Remembering Anne Frank, who would have been 84 today
Eighty-four years ago, the celebrated diarist and tragic victim of the Holocaust Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt, Germany. During the peak of the war, when her German-Jewish family was forced into hiding in Amsterdam, she kept track of her thoughts, trials and revelations in her diary.
Eventually, her family was discovered and all save for her father Otto died in Nazi concentration camps. In 1947, Otto worked to have her diary published as a book, and since then her words have been read across the world.
Her lasting legacy may be her persistent optimism in the face of overwhelming despair. As she wrote in her diary:
It’s difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical.
Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart. I simply can’t build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery, and death. I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that this cruelty too shall end, and that peace and tranquility will return once again.
Read more over at Jacket Copy.
Photo: Associated Press
The Los Angeles Times’ Summer Reading Guide
There’s something special about summer reading, turning the pages against the breeze while basking in the sun, or filling up hours usually occupied by school with that list of novels you’ve been telling yourself you’d get to eventually.
It’s in that spirit that the Times has built its summer reading guide, a perfect starting point for those of all ages looking to cozy up with a book.
So check out our listings in their entirety here, and see if there’s anything new that sparks your interest, or enjoy the affirmation of seeing something you were already planning on reading on the list (we’re particularly excited for Marisha Pessl’s “Night Film”).
Joseph Heller’s chart outline for Catch-22. Check out the full gallery of Famous Authors’ Handwritten Outlines.
test reblogged from sunfoundation
Preserving ancient teachings in Timbuktu
Boubacar Sadeck, the youngest of Timbuktu’s scribes at 38, is a master of an ancient art - one that ties him closely to the historical writings that he spends his days transcribing and preserving.
“My weakness, my love, is calligraphy,” said the scribe, who fled Timbuktu, famed for its collection of centuries-old manuscripts, when Islamist militias invaded last year. “If I go a day without writing, I feel as if something is missing or strange. When I sit down with my paper and my pen, I feel wonderful. I feel at ease.”
Many of Timbuktu’s ancient scripts are now refugees separated from their former home in Ahmed Baba Institute after Islamist militias invaded. The rest have been either lost or destroyed in the chaos caused by the successful fight to drive the militias out of the city. Now, the future of these artifacts from the past is up in the air.
Read more in reporter Robyn Dixon’s story here
Photos: Evan Schneide / UN, Eric Feferberg / AFP/Getty Images
Come visit the Los Angeles Review of Books at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books! You can find us this weekend at our booth, number 26, located in the Trousdale Parkway on the USC campus. This is your chance to not only meet the staff that makes the Review possible, but to pick up a copy of our beautiful new print edition magazine: a selection of our best interviews and author questionnaires. Bring your friends, and we hope to see you there.
test reblogged from lareviewofbooks
The intersections between Los Angeles and literature
Yesterday marked the debut of our Literary L.A. feature, which highlights literary hotspots across the city. Want to go where Ray Bradbury wrote “Fahrenheit 451” on a type writer fueled by dimes? We have you covered.
And of course, the tool’s a work-in-progress, so send over your feedback on authors, works or mentions you’d like to see included!
Check out the tool here, or get psyched for this weekend’s Festival of Books, running from April 20-21 at the USC Campus.
A must-follow for literate music lovers
Take a look at artist Christophe Gowans’ awesome ongoing project: Re-imagining classic albums as book covers - we ended up clicking through the entire library.
Credit: Christophe Gowans
2012 L.A. Times Book Prize Finalists announced
Biographer Robert Caro, novelist Michael Chabon and cartoonist Chris Ware are among the fifty authors whose books were announced as the Times’ finalists for the 33rd annual Book Prizes.
Also nominated are Nate Silver for “The Signal and the Noise,” U.S. poet laureate Louise Glück and Katherine Boo for “Behind the Beautiful Forevers.”
Think anyone was left off of the list? Sound off below!
It’s not only Winston Churchill’s birthday today, but Mark Twain’s as well. (Churchill was born in 1874, Twain in 1835.) This report on an event at which the latter introduced the former appeared in The Times on Dec. 14, 1900. Churchill wouldn’t become Britain’s prime minister for nearly four decades.
Little Free Library brings neighbors together through books: A nationwide movement, Little Free Library prompts bibliophiles to put up small shelved structures outside their homes where people can take books and leave some too. The result can be conversation, friendship and a sense of community.
In the half a year that Beggs’ Little Free Library has perched on a post in front of his Sherman Oaks home, it has evolved into much more than a book exchange. … When a 9-year-old boy knocked on his door one morning to say how much he liked the little library, Beggs knew he was on to something.
Photo: Fiona Sassoon, 10, gets some neighborly advice from David Dworski, left, on book selections at Dworski’s diminutive outdoor library in Venice. Credit: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
Bendable E-Reader Going Into Production
E-readers are a great tool, but the one big disadvantage is that they’re made of breakable glass and sensitive electronics that can get damaged when dropped. Books, by contrast, are pretty durable.
LG Display has brought flexible, light and tough e-readers a little closer to reality. The company announced that it is mass-producing a flexible electronic paper display, or EPD.
Whoa! And that’s us on the screen!
test reblogged from discoverynews
chooseyourownadventure asked: Could you help us with a social media shoutout? We are the famous Choose Your Own Adventure books series & we're donating one new CYOA to a child in need for every Facebook Like we receive in November.
(1) You go to the CYOA’s Facebook page and immediately “like” them, knowing your actions will directly result in a child receiving a book. Feel good about it. Treat yourself.
(2) You hate reading! You hate books! One day, you sense that there is no magic or beauty in your life and you wish you could go back to the time when you could have given a child a book with the click of a mouse. Lo and behold, a time portal opens up in front of you that could take you back to that turning point in November! You decide to enter. (Turn to option 1.)
A happy ending for the maid’s daughter: “Olivia” grew up with her Mexican immigrant mother in an affluent Westside home. With time, the successful professional has let go of much of her resentment and recognized what the privileged family did for her. But she also feels that no child should ever be placed in that position.
Photo: “Olivia,” who grew up with her Mexican immigrant mother in the maid’s quarters of an affluent Westside home, is photographed circa 1970. Her experiences are recounted in a new book, “The Maid’s Daughter.” Credit: New York University Press
Shel Silverstein returns with “Every Thing on It,” a posthumous collection culled from material Silverstein really liked but never found a place for in his other collections.
Photo: cover of “Every Thing on It.” Credit: HarperCollins
