Vancouver Bibliophiles Unite!

I have an obsession with paper.

There I said it.

In the oncoming age of i-pads and Kobo readers, I am clinging desperately to the plain old fashioned way of reading.

Books! Their smell, the weight and texture of the paper, the leather bindings. Yes I have a paper fetish. It's just that I need to have the feeling of a book in my hand as much as the contents to read. I literally love books. But I prefer the term "Bibliophiliac".

Now here in Vancouver there is a giant monopoly on the book-selling industry: Chapters/Indigo/Coles. Not that I'm saying they are a bad bookstore at all, I love going to Chapters. However, I enjoy independent bookstores for their discount prices,excellent quality of second hand (and usually first edition/hardcover) books, eclectic selections and cozy atmosphere.

The thing with franchised bookstores such as Chapters is that every other bookstore is exactly the same as the next, there is really no point in shopping around unless the copy of the book you want is not at that particular store. Another big downer is that you would always have to pay the cover price of the book, which can be pretty pricey at times, especially if you buy books as frequently as I do. Unless of course you buy from the discount section, but most of the books are crap. Bestsellers are usually discounted too, but I rarely buy bestseller books.

So what can a girl do?

Well, I'll share with you my wisdom of Bibliophile-friendly spots in Vancouver.

W. Broadway in Vancouver is practically lined with lovely used bookstores, especially in the Kitsilano area. Among my favourites are:

• Pulpfiction Books - they have locations on Balaclava in Kits and on Main St. The Main St. location is the larger one and have a wider selection, but the one on Balaclava is excellent as well. They sell new books for 20% less and if you're looking for a particular book they don't have, you can ask if they can order it online for you. The staff is very friendly and approachable, so don't be shy to ask!
  
  
• Tanglewood Books - (1553 West Broadway) They also have a sister store in Kits called "Brigid's Books", both have excellent collections, especially if you're looking for children's books. They also have a great Classics collection.

There are also good second-hand bookstores on 4th Ave in Kits such as:

• Canterbury Tales Secondhand Books - (1990 4 Avenue West) A lovely quaint dinghy bookshop exactly like the ones you would imagine when the words "second hand bookstore" are used.

But if you are really looking for a full blown movie-set-esque "Bookstore", none can compare with:

• Macleod's Books - (455 Pender Street West) on the corner of Richards St. and West Pender, this monstrosity of a bookstore impresses by sheer size (and by sheer number of books fitted into one building). In true old fashioned style, it is literally filled with books from floor to ceiling - they are stacked everywhere in a constant state threatening collapse. This is truly the place to look for rare books. I myself once purchased a Latin copy of Alice in Wonderland (they also have Folio society books). In addition, they have a basement section twice as big as the upstairs if not more stuffed with boxes of books everywhere. It's heaven for a Bibliophile.

Further out in the boonies and not a used bookstore, we have:

• Wendel's Bookstore & Cafe - nestled into the quaint town section of Fort Langley, this is the cutest place for a cuppa joe and poetry books. The bookstore also sells really cute journals. The atmosphere overall is unbeatable.

Well! Now that we've had a tour of the highlights of Vancouver's used bookstores, I'm going to let you in on a little secret of buying leatherbound classics. Charles Dickens? Jane Austen? Edgar Allen Poe?

Did you know that Barnes & Nobles sells GORGEOUS I mean GORGEOUS leatherbound editions of classics books? For $20 bucks? Yes, you heard right. There is nowhere else you can possibly buy that kind of quality books for $20. Nowhere. And I've looked.

The three copies I currently own are: Chronicles of Narnia, Wicked & Son of a Witch, and Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. They are absolutely fantastic. I plan on buying more in the future.

Happy summer reading lovelies :)

Vancouver's underground subcultures: Steampunk

Vancouver is a pretty awesome city.

Ok, I may be a little biased, since I have lived here since I was 5, but it's not entirely without basis. I mean, we've been consecutively voted as one of the top cities to live in the world, and no doubt you've caught glimpses of our jewel nestled next to the Rocky Mountains during the winter 2010 Olympic games.
 

Quatchi!

Growing up in the outer suburbia of Surrey and then moving out to Point Grey for University has opened me up to infinite more activities to dabble around in, since means of transportation in Surrey and Vancouver are worlds apart.

But first of all, what is Steampunk?

Steampunk - [steem puhngk] – noun (sometimes adjective, sometime verb)

      Steampunk started as literary genre of science fiction set during the Victorian era, and was usually characterized by steam engines, goggles, Victorian apparel, brass, and cogs. Often emphasized was overly complicated devices, such as Goldberg machines, and themes like airship pirates and clockwork appendages.

