I’ve picked up and put down a surprising number of books this summer.
Some I read all the way through and enjoyed, but so far they haven’t made it into this show. Others trailed off at various places... the book was disappointing, not what I wanted at the moment. Or simply not engaging enough to compete with all the other books clamoring for attention.
I had high hopes for the latest Alan Furst novel, “Spies of the Balkans.” Furst has supplied many hours of intensely enjoyable reading in his previous works, all set in Europe in the years before World War II.
“Spies of the Balkans” resembles these, but it’s as if Furst took this one off, as the great composer Beethoven was known to do. Someone once pointed out that Beethoven’s even-numbered symphonies tend to be less fraught and majestic than the odd-numbered ones.
In this latest Furst, set in Salonika, Greece in 1940, Costa Zannis, policeman in charge of “special” cases too delicate for ordinary police treatment, gets involved with a woman helping Jews escape from Berlin. This leads to fear and suspense, good vs. evil, and the usual assembly of flawed characters.
It adds up to... well, an interesting book. But I’ve come to expect more from Alan Furst – novels crafted so intriguingly well they equal the best of the genre, from John LeCarre to Graham Greene.
“The Cello Suites, J.S. Bach, Pablo Casals, & the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece” will interest a broad range of music lovers. Eric Siblin has done original research on the history of these Suites for Solo Cello, and discovered a world known previously mostly to scholars. If this book is for you, you’ll know it the moment you spot the beautiful cello embossed on a black jacket.
I tried, I really tried, to get through “The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet,” a novel set in coastal Japan, 1799, as seen through the adventurous eyes of a Dutch trader. It’s well written, dense. Fans of highly literate historical novels will spend many happy hours diving into this nearly 500-page book, even if I didn’t.
“Seaside Dream Home Besieged” is the combative personal story of how a new home on a bluff near the town of Elk in Mendocino county came finally to be constructed. Author Ted Berlincourt and his wife Margie fought six years through county and state agencies and stiff local opposition for the right to build. It’s a necessarily one-sided view of a struggle that years later still has people not talking to each other. Those who opposed the construction have yet to write their side of the story as convincingly. In the meantime, “Seaside Dream Home Besieged” is compelling documentation of convoluted coastal politics.
That leaves a tasty pile of books I can’t wait to dive into. Jonathan Franzen, author of “The Corrections” will publish his novel “Freedom” in September. Then there’s another large one, “The Passage” by Justin Cronin, which appears to be just the kind of thriller I’m looking for this summer.
“A Truth Universally Acknowledged, 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen,” edited by Susannah Carson, is the perfect accompaniment to “Pride & Prejudice” which I’m currently reading at the rate of one short email a week, provided by Daily Lit dot com.
Right now I am reading “The Strange Case of the Composer and His Judge” by Patricia Duncker. Others awaiting their turn include “In the Shadow of the Cypress” by Thomas Steinbeck,“A Life Worth Breathing, A Yoga Master’s Handbook of Strength, Grace, and Healing” by Max Strom, and “The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing” by Tarquin Hall.
Not to mention some used books I picked up recently: Michael Chabon’s “The Final Solution,” “HarperCollins College Outline: Music Theory” and “Wagstaffe the Wind-up Boy” given to me in person by English writer and friend, Jan Needle.
Need I say more? It’s time to read a book!
NOTES:
“Spies of the Balkans” by Alan Furst. Random House hard cover $26. ISBN 9781400066032.
“The Cello Suites” by Eric Siblin. Atlantic Monthly Press hard cover $24. ISBN 9780802119292.
“The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet” by David Mitchell. Random House hard cover $26. ISBN 9781400065455.
“Seaside Dream Home Besieged” by T. G. Berlincourt. Trafford Publishing paperback $19.99.
ISBN 9781426904783.
“Freedom” by Jonathan Franzen. Farrar, Straus & Giroux hard cover $28. ISBN 9780374158460. Publication date September, 2010.
“The Passage” by Justin Cronin. Ballantine Books hard cover $27. ISBN 9782345504968.
“A Truth Universally Acknowledged, 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen” edited by Susannah Carson. Random House hard cover $25. ISBN 9781400068050.
Daily Lit “Minutes a day of great reading in your inbox-100% free!”
