Member: thf4

Hey,

Just a quick note to let you know that my new novel, Dirty Little Angels, is now available. Thought you might like it since it's been compared to Larry Brown, whom I noticed you like. Here's a link to a summary in case you're interested:

http://christophertusa.com/blog/?page_id...

Take care,

Chris

posted by cmtusa at 12:05 am (EST) on Feb 20, 2009

I just obtained a copy of Life magazine's July 20, 1962 edition, which contains William Styron's "obituary" piece on William Faulkner. In it, Styron relates walking through Rowan Oak on the day of the funeral with Shelby Foote, who was looking for a particular anthology of poetry that he knew contained Faulkner's own poem, "My Epitaph". In the process, Styron noted the titles of a baker's dozen of books on Faulkner's shelves, most of which I do not see listed either in the UVA catalog, or the LT catalog for Faulkner so far. (The article also mentions that Styron was pleased to see his own novels in Faulkner's collection, but it doesn't mention which ones.) I would be happy to enter these titles into the TempWmFExperiment library, if I knew how to go about it.

posted by laytonwoman3rd at 11:02 am (EST) on Aug 17, 2008

Hello Thomas Freeland, IV,

I first flagged your site because of the number of books that we have in common. I assumed it was due to my interest in Mississippi writers. It was not until the mid 1970’s that I discovered Walker Percy and hunted all of his novels. My interest in Faulkner precedes that time, but it was not until the 1980’s that I read my first Willie Morris and starting collecting his non fiction writings and biographies. Then I found “Brother to a Dragonfly” by Will Campbell in a small bookstore in Highlands, NC. Here was a maverick preacher from the wilds of South Mississippi (and a diploma from Yale) who was run off the University of Mississippi campus five years before James Meredith arrived in 1962. I graduated from Georgia Tech in 1965 and I watched as the universities were integrated in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. I collect the books of the authors favoring this diversification (we did not call it diversification then) of the South and of the people who are writing and have written that history. You have a great collection of civil rights books.

So did your wife grow up in the Lawrenceville, Georgia area? My wife and I moved here in 1998 from Stone Mountain, Georgia where we lived for 25 years and raised two sons who are married and living in Sumter, SC and Chicago, Il.

posted by mrkurtz at 7:18 pm (EST) on Jul 7, 2008

Hi--
I stumbled upon your page while searching about William Faulkner's library at Rowan Oak... I was wondering if you ever got your hands on a digital copy of their collection. I can't seem to find it anywhere online, nor can I find any contact info for Rowan Oak. I'm looking for information on a particular book in that collection (Don Quixote, signed by Faulkner in 1938). I know that it was very near and dear to Faulkner. On another note, do you happen to know if Faulkner kept notes on his readings? Apparently he didn't make notes in the books themselves.

Cheers from Madrid,

Megan Cytron

posted by mcytron at 7:17 am (EST) on Mar 27, 2008

Hi Tom-

It's good to hear from you and I can certainly relate to the long sieges at work. I'm hoping now that tax day is over things will calm down again; I hate working ten and eleven hour days! Luckily, as things were getting really busy at work my office also geared up their fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Light the Night walk which was last Thursday. Week before last I spent 5-6 hours each night baking for a bake sale that we had outside of Sam's Club. I'm not sure how long it's been since I've had that much fun! It was exhausting but it has definitely gotten me back into the spirit of cooking and baking. The only other interesting thing I've done recently was attend the Solar Decathalon on The Mall in DC (http://www.solardecathlon.org/). I hadn't realized how far along green housing had become.

So, yes, I was on a roll there while I was still adding Faulkner books. I had even surprised myself at how many I was able to add in just a few "sessions". I think you're right I think I have Trollope to Z and then WF's books. I say this without having looked at the file to verify but that's what I remember.

Hope you are having a good week!

posted by archives49 at 6:54 am (EST) on Oct 16, 2007

Hi Tom,

Just a note to say hi - hope you're well.

