The Boswellians

Bookselling: The Missing Link in Particle Physics?, or, An Interview with Brent Gohde

2012-01-04T13:38:00.000-08:00

Brent Gohde is one of the sexy minds behind Cedar Block, an organization responsible for art, science, and art & science events/ephemera since 2005. Starting at Luckystar Studio, followed by six shows at Milwaukee Art Museum, and now at Turner Hall Ballroom, they showcase some of the most creative minds in Milwaukee for large audiences. Their new show is titled "Sexy Results: Cedar Block's Dig for the Higgs and how the Quest Was Won."

What in the name of Pluto's eccentric orbit is "Sexy Results?"

Well, by "Pluto" I can only assume you're referring to Asteroid 134340. With that established, Sexy Results is Cedar Block's first stage performance, taking place at Turner Hall Ballroom on February 18th, inexplicably but thankfully a part of the 2011-12 Alverno Presents season.

Previously Cedar Block has recruited local creative types to pay tribute to artists in exhibitions at the Milwaukee Art Museum, and we've organized one-of-a-kind science fairs for grown-ups. So it only makes sense we'd draw from our pool of brilliant Milwaukeeans to pay tribute to scientists, primarily those who have spent four decades searching for the Higgs boson particle at Fermilab in Batavia, IL. And who knows? Maybe we'll even find the Higgs in the process. I'm not convinced one needs a particle accelerator in order to do so.

Of course, I was going to ask what books influenced you as you developed this idea, but then you went and wrote "this show only exists because I worked at a bookstore," which means there's a juicier answer than just a list of titles and authors. Please give it to me now.

This show never would have occurred to me had I not spent three years as a bookseller at the Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop on Downer, when an author named Leonard Shlain (R.I.P.) visited Milwaukee to promote The Alphabet vs. The Goddess. Many artist friends pointed me to a book called Art & Physics, in which he made the argument that, while the two disciplines seemed exclusive, they were actually very similar in that they are developing a language to interpret the world around them. Shlain even goes so far as to suggest many artists have anticipated major scientific discoveries throughout history, so we're hoping to join that club. (I'd also like to credit my best friend in grade school, Brad Cage, for handing me a copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which changed just about everything in my 12 year-old brain. Oh, and it was one of my great memories to met Mr. Adams at the Schwartz in Brookfield prior to his death.)

What books influenced you?

I'd like to think every book I've ever read has influenced this show. Those books are either directly related to our subject matter (Ian Sample's Massive, Shlain's Art & Physics), related in my mind (Jonathan Lethem's As She Climbed Across the Table, Adams' THHGTTG), or just responsible for warping my view of reality (anything by Mark Leyner, Denis Johnson's Jesus' Son, Nabokov's Lolita, Fernando Pessoa, David Foster Wallace, Flannery O'Connor, James Gleick, James Ellroy... what's my word-count here?). I even discovered some of my favorite visual artists through bound collections of their work (Anselm Kiefer, Paul Klee, and Jenny Holzer).

I seriously just deleted an entire paragraph of books people should read. You can take the bookseller out of the bookstore, but...

Do you consider yourself more scientifically minded or artistically inclined?

The great thing about that Leonard Shlain book is that we no longer need to choose between art and science. And that's one of the main messages we hope to communicate with this show.

We had the great opportunity to sit down with three brilliant physicists at Fermilab and pick their brains, to find out how they got involved in particle physics research. They all had scientists in their immediate family... and they all had artists in their immediate family. This discipline requires a significant amount of creative thinking to develop new theories and answers to age-old problems.

A guy named Dwellephant^[*]keeps telling me to approach this show like a little kid, and I think that's how you have to approach the great mysteries of the universe: imagine you're the first one to approach this. It's a playground. Where do you start? Anything is a potential solution, so just start working and imagining the possibilities.

Are you familiar with Steve Martin's play, Picasso at the Lapin Agile? It posits that the processes in art/science are much the same, and also that greatness always comes in threes. What three people, at the intersection of art and science, would you most like to put in a locked room together, along with too much wine and a camera to record the scene?

Grammy Award-nominee banjo player Steve Martin is a playwright? The world is amazing. Also, I'm embarrassed to say I haven't gotten around to this, because theatre is a blindspot for me, and because I have a dayjob and spend most of my free-time reading James Ellroy.

But as for the three people (and the number THREE is significant to the show, as it turns out, so thanks), I'd... huh. I don't know. There's a great book that came out in 2010 called Quantum that I need to finish about Einstein and Bohr figuring out this brand new way of thinking. So maybe I don't have to invite those two.

Honestly, the participants in this show all fit that description, and I can't tell you how amazingly inspiring it has been to hear them share ideas and go down the rabbit-hole which is our Sexy Results show. Anytime three of my friends are talking about this in my vicinity, I'm pretty happy. But Douglas Adams' ghost is always invited.

