Check out these holiday gifts for grammar geeks (not grammar geek’s, mind you).
An anonymous artist has been leaving exquisitely detailed little paper sculptures in libraries and museums all over Edinburgh, Scotland. Her last gifts were found recently at the Scottish Poetry Library, and the photos are remarkable.
Why do writers and other artists keep plugging away in this economy? As Lewis Hyde explains, “The artist who hopes to market work that is the realization of his gifts cannot begin with the market. He must create for himself that gift-sphere in which the work is made, and only when he knows the work to be the faithful realization of his gift should he turn to see if it has currency in that other economy. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t.” But if artists are supplying something for which there is little or no demand, why is fine art so pricey?
If you need gift ideas for the writers and readers in your life (ahem), this book about the New York City music scene between 1973 and 1977 would be a sound choice. And here are some other good options.
If you love a book, buy a copy for a friend. Even regift a copy. But don’t lift whole passages for your own debut novel. And if you do, and you get caught, don’t make excuses—just apologize.
Maybe it’s time to start reaching out to the writers you admire. You never know who might reply with handwritten advice.
Print books get a makeover, just in time for holiday gift giving. “If e-books are about ease and expedience, the publishers reason, then print books need to be about physical beauty and the pleasures of owning, not just reading.”
The New York City Department of Transportation has posted traffic warning street signs written as haiku, such as:
Imagine a world
where your every move matters.
Welcome to that world.