       The sub-culture of Steampunk, however, has evolved into much more than literature. Now, Steampunk accompanies anything from the mid to late 1800s but with a future twist. It often still refers to the same recurring themes, but has now spread into music, art, film, sculpture, fashion, games, and design. For some, Steampunk has even become a way of life, often emphasizing things like polite social behaviour, Victorian style clothing, and importance on the skill of the hand.

       While some Steampunks pride themselves on their polite mannerisms, upper class style, and love for all thing mechanical, there is also another side to being Steampunk. Some prefer the Steampunk mechanic lifestyle- one who uses mechanical tools to build elaborate machines- and some even go for the airship pirate look by focusing more on dirigible based adventure.

       A good way to understand Steampunk is to go back to its beginnings and reading some of the literature that started it all; however, it is just as beneficial to pay attention to some of the modern Steampunk books and movies if one really wants to understand what Steampunk IS rather than what it WAS.

- From www.vancouversteampunks.webs.com

Personally I am a huge fan of subcultures born from literature (hell I run a Harry Potter Yule Ball in Van every Christmas, but that is a whole entire subculture altogether). The novels of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells especially captivated me (favourites being: 20 000 Leagues under the Sea, the Time Machine and the Hollow man). I believe A Series of Unfortunate Events would also fall under this category. Philip Pullman's Dark Materials would also qualify (specifically the Golden Compass movie scenes).

Add on love of Victorian clothing.

Then a dash of costumery obsession.

Voila! Instant attraction.

The current Steampunk community in Van started in 2009 I believe, by a group of Steampunk lovers (including an acquaintance of mine I met through my Harry Potter friends). It now includes a Facebook page and a website, and they have regular meetings along with numerous other fun activities. There was actually just last month a 3-day Steampunk Expo in Victoria which I was not able to go to since it was on the expensive side, however, I did attend their "Lords and Ladies Masquerade Ball" last month, which was loads of fun and free Jelly Babies. Even managed to drag The Boy along and he actually enjoyed it.

Someone's awesome photography of the night

This July 10th, they are holding a One-day Steampunk Mini-Con in a Victorian mansion they've rented. There will be "a continuous stream of exhibits, lectures, classes, games, activities, and, most importantly, tiny little sandwiches, cupcakes, and tea. Everything from etiquette lessons to classes on leather working, Victorian sword fighting to Victorian dancing, steampunk movies to steampunk music, and card games to croquet."

Most of V-Steam's meetups happen around Gastown in Downtown Vancouver, the home of our famous steam clock. However, there a number of different haunts where you may run into members of V-Steam bedecked in their full Victorian gear:

• Steamworks Brewery on Water Street - perfectly charming little pub for Steampunks

• Biltmore Cabaret on Kingsway and 12th - perfect little nightclub for indie music with red velvet high-backed booths. Gorgeous.

• Burnaby Village Museum - a quaint little 1920's village and my personal favourite: the vintage carousel.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Roedde House Museum - a Victorian home from 1893
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

There is also the Lamplighter pub in Gastown and the Masquerade Ball which took place last month was at Heritage Hall on Main st. Granville Island would also be an excellent place to spot a Steampunk.

In addition there are many stores in Vancouver which cater to people interested in alternative clothing. Just out of Gastown on Cordova and Cambie there are two quaint little shops stacked on top of another: Venus&Mars, which also sells lovely Renaissance gowns, and Deadly Couture downstairs. If you're a lover of hats, there is Edie Hats in Granville Island which sells an assortment of top quality hats. There used to be a wonderfully gauche store in Metropolis across from Winners (with a giant purple dragon out front) that sold all kinds of wonderful things, but unfortunately it closed down about 6 months ago.

Dressing up for one of these things is really not as hard as you think it is. Given, it is a cumulative effort consisting of years of collecting these little pieces, and it wouldn't hurt to always be keeping an eye out for these things either. A good of way of keeping down the cost is diligent sweeping of second-hand/consignment stores and finding versatile pieces that could also double as every-day accessories on their own.

But of course, the main goal after all is just to have fun! Subculture communities such as this one are great ways of meeting new people who have the same interests as you and talking up a storm. Also, you have an excuse to dress up and take pictures. I have gained infinitely more facebook profile pictures from my jaunts out on the town.

Well, here you have it. Another night and another post. Possibly I shall continue with these little posts of Vancouver, but until next time, this is all you guys get!

Summertime

and the living is easy...ish.

When else do I have time to kick around and actually write stuff of my own free will. University has sucked all creative brain juice out of me and spat me back out a bland and uninteresting individual. My creative writing input has slowly dropped to zero in the last two years: besides angsty diary entries involving my then-non-existent relationship life (which dissipated after I met my current loverboy) and comic banterings in the Scarlet Letters, I had not written anything without coercion of a due date and a 30% class mark.