“In the Shadow of the Cypress, A Novel” by Thomas Steinbeck. Simon & Schuster hard cover $25. ISBN 9781439168257.
“The Strange Case of the Composer and His Judge” by Patricia Duncker. Bloomsbury USA paperback $15. ISBN 9781608192038.
“A Life Worth Breathing, A Yoga Master’s Handbook of Strength, Grace, and Healing” by Max Strom. Skyhorse Publishing hard cover $24.95. ISBN 9781602399808.
“The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing” by Tarquin Hall. Simon & Schuster hard cover $24. ISBN 9781416583691.
“Wagstaff the Wind-up Boy” by Jan Needle, illustrated by Roy Bently. Back to Front paperback $12.99. ISBN 9781904529415.
One of the best sources to search used book titles and purchase them is ADDall (“Book Search and Price Comparison – Be smart: don't buy any book without comparing the price.” You also can also use them to search for new books.
The used books mentioned above were purchased at Eureka Books in Old Town, Eureka, California. “...one of the last classic antiquarian bookstores on the West Coast, offering books and ephemera in all fields and price ranges.”
31 July 2010
28 July 2010
Laughing at Fate
Spend just a few precious moments with the daily newspaper and suddenly it becomes clear. We’re doomed.
Page One starts out OK: It’s opening day at the fair. But then we have Growing fears US may face deflation, Study sees mass migration to the US. No wonder people skip the morning paper in favor of Facebook.
British Petroleum has exiled their CEO to Siberia. McCartney plays the White House. The Austrian Governor of Cally-Fornia issues a budget warning. San Diego bans offshore boozing on personal flotation devices. No more Floatopias.
This morning I received an emotional letter from Lafayette Books in the East Bay. Owner Dave Simpson wrote, “Dear Friends, It's Monday and I'm in the bookstore, it being the last Monday we'll exist in the traditional ‘brick-and-mortar’ sense. We're very excited about our new life on BIG BLUE, but for many of us – staff, friends, family, and customers alike – it's a time of extraordinary poignancy.”
Rent was raised, sales fell past break-even and Simpson was forced to shrink his excellent store to fit inside a renovated bookmobile. A sadly familiar story in recent years, except for the bookmobile.
Simpson writes “Since 1963, the Lafayette Book Store has been a center of literary activity and a community center where people come to browse books, ask for recommendations, meet their neighbors, and cultivate relationships with our charming, intelligent staff... with the closing of the brick-and-mortar I worry that the talisman will be lost and the community that's gathered around the bookstore will dissolve.”
Simpson adds, “Together we can prevent this from happening! ... the VERY best way to keep this sense of community is to join us on Facebook. We have a Lafayette Book Store page and also The Bay Area Bookmobile page.”
Really? When your local bookstore goes down, you save the situation by friending it on FaceBook?
“We'll be active there with our schedule of appearances, announcements of author signings and events, and as always, our book recommendations (and you can offer your own!). Come join the conversation!”
Dave, I feel for you and for the community you’ve served so well. I’m happy I can still find you online and in your new bus. That’s all good, but tell me how is Facebook any kind of substitute for what we’re losing here?
Pretty much every US bookstore is already on Facebook, whether they are “real” or just an address. Those real life readers, the brick and mortar ones who supported you with their time, dollars, and love. Now... well, maybe they’ll friend you on Facebook.
I have trouble imagining that as any kind of good news.
In June the small town of Willits in Mendocino County lost its favorite bookstore, Leaves of Grass. Their web site forlornly announces they’re open Monday through Saturday 10-6, Sundays 12 - 5. But the phone is disconnected, the books are gone, and owner Rani Saijo has moved on.
Back in May she wrote, “Changing times have made it impossible for us to keep going. Thank you to all our friends & supporters for these wonderful years!”
However, we do have a birth to celebrate. This summer KZYX’s own Loretta and WDan Houck opened a bookstore in Boonville, named Laughing Dog Books. “Come! Sit! Read!” Congratulations!
I’m sick of bookstore obituaries. Let’s cut it out, people. Support your local independent bookstore today, and tomorrow, and again next month, too. I still prefer to find my bad news in the daily newspaper, where most of it isn’t so personally painful.
