Ah, looks amazing, Jesse! I'm too far away for the book fair, but I hope I can visit James Cummins Bookseller this summer. I'm a relatively slow reader, but my wife is a voracious reader. She previously worked as an editor and translator for a couple of publishers here in Taiwan and visiting bookstores and libraries is one of our shared joys.
By the by, one of the first--if not the first--Substacks I ever subscribed to was for a local bookstore here in Taiwan called 小小書店 (Xiǎo xiǎo shūdiàn) or Small Books, one of my wife's favorite hangouts. Their posts are translatable into English and may be a way of connecting with books from this part of the world. (Also, book cover design in Taiwan is quite unique and very much its own artform.) And if you're a book lover and find yourself in this part of the world, it's worth a visit.
I love this post. If I lived in New York City, I would go to the book fair. I read a lot of books right now. I've read War and Peace, Wuthering Heights, Romeo and Juliet, and some of Patti Smith's books. I love her book Just Kids. I haven't read Patti on Patti yet.
Dear Jesse Paris, Patti & Patti Smith Group extended family of Poetics Enthusiasts,
Alongside this inspiring journal entry and hopefully useful experiential step on the bookshelf rolling ladder to your dreams and aspirations for the cultivation of books and appreciation thereof came a Substack dispatch from bookish (and any recorded or live performance medium as well) culture correspondent Ted Gioia dba Da Honest Broker:
How to Discover Mindfulness in a Nazi Solitary Confinement Cell
This extraordinary narrative is now available again
Ted Gioia
Apr 03, 2025
Who knew the Nazis tolerated books held (even and especially if only held in mind....) by prisoners in solitary confinement among a regimen of eastern meditative and mindfulness disciplines alternating with careful description of imagi-Nation cultivation techniques: From Ted Gioia's piece on his Substack in Today's Honest Broker page:
" Two years ago, I shared an account of Christopher Burney, a British spy captured by the Nazis in World War II. He spent 526 days in solitary confinement under brutal conditions.
"He survived by developing deep skills of mindfulness and silent meditation. Then he wrote a book about it."
"The book was unfairly forgotten. But my article helped bring it back to life."
"...A new edition of Solitary Confinement has just been released by Recovered Books, and it features my essay as introduction. (US readers can purchase it through the publisher’s distributor.)"
Hope this complementary association with the gist of your own active practice of book cultivation and your muse-ical Mom's solo, duo and PSG recording and performing vocation built upon her years working\book clerking her way up the stacks at Scribner's and the Strand Book Mart will add to the sensual pleasures y'all so well encourage in such a plethora of creative ways via various practices of embracing while co-habitating with those compact artistic lit delivery systems we call books....
Hello. I've never seen a wooden step ladder like the one in the picture, used to reach books on high shelves. It looks like an old bookcase that has been well taken care of.
Wonderful! I wish I still lived in NY and could go! I'll be looking out for the non-NYer giveaway, too! Those James Cummins pictures are wonderful! I will have to pay them a visit on my next visit to NYC (is it possible to just go to James Cummins and browse?). Thank you!
My name is Catfish, and I am an addict. The only things that keep me sober are the fact that I lack any more disposable income, and any more space on my triple-stacked bookshelves.
Books are the real treasure. As they have been for many others, books helped me to survive the loneliness and neglect of childhood and have often been the sources of comfort, enlightenment and miracles.
Thank you, Jesse! This was a gorgeous post! I especially loved reading one of your posts from last year: The Hands of Booksellers. Oh my. And the prompt about considering the senses in relation to the book. As you probably know, April is National Letter Writing Month, and I am joining others in the annual practice of writing a letter a day. I plan to use your lovely prompt as a theme for my letters this week. I wish I could send one to you, but I don't know where it should go! If there is a P.O. box where you receive mail, I hope you will let me know! And...I have put the book fair in my calendar for next year! Meanwhile, I just went and pulled one of my beloveds off the shelf: Hawthorne's Wonder Book, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a 1932 first edition that belonged to my mother. It smells just like your description!
Ah, looks amazing, Jesse! I'm too far away for the book fair, but I hope I can visit James Cummins Bookseller this summer. I'm a relatively slow reader, but my wife is a voracious reader. She previously worked as an editor and translator for a couple of publishers here in Taiwan and visiting bookstores and libraries is one of our shared joys.
By the by, one of the first--if not the first--Substacks I ever subscribed to was for a local bookstore here in Taiwan called 小小書店 (Xiǎo xiǎo shūdiàn) or Small Books, one of my wife's favorite hangouts. Their posts are translatable into English and may be a way of connecting with books from this part of the world. (Also, book cover design in Taiwan is quite unique and very much its own artform.) And if you're a book lover and find yourself in this part of the world, it's worth a visit.
