Mrs.5000 is Famous!
This week marked the publication of the long-awaited (in certain circles) 500 Handmade Books, from Lark Books. It's reasonably priced, it offers a vast number of lovely and amazing things to look at, and it is a great introduction to the current creative ferment in the book arts.
And, perhaps more to the point, it features:
- two (2) pieces by the lovely, erudite, and frighteningly talented Mrs.5000!
- two (2) pieces by the (if I may) lovely, erudite, and frighteningly talented L&TM5K blog vice-dork, Fingerstothebone!
- one (1) series (Pamela Paulrud's Book Stones), a piece from which I happen to own!
If you were to purchase 500 Handmade Books, or to obtain it from your local library, you would be feasting your eyes on such work as Mrs.5000's The Winter Palace.
Note, of course, that both Mrs.5000 and Fingertothebone go by their alternative "street" names in the bookarts world.
Speaking of Books
The Reading List project never sleeps, of course. With My Name is Red crossed off the list, I decided to mix things up by selecting two (2) new titles to work on more or less simultaneously. Using random numbers offered up by L&TM5K blog Dork G and others, the two titles selected were Dominion, a treatise on human-animal relations nominated by Rex Parker in the non-fiction category, and Beowulf. 
Feeling that Beowulf is in its true essence a text that one studies in school (it was probably written specifically with that role in mind by prescient medieval pedants) I tried to enlist an English-lit type from among the readership to ASSIGN me Beowulf -- to set deadlines, make me answer specific essay questions, and so on -- but she declined on the basis that she had never herself read the poem. Idealistic of her, I thought. If any of you other English-lit types want to leap into the breach, I'm sure you will find me an attentive and motivated student, more than capable of adequately paraphrasing all that I glean from the Wiki. Otherwise, I'll assign myself the damn thing.
Note: while searching for this Beowulf image, I stumbled onto the small but enthusiastic realm of Beowulf porn. The famous Rule 34, which states that "if you can think of it, there is already internet porn about it," is truly as close as we can come to an axiom of human behavior.
The Looming Content Crisis
Yesterday, while you were out celebrating national independence, I killed off the Forgotten Lands project. Plus, we're running out of Classical Wednesdays. Guess I better get to watching some Great Movies...
14 comments:
Yes, you may.
Perhaps you forgot a few lands?
Congratulations to Mrs. 5000 and fingerstothebone.
If it's not against your rules to listen to a recorded book for the reading list project, I recommend listening to Heaney reading the text of his translation - it feels like listening to the best traditional storyteller ever.
Congrats to Mrs. 5000.
Beowulf is one I never encountered as an undergrad (other than hearing a prof recite the opening lines...in Old English, but when I read it while studying for the GRE lit subject test a while back, I was surprised at what fun it was. If you can get over the odd names, you might be able to make it through the work in a light afternoon. Then, you can have the added pleasure of pointing out the problems with the recent movie.
Wow, a stray parenthesis. Sorry about that. Don't mean to be scattering them about teh internets.
I've been lucky enough to see a few of Mrs. 5000's aforementioned books, and they truly are great- interesting, tactile, creative, and maybe ewen a little thought provoking. Congrats Femme Five Thousand for this and all the future acolades you are sure to get (although you might be dead for the really good ones).
Congrats to Mrs. 5K and Fingerstothebone! I am going to the library to take a look and I may have to own that. The photo of her book is fascinating.
Oh Beowulf. I know a couple of people who have taught it. I will email them and see if they can send me some lesson plans or handouts or a syllabus concerning it. I will send anything along they give me. Who knows if they will check their emails in the summer. I hope they do!
@fingers: I thought I could.
@karma: Nope. I'm pretty sure I've got them all.
@Fool: Sweet diggity dog, great suggestion. I've got the Heaney recording on reserve. Thanks for the idea.
@in medias: You give me hope for the journey.
@chuck: Is that some kind of threat?
@Boo: Remember, the book has only been out for a week, so it probably won't be in libraries quite yet.
Regarding Beowulf -- I don't so much need the guidance so much as I was trying to, you know, rile up the crowd...
Wow! Congrats to Mrs.5K =)
She's kind of a big deal. =P
@reb: Kind of!
all right, mrs.5k & fingerstothebone! congratulations!
chuckdaddy: i love "Femme Five Thousand." hee!
m5k: oh, i love those touchstones! what flavour did you get?
Thanks y'all for the kind words. . .
hurray! A big congrats to the lady bones and the lovely Ms.5K . . . sounds like it's time to pull on the white cotton gloves and go look at some books! Group show anytime soon?
Hmm, the lady bones, I like the sound of that.
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