Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Superior Person's Tuesday!

Ullage, n. The amount by which a liquid falls short of filling its container -- whether because of evaporation, leakage, or any other reason. Commonly term amongst wine makers, but also used when discussing fuel levels in the field of rocket science.



"Well, old chap, since you were kind enough to bring along a bottle of truly excellent wine, I think I owe it to you to make sure you get all the ullage."

Each Tuesday, we’ll offer up a Superior Word for the edification of our Superior Readers, via the volumes of the inimitable Peter Bowler. You can purchase all or any of the four Superior Person’s Books of Words from the Godine website. Ullage appears in the First.

Friday, October 25, 2013

The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody - New Reprint!


Alexander the Great

When it was first published in 1950, The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody spent four months on The New York Times best-seller list, and Edward R. Murrow devoted more than two-thirds of one of his nightly CBS programs to a reading from Cuppy's historical sketches, calling it "the history book of the year." The book eventually went through eighteen hardcover printings and ten foreign editions, proof of its impeccable accuracy and deadly, imperishable humor.

Cleopatra
We won’t claim that the book offers everything you need to know about the historical figures it discusses, ranging from Attila the Hun to Queen Elizabeth to John Smith. No, what Cuppy does is offer up the BEST facts of their lives, if not the most relevant ones. You’ll learn that Cleopatra loved pranking Antony, or that Lady Godiva liked to run around naked as a young girl: you’ll learn just enough that you’ll want to learn more. It’s impossibly to make it through one of his stories without laughing out loud, but most importantly, they’ll leave you curious for the rest of the story. We’d advise this book for everyone, young and old, to inspire a little learning in one’s life.

*Be sure not to skip the footnotes! Cuppy’s sharpest wit is saved for these oft forgotten lines. He injects his own version of what he think is happening, blurring the line between hyperbolic humor and truth. It’s as though Cuppy himself is reading the story with you. The footnotes are his dry, interjected comments that will have you in tears of laughter. 



Read an Excerpt from the book below!

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

Alexander III of Macedonia was born in 356 B.C., on the sixth day of the month of Lous.1 He is known as Alexander the Great because he killed more people of more different kinds than any other man of his time.2 He did this in order to impress Greek culture upon them. Alexander was not strictly a Greek and he was not cultured, but that was his story, and who am I to deny it?3

Alexander's father was Philip II of Macedonia. Philip was a man of broad vision. He drank a good deal and had eight wives. He subdued the Greeks after they had knocked themselves out in the Peloponnesian War and appointed himself Captain General so that he could uphold the ideals of Hellas. The main ideal of Hellas was to get rid of Philip, but he didn't count that one. He was assassinated in 336 B.C. by a friend of his wife Olympias.4

Olympias, the mother of Alexander, was slightly abnormal. She was an Epirote. She kept so many sacred snakes in her bedroom that Philip was afraid to go home after his drinking bouts.5 She told Alexander that his real father was Zeus Ammon, or Amon, a Graeco-Egyptian god in the form of a snake. Alexander made much of this and would sit up all night boasting about it.6 He once executed thirteen Macedonians for saying that he was not the son of a serpent. . . .

FOOTNOTES
1 That is what the Macedonians called the month of Hecatombaeon, Plutarch says, and he ought to know.
2 Professor F. A. Wright, in his Alexander the Great, goes so far as to call him "the greatest man that the human race has as yet produced."
3 He spoke what was known as Attic Greek.
4 After Philip's death, Olympias had one of his wives boiled alive. Shows what she thought of her.
5 Having real snakes at home does an alcoholic no good. It just complicates matters.
6 He got so that he believed it himself.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Superior Person's Tuesday!

Quidnunc, n. A gossip; a stickybeak; one who is forever anxious to know about everything that is going on. Literally like "what now, what now?"

"Pssst! Did you hear what quidnunc means?"
Fun fact: the term was for a time more commonly taken to mean a politician, rather than a chatty Cathy. Seems like a modern quidnunc could be a Twitter-refresh addict, hm?

