Big expectations are a two-edged sword, er, wood chisel

Edge of a chisel blade, detail. Well, the Siren hasn't been calling over the past few days -- too much playing catch-up with tasks and goals for the new year.

I'm sure that plenty of you can relate to that (although you have been far more faithful to your blogs than I, my dear friends).

Yesterday, in the middle of a hectic day, I dropped everything and turned to David Esterly's book for some mental relief. I wrote about Esterly in my last post -- he's a carver who tackled some daunting restoration work and wrote about it in his lyrical semi-memoir "The Lost Carving."

I just needed a mental palate-cleanser, and this passage did the trick for me:

Now when I break something the wood is usually sending a different message: the problem here, it's saying, isn't your technique but your design. The composition you've drawn asks too much of wood, no matter how adept you may be with a chisel. You've persuaded yourself that a spray of leaves has to arch across the grain just so, because it answers to that other spray over there, or because it adds richness to effect, or simply because it's beautiful; but an aesthetic triumph can't change the temperament of wood. When writers use similar arguments to justify an unneeded beautiful sentence, editors famously tell them to "kill their darlings." If you're a carver, the wood sometimes kills your darlings for you.

The grace of such writing is its metaphysical quality. Sure, it's about a woodcarver's experience, but the lessons he's learned can apply to any of us.

There's a temperament to more than just limewood: This realization comes easily when you're in the midst of filling out a to-do list (as yours truly has discovered).

So, as you're planning out a busy 2013, and piling the work on your plate, just remember: Be reasonable.

That's my advice to you, my readers. Take it easy on yourself.

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Tools of the trade: for the resolution-weary

A balance between soul and sense: David Esterly finds his in "The Lost Carving: A Journey to the Heart of Making." Most of us spend our days -- most of our lives, to be specific -- in an office where we execute projects we don't always enjoy because they pay the rent, right?

If you had a chance, over the holidays, to relax a little bit and consider your priorities for the new year, your resolutions might have included this one: "I want to be involved in work that's more meaningful."

My cherished set of readers, if that doesn't happen for you in 2013 -- please, you mustn't get discouraged. Such simple wishes sometimes require a long time to unfold (trust me, I know that for a fact).

While you wait, there are always books to teach you patience. Wonderful, glorious books, in which authors realize the dreams that we're still in the process of reaching.

Like author and sculptor David Esterly, whose occupation provides the ideal harmony between feeding the soul and feeding one's family: He's a carver of limewood.

As you work on your own dreams this year, I recommend that you treat yourself to Esterly's exhilarating memoir of the carver's trade, "The Lost Carving: A Journey to the Heart of Making" (Viking Books).

lost-carvingEsterly describes his efforts to recreate the masterful marginal carvings of Grinling Gibbons destroyed in a fire at Henry VIII's Hampton Court in the 1980s. Gibbons' creations weren't centerpiece work like a Grecian maiden or warrior: No, he perfected the art of carving foliage -- vines and leaves, flowers -- that twisted and stretched along palace walls and seemed as real as what you find growing in a field or beside a sparkling brook.

That's why you can call the works "marginal" -- but it's not intended as a slight. Thanks to these wondrous works, Gibbons became recognized as a 17th century master.

Before Gibbons came along, carvers produced "inert flowers... in dully conventional swags and drops. Gibbons turned them into blossoms that seem to have the juice of real life in them, seem actually to be made of plant material..."

Esterly marvels at the artistry of Gibbons work. And so do we.

"[T]hose flowers would be modeled with all the attention a high European sculptor might give to the face of a saint," he writes.

And, inside Hampton Court, as he faces his task, Esterly's awe turns to humility.

"On the Hampton Court scaffolding I was a beginner again. This time the crack of wood taught me about the special frailty of Gibbons's carving that comes with its age," he reflects.

Esterly's quest in "The Lost Carving" is spiritual; his intimate knowledge of the carver's trade is fascinating.

