Isak

Things That Are True About Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey:

1. It is a clever satire of Gothic literature, a particularly interesting project, given that "novels," or full-length books of fiction, where only just emerging as a distinct and consistent literary tradition when Northanger Abbey was written. Moreover, our novel-loving heroine was of a very early generation of literate young women.

2. It is playfully deconstructed, as Jane's voice interjects the story to discuss "our heroine" Catherine Morland's adventures and lively imagination directly with us readers. I particularly fancied  Jane's extended defense of the novel as an art form, where she calls out fiction writers themselves for diminishing their own genre as unserious with the sort of 'is the novel dead?' rhetoric that has, absurdly, not yet died out.

3. The book is utterly charming, packed with wit, humor, and laser-sharp insight into the social play of vanity, hypocrisy, modesty, manners, sense, money, and ambition. While much contemporary attention on Austen emphasizes her romance storylines (see: nearly all film adaptations of her books), and indeed, she writes a great romance, it is this insight and this wit that gives Jane Austen her lasting power.

4. Northanger Abbey isn't as good as Pride and Prejudice (especially) or Sense and Sensibility, the other two Austen books that I've read, but it is a worthy and rather overlooked one.

5. It is Jane's first novel, written at the turn of the nineteenth century and sold for publication in 1803--though the folks who purchased it just sat on it. Northanger Abbey wasn't published until after her death in 1817.

6. Jim Thorpe is one of the most dickish characters in literature; I know a few too many of his sort. He is both grating and wonderfully hilarious.

7. Me and Henry Tilney would've gotten along just fine. Ahem.

8. I really loved reading Northanger Abbey this week. Such a fun novel.

Choose Books: What Is Found There: Notebooks on Poetry and Politics

Why Choose Books for your gifts this holiday season? Glad you asked. It's because there are few things more fun than giving someone a book they fall in love with; it lasts longer and matters more than, say, necklaces or sweaters, while rarely being more than about fifteen dollars. What's more, your purposeful choice of books, purchased from indie booksellers, supports a vibrant and dynamic literary culture in a time when the book world is struggling and even literacy is horrifically low. Choose Books because you really can make a difference. Choose Books because it is joyful.

In this series, you can look forward an ongoing guide to books as gifts; at the end of the season, it will be collected as an attractive PDF for you to download. More than a mere list of my personal favorites, Choose Books is outward-looking, featuring outstanding books of very different styles for very different tastes (and ages). Learn more about this series here. 

What Is Found There: Notebooks on Poetry and Politics
By Adrienne Rich

 Poet and provocateur, Adrienne Rich is one of the most original minds of both literature and activism. She has published no less than twenty-four collections of poetry, alongside many volumes of nonfiction and essays. In What Is Found There, Rich brings her many identities together with both verve and passion. What is the purpose of poetry in a world where there is so much suffering? How can social responsibility and art co-exist? How is it even possible to have something like "artistic integrity" when, as W.H. Auden once put it, "poetry does nothing?"

What is Found There is a hybrid book, at once a set of deeply-felt journals; sharp-sighted essays that take close readings of poets like Muriel Rukeyser, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Wallace Stevens; and something like an anthology--poems that both well-known and under-known are given space. As well, Rich draws in threads from visual art and the natural world.

The New York Times Book Review indicated that "this is a book of wisdom...more resonant with each rereading.” The Boston Globe called it, “Essential reading for ... anyone interested in the current debates on art and politics...and the spiritual and moral power of literature.” But June Jordan put it best:

The clear-eyed depth and the visionary stretch of these notes bespeak an irresistible, prophetic intelligence and a huge heart wrestling with the transformative power of poetry up against the needs of an emerging new world.

Who knows how long it would take me to find my way to Rich's book if it hadn't been for sale at an end-of-business sale? The only good thing about such sad sales is that it inspires readerly whims. This was one of mine. And now, it is a book that I will never be "done" reading. I want to put a copy in the hand of everyone I know. 

This is a powerful book, and a joy to read.

 

Consider for people who are one or more of the following:

•  People who struggle to balance their individual acts of creativity with a broader sense of social responsibility.
• Politically-minded folks who might be ready for more nuance (I'm thinking of an activist friend who told me that she only reads nonfiction now because her reading attention is inevitably limited and she feels compelled to give it to 'true stories' so she can better understand what's going on in the world. Rich's book could be something of a gateway drug for her, so that she can better see the expansive truth that can only be conveyed through fiction and poetry.)
• Bookworms with a generous heart.

