30 September 2010

Italy's Last Stand

A friendly sales person gave me a pre-publication copy of “Palmento, A Sicilian Wine Odyssey” by Robert Camuto, knowing I roll over for anything Italian.

Taking careful note of new vocabulary, following the author’s travels on a map of Sicily, I joined the journey. Caution: If you’ve read one too many Words on Books on Italy, stop here.

OK. Now that we are alone:

“Palmento” is not only an account of wineries visited and wines tasted. It’s also a tale of people, the widely various individuals the author encountered on that storied island.

At table with a winemaking family Camuto says, “I noticed that Rosa Aura was studying me. There was discussion in Italian about me – who was I and where was I from? After all, I lived in France, claimed to be American, and had a Sicilian name? I explained, in Italian, that I was born on Sicily’s westernmost island.

“‘Pantelleria?’ Bruno said.

“No. Manhattan.”

The wine story Camuto tells begins in ancient centuries with Greek and Phoenician settlers. It moves forward through Roman times, years under Arab rule (they grew grapes, too), feudal times, and modern Italy. In recent centuries young Sicilians often left their island for better lives elsewhere. Vines withered, farms decayed, and few locals prospered. It has only been in the past 25 years or so that abandoned ‘palmenti’ or old-fashioned hand-press wineries, have been restored by people ambitious to make something new and wonderful from the high volcanic soils of Mt. Etna and the grape growing weather found almost everywhere in Sicily.

Camuto’s adventures take him through places such as Palermo and Corleone where he encounters stories of the Mafia and those courageous souls who resist the Mafia.

Camuto meets Sicilians whose ancestors worked the land; others he meets arrived more recently. He encounters biodynamic and natural growers, others who insist on solely native grapes and yeasts. A number of winemakers import refrigeration, stainless steel tanks and additives in search of an internationally palatable result. No matter the philosophy, some wines are great, some not so much, as it is in all wine regions. The scene is evolving quickly.

Not all these Sicilian winemakers are male. In the chapter Due Donne, or Two Women, and in fact throughout the book Camuto meets interesting, independent women. Some have degrees or mainland experience in winemaking. One works the vines and creates the wines; another directs an enterprise. Each succeeds despite prejudice and resistance. Each in her own way is amazing.

“I didn’t do it for the money. I’m not making money,” (one) says. “I did it because I loved the land... it was the land speaking.”

Arianna Occhipinti, 26, who farms a contrada called Fossa del Lupo (Wolf’s Ditch) does not struggle with the media, the market, or faraway customers, Camuto notes. “Her difficulties have been with farmers in her neighborhood.”

One of her workers “said to (her) in a Sicilian dialect, ‘Listen, my son went north to work and he is a man. And you who are female, what do you want to do, stay here and work in the countryside of Sicily? Go north and you will have some hope!’”

Arianna stayed, with her family. She grows solid grapes and good wines, and her Sicily is changing once again.

So much for the wine. Then, there’s the food... Oops, no more time. Read this book! “Palmento, A Sicilian Wine Odyssey” by Robert Camuto.


NOTES:

“Palmento, A Sicilian Wine Odyssey” by Robert V. Camuto. University of Nebraska Press hard cover $24.95. ISBN 9780803228139. Published September, 2010.

The highly tasty and “official” book trailer for “Palmento” is on YouTube:  Camuto reads from his book at a book signing.

Camuto writes, "Yet it seemed to be only a matteer of time before -- like much of the rest of Italy -- it would lose something. I thought of the bridge that would connect Sicily to the Italian boot and the continent and an endless supply of fashion outlets, fast food, and doubt.

"Sicily, I thought, is Italy's last stand. In Sicily's heart, I thought, she must know this."

23 September 2010

The conversation continues...

Last week we started a conversation with Christie Olson Day, owner of Gallery Bookshop in Mendocino. We continue that chat now.

I asked Christie “How's your level of confidence, and what are your expectations, generally speaking, going forward, for the independent bookselling industry?”

She replied, “Regarding the future of independent bookselling, I think the only sensible answer is, ‘I don't know.’ Anyone who says anything else is just pretending. I don't mind taking some guesses, though, and of course I'm professionally obligated to place my bets and take my chances.