You won't find a more satisfying story in 2013 ... I'll risk saying that right now, on Day 3 of the New Year.

And, what's more, you'll never again insult any task -- like one's dull work chores -- by using the word "marginal" ... not with the lesson of Gibbons and Esterly in your pocket!

Happy New Year, my friends.

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Spoiling George R.R. Martin: some cautionary advice

No spoilers here: The land north of the Wall, from "The Lands of Ice and Fire" (Bantam) I'm well into "A Feast for Crows" -- book 4 of George R.R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" epic -- and I've lost my breath and had my heart broken countless times by this series. Oh, I know, there's plenty more to come, but I need to be careful: The surprises can be ruined if you don't watch out.

If you relish this series, you'll find it difficult not to buy everything else connected to the series, and that can only mean one thing: Read related works at your own risk for spoilers abound. Here are a few Martinesque items to consider for your bookshelves ... along with my advice:

"The Lands of Ice and Fire" (Bantam):  Even imaginary landscapes need to be treated like real places -- J.R.R. Tolkien demonstrated that with his sketches of scenes and maps for "The Hobbit." The same is also true of George R.R. Martin's tale. Until now, the only maps of Martin's heroic world have been mostly simple: black-and-white sketches included in the volumes of the series. Or else you might check out images of Norway -- kindly supplied at Ajaytao's blog -- to get some idea of what the frozen country located to the north of the Wall is really like for Jon Snow and the rest of the Night's Watch

This is  a lovely collection of maps that gives us Westeros along with the rest of the surrounding continents in vivid, topographical detail. I'll admit that I picked up one of the maps, "Beyond the Wall," hoping for some additional clues about The Others. No luck. While this map doesn't reveal any of Martin's secrets, one thing is certainly true: It's too bad Lord Snow didn't have this one in his pocket when he went out in search of Wildlings!

Verdict: Dig up every gold dragon that you can find and buy this!

"Beyond the Wall: Exploring George R. R. Martin's 'A Song of Ice and Fire' " (BenBella Books): I wish I could say the same thing about "Beyond the Wall," but I can't.  It has nothing to do with the quality of this book: Editor James Lowder has assembled a great collection of essays by a variety of authors who celebrate Martin's saga.  But this book is the dessert once the main meal has been eaten -- if you're not finished with Book 5, this book is liable to ruin your experience of getting there.  I grabbed a copy of this book, opened to its table of contents and felt my heart skip a beat.

Verdict: Ok, buy this book, but shelve it ... and be patient!

"A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official 'Game of Thrones' Companion" (Bantam): I love this book because it shows us how to make all those wildly strange dishes digested by kings and queens, bannermen, maesters and simple folk. The authors present us with a superb collection of recipes so that you can bring the meals of Westeros into your own home.

Verdict: A great book, but be careful -- each recipe is accompanied by a quotation selected from books 1 - 5.  These aren't lethal spoilers, but they can sometimes drop hints that you wish you hadn't seen.

"Epic: Legends of Fantasy" (Tachyon): This collection of stories by epic novelists -- including Rothfuss, Le Guin, etc. -- includes a story by George R.R. Martin called "The Mystery Knight."  Martin gives us an extended story of Westeros that precedes our introduction to Lord Eddard Stark and his wolf clan.

Verdict: No spoilers here, but a great tale to occupy your time as you await Book 6.

Any other books that we should know about? All you citizens of Westeros -- please, let me know!

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'You can always see the truth': the wisdom of Jimmy Page

light-and-shade-jimmy-page-coverJimmy Page has been called elusive ... averse to media attention ... shy ... but the architect behind Led Zeppelin is hardly as quiet as a church mouse. As I'm getting settled in and ready to watch tonight's airing of The Kennedy Center Honors, which celebrates LZ along with David Letterman and Dustin Hoffman among others, I turn to a new book that gives us a talkative, insightful Page: "Light & Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page" by Brad Tolinski (Crown).

