The Book Shopper - Atlanta/Decatur

Two Local Readings: Rita Mae Brown and Padgett Powell

Last week I attended two readings:  Rita Mae Brown at the Margaret Mitchell House on October 27^th, and Padgett Powell two days later at the Decatur Public Library.

Part One: Rita Mae Brown

 I’m still mad at myself for not asking Rita Mae Brown my stock-in-trade question about Southern books, which goes something like this: “If William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor are the twin pillars of Southern literature, where does that leave Margaret Mitchell?”

It’s not an unfair question for Ms. Brown who offered some strong opinions about literature in her 1988 book, Starting from Scratch: A Different Kind of Writer’s Manual. Ms. Brown, who was promoting her new book, Animal Magnetism My Life with Creatures Great and Small (Move over James Herriot) spoke to an older crowd of approximately 50 pet lovers, who were content to ask questions like “How do you name your pets and do you ever eat them?” (Actually the latter question was framed more like: “Are you a vegetarian?”)

The energetic, self-winding Ms. Brown (I should have used a high speed film to capture the movement of her hands) riffed on an array of subjects: Growing up in the South, the sophisticated forms of communication between animals (when dogs wag their tails that’s good; when cats curl their tails that’s bad), the broken contract between humans and domesticated animals (millions of pets are euthanized each year), 10,000 years of patriarchy that define human history (men’s efforts to control female sexuality),  and the how we’ve become more intolerant because we don’t ride the bus and mingle with other people. (I take the train, but I keep to myself.)  It’s pretty safe to say there was no discernable thread to all of Ms. Brown’s observations, (not to say she isn’t observant and witty).  I don’t think it mattered to the majority of attendees who paid for the opportunity to join the stampede at the book signing table afterwards for a brief chat with an author either about pets or perhaps to express their continued appreciation of Ms. Brown’s most influential book, Rubyfruit Jungle (1973).  

 Part Two: Padgett Powell 

Like Rita Mae Brown, Padgett Powell goes all over the place, except with Powell he was reading from his new “experimental” novel The Interrogative Mood: A Novel? – a 170+ page book written entirely as a series of seemingly unrelated questions. Of course to the uninitiated like myself, (admittedly unfamiliar with his work) what may seem random and disjointed at first, may upon further investigation reveal a theme or pattern to this work. (My unasked question to Mr. Powell was: How should a reader approach this book?)

Pynchon Post Party

Back in August, A Cappella Books hosted a little coming out party for Thomas Pynchon’s latest book, Inherent Vice. I didn’t make it to the late night festivities, but I did stop by and pick up a copy of the book. It took me almost three months to read it (no reflection of the book), but I did finish it.

As a Pynchon fan, who likes most of his writings, Inherent Vice, a crime noir set in the seedy section of LA called Gordita Beach in the late 60s, is solid Pynchon. The book is certainly a worthy addition to my dream of a Thomas Pynchon book club, along with my other Pynchon favorites Gravity’s Rainbow, The Crying of Lot 49 and Against the Day.

The main character of Inherent Vice, Larry “Doc” Sportello, is a perennially stoned private investigator who at the request of his ex-girlfriend looks into the disappearance of a millionaire real estate mogul. Doc isn’t a gumshoe; he’s a “gumsandal” and hardly a tough guy but a persistent one and somewhat fearless since his faculties for making good decisions are often impaired.

 “Pot jokes” are usually as lame as “fart jokes,” but the marijuana and drugs in Inherent Vice is really tertiary. It’s a fun book that playfully satirizes the detective story and is suitable for those (like me) who rarely read that genre.  There are many cultural references: TV and movies (Godzilla’s Island), beach music (see the playlist) and of course, California traffic patterns (“The kindest thing anybody ever called the parking lot in Gordita Beach was nonlinear.”)   The book is peppered with those hip Pynchon one-liners as well (“Her hair was styled by someone who was trying to give up smoking.”) that I can easily drop into my own vernacular.

 

Wichita Connections

Last weekend, I was in Wichita to visit my longtime friend, Bruce Woods, and do a reading at a local independent shop,  Watermark Books.

As an author you think you’re on the road to “sell” your book, but on a good trip that task becomes a distant responsibility – you’d rather just talk books. Over a two day period, Bruce introduced me to members of the 20-years-and-running book group he founded as well as other Kansas readers. My job was made easier since he purchased books for many of his book colleagues and all I had to do was provide individual inscriptions. (I told Bruce that I’m setting up a policy that I will stay at the home of anyone who buys more than twenty books.)

A couple of the more influential books Bruce introduced me to over the years are David Shi’s A Simple Life and, more recently, Clive James’ Cultural Amnesia. We don’t always agree (Wendell Berry’s Jayber Crow comes to mind), but there is plenty of common ground. His friends are fascinating as well and in a future posting I’ll provide an account of my time at Eighth Day Books another wonderful independent bookstore in Wichita.

  In the photo, Bruce and I pose after the Watermark reading. Notice that I am holding a trophy, which served as a gag prop I used that evening. Of course there is a story behind it, and if you didn’t make it out you can read about it here (See Chapter Two).