Describe what Cedar Block will be like at 10 years old.

It would be amazing to take this show on the road, but we've got way too many ideas for a group that consists of one guy that has no idea how to make money at this.

Describe what Brent Gohde was like at 10 years old.

Brent Gohde was a 4th grader at Immanuel Lutheran grade school at 10 years-old, and he had his dad as a teacher. Young Brent pretty much only cared about baseball, comic books, and GI Joe. But his parents always took him to MAM for artist lectures (Gordon Parks and Jerry Zucker stand out), took him to the symphony, and always encouraged him at any path he decided to take on any given day.

I'm pretty sure they're okay with the fact that he's stressed out putting on a show called Sexy Results at 36 instead of stressed out closing that merger that's going to net the company a few million dollars I have no idea what I'm talking about.

How much can I swear in my responses?

You say whatever/however much you want and if it's not okay, we'll just make them pretty symbols instead.

Damn boobs hell fart.

Tickets for "Sexy Results" are available online via Alverno Presents or through Turner Hall Ballroom.

~

^[*]Dwellephant happens to also be the designer of our next Boswell t-shirt!
~

Pride3 and Prejudice3

2011-12-12T12:02:00.000-08:00

Although I have long been a fan of all things Jane Austen, I admit to being somewhat disdainful of the recent spate of mashups involving some of my favorite novels.

A few years ago when Pride and Prejudice and Zombies came out, I had no interest in it, and was horrified to learn that my book club had chosen it as one of their selections. After grudgingly agreeing to try it, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The Bennett sisters were portrayed as strong young women who were protecting their neighborhood from an onslaught of undead creatures. More importantly, George Wickham received his comeuppance in this version of the story, which is quite different from the original. In Miss Austen’s version, Wickham’s only punishment is marriage to

Lydia

and a lifetime yoked to her. Perhaps that is enough.

I have just finished the latest offering by PD James, Death Comes to Pemberley. I was thrilled to learn that at age 91, this veteran mystery writer is still cranking out books. In this novel, she combines the delightful characters of Pride and Prejudice some years after the original book ends, with her specialty of criminal investigation and suspense. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are happily married and living at Pemberley with their two young sons. Jane and Mr. Bingley are also happily married and living nearby with their offspring. Events take a dramatic turn, when on the night of their annual ball,

Lydia

arrives uninvited, hysterical, insisting that her husband is dead.

Once the body is discovered and the search for the murderer begins, the story is all PD James. Fans of her Adam Dalgliesh mysteries will enjoy this book as well as diehard Austen devotees.

On the Creation of a New Section

2011-11-29T15:20:00.000-08:00

It was one of those mornings where the phones were ringing long before the doors were even unlocked for business. I took a call from a young woman seeking a botany reference book. Nothing specific, which means having to physically scan the section, looking for what suited her request (basic, detailed, illustrations would be nice). I find two possibilities, one which seems perfect. I return to the phone, giving the caller a description. She doesn't want me to hold it for her, but will come in looking for it later if she's interested. I go to put the book back on the shelf, only to realize I can't, because the Gardening section is almost completely out of order.

So, I start to re-alphabetize (by author) the whole section.

While doing so, I notice other things - books that are shelved in the wrong section (in General Gardening but are about Landscaping) or perhaps labeled incorrectly (labeled as Vegetable Gardening, but is really more Garden Literature). I also start noticing a trend - one I'd casually noticed before but which had suddenly turned into Red Car Syndrome* - an abundance of books about growing food and raising chickens in urban environs, as well as guides for new homesteaders and memoirs from hobby farmers.

The more I think about this, I start recalling other similar titles I'd seen in other sections of the store, ranging from Memoir to Cooking to Nature. So, I propose to Jason that we merge them all into its own distinct section. We agree that if there's at least a dozen titles, it's probably a good idea.

So, the process begins of gathering up titles that seem to fit in the sort of section that addresses this new(ish) interest in self-sufficiency in small, urban spaces. Before each book can be relabeled, they need a category code, something to help booksellers shelve and then find sought-after books. They're all three letters and start with a letter that usually stands for the overarching subject (F for Fiction, I for Issues, etc.). We decide it should be peripheral to Gardening (G), but what should the other letters be and what should they stand for? We repeatedly brainstorm a few things but Sharon points out that Urban Farming, in Gardening would give us an acronym of GUF, which made Sharon giggle, so we couldn't not go with GUF.

Once that's settled, each book must be logged into the store's inventory database with its new code and then a label printed and put on the back of the book. Then, they are shelved all together in a happy new area all its own. Of course, this entire process takes all day since it's pretty detail-oriented and time-consuming, particularly when its done while also taking time out to help customers, answer phones, wrap books for gifts, etc.

The highlight of it all was when (and I am not making this up) at the end of the day, shortly before we closed, a young man came in and asked, "Where do you keep books on urban farming?" I smiled bigger than he probably expected so it might have seemed a little creepy, and led him to our brand new section.