Cheers,
-Rob

posted by robhutten at 12:13 pm (EST) on Sep 11, 2007

Yes, I did -- Thanks. I'll dive into it later this week.

posted by archives49 at 4:43 pm (EST) on Sep 9, 2007

Hey- If you need help with the Faulkner Library just shoot me an email and let me know what you need done. I'm at my parents house this weekend and probably won't be able to do anything but next week sometime I will be. Have a good weekend. :)

posted by archives49 at 9:34 am (EST) on Sep 8, 2007

There were actually two books that had me excited; Peter Bardaglio's Reconstructing the Household: Families, Sex, and the Law in the Nineteenth-Century South and Thulani Davis' My Confederate Kinfolk . Of course, then I realized that I own Thulani's book (and in my own defense, I bought the book two weeks ago and then promptly misplaced it). As far as Bardaglio's book goes, I'm such a sucker for books discussing the changing dynamics between men and women in the nineteenth century.

Regarding the fictional libraries, I'm right there with you. I can see the temptation in listing those books that are on your wishlist or those that you don't own but wish you did but there's something fake about it and misleading. Now, having said that, I've come very close myself to starting a tag line of wishlist just so that I can keep cataloguing books. I feel so out of sorts now that I've finished entering in all of the books that I own and there's only so much tweaking of the tags that I can do.

posted by archives49 at 9:45 pm (EST) on Sep 4, 2007

Oh, and I've been meaning to ask you for a week about those fictional libraries ... I haven't been able to find any. Where have you seen them?

posted by archives49 at 1:42 pm (EST) on Sep 4, 2007

I love throwing curve balls, which is, of course, why I included that bit on dairy farming. I don't do it anymore, nor did I ever officially do it but growing up I helped my Uncle milk the cows and in the spring I would help make hay. It was a lot of fun and I still love to go down to the farm and visit with all of the cute and adorable cows. I'm pretty sure that I'm the only person I know that thinks cows are cute and adorable but whatever, they are. Oh, and the unpasteurized milk is heavenly and unlike anything you can buy anywhere.

Oh, and have no fear about me not buying books just because I don't want to move them. I'm just not buying as many. I don't think I'm capable of not buying books; even when I am flat broke I still end up buying books.

Keep on adding your books, I still have incredible jealousy for your collection. There was one book of yours that you recently added that I was looking at last night that nearly had me foaming at the mouth. I'm always so excited to see that you've added more books because it's always so much fun to see what books you have. I certainly hope you have as much fun cataloguing your books as I do looking at them. Ok, break time at work is over . . .

posted by archives49 at 1:41 pm (EST) on Sep 4, 2007

There's art in Columbia? Interesting. I've heard of Piggie Park but never got to go. I was always too poor to do much eating out but I figured it was better to go without then than have to pay off another $10,000 in student loans just so I could have instant gratification. That and I lived on the opposite side of town than the school and so there was no way for me to walk the city and see all of the cool stuff. I, of course, regret that now but I do tend to have a one track mind and all I could think of while I was there was must ... get ... degree ... finished ... I think it would be fun to go back there now and see everything that I missed in the short time I was there.

posted by archives49 at 2:02 pm (EST) on Aug 30, 2007

The SFA looks to be a phenomenal institution. I'm surprised that I've never heard about that before but am very happy to know about it now. I'm going to have to keep an eye on the website to see if there will be any events that I will be able to attend. Edge's books have definitely piqued my interest and I look forward to reading them.

After looking up Square Books on the internet I can better understand why the community has blossomed there. I don't recall there being any bookstore like that in Northern or Western Virginia (I can't speak for Richmond because I haven't spent a lot of time there) or in Columbia, South Carolina. There are some very nice used/rare bookstores here in Charlottesville but they seem to specialize in the harder to find books. There is one downtown that I haven't gotten to throughly explore ... maybe it's what I've been looking for.

posted by archives49 at 9:59 pm (EST) on Aug 29, 2007

I forget, that in today's world, small communities can still exist outside of the internet. It's interesting to hear that the existence of a southern fiction community persevered even after Faulkner's death. I wonder how much influence the University has on that community and whether it would exist if the University weren't there as well. Of course, knowing that Woodward was very much connected to academia you have to wonder whether he learned about Stone through that vein. I'm rambling though so let me stop.

On another note, out of ignorance what is the Southern Foodways Alliance?

posted by archives49 at 10:00 pm (EST) on Aug 28, 2007

What interesting people you have met and how fascinating that Faulkner was a friend of your Father's mentor. I'm always fascinated by the social intertwinings of those who are well known.

Woodward must have been fascinating to spend an evening with and how hilarious that he preferred to skip the reception and get a drink instead. Sounds like someone I would like to hang out with.