NOTES:
Lafayette Book Store, 3569 Mt Diablo Blvd Ste E (next to Postino Restaurant)
925-284-1233 mail@lafayettebookstore.com
Laughing Dog Books
LDB on Facebook
Page One starts out OK: It’s opening day at the fair. But then we have Growing fears US may face deflation, Study sees mass migration to the US. No wonder people skip the morning paper in favor of Facebook.
British Petroleum has exiled their CEO to Siberia. McCartney plays the White House. The Austrian Governor of Cally-Fornia issues a budget warning. San Diego bans offshore boozing on personal flotation devices. No more Floatopias.
This morning I received an emotional letter from Lafayette Books in the East Bay. Owner Dave Simpson wrote, “Dear Friends, It's Monday and I'm in the bookstore, it being the last Monday we'll exist in the traditional ‘brick-and-mortar’ sense. We're very excited about our new life on BIG BLUE, but for many of us – staff, friends, family, and customers alike – it's a time of extraordinary poignancy.”
Rent was raised, sales fell past break-even and Simpson was forced to shrink his excellent store to fit inside a renovated bookmobile. A sadly familiar story in recent years, except for the bookmobile.
Simpson writes “Since 1963, the Lafayette Book Store has been a center of literary activity and a community center where people come to browse books, ask for recommendations, meet their neighbors, and cultivate relationships with our charming, intelligent staff... with the closing of the brick-and-mortar I worry that the talisman will be lost and the community that's gathered around the bookstore will dissolve.”
Simpson adds, “Together we can prevent this from happening! ... the VERY best way to keep this sense of community is to join us on Facebook. We have a Lafayette Book Store page and also The Bay Area Bookmobile page.”
Really? When your local bookstore goes down, you save the situation by friending it on FaceBook?
“We'll be active there with our schedule of appearances, announcements of author signings and events, and as always, our book recommendations (and you can offer your own!). Come join the conversation!”
Dave, I feel for you and for the community you’ve served so well. I’m happy I can still find you online and in your new bus. That’s all good, but tell me how is Facebook any kind of substitute for what we’re losing here?
Pretty much every US bookstore is already on Facebook, whether they are “real” or just an address. Those real life readers, the brick and mortar ones who supported you with their time, dollars, and love. Now... well, maybe they’ll friend you on Facebook.
I have trouble imagining that as any kind of good news.
In June the small town of Willits in Mendocino County lost its favorite bookstore, Leaves of Grass. Their web site forlornly announces they’re open Monday through Saturday 10-6, Sundays 12 - 5. But the phone is disconnected, the books are gone, and owner Rani Saijo has moved on.
Back in May she wrote, “Changing times have made it impossible for us to keep going. Thank you to all our friends & supporters for these wonderful years!”
However, we do have a birth to celebrate. This summer KZYX’s own Loretta and WDan Houck opened a bookstore in Boonville, named Laughing Dog Books. “Come! Sit! Read!” Congratulations!
I’m sick of bookstore obituaries. Let’s cut it out, people. Support your local independent bookstore today, and tomorrow, and again next month, too. I still prefer to find my bad news in the daily newspaper, where most of it isn’t so personally painful.
NOTES:
Lafayette Book Store, 3569 Mt Diablo Blvd Ste E (next to Postino Restaurant)
925-284-1233 mail@lafayettebookstore.com
Laughing Dog Books
LDB on Facebook
22 July 2010
Summer Camp in a Bookstore
Listen up, Bradley. Stand at attention and hold on to that book. Chin up, shoulders back. That’s right. Good morning children, and welcome to your Summertime Books Boot Camp.
At least, that’s how I used to imagine camp, scarey and authoritarian, until I looked more closely. Across the country bookstores are running friendly summer camps for children. I’d go in a California second if I were eight years old.
Some camps are free half-day gatherings in a store with games, reading and snacks. Other camps are paid reservation only, elaborate productions staffed by expert booksellers and authors.
The bookstore camp phenomenon exemplified by one store in Brooklyn was written up recently in the New York Times. A couple of days ago Bookselling This Week, a newsletter for independent booksellers, filled in with reports from other stores.
Diane Capriola co-owns The Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, Georgia. Her store “has been holding summer camps since the store opened five years ago.” This year they have NINE camps. I am impressed.