Recommended Edition:

W.W. Norton
Paperback / $14.95

Definitely look for this 2003 "expanded edition" of the book (which was originally published ten years before): it features a new preface and a new essay, "Six Meditations in Place of a Lecture," that Rich wrote after September 11, 2001. Taken in the prism of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Rich's book takes another shade of resonance.

Not to judge by it or anything, but it also has a much nicer cover than the original.

Where To Buy:

Your local independent bookseller. Find the shop nearest to you here. You might also want to prowl the used bookshops for treasures. If the book you want is not in stock, the bookseller will be happy to order it for you (almost always sans shipping); just ask! If there are really, truly no indie booksellers near you, consider ordering online from an independent bookseller, such as Brookline Booksmith or Powell's, and having it delivered to your doorstep. Another option: order online directly from the publisher.

 

Image Credit: Creative Commons, by db*photography.

The Blade: It Didn't Go Gently

In a guest post for the Women's Media Center, I discuss the abrupt closing of the estimable Washington Blade and how staffers swiftly rallied to launch a new publication. This is no small matter. As the Washington Post put it: "The Blade's importance to our area cannot be overstated. From the HIV/AIDS epidemic to hate crimes to the drive for marriage equality, the paper reported stories that the mainstream press initially didn't or wouldn't cover. ... it held people accountable -- gay and straight, elected officials and community leaders. Because of that, the Washington Blade ... was considered the paper of record by gays and lesbians across the country."

An excerpt from my piece:

These days, if you visit www.washblade.com, you’re confronted with a deadening page of code, pockmarked by words like “unexpected error” and “invalid.”

“Unexpected error”—I’ll say.

It’s a sorry state of affairs for the once vibrant “news source of record” for the gay, lesbian, and bisexual community. The Washington Blade was one of the longest-serving LGBT newspapers in the nation, and the second-largest in circulation. Founded in the wake of the Stonewall riots, the Blade just celebrated its 40th anniversary last month … only to have its parent company, Window Media, abruptly file for bankruptcy weeks later.

{...}

There’s hope, however: staffers aren’t letting go easy. Just last week came word that the passionate reporting of the Blade will have a place in a new paper. This next incarnation is called The D.C. Agenda, and it’s buoyed by a team of people that—for now—are all volunteers. Indeed, the spanking-new Agenda is already publishing news both online and in print.

Jane Austen Defends the Novel: Or, 'Take That, You Feeble-Minded Naysayers!'

I can't tell you how much I adore Jane Austen novels. I'm in the thick of Northanger Abbey, and it's a total delight--full of wit and charm. What stands out in this one, compared to the other two books of hers that I've read, is that the author herself seems to step into the pages, clearly marking herself as the storyteller and indulging her own voice--as in one early scene, when our heroine Catherine Morland and her friend Isabella bond over a shared love of novel-reading. Jane takes the cue to step up to the bat for novels as an art form. She particularly calls out novelists who are fond of lamenting their own art form, reminding me that contemporary pseudo-reflections on whether or not the novel is 'dead' are hardly new.

Here's Jane (yes, it's true, she and I are on a first name basis):