Each Tuesday, we’ll offer up a Superior Word for the edification of our Superior Readers, via the volumes of the inimitable Peter Bowler. You can purchase all or any of the four Superior Person’s Books of Words from the Godine website. Quidnunc appears in the First.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Boston Book Festival Recap 10/19

by Katlyn Stokarski

There could not have been a more beautiful, perfect fall day for this year's Boston Book Festival. Clear skies and warm sunshine made exploring the many booths set up around Copley square all the more enjoyable. Free swag made this deal even sweeter: browsing with cider donut and free pumpkin latte in hand, I felt even more like finding a good book to curl up with.

And where better to find that book than at the David R. Godine booth? We were conveniently located near Boston Public Library and a delicious Roxy's Grilled Cheese cart (off topic, but I recommend their "Green Muenster").  Here's my sum-up of the day's events:

The Godine staff attending the event woke up bright and early to set up our table--simply trying to find a way to display the vast variety of our books on one little table was a 45-minute challenge in itself (especially difficult considering I didn't find those pick-me-up free lattes til after we set up!). It wasn't even 10am when the earliest browsers came knocking, getting an early bird scoop on what all the booths had to offer.

Colorful Black Sparrow titles ready to be unpacked.
Many perennial visitors to our booth expressed to us their happiness to see David R. Godine still operating independently and continuing to produce quality books. We were happy and proud to show them all of our new releases as well as suggest old favorites. Newcomers and browsers got free catalogs and signed up for our mailing list. Everyone was delighted to find that we had special one-day only Boston Book Fest promotion prices--20% off!!

Children's books were definitely Saturday's hot items. I listened as kids recognized the Catie Copley series, and parents explained about "the old days, before cell phones" as their kids flipped through Peter Ackerman & Max Dalton's The Lonely Phonebooth. Rush hour hit at midday and we soon found ourselves sold out of Susan Fillion's Pizza in Pienza.  Local celebrity and dog ambassador herself Catie Copley stopped by the booth, much to the delight of her awaiting fans. For the occasion she had on her signature red collar and an extra-shiny coat! She posed with us for a few pics:

Catie at the booth with a "paw-o-graphed" copy of her book.
Catie and caretaker Joe: aren't they a dapper looking pair?
And a great day was had by all. A huge thank-you to our supporters and everyone who visited us at the Boston Book Festival this year, and an even bigger thank-you to all those who bought a book! As an intern, it was great to see the personal impact this little company continues to make on the big world of publishing. See you there next year!


Thursday, October 17, 2013

Upcoming Stig Dagerman Events


Stig Dagerman (1923–1954) is regarded as the most talented young writer of the Swedish post-war generation. By the 1940s, his fiction, plays, and journalism had catapulted him to the forefront of Swedish letters, with critics comparing him to William Faulkner, Franz Kafka, and Albert Camus. His suicide at the age of thirty-one was a national tragedy. These upcoming events celebrate the author’s life, with guest appearances ranging from his daughter, the translator, and many other figures influential in Swedish literature.

Don’t forget to purchase your copy of Sleet before you go! This selection, containing a number of new translations of Dagerman's stories never before published in English, is unified by the theme of the loss of innocence. Often narrated from a child's perspective, the stories give voice to childhood's tender state of receptiveness and joy tinged with longing and loneliness.
Acclaimed Swedish author Stig Dagerman (1923 - 1954)



22 October 2013: A Swedish Literary Icon: The Writings of Stig Dagerman
Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016
6:30-8:30pm; free; wine & cheese reception to follow


Novelist Siri Hustvedt, translator Steven Hartman, Professor of English at Mid-Sweden University, and PEN Translation Committee Chair Susan Bernofsky read and discuss Stig Dagerman's writings with moderator Ann Kjellberg, editor of Little Star.

The author's daughter, Lo Dagerman, will introduce a short documentary, Our Need for Consolation, based on Dagerman's classic essay and featuring actor Stellan Skarsgård. 

Co-presented by the Consulate General of Sweden in New York and PEN American Center, in association with the American Scandinavian Society of New York. 

More information at: https://www.facebook.com/events/512104298872407/



25 October 2013:  A celebration of the work of Swedish author Stig Dagerman
Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, on the University at Albany's downtown campus 
7:30 p.m.


