refraction haiku

Refraction, downtown Minnesota Central Library, March 2008, during Talk of the Stacks. Ali Selim and Will Weaver discussed the making of Sweet Land. The moment this photograph was taken, they were sitting to the left, signing books. The curved blue lines are the Fifth Street Towers. Photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.

blue light refraction
bending waves around windows
bookish writers grin

-posted on red Ravine, Wednesday, May 7th, 2008

-related to posts: haiku (one-a-day) and Night Owl

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The 1970’s — What Was America Reading?

          

Minerva, 1889 – 1890, Roman goddess of poetry, music, wisdom, and warriors (Greek, Athena), bronze sculpture by Norwegian American artist, Jakob H. F. Fjelde, downtown Minneapolis Central Library, Minneapolis, Minnesota, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.

 

 

The first black hole was discovered in the same decade that Star Wars was released (and not by Columbo, Charlie’s Angels, or Sonny and Cher). It was the 1970’s, and you were probably wearing Halston ultrasuede or cashmere, leisure suits, platform shoes, string bikinis, and hot pants. Or maybe you were more the Birkenstock type, sporting tie-dye jeans, crocheted vests (think orange and lime green), and bouncy, wide bell-bottoms.

In 1977, there was a world shortage of coffee and prices soared from 50¢ a pound to $3.20 (isn’t it around $12 a pound today?). You might have been playing a lightshow guitar (imitating Pink Floyd), or listening to the Stones, Roberta Flack, the Eagles, Bruce Springsteen, Joni Mitchell, Tony Orlando (knock 3 times), or Gladys Knight and the Pips, on your new Sony Walkman.

 

The Beatles broke up, Jack Nicholson flew over the cuckoo’s nest, Harold and Maud were the May/December romance of the big screen, playing next to The Deer Hunter, Deliverance, and Saturday Night Fever. Yes, John Travolta was hot (even before his Pulp Fiction days). So was Billie Jean King, Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali, and Jesus Christ Superstar (did you see Andrew Lloyd Webber on American Idol?).

If you are under 21 and voted during the 2008 Presidential Primary, you can thank the 1970’s — the voting age in the U.S. was lowered to 18. And Paper Mate introduced a new erasable ink pen, allowing you to wipe out those pesky voting mistakes in a single swipe.

But don’t jump too fast. It was before the age of the hanging chad. The Apple II computer had just hit the market, the first email took a lumbering ride across ARPANet (central backbone during the development of the Internet), and Intel’s first microprocessor 4004 (1971) contained 2,300 transistors (today’s will run 3,000 times faster).

            

In the 1970’s Annie Hall was all the rage, along with Club Med, the VCR, streaking (yes, I tried it), and Pet Rocks (move over Sony the Pug!). Patty Hearst wielded her first machine gun, Son of Sam ran loose in the streets, Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, murdered 1-2 million people, and the Ohio National Guard shot and killed 4 college students at Kent State during an anti-war demonstration. Doesn’t that just blow your mind?

In the Me Decade, Elvis died of an overdose. So did Sid Vicious and Jim Morrison. Life and Look magazines were defunct by the end of the decade, along with cigarette advertising on TV, the draft, the VW bug (so they thought), and the Vietnam War. There was a recession in 1974 on top of an oil crisis in 1973 (what’s changed?). And TV would never be the same: Bonanza ended after 14 years; Gunsmoke after 20; and Ed Sullivan called it quits after 23 years.

You don’t see that kind of longevity in 21st Century media. Nor would you ever see televised daily proceedings of a national debacle like Richard Nixon and Watergate.

 

The world’s first test-tube baby, Louise Brown, was born in England, CAT-scans were introduced, the Heimlich maneuver perfected, and popular 70’s culture was buzzing with new words and phrases:  Murphy’s Law, Pro-choice, pumping iron, Punk rock, Rubik’s cube. Don’t rock the boat!

Money, money, money — 180,000 Americans were millionaires by the mid-70’s, an average hospital stay would set you back $81 a day, and a First Class postage stamp was 6¢ (Airmail, 10¢). The Metropolitan Museum paid $5.5 million for a Diego Velázquez portrait, while the Susan B. Anthony dollar took a political nosedive.

Rupert Murdoch bought the New York Post in the 70’s, and Cosmopolitan blossomed with Helen Gurley Brown at the helm. But literature (and a few oddball tomes thrown in for good measure) still boomed under the watchful eye of Minerva, Roman goddess of poetry and wisdom.