A Week in Preview

Thomas DePietro, a former contributing editor of Kirkus Reviews wrote about The Book Shopper: A Life in Review last Friday in The Barnes & Noble Review. This kicks off a busy week for me as I travel to Wichita, Kansas to visit old friends and do a reading at Watermark Books on Friday, October 16 at 7 p.m.

I lived in Wichita in the early 80s and my older daughter was born there. Watermark Books was a place I spent considerable time and money and it’s good to see that they are still around and going strong.  (There are several anecdotes about those Wichita days in The Book Shopper.)

Great Lakes' Book Shopping

Over the weekend I was in Cleveland for the 20^th Annual Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association (GLiBA) Trade Show to promote The Book Shopper: A Life in Review. I will spare you the details of my experiences as an amateur carny, but it did give me an opportunity to learn more about booksellers and publishers alike.

One trend I noticed is that many independent bookstores in the Great Lakes region sell used and new books under the same roof. This trend is certainly prevalent here in Atlanta with Eagle Eye, A Cappella, Bound to Be Read all offering some mixture of new and used books. (See Comment).

 Of course as a book shopper, the show gave me a glimpse of what publishers are pushing for the fall and holiday season. Here’s a few that caught my eye:

Book Shopping in Seattle

One of my good book shopping friends Dave who lives is Seattle provided me with some related links about the book life there: 

 

The first story is about the is about a well known used bookstore Couth Buzzard, which had closed several years ago but has now re-opened. Never underestimate the power of the used book. Later in the same article there is mention of the Seattle Public Library shutting down for a week as a way to address budget problems.

 

The second story from Read Local Seattle is about Black Heron Press an independent press that recently celebrated their twenty-fifth anniversary. I like the blog and you can see what kind of support it provides local writers.

 

 

 

 

Come Blog With Me

Blogging rarely pays financial dividends, but once in a while you do reap some rewards.

In July, the Alliance Theatre solicited submissions from potential bloggers to review their upcoming season – a kind of “Atlanta Has Blogging Talent.” According to the form rejection letter I later received from Alliance Director Susan Booth, 111 writers auditioned. My disappointment was short-lived, especially since the letter included two complimentary tickets to the opening production of the season, “Come Fly with Me,” a musical based on the vocals of Frank Sinatra accompanied by an all-star jazz orchestra. My friend Denise and I attended Thursday night.

 For details on the performance I will direct you to the thoughts and reactions of the blog winners, except to say that dancers in this steamy production better be wearing their best clean underwear because they all show their due diligence throughout the evening.

 For the record, although I’m no big fan of Sinatra or connoisseur of dance, I found the show worthy of battling the heavy rain and parking problems (they unexpectedly had to close the main garage before the performance for safety reasons) to see this feast of movement and music.

Another Review of the DBF

Reviews of the Decatur Book Festival depend mostly of the perspective of those who are making them. For example, the vendor at the Everdry Basement Waterproofing (Booth 522) was not positive when assessing the foot traffic in his booth.  “A bad demographic, “ he said, “mostly out-of-towners and people living on slabs.”

As one who has written extensively on the merits of economical book shopping, I’m not much different that than the guy at Everdry since what I noticed most was how readers flocked to booths such as Bound to Be Read, Eagle Eye and Better World to look through the lower priced offerings – some books marked as low as a $1. Consumers constantly weigh price vs. performance – why should books be any different?   

This bargain bin scenario invites a comparison to those who discuss the future of the book which  inevitably includes talk about Amazon’s Kindle, the handheld electronic device where you can download new best sellers from Dan Brown or Pat Conroy for under ten dollars each. As revolutionary, or foreboding, as the Kindle technology is (depending on your point of view) aren’t Kindle users saying the same thing as those small clusters of readers who frequent the discount bin: “I like cheap books and lots of them?”

The problem with attaching price to the merit of a book is that it clouds the real value of the book. Of course, one of the premises of my book The Book Shopper is that if you look enough, there are some great reads for a few dollars, but that doesn’t mean I suggest reading only those books. There are many worthwhile new books out there that deserve your attention and your money. The problem is that it is becoming more and more difficult to find out what those books are.

Decatur Book Festival: Photos

Photos from Saturday's action at the Decatur Book Festival.     

DBF Preview #1: Late Breaking News

Admittedly, as a news gathering organization this blog has its limitations, so I reserved my final entry as kind of dustpan where I scoop up miscellaneous bits of information and post them. Here’s a few addendums to previous posts:

• In DBF Preview #3, I mentioned Five Points literary magazine, but I failed to mention they will be at Booth 257 of the Festival.

• Tonight’s keynote speaker, Sir Harold Evans’ recently reviewed Alex Jones’ book Losing the News: The News That Feeds Democracy  in the New York Times Book Review. You can check it out here. 

•  Better World Books’s booth (See Preview #5) will be at the corner of Ponce & Clairemont.  They will also be setting up book donation bins at the entrances of the festival for unwanted books which will go to support the Sheltering Arms Early Education and Family Centers.

• The Decatur Book Festival blog tent (See Preview #2)  will be located the parking loop next to the Brick Store.

• For other late breaking news, refer to the online DBF schedule page but you might also visit the DBF blog since they post updated information as well.