Rebind claims to be a "mindfulness app for deep reading, guided by the world's most interesting people. Rebind challenges you to engage with a book in a whole new way."
Huh?
Yeah, so it appears to be a site that at the moment has a limited library of titles, each "hosted" by experts on that title. While you read the ebook, their notes and commentary are available. In addition to just annotation, there's an AI interface that connects you with the notes of that expert, so you can, at any time, ask specific questions and have them answered by the AI which uses the well of information that the expert provided.
It's certainly an interesting idea, and if I had an extra $120 lying around I'd try the annual membership. I'll check back in the future to see how the library expands. It's certainly an interesting approach to AI.
Aussie Greg Neville shows and discusses his Penguin Books collection, with an emphasis on Series Design. For instance, here are some from the Modern Classics series, and Neville's thoughts on them.
Nothing gets me opening Libby faster than The Millions Previews.
This time, it's their Summer 2024 Preview, obvs, which highlights a new biography of genius filmmaker Agnes Varda, and titles from Rachel Kushner, Joy Williams, Yoko Tawada, Honor Moore, Sarah Manguso, Virginie Despentes, Jo Hamya, László Krasznahorkai, and many more.
There are also two from authors I'm not familiar with that sound right up my alley, both due in August:
The Italy Letters by Vi Khi Nao
"This epistolary novel by Nao, an emerging queer Vietnamese American writer who Garielle Lutz once called “an unstoppable genius,” sounds like an incredible read: an unnamed narrator in Las Vegas writes sensual stream-of-consciousness letters to their lover in Italy. Perfect leisure reading on a sultry summer’s afternoon while sipping a glass of prosecco."
I used to own a great many books. More books than is reasonable for a person to own. You can see some of them in the photo above. Just under 1900 titles. In 2022 and 2023, I sold the vast majority of them, keeping just a small shelf worth.
I thought it would be interesting to occasionally do a post about one of the keepers and write a bit about how it came to be mine and why I've kept it.
The first title is Kenneth Rexroth's One Hundred Poems from the Japanese. I believe I purchased this copy from Iliad Books in North Hollywood, though it might have been The Last Bookstore in DTLA. Either way it was definitely in 2010, during my first trip to California.
I'd gone because a film director had read Chimera, a screenplay I wrote in 2008. He called and said he wanted to meet and talk about me writing a sequel to a hit film he'd made in 1990. (A film I'd seen in the theatre when it came out and that most people of my generation will have seen. Yes, I'm purposely being vague.) He told me he lived in Venice Beach and that I should head down.
I took the month of May off and flew down, staying in an AirBnB a few blocks from the director's house. To quickly answer the questions you're probably asking: nothing came of Chimera, my script that he'd read, and I never worked with him on a sequel to his film — or any other film for that matter. In short: he stiffed me. I spoke with him the day before I left Toronto — "Oh, yes, great, great. Looking forward to meeting you, Lincoln." — and then he avoided my calls for the entire month I was there.
I've been asked a number of times if I'm bitter about the experience, but the truth is that I'm thankful for him having called, as he motivated me to head to Los Angeles, something I probably should have done as a teenager or in my early 20s, instead of going to film school. I fell in love with the place and lived there for three and a half years spread out over the next ten. In all that time, I never did come face to face with that director, but I did make some great and lasting friendships.
As to the book of Japanese poetry:
For as long as I can remember, I've lived an unrequited life. This means I'm often thinking about someone from my past. I chanced upon the Rexroth book and opened to a random page:
In the empty mountains The leaves of the bamboo grass Rustle in the wind. I think of a girl Who is not there.
Nice. I flip again:
I wish I were close To you as the wet skirt of A salt girl to her body. I think of you always.
Very nice. Once more:
Others may forget you, but not I. I am haunted by your beautiful ghost.
Sold!
If memory serves, it costs me $8.
Though I have most of my favorites from the book memorized, the thin trade paperback often accompanies me when I travel. I had it with me in Spain in 2017 when I was sending my own poems out to my Burning the Days mailing list. All those miles means it's pretty beat. It was dog-eared when I got it. It's water-stained now. I'll replace it with a hardcover first edition if I ever find one in person. (They pop up all the time online but I hate paying for $30 shipping on a $20 item.)
There is a sequel with the inventive title One Hundred More Poems from the Japanese, but I can't recommend it. Rexroth also did two volumes of poems translated from Chinese. Again, they don't strike the same chord as this original Japanese collection.
One Hundred Poems From the Japanese is still in print. It's published by the stellar New Directions and you can purchase it from Bookshop.org, Abe Books, or Amazon (Canada, US, UK), or maybe get your local book store to special order you a copy.
The NYTimes asked 500+ authors what their favorite books of the 21st century were. The page is interactive so you can track what you've read or hope to read. My fave is on there at #52: Denis Johnson's Train Dreams.
I've posted the full list in the above link, but you can also browse by the polled authors, which may be of more interest.
Five Books tags itself as The Best Books On Everything. The site has an archive of more than 1700 interviews with authors and experts, each recommending five great books in their field. That means more than 8000 book recommendations from people who know what they're talking about.
Spine Magazine is an online publication devoted to book cover design and book culture. I linked to them back in 2022 when they featured a Vonnegut special, but they're worth checking out at the root url.
Plenty of interviews with designers, authors, and illustrators, and of course, lots of gorgeous book covers, including early drafts and alternates.
Joshua Charow writes, "I spent the past two years creating my first photography book titled 'Loft Law. The Last of New York City's Original Artist Lofts' about artists living under the protection of the Loft Law. The law, enacted in 1982 (Article 7-C of the Multiple Dwelling Law), granted protection and rent stabilization to thousands of artists who were living illegally in commercial and manufacturing zoned lofts in neighborhoods like Soho, Tribeca, and the Bowery after the manufacturing industry predominantly left Manhattan.
"Two years ago, I found a map of the remaining protected buildings, rang hundreds of doorbells, and photographed and interviewed over 75 artists who are still living in these incredible lofts to this day. The photographs explore some of the most unique beautiful, and hidden artist studios across New York City. The book includes writing and personal stories from the incredible group of artists featured in the book."
A trailer for the book is below and you can purchase it here. Interviews with some of the artists follow.
