Curious French Cat

Oh kitten, what secrets are you guarding? 


{Image via The Paris Review}

Nora Ephron

I was terribly saddened to hear of Nora Ephron's passing this week (especially considering I had no idea at all that she was ill). She was such a talent, full of infinite spark and wit and humor, all of which were evident in her hit films like When Harry Met Sally (my vote for *the* best romantic comedy ever made, period) and Sleepless in Seattle, as well as in her numerous writings and essays (such mini essays would often creep into her films, too, as can be seen in this Starbuck scene in You've Got Mail). I remember listening to her director's commentary to You've Got Mail awhile back and feeling like I was listening to a super cool, smart, wise-cracking friend waxing lyrical on anything from good books to the eternal charm that is Tom Hanks. I could hear her talk all day long, she was that interesting a person (I can't imagine how fabulous it would have been to have actually known her). In a somewhat weird but not-at-all stalkerish way, I feel like I've lost a good friend this week. She leaves a gaping hole on the film and literary landscape.


{Image via here}

RIP Maurice Sendak

If you're like me, you were dismayed to learn the news of children's book author Maurice Sendak's death earlier this month. He's best known for Where the Wild Things Are, of course, but the book I remember most relishing as a child was his highly enjoyable Chicken Soup with Rice. Sendak wrote and illustrated this book and - bonus! - it was even recorded as a song by the ever-so-cool Carole King (see below). Warning: it will be on repeat in your head all day long. Pierre, about a boy with terrible manners who gets eaten by a lion, is also one to read (I've given this to little ones in my life and I can attest that it was an absolute hit with them).

I've been celebrating Sendak's life by listening to some of his interviews with NPR's Terry Gross (the most recent of which is a real tearjerker, oh man!). I suggest you follow that up quickly with his interview with Stephen Colbert (I promise you'll laugh). Sendak is at once cantankerous and delightful; his candor is so refreshing and real and you can't help but fall in love with him. His warm rapport with Stephen is wonderful to watch. I highly recommend. 


Rest in peace, Maurice. You will be greatly missed.


{Images via here and here}

Word

"The only way not to think about money is to have a great deal of it." -Edith Wharton (The House of Mirth, 1905)


Oh so true, Edith. Oh so true (says the girl who's been thinking a lot about money).


{Image via PBS}

Literary Jack-O'-Lanterns

My favorite Halloween ritual just might be the reading of chilling gothic tales and ghost stories. So I was pretty delighted when I came across these incredible jack-o'-lanterns inspired by great works of literature. The enormous amount of skill, precision, and imagination needed to execute such beautifully detailed designs boggles the mind. I heart these all so much, almost as much as the stories themselves. Can you spot the specific tales of each one?

{Images via Flavorwire}

Wild Thing

One of the many things I love about autumn is the ritual of dressing up on Halloween. While I personally refrain from the dressing up part, I can't help but fall for the adorable children's costumes that pop up around this time of year; I love the joy and sense of playfulness that a holiday like Halloween engenders. And if I had a kid, I would absolutely put him or her in this Max costume, as inspired by the beloved children's classic, Where the Wild Things Are. Though the cost is a wee prohibitive, I'd rationalize the purchase by letting the kid wear it year-round. I mean, how could a bookish mother resist?

Look at that tail! Incidentally, before stumbling upon the children's costume, I had read an interview with Wild Things author Maurice Sendak that has made the blog rounds in recent days due to Sendak's, uh, colorful opinions about some famous people. The webosphere likes to point out how crochety Sendak comes across in the interview, but I find his candor rather refreshing. So he's human after all! Who would have thought? A fascinating interview that is well worth the read.


{Images from katesy's Etsy, via A Cup of Jo}

Celebrating Roald Dahl

So this is where the magic happened. Where beloved author Roald Dahl imagined his beguiling stories for children and grownups alike (last Tuesday marked the 95th anniversary of his birth). I'd quite like to while away an afternoon in a holy place like this.