Tolinski's book covers Page's entire career -- pre-, mid- and post-Led Zep -- but what I want to call attention to here is Page's occult interest, which is often painted by plenty of writers (I'm sure you've read some of them, too) in sinister shades of gray and black.

His avoidance of talking too much about his study of magick (yes, with a "K") is given in practical terms: "There's no point in saying more about it," he says at one point in Tolinski's book, "because the more you discuss it, the more eccentric you appear to be."

That doesn't just apply to magick -- the same advice should be followed by any 40something fan of "Star Wars."

In regards to the fantasy scenes from the movie "The Song Remains the Same" featuring the figure of a hermit on a strange journey, here's Page's candid explanation:

"My segment [of the move's fantasy sequence] was supposed to be the aspirant going to the beacon of truth, which is represented by the hermit and his journey towards it. What I was trying to say, through the transformation, was that enlightenment can be achieved at any point in time; it just depends on when you want to access it. In other words, you can always see the truth, but do you recognize it when you see it or do you have to reflect back on it later?"

Page's message -- that we are all capable of making substantial changes in our lives at any time -- couldn't come at a better time as 2012 is slipping behind us and 2013 is just ahead.

So, in the new year, let's all resolve to seek some enlightenment for ourselves ... and keep listening to Page, Plant & Company (of course).

In case you missed the Call of the Siren during Christmas week

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Etc.: Leonardo's apocalypse, Hobbit style, and something Sherlockian

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT: Leonardo and his era knew all about apocalypse. THE END OF THE WORLD, AGAIN: How many of your friends on Facebook posted "Well, I'm still here!" as their status update on Friday, Dec. 21? It was funny the first or second time, but the joke got old pretty quick, didn't it?

That joke would have been even less amusing to the people of 15th-century Italy. The opening of a recent book about Leonardo by Ross King, which I talked about earlier this week, begins with a passage that's incredibly apt for all the Mayan expectations this year:

"The astrologers and fortune-tellers were agreed: signs of the coming disasters were plain to see. In Puglia, down in the heel of Italy, three fiery suns rose into the sky. Farther north, in Tuscany, ghost riders on giant horses galloped through the air to the sound of drums and trumpets. In Florence, a Dominican friar named Girolamo Savonarola received visions of swords emerging from clouds and a black cross rising above Rome. All over Italy, statues sweated blood and women gave birth to monsters.

These strange and troubling events in the summer of 1494 foretold great changes..."

Every age, it seems, thinks that it's the final one.

hobbit-book-coverTOLKIEN'S METHOD: There's a moment in "The Hobbit" -- the novel, not the Peter Jackson movie -- when the band of adventurers seek shelter from a giant named Beorn. It's always struck me as being an unexpected insight into Tolkien as a storyteller of fantasy tales. The key to a tale's success, and its believability, seems contained in Gandalf's strategy for approaching Beorn and asking for his hospitality:

" 'You had better wait here,' said the wizard to the dwarves; 'and when I call or whistle begin to come after me--you will see the way I go--but only in pairs, mind, about five minutes between each pair of you. Bombur is fattest and will do for two, he had better come alone and last. Come on Mr. Baggins!' "

A large group, Gandalf thinks, will overwhelm Beorn: It is far better to introduce the group gradually, piece by piece, so that he has time to absorb and accept them.

That does seem, to me at any rate, an ideal method for introducing a world of fantasy to readers.

great-pearl-heist-coverSHERLOCKIANA: The holiday season not only inspires people to pick up their novels of Dickens; it's also a time for old-fashioned English detection. That's the impulse behind "The Great Pearl Heist: London's Greatest Thief and Scotland Yard's Hunt for the World's Most Valuable Necklace" (Berkley) by Molly Caldwell Crosby. Caldwell tells an intriguing story of a master criminal, down to the details of life in Edwardian England, and a phenomenal heist that readers will savor alongside their collections of Conan Doyle adventures.  What's even more phenomenal is that it's all true.

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