You can tell a lot about a person by the books they read. You can also tell a lot about a culture. In the 1970’s, here’s what America was reading.

  

1 9 7 0 ‘ s – B E S T S E L L E R S

FICTION

1. Love Story; Oliver’s Story, Erich Segal
2. The French Lieutenant’s Woman, John Fowles
3. Islands in the Stream, Ernest Hemingway
4. Travels with My Aunt, Graham Greene
5. Rich Man, Poor Man, Irwin Shaw
6. Wheels; Overload, Arthur Hailey
7. The Exorcist, William P. Blatty
8. The Day of the Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
9. Message from Malaga, Helen MacInnes
10. Rabbit Redux, John Updike
11. The Betsy, Harold Robbins
12. The Winds of War, Herman Wouk
13. Jonathan Livingston Seagull; Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, Richard Bach
14. The Odessa File, Frederick Forsyth
15. My Name Is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok
16. Captains and the Kings, Taylor Caldwell
17. Once Is Not Enough; Delores, Jacqueline Susann
18. Breakfast of Champions; Jailbird; Slapstick: or, Lonesome No More!, Kurt Vonnegut
19. Burr; 1876, Gore Vidal
20. The Hollow Hills, Mary Stewart
21. Evening in Byzantium, Irwin Shaw
22. The Drifters; Centennial; Chesapeake, James A. Michener
23. The Matlock Paper, Robert Ludlum
24. The Billion Dollar Sure Thing, Paul E. Erdman
25. Watership Down, Richard Adams
26. Jaws; The Deep, Peter Benchley
27. The Dogs of War, Frederick Forsyth
28. The Fan Club, Irving Wallace
29. I Heard the Owl Call My Name, Margaret Craven
30. Ragtime, E. L. Doctorow
31. The Moneychangers, Arthur Hailey
32. Curtain; Sleeping Murder, Agatha Christie
33. Looking for Mister Goodbar, Judith Rossner
34. The Choirboys, Joseph Wambaugh
35. The Eagle Has Landed, Jack Higgins
36. The Greek Treasure: A Biographical Novel of Henry and Sophia Schliemann, Irving Stone
37. The Great Train Robbery, Michael Crichton
38. Shogun, James Clavell
39. Humboldt’s Gift, Saul Bellow
40. Trinity, Leon Uris
41. A Stranger in the Mirror, Bloodlines, Sidney Sheldon
42. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien; Christopher Tolkien
43. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough
44. How To Save Your Own Life, Erica Jong
45. Delta of Venus: Erotica, Anaïs Nin
46. War and Remembrance, Herman Wouk
47. Fools Die, Mario Puzo
48. Scruples, Judith Krantz
49. Sophie’s Choice, William Styron
50. The Dead Zone, Stephen King
51. The Third World War: August 1985, Gen. Sir John Hackett, et al.
52. Smiley’s People, John Le Carré

 

 

 

