Happy after-Thanksgiving! Looking for something to read? Why not choose from the recently minted National Book Award winners. Jesmyn Ward took home the ficion award for Sing, Unburied, Sing (Scribner/Simon & Schuster). This is the second time Ward’s writing has been recognzied by the National Book Foundation; her Salvage the Bones won in 2011. Sing, Unburied, Sing explores the life if a young boy raised by his grandparents in Mississippi and how he navigates the gritty path into adulthood. Read about all the winners at the Fine Books Blog.
New Biography on Bernard Rosenthal Makes the Case for Close Reading
In January, bookseller Bernard Rosenthal passed away in Oakland, California, at the age of 96. Rosenthal was born in Munich in 1920 into a family of booksellers known throughout the industry as the “Rosenthal Dynasty.” Part of the massive exodus of Jewish antiquarian booksellers from Germany during the Nazi regime–the “gentle invaders” as Rosenthal called them–he ended up in New York, where he set up shop in the 1950s. Rosenthal eventually moved to Berkeley, where he focused on medieval manuscripts and early printed books. (For more on Rosenthal and fellow emigré booksellers of the early 20th century, read Nick Basbanes’ chapter “Hunters and Gatherers” in Patience & Fortitude.)
Rosenthal’s catalogs became the stuff of legend in the antiquarian world, in which he described easily overlooked details and craftsmanship that only came to light after careful examination of the item at hand. “We have committed the cardinal sin of the bookseller: we have READ most of these books…which has, however, brought some surprising results,” Rosenthal wrote in one of his early catalogs.
Fellow bookseller Ian Jackson recently wrote a biography on Rosenthal–read all about it at the Fine Books Blog.
Pint-Sized Bookstore Takes Up Residence in LA
Though already home to a sizable number of independent, brick-and-mortar bookshops, Los Angeles recently welcomed a new addition to the family: OOF Bookstore, which opened its doors in the up-and-coming neighborhood of Cypress Park on July 2. Read all about this pint-size place on the Fine Books Blog.
Trump’s Summer Reading
Thomas Jefferson said, “I cannot live without books.” Find out what Trump has to say about them, @finebooks blog: Trump’s Summer Reading http://bit.ly/2fxIWD2 @POTUS @realDonaldTrump @vineyardgazette @DavidMcCullogh #reading
Moby Dick Marathon Reading Session Aboard a Whaleship Celebrates Melville’s Birthday
From noon July 31 through noon August 1, the Mystic Seaport Maritime Museum in Mystic, CT, held its 32nd annual Moby Dick reading marathon. Visitors were invited aboard the 19th century whaleship (and now teaching vessel) Charles W. Morgan and read Herman Melville‘s (1819-1891) nautical adventure. Read all about it here, on the Fine Books Blog.
Gangster Week!
From a never-before seen ambrotype of Jesse James to Al Capone’s diamond-encrusted watch, it’s Gangster Week over on the Fine Books Blog–come check it out!
Streaming Books, Literally
Book overflow? Spanish artist Alicia Martin could use them. Read all about book sculptures on the Fine Books Blog.
Beatrix Potter Symposium at Connecticut College on June 12
The Beatrix Potter Society is hosting a three-day symposium at Connecticut College next month, the first of its kind on U.S. soil in five years. Read all about it on the Fine Books Blog
A Book-Lover’s Guide to St. Patrick’s Day – The Fine Books Blog
Today is St. Patrick’s Day, meaning Irish pubs from Boston to Dublin will be busier than usual and just about everyone will be sporting some sort of good luck charm. However, if the idea of day-drinking and parade-hopping turns you green, there’s still a few ways to let your inner Irish spirit free, even from the comfort of your own library. Check out the bibliophile’s guide to St. Patrick’s Day – The Fine Books Blog
Fairy Tales Transformed
The Singing Bones, by Shaun Tan; Arthur A. Levine, $24.00, 192 pages, ages 14 and up.
Australian artist Shaun Tan has made his name creating surreal, slightly peculiar works of art with the ultimate goal of encouraging dialogue and social engagement–Tan worked on the science-fiction animated film WALL-E, for example–and in The Singing Bones he tackles the Grimm brothers’ literary canon with similar verve. Seventy-five pieces of original art are accompanied by a portion of text from obscure and beloved tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Inspired by Inuit and pre-Columbian stone carvings, Tan’s compositions are molded of earthy, unpretentious materials–papier-mâché and air-drying clay adorned with acrylic paint and shoe polish–resulting in art that looks like it has weathered the passage of time.
Many of the selections may not be well known to contemporary readers, at least not in the forms referenced here: in “Mother Trudy” an overly inquisitive young girl is turned into a block of wood and cast upon the hearth by a witch, and Tan’s sculpture depicts a demonic-looking old creature nestled comfortably in front of a recently lit blaze. A wicked stepmother decapitates her stepson in “The Juniper Tree” and the attending artwork is a disturbingly complex rendering of multiple moments that unfold in the narrative. Snow White and her long-forgotten sister Red Rose gleefully traipse on a magical bear in another excerpt. Though summarized in an annotated index, only the basic sketch of each story is provided, encouraging readers to explore the fairy tales separately.
Reigning master of macabre Neil Gaiman and renowned fairy-tale expert Jack Zipes provide thoughtful introductions and commentary on the enduring importance of the Grimm fairy tales for our generation.
The Singing Bones is a powerful examination of the range of human emotion, and how much greater that range can be for children, if adults will allow it. 
Literary Features Syndicate 