Saturday, April 28, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
By Anne Lamott (1994)
Published by Pantheon Books, New York.
Introduction: Page xix
"The other kids always wanted me to tell them stories of what had happened, even---or especially--- when they had been there. Parties that got away from us, blowups in the classroom, or on the school yard, scenes involving their parents that we had witnessed---I could make the story happen. I could make it vivid and funny, and even exaggerate some of it so that the event became almost mythical, and the people involved seemed larger, and there was a sense of larger significance, of meaning.
Page 50 (On Narrators)
"They shouldn't be too perfect; perfect means shallow and unreal and fatally uninteresting. I like for them to have a nice sick sense of humour and to be concerned with important things, by which I mean that they are interested in political and psychological and spiritual matters. I want them to want to know who we are and what life is about."
Page 103 (On the Moral Point of View)
"Telling these truths is your job. You have nothing else to tell us. But needless to say, you can't tell them in a sentence or a paragraph; the truth doesn't come out in bumper stickers. There may be a flickering amount of insight in a one-liner, in a sound bite, but everyday meat-and-potato truth is beyond our ability to capture in a few words."
Page 204
"...as Marianne Moore put it "the world's an orphans home." And this feels more true than almost anything else I know. But so many of us can be soothed by writing: think of how many times you have opened a book, read one line, and said, "Yes!" And I want to give people that feeling too, of connection, of communion."
Page 237 (On why Writing Matters)
"Because of the spirit, I say. Because of the heart. Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It's like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can't stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship."
By Anne Lamott (1994)
Published by Pantheon Books, New York.
Introduction: Page xix
"The other kids always wanted me to tell them stories of what had happened, even---or especially--- when they had been there. Parties that got away from us, blowups in the classroom, or on the school yard, scenes involving their parents that we had witnessed---I could make the story happen. I could make it vivid and funny, and even exaggerate some of it so that the event became almost mythical, and the people involved seemed larger, and there was a sense of larger significance, of meaning.
Page 50 (On Narrators)
"They shouldn't be too perfect; perfect means shallow and unreal and fatally uninteresting. I like for them to have a nice sick sense of humour and to be concerned with important things, by which I mean that they are interested in political and psychological and spiritual matters. I want them to want to know who we are and what life is about."
Page 103 (On the Moral Point of View)
"Telling these truths is your job. You have nothing else to tell us. But needless to say, you can't tell them in a sentence or a paragraph; the truth doesn't come out in bumper stickers. There may be a flickering amount of insight in a one-liner, in a sound bite, but everyday meat-and-potato truth is beyond our ability to capture in a few words."
Page 204
"...as Marianne Moore put it "the world's an orphans home." And this feels more true than almost anything else I know. But so many of us can be soothed by writing: think of how many times you have opened a book, read one line, and said, "Yes!" And I want to give people that feeling too, of connection, of communion."
Page 237 (On why Writing Matters)
"Because of the spirit, I say. Because of the heart. Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It's like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can't stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship."
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
On Collage
I am really interested in using collage as a design strategy to draw people into reading. I think that collage is a good way to cohesively illustrate a variety of eras and subjects. I am thinking of this in the way that it could be used in an Ipad app that "recommends" or introduces certain books to readers.
Collage is really flexible in the way the subject of the imagery can control the tone; masculine, feminine, 1950s, 1980s, fun, scary etc, but it still consistent because the overriding aesthetic of the medium.
Collage is also really playful and engaging. It is not intellectual or intimidating. It can be done artfully and subtly, it is tactile and has a romance and nostalgia which ties in nicely with promoting the reading of physical books. I would like to see the contrast of simple handmade collage (and collaged videos) on the technology touch screen of the Ipad. I see it as a really nice contrast.
Also it doesn't over power the imagination as it is quite abstract. Illustration to a novel could easily take away from the text, constricting the freedom of the readers imagination to picture the scenes and characters in a way that they best connect with.
Also it doesn't over power the imagination as it is quite abstract. Illustration to a novel could easily take away from the text, constricting the freedom of the readers imagination to picture the scenes and characters in a way that they best connect with.
Monday, April 23, 2012
James Bridle Talks About Books
James Bridle has many interesting things to say about books and e-books. In "The Condition of Music" talk he talks about how new media should not be used to "embellish" or add illustrations to books but instead to give the book a context. He talks of introductions etc. I agree with that idea, I think that the adding on to text can be very gimmicky. He is also interested in how we could "own" the reading experience in the new digital era. Online book communities etc. His blog is: http://booktwo.org/
Here is a little sketch of his of the book's lifeline.
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