The Book Shopper

Bookstore News: Near and Far #3

This the third in a short series about bookstores.

Books Again, Decatur

Books Again in downtown Decatur celebrates its 10th anniversary with a huge book sale this Memorial Day weekend. I will probably stop by sometime during the Decatur Arts Festival. The owner Jim Adams is always friendly to talk books with.  Monique who works the register is also very knowledgeable. (We share an appreciation of Believer Magazine). The store carries a lot of quality fiction, especially Southern fiction – some of its autographed, but you don't have to be a collector. See comments for sale hours and location. (Photo courtesy of Books Again).

Peerless Books, Alpharetta

A new book store has opened in the Atlanta area – Peerless Books in Alpharetta.  One of the co-owners George Scott is a tireless promoter of books and writers who I met when he was at Eagle Eye Books here in Decatur. George is a high energy guy and has a wealth of information about the Atlanta writing scene. (Peerless offers writing classes as well.) Check their website here.

Georgia Antiquarian Booksellers Association, Marietta

The Georgia Antiquarian Booksellers Association Sale is being held at the Cobb County Civic Center on Saturday and Sunday, June 11 and 12th. For details visit here. It used be a lot easier for me to visit them in the Holiday Inn during the Decatur Book Festival, but the opportunity to see the wares of 60 book dealers from all over the Southeast is still worth a longer trip.

 

Shteyngart & Camus in Atlanta

Gary Shteyngart

I missed Gary Shteyngart's recent Atlanta visit as part of the Savannah College of Art and Design's Ivy Hall Writers Series, but fortunately Parul Kapur Hinzen of the ArtsCriticsATL interviewed the author of Super Sad True Love Story and Absurdistan while he was in town. In her interview Shteyngart talks about growing up in the former Soviet Union and how it has influenced his writings about America. Read it here.

Albert Camus

The Henri Cartier-Bresson photo exhibit at the High Museum ends Sunday, May 29th. It's a large exhibit worth seeing and it includes author photos of William Faulkner, Truman Capote, Jean Paul-Sartre, and Simone de Beauvoir, but my favorite is Albert Camus, circa 1944. My respect for copyright keeps me from posting the photo, which is available all over the internet.  (I am not going to tell you which Camus is hung at the High, you'll have to go and see for yourself.)

My respect for copyright also explains why there are so many badly staged photos on this blog. I take most of the photos on this blog myself, so I can keep my mind free from copyright anxiety. Obviously, Cartier-Bresson's legacy as the father of modern photo journalism has nothing to fear from me.

Bookstore News: Near and Far #2

The second of a short series on bookstores. (Scoll down to see the first installment.)

Carlos Museum Book Shop, Emory University

Another bookshop that also carries books in art, science and the humanities is the Carlos Museum Book Shop. Both the manager Mark Burrell and Brent Tozzer, who handles the register on the weekends, dropped me notes to stop by for their book sale earlier this month. (They know I am an easy mark.)  I was ecstatic to pick up a couple hardback copies of one of my favorite books in the last couple years, Clive James' Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts. It has even influenced my book shopping (e.g. Purchasing the Cavett biography at Atlanta Vintage Books).

Now I can mark up my paper back copy with impunity (and save the new copy for show) and gift a copy for my older daughter who just celebrated a birthday.

In behalf of the MARTA book club, I also picked up Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer and Driving Less Are the Keys to Sustainability by David Owen. (I liked his other books The Walls Around Us and My Usual Game, the latter I found at A Cappella's outside discount shelf). In Metropolis Owen describes Atlanta as a “city that has probably been the source of more bad transportation policy than any other city in America.” (I will be sure to shout “We're Number One !!! We're Number One !!!” the next time the train runs late.)

Bookstore News: Near and Far #1

This is the first of a short series about bookstores of interest:

Eighth Day Books: Wichita, Kansas

I received a promotional email from one of my favorite book stores – Eighth Day Books in Wichita, Kansas, which I visited a couple of years ago (see here). Eighth Day has specialized in the classic books of art, science and the humanities since 1988. Every year they publish a fantastic catalog (cover art shown) and if you contact them they will put you on their mailing list for next month's release. In the meantime you should visit their website and check out their blog, which contains information about their current Spring sale (15% off and free shipping thru Sunday, May 22) and has a link to Eighth Day owner Warren Farha's essay, “Why Bother with Books”

In Farha's essay, he begins with a few experiences of how he loved books as a youth (reinforcing the consensus that it is passion that is nurtured in the young). But Farha also draws on the works of Mark Bauerlein, Nicholas Carr and one of my favorite writers Neil Postman making a compelling argument about the pitfalls of reading books digitally. It reminds me of Marshall McLuhan  who wrote in Understanding Media (1964) that how we process information (the format of the information) is as important as the content. Hence, the phrase the “Medium is the Message.”

Coincidentally, I am reading the book I bought at Eighth Day, 18 months ago – Donald Kagen's The Peloponnesian War, about the thirty years war between Sparta and Athens, which lasted from 431 to 404 BC. Admittedly it takes me time to get around to reading what I thought would be challenging book, but I've been pleasantly surprised how readable Kagen's history has been (the book is promoted as such). So far I've found it fascinating and relevant to our world today, especially when he writes about what qualities are necessary for a great leader. An erudite friend teased me that Kagen version was like drinking scotch with ginger ale, but my comeback was, “Well, if I were to drink Scotch, I'd probably have start with ginger ale.”

If I survive the Kagen book, I might hold the ginger ale and take a look at Landmark Thucydides : A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War by: Robert B. Strassler, which has been highly recommended by Farha and my friend.

Instructions for Living: A Review

Laurie Blauner's Instructions for Living, her third novel—or novella (a form better suited to our shortening attention spans) tells the story of Gabrielle, a young woman who manages to keep her life together while the world crumbles around her. Gabrielle stays at home with her dysfunctional mother and her dying father who suffers from MLS. One day, Gabrielle meets the one-armed Miguel, crushed gardenia in his shirt pocket, rifling through her trash looking for objects to make toys for his children. They shake hands, his large chafed hand engulfing hers. After Miguel leaves, Gabrielle remembers: “Later that night I could smell gardenias as I made my parents' dinner, as I swatted at flies. I stopped my housework and smelled. He was still with me.”

Normally, these kind of passionate books are not my favorites (see disclaimer at end). But what makes Blauner such a good writer is that she not only gets in the head of Gabrielle, but Gabrielle has these poetic sensibilities—mainly a heightened sense of observation and skill of using her words evocatively and economically. This comes as no surprise since the Seattle-based Blauner has published six books of poetry.

What also makes this book intriguing is the setting of the story. The narrative goes back and forth from two time periods: 1978 and 1998 (using the chapter titles Blauner gives the reader guidance – but you need to pay attention). The locale is an unknown country that is in the midst of a low-level civil war. There is sporadic violence in the streets, intermittent losses of electrical power, but the television blathers on with mindless entertainment. An evil urban guerrilla named Sharp harasses Gabrielle's father, who engaged in political activities before becoming ill. All in all, these are not times conducive to love, but Gabrielle and Miguel combine to give each other something they need.

That's a lot going on—love, politics, family— all in less than a hundred pages, but Blauner satisfies by ending the novella on a sweet note. It's a simple little book, well done.

To order Instructions for Living, visit the new release section of The Main Street Rag books. (I purchased my copy – which is printed on quality stock paper -- but be careful, the "add to cart buttons" are not aligned with the books well).