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Entry tags:
Books!
I spent a good deal of time browsing used bookstores yesterday, though you'd think that wasn't in the gameplan. :)
Decided I needed a good Java book since in the past I've just borrowed one or winged it off google searches. So I went to the bookstore in Mountain View and browsed around in hopes of finding something good. Finally settled on an Osborne book, "The Complete Reference for Java 2" About the size of a phone book, with all the info I needed AND it was used and only cost $15 (As opposed to the probably 60 I'd have paid for something similar at a new shop.) So yay!
Later on, Julia and I went up to the The Love Parade in SF but we were too late and there was mostly just a long line and a huge mess, so we hopped a train and rode up to the Castro but we discovered (as we mostly already knew) there were no lesbian bars. Julia thought she knew where one was a few blocks away (near 16th and Valencia) so we walked down that way. Somewhere along the way we ran into a used book store. I didn't even catch the name of the place but it was open at midnight and it was musty and filled with old books. Not a computer book in site. Yay! I wandered off into mythology and soon found just exactly what I was looking for.
The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm The standard 210 stores plus 32 others that were not previously translated into english. Sadly, it's translated from Grimm's final version in 1856, by which time the brothers had tried to water down the stories and make them more suitable for christian children. I'd rather have the 1810 version, but wouldn't we all? Anyhow, this writer does at least keep as much of the nastiness as was in the 1856 version, so it's still pretty grim, just not as sexy, but at least it's free of the lacey white gloves of victorian morals. The Illustrations are by John Gruelle (who I've never heard of) He's got a clean style with good use of charicature and contrast. I like it. Very nice pen work. OHHOHO! Now I feel like an idiot. A quick google search reveals that John Gruelle is the creator of Ragedy Ann and Andy No wonder I was liking this artwork. *^_^*u I wish I were better at remembering names.
Second up: Russian Fairy Tales collected by Alexsandr Afanas'ev, translated by Norbert Guterman, illustrated by Alexander Alexeieff. Weighing in at around 200 tales, this is a nice fat book too. Many of these stories are old. 10 were first written down in 1610. The translations are a bit gutteral and gives them a harsh feel. The book also belonged to a student and is annotated in the edges in a few pages and has a couple of sheets of notes on storytelling left stuck between the pages. Maybe I'm weird but for me this always enhances reading a book for me rather than detracting from it. Anyhow, amazingly there doesn't seem to be a lot of crossover between the Grimm (german) stories and the russian ones. The russian book is a reprinting of a 1945 book and as such will be making me spend more time with the Dictionary Arcana but that's good too. :) I spent a total of $15 on the two books together. :)
Sooo. If anyone needs me, I'll be exploring story ideas for short films and just enjoying folklore from around the world. Also, I notice that I seem to be working my way around the globe. Started with English/Irish fairy tales, now on to germany then russia. Maybe before I'm done with these I'll find a nice fat book of chinese stories, then japanese. Though I think I might zig-zag back after that. Make my way down to India, then Persia, Greece, Rome, Egypt, and then Africa proper. By then I should be well enough read that when I hop to the americas, I might identify what parts of stories were added by conquerors and what parts are local. :)
But now off to watch the Corpse Bride! ^_^
Decided I needed a good Java book since in the past I've just borrowed one or winged it off google searches. So I went to the bookstore in Mountain View and browsed around in hopes of finding something good. Finally settled on an Osborne book, "The Complete Reference for Java 2" About the size of a phone book, with all the info I needed AND it was used and only cost $15 (As opposed to the probably 60 I'd have paid for something similar at a new shop.) So yay!
Later on, Julia and I went up to the The Love Parade in SF but we were too late and there was mostly just a long line and a huge mess, so we hopped a train and rode up to the Castro but we discovered (as we mostly already knew) there were no lesbian bars. Julia thought she knew where one was a few blocks away (near 16th and Valencia) so we walked down that way. Somewhere along the way we ran into a used book store. I didn't even catch the name of the place but it was open at midnight and it was musty and filled with old books. Not a computer book in site. Yay! I wandered off into mythology and soon found just exactly what I was looking for.
The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm The standard 210 stores plus 32 others that were not previously translated into english. Sadly, it's translated from Grimm's final version in 1856, by which time the brothers had tried to water down the stories and make them more suitable for christian children. I'd rather have the 1810 version, but wouldn't we all? Anyhow, this writer does at least keep as much of the nastiness as was in the 1856 version, so it's still pretty grim, just not as sexy, but at least it's free of the lacey white gloves of victorian morals. The Illustrations are by John Gruelle (who I've never heard of) He's got a clean style with good use of charicature and contrast. I like it. Very nice pen work. OHHOHO! Now I feel like an idiot. A quick google search reveals that John Gruelle is the creator of Ragedy Ann and Andy No wonder I was liking this artwork. *^_^*u I wish I were better at remembering names.
Second up: Russian Fairy Tales collected by Alexsandr Afanas'ev, translated by Norbert Guterman, illustrated by Alexander Alexeieff. Weighing in at around 200 tales, this is a nice fat book too. Many of these stories are old. 10 were first written down in 1610. The translations are a bit gutteral and gives them a harsh feel. The book also belonged to a student and is annotated in the edges in a few pages and has a couple of sheets of notes on storytelling left stuck between the pages. Maybe I'm weird but for me this always enhances reading a book for me rather than detracting from it. Anyhow, amazingly there doesn't seem to be a lot of crossover between the Grimm (german) stories and the russian ones. The russian book is a reprinting of a 1945 book and as such will be making me spend more time with the Dictionary Arcana but that's good too. :) I spent a total of $15 on the two books together. :)
Sooo. If anyone needs me, I'll be exploring story ideas for short films and just enjoying folklore from around the world. Also, I notice that I seem to be working my way around the globe. Started with English/Irish fairy tales, now on to germany then russia. Maybe before I'm done with these I'll find a nice fat book of chinese stories, then japanese. Though I think I might zig-zag back after that. Make my way down to India, then Persia, Greece, Rome, Egypt, and then Africa proper. By then I should be well enough read that when I hop to the americas, I might identify what parts of stories were added by conquerors and what parts are local. :)
But now off to watch the Corpse Bride! ^_^