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The Goose Bath
Sunday 26 February, 2006
This shop is in Brooklyn, Wellington. I love the way the owners have let the ivy take over. It looks like the whole shop is a big topiary with a bit of shop built on to the front, as though inside the shops it would just be a tangle of green. People should let plants go wild in the city more often.
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I read with some excitement in the weekend papers that there is a new book of Janet Frame's poetry out: 'The Goose Bath'. I have her only other volume 'The Pocket Mirror' and love a handful of poems out of it. (I'm super-fussy about poetry, so it is rare for me to love more than one poem from any given volume.) Apparently the book is arranged chronologically, so there are poems about her childhood, her European years, about old age etc so it sounds like this volume will be a lovely companion to her autobiography.
Major grump though: LOOK at the hideous cover and book design. Because I am an aesthetically motivated (read: slightly shallow and often judge books by their covers!) person, I feel very disappointed and disgusted at the yukky, un-lovely, painfully literal, thrown-together look of this cover (check the 90's fake typewriter font, too). Now I'm in a quandry - where I was going to splash out on the book, now I'm not sure I want to own something so ugly! And I notice the price is a whopping $40, too, whereas most poetry books retail for $25. Janet is dead, so where are the royalities going? Hopefully towards her literary trust or something...but I can't help feeling that this is a cynical move on the publisher's front to maximise profit...everyone knows how much writers and artist's popularity soars once they are dead!
Gripes aside, it will be lovely to read previously unpublished Janet Frame poetry.
posted by Helen on 26 February, 2006 | 2:36pm
COMMENTS
Good to know about Janet Frame's new book- I agree the cover is so bad! On my last birthday Tom bought me the new edition of 'The Lagoon and the Pocket Mirror' (in one) which is so beautifully presented. Yes, it is important to have an aesthetically-pleasing book, it adds to the general enjoyment, especially of poems and short stories which are nice to dip into and have lying around for others to look at.
I think I'll still have to buy this new one though (or request it for my next birthday!), it sounds great!
Posted by melissa on 26 February, 2006 | 6:41pm
Interesting to come across another Janet Frame aficionado. I have only read a few of her poems, but I was completely absorbed by her autobiography. I will check the "new" book out. You're right about the neh cover design: it's like an high school design student was let loose and thought "The GOOSE bath, eh? I know! Let's put geese on the front!".
Posted by Noo on 10 May, 2006 | 1:48am
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