Has beloved Strand gone green?

I heard a disturbing news, a news made more disturbing by the fact that I was not able to check the validity of this news until last Sunday. Shee and Esther Unni informed me a couple of weeks ago that there is a GREEN banner at The Strand bookstore, replacing its signature RED and WHITE motif. I expressed my sincere hope that it was just for the holidays, that since they already had lots of red, they perhaps wanted to add some green temporarily to mark the festive season. Shee pointed out, however, that the banner looked pretty permanent.

Well, this Sunday, on my way to buy my 2010 Moleskine planner, I had a chance to check out the said banner. Walking down Broadway, I was able to see that there was indeed a dancing Strand banner in green. Oh but still hoping that this was only for the holidays, I overcame my intense dislike for talking to people and asked a person working there about it…

I was able to confirm with her, as far as she knew, that the banner is temporary, JUST FOR THE HOLIDAY SEASON!

Whew!

Not that I hate green. In fact, it’s my favorite color. And I’ll admit, it was a nice banner, one that was definitely adding to the holiday spirit. The banner, however, did trigger my fear that the bookstore is changing. I don’t know why I hate every change made to the store, even the good ones like the addition of air conditioning. I guess I just hate the idea of changing what I’ve grown comfortable with… man, is this what it’s like to grow old?

Anyway, I think change is (sometimes) necessary, but I hope the bookstore keeps alternations to minimum to make grumpy New Yorkers like me happy. Besides, their red and white candy cane colors are festive enough for any season.

Happy holidays and may everyone encounter many lovely bookstores they don’t want to see changed in 2010.

Jane Austen.

I am falling quite in love with Jane Austen. Although I've only read 2 of her books so far (Pride and Prejudice as a teenager and hated it; Northanger Abbey recently and loved it), I am quite positive she is one of my favorite authors. Her sentences are not elaborate and experimental like Virginia Woolf's, but I think she's got the psychology down acutely and playfully. I am already sad for my future self who has already read all of her books.

Right now, I am working through Sense and Sensibility. The characters’ Myers-Briggs personality traits are caricatured in hilarious ways. Austen makes the characters seem so human: they are terribly annoying but also so terribly vulnerable. I suppose that’s why I find myself rooting for the characters, all of them, to find true love and, ultimately, contentment. What's great about an Austen novel is I know they will have a happily-ever-after if they just hold on patiently for the last chapter.

Readings (Un)done.

It’s December. And although there is a whole lot of marketing to distract us, it’s really hard to not to ignore, which we’ve actually been able to do quite successfully all year, the things we haven’t accomplished for this year. Case in point: the books I have planned to read this year yet have not gnaw on me.

Some of the books I haven’t finished do not upset me terribly. I am perfectly okay with myself, for example, for not finishing Home Comforts: The Art & Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson. I can become more domestic next year. Besides, the only person I know who has read this book through is Esther.

Oh but Jane Austen! She bring me back to June of this year, the month I’ve even named the Jane Austen Month. At the end of Spring, I, so full of promise for the year, purchased an elaborate and beautiful volume containing every Jane Austen novel. Half a year later, I now have to admit to having gotten more use out of the book adjusting the fan height in my room than turning its pages.

Feeling rather dejected and upset at myself, I started reading the Austen book again last month. The beauty and the clarity of her writing makes me feel even worse: How could I have deprived myself only because it hurts my wrist to hold up this mammoth book!

Well, I am not sure if I can start 2010 having read all of Austen novels, but hope to make a dent in the anthology this month as I move on to feel guilty about other previously forgotten but now remembered old year’s resolutions.

An Addition to my Library

Some lovely additions to the bookshelf with great deals from Strand:

The Faith of a Wrter: Life, Craft, Art by Joyce Carol Oates.

Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski

Such beautiful spines! Too bad they won’t go together on the bookshelf.

I already read the Joyce Carol Oates book. It was very exciting reading her for the first time. The Faith of a Writer is a great gem that gave an insight into the mind of a prolific writer. I can’t wait to read her fiction.

I am currently reading Fieldwork. Unfortunately, since that is currently my “carry on public transportation to avoid people” book, it is no longer in the pristine condition depicted in the photo. It is a very clever book though. It’s not simply an ethnographic novel, but also a travelogue and a mystery. About 1/3 way through and reading about a thoroughly fascinating missionary family.

my new lappy is here…

Finally, my brand new and very red lappy is here. There is no more excuse to not update this blog… although playing around with this lappy is cutting into my reading time.

Anyway, here is a test entry from windows live writer.

Reading: A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)

Alas, it is impossible to knit and read simultaneously. The only solace: knitting is a hobby that opens up a new genre of pretty pattern books. But still, I am a busy young lady and I never get to both read and knit to my heart's desire in one day. I tried to solve this problem by seeking out novels with a lot of knitting in the story. But I ended up on a pretty dismal path along the poorly-written-chick-lit lane. I am now mostly recovered from that experiment and finally ready to try again. This time I am starting "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens. Here I go into the world of knitting and revolution!

Subway Reading

I loved this last Sunday's article in The New York Times about reading on the train. The article and the accompanying photographs say that the anonymity and the alone-ness (no cell phone and internet connection) offered by the underbelly of our city allows the riders to read all sorts of things for their personal goals. I was disappointed though at missing the perfect opportunity to check off an item on my bucket list, that is to be photographed by the NYT as being a New Yorker doing a very New Yorker thing.

Had I been interviewed, here's what I would've told the fabulous reporter:

"I read on the train because I hate people and I don't want anyone talking to me. Once I sat on a bus without a book and I had to talk the entire 20 minutes of the trip talking to a nosy old man..." No no, that makes me sound misanthropic and bitchy. Start over...

"Well, I read on the train so that I wouldn't look so lonely and awkward as I tend to feel in a crowd." Argh! Stop, that makes you sound nothing short of pathatic. start over...

"What I've always wanted to read on the train is the NYT, but I never do because I still haven't mastered the origami of turning the unwieldy subway map-sized papers into neat quarter sheets. In fact, because I want to easily escape to my book while making the whole thing look effortless, I carry a small book to public transit: of the four books I read simultaneously, one of them is designated as "a book for the MTA cars." It's really only the size that matters; the content and the cover haven't gone into consideration. I did hesitate a bit when I was reading "How to stop worrying and start living" because I didn't want the world to know how neurotic I was. But I convinced myself not to be so narcissistic. No one cares what I am reading because everybody is busy with their own pages and ruminations. But now that I know there's a reporter and other interested people out there scoping out the underground reading scene, I'll now be leaving my selfhelp books on my bed stand." Alright, you're still weird and neurotic, but trying to avoid that would make the comment disingenuous... so this is fine.

Even though I didn't get to be in it, I am clipping the article. It's hard to spot other readers these days, not simply because I am avoiding making eye contact, but because everyone seems to get on and stare at their screens. And no, only a very few are kindles. So I'm glad to find out there are others who still read the newspaper, the novel, the school assignment, the self help book, the Bible and the New Yorker trying to get lost in the world of words together with strangers. Happy autumn reading above and underground!