Date: Monday, April 7, 2008
Time: Performance at 8:00 p.m.
Location: Weegee’s Lounge 3659 W. Armitage Ave.
Participant: Mark Grapey

by Edward Hemingway, illustrator

The Chicago Public Library’s One Book, One Chicago continues to celebrate its newest selection, The Long Goodbye. Veteran Chicago actor Mark Grapey will be reading a scene from Chandler’s Noir classic. I for one am excited to see the library venturing out to neighborhood spots. Weegee’s, named after photojournalist Arthur Fellig a.k.a. “Weegee,” seems perfectly suited to the genre. Fellig is best known for his black-and-white street-life photography, which captured everything from crime scenes to car wrecks during the 40s and 50s.

I’m sure Chandler would agree. Be sure to have a gin gimlet in honor of the man.

From The Long Goodbye:
“I like bars just after they open for the evening. When the air inside is still cool and clean and everything is shiny and the barkeep is giving himself that last look in the mirror to see if his tie is straight and his hair is smooth. I like the neat bottles on the bar back and the lovely shining glasses and the anticipation. I like to watch the man mix the first one of the evening and put it down on a crisp mat and put the little folded napkin beside it. I like to taste it slowly. The first quiet drink of the evening in a quiet bar — that’s wonderful.”

I agreed with him.

“Alcohol is like love,” he said. “The first kiss is magic, the second is intimate, the third is routine. After that you take the girl’s clothes off.”

The Chicago Public Library announced their new One Book, One Chicago selection. Raymond Chandler’s 1953 noir classic, The Long Goodbye. As usual there’s a bunch of events lined up to get everyone in on the discussion. There will be a Raymond Chandler night at Weegee’s Lounge in Humboldt Park. Peter Sagal of Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me fame will moderate a panel discussion on Chandler’s influence. There’ll also be movies. The Music Box’s Matinee Series will feature films written by Chandler or adapted from his books, including The Big Sleep starring Bogart and Bacall. And, the One Book experience would not be complete without giving folks an opportunity to get together and talk about the book. There’ll be groups meeting across the city, both at libraries and other locales. These are just some of the highlights. For a complete schedule of events and more tidbits about Chandler and the crime fiction genre check out CPL’s resource guide.

Donna Seaman of Open Books Radio and Booklist fame has been honored with Literacy Chicago’s “Literacy Hero Award.” Donna recently featured students, teachers and staff of Literacy Chicago on her show. The piece, Invisible No More: Voices of Literacy Chicago* brought much needed attention to the efforts of Literacy Chicago, an organization that’s been around since 1992. On her blog Donna gives some additional insight on her motivations to sit down and talk with the folks at Literacy Chicago. She writes about having spent so many years talking with authors and wanting to begin a conversation with readers. Kudos to Donna for recognizing such a worthwhile cause and giving them a voice.

*click on “non-fiction” to get the full audio of the program.

The Chicago Public Library (CPL) has a terrific new website and online catalog. They even added a blog, Beyond Words. Another great feature is patron-placed holds. That means if you see something in the catalog or on one of their many lists you can request a copy and have it sent to your neighborhood branch. Just make sure your account is up to date. You can check your account status by going to the My CPL page. All you need is your library card. While you’re there you can add your email address so that you can get an email notification when your book, DVD, CD, etc. is available. There’s a ton of content to browse including an Events page. Take a look! You might be surprised at what the library has—it’s not just for kids and homework.

I’ve been remiss in not posting about this handy little service sooner. Wowbrary allows you to sign up for free weekly email alerts about your library’s newest arrivals. Maybe you think that the library only has musty old boring books, but it isn’t so. Libraries are constantly adding new books, movies, and music to their collections to give the public what they want. This is far from a perfect site, pulling together a fairly random smattering of titles for their top choices, but still, it’s interesting to see what’s new at the library, if you’re into that sort of thing, which I am. Just this week I found out that the Chicago Public Library added World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, Apollo’s Song, and 3:10 to Yuma. Hmm, maybe I can take that off my Netflix queue now.

Looking for a distraction? There’s a new lit mag online. Please Don’t has launched its first issue, and what an issue. Among the nonfiction entries Jonathan Messinger proclaims, “I Could Punch a Wolf.” (I’m almost convinced.) Prefer fiction? Then check out the terrific story by Patrick Somerville, “Xylophone.” The editors, Pete Coco and Scott Stealey, show off their formidable writing chops with the first chapter of Axl Watch. There’s also an interview with Antoine Wilson author of The Interloper. So you see there’s a little something for all of your literary tastes. Go check it out!

but I may have to rethink my position on e-book readers. Amazon’s Kindle will be available next week. I’ve been reading bits and pieces about this and finally decided to investigate further. Besides the obvious convenient format (10.3 ounces and size of a trade paperback) some of the features on this thing are really amazing and practical. You can use the built-in keyboard to make notes and mark passages. The search function allows you to search for a word or phrase anywhere in your Kindle library. It has a built-in dictionary and a wireless connection to Wikipedia. I love that! I constantly jot down things I want to look up and this would be so handy.

Some drawbacks are cost and content (currently includes: books, blogs, newspapers, and magazines). Not every title you want to read will be available for the Kindle, and the stuff that is can be pricey. Not to mention the cost of the Kindle, $399, yikes! Webware has a more complete overview with pros and cons.

Now, I love printed material, but this is really something. Of course, full reviews are still forthcoming, but it certainly does make me think that the future of e-book readers is something to look forward to.

Did you know it’s Children’s Book Week? To mark the occasion the Chicago Public Library will have their annual celebration of books, Bookamania, this Saturday at the Harold Washington Library Center, 400 South State Street. There’s going to be all kinds of fun for the kiddies including, crafts, magic, music, and of course, books! There will also be a performance of Seussical the Musical by the Beverly Arts Center Teen Thespians and other activities to celebrate Cat in the Hat’s 50th birthday. Plus, there will be authors, illustrators, and more importantly, favorite story book characters on hand to meet the little guys. The event is free and open to children age 3-10 years old and their families. Call 312.747.4780 for more details.

Wanna try your hand at some poetry? The Chicago Public Library’s Poetry Committee is sponsoring a month-long series of free events. There will be writing workshops and open mics all led or hosted by local poets. A couple of the highlights include a workshop at the Sulzer Regional Library led by Bill Allegrezza, editor of the local press Cracked Slab Books and the new poetry anthology The City Visible: Chicago Poetry for the New Century, and a workshop on writing sonnets and ghazals at the Harold Washington Library Center led by Alice George, co-editor of RHINO magazine. Need more details? Call 312.747.4700 or email cityverse@chicagopubliclibrary.org.

Date: Thursday, October 25th, 2007
Time: 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Location: Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, 400 South State Street, 7th Floor - Chicago Authors’ Room

This guy is really making a name for himself. On top of receiving tons of accolades for his work he was also chosen to color Jonathan Lethem’s new comics serial, Omega the Unknown. I saw him read this summer at a Stop Smiling event and I have to say, I was impressed. Now here’s your chance to check him out. He’s going to be doing a slide show reading from both, The Three Paradoxes and Let Us Be Perfectly Clear. As an added bonus Paul will stick around to talk about what all goes into writing and creating comics. You know what else? He’s going to sign books.

*part of the Chicago Public Library’s Chicago Book Festival.