Reading through the descriptions I’m thinking how great these camps sound. Their offerings range in cost from $210 to $325 for a week and promise to be rich in experiences and fun. Right now, all nine camps are filled, some with waiting lists.
Consider the Boo-yah for Boys! Camp: “Do you thirst for adventure and mystery? Do you love rockets and secret codes, hunting for treasure and figuring out how things work? In short, are you a boy who wants a whole week of TOTAL AWESOMENESS? Boo-yah for Boys! Camp is full of activities, learning, and adventure designed to entertain, engage, and elevate young boys. Join us, and become one of the few, the proud, the Boys of Summer!”
Other camps include Campology Camp, Camp Kane, Creative Writing Camp, American Girl Camp, Chess Camp, Camp Half-Blood, Goody for Girls! Camp, and The Name of This Camp is Secret.
In Campology Camp you’ll create an “ology” book of your own based on things you learned. In Creative Writing Camp kids learn techniques and meet authors; in other camps you might learn to sew, solve bank robberies, visit the vet, put on a talent show, do magic, decipher codes, solve clues to a mystery in competition with another bookstore’s summer camp, learn about girls in history, immerse yourself in Egyptian myths, capture the flag, race a chariot, and more.
There are many other bookstore summer camps in locations across the country, ranging from Brownstone Books in Brooklyn to Bookpeople in Austin, Texas, Towne Center Books in Pleasanton, California, to Eagle Harbor Book Company Bainbridge Island, Washington.
At Camp Eagle Harbor you’ll find free weekly day camps in the store. Expect a professional children’s theater workshop, a soccer program with workout in the store parking lot; a book group with free stuff, sneak previews, and a discussion; a spelling bee, a bead making workshop, a class in making sock puppets, and more.
Bookstores do need to reach out to new readers and find creative ways to relate to the surrounding community. The summer bookstore camp is one of the best ways bookstores accomplish all that.
If the idea clicks with you, check with your local bookstore or library for similar events. Here in Mendocino a local independent bookstore offers three summer events: Story Time with Allegra Fisher, Creative Writing Workshop for Middle and High School students, and a Summer Reading Club for Tweens and Teens.
Judy Wheeler and Bob Ditter at Towne Center Books in Pleasanton offer a Mystery Writing Camp for children. “Discover clues, crack codes, develop your own mystery stories and have a heap of fun! All kids aged 8-12 who love to read, write and solve mysteries are welcome!”
You don’t even need a bookstore to sponsor a camp... get together with other families you know and organize your own. There’s lots of summer left!
NOTES:
The Little Shop of Stories...
Bookselling This Week...
Another Bookselling This Week article on summer camps,
Camp Eagle Harbor...
Towne Center Books...
At least, that’s how I used to imagine camp, scarey and authoritarian, until I looked more closely. Across the country bookstores are running friendly summer camps for children. I’d go in a California second if I were eight years old.
Some camps are free half-day gatherings in a store with games, reading and snacks. Other camps are paid reservation only, elaborate productions staffed by expert booksellers and authors.
The bookstore camp phenomenon exemplified by one store in Brooklyn was written up recently in the New York Times. A couple of days ago Bookselling This Week, a newsletter for independent booksellers, filled in with reports from other stores.
Diane Capriola co-owns The Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, Georgia. Her store “has been holding summer camps since the store opened five years ago.” This year they have NINE camps. I am impressed.
Reading through the descriptions I’m thinking how great these camps sound. Their offerings range in cost from $210 to $325 for a week and promise to be rich in experiences and fun. Right now, all nine camps are filled, some with waiting lists.
Consider the Boo-yah for Boys! Camp: “Do you thirst for adventure and mystery? Do you love rockets and secret codes, hunting for treasure and figuring out how things work? In short, are you a boy who wants a whole week of TOTAL AWESOMENESS? Boo-yah for Boys! Camp is full of activities, learning, and adventure designed to entertain, engage, and elevate young boys. Join us, and become one of the few, the proud, the Boys of Summer!”
Other camps include Campology Camp, Camp Kane, Creative Writing Camp, American Girl Camp, Chess Camp, Camp Half-Blood, Goody for Girls! Camp, and The Name of This Camp is Secret.
