House Forlorn Reads #7: Transcript

House Forlorn Reads 7

Majorca, Ford and Used Books: Juan Bonet's "Majorca", Betty Ford's "The Times of My Life", and Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone's "Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World".

House Forlorn Reads" is an episodic podcast brought to you by a house whose owners have moved out but haven't yet sold it to new owners. The house is sad and eager to have new humans living in it. This podcast, along with the House Forlorn blog and selected House Forlorn Chogger comics, can be found at HouseForlorn.com.
Date of Production: 20081116
post-production completed: 20081100
Length: 00:00:00
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House Forlorn Reads episode 7

You've stumbled upon House Forlorn Reads, Episode 7. If the podcast you were hoping to find is brought to you by the Leaf-rakers Guild of the Southern Hemisphere and concerns proper techniques for leaf-raking with professional leaf-raking implements, then I must disappoint - this is a podcast about books.

"House Forlorn Reads" is recorded for you by a house whose owners have moved out but haven't yet sold it to new owners. The house is sad and eager to have new humans living in it. This podcast, along with the House Forlorn blog and selected House Forlorn Chogger comics, can be linked to via www.HouseForlorn.com.

The music you hear is Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor BWV565, produced by James Clarke, of the UK. This and other podcast-friendly music can be found on the "podsafe music network" at music.podshow.com.

I have a thirst for books, which stems from a lack of human (or canine/feline) companionship -- nobody flicking on lights, stomping up and down my stairs, cooking bacon, playing video games for hours on end or barking/meowing at strange noises outside. Where does your thirst for books come from? Send a message to Houseforlorn@gmail.com, and I'll convey your thirst to others via this podcast.

Do you have any stories about your books? For example, my owner has a old 1963 set of Encyclopedia Britannica's, in which his mother has stuck all sorts of oddments, such as sweetgum, sycamore, maple and olive tree leaves, either between tissues or in contact paper. What strange objects have your family stuck in a book for posterity's sake?

In today's show, we'll read three excerpts from three smallish books for you - touching

1 First on "Majorca" by Juan Bonet, (Editorial Everest, 1969) - this is a picture book showing photos of Spain's largest island, off the country's eastern Mediterranean coast. Majorca, Mallorca in Spanish and Catalan, has been inhabited since paleolithic times, with tombs dating to perhaps 6000 BCE, or about 8000 years ago. Rome initiated habitation in Palma in 123 BCE, when Caecilius Metellus landed on the island. Majorca is the largest island in the Balaeric archipelago, of which Minorca, Ibiza, and Formentera are the other three of the larger islands. This pictorial introduction to this island has maps, pictures of the islands industry, including fishing and almond-tree cultivation, pictures of landscape, of religious and secular architecture, of popular swimming beaches, and evidence of sports, such as the popular bull-rings.

2 Second, "The Times of My Life", by Betty Ford with Chris Chase (Ballantine, 1978-79), is an autobiographical overview of Betty Ford's life. Wife of US President Gerald (Jerry) Ford, Betty has a unique view on life, though she describes herself on the first page as "an ordinary woman who was called onstage at an extraordinary time." She says she didn't want her husband to become president, but accepted his decision, saying "You plan your life in one way, it goes another."

3 And third is this neat little book that my owner cannot remember purchasing, but is just the kind of book he'd purchase (as opposed to finding in a box of books at an auction, or outside of a bookstore, like Paradox Books in Wheeling, WV sometimes does): "Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World", by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone, (St. Martin's Griffin, 1998). Lawrence and Nancy were book people: they'd go to Borders or other new-book bookstores and get the latest novels to read. But somehow they accidentally found their way one day into a used book store...and the rest of the story is a wonderful modern-day journey through the ancient world of books.

First, from "Majorca", I read a description of "The olive trees of Majorca", page 74:

Next, I read page 147, which is the first page of chapter 18, titled "The Other Woman" :

Finally, in :

Thanks for listening to House Forlorn Reads. Link to the HouseForlorn blog via the www.houseforlorn.com landing page. You can follow houseforlorn on Twitter at twitter.com/houseforlorn, and become a fan of the House Forlorn Facebook page. For a transcript of this and previous "House Forlorn Reads" podcasts, google the key phrase "HFR Transcript".

Twitterer Brij, tweets this about a books "Bought few books from Books & Beyond (Music World's new bookstore chain)" -- what books have you procured recently?

My owner recently attended and present at Podcamp Pittsburgh 3 (PCPGH3). See what podcamps may be in your neighborhood at Podcamp.pbwiki.com; use keyword PCPGH3 in your google searches for related articles, blogs, videos and podcasts.

Have a windy day.

..HF.