People Reading

Neglectful posting

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:04:00 +0000

I have just returned from a writing retreat at a resort in Mexico. I didn't photograph any readers; however, now, after churning out many pages of manuscript, I really need to, again, appreciate the act of reading. I wrote a lot.

When I wasn't writing I would swim or sit in the jacuzzi. The jacuzzi was a small, contained space, good for intimate conversations. There, I got to talk about my people reading project. One night I was leaning my tired neck back, looking up into the palmtrees and listening to a Mexican woman complain about how horrible it was that her travel agent booked her a trip in "gringolandia." It was so bad she switched to the hotel I was at.

You don't just hear the word "gringolandia" without laughing. I cracked up. She cracked up. We became friends. We got to talking about life, the universe, and my blog and she called her husband over, got him to give her his cell phone, and called their son in his hotel room. "My son reads always," she told me, the gringo, in English.

While hot water jets blasted us in the back and she quite expertly demolished a whole glass of Tequila, we talked back and forth, she fielding questions to her son, me speaking in Spanish, she in English, the son in Spanish, though she wouldn't let me talk to him. The son's favorites: everything by Paulo Coelho, because he likes the messages in the books, and Alexandre Dumas -- why, I couldn't figure out, though, I suppose there is no explanation necessary.

On my way home from the trip I had excellent book karma. One row over was a man just about to finish Barbara Ehrenreich's Bright - Sided. This is the book my book group has chosen for November. A half hour before we landed we conducted a transaction: he sold it to me for ten bucks. His wife was carrying a really nice woven picnic basket. When we were unboarding I offered her another ten bucks for it, but she didn't think that was as funny as I did. The thing about a book, though, is that it's a pleasure to share it.

Thanks for reading. I plan on posting more frequently now.

October 14, Wednesday night -- Reading Tom Corwin

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:54:00 +0000

In front of city hallafter an evening honoring Bay Area author, Amy Tan
(said author + dog + tambourine)

Sitting at the wheel of his Bookmobile, after all the revelry -- that is, the greats of San Francisco literature, up on stage at a Litquake event, roasting the author with stories about her generosity as well as habits such as using remote controls through ziplock bags.

In this picture, author Tom Corwin, and thinker-upper of bookmobiletravels.com, winding down after the event....
I had never been in a bookmobile before, though, have wanted to since visiting New Orleans and hearing about their temporary library projects, and, even more, since my sister gave me this story to read, by Audrey Niffeneger: The Night Bookmobile, which was really really good. It might make you cry.

In real life, Tom Corwin does not read and drive at the same time. And neither will the authors who will drive the bookmobile around the country, doing sort of what I'm doing with my blog -- interviewing people about the books that touch them. In exchange, he will invite them to take digital and print titles from the bookmobile library.

The last book he read was digital -- Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne. He read this on his iPhone with a Kindle application, in sepia tones and serif type, at night, in bed. And, he liked it.

October 8, Thursday evening -- Reading Georges Perec

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:42:00 +0000

At We Be Sushi in the Mission District, one of his favorite lunch spots
Reading Les Choses, by Georges Perec. He enjoys French literature. Next up -- something by Simone de Beauvoir.

Thursday, October 1 -- Reading Alexandra Day

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:49:00 +0000

On Mission Street, while her mother sells Halloween costumes

Reading Carl's Birthday, by Alexandra Day.

Friday, September 25 -- Reading Barack Obama

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:24:00 +0000

At the Batter Bakery shop at Kearny and California Street
Reading The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama. Lately she's been reading political books. What? -- I can't remember! I wrote it all down but left the card at home and I am not typing this up at home. Hmmm. Update later.

Favorite book -- Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger.

The bakery -- it just got featured in a book called _____ about women entrepreneurs. Again, title of the book is in my notes.....

Saturday, September 19 -- Reading Vargas Vila

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:18:00 +0000

At the corner of 24th Street and Mission
Reading La Republica Romana, by Vargas Vila.