What titles can you expect to find in GUF? Here's a sampling:

Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter
The Urban Homestead by Kelly Coyne & Erik Knutzen
Urban Homsteading: Heirloom Skills for Sustainable Living by Rachel Kaplan
The Bucolic Plague by Josh Kilmer-Purcell
The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food and Love by Kristin Kimball
Mini-Farming: Self Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre by Brett Markham
Homegrown & Handmade by Deborah Niemann
Your Farm in the City by Lisa Taylor

_{*Red Car Syndrome: When you own a red car, you notice all the red cars on the road and they seem to be everywhere.}

Something About Childhood Memories, or, Snappy Title to be Determined.

2011-11-06T15:07:00.000-08:00

A Blog Post from Mark

I was trying to come up with a list of my 5 favorite books from 2011 for our bookstore newsletter. After going over everything that I’d read during the year, I finally came up with my list. Some titles were fiction, some were memoirs but as I looked over the list, I saw a pattern emerge. A number of books such as We the Animals by Justin Torres, The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje, and It’s All Relative by Wade Rouse all had something to do with childhood, either from a child’s perspective of from recollections from childhood. Particularly from the vantage point of children from 11-13 years of age, which are particularly crazy and volatile years.

I even wrote a small anecdote about a book, by request of our friend John Eklund who is a rep for Harvard University Press regarding a new book called On Rereading by Patricia Meyer Spacks. I wrote about having reread a book that I’d been required to read in high school, a book that I hated at the time, but fell in love with when I read it years later. The book was The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, which is now I book that I cherish. Here was a story about a boy in his early teens setting out (although not exactly by choice) on an incredible, life-changing adventure. Yet as a young teen reading the story, I somehow was not able to appreciate it.

I think as we get older we not only look back fondly on our formative years, but only as adults are we able to evaluate it and put it into some kind of perspective that fits into who we are now. In an interview about her new book The End of Everything, Megan Abbott talks about her 13 year old protagonist and describes the world of a young teen as ‘big, terrifying, and thrilling’ and how everything takes on a heightened sense of drama.

There is something to that transitional point in our lives, in our early teens, when we are no longer ‘little kids’ but we are not yet grown-ups either. The world is full of mysteries and wonder and it is an exciting and scary time. As we read or write books that center on that time in our lives, it gives us an opportunity to connect once again with who we were then. Not to be there again necessarily, because of course we can’t go back, nor should we really want to. We all have to grow up, but maybe by connecting with stories about childhood, we as adults can rekindle some of the sense of wonder that we had, and the sense that anything in the world is possible.

(My apologies for listing the poster as Daniel, but we just set up Mark's account. It really was written by Mark.)

Party Like it's 1989

2011-08-16T09:24:00.000-07:00

To every geek girl and nerd boy who's ever wanted to ride a lightcycle or wear a browncoat, I give the ultimate party blend of every cult film, gaming, music, comic or literary pop culture reference from the last 25 years of the 20th century.

In Ready Player One, it's 2044 and the world is so heavily ridden with poverty and crime that most of the population immerses themselves in a virtual reality where magic is real and technology rivals that of Star Trek. When the designer behind this online escapist fantasy dies and leaves his fortune to whoever can journey through one last great gaming adventure, our hero Wade Watts determines he will win it all and leave the real world behind for good. What happens next is a new adventure of epic proportions complete with a kiss to rival Westley and Buttercup's.

This is the perfect book for anyone who has ever purchased items while traveling the Oregon Trail, knows what to do with two halves of a coconut, frantically rolled a die and scribbled with a pencil, pumped their fist in the air in rebellious triumph, danced if they wanted to, or spent an afternoon dropping quarters in slots listening to the sounds of beeps and boops. It is the novel of a generation inside of which beats the heart of our collective future.

Calling it the "geek book event of the year," Drew McWeeny writes in his review on 'Motion Captured' at hitfix.com: "It is a preposterously great read, and a richly imagined science-fiction world that uses the very idea of nostalgia as a thematic jumping-off point. By embracing the idea full-force, Ernie's crafted one of the first truly significant works of art about the '80s generation and their refusal to let go of their childhood, and what value there is in shared cultural experience."

The author, Ernest Cline, will be appearing at Boswell Book Company on Monday August 29th at 7pm. Check out our Facebook event listing for more fun links and share with friends!

Thanks to a little bit of pre-release bookseller fun at the retro record store and video game arcade Logan Hardware in Chicago, we managed to connect with Ernie for a little Q&A.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While I'm sure you had a lot of the pop culture references floating around your brain already for the writing of RP1, was there any book, movie, game, or album that you discovered for the first time and really fell in love with? Or perhaps a pop culture area that you hadn't been familiar with that you really got into?

