Hitch 22

I began reading Hitchen's memoir yesterday.  I am not an atheist, but at the same time, his eloquence, and over all genial tone.  It is hard to read the bitter irony laced with calm acceptance, that dying, yet still living, is like  waiting for the lawyers in the morning, and the doctor in the afternoon.

This Christmas morning, I hope you found several famous books under your tree.  If you have  nook, or kindle, rev it up, and search for your favorite books.

Who was Babe Ruth?

From our friend Joan Holub, her new book:  Who Was Babe Ruth?

http://us.mc1202.mail.yahoo.com/mc/welcome?.tm=1324654340#_pg=showMessage&sMid=0&&filterBy=&.rand=390793099&midIndex=0&mid=1_293146_ALVVimIAATl3TvRQAAIuuB1zs4o&f=1&fromId=store-news@amazon.com&m=1_293146_ALVVimIAATl3TvRQAAIuuB1zs4o,1_292062_ALRVimIAAVzOTvODewRRnGAnIhw,1_291034_ALdVimIAAFfLTvNSAAV90zkMzF8,1_289014_ALdVimIAAPo3TvKW6gL7mB5YodE,1_288047_ALZVimIAAUJ%2FTvIASgBMiCrppd8,1_286959_ALVVimIAAVHyTvH%2F9g4%2FA3EjDiY,&sort=date&order=down&startMid=0&hash=0944d47d819d8920df174c66799a9899&.jsrand=6431314

I know about two ball players,  The Babe, and Lou Gerhig.  I don't dislike the game, and I played softball, but short of the requisite Cub love and basic knowedge of games and collectibles, my only claim to faime was being in the 1989 Quake and watching Willie Mays stand in bewilderment as The World Series was aot to begin, and the Loma Prieta Quake hit.

Issues

We seem to have some problmes resdistributing the Quilters Newletter,which you may also find by googling the key words.  Quilt tell great stories, just think album quilts, Gee bend, crazy quilts.  By their nature, older quilts were made of clothese that people wore, and each held memories of some occasion, and of the women who made them.  Think How to Make an American Quilt. I'm not sure why the post would not load, twice, but you may also read it on Dr. E's Doll Museum blog at wwwdollmuseum.blogspot.com.  Merry Christmas!

Memoir; Writing your Life Story: Quilts tell Stories, too

Memoir; Writing your Life Story: Quilts tell Stories, too

Quilts tell Stories, too

One of my free-to-share  newsletters for those who express their memories

Barbara Pym and Books

The Books at Miss Pym's Novels

I am beginnig a dialog, I hope. I am beginning the list; please add to it via comments! Here are some of the books and author that appear in Pym's works. I talk about many more in my book, The Subversion of Romance in the Novels of Barbara Pym, and in various papers about her, but I would like to see what my readers think:

Crome Yellow

Jane Eyre

John Donne and The Metaphysical Poets

All of Jane Austen

The Wings of the Dove and Henry James himself is "Channeled!"

Naked Lunch

Cookbooks [Name the Specifics!]

Merry Christmas!

Barbara Pym Conference Alert

Greetings from the Barbara Pym Society!

I am very happy to announce that registration for the Society's 14th annual North American Conference, focusing on Jane and Prudence,  is now open.  We will return to Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, on 16-18 March 2012.  The complete program and other details are available on our web site.  Scheduled talks include

• Yvonne Cocking, BPS Archivist: Jane and Prudence: A Novel of Contrasts
• Charlotte Silver: Barbara Pym and the Comedy of Manners
• Linda McDougall:  Jane and Prudence and Barbara and Hazel: The Women Friends of Barbara Pym and How They Influenced Her Work
• Perri Klass:  “You Never Know When You May Need Whiskey”: Barbara Pym on Drinks and Drinking
• Isabel Stanley:  Not Quite a Trollope Wife: Jane Cleveland’s Literary Expectations of Herself as a Clergy Wife

Yvonne promises to tell us what Barbara's journals in the Bodleian reveal about "The M&S Affair", Linda will show video clips from her recent interviews with Barbara's close friend, biographer, and literary executor Hazel Holt, and Perri's talk on Saturday afternoon will be followed by a drinks party where you can sample some of the beverages mentioned in the novels.
There are only a few changes since last year.  We will return to the Church of the Advent in Boston for a lavish buffet dinner and hymn sing on Friday night, the conference will be held at Harvard's Barker Center, and we will conclude with lunch at Grafton Street Pub as before, but we have a new venue for our Saturday evening meal.  John Harvard's Brew House in Harvard Square offers pub grub and a wide array of beers and ales (none of which taste like washing-up water), and we will have our own dining room.  We have set the member's registration fee -- which includes lunch on Saturday and a light breakfast both days -- at $60, $5 more than last year but the same as in 2101, but the cost of the Saturday night meal has dropped by $10.  We work hard to keep costs as low as possible while still providing a top-quality event with comfortable venues and great food.
The conference room holds a maximum of 95 people, and the dining room on Saturday night a maximum of 50, so early registration is recommended to avoid possible disappointment.   Registration closes on Sunday March 11.
Now that the conference details are all sorted, I hope to make Pym ceramics available for purchase online in the next few days.  I'll send another e-mail as soon as that happens -- there should be time to get your Pym mugs and teabag holders in time for Christmas.

Finally, you will notice some changes on the web site.  The exciting new graphic on the entry page is the work of BPS member Lloyd Miller, a professional illustrator and graphic designer whose clients include The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Esquire, Fortune --and now the Barbara Pym Society.  We are very grateful for his generous contribution, and there will be more to come as we approach the Pym centenary in 2013.

Best wishes,

Tom Sopko, North American Organizer
The Barbara Pym Society

Moby Duck

 

See, below.  This is a wonderful memoir of an English teachers' journey, and is also a book for those who love to live green, collect, care about working conditions, etc.  I have started it on Kindle and am fascinated.  Sometimes, writing a memoir of a trip or personal journal is far better than writing an entire biography.  I loved his chronicle of how people found the types of ducks and  beach toys and saved them all over the world.  It is the Hunting/Gathering instinct Marilyn Gelfman Karp describes in In Flagrante Collecto coming to live.  I give it five stars.

Book Description

 

 

Publication Date: March 3, 2011

Selected by The New York Times Book Review as a Notable Book of the Year
A revelatory tale of science, adventure, and modern myth.

When the writer Donovan Hohn heard of the mysterious loss of thousands of bath toys at sea, he figured he would interview a few oceanographers, talk to a few beachcombers, and read up on Arctic science and geography. But questions can be like ocean currents: wade in too far, and they carry you away. Hohn's accidental odyssey pulls him into the secretive world of shipping conglomerates, the daring work of Arctic researchers, the lunatic risks of maverick sailors, and the shadowy world of Chinese toy factories.