Fante's 100th birthday, Buk letters (1 Viewer)

Hm, a deluxe version eh? I'm intrigued. I haven't seen any upcoming releases in our computer, but I suppose if it was just announced... I'm curious to see if Harper\Ecco can do it right.
 
It was a really cool gathering. Book nerds mixed with the regular drunks at King Eddy, one of those bars you can't believe still exists. Hardboiled eggs for a quarter, Taylor wine by the jug and old men who look like they're one with their barstools. In Ask The Dust, it's the bar where Bandini goes to drown his sorrows after being rejected by his lady love. Two of Fante's kids were in attendance. I chatted with his daughter and we toasted her father's birthday. She just donated his papers and letters and all kinds of other personal items to the UCLA library for their permanent collection. There are hundreds of letters between Fante and his parents, written when he moved to L.A. from Colorado. She said they read like an autobiography and is hoping to get them published some day.

lovepain.jpg
 
I was thinking about Fante last night, as BBC was reporting from Abruzzi region hit by an earthquake.

"We have here the pleasure to publish Dan Fante's comment to the joint work of Abruzzo2000 and "il Centro", reproduced here courtesy of Paolo Di

http://www.john-fante.com/en/:

Vincenzo and Dan
" Paolo,
I've just had the opportunity to scan the Abruzzo2000 web site. Excellent work. Just excellent. Please extend my compliments to all those who made it possible.
As you know I am fortunate enough to be a frequent visitor to Abruzzo. I have walked her beaches and felt the quiet magnificence of her mountains and forests. I confess that I continue to be struck dumb by her beauty and humbled by the genuineness and kindness of her people. I love this land of my fathers. So much of who I am today I owe to Abruzzo. To the sweat and humor of my people. My blood line. Men like my grandfather who lived and toiled on the stony slopes of Torricella Peligna beneath the great mountain. In my very breath I carry the DNA of a story teller from her streets.
So, again, congratulations on the web site. I hope we can share the wonder of this place with as many people as possible. For me there will never be anything in the world like Abruzzo. May God bless every speck of bread and glass of wine spilled in laughter and tears in her streets. And may God forever bless my beautiful Abruzzo.
Dan Fante"
 
ESO9 -- sound like a great old bar. Your description reminds me of a blues club in Chicago my wife and I went to when we visited there, a great old neighborhood bar. I felt right at home, like I'd been going there all my life. Friendly easy going small crowd, great music. Kingston Mines it's called.
 
So I looked into the new version of Ask the Dust at work today... so far its announced as hitting 10/09 and is... just a paperback. Not even a nice hardback for me to put up on my shelf. So sad, so sad. I'll just have to buy a nice BSP hardcover on Abe.
 
Maybe the paperback is the regular "trade edition" of a new edition, and there will be a deluxe, limited hardcover version of the same edition. Or, it's a "deluxe" paperback with extra content, nice papers, whatever.
 
Hope springs eternal for me and Ecco, but as far as Buk and Fante go... nothing yet. We'll see, perhaps there IS a nice hardcover that just isn't in our computer system yet.
 
I found the video for the 100th Birthday gathering at UCLA on youtube and was happy to learn Fante's letters, manuscripts, etc. have been donated and will be preserved for future generations to come. The biographer of Full Of Life mentioned how the manuscript of Ask The Dust has gone missing and was last with Joyce/John in Malibu before his death. Known for his bad temper, I'm going to take a wild guess is JF destroyed it. Any thoughts please share.
 
Well if you believe Dan Fante's 86'd... it was found in his brothers things after he died... Its definitely based in reality, so who knows.

Also, on a related note: the anniversary edition of Ask the Dust seems to have been pushed back. Ah well, I tried to have some faith in HC...
 
Is 86'd any good? I really liked his DON GIOVANNI. And you gotta love Bruno.

Too bad about the anniversary edition. It would be a special treat for us if it comes in hardcover.
 
Haven't read Don Giovanni (but would like to). 86'd is good. Not as good as Chump Change. Maybe as good as Mooch. Definitely better than Spitting Off Tall Buildings. Actually, I think they're all about the same. But Chump Change is the best.

So long answer: yes, it is good. Funny when it needs to be, disturbing when it wants to be.
 
If you like 86'd, then you'll like Don Giovanni. If you love any Fante book, you will at least really like them all. I love all of them.

Bill
 

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