I recently read on Notebook Stories about a little book that I just had to order the same day. So far, it’s been a great read (I haven’t finished it so this isn’t actually a review). From Old Notebooks by Evan Lavender-Smith is full of little nuggets of this and that — it’s exactly what it says: just stuff From Old Notebooks.
Beyond the content, it’s the first “Print On Demand” book I have ever actually seen. POD books are books that aren’t printed until they are ordered. I would never have been able to tell the difference except, on the last page it says, “Printed in Lexington, KY – August 26, 2010.†It was quite a different experience to order a book on August 25th, know it was printed on the 26th, and pull it out of my mailbox on the 27th (Thanks Amazon Prime). I was actually holding a book printed the day before! A book that didn’t even exist only 48 hours prior. It’s a different world to be sure.
Here’s the official product description of From Old Notebooks:
From Old Notebooks is a memoir, a novel, a poem, an essay — a self-styled memoivel — which exemplifies how love of language and literature enriches our lives, and explores, often with great humor, the many pitfalls confronting a young writer and father on his journey to maturity. Each entry in From Old Notebooks is literally that — an idea written in a writer’s draftbook. Within this unconventional format, Lavender-Smith is able to tell us the story of his life while ruminating on subjects ranging from fatherhood to philosophy, art, football, music, politics, TV, teaching, fear of death, and everything in between. In the process, Lavender-Smith lays bare the day-to-day trials and tribulations of an artist confronted by the pressures of culture, family, writing, and, simply, being. Witty, original, poignant and deeply insightful, From Old Notebooks is a coming-of-age story, an ode to writing and reading, to living and loving — a celebration of ‘human thought in all its glory, all its mundanity.’