Here's their Substack: https://substack.com/@sapphocat
All the best to you, Jesse, and all!
I'm not artistic (right brain activities are not my forte).
Yet I offer this thought: is Guernica the greatest paintinig in the world?
Picasso transended the Spanis Civil War and made a definitive statement against all war.
Cubism was just the right medium.
It seems like 2 minutes since the last one (where does the time go)! Well done Jesse for being an Ambassador again. Enjoy 🙏
I also read Ann Frank's book too.
I love this post. If I lived in New York City, I would go to the book fair. I read a lot of books right now. I've read War and Peace, Wuthering Heights, Romeo and Juliet, and some of Patti Smith's books. I love her book Just Kids. I haven't read Patti on Patti yet.
A fantastic post Jesse, thank you.
Love this photo of you to! Thank you for keeping poetry and us poets alive.
Brava 👏👏
Dear Jesse Paris, Patti & Patti Smith Group extended family of Poetics Enthusiasts,
Alongside this inspiring journal entry and hopefully useful experiential step on the bookshelf rolling ladder to your dreams and aspirations for the cultivation of books and appreciation thereof came a Substack dispatch from bookish (and any recorded or live performance medium as well) culture correspondent Ted Gioia dba Da Honest Broker:
https://www.honest-broker.com/p/how-to-discover-mindfulness-in-a
How to Discover Mindfulness in a Nazi Solitary Confinement Cell
This extraordinary narrative is now available again
Ted Gioia
Apr 03, 2025
Who knew the Nazis tolerated books held (even and especially if only held in mind....) by prisoners in solitary confinement among a regimen of eastern meditative and mindfulness disciplines alternating with careful description of imagi-Nation cultivation techniques: From Ted Gioia's piece on his Substack in Today's Honest Broker page:
" Two years ago, I shared an account of Christopher Burney, a British spy captured by the Nazis in World War II. He spent 526 days in solitary confinement under brutal conditions.
"He survived by developing deep skills of mindfulness and silent meditation. Then he wrote a book about it."
"The book was unfairly forgotten. But my article helped bring it back to life."
"...A new edition of Solitary Confinement has just been released by Recovered Books, and it features my essay as introduction. (US readers can purchase it through the publisher’s distributor.)"
Hope this complementary association with the gist of your own active practice of book cultivation and your muse-ical Mom's solo, duo and PSG recording and performing vocation built upon her years working\book clerking her way up the stacks at Scribner's and the Strand Book Mart will add to the sensual pleasures y'all so well encourage in such a plethora of creative ways via various practices of embracing while co-habitating with those compact artistic lit delivery systems we call books....
Keep on doing!
Health and balance
Tio Mitchito
Mitch Ritter\Paradigm Sifters, Code Shifters, PsalmSong Chasers
Lay-Low Studios, Or-Wa (Refuge of A-tone-ment Seekers)
Media Discussion List\Looksee
Hello. I've never seen a wooden step ladder like the one in the picture, used to reach books on high shelves. It looks like an old bookcase that has been well taken care of.
Wonderful! I wish I still lived in NY and could go! I'll be looking out for the non-NYer giveaway, too! Those James Cummins pictures are wonderful! I will have to pay them a visit on my next visit to NYC (is it possible to just go to James Cummins and browse?). Thank you!
Thanks for the heads up Jesse, I'm sure it will be a lot of fun, plus I'm sure there'll be some nice finds for those in attendance, including you ;o)
Great pictures of you & Mom,
Enjoy the Evening.
Great work, Jesse! You are an exemplary Ambassador.
Your love of books and this very special Book Fair is beautiful, enjoy it all!
My name is Catfish, and I am an addict. The only things that keep me sober are the fact that I lack any more disposable income, and any more space on my triple-stacked bookshelves.
Books are the real treasure. As they have been for many others, books helped me to survive the loneliness and neglect of childhood and have often been the sources of comfort, enlightenment and miracles.
Thank you, Jesse! This was a gorgeous post! I especially loved reading one of your posts from last year: The Hands of Booksellers. Oh my. And the prompt about considering the senses in relation to the book. As you probably know, April is National Letter Writing Month, and I am joining others in the annual practice of writing a letter a day. I plan to use your lovely prompt as a theme for my letters this week. I wish I could send one to you, but I don't know where it should go! If there is a P.O. box where you receive mail, I hope you will let me know! And...I have put the book fair in my calendar for next year! Meanwhile, I just went and pulled one of my beloveds off the shelf: Hawthorne's Wonder Book, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a 1932 first edition that belonged to my mother. It smells just like your description!