“I'm betting that there will be thriving indie bookstores 20 years from now.  How many? I'm not sure. But I'm doing my best to make sure Mendocino ends up with one of them. Indies have prevailed against big-box bookstores in the print-book business. (I know, it might be a little premature to declare a definitive victory, but I'm pretty confident on this.) I think we might just be able to pull off the same David-versus-Goliath miracle in e-book land if we can stay in the fight long enough.

“The American Booksellers Association is, right now, working out an agreement that will make a huge selection of e-books available through your local bookseller. The challenge will be to raise awareness of the fact that you don't have to go to a giant corporation to get your e-books. We haven't done a good job of this so far. Most of our customers have no idea that e-books have been available on our website for two years now, and the selection is going to get exponentially better this winter.

“I'm encouraged by the fact that people keep opening bookstores, and local governments actively recruit them. I'm encouraged when I see people realizing that locally owned businesses are the backbone of our communities. I'm encouraged by movements like the 3/50 Project (Pick 3 stores. Spend $50. Save your local economy.) I'm encouraged by the fact that there are still absolutely awesome indie record stores out there, even in the age of iPods.

“I get discouraged by readers' expectations that e-books should cost almost nothing. I wish people understood that most of the cost of a book comes from production of the content, not the object. I think the biggest danger to the culture of reading, right now, comes from the pricing pressure exerted by amazon on publishers. There's never been good money in writing, publishing or bookselling; folks did it because it was good work, and with luck and hard work you could scrape by, financially. If the price of a book is $10, it doesn't matter whether it's printed or digital; professional publishing will be dead in the water. And if you've ever read an unedited manuscript, you know that's a great, great loss.

“About the only thing that makes me really angry in the business is the predatory, dishonest, destructive tactics used by our big-business competitors, particularly Wal-Mart and Amazon. They're villains, pure and
simple. They're bad for our communities and our culture, and before the changes wrought by the Reagan administration they would both have been broken up under our anti-trust laws.

I asked,  “Is it still easy to find people who want to work in a bookstore, despite the well-known drawbacks such as modest compensation? Is it true everyone must have a PhD to be considered?

Christie said, “It's encouraging that so many fantastic people do still want to work in bookstores. No, you don't need a PhD ... you don't even have to know a whole lot about books before you start. You do, however, have to WANT to know a whole lot. And you have to love, really love, people. We have some of the most talented, creative, committed people you can possibly imagine. They care SO MUCH about this work.

“Best part of the job? I never, ever, wonder if what I'm doing is worthwhile. Thanks for asking!”


NOTES:

Christie recommends “Barry Lynn's excellent book, ‘Cornered: the New Monopoly Capitalism and the Economics of Destruction,’ about consolidation in retail and the government's re-interpretation of antitrust laws under Reagan.”

“Cornered” by Barry Lynn. John Wiley & Sons hard cover $26.95. ISBN  0470186380. Paperback $16.95, to be published by Wiley on January 18, 2011 ISBN 0470928565.

Here’s a bit I had to leave out of the script above for lack of time:

“Recently we had a really remarkable experience with a local student who worked for us over the summer. Celeste Fox-Kump was our first-ever Youth Summer Intern, working in the store between her 7th and 8th grade years.  She went through an introductory program, learning a bit about many different aspects of the business. She was so capable, enthusiastic, hard-working, smart, and YOUNG, her presence brought a burst of energy to the whole operation.

“With any luck my own kids will qualify for the same program when they get
to middle school. The only thing I can say about balancing work and family life is that families need a homemaker. Obviously I don't think that the mother always needs to fill that role, but it IS important and necessary work.  So any family in which both parents work demanding full-time jobs is going to face a challenge. You have to either hire a homemaker or share that third job between you, which can lead to some spectacular disagreements. (Not in our house, of course. I'm speaking in generalities.) In our case, it's nice that the kids can share in both our jobs. Collin has his dad as a teacher this year, and both kids spend plenty of time at the bookshop.”

16 September 2010

Taking a Bookseller's Temperature, Part One

It’s time to get out the old thermometer – the oral thermometer, please – and take the temperature of at least one local bookstore. This week I talked with my friend Christie Olson Day, who became the owner of Gallery Bookshop in Mendocino when she bought it from me, four years ago.

Gallery Bookshop has a long and proud history. From about 1962 and for many years after it was run by Betty Goodman, a former children’s librarian with a love of literature. She named the store “Gallery” Bookshop because it was half a gallery, half an art supplies store, and half a high quality bookstore with emphasis on art books of interest to students and teachers at the Mendocino Art Center.