I've always been fascinated with late-20th century pop culture, so I'm not sure if I "discovered" anything new in that vein while writing the book, but I definitely re-discovered a lot of stuff. In fact, I think that's probably one of the reasons it took me so long to finish the book. Whenever I didn't feel like writing (which was most of the time), I would throw in an old 80s movie like Ladyhawke that I hadn't seen in years, or boot up MAME and play some classic video games - all under the guise of "research" for my book. It's bad news for your productivity when your "research" is indistinguishable from "goofing off." That's actually a problem that confronts the characters in my book.

You did a lot of spoken word work in your earlier years. I find “Nerd Porn Auteur” to be hysterically funny, and am constantly making people listen to it. Do you have any other spoken word pieces stashed away that have yet to see the light of day, and will we perhaps be honored with one at any of your live events?

Thank you for forcing my work on your friends! I wrote nearly all of my spoken word stuff back around the turn of the century, and I threw all of it up on the Internet - even the pieces that weren't that stellar. I stopped performing and writing spoken word on a regular basis in 2001, but since all of my work is online, new people are always discovering it, which is extremely cool. I still continue to come up with great ideas for spoken word pieces. A few of them wound up in my novel, but most of them are just sitting in a folder on my hard drive. Once my book tour is over and things calm down a bit, I've considered putting together a new spoken word album, just for fun. We shall see.

And yes, I totally anticipate a few fans of my spoken word showing up at my book signings to demand that I recite "Airwolf." If that happens, I will dutifully comply.

Did you get to meet Kristen Bell when she filmed Fanboys? I want her to be my best friend, can you introduce us? Or, at the very least, get her to play the part of Art3mis in the film version of RP1?

Yes, and she is just about the sweetest person you'd ever want to meet. When we met, I still hadn't seen any of Veronica Mars, but I had seen her appearance on the show Deadwood, and in a cast of amazing actors, she totally stole the show. So I totally geeked out on her about how amazing she was on Deadwood, but she was totally cool about it. And since she's one of my favorite actresses, I think she'd make a fantastic Art3mis! (But you'll have to wear a brunette wig like you did in Fanboys, Kristen. Sorry!)

(And sadly, no, I can't introduce you to her, because she took out something called a "restraining order" against me, and I'm not supposed to go within a hundred yards or her now.)

Speaking of stars, another one of my childhood crushes, Wil Wheaton, has recorded the audio version of RP1, and it's no secret how you geeked out over getting him to do it. Did you also know he's been a fan of yours for about ten years? How awesome is it that he's just as excited about your book as you are to have him narrate it?

It is BEYOND AWESOME, just like Wil himself. When he linked to my spoken word website on Fark back in 2003, it resulted in me selling about a gabillion CDs, and it also gave my self-confidence as a writer a huge boost, right when I really needed it, because I'd just started working on Ready Player One. So it's total karma that Wil ended up narrating the audio book. He's been an inspiration to me for ages, so it's pretty amazing to have him work on my book.

You have to pick one book, one album, one game, one movie, and one snack to take to a deserted island that only allows for retro items - nothing from the 21st Century can be brought with you... What do you take?

Book: The Complete Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Game: Black Tiger

Movie: Real Genius

Snack: Twizzlers

Greg asks: "If OASIS was real right now, would you make use of it and how often?"

If the OASIS was real right now, I'd probably be addicted to it. In fact, I'd probably be answering these questions from within my virtual underground stronghold, talking to you via a live vidfeed.

Carl wants to know what your favorite number is and Jason wants to know, how many gigawatts does it take to go back in time?

My favorite number is 42, and it takes 1.21 gigawatts to go back in time.

Speaking of gigawatts, is Ecto88 making the tour?

Yes, I am driving Ecto88 on the tour. But it is a 30 year old Irish-made sports car, so I'm hoping it will survive the 2000+ mile journey.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MORE PRAISE for RP1

"I'm a geek, and I think that made me appreciate even more the ambitious narrative structure and the incredible creative detail... This is a 'frakking' good read." -Carole Barrowman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"Ready Player One is a great read for all the geeks out there and something you can hand off, unashamedly, to your friends and family when you are finished reading." -Geek.com

"Cline strikes the nerves of nerd culture as expertly as Andy played that skeleton organ in The Goonies." -Entertainment Weekly (A-)

"Ready Player One’ provides a most excellent ride. Once the story is up and running, and the novel blasts to its world-ending climactic battle, I found the adventure story and its revenge of the dorks dream fully satisfying." -Ethan Gilsdorf, 'Geek Pride', Psychology Today

"I loved every sentence of this book, and was a little sad when I reached the end and re-entered reality." -Mark Frauenfelder, boingboing.net

Hail to the King

2011-08-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

The worst part about sequels is having to wait for them. I learned this lesson very early in my literary life, when I was reading the Goosebumps series. As a kid, I was what you could safely call a ravenous reader, finishing the newest book in the series the day it came out, and then having to wait for the next one. This doesn't seem particularly impressive until you take into account that there were over 60 of the suckers.

