The Book Shopper

Atlanta Area Calendar of Book Events – November, 2012

A new exhibit “Elemental” from bibliocentric artist Brian Dettmer has opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia. Shown at the left is a piece carved from a set of Britannica Encyclopedias (photo courtesy of Brian Dettmer). I saw Dettmer's exhibit at the Saltworks Gallery early last year and will make it over there in the near future.  Regular readers of the blog know that I am always interested in things that people do with books besides read them (See “Books as Art as Books” link at the right).

Speaking of repeat performances, on November 19 Anne Lamott returns to the Decatur's First Baptist Church. A few years ago, I went to a Lamott event in front of a packed house and I would say that I was nonplussed at what the big fuss was about. She mostly rambled on and on with no apparent narrative structure (I also heard from my Knoxville blog correspondents that her recent appearance in Knoxville was much the same), so I wonder what kind of turnout she will get from people who know better. The Georgia Center of the Book is also presenting Dana Greene author of Denise Levertov: A Poet's Life (November 5),  and Jeff Clemmons author or Rich's: A Southern Institution, a book about the famous Atlanta department store (November 13).

If you like history, the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum is hosting Jon Meachem author of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power (November 19 - $$ required) and Kevin Phillips author of 1775: A Good Year for Revolution (November 30).

Michael Nye will be reading from his short story collection, Strategies Against Extinction on November 9. Georgia State University's literary magazine New South is sponsoring the event.

The Marcus Jewish Community Center's 21st Annual Book Fair gets into full swing beginning November 1 and continues through November 18 ($$ required.)

William Faulkner, Talladega Nights and the Old South

The next time -- the next umpteenth time -- you watch the Will Farrell comedy Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby (airing this weekend on TBS) note at the very end of Talladega Nights, past the credits, past the outtakes (depending on which version you are watching) there is a scene where Ricky Bobby’s mother Lucy (played by Jane Lynch) finishes reading William Faulkner’s The Bear to her grandsons J.R. and Walker Texas Ranger. In the scene, Lucy finishes reading and sets down the book:

Lucy: So what do you think that story is about?

J.R.: The Bear symbolizes the Old South and Lion the new dog symbolizes the creeping industrialization of the North.

Walker:  Duh, but the question is “Shouldn’t Boon feel the relief or sadness at the passing of the Old South?”

Lucy: Well, How about both?

Walker: Oh, I get it. Moral ambiguity. The hallmark of all early 20th Century American fiction.

J.R.: Great analysis, Walker.

Walker, William Faulkner and Talladega Nights all agree: There is both relief and sadness in the passing of the Old South. 

Blog Redux

Following up on some books and I've written about before and have recently factored into my personal experiences.

Fort McAllister

Earlier this month while I was vacationing near Savannah, I revisited the more well known Fort Pulaski, but I also drove south of the city to take in another Civil War fort – a series of earthworks known as Fort McAllister. The only reason I knew about McAllister (bitter rivals of Fort Pulaski for tourist affections, I reckon) is that I referenced my copy of Barry Brown and Gordon Elwell's Crossroads of Conflict: A Guide to Civil War Sites in Georgia which is an indispensable companion to lesser known Civil War sites in Georgia. Fort McAllister was the scene of a naval battle in 1862 where the Federal ironclad Montauk sunk the blockade runner Nashville, while the Confederate vessel was stuck on sandbar on the Ogeechee River. Later, General William Sherman's forces captured the fort in December of 1864, just before the fall of Savannah. Though it is a little drive off the beaten path, the well-maintained grounds of Fort McAllister State Historical Park feature scenic views of the river, well preserved earthworks and a sizable museum, which includes a short film starring some of the plumpest Civil War rein-actors in cinema.

Union Avenue Books, Knoxville

In 2009, a few close friends helped set up “the four city world tour" for my book, for The Book Shopper,” (before this blog there was a book) included a book signing at the Carpe Librium Book Store in Knoxville, Tennessee. Since then the store closed, but the owner opened Union Avenue Books a couple blocks from the revitalized Market Square district in downtown Knoxville. My longtime fiance Denise and I were in Knoxville for a wedding (not ours) and we did some browsing before embarking on our social commitments. The store has a great feel inside and a good assortment of books for the discriminating reader. (Georgia writer-activist Janisse Ray was doing a reading there the next day.) I apologize that the photo shown here doesn't do it justice but I did buy a copy of E.B. White essays. If you're driving through Knoxville on a non-football weekend, I'd encourage you stop the Market Square district – just a few minutes off I-40 – and get some lunch, a beer and do some browsing.

Savannah Book Shopping – Beyond The Garden of Good and Evil

For book shoppers interested in going beyond visiting the bookstores dedicated to John Berendt's Midnight in The Garden of Good and Evil, there are places worth checking out within walking distance of each other in Old Savannah.

From the Savannah Visitor's Center and Museum you can walk across Martin Luther King Boulevard to the Savannah College of Art and Design's Ex-Libris, a bookstore and art supply store where they demonstrate a funky use of “load bearing” books. There are some other books and magazines there, but if you are a writer who is looking for that perfect journal to collect your thoughts and a pen to go with it. This is the place.

From Ex-Libris, take King Boulevard to Liberty Street and then head east four or five blocks to The Book Lady Book Store at 6 East Liberty, where they sell new and used books and coffee. Don't be fooled by the small entrance, this little nook is crammed with books including a “shrine” to Flanery O'Connor. My longtime fiance Denise bought two books there: Paul Theroux's Fresh Air Friend (2000) and an obscure travel book From A Chinese City (1955) by Gontran De Poncins. Later in the week, she returned there and bought Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (more later.)

Atlanta's Big Book Events Calendar - October 2012

 

It's a big month in Atlanta if you like big name authors and bestsellers: James Patterson and R.L. Stine at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, David Sedaris at Atlanta Symphony Hall,  Patricia Cornwall at the Carter Library, Elmore Leonard and Camile Paglia at SCAD's Ivy Hall Writing Series, and the  Georgia Center for the Book has already hosted Jasper Fforde and Chris Cleave. (I will defer to the linked venues to provide you the details.)

Both Georgia State University and Emory University are offering alternative reading events. On October 11, the literary magazine Five Points is sponsoring a reading of fiction writer Hugh Sheehy and poet Anya Silver. Meanwhile Carlos Reads explores themes of madness and delusion in four works by Euripides in a class that is being taught by classics professor Peter Bing.

Unbroken Thoughts

I am not much of a reader of best sellers and the more popular writers, but after two friends suggested I read Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken (to the point of loaning me the book) I had take a chance on book that has been on the bestseller list for over a year.

Hillenbrand's account of Olympian Louis Zamperini, who as a crewman on B-24 bomber in World War II crashed into the Pacific, and subsequently spent over a month on a raft only to be captured by the Japanese. In captivity under horrible conditions, the Japanese guards brutalized and humiliated Zamperini, but he survived.

The narrative is nothing short of compelling, but I am still scratching my head on the popularity. The book is rather grisly in its descriptions. I wonder if this kind of book is what David Shields (previous posting) refers to as “misery porn.” Or is it Zamperini's conversion to Christianity after he returned stateside that makes this popular with the church crowd? My takeaway from the book was its description of the perilous conditions for the pilots and crews. (More Air Force personnel was lost in accidents and mishaps than from combat with the Japanese.) Hillenbrand's account of life in the cockpit makes me interested in revisiting Joseph Heller's Catch-22.