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Friday, March 08, 2013

Morning snow, with books--


Time for some Sendakian morning cake! And in the wake-up news, I'm glad to see the lead-off book review in Arsenio Orteza's "Notable Books: four notable works of fiction" from worldmag.com: A Death at the White Camellia Orphanage. I'm especially glad to see this at the moment because in my scurryings-about to help the adventurous Thaliad, I am always in danger of forgetting my other two 2012 books. It's not easy to juggle three books in the air at once without letting one drop.

Addition. Since the link has altered and I can't figure out where the entire piece has moved, here's a clip:
Pip Tattnal, the memorable protagonist in this Depression-era, Southern gothic coming-of-age story, flees from an impoverished orphanage a year after his younger brother’s murder there. Plagued with migraines and autistic tendencies, and gifted with an incredible memory and love of language and history, Pip is an oddity among the hobos he meets crisscrossing the country by train. He encounters cruelty and odd strangers who are kind—but he always searches for something he can’t name and only occasionally senses. Youmans’ evocative writing and colorful characters make this novel a rare pleasure that beautifully depicts the power of love.
Elsewhere in the pleased-with-itself Cooperstown, some woefully disappointed children and teens are snug in school, despite the fact that every other school round about is closed for the snowsnowsnow that descended all night and is still racing down, falling fine and fast. But neither rain nor snow stops the buses when a stalwart Canadian is your new superintendent...

The birds are in the rose canes; the feeder is magically empty once again. And those passers-by who don't have their heads down wake up to that intricate tracery of twig and bud (spring pent-up in those, I hope) and branch outlined in snow against a sky of faintly bluish milk. I am oh-so-ready for a season with flowers and no more of the winter viruses that have plagued us this year, but I will probably never get over the Southerner's romance with falling snow, and fresh snow on the boughs and shrubs.

To see samples from the three 2012 books, hop to Scribd. For more information, see tabs above...

7 comments:

  1. I don't know how you handle the publication of three books in one year! A novel, a book of poetry, and an epic poem (a most novel-like epic poem at that).
    That takes some juggling, and focus times three!
    Pretty amazing..

    As for the snow - it's on the way out here. Weak attempts at settling. Spring is around the corner!

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  2. I don't know how you handle the publication of three books in one year! A novel, a book of poetry, and an epic poem (a most novel-like epic poem at that).
    That takes some juggling, and focus times three!
    Pretty amazing..

    As for the snow - it's on the way out here. Weak attempts at settling. Spring is around the corner!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Paul,

    I can't even handle a blog post! The darn thing corrupted a few hours after I made it... Image vanished, then multiplied like the brooms of the sorceror's apprentice. Mysteries of the net once again.

    Answer: not handling! Or not as well as I would like. I depend on the handmaiden, Lady Word of Mouth.

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  4. I'd say you are doing an admirable job with the juggling, Marly!

    Sendakian morning cake - how lovely! Even as a non-southerner I do love the look of snow. Your school superintendent must have been missing it.

    Here we have some snow white frost fast melting with the rising sun!

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  5. Thank you, Marja-Leena...

    I'm not impressed with my abilities in the juggling line, but I'm glad it looks okay from a distance. (Vancouver to Cooperstown is rathe ra great distance, XD.) One must wear many masks, it seems.

    I wonder if you have been out in the frost with your camera...

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  6. Oh the frost was light and already leaving as I breakfasted. But I did go out later with the camera - could not resist the sun, you see - hope to post something soon if they turned out...

    How about you - any photos of the Sendakian snow?

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  7. Not a one!

    Did take some wonderful pictures last year at the end of winter in a big snowfall. Shall have to break them out. If I can find them, of course.

    ReplyDelete

Alas, I must once again remind large numbers of Chinese salesmen and other worldwide peddlers that if they fall into the Gulf of Spam, they will be eaten by roaming Balrogs. The rest of you, lovers of grace, poetry, and horses (nod to Yeats--you do not have to be fond of horses), feel free to leave fascinating missives and curious arguments.