Dewey

Last night my plan had been to relax a little and start the world of warcraft expansion. Of course life is what happens when you are making other plans. About 5:30 my mother calls and want to know if I will go to an author reading with her. At 6:30. So I grab a quick bite to eat, check in on my neighbors cat (who I'm catsitting), and head out the door. The reading is at one of the local libraries.

I get to the building about 10 minutes before the reading is to start to realize that there is hardly a parking space to be had. People are walking some decent distances through the cold rain to come hear this author. Now this library's reading room is not big. I've been in there for several readings and there are normally only thirty or so chairs set up. My mom, dad, and I walk in the door to see that it is literally standing room only. And that standing room is out in the library's lobby. To make a long story short, we spent 30 minutes standing in the lobby listening to the author speak but not able to see her. There were probably 150 people there.

I'm interested in this author partly because she's a librarian. Actually she's the librarian in Spencer, Iowa who one morning found a cat that someone had dropped in the book drop. She managed to talk the city council into letting her keep the cat, who lived for 19 years in the Spencer library. Everyday the cat would wander the stacks, greeting people, cheering people up, and generally finding laps to sleep in. I'm sure for the non-cat lovers this was hell but for people like me, this would have been perfect. When the cat past away, the librarian Vicki Myron was approached by a number of publishers with money to publish the cat's story. The book is currently a best seller and will be made into a movie. Myron announced last night the Meryl Streep will be playing her in the upcoming movie.

The discussion (it wasn't really a reading) was very good and Vicki Myron was enjoyable to listen to. I was not surprised by the number of people who showed up but I wish they would have moved the reading out into the general library area. There were a lot of people who know of this cat before the book was even published. This cat was actually known across the country. When he died, the obituary for Dewey Readmore Books was run in over 200 newspapers. That is some serious notoriety for a cat.

Picture of Dewey courtesy of the Spencer Library

The Animal Rescue League had set up a booth. I was pleased to see the number of people there who gave to the ARL and helped to support the library. This was a very successful event for them. Even without having read the book (I just got a copy last night) I'm sure it will be a good story. Cats and librarians, right up my alley. And more than anything reminds me why I like librarians. I love the idea of a cat in the library. I love that the librarian decided to take him in that cold January day. I love that people have helped support the library and the cat because of it. What a great story. I hope it inspires others.

Forgetting to breath and handmade pages

This is two blog posts in one because it has been a rough two day stretch for me. I've been forgetting to breath. Not literally but I've been so stressed recently that I have been at people's throats. I also haven't been sleeping which is odd. Normally I close my eyes and am out like a light. Although I used to think I was a deep sleeper until I met Jeff. He literally slept through our smoke alarm one night. 

I finally finished my application for the Minneapolis job but that had been weighing on my mind a lot. I know that it is not due until the beginning of October but I hate job applications enough that they severely stress me out. I have a project at work that is half a month overdue (bad Cat) and a presentation to write that I have to deliver at the end of the month. That is the one that is stressing me out the most. I hate public speaking. When they called asking me if I would do these hour-long sessions I was so flattered that I said yes. Then I actually thought about what they were asking. Now I'm terrified. My least favorite part is that my hands sweat and the moment I am done speaking I will have no idea what I just said. Bleh. 

So to make up for all this negative energy I decided to post some of my favorite pages. The British Library has a segment of their website called Turning the Pages. This beautiful area includes a number of books that have been scanned into the system and allow readers to turn the pages of their favorite books to see the wonderful illustrations or handwritten notes. These are the original works created by the author. My favorite has to be the Alice in Wonderland that is handwritten with little images of Alice and the characters. 

The main site is http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/ttpbooks.html. Be warned, to see the pages you will need to have Shockwave installed on your computer. But the images are worth it. Here is an example of a page, written in Lewis Carroll's handwriting with one of his drawings. I love this kind of thing. Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite books and it is wonderful to get to see it as Carroll wrote it. 

I have also added a screenshot of the Elizabeth Blackwell's Herbal. This beautiful book includes hand-drawn illustration of plants along with their medicinal uses. The book was published in 1737 and was written to pay off Blackwell's husbands debts and free him from debtors prison. It was unheard of for a woman at that time to write, particularly something of a serious natural text. These are just two examples of the books available for your perusal. I would easily recommend checking out the site. It includes images from Leonardo Di Vinci's notebooks, The Diamond Sutra (the oldest book in the world A.D. 868), the first full atlas (done in the 1500s), and many others. Shockwave is free so that shouldn't stop you.