The celebration will feature readings and a discussion with Lo Dagerman, his daughter with Swedish movie star Anita Björk, and Steven Hartman, UAlbany Ph.D. graduate and translator of Dagerman's work into English. Short films based on Dagerman's stories, directed by the author's grandson, Dan Levy Dagerman, will also be screened. Free and open to the public, the event is sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute.

Translator Steven Hartman, UAlbany Ph.D. graduate and former graduate assistant at the Writers Institute, has worked frequently with Lo Dagerman, and has translated and published a number of his stories in American literary magazines since the early 1990s. These translations have been collected in the new volume, Sleet (2013). Hartman, who lives and works in Sweden, is a founding member and chair of the Nordic Network for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies (NIES) at the Royal Institute of Technology, Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment, in Stockholm, and professor of English at Linnaeus University in Kalmar.

The celebration will also feature two films by Dagerman's grandson, American filmmaker Dan Levy Dagerman, who has adapted two stories in translation by Steven Hartman: Our Need for Consolation (19 min., 2012), and The Games of Night (20 min., 2008). 

More information can be found here

30 October 2013: Word Power: The Writings of Swedish Literary Icon Stig Dagerman
House of Sweden, 2900 K Street NW, Washington D.C. 20007
6:30pm; free


Award-winning novelist Alice McDermott, best-selling non-fiction writer Mark Kurlansky, and translator Steven Hartman, Professor of English Literature at Mid-Sweden University, read and discuss Stig Dagerman's writings with moderator Inger Arenander, of Swedish Public Radio.

The author's daughter, Lo Dagerman, will introduce a short documentary, Our Need for Consolation, based on Dagerman's classic essay and featuring actor Stellan Skarsgård.

Hosted by the Embassy of Sweden in cooperation with The Writer's Center.

More information at: http://www.culturecapital.com/event.php?id=26881

More information on Sleet can be found on our website and on our blog
 


Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Superior Person's Tuesday!

Latescent a. Becoming obscure or hidden away, as old-world courtesy in a teenager.



She can't be bothered
Each Tuesday, we’ll offer up a Superior Word for the edification of our Superior Readers, via the volumes of the inimitable Peter Bowler. You can purchase all or any of the four Superior Person’s Books of Words from the Godine website. Latescent appears in the Third.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Superior Person's Tuesday!

Kinephantom, n. A technical name for a phenomenon that we have all seen and have all been puzzled by.

There are four perfect circles in this picture

Each Tuesday, we’ll offer up a Superior Word for the edification of our Superior Readers, via the volumes of the inimitable Peter Bowler. You can purchase all or any of the four Superior Person’s Books of Words from the Godine website. Kinephantom appears in the Third.

We Art Boston Event Update



When: Sunday, October 20th
Where: Rose Kennedy Greenway, Boston
Need more details? Check out the We Art Boston site

Back in August we shared that Godine author Joe McKendry (author of Beneath the Streets of Boston) was inspired to create a fundraising event in an effort to give back to give back to the community after the Boston Marathon bombings in April. My how time flies--this October 20th event is right around the corner!

Called We Art Boston, McKendry's event features original artwork and books personally donated from over 40 authors and illustrators nationwide to be auctioned, with all proceeds going to benefit the Boston Children's Hospital.

In addition to picture-perfect art, be sure to check out the family fun events as well. Activities include watercoloring, bookmaking, book signings & musical performances. There's even stuffed animal portraits! Bring your favorite stuffed animal to have his or her likeness drawn by a professional artist.

This image from Jared Williams' Catie Copley will be for sale at the We Art Boston auction

Godine illustrators Barbara McClintock (Animal Fables from Aesop), Glenna Lang (The Children's Hour), and Jared Williams (Catie Copley) have all generously donated original art for the online auction, which begins October 10th.

So come one, come all! Support Boston Children's Hospital by coming out and visiting  these talented artists and supporting your community while you have fun with your family. Surely a good time will be had by all.


Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Superior Person's Tuesday!

Juvenescent, a. Becoming youthful or young

The Fountain of Youth is the only true way to have a juvenescent experience

Each Tuesday, we’ll offer up a Superior Word for the edification of our Superior Readers, via the volumes of the inimitable Peter Bowler. You can purchase all or any of the four Superior Person’s Books of Words from the Godine website. Juvenescent appears in the Second.