Fortunately for younger me, the Goosebumps books were released at a breakneck monthly pace. While it didn't feel particularly fast at the time, it has certainly felt expedient when compared to the wait I have had to endure for the sequel to Lev Grossman's The Magicians. Amusingly, I learned of the sequel's existence the same way I learned about forthcoming Goosebumps book - from a blurb in the back of the first book. That was in 2010. July, I think. I had to wait a lot longer than a month.

Jason, Daniel, and Amie get first dibs on new galleys. A few months ago, Jason came into the receiving room and rather hesitantly told me that he had obtained a galley of The Magician King. I think he was concerned that I was going to mug him in the back alley and take it. Admittedly, the thought crossed my mind. He quickly added that a few additional copies were on the way. He retreated safely, my jealous bloodlust temporarily stayed. And a few days later, I had my own copy.

For those unfamiliar with the general premise of The Magicians, I would refer you to one of our previous blog entries. We rejoin our protagonist Quentin Coldwater back in the magical land of Fillory, where he and his friends are royalty. Quentin literally has the entire magical world at his fingertips - and he's bored out of his mind. To break the monotony, he volunteers to lead an expedition to a faraway island who has neglected to pay taxes for a long time. He doesn't really expect an adventure to come from this seemingly mundane journey, but he quickly discovers that something exceedingly powerful is threatening his magical home - as well as all magicians everywhere.

Grossman's trademark style is everywhere in this book, and that's a good thing. While still firmly grounded in the realm of fantasy, he effortlessly weaves in literary and pop culture references (there's a particularly clever Lisbeth Salander reference) that makes the text accessible to general fiction readers as well as diehard fantasy fans. The pacing is excellent, the characters are quirky and relatable, and the twists and turns of the plot will keep you up late into the night.

I drew these conclusions from the advanced reader copy. And then, I came upon this entry, while perusing Lev Grossman's blog. And this, from slightly earlier. Everyone knows that galleys aren't necessarily the finished product, but apparently the galley I got was just a step above a draft. Some might feel cheated in my position, but instead I'm incredibly optimistic. If I liked the story as much as I did in its unfinished form, I can only imagine how fantastic the final finished copy is.

If you haven't read The Magicians, go pick up a copy and read it. And then call and reserve your copy of The Magician King, which lands on 8/9. You won't be disappointed. But regardless of whether or not you read the book, if you stumble across anyone with tattooes like these...

...think twice before crossing them. Especially if you spot the 50.

The Canophile Inside

2011-07-31T19:09:00.000-07:00

Nearly two years ago I happened upon an advanced reader's copy of a book titled Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell and Know. I loved it, scribbling out a quick recommendation card to attend the book on our New Non-Fiction shelf:

"Many things a lover/observer of dogs has long known are now being confirmed by scientific research into the fascinating, no longer entirely unknowable, minds of dogs."

It landed, the New York Times gave it a great review and people started coming in asking for it. Then NPR did a story. Sales shot up again and it eventually became a #1 New York Times bestseller. It's a book that has deserved all the press it has been getting. It isn't the first book to really explore life from a dog's senses, backed up by the most current research into canine biology, ethology and evolution but it is certainly the most readable survey of the topic. Did you know that a dog can follow a human's point but our closest relative, the chimp, cannot? Or that a Siberian Husky develops, in some areas, at a rate even faster than wolves? Do you know why your dog is so eager to taste everything? Any guesses as to the true motivations of a dog who saves someone's life? This one is truly for the intellectual canophile.

Just a few months ago, a second book came nipping at the heels of Horowitz's science and cognition narrative: Dog Sense by John Bradshaw. Most notably, Bradshaw is Foundation Director of the Anthrozoology Institute at the Univ. of Bristol, before which he founded the Anthrozoology Institute at the Univ. of Southampton. Dog Sense differs from Inside of a Dog in that it provides a brief history of the domestic dog based on recent research, then takes the (relatively) new behavioral and cognition science and puts it all together in a practically applicable way. He debunks Cesar Millan's infamous resurgence of alpha and domination theories and also explores the changing demands of companion animals' lifestyles.

To capitalize on the recent success of the Bradshaw and Horowitz books, I'd like to share, in no particular order, some of my favorite nonfiction dog books.