As far as my thesis goes, yes, it was fascinating to research, unfortunately, it was a bit too fascinating. I backed myself into a corner because I became so involved in the research itself that I only left myself two weeks to write the paper. My professor commented to me at the end of the paper that he was extremely impressed with my research but my writing was terrible and I should have spent more time revising my paper.

posted by archives49 at 3:51 pm (EST) on Aug 26, 2007

My major in college was history and I tried to concentrate on Southern American history, 1800-1850. My goal with my thesis was to take a look at some aspect of the relationships between slaves and owners during that time period. I ended up taking a look at the relationship between female slaves and plantation mistresses when miscegenation was occuring on the plantation. My belief going into my research on the topic was that the white women treated the black women worse when miscegenation was occuring. I was very surprised to find that there were many white women that took pity on the female slaves and tried to help them the best that they could. I've always said that I was going to continue my research on it by reading more journals from that time period and by reading the oral histories that were conducted by the wpa but I just haven't done it, yet.

Blassingame and Genovese? I'm impressed and in awe. Were they overwhelmingly academic or fairly easy to talk to? My Roll Jordon Roll is a beat up paper back and I haven't been able to find another in better condition. I keep looking though.

posted by archives49 at 9:08 pm (EST) on Aug 24, 2007

How wonderful that I've been an inspiration! Sort of. Maybe, ok, fine, maybe not. I do have to say though that I am absolutely in love with your collection! I don't think I've ever seen so many fantastically interesting books listed in one place. I now have to ask the boring question of where have you gotten all of these books? The funny thing is quite a few of these books are directly related to the thesis I wrote in college and yet I've never heard of them or their authors before. Are most of these books newer books? My other boring question for you is, have you had the chance to read all of these books or is book collecting just an obessession of yours that you can't stop? Anyways, thanks for the pleasure of getting to see all of these great books and good luck continuing to add them into your catalogue.

posted by archives49 at 6:54 pm (EST) on Aug 23, 2007

Thanks for the comment. Initially, we put the catalog on this site so that faculty and students could search it. We are connected to, but not part of, the university catalog at this point. BTW, Professor Holden is originally from Mound Bayou, MS.

Kenya Hudson
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/kahu... (Personal Library)

posted by HoldenReadingRoom at 1:08 pm (EST) on Aug 17, 2007

That fresh pickle with chervil you mention sounds fantastic, I'll have to go looking for it. I used to do a lot more cooking but got out of the habit when I was in graduate school and even after two years I haven't gotten back into it. But as you can tell from my large cookbook collection, cooking is something that I love to do.

I'll definitely be watching for when you start adding books again. You have an incredible amount of books that I've already added to my wish list and I can't wait to see what else you may have.

posted by archives49 at 6:06 pm (EST) on Aug 16, 2007

....and I didn't know that those people that I added to my interesting libraries list got notification that I had added them to my interesting libraries list. Oh, and if you're interested as to why I added you - I'm quite jealous of many of your books. That and you have the Edna Lewis cookbooks ... so I know you must have great taste.

posted by archives49 at 8:13 pm (EST) on Aug 13, 2007

Hi Tom -- I am a Library Thinger, too! You should check out my blog when bored: http://thebedroomreader.typepad.com Hope all is well. MW

posted by maryhelene at 6:51 pm (EST) on Jan 29, 2007

Thanks for your note. I've written a book that deals lots with Mississippi politics over the course of the 20th c. I saw from your lawfirm's website a photo taken by Phil Mullen, whose name I remember typing several times. If I'm able to make it down to Oxford again one of these days, I'll look you up.

cheers,
Rob Mickey
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~rmickey/

posted by robmickey at 12:42 am (EST) on Sep 9, 2006

Actually, I'm quite proud of my collection, which I've been working on for over 30 years. It pleases me that you took note of it. And you with a direct historical connection to Pappy.... Don't you have some signed firsts hidden away somewhere that you aren't listing?

posted by laytonwoman3rd at 8:16 am (EST) on Jan 20, 2006

It should. It's working for me.

posted by pollack at 8:45 pm (EST) on Nov 22, 2005

Hi Tom,
Just signed up for librarything last night. Started entering my books, and clicked on the "similar libraries" link, and there you were at #1.

Cheers from Halifax,
-Rob

posted by robhutten at 8:14 am (EST) on Nov 5, 2005