Oh, and how amazing is this cutout illustration from artist Jayme McGowan? James and the Giant Peach was my first and favorite of Dahl's books. You can view more of her brilliant artwork at Roadside Projects.


{Images via The New Yorker and Roadside Projects}

Quote of the Day

"You're told time and again to write about what you know, and what do you know better than your own secrets?" – Raymond Carver

{Image from Abby Kullman's Webstagram via Pinterest}

Gone Swimmin'

If these pictures of literary greats Fitzgerald, Woolf, and Hemingway serve any purpose at all, it is as a reminder that it's ok to step outside every once in awhile and enjoy a little sun. Which admittedly is something this pale-skinned bookworm should indulge in a bit more often. But never, never without high protection sunscreen. Of course.

{Photos via Flavorwire}

Kate and Jane

If she didn't already have enough going for her--marrying her prince, traveling around the world with said prince, having access to only the finest designer clothes--it's now official: Kate Middleton is the luckiest woman in the world. This is what solidifies it for me: it's being reported that she is distantly related to the late great novelist (and one of my personal favorites) Jane Austen. Swoon. Can she be my new best friend?

{Photo via here}

The Owls Are Gathering: Pottermore

If you're a Potterfile like I am, then you've noticed that the internet has been abuzz recently with news of an "announcement" soon to be made from author J.K. Rowling. A new website, Pottermore, features a pair of owls bookending the cryptic message: "Coming Soon", along with what appears to be the author's signature. There is even a Youtube page counting down the days, hours, minutes, and seconds until said announcement will be made.

We don't know much about the content of this news; all that has been revealed is that it's not in reference to a new book, but will be "something equally exciting", according to MuggleNet. My guess? Pottermore will be a sort of encyclopedia of information about the Harry Potter series, detailing the complete backstory of all the important characters who appear in the book, and maybe even some of the minor ones, as well. Rowling has intimated before that she would release something like this, so perhaps now is the time for her to do so. Either way, I think all Potterfiles will be in for a serious treat! Is my excitement transparent?

{Images via Pottermore and J.K. Rowlin's YouTube page}

It may as well be spring

Today marks the first day of spring. Though you wouldn't know it by what's happening weather-wise here in southern California. It's been nothing but oppressive grey skies and torrential rain all day long, with the promise of thunderstorms to top it all off. But I suppose this is all par for the course. As 17th Century Japanese poet Matsuo Basho sagely knows:

Spring rain

leaking through the roof

dripping from the wasps' nest.

-Matsuo Basho, "Spring Rain"

{Image via here}

Magical Stamps

Reason #9994258 why it's cooler in the UK: the Royal Mail has unveiled a set of stamps inspired by magical literary characters from beloved stories such as Harry Potter and the tales of King Arthur. How rad (wonderfully creepy, is more like it, actually) would it be to receive a letter with Voldemort's visage staring back at you?

{Images via the here}

Happy Birthday, Jane Austen

Today marks the 235th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth, and to celebrate, Google UK has featured this nifty doodle on their homepage. How cool is that? The scene above looks an awful lot like this one. Happy 235th Birthday, Jane Austen! You don't look a day over 234, my dear.

A New Jane Eyre

They've done it again. Yet another film version of the gothic classic (and one of my personal favorites) Jane Eyre is in the works. We're told that Director Cary Fukunaga's adaptation will focus more on the gothic elements to the story; just exactly how he plans to achieve that (and how his version will differ from the many adaptations before him) remains to be seen when the film is released in March 2011. I am a major fan of the 2006 BBC/Masterpiece Theatre version with Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens (talk about hotness--the chemistry between them is palpable) and in my eyes, no other can knock it off its pedestal. Still, I can't deny that this new movie poster with the lovely Mia Wasikowska has definitely peaked my interest. I find it at once haunting and heartbreakingly beautiful.