In Campology Camp you’ll create an “ology” book of your own based on things you learned. In Creative Writing Camp kids learn techniques and meet authors; in other camps you might learn to sew, solve bank robberies, visit the vet, put on a talent show, do magic, decipher codes, solve clues to a mystery in competition with another bookstore’s summer camp, learn about girls in history, immerse yourself in Egyptian myths, capture the flag, race a chariot, and more.
There are many other bookstore summer camps in locations across the country, ranging from Brownstone Books in Brooklyn to Bookpeople in Austin, Texas, Towne Center Books in Pleasanton, California, to Eagle Harbor Book Company Bainbridge Island, Washington.
At Camp Eagle Harbor you’ll find free weekly day camps in the store. Expect a professional children’s theater workshop, a soccer program with workout in the store parking lot; a book group with free stuff, sneak previews, and a discussion; a spelling bee, a bead making workshop, a class in making sock puppets, and more.
Bookstores do need to reach out to new readers and find creative ways to relate to the surrounding community. The summer bookstore camp is one of the best ways bookstores accomplish all that.
If the idea clicks with you, check with your local bookstore or library for similar events. Here in Mendocino a local independent bookstore offers three summer events: Story Time with Allegra Fisher, Creative Writing Workshop for Middle and High School students, and a Summer Reading Club for Tweens and Teens.
Judy Wheeler and Bob Ditter at Towne Center Books in Pleasanton offer a Mystery Writing Camp for children. “Discover clues, crack codes, develop your own mystery stories and have a heap of fun! All kids aged 8-12 who love to read, write and solve mysteries are welcome!”
You don’t even need a bookstore to sponsor a camp... get together with other families you know and organize your own. There’s lots of summer left!
NOTES:
The Little Shop of Stories...
Bookselling This Week...
Another Bookselling This Week article on summer camps,
Camp Eagle Harbor...
Towne Center Books...
15 July 2010
"What is this?" "It's a bookstore." "Oh, I don't read."
I’ve been out of the bookselling biz for some time now. That old familiar monkey on my back bothers someone else with his bad breath, scratchy claws and constant demands for attention.
This week it all came back – the adventure, the heartbreak, the humor of working in an independent bookstore. It seems that bookseller Cynthia Christensen of Book Stop in Hood River, Oregon, recently came down with pneumonia and laryngitis, and her husband stepped in for a couple of weeks in her place. He kept notes:
“Do you have this used?” (Customer holds up a book just released in paperback that day.) “It was just released today.” “But you're a used bookstore.” “Sorry, they haven't figured out how to print them used.”
“Do you have a restroom? My son needs to poop.”
“I'm just browsing.”
“I'm just killing time.”
“Can my kids stay here while I'm eating next door?”
“There's a hair on this sofa.”
“Can I make you a deal on this book?”
“Have you seen my wife?”
“Do you have maps?” (Looks at map, copies directions, incorrectly folds map, leaves it on the sofa.)
“Where am I?”
“Is this a library?”
“Was Abraham Lincoln really a vampire hunter?”
“How come this town has three bookstores?”
“I can get it cheaper on Amazon.”
“Can you describe the lay of the land around here?”
“Will my car get towed if I leave it in front of your store all day?”
“I'm looking for a book that has the word 'free' in the title.”
“Mom, I have to poop!”
“Do you have a chicken section? Goats?”
“Have you seen my children?”
“Mom, can I have this Clifford book?” “No, Clifford gets on my nerves.”
“Are all these books donated to you, so I can just take one?”
“Have you read all these books? When do you watch TV?”
“If I bring in some books, can you tell me what they're worth so I can sell them on eBay?”
“I never knew there was a library here.” “There is, but it's on the next street over.” “What is this?” “It's a bookstore.” “Oh, I don't read.”
“Dad, look a bookstore! Let's take a look.” “Why? It's just books.” “Come on, it will just take a minute.” “No, reading is stupid.”
“Are you hiring?” “No.” “I like books.” “So do I.” “I promise not to get in the way. I could just read or something.”
Another person: “Are you hiring?” “No.” “Good! Can I use your company's name?” “Why?” “I have to tell the Unemployment Department I can't find a job.”
