The Book Shopper

Eclectic October Book Tour

I am in the midst of a book shopping and book promoting tour, which has been somewhat unconventional. Here’s the itinerary of past and future events:

Radical Book Fair, Saturday, October 14, Auburn Avenue Research Library, Atlanta

The Radical Book Fair gave me an opportunity to see the AARL for the first time, which is a marvelous venue complete with reading room and exhibits.  I chatted briefly with the booksellers at Atlanta Vintage Books, who still carry my “radical” Down & Outbound: A Mass Transit Satire at their store on Chamblee. I also chatted with a book distributor AK Press, to see if they would have room in their catalog for  Down & Outbound.

ACP Photobook Fair, Saturday, October 14, Hawthorne Gallery, Atlanta

As part of the month long Atlanta Celebrates Photography, the Hawthorne Gallery hosted photobook publishers and photobook vendors. One of the vendors include Fall Line Press  in Atlanta which carries Down & Outbound at their Beltline Reading Room. I did not expect to see D & O being displayed because is not a photobook per se, but it does include some quirky photographs, such as this opera house-like façade (shown)  that for some strange reason is part of the Five Points MARTA swtation in Atlanta.

While at the fair, I thumbed through one of Fall Line’s new offerings, Jeff Rich’s Watershed: The Tennessee River, a collection of photos that capture the conflict between nature and the dams and other structures built by Tennessee Valley Authority. After living in Knoxville for years, I appreciated seeing the Tennessee River in a new light. 

Paul Dry Books, Saturday, October 28, Reading Terminal, Philadelphia

Because I will be visiting the City of Brotherly Love for a wedding, I will finally be able to meet Paul Dry, the publisher of my book of essays, The Book Shopper: A Life in Review (2009), which is the namesake of this blog. We have much to talk about:  families, books, publishing, and what the author Eva Brann is really like.  Paul Dry has published many fine books and a few months ago, I wrote about some of my favorites, including Brann’s Double Think/DoubleTalk: Naturalizing Second Thoughts and Twofold Speech.

Get Lit West Georgia, Sunday, October 29, Printer’s Ale Manufacturing, Carrollton, Georgia

Organized by Josh Niesse and Meghan Bell of Underground Books, and in conjunction with a local brewery, this evening includes a literary quiz show, live music, and craft beer. How can that not be fun?  I am one of the panelists on the quiz show (uh-oh) along with two other writers. There’s a brief reading and book chat and some giveaways, which include a couple "Thanks For Not Running Me Over" posters (shown).

 

Celebrating This Day in Baseball History

October 4, 2017 marks the 62^nd anniversary of the Brooklyn Dodgers’ only World Series Championship in the 75 years that they played in Brooklyn.  On October 4, 1955, the Dodgers defeated the Yankees 4 games to 3, after numerous losses to the Yankees in 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1953.

It’s easy for me to remember this day in baseball history because my birthday is one day later. Since my parents lived in Illinois I wasn’t given a catchy name like Duke (Snider), Pee Wee (Reese), or Ebbets (Field).

This trivia is all fresh in my mind because a few weeks ago, I finished reading Roger Kahn’s baseball classic, The Boys of Summer (1971). Surprisingly, the book is more than just an account of the Brooklyn team’s glory years. Born in 1928, Kahn grew up near Ebbets Field with dreams of playing for his heroes, but settled for covering them as a sports beat writer for The New York Herald Tribune. Although the Dodgers of that era are best known for breaking the color barrier in 1947 with Jackie Robinson, they added other African-American players to their roster such as Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe, Junior Gilliam, and Joe Black (first black pitcher to win a World Series game in 1952). Kahn does not tiptoe around the racial issues in the Brooklyn locker room, and a significant part of the book is devoted revisiting those players years later and asking them to reflect on those golden yet turbulent times.  The controversy surrounding race and sports has not seemed to have dissipated much since then.

Anticipation

Heading into the 2017 postseason, I cannot recall so many fine baseball clubs that have a chance to win the World Series: The New York Yankees (again), the Boston Red Sox, the Houston Astros, and the Cleveland Indians. The latter two won 100 games in the American League as did the Los Angeles Dodgers, who also freaked themselves out by going 47-7 in one stretch of the season and 1 -16 in another.  The Arizona Diamondbacks, who swept L.A. twice late in the season are formidable with their relatively unknown MVP-worthy Paul Goldschmidt. Rounding out the list of teams vying for the National League pennant are the Washington Nationals and the reigning World Champion Chicago Cubs.

As a lifelong Cubs fan, I still have not grown accustomed to their World Series win last year but it is a relief to have that 108-year burden removed.  I still follow the team with the same kind of daily fervor  that Kahn writes about in The Boys of Summer.  I think of this as I share the experience with the newest member of the Cub family, my little grandson Myrick who was born last month. Whether the Cubs repeat or not, I am already celebrating.