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Just a few bits and bobs today.
First the bits.
Did you catch the book cover gifs at Slate not long ago? Subtle and quite clever some of them.
Then at the Atlantic The Terror and Tedium of Living Like Thoreau. Only it strikes me that people tend to not get what living like Thoreau actually means. They think he was monk in the woods sitting around all day observing ants and the light reflecting on Walden Pond. But Thoreau frequently had visitors, especially Emerson. And he didn’t sit around all day. You can’t cultivate an acre of beans while sitting around. Thoreau was a very busy and purposeful fellow!
The thing that draws the author to the solitude and wilderness of Alaska is the desire to live life fully, purposefully and with awareness. She thinks of all sorts of big picture stuff that this means — traveling the world, being a writer — but discovers these big things require one live moment by moment in the small things:
So: How to live? Just filling a day, I learned in my little cabin, is a tricky but essential business. I could much sooner tell you the way I’d like to spend a life than the way I’d like to spend an hour. Lives are fun to play with: I’ll be a writer! An astronaut! A world traveler! It’s harder to make yourself into a noun in the span of a day. Days are about verbs. In the cabin, there were too many options, and none of them very exciting. Read, write, walk, run, split wood, bake bread, pick berries, call my mom, hunt the mosquitos that had snuck into the cabin? Most of what I did in that cabin was mundane. There aren’t many stories worth telling. There aren’t many moments I remember.
One does not need solitude in order to figure this out, but I suppose it helps and it makes a great story.
And now the bobs.
I just found out that Jeanette Winterson will be giving a lecture and reading at the University of Minnesota at the end of October. The event is free and open to the public. Bookman and I will be there even if we have to stand behind the back row. So excited!
Early in October Bookman and I will be going to the first ever NerdCon and today they posted the event schedule. It is a two day affair that focuses on storytelling. There are going to be all kinds of interesting panels to choose from like diversity, the moral responsibility of the storyteller, storytelling through song, truth in fiction, and more! Authors the likes of John Scalzi, Paolo Bacigalupi, Kimya Dawson, Patrick Rothfuss, Maggie Stiefvater and lots of others will be there. Fun! Of course I will take pictures and report back on the events.
It sounds like you’ve got an exciting October ahead! I feel rather jealous. Looking forward to hearing about both of those events!
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Audrey, I know! I don’t wish September to go by any faster but October is going to be great!
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I am not impressed with The Terror and Tedium of Living Like Thoreau…seems very pretentious! NerdCon sounds ubercool! Hope you guys have fun! Do blog about it!
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cirtnecce, I didn’t find the Thoreau article pretentious, but I thought it very earnest in the desire to find meaning and purpose in life. It comes across as a bit cliched in some respects and a little sad in others. I am very excited about NerdCon and hanging out with other book nerds!
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NerdCon sounds amazing – please do tell us all about it!
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Ana, it’s the first ever NerdCon and the organizers are hoping for a success so they can do it again next year. Fingers crossed!
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WHAAAAAT?!?!?!?!?! *dies of jealousy*
If you hadn’t figured it out, that was my response to what you said about Winterson. I can’t wait to hear about it!!!!!!!!!
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Nikki, I know! I found out about Winterson not long after reading your posts about her and immediately thought of you! It’s an endowed lecture and they get some big name authors to come. Sure to be a packed house!
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NerdCon sounds marvelous! Have a wonderful time and be sure to report back everything that happens!
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Jenny, hopefully it actually is as fun as it sounds like it will be! I’ll be taking notes and pictures! 🙂
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Lucky you–two fun literary events to look forward to. I am envious. I see Omahan Rainbow Rowell will be there–one of her books is our Omaha Reads selection which as I have on hand (and even signed) I hope to get to soon. I think most of life is tedium and I know all about that–definitely don’t need a book to help me understand, but I can sympathize with the author of the first book. 🙂
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Danielle, it’s fun to have two literary events on the calendar to look forward to. Heh, I think most of us don’t need any help figuring out that most of life is tedium! It is a lesson all too easily learned.
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