When I came along in 1980 Betty was ill and ready to sell the store to someone interested in preserving it. I managed not to fail in the first few years as I learned the business. Later, we grew and prospered. We opened Bookwinkle’s, a children’s bookstore, later expanding to the corner of Main and Kasten streets and incorporating everything into one big bookstore.

By 2006 I had enjoyed my own long run – after 26 years the store was doing fine, but I needed time to do new things for the rest of my life. Almost magically, Christie Olson Day, who had worked in the store for nine years, through the birth of two children, sent me an uncannily  perceptive email.

“Tony, if you ever think of selling the bookstore, can we talk?”

That was in March, 2006. By September that year we had signed papers and Christie was the new owner. She’s doing great things with Gallery Bookshop. It’s full of energy and great books.

I thought it might be time we talked together for publication. The rest of this Words on Books is Christie’s responses to my questions. It continues next week..

First question for Christie: “How are you doing as the owner? How's your work, all aspects. Joy? Sorrow? Boredom? Challenge? Intensity? Learning things?”

And she answered: “Boredom?  Boredom?  Hahahahhahahhahah. Never. I always said that going to work in the bookstore was one of those rare dreams that actually lived up to -- exceeded, in fact -- all my expectations. As in: ‘Working in a bookstore seems like it would be great.’  And then ... IT WAS. The work was so compelling that I wanted to buy the store. And lo! Just as interesting. Much, much more difficult, of course, and it's just getting
harder.

I asked, “How's your level of confidence, and what are your expectations, generally speaking, going forward, for the independent bookselling industry?”

Christie said, “It's getting harder for just about every local business, and particularly retail, and particularly retail bookselling. Where to start?  The recession has been incredibly challenging for Mendocino businesses. We just have to keep doing more, and doing it better, to keep our customers.

“I mean, Shakespeare on the Mac(Callum) House lawn? I love it, it's fabulous, but inns don't have to do these things in boom years. For us and other bookstores, it means more & better events, more outreach, new public relations projects, building a more extensive online business, and anything else we can think of to keep our communities engaged. Customer service has also become a high-wire act.

“For bookstores (and other businesses with intense big-business competition like pharmacies, florists, hardware stores) there's an awareness that one tiny mistake is all it takes to lose a customer to that big box store or giant online operation.

We’ll stop here for lack of time. Next week Christie talks about the future of independent bookselling, family life, e-books, readers’ expectations, and a lot more.


NOTES:

Visit the bookstore...

They have written a short history of the store.

09 September 2010

Ban, Burn or Read?

Two observations today interrupted my already wandering trains of thought. (Can trains wander, I wonder?)

A school boy walked down a local sidewalk holding a book in front of him. It was a school text, and he was totally absorbed in reading it.

Later an oversized, overweight guy wearing a Blackwater t-shirt climbed into his Hummer and drove off in a cloud of burnt premium.

I really liked the first image: Young boy reads book. I really hated the second one: Guy in military-style vehicle displays logo of corrupt mercenary organization.

I jumped to moral conclusions without a conscious thought, and you might have done the same. Most of us mortals live in a world pre-colored for us by experience and assumptions.

These depressing thoughts bring me to the issues of book banning and book burning, both of which were clearly in evidence this week. Preacher Jones in Gainesville, Florida, called off his planned incineration of copies of the Quran.

And as of this writing, Defense Department officials were in negotiations to purchase and destroy all 10,000 copies of the first printing of “Operation Dark Heart,” written by Anthony Shaffer, former Defense Intelligence Agency officer and former lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve. The D of D wants to ban the book, basically burn it, because, according to an internal memo, publication “could reasonably be expected to cause serious damage to national security.”

Too bad about that, military guys. “Operation Dark Heart” already has been distributed to reviewers and finished copies have been purchased by reporters and others. The book will become famous now that it’s been targeted.

Just the very thought of government suppression inevitably will make any available copies hideously expensive on EBay and similar sites. People will seek out this book who otherwise would have ignored it.

Most attempts at destruction of the printed word end up like that. Preacher Jones said he planned to burn a holy book, and even that was enough to create worldwide anguish and anger.

In light of this it is hard to credit a photograph on the news at the moment. It’s a picture of Preacher Jones shaking hands with imam Muhammad Musri, who is president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida in Orlando. Clearly reconciliation, even forgiveness, can be achieved at the very moment of confrontation. If these two embraced and forgave, anyone can.

