the very best days are always library days.

Especially when there’s time to just wander around and look. Discover. Explore.

Libraries were a refuge for me as a child. And now as an adult, when I make time to visit the library, I feel untouchable. Sage. Sound.

There is a book by Steven Gould called ‘Jumper’ wherein the protagonist unexpectedly develops the ability to instantaneously transport his physical location.

When learning his power, he often panics, and when he does, he transports to his local library as an involuntary reaction.

It’s his safe place.

It is mine.

So, today was a library day. As the temperature drifted again to 110° (43° c), I found I had to get out of the house, and the library called.

Setting up at a wide, low table, I doodled in my sketchbook for half an hour before getting browsing the stacks.

I pull books that are special to me and flip through their leaves looking for wrinkled pages.

Ultimately, I decide today is an art day and select a pile of art-related tomes and one narrative that deals with familial relationships and the wilderness.

This was an interesting premise. A college professor inadvertently brings back a very invasive species. Lots of sex implied. The writing is very juvenile as is the art. Not recommended. ⭐️

I LOVE an artists studio. Cool ones are great, but REAL spaces are even better. With junk piled everywhere. I love the idea of a model reclined perfect light while I capture a volumetric likeness. Red velvet couch, gorgeous morning light. This book celebrates some truly attractive spaces in which to create. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

If you love to read and love books, you've seen Chip Kidd's cover work. He's an amazing designer and has worked on hundreds of of high profile book covers. His thinking is very outside the box, which this collection showcases. I own volume 2, so it was terrific to find vol 1 to sift through. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The exquisite corpse is an art concept wherein several artist contributed to a single drawing, not having seen the work the other artist did. It's a LOT of fun and produces some very interesting and weird results. This book is a riff on that. I like it. Thought, if I'm honest, too often the artists over-produced on their pieces. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Okay. Of the three graphic novelsI picked up, this one really captivated me. I think French comics artists are the best in the world and Lucas Harari simply knocks it out of the park. The story is weird adn mysterious. There's some sex, but it's not the focus of the story (oddly, all three graphic novels i picked up had sex as part of the story. I don't recall this being a thing when I was reading GN's 20 years ago).

The books protagonist is drawn to the Swiss alps to a strange bath. He uncovers a mystery, meets a beautiful woman and finally meets his destiny. The art style is brutal and stark and the storytelling is terse and direct. It doesn't have much (if any) bloat and is very satisfying.

Personally, it went deeper after having spent most of a week in the Alps last winter and riding the train from Italy up to St Moritz. Switzerland is such a fascinating place. I could relate to some of the experiences that Pierre was having.

Recommend ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Skip it. I really want to like Charles Burns. He is very avant garde in his story telling, but too often he just loses me. This is overly verbose, the characters all look visibly same (death for a story relying so heavily on visuals) and the story itself is bizarre. From what I can gather, a bunch of high school kids can't stop screwing around and start to give each other an alien STD that produces weird body-horror side effects (like one guy has a second smaller mouth that talks while he is sleeping), a girl has a tail that is stimulated during coitus, and other s get more disturbing rashes, webs, and the like. I found the concept to be too much and didn't enjoy (or finish) reading it. Pass. -⭐️

The one novel I picked up. Since I've only read the first chapter, I'll just give you Goodread's synopsis:

'Echo Canyon is a disappearing pocket of wilderness outside of Bend, Oregon, and the site of conflicting memories for Justin Caves and his father, Paul. It’s now slated for redevelopment as a golfing resort. When Paul suggests one last hunting trip, Justin accepts, hoping to get things right with his father this time, and agrees to bring his son, Graham, along.

As the weekend unfolds, Justin is pushed to the limit by the reckless taunting of his father, the physical demands of the terrain, and the menacing evidence of the hovering presence of bear. All the while, he remembers the promise he made to his skeptical wife: to keep their son safe.'

I really enjoy stories set in the outdoors and long to live in the woods like Dick Proenneke. This may turn out to be more drama than adventure, but the the prologue has the protagonist's father insist that he shoot a dying bear trapped in barbed wire. That + the setting has me curious.

Though I wouldn't mind if he fell in love again along the way.

Ephemera

So, that was library day.

There was a strange occurrence while i read when I head a middle-aged woman speaking very gruffly to someone else. I thought it was a child. She was saying things about the magazines.

'Hmmm!, she can get a magazine, that'll keep her busy for a while.' The black woman in her 50's said to herself. She sounded angry. 'I don't know WHY i have to pick one out for her.'

Then shouting 'Come over here and tele me what magazines you like!'

I assumed she was watching a child. Maybe a step-child, or she'd just had a frustrating hour with them.

Before she chose any magazines, she stomped away speaking to the other party about needing to make her own choices.

A few moments later, the woman reappeared followed by a very elderly woman bent nearly double. The first woman then proceeded to very insistently point out a dozen or so tabloids, handing them to the elderly lady.

She looked very sweet in her white cotton gown and slippers. She had a pink wrap tied around her head. It must have been very painful to move around the way she did, bent in half.

The old lady climbed into a chair and mumbled something to the younger woman before the angry lady marched off, insisting the older woman stay and read all the material.

As soon as she was out of sight. The elderly woman slipped out of her chair and went to pick up a copy of Vogue.

It made me smile to think that after all of her years, when her glory was behind her, that she still found high fashion to be something that made her eyes twinkle.

:–)

We left before the angry woman came back.

Ephemera 002

The homeless population who use the library as a hiding place from the ehat seemed to be somehow tempered. While visiting previously, every table and chair was filled with rough looking individuals who needed a bath and a shave. I wonder what changed.

I like it.

I wish this library had some style. I mean. I love ALL libraries. But I love some libraries more than others. Portugal, German, France, Spain, Connecticut, San Francisco, Maine, New York... AMAZING libraries in addition to housing the collective knowledge of mankind. Is it too much to ask to abandon the horrid office-cubicle look of so many municipal libraries? Where did the flourish go? When did we lose the desire to sit and bask in amazing spaces.

One day, I will build a library. It will awe and inspire, give you chills, and make you want sit and be wrapped in the arms of a million writers whose voices speak across a million years.

Will you read me in my own library? I hope you do.

I will name the library 'The Little Prince'.

Shearing

I got a haircut. My request was:

'a medium-length layered flow. Keep the length on top, remove bulk internally, lightly taper around the ears and neckline, and give me long face-framing layers that sweep back. No short fade and no aggressive thinning shears.'

She did okay. She was new and I'm pleased. It wasn't the same experience I had in Madrid. But then again, I was in friggin' Dust Meridian. Though it did occur to me that i would most definitely love to fly to Madrid for a week just for the food, museums and hairstylists.

I'm still long and flowy, but now with more volume and fewer ratty edges.

oH! It's drifted to noon here where the sidewalk ends. It's time for a shower and to clad myself in Sunday's finest to worship my God. Wish you could join me. I think you'd enjoy the experience and we could roll our collective eyes at the oft-missed pronunciations. Today, we'll be learning about how to be loyal even when you get a bad deal.

Loyalty or death.

No time for lunch! Fortunately. There's a big ol' banana and waffle calling my name!

Excelsior, dear reader!

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#books #library #essay

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