No more fanfiction authorship for Joyce, although I've recently read over the old things and they're actually not half as bad as I thought it'd be. At least, no serious cringe-worthy transgressions, I put out some good efforts even if they were a bit naive? innocent? To be fair my serious fanfiction obsession periods stretched from age 14-18 and I didn't actually start my first fic until I was 15 (which dangled on until it was eventually permanently abandoned 3 years later). Skirting any specific titles (which could lead you to read them) I wrote exclusively in the LOTR fandom.

Now poetry, I spat out once in a while in some dream-like state of serious sleep deprivation as if I could not even remember how to imagine while fully conscious. In fact, now that I think about it, most of my times of prolific writing has been done in the deepest hours of the night. That time between sleeping and waking, as if I tread the curbsides of both.

I digress.

But that is the point of a blog, no?
Actually I was going to try to capture in some essence the exact flavours of the mood I had wandered into. Being a very moody creature, I find myself changing interests and colours and reading material, most likely with the weather (no mean feat in a city like Vancouver) or entirely by random. We can always blame it on my feminine hormones, which probably cannot be written off anyways.

I prefer to refer to this as "Mood Profiling".

To begin this sketch, I offer you my new profile picture on Facebook:


Clearly, this is some sub-category of my "Whimsies".

Let's add some more smells and imagery.

Recently been re-diving into Anne Rice again, since my friend Michelle has recommended me the Mayfair Chronicles, which I hadn't read since I devoted most of my attention to her Vampire Chronicles (which I am also re-reading now). I don't think I've been able to read a book where I saw past the words in a while. The words fairly melted off the pages and materialized in my perpetually fantasy-starved brain. Subsequently I devoured the thing like a book-starved monster. And before I depart in a praise-poem of Anne Rice complete with odes and a 3 book saga in epic poetry, the whole point of this exercise was to introduce you to my imagination of the deep south of the US, Louisiana and that languid, sensual city of New Orleans.

The Mayfair Chronicles is a 3 book series that documents the lives and intrigues of an immense, elite and hopelessly interbred family of witches who make their residence in the Garden District of New Orleans. The house on First Street is actually based on Anne Rice's own former residence, leading us to pictorial example #2:


How I would like to visit New Orleans, if only but to pay homage to my obsession with Anne Rice's seductive world.

Element #3 to my current fancies is captured by Lewis Carroll's "The Walrus and the Carpenter":

which of course extends from my deep-seated love of Alice in Wonderland, a prime example of the space between dreaming and waking.

"The time has come," the Walrus said, "to speak of many things:...

Just a few lines, going around and around in my head like a little mantra. Funny how poetry can creep into your head.

"O Oysters, come and walk with us!"
The Walrus did beseech.
"A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,
Along the briny beach:

Along the Briny Beach (small cameo appearance by ASOUE):


In an unexpected turn, this sub-category of "whimsy" has also triggered my once-a-year obsession with Hayao Miyazaki's "Spirited Away", which has lead to hours of fanart creeping on deviantart and devourage of much fanfiction. Logically, this is just a tangent of my "fairy tales" obsession in an offshoot of "Alice in Wonderland" sector. Because of course, if you compare the two, you will find them as snug as Siamese twins.

Why do I love it so much?

Between the heartbreakingly goooorgeous imagery

the tender, sweet and innocent love story sub-plot

oh and did I mention the beautiful dragon-boy that was the crush of my shy 12-year-old self?

Really.
I could hardly resist.

And after a couple days of prowling and scouring the internet, almost fearing I'd be left to the dredges of fics at fanfiction.net, I discovered this delightful pocket of beautifully written and heartbreakingly beautiful fics on livejournal which I highly recommend. All simple, elegant and completely proofread. A veritable feast.

And last but not least, the LOTR character fascination of the month seems to be Thranduil, that sexy beast, who is as yet untainted from any manifestation in a Hollywood actor and shall remain forever perfect in my mind. That is until the long-discussed Hobbit movies come out. I really really hope they find a good Thranduil or they will break my heart. 

On reflection, this fascination may have something to do with his association with the Summerking and other Auberon-esque links he has in my mind. I would imagine it would be just around this type of June weather when he would be lording it over some sort of midsummer feast with berries in his hair.

Here is a silly picture:

"Legolas, send an escort after Erestor and see he escapes the Wood without being eaten by a spider. I do not want Elrond declaring war on us because we managed to lose his librarian."

Oh, them flimsy Noldor elves.

'And now, Harry, let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.'

And now, boys and girls, I bid you adieu, and goodnight.