... and if a rainy morning deprived (Catherine and Isabella) of other enjoyments, they were still resolute in meeting in defiance of wet and dirt, and shut themselves up, to read novels together. Yes, novels; --for I will not adopt that ungenerous and impolitic custom so common with novel writers, of degrading by their contemptuous censure the very performances, to the number of which they are themselves adding--joining with their greatest enemies in bestowing the harshest epithets on such works, and scarcely ever permitting them to be read by their own heroine, who, if she accidentally take up a novel, is sure to turn over its insipid pages with disgust. Alas! if the heroine of one novel is not patronized by the heroine of another, from whom can she expect protection and regard? I cannot approve of it. Let us leave it to the Reviewers to abuse such effusions of fancy at their leisure, and over every new novel to talk in threadbare strains of the trash with which the press now groans. Let us not desert one another; we are an injured body. Although our productions have afforded more extensive and unaffected pleasure than those of any other literary corporation in the world, no species of composition has been so much decried. From pride, ignorance, or fashion, our foes are almost as many as our readers. And while the abilities of the nine hundredth abridger of the History of England, or of the man who collects and publishes in a volume some dozen lines of Milton, Pope, and Prior, with a paper from the Spectator, and a chapter from Sterne, are eulogized by a thousand pens, -- there seems almost a general wish of decrying the capacity and undervaluing the labour of the novelist, and of slighting the performances which have only genius, wit, and taste to recommend them. 'I am no novel reader -- I seldom look into novels -- Do not imagine that I often read novels -- It is really very well for a novel.' -- Such is the common cant. -- 'And what are you reading, Miss ---?' 'Oh! it is only a novel!' replies the young lady; while she lays down her book with affected indifference, or momentary shame. -- 'It is only Cecilia, or Camilla, or Belinda'' or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour are conveyed to the world in the best chosen language. Now, had the same young lady been engaged with a volume of the Spectator, instead of such a work, how proudly would she have produced the book, and told its name; though the chances must be against her being occupied by any part of that voluminous publication, of which either the matter or manner would not disgust a young person of taste: the substance of its papers so often consisting in the statement of improbable circumstances, unnatural characters, and topics of conversation, which no longer concern any one living; and their language, too, frequently so coarse as to give no very favourable idea of the age that could endure it.

You tell 'em, Jane. Keep fighting the good fight.

The Ghosts of History, Fiction

Stephen Greenblatt calls Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall "a startling achievement, brilliant...," but it must be said that his own essay that draws from her novel is itself outstanding. Greenblatt, the author of the wonderful Will in the World, spins his book review into an expansive reflection on the purpose and possibilities of historical fiction.

Greenblatt notes that the historical novel is defined not merely by being set in the past; Middlemarch, he writes, was set about forty years earlier than its publication date, but it is understood to be more of a domestic drama focused on the fictional Dorothea Brooke. War and Peace might be closer to manifesting a historical novel--it does feature Napoleon as a character, as well as catalyzing historical events--but it too is primarily invested in the storylines of fictional protagonists.

So what the heck is historical fiction? And what makes it matter? Greenblatt writes:

In the most fully realized historical novels, the historical figures are not merely background material or incidental presences but the dominant characters, thoroughly reimagined and animated. They are at the center of our attention, and their actions in the world seem to carry the burden of a vast, unfolding historical process that is most fully realized in small, contingent, local gestures. Those gestures are ordinarily hidden from official chroniclers, but they are the special purview of the historical novelist. ...

Historical novels have a further characteristic. They generate a sense in the reader best summed up in exclamations like "Yes, this is the way it must have been"; "This is how they must have sounded"; "This is what it must have felt like." Historical accuracy is not the issue: scrutiny of [Thomas] Cromwell's surviving letters suggests that he probably did not sound very much like [Hilary] Mantel's hero. What matters is the illusion of reality, the ability to summon up ghosts.

The historical novel then is always an act of conjuring.

Choose Books: The Autobiography of Henry VIII: with Notes by His Fool, Will Somers

Why Choose Books for your gifts this holiday season? Glad you asked. It's because there are few things more fun than giving someone a book they fall in love with; it lasts longer and matters more than, say, necklaces or sweaters, while rarely being more than about fifteen dollars. What's more, your purposeful choice of books, purchased from indie booksellers, supports a vibrant and dynamic literary culture in a time when the book world is struggling and even literacy is horrifically low. Choose Books because you really can make a difference. Choose Books because it is joyful.

In this series, you can look forward an ongoing guide to books as gifts; at the end of the season, it will be collected as an attractive PDF for you to download. More than a mere list of my personal favorites, Choose Books is outward-looking, featuring outstanding books of very different styles for very different tastes (and ages). Learn more about this series here. 

Guest Writer Ben Haack is a Michigan lad that randomly chose to live in Oklahoma. He has slowly been sweating to death for seven years. A "non-traditional" university student, Ben tries to appear as traditional as possible. Find him online at http://daturavespertine.wordpress.com.