{ I'd like to preface this list by sharing my canine CV: I grew up with a Tibetan Mastiff and then a pound mutt. An avid reader of all things dealing with canine including biology and ethology, I also worked for nearly 3 years at a rural animal shelter & humane society and with canine rescue groups. As an adult, I've lived with/raised a Rottweiler, a Border Collie, a Mal/Sibe mix and a Siberian Husky. Currently I live with an Alaskan Malamute and a 2nd Siberian Husky. }

Canine Body Language: Interpreting the Native Language of the Domestic Dog
by Brenda Aloff

A must-have for anyone who really wants to understand the domestic dog. The definitive guide to canine body language, this book breaks down every eye expression, tail wag, ear position and their relative relationships to each other. An intelligent observer can then follow the basics, connect the dots and begin interpreting more complex dog-speak. I firmly believe that knowing this information is a brilliant base to be able to address behavioral issues and begin problem-solving, as well as facilitate understanding of dog-dog interactions (esp. with the abundance of dog parks). One read of this book with careful examination of the hundreds of corresponding photos and you will never watch or interact with dogs the same ever again.

The Dog Whisperer (2nd Ed.)
by Paul Owens

This is my go-to book as gift for all new dog owners. There is also an edition geared specifically for puppies (The Puppy Whisperer) but this one is good for those bringing home a squiggly, wiggly bundle of furry love as well as for adult adoptees. Using a non-violent approach rooted in natural domestic canine behavior, Owens walks the new dog owner not only through what to do but why to do it.

For the Love of a Dog
and The Other End of the Leash
by Patricia McConnell

McConnell is adjunct associate professor of zoology at UW-Madison, a certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, runs a nationally respected training company, is co-host of Wisconsin Public Radio's nationally syndicated Calling All Pets, and was the animal behavior specialist for Animal Planet's Petline. This woman knows her animals, but her books turn the focus onto the humans. She takes basic biology and illustrates, using real life examples from her vast experience, how people can better understand their dogs simply by understanding their own selves. For the Love of a Dog keeps its focus on emotions - ours and theirs. The Other End of the Leash does the same with behavior - the physical and practical application and effects of actual actions.

Pack of Two: The Intricate Bond
Between People and Dogs
by Caroline Knapp

A very personal, intimate portrait of one woman's life with her dog - a small Shepherd mix puppy ('Lucille') who changes her messed-up life for the better. Freshly out of life as an alcoholic and freshly addicted to a very unhealthy relationship, Caroline Knapp invests herself fully into life with Lucille. As a journalist and writer, she approaches this canine memoir with a keen eye to the rest of doggy journalism and science (as it existed in the 1990s), plus first-person stories from other dog owners. This one hits closest to the heart strings.

Shaggy Muses
by Maureen Adams

This splendid literary foray peers into the lives of five women writers and their dogs: Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edith Wharton, and Emily Bronte. Equally a biography of writer as that of canine, these beautiful relationships are inspiring to the reader in a way that can really offer only a glimpse into what a connection like this must have provided for each lady author.

A Good Dog
by Jon Katz

Nobody captures dog-life in the poetic images, words, and heartrending honesty that accompanies the human-canine bond, as Jon Katz*. And this title is absolutely his most heartbreaking for anyone who's ever tried (and "failed") to save a dog

Katz Tells the story of his rescue of, and significant relationship with, a desperately neglected Border Collie named Orson. "Failed" is not, of course, the right word. It's simply what it feels like, to work very hard at helping a dog who may be beyond salvaging because of a life that existed before you. It's a feeling, and experience, most commonly known by those in rescues, veterinary or humane animal work. There are many everyday dog owners who have gone through this as well, but it's a difficult thing to share with others, because no matter what wonderful life you gave a dog, if even for a shorter time than deserved, having to choose to end it prematurely is a devastating choice that never leaves you. Katz tells this story while baring his soul - a story that is mine, too.

*More of Jon Katz's books that I love and recommend: A Dog Year, The Dogs of Bedlam Farm, and Izzy & Lenore

I'm actually more of a cat person.

2011-07-18T13:29:00.000-07:00

Recently, I had a conversation with a friend of mine about Glen Duncan's The Last Werewolf.

Greg: Hey, The Last Werewolf just came out. You should read it.

Friend: No way man, I'm Team Edward all the way.

Greg: I'm serious. It's really good.

Friend: It sounds like one of those True Blood books.

Greg: The Charlaine Harris books? Sort of. It's a lot smarter.

By the end of the week, he was halfway through the book and loving it. Further proof that you can't judge a book by the title. Robopocalypse, anyone?

The Last Werewolf is what can best be described as literary paranormal fiction. In Duncan's vision of the world, werewolves truly exist - although not for much longer. The novel opens with the unfortunately named protagonist werewolf Jacob learning that the second-to-last remaining werewolf has been killed. He, like the rest of his kind, have been hunted to near extinction by WOCOP, an Interpol-like international agency set on eliminating the paranormal. This, combined with fact there aren't any female werewolves, has left Jacob as the last of his kind.

The novel raises some interesting philosophical issues about life and extinction, and forces the reader to consider - what would you do if you were the last of your kind? As it turns out, Jacob pretty much gives up. Since he has until the next full moon to live, he resigns to loafing about and indulging in prostitutes. However, all that changes when he meets a woman. A very special woman.