We bonded. I asked him where he gets his books (I'd photographed him here before and he's always reading.) and he said, "la biblioteca." He wasn't quite sure I understood, but when I pulled my library card out of my wallet to show him that, yes, I did understand, and I had a card, too....it was a very nice feeling.

Saturday, September 19 -- Reading Amanda McCall and Ben Schwartz

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:10:00 +0000

At Urban Outfitters near Union Square
Reading Breaking Bad News With Baby Animals, by Amanda McCall and Ben Schwartz.

It's just funny when a baby cat (kitten, I guess) tells you, "you don't matter," or a piglet, staring blandly at the camera announces: "I'm banging your wife."

Favorite book -- The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne.

September 5, Saturday evening -- Reading or, rather, enjoying the presence of, a medical dictionary

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 02:58:00 +0000

On Valencia Street after finding this huge leather-bound medical dictionary abandoned beneath a mailbox
Her favorite book -- The Glass Bead Game (or Magister Ludi), by Hermann Hesse.

His favorite book -- The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway. He has lived in Northern Spain near where part of the story is set and has experienced relationships similar to those in the story.

September 1, Tuesday morning -- Reading Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:50:00 +0000

On the Geary bus heading towards downtown
Reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Two of her friends recommended it, one of whom met Mary Ann Shaffer at Book Passage bookstore a couple years ago. The literary and potato peel society -- what?! -- was a fabrication made up for the benefit of Nazi occupiers, by drunk farmers and fishermen after curfew.

Recently she read Shantaram, a novel sort of based on the author's life -- Gregory David Roberts. It's her new favorite book. The story, she explained, is vivid and transportive. It's about an Australian bank robber/heroin addict who escapes from prison and goes to India.

If she were to write her own book, it'd be an oddysey of personal growth. After her father passed away she was an AMIGOS volunteer in Paraguay.

August 31, Monday afternoon -- Reading Marcial Lafuente

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:20:00 +0000

At 24th and Mission Street in the Mission District
Reading El Idolo de Santa Fe. He reads a lot of Westerns written by Marcial Lafuente, which he buys in a shop on 23rd Street between Capp and Mission. In his bag he showed me that he had about ten of them. He gave me one, entitled Consecuencias Tragicas, with, on the cover, a picture of one cowboy tending to the wounds of another cowboy. I refused at first but accepted. I'm trying to learn Spanish better and the book is perfect. The first sentence: A medida que llegaban los vaqueros cerca de donde estaba el carro cocina, se dejaban caer en el suelo boca arriba.... This says something about cowboys hanging around the cooking car? I am visualizing men with string ties hanging around a Mission taco truck, but that doesn't jive with the cover. I think I'm going to need a dictionary.
Today is the three year anniversary of my blog. On August 11th, 2006 I photographed my then thirteen year-old brother (who, at that time was shorter than me) reading in the airport instead of saying goodbye to me at the end of a trip home to Montana. On August 31, 2006, though, I photographed my first non-family reader, on BART, on his way to yoga class in the Mission, reading Cadillac Desert: The American West and its Disappearing Water, by Marc Reisner.

August 27, Thursday afternoon -- Reading Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D.

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 06:15:00 +0000

At a coffee shop in the financial district.

Reading Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier.

I like that there is a science of gratitude!

A favorite right now -- The Mind at Night: The New Science of How and Why We Dream, by Andrea Rock.

August 26, Wednesday night -- Reading Anton Myrer

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 06:03:00 +0000

In front of Dog Eared Books on Valencia Street
Reading Once an Eagle, by Anton Myrer, which he stole from the outdoor book bin. He enjoys books about war.

A favorite -- the Snopes trilogy --The Hamlet, The Town, The Mansion. It's great, he said, if you can read Faulkner. Some people can't. He grew up in the South though and is used to the way Faulkner writes.

