Nice Package

I'm not usually one for bells and whistles- I'm a simple kind of girl. But I do like books that come in unique packaging. Don't get me wrong; a quality book is a quality book, whether it's published with a simple cover or elaborately in a package. 

Part of the appeal to me is that it's a way the publishing industry is able to do something that cannot translate effectively into eReader format. It's a way to keep print alive and relevant. And there's something admirable about the whole notion of going "above and beyond;" extending the creativity graphically and physically is unnecessary but appreciated. 

Take anything by Visual Editions- I own Tree of Codes, Kapow, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman and Composition No. 1, all four of their books. There is no way in hell you could read these on a Kindle, as the actual layout and structure of the books themselves are as critical as the words.

[Composition No. 1]

[Kapow]

[Source for all 3: Visual Editions]

Even my edition of Skippy Dies and Richard Russo's latest, Interventions, come with unique design that wouldn't be possible with an eReader. 

I've written abut Chris Ware's Building Stories before- his "graphic novel in a box." While I haven't read it yet, I have looked through it, and it's pretty damn awesome. 

[source: my own]

What can I say? I'm a girl who appreciates a nice package. 

Interventions

[source]

I get excited when I hear of new ways authors and publishing companies (like Visual Editions) are working to make print more innovative, especially in a time where everyone is busy reading stupid Fifty Shades of Gray on their effing Kindles. Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Russo (have we ever talked about how much I love Empire Falls?) and his daughter, illustrator Kate Russo, have teamed up to create a neatly packaged box called Interventions, which includes a set of four pieces of writing and an accompanying print. Russo says that the stories, including one unpublished novella, focus on human obsession and "marry" print and writing.

Check out a short video interview of the two from WLBZ Bangor (so random):

 

Graphic Novels: New to Me

Reading a graphic novel is something I’ve been intending on doing for a few years, but haven’t until this week in preparation for seeing Craig Thompson at the Skirball Center last night (more on that in another post).  It’s been a bit of a process.

Previous Inclinations

When I first heard about this whole “graphic novel” concept a few years ago (I know they’ve been around longer, they had just never been on my horizon) I initially associated them with comic books, which I’ve never gotten in to (except Archie for like a month  back in like third grade).  Incorrectly, I also believed that they were directed more towards men. I was always concerned with the story, thinking they were basically just "picture books." Once my husband started buying them I figured that I perhaps was wrong, given that he's just as judgmental about books as I am. Around the same time they began entering our home they seemed to start popping into the mainstream, especially after the success of The Watchman. Eventually my negative attitude morphed more into uncertainty and perhaps some sort of literary fear. I don’t naturally pick up on visual intricacies and have always preferred words to pictures. Graphic novels were definitely outside of my comfort zone.

Biting the Bullet

After signing up to attend Thompson’s lecture at the Skirball with my husband, who is a huge fan, I decided that this would be a great time to bite the bullet and read Habibi, which was the focus on the presentation. My initial reaction was that shock- I read the first fifty pages in barely a half an hour. But, on the other hand, I didn’t feel quite comfortable with the process. I frequently felt like I was missing something, given the fact that I was focusing more on the words and less on the pictures, when are equally important.

I will say that I was incredibly impressed with the drawings- this is definitely no Archie and Jughead! I was probably most impressed with the patterns, which he said he created with the help of per-made patterns, computers, and a light boxing technique.

Final Thoughts

I really, truly appreciated the experience of reading a graphic novel, even more so that I had the opportunity to hear the creator talk the same day in which I finished the book. My past assumptions as far as the simplicity, masculinity, and lighthearted nature were absolutely incorrect. Habibi was thematically and symbolically complex, extremely feminine, and quite serious.

Despite my newfound admiration, I do still prefer “regular” novels, though.  I would like to one day read Thompson’s other graphic novel, Blankets, as well as Allison Bechdel’s Fun Home (I hear her new one is great too).  

I do think that graphic novels aren’t simple a fad; they’re appearing on the syllabi of prestigious universities (Go Bruins!) and constantly finding spots on “best of” lists.

And now I can cross something off my New Year's Resolutions list- the 2011 one. Oops. 

Put it in Your Box

There are so many things that people can put into boxes:


chocolates

[source]

babies

penises

and books.

