June 13, 1963

Fantasy is so popular now. I recently heard on NPR that kids are reading at several grades lower than they read a few decades ago. We cannot blame that on Audrey Niffenegger though. This writer and graphic artist, born June 13, 1963, combines fantasy themes with a sharp originality. Her books include Aberrant Abecedarium (1986). The Time Traveler's Wife. (2003) was her break-out book and has since been made into a movie (2009). Raven Girl has been turned into a ballet of the same name, performed by the Royal Ballet in London the spring of 2013.  Also recently, a book, Awake in the Dream World was published. It is a collectible illustrated catalogue for a mid-career retrospective on Niffenegger. This show was at  Washington, D.C.'s National Museum of Women in the Arts.. (June 2013).

And Her Fearful Symmetry (2009) contains this charming vignette:

She wore a lavender dress in a style from the late nineteenth century.
"Hello," she said to Valentina politely. "Are you coming?"
"Coming where?" said Valentina
"They're mustering the crows...we're going flying."
..."Can't you fly on your own?"
"It's different, haven't you done it before."
"I'm new"...

...The girl began walking and Valentina walked with her. "I say, are you an American? Where did you get your cat. No one has a cat here. When I was alive I had a cat named Maisie, but she's not here..." Valentina followed her to the Dissenters section of the cemetery, where many ghosts stood around chatting in small groups.
...

And we are interested in Niffenegger on ebooks. She explained to the Guardian newspaper:
I am not opposed to the existence of e-books; I know lots of people are wildly enthusiastic about them. But I have spent my life working with books as an art form and I am devoted to physical books. E-books in their current incarnations are still imperfect and they threaten the arts of book design and typography. As a book conservator I am also nervous about the digitization of books: will they be readable one hundred years from now? Or will thousands of books simply vanish as platforms and programs change?

Cat chow for thought.