Duncan's writing style is eloquent, yet he does not bury the reader in vocabulary. You understand Jacob and his plight, watching him go through the motions of increasing his security, all while resigned to the fact that his death is imminent. And when he meets the woman, the novel's tone shifts drastically, reflecting Jacob's sudden newfound desire to live.

The Last Werewolf changes the werewolf genre in the same way The Magicians redefined sorcerers after Harry Potter.

It beckons in both fans of the subject, as well as those simply looking for a thoroughly entertaining, intelligent read. Thoughtful, smart, darkly comic, and beautiful, The Last Werewolf is a unique literary work of art.

I would not, however, suggest it for your Team Jacob tween.

On classic literature

2011-06-21T13:20:00.000-07:00

In my English 110 class during my freshman year at college, we were instructed to read and write a paper on Henry V. Being the ever-responsible young man that I was, I postponed the reading of the work in favor of more important academic pursuits, such as drinking too much and sitting around in front of the television. I wrote the paper the night before it was due, chugging down caffeinated soda and frequently referring to notes found on the internet. I am simultaneously proud and not proud to say that I got an A on the paper. I am not sure how.

This was just one in a long line of classic works of literature I haven't read. There reasons for this are numerous and varied, but it usually boiled down to my deep-seated bias of classic literature being boring and uninteresting to me. Conversations with older, wiser individuals usually went something like this...

Wise and intelligent person: Hey Greg, you should read this work of classical literature!

Foolish, insolent Greg: Yeah, I've been meaning to. I'll put it at the top of my list!

Exit, pursued by bear.

Foolish, insolent Greg proceeds to read some contemporary sci-fi.

To illustrate the severity of this phenomenon, I'll just throw this out there - I've never read Huckleberry Finn. Yes, I know most school curriculums require it. No, I didn't pull a "Henry V." I just never had to read it.

It was with this knowledge kicking around in my brain that I found myself sitting on the couch with nothing to read. I had just come off a long string of fantastic science fiction books that aren't due out for months, and I wanted to read something that was out already. Thankfully, my parents are avid readers, and after a couple minutes of perusing the shelves I located an old mass market copy of 1984, circa before I was born. I figured, what the heck - I could keep on my sci-fi run and read a classic work. And if I hated it, well, then it would just reaffirm my belief that classic literature was boring.

Suffice to say, I was floored. Probably one of the best books I've read in my entire life. I had no idea there was a love story involved. It is probably the first time I felt the hype behind a book truly lived up to the text itself. Fantastic. I could go on forever about it.

My first reaction was, oddly enough, to lash out. Why didn't anyone tell me how good this book was?! I thought to myself.

And then I smacked myself upside the head and recalled that quite a few people for quite a few decades had, in fact, told me exactly how good the book was.

And then it dawned on me. An epiphany of epic proportions.

If 1984 was as good as they say... what other classic works are as good as they say? Surely they can't ALL live up to the hype, but some likely would. My to-read list quadrupled in length overnight.

Since my dramatic paradigm shift, I have still been reading contemporary works. But in the back of my head, I've been debating what my next big classic undertaking will be. I've always wanted to read The Count of Monte Cristo, but I'm not sure I'm mentally prepared for that yet. The length is daunting, to say the least. Perhaps I'll finally buck up and pick up Huckleberry Finn.

Ubik; or is this the real life

2011-06-10T11:40:00.000-07:00

There is a part in Ubik where Joe Chip awakens after falling asleep in a hotel in Switzerland and attempts to place a call to room service. On the other end of the line is Runciter's voice, his dead boss. The boss that Joe and his fellow employees just took to the moratorium after being assassinated by a rival. They were hoping to be able to talk to him, that maybe they could bring him back to get new orders and how handle the mishap on the moon.

It did not work, they could not get through to Runciter, he very well could be beyond them forever. However, here he was talking on the phone in Joe's hotel room. How did he know that Joe stayed here, how could he even talk on the phone? It is the beginning of a long line of contradictions. Pretty soon, Runciter's image starts to appear everywhere, on money, in ads. Messages start becoming apparent to the survivors that Runciter needs to talk to them, at one point they find an ancient tape recorded message. As this goes on, the world starts to decay and to weaken. The survivors start to wonder if they actually survived or if reality was unhinged.

Right there is enough to know why we decided to read this book for our monthly sci-fi book club at Boswell's. It is classic Philip K. Dick at his best and definitely my favorite. The discussion centered around the fact that it is really hard to critique a book that you really loved. I know I have a problem finding fault in the book, and if I really love a book, then I have a really hard time being critical of it. Thankfully, the group enjoyed the book and we did not have to find holes or lack of continuity. Though the lack of continuity was one of the main driving factors in the book; in fact time seems to collapse in this book as the fabric of reality slips away. I would say my favorite part to discuss was the ending and how everybody interprets it (not going to ruin the end for you, so I will not delve into it too deeply).