Countless film and television adaptations of this classic 19th century novel, as well as a multitude of literary re-tellings, prequels, and spinoffs (one of the most famous of which is my beloved Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, which in turn was made into a film by Alfred Hitchock--I heart both) have been made, and there has even been a graphic novel. Clearly, the story has resonated with generations of people, all itching to re-imagine this gothic tale of love and passion, of identity and survival, in their own unique way. I say, bring it on, Focus Features.

{Image via here}

Spring is on her way

DEAR March, come in!
How glad I am!

I looked for you before.

Put down your hat—

You must have walked—

How out of breath you are!

Dear March, how are you?

And the rest?

Did you leave Nature well?

Oh, March, come right upstairs with me,

I have so much to tell!

I got your letter, and the bird’s;

The maples never knew

That you were coming,—I declare,

How red their faces grew!

But, March, forgive me—

And all those hills

You left for me to hue;

There was no purple suitable,

You took it all with you.

Who knocks? That April!

Lock the door!

I will not be pursued!

He stayed away a year, to call

When I am occupied.

But trifles look so trivial

As soon as you have come,

That blame is just as dear as praise

And praise as mere as blame.

--Emily Dickinson (1830–86)

The Painted Muse

I just finished a book by W. Somerset Maugham called The Painted Veil, and adorning the cover of my copy is this exquisite painting you see to the right (I'll leave my actual review of the book for a future post, but here's a little hint: I loved it). The distant mountains and expansive sky suggest a sort of loneliness, as if the subject were caught in a land utterly strange and foreign to her (which is, fittingly, a theme in Maugham's book). The painting is by British artist Meredith Frampton and hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London, one of my favorite places on the planet. According to the National Portrait Gallery's website, the sitter of the painting is Winifred Radford, a singer and teacher of singing. Seemingly, she was a London girl-about-town in the 1920-50's because there are loads of photographs of her from that era on the gallery's website. It looks as though she had quite the glamorous life (I just found her obituary from The Independent; apparently, she was also an accomplished musical performer).

I love studying older paintings and photos and contemplating the lives of the subjects. I imagine and hope Winifred's life was as lovely as these images would suggest. I really like this photo of her posing next to her famous portrait. She was still such a beauty, even in her later years.


{Images via the National Portrait Gallery}

Bright Star

I saw Bright Star over the weekend and was stunned. Stunned by the exquisite, nuanced performances, stunned that a film could ever rival the beauty and grace and heart ache of John Keats' poetry. The entire film is pregnant with symbolism, every act or gesture contains layers upon layers of meaning. The more I reflect upon it after seeing it, the more in love with it I become. Ben Whishaw's recitation of "Ode to a Nightingale" as the closing credits roll kills me. You must listen to it here. Thank you, Jane Campion, for reawakening my schoolgirl crush on John Keats. I'm off to contemplate some grecian urns now.

(More images from the film here)

Rainy day LA

Torrential rain has hit Southern California this week, and yet my commute to and from work has remained blissfully civilized in spite of it all (LA drivers are known for not handling rain very well). Kudos to the California Highway Patrol and my fellow drivers for maintaining calm and order on the roads! Although I can't say I'm especially fond of driving in the rain, I absolutely adore listening to it. Lately I want nothing more than to listen to the sound of it drumming against my window as I snuggle up warm and safe inside, book in hand. Preferably a Gothic or mystery novel that somewhat reflects the somber, gray weather outside.

I think the following poem by 17th century Japanese poet Matsuo Basho captures the current state of things brilliantly.

First Winter Rain by Matsuo Basho

First winter rain--

even the monkey

seems to want a raincoat.

The darkest evening of the year

Happy Winter Solstice! In celebration, I've been chanting the following Robert Frost poem over and over in my head today. Right now in California, the sun is dipping below the horizon and casting the most magnificent rosy glow across the sky, and the briskness of evening is settling in. May you have candles aplenty to light you on this dark, dark night.

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep


{Image via Flickr}