1 9 7 0 ‘ s – B E S T S E L L E R S

NON-FICTION

1. Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex but Were Afraid To Ask, David Reuben, M.D.
2. The New English Bible
3. The Sensuous Woman, “J”
4. Better Homes and Gardens Fondue and Tabletop Cooking; Better Homes and Gardens Blender Cook Book; Better Homes and Gardens Home Canning Cookbook
5. American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, William Morris
6. Body Language, Julius Fast
7. In Someone’s Shadow; Caught in the Quiet, Rod McKuen
8. The Sensous Man, “M”
9. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Dee Brown
10. I’m O.K., You’re O.K., Thomas Harris
11. Any Woman Can!, David Reuben, M.D.
12. Inside the Third Reich, Albert Speer
13. Eleanor and Franklin, Joseph P. Lash
14. Wunnerful, Wunnerful!, Lawrence Welk
15. Honor Thy Father, Gay Talese
16. Fields of Wonder, Rod McKuen
17. The Living Bible, Kenneth Taylor
18. Open Marriage, Nena and George O’Neill
19. Harry S. Truman, Margaret Truman
20. Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution, Robert C. Atkins
21. The Peter Prescription, Laurence J. Peter
22. A World Beyond, Ruth Montgomery
23. Journey to Ixtlan; Tales of Power; The Second Ring of Power, Carlos Castaneda
24. The Joy of Sex; More Joy: A Lovemaking Companion to The Joy of Sex, Alex Comfort
25. Weight Watchers Program Cookbook, Jean Nidetch
26. How To Be Your Own Best Friend, Mildred Newman, et al.
27. The Art of Walt Disney, Christopher Finch
28. Alistair Cooke’s America, Alistair Cooke
29. Sybil, Flora R. Schreiber
30. The Total Woman, Marabel Morgan
31. All the President’s Men; The Final Days, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
32. You Can Profit from a Monetary Crisis, Harry Browne
33. All Things Bright and Beautiful; All Things Wise and Wonderful, James Herriot
34. The Bermuda Triangle, Charles Berlitz with J. Manson Valentine
35. Angels: God’s Secret Agents, Billy Graham
36. Winning Through Intimidation; Looking Out for #1; Restoring the American Dream, Robert Ringer
37. TM: Discovering Energy and Overcoming Stress, Harold H. Bloomfield
38. Sylvia Porter’s Money Book, Sylvia Porter
39. Total Fitness in 30 Minutes a Week, Laurence E. Morehouse and Leonard Gross
40. Breach of Faith: The Fall of Richard Nixon, Theodore H. White
41. Roots, Alex Haley
42. Your Erroneous Zones; Pulling Your Own Strings, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
43. Passages: The Predictable Crises of Adult Life, Gail Sheehy
44. The Grass ls Always Greener over the Septic Tank; If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries–What Am I Doing in the Pits?; Aunt Erma’s Cope Book, Erma Bombeck
45. Blind Ambition: The White House Years, John Dean
46. The Hite Report: A Nationwide Study of Female Sexuality, Shere Hite
47. The Right and the Power: The Prosecution of Watergate, Leon Jaworski
48. The Book of Lists, David Wallechinsky, Irving Wallace, and Amy Wallace
49. The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence, Carl Sagan
50. The Amityville Horror, Jay Anson
51. Gnomes, Wil Huygen and Rien Poortvliet
52. The Complete Book of Running, James Fixx
53. Mommie Dearest, Christina Crawford
54. RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Richard Nixon
55. Faeries, Brian Froud and Alan Lee
56. The Muppet Show Book, the Muppet People
57. The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet, Herman Tarnower, M.D., and Samm Sinclair Baker
58. The Pritikin Program for Diet and Exercise, Nathan Pritikin and Patrick McGrady Jr.
59. White House Years, Henry Kissinger
60. Lauren Bacall By Myself, Lauren Bacall
61. The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court, Bob Woodward and Scott Armstrong

             
Study In Light, downtown Minneapolis Central Library, Minneapolis, Minnesota, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.

-posted on red Ravine, Thursday, April 24th, 2008

-Resources:  1970’s Bestsellers List from Cader Books, Writer’s Dream Tools, and The Friends of the Minneapolis Public Library

-related to posts: The 1950’s – What Was America Reading?, The 1960’s — What Was America Reading?, and Book Talk – Do You Let Yourself Read?

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Almond Joy (Not That You Asked)

 

Writer’s Hands III, hands of Candyfreak author, Steve Almond, signing a copy of his latest book, (Not That You Asked) Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions, Minneapolis Central Library, downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, October 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.

It’s late and I’m tired. But I wanted to write a short note. I just got home from Thai dinner, stimulating conversation, and late night writing practice with two of my writing friends, Teri and Bob. Bob drove all the way from Kansas City, Missouri, to visit and write with us.

And last night, Liz, Bob, Teri, and I went to the Minneapolis Central Library to see Candyfreak author, Steve Almond, read from his new book (Not That You Asked) Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions. He was grounded, stimulating, generous with his time, and did I mention, fun? (Check out The Original Smarties Necklace wound around his wrist as a bracelet!)

There will be more to come about this author on red Ravine. But for now, get out and hear Steve read and speak. Buy his books. You’ll be inspired and motivated to action. And best of all, you’ll go home wanting to write. And change the world.

Thanks to Steve, Teri, Liz, and Bob for making the night a memorable one. Without the support of other writers, what do we have? And, Bob, have a safe journey home. And don’t forget the magic word – Hemingway.

-posted on red Ravine, Friday, October 12th, 2007

-related to posts, Homage To A Candy Freak and WRITING TOPIC – CANDY FREAK

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The 1960’s — What Was America Reading?

BookMark, Minneapolis Central Library, downtown Minneapolis, through the rain, August 2007, opened May 2006, architecture by the design team of Cesar Pelli & Associates, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.

Time for another decade of bestselling books. At the end of the 1960’s, gas was 39¢ a gallon, a 1962 Jaguar XKE would set you back $4,500, and James Bond in Goldfinger grossed $23 million at the box office. Twiggy was big (I just saw her flash by the TV screen last night on America’s Top Model), along with hiphuggers, bellbottoms, collarless Nehru jackets, and cashmere turtlenecks.