He is a writer himself and is working on a collection of short stories and two screen plays. He has no computer -- it would get stolen -- and he sometimes writes things down on paper so he can share them, but mostly he works on them in his head -- for now. He used to be part of a screen writing group in Sacramento called Writers Block.

August 17, Monday afternoon -- Reading Curtis Sittenfeld

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 02:03:00 +0000

Waiting for his next messenger pick-up. Lately he's able to read for about three hours a day.
Reading American Wife, by Curtis Sittenfeld. He found this at the library on a display table of books that get checked out a lot.

A favorite -- for now, anyway -- The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. Since The Road he's read Blood Meridian and other Cormac McCarthy books. The Road, he said, is different. For one thing, it's not as violent.

If he were to write his own book, it might be the history of North America, rewritten, as if the European settlers had all died at Jamestown and the Indians had remained in control of the continent.

August 11, Tuesday evening -- Reading The Bible

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 01:49:00 +0000

At the 24th Street BART station
Sharing a passage in Romans. They read the Bible every day. Their church is just down the street at the corner of Mission and Precita.

What else do they like to read? I'm not sure if this was a problem in translation -- we were speaking Spanish and English -- but, when I asked their favorite books, they didn't give answers outside of the Bible, but within. Their favorite books are the Psalms and Songs of Solomon.

August 7, Friday afternoon -- Reading the newspaper

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 01:47:00 +0000

At San Francisco Soup Company in the Financial District, where I overheard, between patron and counter-person, that the soup and sandwich deal is the best bang for your buck
Reading a Kindle, one of four which he purchased for his family -- for himself, his wife, son and daughter. Because they were all purchased on his credit card, when one of them buys a book, they ALL get it, for the price of one. (The max number you can buy and get this deal is five.)

Over the past thirty-years he and his wife have moved four times between the East Bay and San Francisco. Before the last move, they got rid of a lot of books. Now, he has just one bookshelf and intends on keeping it that way. If given a choice between art and books, he'd rather cover his walls with art. Among the books on his Kindle, which will keep the art on his walls: A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Kahled Hosseini; a book about American Sign Language; and Toobin's book about the Supreme Court, which he said was too big to carry on the airplane, but, with a Kindle....

He is an author as well as a reader. Last September he published a book which he coauthored with the Dalai Lama called Emotional Awareness: Overcoming the Obstacles to Psychological Balance and Compassion. He has written several other books as well, including Telling Lies, was on my family's bookshelf while I was growing up.

His family is a writing family. His wife writes, too. They even write together -- his wife and daughter have coauthored a book.

August 4, Tuesday evening -- Reading Sirena Cheng

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 04:40:00 +0000

On Market Street -- she's just stepped to the side of where she was selling the scarves that her mother knit, which are beautiful, with crocheted roses embedded.
Reading a mystery novel about memory.

If she were to write her own book, it'd be a family drama, -- parents fighting, children watching.

July 25, Saturday afternoon -- Reading Dean Crawford

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 04:47:00 +0000

Amidst throngs of people at The Green Arcade during an Indie-bookstore walking tour organized by Annie Janusch, who works for the Center for Art in Translation, and Scott Esposito, who edits an online journal called The Quarterly Conversation.
Checking out the offerings and perusing Shark, by Dean Crawford. The Green Arcade specializes in -- I quote from their website -- "books on the environment, politics, sustainability, the slow food movement, organics, urban planning, nature [like sharks!], and children's books."

"There are always 40 people in my store," said our host when we all arrived. He may have been joking, but they do have a lot of great events there, one of which I'm excited about on September 2 -- Rebecca Solnit is reading.
The tour ended at Booksmith in the Haight (after a 17-block interval), with sangria and a reading of Pablo Neruda by one of the booksellers. I sat down and, with my back resting against a shelf of young adult novels, removed my shoes, massaged my feet and, like some others, closed my eyes, and listened.