Visual Editions is at it again with their newest release- a book in a box. Titled Composition No. 1, Marc Saporta's project is truly unique. The box is filled with sheets, each with a "self-contained narration," which can be read in any order. There's also an ap for the iPad, but that seems a little eReader-ish to me, so that's all I say there. The price does seem a little steep- $40 dollars, plus I think another $15-20 in shipping (it's coming from England), but considering the materials and execution I have no problem paying the price. Even if my husband didn't agree to go halvesies with me I'd still get it (how lucky am I to have a husband to split books with? We also demonstrated our obvious coolness while talking about linguistics at dinner last night). There will definitely be a full review once we get it.

I can't say enough good things about Visual Editions and the innovative work they're doing. They've recognized that the book industry is evolving and in order for the actual physicality of the book to survive they have to think of new ways to capture their changing clientele. I'm ignoring the ap- did I say that already? Their site is really interesting and it seems like they have some potentially awesome upcoming projects.

And no, they didn't pay me for the ass-kissing.

Interesting, but Flawed, Concept

I ran across an interesting concept the other day called the Literature Map, a German (I think) project based on the Gnod program for artificial intelligence. Basically, what you do is type an author's name in and they create a map relating them to other authors. The closer they are to someone else, the more similar they are (supposedly). For example, when you type in the author Nick Hornby, he is close to John Irving and David Sedaris, yet quite far away from Jane Austen. I can live with that. The flawed part of this is the fact that he is just as far away from Austen as he is from Jane Fielding, the author of Bridget Jone's Diary. Both Hornby and Fielding are humorous, modern, British authors- they should be closer.

While the system is definitely not perfect, it is fun to play around with. Here are a few (blurry) screen shots from my searches (first one is the search screen with Jeffrey Eugenides, the second is his map, and the third is an interestingly skewed map of Shakespeare):

I didn't go through the trouble to do any cropping- it's a good thing I didn't have any porn open... Anyway, if you have a few minutes check it out- they also have engines for movies and music (the music is even more flawed; you type in three bands that you like and it gives you a suggestion. I entered Metallica, Alice in Chains, and Rage Against the Machine and it suggested I listen to Kylie Minogue).

Jackpot/The Anti-eReader

A few weeks ago I went to the Los Angeles Book Festival at the other school, and went in halfsies on The Tree of Codes by Jonathan Safran Foer with my husband. For those unfamiliar with this literary prodigy, he wrote Everything is Illuminated, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and his nonfiction supposedly diet-changing book Eating Animals (I won't read it for fear I'll eliminate one of my dietary staples, chicken). He supposedly received an unprecedented $500,000 advance for his first novel, has worked on several smaller projects, spoken at various political events, and married fellow author Nicole Krauss- basically, he's an up-and-coming literary God (and he is fully aware of his status, from what I have heard... no one said deities are modest). I'm a fan, in case you couldn't tell. Anyway, being such a fan and feeling a little ashamed of not knowing he had a new book out, I agreed to pay the hefty (for a paperback) $40 price after noticing that it was pretty hard to get on Amazon (thank you iPhone ap). Then, we opened it up and saw this:

[source]

Foer, working with the English company Visual Editions (I'll devote a post to them someday soon- they're just that awesome), took the novel The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz, and created a new story by cutting out words. To be honest, I'm still not quite sure what either book is about, and I don't really care. The innovation and craftsmanship behind this book is amazing and I'm still a little apprehensive about actually reading it, just because I don't want it to tear.

I would have loved this book no matter what, but it gets even better ("But wait, there's more!" Yes, I know I'm starting to sound like an infomercial). It turns out our novel is a first edition and is already pretty hard to get a hold of (these aren't exactly books that can be mass-produced). Currently, this particular book is going for about $300 on ebay, not that we'd sell it. And after I start stalking Foer and convince him to sign it, I'm sure the value will increase.

In this day and age it seems that the future of the book is unfortunately in the ereader. Foer's project is quite the opposite- there's no way that something like this could ever successfully carry over into a digital format. Visual Editions focuses on allowing the industry to evolve without changing the ability to be truly tactile. So, in a month where Oprah's everywhere and Amazon's releasing depressing data on the stupid Kindle, I'll take this as a glimmer of hope.