People were buzzing about Foster Grants, Duncan yo-yo’s, new math, Dolby noise reduction, macrame, K-Mart, the Twist, the Chicago 8, draft dodgers, Teflon, and St. Louis’s Gateway arch, the world’s tallest monument.

The American 60’s were turbulent, violent, optimistic, free loving, and slow moving. If it was your generation you were either hip, jock, rock, or nerd. If it wasn’t, well, it lives on in the mythology that surrounds it.

The 60’s were big enough to hold Capote, Sontag, Kesey, Plath, Robbins, Baldwin, Ginsberg, Puzo, Hailey, Vonnegut, Nin, Miller, Didion, and Vidal. You can tell a lot about a person by the books they read. You can also tell a lot about a culture. In the 1960’s, for better or worse, here’s what America was reading.

1 9 6 0 ‘ s – B E S T S E L L E R S

F I C T I O N

1. The Agony and the Ecstasy, Irving Stone
2. Franney and Zooey, J. D. Salinger
3. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
4. The Winter of Our Discontent, John Steinbeck
5. The Reivers, William Faulkner
6. Dearly Beloved, Anne Morrow Lindbergh
7. The Shoes of the Fisherman, Morris L. West
8. Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters, and Seymour–An Introduction, J. D. Salinger
9. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, John Le Carré
10. Up the Down Staircase, Bel Kaufman
11. The Man with the Golden Gun, Ian Fleming
12. Valley of the Dolls, Jacqueline Susann
13. All in the Family, Edwin O’Connor
14. The Adventurers, Harold Robbins
15. The Confessions of Nat Turner, William Styron
16. The Chosen, Chaim Potok
17. The Exhibitionist, Henry Sutton
18. Airport, Arthur Hailey
19. The Salzburg Connection, Helen MacInnes
20. The Tower of Babel, Morris L. West
21. Preserve and Protect, Allen Drury
22. Portnoy’s Complaint, Philip Roth
23. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
24. The Andromeda Strain, Michael Crichton
25. Naked Came the Stranger, Penelope Ashe
26. The House on the Strand, Daphne du Maurier
27. The Love Machine, Jacqueline Susann
28. Myra Breckinridge, Gore Vidal
29. Christy, Catherine Marshall
30. The Pretenders, Gwen Davis

 

           Minneapolis Central Library, looking straight up, through the rain,
Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 2007, opened May 2006, architecture
by the design team of Cesar Pelli & Associates, photo © 2007 by
QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.

1 9 6 0 ‘ s – B E S T S E L L E R S

N O N F I C T I O N

1. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, William L. Shirer
2. The Conscience of a Conservative, Barry Goldwater
3. I Kid You Not, Jack Paar
4. Between You, Me and the Gatepost, Pat Boone
5. Better Homes and Gardens Sewing Book
6. Calories Don’t Count, Dr. Herman Taller
7. Sex and the Single Girl, Helen Gurley Brown
8. Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck
9. The Joy of Cooking: New Edition, Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker
10. Security Is a Thumb and a Blanket, Charles M. Schulz
11. I Owe Russia $1200, Bob Hope
12. Profiles in Courage: Memorial Edition, John F. Kennedy
13. In His Own Write, John Lennon
14. Reminiscences, General Douglas MacArthur
15. A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway
16. A Day in the Life of President Kennedy, Jim Bishop
17. How To Be a Jewish Mother, Dan Greenburg
18. A Gift of Prophecy, Ruth Montgomery
19. A Thousand Days, Arthur Schlesinger Jr.
20. The Making of the President, 1964, Theodore H. White
21. How to Avoid Probate, Norman F. Dacey
22. In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
23. Phyllis Diller’s Housekeeping Hints, Phyllis Diller
24. Misery Is a Blind Date, Johnny Carson
25. Death of a President, William Manchester
26. Edgar Cayce–The Sleeping Prophet, Jess Stearn
27. The Weight Watcher’s Cook Book, Jean Nidetch
28. The Peter Principle, Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull
29. My Life and Prophecies, Jeane Dixon with René Noorberger
30. Linda Goodman’s Sun Signs, Linda Goodman

 

 

-posted on red Ravine, Thursday, August 30th, 2007

-Resources:  1960’s Bestsellers List at Cader Books, Writer’s Dream Tools, and The Friends of the Minneapolis Public Library

-related to posts: The 1950’s — What Was America Reading?, The 1970’s —  What Was America Reading?

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