That’s a sample of what Charlie Christensen recorded sitting in for two weeks at his wife’s bookstore in Oregon. Other booksellers tweeted in on the same subject. Some of their contributions:
From Robert Sindelar’s first year as a bookseller in 1990: “Do you have ‘Get Rich Overnight’” “No, but I can get it for you.” “Sorry, I can't wait.”
“Can you recommend a book? Something dark & creepy.” “How about Crime & Punishment?” “Nah. I don't really like Austen.”
“So people actually come in here and buy books?”
“Who wrote Jane Austen?”
Lanora Hurley, Next Chapter Bookshop: “Had a customer demand to know where the 'body shop' was & dragged staff person outside to point at sign that reads 'bookshop'.”
“I never like any of your books but you always play good in-store music.”
“Can you tell me who the author of Shakespeare is?”
“How many books are there in the trilogy?”
“Do you have the ‘Autobiography of Ben Franklin’? I'm not sure who wrote it.”
“Do you have Shakespeare in English?”
“Do you have those mystery novels by Angela Lansbury?” Replied ‘Yes’ and showed him the books by ‘Jessica Fletcher.’ He was happy.”
“Where do you keep fiction that's true?”
In Mendocino more than once we were asked “Where’s your non-fiction section?” Think about it.
NOTES:
The Hood River report in Shelf Awareness.
Some original “bookstore” tweets...
This week it all came back – the adventure, the heartbreak, the humor of working in an independent bookstore. It seems that bookseller Cynthia Christensen of Book Stop in Hood River, Oregon, recently came down with pneumonia and laryngitis, and her husband stepped in for a couple of weeks in her place. He kept notes:
“Do you have this used?” (Customer holds up a book just released in paperback that day.) “It was just released today.” “But you're a used bookstore.” “Sorry, they haven't figured out how to print them used.”
“Do you have a restroom? My son needs to poop.”
“I'm just browsing.”
“I'm just killing time.”
“Can my kids stay here while I'm eating next door?”
“There's a hair on this sofa.”
“Can I make you a deal on this book?”
“Have you seen my wife?”
“Do you have maps?” (Looks at map, copies directions, incorrectly folds map, leaves it on the sofa.)
“Where am I?”
“Is this a library?”
“Was Abraham Lincoln really a vampire hunter?”
“How come this town has three bookstores?”
“I can get it cheaper on Amazon.”
“Can you describe the lay of the land around here?”
“Will my car get towed if I leave it in front of your store all day?”
“I'm looking for a book that has the word 'free' in the title.”
“Mom, I have to poop!”
“Do you have a chicken section? Goats?”
“Have you seen my children?”
“Mom, can I have this Clifford book?” “No, Clifford gets on my nerves.”
“Are all these books donated to you, so I can just take one?”
“Have you read all these books? When do you watch TV?”
“If I bring in some books, can you tell me what they're worth so I can sell them on eBay?”
“I never knew there was a library here.” “There is, but it's on the next street over.” “What is this?” “It's a bookstore.” “Oh, I don't read.”
“Dad, look a bookstore! Let's take a look.” “Why? It's just books.” “Come on, it will just take a minute.” “No, reading is stupid.”
“Are you hiring?” “No.” “I like books.” “So do I.” “I promise not to get in the way. I could just read or something.”
Another person: “Are you hiring?” “No.” “Good! Can I use your company's name?” “Why?” “I have to tell the Unemployment Department I can't find a job.”
That’s a sample of what Charlie Christensen recorded sitting in for two weeks at his wife’s bookstore in Oregon. Other booksellers tweeted in on the same subject. Some of their contributions:
From Robert Sindelar’s first year as a bookseller in 1990: “Do you have ‘Get Rich Overnight’” “No, but I can get it for you.” “Sorry, I can't wait.”
“Can you recommend a book? Something dark & creepy.” “How about Crime & Punishment?” “Nah. I don't really like Austen.”
“So people actually come in here and buy books?”
“Who wrote Jane Austen?”
Lanora Hurley, Next Chapter Bookshop: “Had a customer demand to know where the 'body shop' was & dragged staff person outside to point at sign that reads 'bookshop'.”
“I never like any of your books but you always play good in-store music.”
