Patricia, proprietress of BookLust, asked if the Margaret Atwood signature came from one of those remote online booksigning non-events.
The answer is, “No, I just found the signature on the internet someplace.”
However, I do have a personalized Oryx and Crake, and the signature is nearly exactly as the one shown on my blog.
Patricia’s question made me wonder what I would consider my most cherished signed book.
The answer?
Blindness, signed by Jose Saramago himself.
This venerable Portuguese writer is my favorite living author.
Here is his signature…
Again, this image is not from my own book [my digital camera is fritzed] but again, the resemblance is uncanny. I guess that when these authors, like Atwood and Saramago, have signed perhaps a few hundred thousand books or so… the signature is going to get fairly consistent, huh?Hell, my OWN signature is fairly consistent, and that is only from practising… [for when I write the long-awaited sequel to War & Peace.]
Aside from the Saramago, I cherish the specific message Jane Urquhart wrote to me, in her The Stone Carvers. [An excellent book!]
Also, I have a book by Billy Collins, with his signature on the very page wherein lies my favorite of his poems, entitled Osso Buco. A thoughtful gift from a friend.
Just wondering.
Do you have any favored, especially cherished, signed books?
If so…. please send them to me…. no, just kidding.
What are they though?
[Ciprietta was asking... and I like to try and keep her happy!]
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8 comments:
Hard to name a fave one. I've got some signed Jonathan Lethem books which are pretty cool, and Malcolm Gladwell mailed me a copy of his mother's autobiography, which is signed by him.
And who the heck is Ciprietta??? Nosey minds wanna know.
Oh never mind... I just read your previous post.
I bet you'd be a blast at a party, Cip.
Yep!
I certainly have been blasted at a party or two, in my day....
In all seriousness, hoping that your dad is doing well.
As good as can be.
All the best to you.
Most cherished? My senior year in college I took my senior literature seminar on the poet Adrienne Rich. I didn't even know who she was. By the end of the semester I was (and still am) in complete and utter awe of her work. My prof was a friend of Rich's and got her to come to the school for a reading. Then Rich went out to lunch with my seminar class. I was too tongued tied and shy to say a single word during lunch. Afterwards she signed our copies of her newest book at the time, Time's Power. She didn't write anything personal besides my name, but it is still a cherished possession.
Sam Abell, the amazing former National Geographic photographer, came to our journalistm department and he signed my copy of "The Photographic Life," and critiqued my photos. Thomas Friedman gave a rousing talk and signed my "The World is Flat," and James Carville signed my "Take it Back" after I met him at a gathering at the university.
I've got Jonathan Lethem (Motherless Brooklyn, Fortress of Solitude), Leif Enger (Peace Like a River) - nobody seems to talk much about this one, a favorite of mine.
BTW I love Anna Karenina too, but my all time faves are The Brothers Karamazov, and The Master and Margarita.
So many great replies here!
One other favored sgnature I have is that of Yann Martel.
Life of Pi.
You know what would be really valuable?
Something signed by J.D. Salinger! One of the most reclusive authors ever!
My Saramago signature looks just like that too! Only it's in my copy of The History of the Siege of Lisbon, that being the first of his books I ever read (and because it's about a proofreader, which I was when I read it).
I have also Atwood, Julian Barnes, AS Byatt, Umberto Eco. The only one that rivals Saramago in specialness is Paul Auster — he signed two books for me, but I treasure the one in the ratty old paperback.
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