The Autobiography of Henry VIII: with Notes by His Fool, Will Somers
By Margaret George

By Ben Haack
Guest Writer

When I Google Henry VIII, a slew of results are displayed, as with everything that has been ever googled. But after clicking just a few links, Henry, as with many historical figures quickly becomes more monster than man. Many things about him are nearly common knowledge: his obesity, his six wives, and his fight with the Catholic Church. But further digging reveals the contradictions of his life. His search for love and an heir, the thin prince he was and the overweight king he became, his creation of the protestant Church of England and his love for the Catholic Church. Dig deep enough, and the monster once again becomes human.

The Autobiography of Henry VIII: with Notes by His Fool, Will Somers, by Margaret George, does just that-- digs deep. Very deep in fact, it covers his entire life from his point of view, giving depth to a man that historians have treated less than kindly. With over 900 pages, it’s not a book for the light hearted, but even through some of the duller aspects that come with anyone’s life, finding out what would drive a man to chop off not one, but two, of his wives' heads keeps the pages turning, all 900 of them. It’s an amazing account of a man plagued with disillusionment and regret; who’s desire to be great produced one of the greatest (or at least most notable) historical figures of all time (that would be Elizabeth I). George spent over a decade researching and writing this novel, and by the end, the story of Henry VIII seems as complete and final as only historical fiction can.

Consider this book as a gift for people who are one or more of the following:

• Lovers of history, or at least historical fiction
• Anyone that loves the television series "The Tudors," or the movie "Elizabeth" (and its sequel).
• Britophiles
• Anyone the loves memoirs, biographies, or epic stories

Recommended Edition:

Macmillan
Trade Paperback / $17.95

A satisfyingly hefty edition of the novel. Marked as a national bestseller on the cover, this version is 960 pages.

Where To Buy:

Your local independent bookseller. Find the shop nearest to you here. You might also want to prowl the used bookshops for treasures. If the book you want is not in stock, the bookseller will be happy to order it for you (almost always sans shipping); just ask! If there are really, truly no indie booksellers near you, consider ordering online from an independent bookseller, such as Brookline Booksmith or Powell's, and having it delivered to your doorstep. Another option: order online directly from the publisher.

Image Credit: Creative Commons, by marc from borft.

Speaking: E.B. White

In 1916 to hold a job on a daily paper,a columnist was expected to be something of a scholar and a poet--or if not a poet at least to harbor the transmigrated soul of a dead poet. Nowadays, to get a columning job a man need only have the soul of a Peep Tom, or of a third-rate prophet. There are plenty of loud clowns and bad poets at work on papers today, but there are not many columnists adding to belles lettres, and certainly there is no Don Marquis at work on any big daily, or if there is, I haven't encountered his stuff. This seems to me a serious falling off of the press. Mr. Marquis's cockroach was more than the natural issue of a creative and humorous mind. Archy was the child of compulsion, the stern compulsion of journalism. The compulsion is as great today as it ever was, but it is met in a different spirit. Archy used to come back from the golden companionship of the tavern with a poet's report of life as seen from the under side. Today's columnist returns from the platinum companionship of the night club with a dozen pieces of watered gossip and a few bottomless anecdotes. Archy returned carrying a heavy load of wine and dreams. These later cockroaches come sober from their taverns, carrying a basket of fluff. I think newspaper publishers in this decade ought to ask themselves why. What accounts for so great a falling off?

        From E.B. White's introduction to the 1950 edition of The Lives and Times of Archy and Mehitabel, by Don Marquis

Choose Books: Archy and Mehitabel

Why Choose Books for your gifts this holiday season? Glad you asked. It's because there are few things more fun than giving someone a book they fall in love with; it lasts longer and matters more than, say, necklaces or sweaters, while rarely being more than about fifteen dollars. What's more, your purposeful choice of books, purchased from indie booksellers, supports a vibrant and dynamic literary culture in a time when the book world is struggling and even literacy is horrifically low. Choose Books because you really can make a difference. Choose Books because it is joyful.

In this series, you can look forward an ongoing guide to books as gifts; at the end of the season, it will be collected as an attractive PDF for you to download. More than a mere list of my personal favorites, Choose Books is outward-looking, featuring outstanding books of very different styles for very different tastes (and ages). Learn more about this series here. 

