Dawn Reader

Dawn Reader
from Open Door Coffee Co.; Hudson, OH; Oct. 26, 2016

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Poe Is Here! And some other unrelated thoughts ...

1. My first e-book for Kindle is now available: Edgar Allan Poe: A Biography.  As I wrote here earlier, I've given up trying to find traditional publishers for some of these books--so I'm going to upload them to Amazon/Kindle, and at least they'll be out of the house and not leering at me with disgust every time I look over at the shelf in my study.EDGAR ALLAN POE: A BIOGRAPHY  This book took me all over the place--to Baltimore (where he lived and died), to Richmond (where he was born--where he grew up with the Allans), to Charlottesville (where he went for a while to UVa), to Fordham (where his final home stands in Poe Park), to Philadelphia (where a building he lived in is maintained by the National Park Service)--and probably a bunch of other places I've forgotten.

Next up--my biography of Mary Shelley, a book that consumed about ten years of my life.

John, I don't care for you, either!
2. Between 1940-1942, John O'Hara wrote a weekly entertainment column ("Entertainment Week")  for Newsweek.  I've photocopied all of the pieces (that took time!) and have slowly been reading my way through them.  I cracked up today when I read what he said about Shakespeare: On 2 December 1940, he wrote about a NY production of Twelfth Night.  "And what a bore that is!" he wrote.  And, a bit later he said, "I am always bored with Shakespeare plays.  What is more, I don't even admit that they're good to read. (That is, all the way through.)"

A week later--apparently having received some, uh, contrary mail--he added a little addendum to his column in praise of Ethel Barrymore: "I meant every word I said last week about Shakespeare, boredom, and me."

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