![]() ![]() One of the things I was determined to do with these books was create this strange oscillation that you get in the evening or early morning, just before you drop off or just before you wake up, where many things are far more acceptable." What this meant for me was that there was never a chance to hover between the real world and the unreal. "Either you were dealing with an annotated story line or you had an illustrated book. ![]() "I don't remember ever picking up a book where the words and pictures had equal validity," says the 43-year-old author. The art styles of the two correspondents, radically different in the first book, begin merging into one style as the lovers draw closer in "Sabine's Notebook." Ranging from dadaist collage to Leonardolike pen-and-ink drawing, the pumped-up visual imagery tartly counterpoints the romance's wispiness, and advances the plot. It's when they're put together that things become both beguiling and unsettling. Taken singly, the words and pictures are interesting but not arresting. More intriguing, these are picture books for grownups, and like the lyrics and melody of a song, the art and the prose are completely intertwined. Sabine, it transpires, may be a mere figment of Griffin's overheated imagination. But there's no strictly anything about these books. Strictly speaking, they are old-fashioned epistolary novels, written in the form of letters between two talented, lonely people who fall in love via airmail. Part romance, part psychological mystery, "Griffin & Sabine" and "Sabine's Notebook" are among the strangest books ever published (a third, concluding volume is due in a year). 95), Chronicle ordered a first printing of 225,000 copies. Gearing up for the just-released sequel, Sabine's Notebook (Chronicle. Word of mouth kept it alive (it stayed on the San Francisco Chronicle's best-seller list for 47 weeks), and it has now sold a whopping 175,000 copies. ![]() Published last fall with little fanfare, the book became a favorite among the nation's booksellers, who voted it one of five books they'd most enjoyed selling in the past year. So began the inspired fictional correspondence between Griffin Moss, a London postcard artist, and Sabine Strohem, a South Seas postage-stamp creator. "Then it occurred to me, if you want a letter, write it yourself." One day, after withdrawing his mail from his post-office box, the Vancouver artist was grumbling over the usual assortment of bills and circulars when a man nearby extracted from his box a "really nice looking letter from overseas." Walking home, Bantock found himself craving exotic mail. $16.95) four years ago, after a bout of postal envy. Nick Bantock got the inspiration for the best-selling Griffin & Sabine (Chronicle. ![]()
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