Eleanor at Flights of Fantasy checks in with news of the ongoing sale:
Flights of Fantasy is now giving 25% off on all used & new fiction published before 2007 – not just paperbacks. The Web site isn’t updated yet.
The reason for the sale is an upcoming move by the store, as reported on the Times Union business blog, which is here:
http://blogs.timesunion.com/business/?p=944
Who came before Superman and Archie? Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck, of course.
This from http://www.finebooksmagazine.com:
The earliest known sequential American comic book, published in 1842, was The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck, based on original material by Swiss writer/artist Rodolphe Töpffer. Originally published in Switzerland in 1837 under the title Les Amours de Mr. Vieux Bois (aka Histoire de Mr. Vieux Bois), the work was pirated, translated, and re-drawn by British publisher Tilt and Bogue in 1840. As noted early comics historian Robert Beerbohm noted, “In a world where international copyright conventions did not exist, this was perfectly legal, if morally questionable.” The British printing plates were re-used for the U.S. version, released by New York’s Wilson and Company in 1842.
“The significance of this incredible artifact is hard to overstate,” said Ed Jaster, Vice-President for Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries. “As the first American comic book, this seminal publication set the stage for a four-color revolution that would take hold almost a century later. It’s interesting to note that this copy is printed in black and white and bound with string, as both color printing and staples had yet to be invented!”
“This is an exceptional opportunity for collectors to acquire what is arguably the most significant comic book in existence,” Jaster said. “Less than a dozen copies have been confirmed to exist, several of which are owned by institutions and unlikely ever to be offered to the collecting public. Once gone, the opportunity to possess this rare volume may never come again.”
The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck – First Printing will be offered in Heritage Auction Galleries’ upcoming Comics Signature Auction, to be held May 3-5, 2007 in their Dallas, Texas world headquarters.
The British literary magazine has, for the second time, drummed up a list of the best young American novelists. The first list came out in 1996. So if you are looking for a new young writer to check out, this list can dish up some great ideas.
Of note to fans of the New York State Writers Institute are former visitors Nicole Krauss and ZZ Packer. Congrats all.
From the LA Times:
The British literary magazine Granta announced Thursday the 21 writers who have made its second Best Young American Novelists list. The authors include some of the rising stars in the American book world. They are Daniel Alarcon, Kevin Brockmeier, Judy Budnitz, Christopher Coake, Anthony Doerr, Jonathan Safran Foer, Nell Freudenberger, Olga Grushin, Dara Horn, Gabe Hudson, Uzodinma Iweala, Nicole Krauss, Rattawut Lapcharoensap, Yiyun Li, Maile Meloy, ZZ Packer, Jess Row, Karen Russell, Akhil Sharma, Gary Shteyngart and John Wray.
Among the latest releases from LibriVox — the volunteer group that publishes free audio files of public domain books — is Mark Twain’s “Extracts from Adam’s Diary,” a fun and funny collection of ruminations from humanity’s first man.
Here’s a print excerpt:
Friday
The naming goes recklessly on, in spite of anything I can do. I
had a very good name for the estate, and it was musical and pretty
–GARDEN-OF-EDEN. Privately, I continue to call it that, but not
any longer publicly. The new creature says it is all woods and
rocks and scenery, and therefore has no resemblance to a garden.
Says it looks like a park, and does not look like anything but a
park. Consequently, without consulting me, it has been new-named
–NIAGARA FALLS PARK. This is sufficiently high-handed, it seems to
me. And already there is a sign up:KEEP OFF
THE GRASSMy life is not as happy as it was.
The Telegraph out of Britain lists the top 100 books here.
The top book by an American author, at No. 5, is Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird.”
From a review in the International Herald Tribune, Russell Banks writes about Milan Kundera’s third book of essays on the novel, “The Curtain.” And though the review is generally positive, Banks’ one criticism seems rather damning, as if he is suggesting the Kundera is out of touch with our times.
Here are excerpts:
“The novel alone,” he says, “could reveal the immense, mysterious power of the pointless,” in opposition to the “pre-interpretation” of reality. The novel, in Kundera’s view, is not a genre; it’s a way of busting through the myriad lies regarding human nature and our collective and individual fates, lies that serve the purposes of bureaucracy and greed and the joyless quest for power. The “pre-interpretation” of reality is the curtain referred to by the book’s title, “a magic curtain, woven of legends … already made-up, masked, reinterpreted. … It is by tearing through the curtain of pre-interpretation that Cervantes set the new art going; his destructive act echoes and extends to every novel worthy of the name; it is the identifying sign of the art of the novel.”
and then this:
If I have any quarrel with Kundera’s description of the history of the novel, it’s that he’s not inclusive enough. He does not discuss a single female novelist, even in passing. It’s as if no Western woman has ever tried writing a serious novel in 400 years. And, in his appreciation of non-European novelists like Fuentes, García Márquez and Chamoiseau, he colonizes them, as if culturally they gazed longingly toward their European mother- and fatherlands instead of their homelands. But then, he’s not writing literary criticism; he’s writing the secret history of the novels of Milan Kundera and teaching us how to read them.
Here are the top circulating items in the Mohawk Valley and Southern Adirondack Library System.
People weekly.
Cross by: Patterson, James, 1947-
Plum lovin by: Evanovich, Janet.
My sister’s keeper : a novel by: Picoult, Jodi, 1966-
Consumer reports.
Step on a crack by: Patterson, James, 1947-
Dear John by: Sparks, Nicholas.
The innocent man : murder and injustice in a small town by: Grisham, John.
Judge and jury by: Patterson, James, 1947-
Over the hedge [DVD] by: Johnson, Tim, 1961 Aug. 27-
The collectors by: Baldacci, David.
Good Housekeeping Country living.
Next : a novel by: Crichton, Michael, 1942-
Little Miss Sunshine [DVD]by: Dayton, Jonathan.
Yes, Times Union Editor Rex Smith is all of the above, and here he is reading “Cat in the Hat”
“I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence” by Amy Sedaris. Read by the author. Unabridged, 5 hours, 4 CDs. Hachette Audio. $29.98.
Early in this book about entertaining at home, Sedaris says, “Even though the word entertainment is commonly used today, to me it sounds charmingly old-fashioned, like courtship or back-alley abortion.” Those words give a pretty good sense that you are far from the world of Miss Manners.
Or are you? A lot Sedaris says is practical. She suggests that, when grocery shopping, you should buy things in boxes instead of bags, because boxes can be reused. Then again, one of her tips for a children’s party sounds like “Survivor”: drive them blindfolded about an hour away and see who could be the first to get back to the party.
Included in the book (and as a PDF) are her “self-award winning recipes.” Quirky if not always laugh-out-loud funny, “I Like You” is pleasantly twisted.
Sedaris, an accomplished performer, gives an assured reading.
Note: Can’t get enough of the Sedarises on audio? Hachette has also recently released “The Ultimate David Sedaris Box Set,” 20 CDs and 22 hours of Amy’s brother’s previously released audiobooks for $99.98.