According to history books we Westerners crusaded all over the early Muslims, then fought them to a standstill at the gates of Vienna while inventing the  croissant-shaped pastry which, when served with butter and jam, is one of the best results of a war ever.

Later we invented America and pledged ourselves to freedom of speech and religion. A US mosque is constitutional in any location, even New York city.

It’s easier to read books than burn them, and a lot healthier for everyone.


NOTES:

“Operation Dark Heart: Spycraft and Special Ops on the Frontlines of Afghanistan and The Path to Victory” by Anthony Shaffer. Thomas Dunne Books hard cover $25.99. ISBN 978-0312612177.

Scott Shane of the NY Times: Military Seeks to Buy 10,000 Copies of Book of Secrets
published September 9, 2010.

03 September 2010

Scalding Hot Coffee and Comfortable Cups of Tea

Reader Jane Martinez from Brooklyn writes, “I would like to point out how enjoyable are the Brunetti mysteries by Donna Leon. I picked up on them because I will be going to Venice and the Veneto for the month of September. I always like to read some fiction set in the area in which I will be traveling... (Leon) (develops) her main characters, many of whom return in subsequent tales, but I am fascinated by the Brunetti family itself.

“I cannot decide whether or not I like to have a series,” she continues. “On one hand it is entertaining to get to know the characters and wait eagerly for more of their adventures (for example, the “Outlander” series by Diana Gabaldon). On the other hand I get too involved in reading all the books that I have missed and do little but read until I am caught up.”

“I do little but read until I am caught up.” Is that supposed to be a bad thing?

Jane, I know the feeling. I once spent an entire summer on the family couch reading every Freddy the Pig story I could find in the West Portal branch library in San Francisco. I have been thanking the late Walter R. Brooks ever since for showing me how much fun total immersion can be.

Then there are the novels of Patrick O’Brien. I came to these seafaring tales long after other friends had praised them for years. Once started I could not stop, and the high quality of these books never falters. O’Brien never hits a wrong note. The series begins with “Master & Commander,” which introduces the enduring characters Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, and ends with number twenty, “Blue at the Mizzen,” and that might have been it, but in fact there was a wee bit more: When O’Brien died ten years ago, three chapters which would have begun the 21st novel were found neatly arranged on his desk. The manuscript plus a sketch for a deadly duel was posthumously published as “The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey.”

When an author is capable, the characters rich and interesting, there is every reason to continue enjoying everything that author cares to produce. There may be disappointments along the way; no running back scores a touchdown every time; but when authors get on a winning streak we follow in awe, eternal fans.

Over here I have a knee-high stack of novels by the British/American author Bernard Cornwell. That stack recalls a heck of a lot of entertaining reading. Cornwell tends to group his books into small series set in, say, medieval Europe, or the Napoleonic Wars. Several novels – yes, another series – take place during the American Civil War, others concern King Arthur. Very few of Cornwell’s books are one-offs – he tried a modern setting with “Scoundrel,” bringing in the IRA, CIA, British intelligence, gunrunning, and a bit of marine surveying. It is so easy to turn his pages.

When I want to get lost, to dive in to some books and stay underwater for a while, I want a reliable series – Wilbur Smith comes to mind; so does Isaac Asimov, Robert B. Parker, John Mortimer, Conan Doyle, and so many more. I take these authors with me on airplanes, trade them with other fanatics, read them repeatedly. They keep me up at night and wait for me when I have ten minutes to spare.

This week I enjoyed a truly excellent novel, “Fame,” by German author Daniel Kehlman. His nine connected short stories add up to a beguiling novel, funny and poignant. Kehlman has one other novel to his name, “Measuring the World,” which has won prizes and been translated into more than forty languages.

Readers like (and the literary world requires) scalding hot coffee from challengers like Kehlman, but readers also have an appetite for comfortable cups of tea from writers who entertain with a recurring cast of characters. It’s a reality show, a soap opera, a set of  sequels; it may be the same book written twenty different ways; we make it our own, and we love it.



NOTES:

Too many books and authors mentioned here to identify them all with prices, publisher and ISBN. Everything mentioned above is in print and readily available. Go get hooked!

I apologize for not mentioning YOUR favorite authors and series. Leave a comment and let us all know...