Tag Archives: Everything is Bigger

February Fun Times

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Winter got you feeling gloomy? Tempted to spend the rest of the month hiding behind the sofa with a box of Tagalongs and a choccie-stained copy of Either/Or? Fear not, for we have a trifecta of cheering Februarial excitements planned for you at Malvern Books:

Michael Teig

  • On Sunday, February 9th, at 2pm we’re teaming up with VSA Texas (The State Organization on Arts and Disability) and the Pen2Paper Creative Writing Contest (a project of the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities) to host a friendly, low-volume OPEN MIC for writers and musicians of all ages and abilities. Everyone will be warmly welcomed and encouraged, so please do come by!
  • On Wednesday, February 12th, at 7pm our beloved Everything is Bigger reading series returns (check out footage from the first Bigger on our YouTube channel), with the inimitable Tyler Gobble playing host to the alarmingly accomplished Claudia Smith, Dan Boehl, and Laurel Hunt. And for the avaricious amongst you, please note THERE WILL BE RAFFLE PRIZES.

Everything is Bigger 2

And by the way… Either/Or contains a section entitled “Crop Rotation: An Attempt at a Theory of Social Prudence”—you don’t want to read that! Come to Malvern Books, attend an event or three, and pick up some brand-spanking-new reading material while you’re at it. Check out our front window for a few ideas.

The Beginning of Bigger

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The inaugural reading in our Everything is Bigger series was an appropriately colossal success. We had a full (and enthusiastic) house, and your post-reading reports suggest that a good time was had by all. Thanks to everyone who came by for an evening of excellent poetry and prose with (left to right) host Tyler Gobble and readers Blake Lee Pate, Dean Young, and Vincent Scarpa.

Readers

Dean Young

And if you only came by for an evening of excellent raffle prizes, well, I can’t say I blame you—certain lucky audience members took home assorted delights, including Reese’s peanut butter cups the size of a fat baby and a whimsical belt buckle that features a cowboy riding a pipe-smoking squirrel. Our next Everything is Bigger bash will be on Wednesday, February 12th, so be sure to make a “YAY WORDS!” note in your calendar. (We’ll announce the readers soon; if you follow us on Facebook, you’ll be the first to hear the details.) And to whet your appetite for the return of Bigger, here are a few videos from EIB-the-First (for more footage of this and future events, be sure to check out our smashing new YouTube channel).

Forklift and Fun Times

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Happy Thursday to you, Malveroos, and a very happy birthday to renowned existentialists Simone de Beauvoir and Judith Krantz (the google doodle goes to Ms. de Beauvoir). Because a random post should begin with a random introduction!

On our assorted-bits-and-bobs list this week:

  • If you’re curious to learn more about the trials and tribulations of opening an indie bookstore, head over to The Bookseller and check out this blog post by our very own curmudgeon-in-chief, Dr. Joe!
  • We have the new issue of everyone’s most beloved journal of poetry, cooking, and light industrial safety in stock. Yup, Forklift, Ohio #27 has landed, and it features Malvern Books’ favorite Pates, Blake Lee and Taylor Jacob. And the carnivores amongst you will be delighted to hear that this particular issue is packaged like a slab of butcher’s meat.
  • If you’re looking for winter amusements, there’s no shortage of events at Malvern. Next Wednesday at 7pm we have the inaugural reading in our Everything is Bigger poetry series (featuring the aforementioned Blake Lee Pate, along with Dean Young and Vincent Scarpa), and the following Tuesday (the 21st) we’re introducing another new series, W. Joe’s Poetry Corner. W. Joe’s first guest will be poet and visual artist David Thornberry (check out his awesome chapbook covers below), who will give a reading and also sit down for a chat with our host. As always, our Events Calendar has all the details (and we like to keep y’all informed on our Facebook page, too).

David Thornberry

  • Finally, computer boffins at Stony Brook University in New York have developed an algorithm that can analyse and compare the language of “successful” and “unsuccessful” novels—and they’ve discovered several trends:

Less successful work tended to include more verbs and adverbs and relied on words that explicitly describe actions and emotions such as “wanted”, “took” or “promised”, while more successful books favoured verbs that describe thought processes such as “recognised” or “remembered.”

January Jollies

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Happy New Year, my bright and shiny lit-nerds! I hope your festive season was full of well-behaved loved ones and smelly new books. We’re kicking off 2014 in fine style here at Malvern, with a couple of events you’ll want to immediately note down in your brand-new Fast Disappearing Red Telephone Boxes of Wales calendars…

First up, we’re introducing a new monthly reading series for all you poetry fiends. We’re calling it Everything is Bigger (naturally), and it’ll be hosted by our very own Tyler Gobble. Our inaugural Bigger reading will take place on Wednesday, January 15th, at 7pm, and will feature three brilliant poets who need no introduction (but they’ll probably get one anyway; we’re polite like that): Dean Young, Blake Lee Pate, and Vincent Scarpa.

Tiny Art

And on January 26th we have something rather special for you: a display of artworks from Josh Ronsen’s Tiny Art Exchange (the tiny art above is by Reed Altemus). Here’s how Josh describes the Exchange:

I send you something tiny, you send me something back equally tiny. Someday, I’ll have enough pieces to fill a bathtub.

We won’t have a bathtub’s worth at Malvern, but we will have a great heap of miniature artworks for you to sift through (and yes, a very gentle fondling of the artwork is allowed, as some pieces are double-sided).

We’ll look forward to seeing you in the store for BIGGER poetry and TINY art! And in the meantime, let’s get the new year off to a handsome start with some loveliness from the aforementioned Mr. Young…

The Infirmament (from First Course in Turbulence, 1999)

An end is always punishment for a beginning.
If you’re Catholic, sadness is punishment
for happiness, you become the bug you squash
if you’re Hindu, a flinty space opens
in your head after a long night of laughter
and wine. For waking there are dreams,
from French poetry, English poetry,
for light fire although sometimes
fire must be punished by light
which is why psychotherapy had to be invented.
A father may say nothing to a son for years.
A wife may keep something small folded deep
in her underwear drawer. Clouds come in
resembling the terrible things we believe
about ourselves, a rock comes loose
from a ledge, the baby just cries
and cries. Doll in a chair,
windshield wipers, staring off
into the city lights. For years
you may be unable to hear the word monkey
without a stab in the heart because
she called you that the summer she thought
she loved you and you thought you loved
someone else and everyone loved
your salad dressing. And the daffodils
come up in the spring and the snow covers
the road in winter and the water covers
the deep trenches in the sea where all the time
the inner stuff of this earth surges up
which is how the continents are made
and broken.