July 24, Friday afternoon -- Reading Hugh Trevor-Roper

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 04:36:00 +0000

In the Financial District
Reading The Last Days of Hitler, by Hugh Trevor-Roper, specifically, a part about the corruption of Hitler's doctors. What about the doctors, I'm not sure. He stopped mid-sentence when someone walked by and tried to steal my lunch, which I'd abandoned on the neighboring table. (Half of a three-salad combo meal, which included these amazing lentils soaked in balsamic with baby spinach. thanks, by the way, if you see this.)

A book he recommends -- Rain of Gold, by Victor Villasenor, whose name he kept confusing with Sonia Sotomayor (same meter to the names). The book is a Mexican family saga that he began to describe with detail and enthusiasm, but again, he was cut short. I wish I could record his words right here, but, I can't. I needed stuff my half finished lunch in my bag and run back to work.

July 21, Tuesday afternoon -- Reading George Orwell on her Kindle

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:20:00 +0000

While having lunch at the Crocker Galleria
Reading the last, undetected electronic version of 1984, by George Orwell.

Actually, no. Reading Poison Study, by Maria V. Snyder.

Favorite books within the last couple of years -- Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner and Geek Love, by Katherine Dunn. Another favorite from long ago -- Wuthering Heights, which she also has on her Kindle (along with the Twilight series, by Stephenie Meyer.)

If she were to write her own book, it'd be a medieval fantasy.

July 12, Sunday night -- Reading W. Somerset Maugham

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 05:32:00 +0000

On Mission Street
Reading The Razor's Edge, by W. Somerset Maugham, which he picked up at home -- it's probably his housemate's girlfriend's. He recommends it if you're looking for something philosophical.

Favorite book -- probably something by Vonnegut.

If he were to write his own book -- it'd be fiction, maybe an account of a lucid dream he had recently, which involved destruction and healing.

July 10, Friday evening -- Reading Kazune Kawahara

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 05:24:00 +0000

Waiting for her mother
Reading High School Debut, by Kazune Kawahara. Her favorite books are mangas.

July 7, Tuesday evening -- Reading Stephenie Meyer

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:10:00 +0000

At a coffee shop in the Castro
culminating his reading of Breaking Dawn -- he's on the last few pages -- which he'd been reading in little minutes and before bed.

His favorite book of all time, not to be confused with Twilight --Night, by Elie Wiesel, an autobiographical account of the holocaust, living through it. He read it back in high school, and though he hasn't reread it, he still goes back in his mind to think.

June 28, Sunday afternoon -- Reading Mikhail Bulgakov

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:35:00 +0000

On the Mission Street bus
Reading The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov. She is saving her money to go to journalism school and enjoys reading Russian novelists.

June 24, Wednesday afternoon -- Reading Vladimir Nabokov and Harold Coyle

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:18:00 +0000

A 20-second interview at Naan 'n' Curry between North Beach and the Financial District (I was having lunch with a friend....not the concerned-looking woman in the background)
Reading Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov. He's enjoying it. (Green shirt, beard, shaved head.) It was recommended by a friend of a friend who lives in the East Bay, who had also recommended two other books he enjoyed -- The Life of Pi, by Yann Martel and The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger.

Reading Cat and Mouse, by Harold Coyle, one of his favorite authors.

June 21, Sunday afternoon -- Reading Margaret Mascarenhas

noreply@blogger.com (Sonya) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:10:00 +0000

At Baker Beach
Reading The Disappearance of Irene Dos Santos, by Margaret Mascarenhas, about a teenage girl who disappears into the Venezuelan jungle.

If she were to write her own book, it'd be about the life of her grandmother. When she was a child her grandmother would, in the mornings, call her over to lie in bed together and she'd tell her stories about the depression. Her grandmother was a poor child who went to a rich school where the other girls wore fur coats and had shiny patent leather shoes. Her grandmother wore lace up boots. When her grandmother had a birthday, her mother invited over all the girls in the class and bought three kinds of ice cream. They waited in the driveway for all the girls to arrive, but they didn't. There was another party going on that day. Childhood is hard. Her grandmother, though, died a happy woman.