Archy and Mehitabel
By Don Marquis

How to describe the delight of Archy and Mehitabel? Let's start with the basics: Archy is a cockroach; Mehitabel is a cat in her ninth life. Archy was once a free verse poet; Mehitabel is an alley cat of uncertain trustworthiness who claims she was once incarnated as Cleopatra. At night, Archy continues to tell his stories in "vers libre" by hurling himself on the keys of Don Marquis' typewriter (Archy calls Don "boss"); the resulting poems, both hilarious and strange, comprise this collection. Of course, since Archy isn't capable of pressing the shift key and another key at the same time, all the poems are lower-case and without punctuation.

One of my favorites, "the lesson of the moth," features Archy in one of his philosophical moments:

i was talking to a moth
the other evening
he was trying to break into
an electric light bulb
and fry himself in the wires

why do you fellows
pull this stunt i asked him
because it is the conventional thing for moths or why
if that had been an uncovered
candle instead of an electric
light bulb you would
now be a small unsightly cinder
have you no sense

plenty of it he answered
but at times we get tired
of using it
we get bored with the routine
and crave beauty
and excitement
fire is beautiful
and we know that if we get
too close it will kill us
but what does that matter
it is better to be happy
for a moment
and be burned up with beauty
than to live a long time
and be bored all the while
so we wad all our life up
into one little roll
and then we shoot the roll
that is what life is for
it is better to be a part of beauty
for one instand and than cease to
exist than to exist forever
and never be a part of beauty
our attitude toward life
is come easy go easy
we are like human beings
used to be before they became
too civilized to enjoy themselves

and before i could argue him
out of his philosophy
he went and immolated himself
on a patent cigar lighter
i do not agree with him
myself i would rather have
half the happiness and twice
the longevity

but at the same time i wish
there was something i wanted
as badly as he wanted to fry himself
                                archy

Don Marquis introduced his charmed creations in his daily column, "The Sun Dial," for the The Evening Sun newspaper (later named simply The Sun) in New York in 1916. (See the original column where Archy debuted here.) Archy and Mehitabel were regular features for six years in the column, and for four years after that in the New York Tribune. After that, Marquis took Archy and Mehitabel to Collier's magazine and other publications, ultimately resulting in more than 500 sketches. This book, Archy and Mehitabel, was the first of several collections of the humorous and charming adventures, published in 1927--accompanied by great illustrations (see above).

E.B. White wrote a lovely essay about Marquis and his most famous creations (with fascinating context about how journalism had changed from Marquis' time to White's). He writes:

Archy has endeared himself in a special, way to thousands of poets and creators and newspaper slaves, and there are reasons for this beyond the sheer merit of his literary output. The details of his creative life make him blood brother to writing men. He cast himself with all I his force upon a key, head downward. So do we all. And when he was through his, labors, he fell to the floor, spent. He was vain (so are we all), hungry, saw things from the under side, and was continually bringing up the matter of whether he should be paid for his work.

Indeed.

Consider this book as a gift for people who are one or more of the following:

• The cynic you'd like to see smile.
• People who think that all poems are serious/boring/intimidating.
• Readers who are smitten with clever humor, whether found in Mark Twain, Shel Silverstein, P.G. Wodehouse, Dorothy Parker, Bill Bryson, David Sedaris, or Sarah Vowell.

Recommended Edition:

Random House
Paperback / $12.95

This is the only current available edition of the original classic, though you might find excellent out-of-print editions in used bookstores (my copy came this way).

Other Available Editions:

University Press of New England
Paperback / $17.95

The first of two volumes that collect long-forgotten sketches of Archy and Mehitabel that were literally rescued from Marquis' steamer trunk after his death in 1937. It features 34 illustrations. This would be great as a companion volume gift, perhaps also with archyology II: the final dig--which is truly the final volume of the adventures of the whimsical, sage cockroach and the curious cat.

Where To Buy:

Your local independent bookseller. Find the shop nearest to you here. You might also want to prowl the used bookshops for treasures. If the book you want is not in stock, the bookseller will be happy to order it for you (almost always sans shipping); just ask! If there are really, truly no indie booksellers near you, consider ordering online from an independent bookseller, such as Brookline Booksmith or Powell's, and having it delivered to your doorstep. Another option: order online directly from the publisher.

Bookish Joy ...

... can be found here. Enjoy the feast, friends.

