More on the Invisible Library in London

As reported earlier, the Invisible Library has inspired an exhibition and workshop by Ink Illustration, the UK art collective:

Once selected the hidden novels will have their covers illustrated by INK. The Invisible Library will ask best selling writers, cultural and musical figures, and gallery attendees to write the opening or closing page of a ‘hidden novel.’

Each book cover is not only the beginning of a story, but also a personal journey and porthole into the imagination.

Here are the invites, here are some behind-the-scenes glimpses, and scenes from the private view, during which visitors were invited to write the beginning or end of one of these imaginary (yet now illustrated) books.

The exhibit runs through July 12 in London. Londoners, please visit!

TENDERPIXEL GALLERY
10, Cecil Court, London WC2N 4HE
Tuesday- Saturday: 10:30am to 7pm





(Levi has more.)

Pronounced CAISH-lin

The NYT has a nice profile of me old friend Caitlin Macy (Dzyd status: ????), whose new book of stories, Spoiled, has just come out...I offered this blurb for Spoiled (which aside from being excellent has an entry in The Invisible Library), just managing to avoid saying something catchy but not quite right like "a grownup's Gossip Girl!":

"Who else today writes so accurately about the impossibilities of privilege as Caitlin Macy? Packed with real wit and genuine rage, Spoiled is a gin-flavored litmus test, a social X ray set on stun, a grand entertainment, an argument starter. These deft morality tales grip us like the best gossip–then jolt us into feeling."

"Watch out!"

At Five Chapters today, you can read the first part of Caitlin Macy's short story "Eden's Gate," part of her forthcoming collection Spoiled. (Woah, I just tested that Amazon link and saw my blurb!) Caitlin's debut novel, The Fundamentals of Play (2000-ish), is a favorite of mine—one of those books I recommend when someone's about to go on vacation and needs something to read...it's a total page turner...

This might be a good time to say "Watch out!" for these books in the next few months (I read 'em all pretty recently):

February: John Haskell's Out of My Skin — wow. Kind of a perfect novel. Cool and unsettling.
March: The aforementioned Caitlin Macy's Spoiled — includes "Christie," the "argument starter" mentioned in my blurb, plus other excellent stories (and argument starters). Ruthless! But also funny! (Some additions to the Invisible Library, too.)
April: Hannah Berry's Britten and Brülightly (though now I see it's been moved to March) — totally satisfying graphic novel — I'll write more about it later.
May: PERSONAL DAYS UK PAPERBACK!!!!!!! oh shut up

I've been copy-pasting lately

What if I just stopped blogging and simply copied stuff from Levi's blog?

Doesn't this sound like fun?

I picked up Richard Stark's Ask the Parrot (2006) on my lunch hour the day before Thanksgiving and dove into it as I sat in my office waiting for a call from rocketlass to say that she was ready to leave work. By the time she was free, I was 100 pages in, and as she pulled up in front of my office, I had to break the news that my driving services would be unavailable for the next 188 pages....

And here he is on the latest Hard Case Crime novel, which clearly I need to read (as this is the second time I've linked to this post!):

In addition, Ardai has given his novel another twist: it consists of fifty chapters, named after (and related to) the titles of each of the books in the series. Being familiar with the series, I found myself looking forward to how this Oulipian conceit would force Ardai to figure out ways to finagle his way around such unpromising titles as A Diet of Treacle, Lemons Never Lie, and Grave Descend; I particularly liked his solutions to David Dodge's Plunder of the Sun and the Robert Bloch two-fer Shooting Star/Spiderweb.

* * *

In other news, I finished a review copy of Caitlin Macy's Spoiled, out in the spring, that has some great entries for the Invisible Library...