationally, as at least half my readers and commenters aren't in the U.S. Please be advised that I will also ship via book rate/media mail/whatever is cheapest to your country/state, so it may take a while for the book to arrive.
While you will need to send me your name and address, I promise not to share such information with anyone. Period, full stop, end of statement. Remember, while I do have my picture up on here I would not care to have my name associated with this blog; there is far too much personal, school and work information on here. (Unless you're a book agent, in which case PM me about having me write a book about my crazy stories.) Seriously, though: no personal info I receive will be shared with anyone.
Are you a new reader? Post a comment!
Are you a long-time reader? Post a comment!
Are you someone I know in "real life", having met outside the blogosphere? Post a comment! (Do note, however, that I may simply drop a package on your doorstep rather than mail it to you if you're in or about the Fort Worth area.)
I'll use a random number generator to pick names and books. Depending on the number of entries, that random number generator may become "a hat" if it seems easier to me. My blog, my rules, blahblahblah.
I would also appreciate a comment about what you like on here and what you'd like to see more or less of. I guarantee nothing, mind you--but I would like some general feedback, and the offer of Free Stuff seems like as good a time as any to ask for it.
What am I giving away?
First off, I have a paperback copy of Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett. This is a novel, and it is really one of the most beautiful and heart-rending fictional depictions of music and opera and humanity I've ever read. This is a decidedly "read" copy; I picked it up at a library sale, and it has a few dogeared pages and slight yellowing of the edges. Still, it's perfectly readable, and I recommend it highly to anyone who enjoys a very well-written story.
Next is a hardcover copy of People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks. Brooks won a Pulitzer for March, her novel about the father of the Little Women of Louisa May Alcott (see below). In my opinion, People of the Book is much better. This novel tells the (fictionalized) story of the Sarejevo Haggadah, a real-life manuscript which has survived Inquisitions, bombings, fires and Nazis for the last five hundred years. It speaks of the people who risked everything to save the book and the people associated with it, and it speaks to the heart of a bibliophile. This is definitely in my top five favorite books I've read this year; thanks, big diva, for recommending it to me!
I mentioned March above. I purchased this book (hardcover, quite good condition) after reading People of the Book. I was, in truth, disappointed. My opinion may have been colored by my adoration of the book Little Women. This does not exactly follow the story as Alcott wrote it, though much of it is written quite well and believably. To me, though, it didn't have the magic of People of the Book. Clearly the Pulitzer folks disagreed with me, as this book won the Pulitzer Fiction prize, but....
In any case, I expect that someone out there will want it.
This is a bit of a diversion from the usual fare discussed on this blog, but it's a neat little book nonetheless. This is a small hardcover volume (in very good condition) of Yeats' early love poems. Should someone ever want to court Yours Truly, he'd find his task considerably easier if he had a familiarity with this:
Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with gold and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
Beautiful, no? Surely you want this on your bookshelf?
Finally, I bring to you a (paperback, about as "read" as Bel Canto) mystery: to wit, Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. This is not your typical all-too-cutesy mystery. This is a lovingly crafted book filled with glorious Botswana scenes and settings and people...and yes, the odd mystery here and there. Smith grew up in Botswana, and while he writes an entertaining and pleasant story, the whole of it is permeated with his love for Africa and the people thereof. You don't want to miss this series...and this is the perfect way to start it!
Good luck, my various and assorted (dozen) readers! May fortune favor those in need of a new book to read!
There is a coffeeshop on the campus of my school. Needless to say, I made its aquiantance my first day and have continued to go there--well, more frequently than I ought. The head barista of this shop is always there: she opens the place up at 7-something and closes it at 6 Monday through Friday. She--and the staff--are pleasant people who'll remember you and your favorite drink. They're also delightfully unhurried, which is maddening if you're rushing to class, but it's a good place to slow down and relax for the five-ten minutes it will take to make your drink. Besides, I like the non-corporate-"MUST HAVE DRINK READY IN THREE MINUTES" feel.
We've had some most un-cowtownlike weather here for the last two weeks: cool, rainy, damp. We went nine days without any real sun, which is probably a record.
A few days ago, I stopped by the coffeeshop for a much-needed mocha. The head barista had a little space heater going by her stool, and a blanket that she set back on the stool when she got up to take my order. The coffeeshop tends to be really cool, even by my standards, so it must be quite chilly to anyone originally from the South.
When I commented on the blanket and heater, the barista laughed.
"Girl, you should've seen me when I came in this morning. I forgot my umbrella, and I was SOAKED by the time I got in here. And you know how it's always cold in here?"
I nodded wholeheartedly. "Good grief, you must have been freezing."
"Yeah, I was. I got a coffee, but I was dripping wet and just couldn't get warm. Then one of the professors came in. She noticed that I was all wet, y'know? So she asked if I could maybe go home and get a change of clothes, but I'm here by myself today. I made her her drink, but she would you believe this? She came back a few minutes later with the space heater and a blanket from her office and told me I could just give them back when she comes by for her drink tomorrow morning."
Y'know, that warmed the cockles of my cranky fifth-week-of-the-semester heart. How many people--much less people of different work "ranks", like the professor and this barista--would haul a space heater and blanket back across a puddle-laden campus just because she wanted to make sure the barista at the college's coffee shop didn't catch a chill?
I promise a real post...sometime soon.
Go read a Flamingo Dancer retrospective here. You will most certainly not regret it.
I regret to say (and regret even more to say in truth) that while I am diva through-and-through, my budget is not. Therefore, while building my music library I have picked up scores where I can: for free (you have an extra Boheme score and want to give it to moi? Excellent!); dirt cheap (Four Althouse collections for 50 cents each? SWEET.); cheaper-than-retail ($15 for a Cosi score? Better than the $30 it'll cost new). Occasionally, though, by the nature of these scores (used), there will be something about a score that Simply Will Not Do.
Take my Cosi fan tutte score, for example. I purchased it at Half Price Books several months ago and promptly stuck it on my shelf. When I was told I'd need it this semester, I pulled it off the shelf and brought it to school, where I produced it from my bag...and nearly lost my breakfast right there.
This score rivaled Letters from New York in terms of stale cigarette smoke smell. My scores are somewhat obsessively arranged (first by type of music, then by composer), and the score had gone to the bottom of a stack. Therefore, I'd no idea of the smoke smell until that morning.
What was a diva to do?
I got a couple of copies of the local fishwrap and put a sheet between every dozen pages or so. I then wrapped several sheets around the outside and took a four-day weekend from looking at (or SMELLING) it.
I brought it forth this morning, and while it is not yet smoke-free, it is much, MUCH better: the smoke smell is virtually imperceptable. I think the score might spend next weekend in newspaper, too, just to be on the safe side, but I judge this experiment a success.
One final note: newspaper is somewhat acidic. I don't particularly care about this score, per se: I just didn't want to have to purchase a new one. I would not use this on a keepsake score or antique book, as the newspaper acid would encourage the deterioration of the paper of such an item.