Hat tip (and image credit) to Jacket Copy, the LA Times book blog.

Damn. Damn. Damn, damn!

Bill Moyers has announced that as of April 2010, he's leaving weekly television and retiring his outstanding PBS show, Bill Moyers Journal. I can't begrudge him the desire for some free time--he's 75 years old--but he's one of my most beloved heroes. (I have been known to call him the love of my life.) The show features passionate and thoughtful long conversations with fascinating people; Bill beams a contagious curiosity. And he has not shied away from speaking truth to power, as they say, with his bold, scathing call-outs of government abuse and media ridiculousness, particularly in the build-up to the Iraq war. "Tell the truth," he exclaims in a keynote talk about media justice (one of the best keynotes ever.... really).

I feel the void already.

And, oh wait, it gets worse. NOW on PBS has been canceled. One of the best venues for television investigation journalism, hosted by the affable David Brancaccio and featuring the sharp reporting of Maria Hinojosa, I have been a regular viewer of the weekly show (thanks to their website). No surprise, Bill Moyers originally hosted the show, which perhaps set the insightful, courageous tone. There are few venues anywhere in the media for such thoughtful news.

With NOW, I will hold a grudge. Why, PBS, why? To quote my favorite movie scientist, albeit in vastly different circumstances, "Damn. .... Damn. .... Damn, damn!"

Round-Up: Literary Indulgences

Alice Munro's dark side.

"Why Martin Amis won't shut up about feminism." The Toronto Star article begins with a talk Amis gave titled, "Al Qaeda and Feminism" and it goes down from there (Amis, rather, not the article).

Oh, and Amis turns up again in The Guardian, regarding his new book, The Pregnant Widow. It tells the story of his sister, who died in 2000 after dealing with alcoholism and depression; Amis "has attributed many of her problems to the sexual revolution of the 60s and 70s." Sigh.

Stephen King writes about Raymond Carver's life and fiction in The New York Times, cued by Carol Sklenicka's new biography of the story master and the new Library of America collection of his work (which clocks in at, ahem, 1,019 pages).

"Writing About Writers." After three decades on the book beat at The Washington Post, Bob Thompson has stories of Joan Didion, Margaret Atwood, Junot Diaz, Chinua Achebe, Marilynne Robinson, Philip Roth, Kurt Vonnegut, and more.

Nigerian writer and Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka is worried about how the financial crisis in Africa will affect the literature from the continent.

The Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages and National Geographic are teaming up for a strong initiative to preserve Native American languages. Through the Enduring Voices Project, linguists will work with last speakers to document the stories and languages with film, photos, and audio. (Hat tip to Elizabeth Clark Appleton).

In the Book World podcast, Ron Charles talks with Barbara Ehrenreich about the negative effects of the hyper-push of positive thinking. Ehrenreich's new book is Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America.

Shakespeare and Company--where I'm destined to live someday--sports a jolly new mural.

Laura van den Berg continues to rake in the positive reviews. I have got to read this gal soon.

Library Journal announces its favorite books of 2009, and it definitely features some dark horses.

Not to be outdone, The Times of London spotlights its top 100 titles of the decade. I think it's a bit of a cheat to include Dreams of My Father, which Obama published in 1995; the book was re-released in 2004 when the road to presidency began. At least the new Pevear/Volokhonsky translation of War and Peace (#11) is, in many ways, an authentically new book. And also, seriously on #6? And #10????!!! Really, London. At least we can agree on liking the fourth Harry Potter and Runaway by Alice Munro. Those were good.

Random disclosure: I'm sorry that Oprah's show is going off the air soon, though to be fair, I don't blame the host for wanting to try some new things after more than two decades. I've always been rather fond of Oprah. She's sincere, which is way to rare in celebrity culture, and she worked hard for everything she's achieved. And her book club too. What will happen to that? Uwem Akpan, surely you're not the last to be so honored?

The longlist for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction has been released. The sixteen that made it were drawn from 115 submissions from seventeen nations.

Other random disclosure: the old man in the easy chair next to me at Bean & Leaf is so adorable. He has feet propped up onto a chair, his eyes are closed, he sips a cool drink, he is writing in a tiny, tiny notebook, and every once in awhile, he closes his eyes to think and/or listen to the jazz music playing. Heart.