Plague Tales

The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio follows ten young people–seven women and three men–who take shelter from the Black Plague outside of medieval Florence. Each day, over the course of ten days, members of the group must entertain the others with a tale, for a total of one hundred stories throughout their quarantine. Boccaccio (1313–1375) uses this rural escape as a framing device for tragic, comedic, even erotic stories from a widely diverse sources. Through long chains of translations, Boccaccio was exposed to ancient Indian and Middle Eastern narratives, which he added to or altered for his own purposes. Some tales borrow from Italian oral tradition or other local sources, including a French one shared with Geoffrey Chaucer (which became the “The Reeve’s Tale” in The Canterbury Tales). Even if you didn’t read the book during your university days, now is the perfect time for The Decameron.

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Yoga for Book Lovers

 

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Mercilessly Miscellaneous Monday

h/t to Touchwood Design

If you ever have seen the classic 50s horror film The Blob, you may recognize the historic Colonial Theater in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. They’ve been posting witty updates on their marquee all week.

Cartoonist Chris Ware’s heartbreaking cover this week.

Missing bookstores such as the beautiful Ludwig Bookshop in Leipzig Hauptbanhof.

Readers of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel Dune will instantly grok this clever graphic designed for our crazy times.

Whenever I am asked to name my favorite films, Pulp Fiction always makes the top five. So of course I love this piece from artist Max Dalton.

 

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a loaf of bread, a glass of wine

Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám
The First and Fourth Renderings in English Verse by Edward Fitzgerald
With Illustrations by Willy Pogány
ILLUSTRATED WITH 12 TIPPED-IN COLOR PLATES BY WILLY POGANY AND ADDITIONAL GOLD CHROMOLITHOGRAPHS
Publisher: Printed in Great Britain by R.&. R. Clark for Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New York
1930

 

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dark as it is

Thanks

W.S. Merwin 1927-2019

Listen
with the night falling we are saying thank you
we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings
we are running out of the glass rooms
with our mouths full of food to look at the sky
and say thank you
we are standing by the water thanking it
standing by the windows looking out
in our directions

back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging
after funerals we are saying thank you
after the news of the dead
whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you

over telephones we are saying thank you
in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators
remembering wars and the police at the door
and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you
in the banks we are saying thank you
in the faces of the officials and the rich
and of all who will never change
we go on saying thank you thank you

with the animals dying around us
our lost feelings we are saying thank you
with the forests falling faster than the minutes
of our lives we are saying thank you
with the words going out like cells of a brain
with the cities growing over us
we are saying thank you faster and faster
with nobody listening we are saying thank you
we are saying thank you and waving
dark though it is

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TGI Frida

Faces of Frida is one of the most extensive curations on the iconic Mexican artist ever assembled and it’s available through the Google Arts and Culture app. Comprised of 800 Frida Kahlo paintings, artifacts, high-resolution images and features, it offers a deep dive into her life, art and legacy. To create the collection, Google teamed up with a network of 33 museums around the world, including Museo Frida Kahlothe Smithsonianthe V&A and Centre Pompidou. The result is an amazing tour that is free for everyone to enjoy.

The tour includes editorial content from art historians and experts act as virtual guides, exploring themes like the hidden meanings behind Kahlo’s work, her relationship with politics and insights into her private life. Personal letters, possessions, clothing, journals and photographs are available to browse, alongside her most celebrated works and some never-before-seen pieces from private collections, including the View of New York.

Online visitors can also enjoy five Street View tours of places associated with Kahlo, including Casa Azul (or Blue House) where she spent most of her life, as well as an enhanced Street View experience that tours the displays at the Frida Kahlo Museum. And there’s no need to crane your neck to examine her work in intricate detail. A magnifying glass tool will help visitors zoom in on features with 360-degree views.  Access Faces of Frida here.

 

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High on Books

Europe’s highest bookstore opened last summer on Mount Blanc at an altitude of 3,466 meters. The Feltrinelli bookshop is situated inside the Punta Helbronner station on the third floor of the Skyway Monte Biancodi Funivie Montebianco .

The stunning shop has a limited selection of titles for a total of 1726 books, divided into thematic content: from the high-altitude bestsellers to illustrated mountain and photographic books, from those dedicated to Val d’Aosta itineraries to mountain fiction, from regional food and wine books to children’s books.

“Skyway Monte Bianco is not just a cable car, it is an idea – explains Federica Bieller, President of Funivie Monte Bianco Spa -. That of bringing man closer to the mountains and the sky, that of broadening horizons and overcoming borders. Thanks to the opening of la Feltrinelli 3466 our technological cable car enhances even more the rise making it a cultural trip. The mountain culture to be valued, the words of the authors who loved and challenged it, the Mont Blanc as a scenario to fantasize “.

 

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La Peste : April Fools

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Films as Books

I really love this ongoing project by illustrator and designer Matt Stevens. His reimagined movies as books concept is simply brilliant.

 

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Mondays are still miscellaneous

What a brilliant idea to promote local libraries.

This is a tribute that the city of Vigo in Spain wanted to pay Jules Verne (on the occasion of the centenary of his death) for having mentioned this city in his book entitled “20.000 leagues under the sea”.

Canto X 1982 Tom Phillips 

 

Somehow missed this graphic when I posted about bookplates.

Word on the street NYC

I do all of my blogging from this chair now that we’re on lockdown.

I hope that they remember to feed the bookstore cat.

Citylights Bookstore in San Francisco.

 

 

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