“Can you tell me who the author of Shakespeare is?”
“How many books are there in the trilogy?”
“Do you have the ‘Autobiography of Ben Franklin’? I'm not sure who wrote it.”
“Do you have Shakespeare in English?”
“Do you have those mystery novels by Angela Lansbury?” Replied ‘Yes’ and showed him the books by ‘Jessica Fletcher.’ He was happy.”
“Where do you keep fiction that's true?”
In Mendocino more than once we were asked “Where’s your non-fiction section?” Think about it.
NOTES:
The Hood River report in Shelf Awareness.
Some original “bookstore” tweets...
08 July 2010
Plays Well With Others
What did we learn at summer camp? We learned to play well with others, whether it was a Mozart string quartet or a bassoon quintet composed by Alexander Spitzmuller-Harmersbach, who lived from 1894 - 1962, or so it said in the Humboldt Chamber Music Workshop Program.
We learned that whoever designed the student dormitories, back when Humboldt State University was only a College, whoever that was must have used plans for state prisons when constructing these identical concrete cells decorated with tattered “Turn Out Lights When Not in Use” stickers dating back to the oil crisis of the 1970's.
Under a particularly difficult to move piece of furniture we discovered Rebecca’s driver’s license. How did Rebecca get a drink or drive a car without her license? How did she sign up for a library card?
Sometimes we REALLY fail to get along well with others. Take, for example, World War II. That extreme failure to cooperate is reflected in the novel I’m starting now, “Spies of the Balkans” by the excellent novelist Alan Furst.
We also fail to understand the needs of others when we allow shrinking budgets to destroy public libraries. These quiet sanctuaries are exactly the community places we need most – comfortable, central locations where information and people interact at no charge, with no commercials, where the tools of learning are mentored by experts, where people who need these things most benefit from using them.
Libraries usually are the first services to suffer cutbacks, yet what other publicly funded endeavor gives back so much for so little? Contrast spending on libraries with any part of our immense war budget. Try it on a bumper sticker:
"It Will Be a Great Day When Libraries Have All the Money They Need, & the Military Has to Hold a Bake Sale to Buy a Bomber."
Marilyn Johnson writes in the Los Angeles Times that librarians “represent the best civic value out there, an army of resourceful workers that can help us compete in the world.” Not to mention help children dream.
She says, “Those in cities that haven’t preserved their libraries, those less fortunate and baffled by technology, and our children will be the first to suffer. But sooner or later, we’ll all feel the loss as one of the most effective levelers of privilege and avenues of reinvention – one of the great engines of democracy – begins to disappear.”
I have long wondered how 19th century steel baron Andrew Carnegie came upon his campaign to fund free public libraries throughout the country, and pondered why Bill Gates, Steven Spielberg, Warren Buffet and other well-intentioned plutocrats do not loudly support public libraries. They must have people to tell them the news: the US gap between rich and poor is larger now than it’s been for eighty years.
Maybe they believe books are old-fashioned or dying. They would be wrong. They may not fully understand how modern libraries are successfully interfacing with the bright new electronic world.
Or maybe they do realize all this, but libraries are out of fashion for rich people. There is not a lot of Ted Conference glory involved in supporting the institution. That’s plain short-sighted, as most of us realize.
So the next time your local library is in the bulls eye for layoffs, cuts in hours and services, or outright closing, give out a shout in opposition. Make it politically painful to cut a library budget.
Many more citizens protest the closing of an animal shelter than bother about the loss of a bookmobile. Which facility is more important to our fellow humans? I ask you.
(MUSIC) You too, can receive WOB scripts in your email and review episodes you may have missed. To be on the list, please send a note to amiksak@gmail.com. I'm blogging at www.wordsonbooks.blogspot.com and I enjoy reading your comments there.
NOTES:
One place to purchase a version of the sticker quoted above on paper, or t-shirt, mug, baby apron, hooded sweatshirt, water bottle.
NEWS ARTICLE from the Ann Arbor Journal:
Michigan Peaceworks hosted its second satirical "Bake Sale for Bombs" Saturday evening at the intersection of State Street and North University in downtown Ann Arbor with the aim of promoting peace. Members of the group, however, were deterred from selling goods by both city and university police midway through the event.
