Photo of the Day: Read me a story

June 19, 2013, Symphony Space

While Neil Gaiman signed frantically, 

way up high in the balcony, 

he sweetly read out loud to her, 

while she tiredly rested her head,

and they patiently waited their turn.

Quote of the Day: love whatever’s in there

One day I hope there's a man I can write about as eloquently as Amanda Palmer writes about her beloved, author Neil Gaiman.

From one of her recent blog posts; grammar, punctuation and caps her own. Only minor edits [ ] from me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

the only thing i want to know completely is the man underneath the books…

and that is a life-long journey that i never hope to finish.

[...]

and i don’t want to know him…not totally.

i want to be surprised.
i want to be in awe.

i want to give him my heart.

and i want to take it away sometimes and give it back again….to see what he’ll do.

if it keeps being like this, it’s worth it.

i love him so much…and in such a strange way that’s always so hard to explain.

and because i do, i hope that you can read what i read, and see what i see…

this:

the twilight place where the man and the writer smash into each other and for a second there’s a wrinkle, a schism, where you can jam a stick into the works of the blender and see the whole, floating components of a soul so fragile, so human, and so vulnerable that you must love whatever’s in there, unconditionally, because you have no other option.

~ Amanda Palmer about Neil Gaiman, about The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

http://amandapalmer.net/blog/20130618/

Quote(s) of the Day

When you share an office with people, there are time when you inevitably overhear conversations that aren't work-related. For the most part, you pretend to ignore things, and maintain the "illusion of privacy" -- that tacit understanding that you can't/won't/haven't heard anything.

Sometimes, though, you just can't help but "tune" back into conversations when snatches of dialogue come floating across the room and over the cubicle wall.

Take this gem, courtesy of my boss:

" ... the delicious ambiguities that life sometimes offers ..."

Or my absolute favorite:

"Can’t you suck it up and be unhappy like most couples?"

WHAT?!

Oh, yes. He really did say that (to one of his friends), and oh, yes, I really did start laughing, very very loudly.

I think that's the perfect saying for a series of greeting cards and/or to be needle pointed onto a pillow. I can even envision the marketing campaign, targeted at therapists, marriage counselors, divorce attorneys, and custody arbiters, not to mention as a series of anniversary or snarky cards.

Now, if only I could draw ...

Books: The Perfect Relationship

I love my daily dose of book talk courtesy of Shelf Awareness. Not only do I get offers of Advance Readers Copies (ARCs), the dates of all the new releases, and fun vocab words, now I can get relationship advice.

This morning this little ditty was included as part of the e-mail. I think Kim really has said what many of us readers are thinking:

Books Rather Than Men: A More Perfect Relationship

"Relationships with books actually have some pretty compelling advantages over relationships with men. With books, it's always your choice if the liaison ends prematurely. You don't have to worry about the awkwardness of trying to avoid your discarded book should you bump into it in the grocery store. You can tell it, "It's not you, it's me" or even "You know, it actually is you" without hurting its feelings. It will also never insist on an exclusive relationship, and no one will think ill of you if you love more than one. You can take one to bed with you the very first night you bring it home without your mother blinking an eye."

--Kim Kovacs on the BookBrowse blog.

Plus you can share books. Sharing men ... not such a good idea.