Today just happens to be the birthday of one Camilla Mannino, owner of the imcomperable yet now defunct Halfway Down the Stairs Children's Bookshop. (If you want to know how old Cammie is, check out the copyright page on Goodnight Moon -- they debuted the same year.)
Why am I telling you this if the shop's gone? Because remembering Cammie's birthday got me all nostalgic and I surfed on over to the shop's website. Turns out, there's a cool thing posted which I believe I completely neglected to tell you about when the shop closed in January.
Growing Up with Books:
A Halfway Down the Stairs Guide to Children's Reading
For weeks and weeks leading up to the shop's closing, the staff brainstormed, sifted, and debated to compile a list of all our favorite books for kids from birth through high school. The list holds everything from our tried-and-true standbys to the rising stars that hit the shelves just before we closed our doors. That's 20 years of bookselling experience in one handy package. Honestly, we were so pleased when that little booklet arrived from the printer, you could smell the pride on us. It seems like we were justified, too -- grief-stricken customers snapped up our month's supply in just one week. Lucky for you, Cammie bowed to demand and consented to put the list online.
A word to the wise: don't just bookmark the list. This is what those hyperactive marketing folks would brand a LIMITED TIME OFFER in big shiny letters! The HDS website is going to come down in May, so if you see things you like, cut and paste your little heart out to avoid disappointment later.
I spend so much time lost in my headphones; it helps me write anything from judge profiles to my novel.
Every year I make a long, long list of gorgeous writing music for my friends.
Here's the conclusion, complete with links and stories. In all, there are twenty songs on my Best Songs of 2007 list. This year, the whole mix is entitled: "Turn My Life Over and Over Again." (Free CD to the first person to spot which song contains that wonderful line).
The list is not ranked in order of my favorites, I put the songs in Ideal Listening Order instead.
5. "C Is The Heavenly Option" by Los Campesinos from The International Tweexcore Underground. Catchy song, catchy band--they'll cheer you up real good.
4. "Will You Return?" by The Avett Brothers from Emotionalism. A bluegrass song that takes a magical swing at happy-go-lucky pop halfway through.
3. John Allyn Smith Sails by Okkervil River from The Stage Names. This band bowled me over this year, and this mixture of Beach Boys and confessional poetry would be my top pick of the year--if it wasn't so effing sad!
2. Falling Slowly by Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová from The Once Soundtrack. This cheesy, gorgeous anthem from a great film will help you recover from the last sad song.
1. Flight 180 by Bishop Allen from The Broken String. "If you feel like dancing, dance with me." These are words to live by if you want to have a happy, happy new year.
Click here to see 16-20 of my Best Songs of 2007 list. Or click here to see 15-11 on my Best Songs of 2007 list. Or click her to see 10-6 on my Best Songs of 2007 List.
We talk a lot about how music affects our writing, but today I'm thinking about how writers affect music.
I've spent the last two weeks obsessed with the Okkervil River song, "John Allyn Smith Sails." I won't ruin the tune for you, but it wrapped my anxious brain like a security blanket this weekend.
This morning, I realized why. He was singing about my favorite poet, the confessional writer, John Berryman. Berryman's The Dream Songs can change your prose style forever, showing you how to turn emotional experiences into gorgeous words.
This NPR article discusses the song with the band, teasing out a few more literary allusions lurking underneath the new album. Listen to the sample tracks, and take a writing break. I promise these songs will get under your skin and re-surface in your stories.