Peaceworks, founded in 2002 in Ann Arbor, was initially created as a non-profit project devoted to preventing the Iraq War. With supporters from across Washtenaw County, the organization dedicates itself to raising awareness on the causes and effects of militarism, and other social justice issues.
For more of this story, click here.
On the gap between rich and poor...
IMPORTANT SELF-PROTECTING CAVEAT: I do understand that the people wise enough to support animal shelters are exactly the same people who understand the importance of libraries.
We learned that whoever designed the student dormitories, back when Humboldt State University was only a College, whoever that was must have used plans for state prisons when constructing these identical concrete cells decorated with tattered “Turn Out Lights When Not in Use” stickers dating back to the oil crisis of the 1970's.
Under a particularly difficult to move piece of furniture we discovered Rebecca’s driver’s license. How did Rebecca get a drink or drive a car without her license? How did she sign up for a library card?
Sometimes we REALLY fail to get along well with others. Take, for example, World War II. That extreme failure to cooperate is reflected in the novel I’m starting now, “Spies of the Balkans” by the excellent novelist Alan Furst.
We also fail to understand the needs of others when we allow shrinking budgets to destroy public libraries. These quiet sanctuaries are exactly the community places we need most – comfortable, central locations where information and people interact at no charge, with no commercials, where the tools of learning are mentored by experts, where people who need these things most benefit from using them.
Libraries usually are the first services to suffer cutbacks, yet what other publicly funded endeavor gives back so much for so little? Contrast spending on libraries with any part of our immense war budget. Try it on a bumper sticker:
"It Will Be a Great Day When Libraries Have All the Money They Need, & the Military Has to Hold a Bake Sale to Buy a Bomber."
Marilyn Johnson writes in the Los Angeles Times that librarians “represent the best civic value out there, an army of resourceful workers that can help us compete in the world.” Not to mention help children dream.
She says, “Those in cities that haven’t preserved their libraries, those less fortunate and baffled by technology, and our children will be the first to suffer. But sooner or later, we’ll all feel the loss as one of the most effective levelers of privilege and avenues of reinvention – one of the great engines of democracy – begins to disappear.”
I have long wondered how 19th century steel baron Andrew Carnegie came upon his campaign to fund free public libraries throughout the country, and pondered why Bill Gates, Steven Spielberg, Warren Buffet and other well-intentioned plutocrats do not loudly support public libraries. They must have people to tell them the news: the US gap between rich and poor is larger now than it’s been for eighty years.
Maybe they believe books are old-fashioned or dying. They would be wrong. They may not fully understand how modern libraries are successfully interfacing with the bright new electronic world.
Or maybe they do realize all this, but libraries are out of fashion for rich people. There is not a lot of Ted Conference glory involved in supporting the institution. That’s plain short-sighted, as most of us realize.
So the next time your local library is in the bulls eye for layoffs, cuts in hours and services, or outright closing, give out a shout in opposition. Make it politically painful to cut a library budget.
Many more citizens protest the closing of an animal shelter than bother about the loss of a bookmobile. Which facility is more important to our fellow humans? I ask you.
(MUSIC) You too, can receive WOB scripts in your email and review episodes you may have missed. To be on the list, please send a note to amiksak@gmail.com. I'm blogging at www.wordsonbooks.blogspot.com and I enjoy reading your comments there.
NOTES:
One place to purchase a version of the sticker quoted above on paper, or t-shirt, mug, baby apron, hooded sweatshirt, water bottle.
NEWS ARTICLE from the Ann Arbor Journal:
Michigan Peaceworks hosted its second satirical "Bake Sale for Bombs" Saturday evening at the intersection of State Street and North University in downtown Ann Arbor with the aim of promoting peace. Members of the group, however, were deterred from selling goods by both city and university police midway through the event.
Peaceworks, founded in 2002 in Ann Arbor, was initially created as a non-profit project devoted to preventing the Iraq War. With supporters from across Washtenaw County, the organization dedicates itself to raising awareness on the causes and effects of militarism, and other social justice issues.
For more of this story, click here.
On the gap between rich and poor...
IMPORTANT SELF-PROTECTING CAVEAT: I do understand that the people wise enough to support animal shelters are exactly the same people who understand the importance of libraries.
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