I was thrilled that the first section in the forthcoming book, The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick begins with his musings on Ubik. For all of those rabid fans out there, this is the holy grail for Philip K. Dick followers. These are the thousands of pages of writing that he left behind, they were his thoughts on an event in his life that was simply stated as "2-3-74." The date that he discovers a cosmic mystery, it also led to the famously hard to read Valis trilogy; well if not hard-to-read then hard-to-follow (still loved it). There have been conspiracy theories aplenty surrounding this book and the reasons it was never to be published. The simple fact is this: it is huge and cumbersome. It took Pamela Jackson and Jonathan Lethem to really put the book into a format that reach all his fans. Coming this November it is high on my top priorities as a must read.

Up for this June 13th: CJ Cherryh's, A Wave Without a Shore. Check out the the Boswell Science Fiction Book Club's Wikispace here. Also, I might have some cool postcards to give away.

FWR Guest Post

2011-05-29T08:47:00.000-07:00

(Written as a short story month guest post for Fiction Writer's Review)

A fellow bookseller, when inclined to discuss my fiction reading habits, described my taste simply and accurately as “dark and twisty.” This, fortunately or unfortunately, is all too true, and when you are a reader of things that are dark in nature, violent in content, lustfully raw, and stormy in mood, it’s sometimes best to take it in small, brief doses. This post honors that taste, with a nod to new favorite storyist Alan Heathcock’s* recent NPR piece, “Three Books to Take to a Fistfight.”

You see, the reading experience of a well-written story can be as quick and powerful as a fine-tuned boxing match: punching in sharp, quick jabs, leaving the reader crawling on the ring floor by the end of it. Some writers are so adept at this that it only takes a few pages (thank you, Donald Barthelme and “Some of us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colby”). Many others take their time—bobbing and weaving, faking left then right—before landing one uppercut-cross-hook combination for a TKO (William Gay, you sly old bastard with your “Paperhanger,” not to mention Brad Watson’s “Water Dog God“). And still others combine fancy footwork with lots of pulling away, no contact necessary for forty pages, until one bolo punch surprises the reader, who is now plastered back against the ropes, panting, and it’s a blackout (beautifully demonstrated in “Adult Beginner I” by Alexander MacLeod).

And it’s not just the guys who will take you down in a fight, using the story as a means to pummel you into readerly submission. The ladies have their fair share of representation in this world of hope in the face of hopelessness, extreme reaction in the face of grief, and struggle with baser animal instincts—and they throw in some high kicks with their boxing skills. Alyson Hagy repeatedly lands arrow-straight shots to the sternum that will knock the wind out of you (”Border”). Lydia Peelle’s exquisitely executed roundhouse (”Mule Killers”) mirroring the continuous cycles of change will leave you dizzy. And for pre-fight training, no reader can go without the jump-rope wordplay, complicated emotional pyramids, and intense structured workouts led by Edith Pearlman, who will leave you puking from exhaustion and weeping with relief.

Story Collections to Make You Feel Like You Just Lost a Boxing Match:

The View from the Seventh Layer by Kevin Brockmeier
Poachers by Tom Franklin
I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down by William Gay
Ghosts of Wyoming by Alyson Hagy
Volt by Alan Heathcock*
Light Lifting by Alexander MacLeod
Binocular Vision by Edith Pearlman
Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing by Lydia Peelle
Burning Bright by Ron Rash
Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives by Brad Watson

(*Don't forget about our event with Alan Heathcock on Monday, June 6th at 7pm! More here.)

~

The New Must Read Fantasy that is not Martin or Rothfuss

2011-04-19T17:21:00.000-07:00

I recently finished the new Patrick Rothfuss, A Wise Man's Fear (which was a great read, even after a 4 year wait), and I realized that I still felt like I needed another great fantasy fix. Easier said than done. There are so many books in the fantasy section. So many new ones, old ones and obscure ones that you could just trip over, which is what I did with The Winds of Khalakovo. I was shelving away in the fantasy section when I noticed a sizable pile of copies of one book. I know I did not order that title, it had to be an event (yes, he is coming on April 23rd at 2pm) that I did not know about, and a fantasy one at that! The publisher for the book was Night Shade books, which published the Hugo and Nebula award winning book The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, a huge plus. I was intrigued to say the least.

I grabbed a copy to read and was instantly hooked.

The world is incredible: ships that fly, elemental spirits, blight, famine, and characters that try to get their lives right, but are so very flawed. This is not a book where the author creates the world as the story goes along, rather he immerses the reader into a fully realized world, and it is breathtaking. There are the 'Landed', represented by the Nine Dukes and their type of magic that harnesses the elemental winds to fly their ships between the islands, the Aramahn, who wander the world, never settling down but also practice a different type of elemental magic, and then there is the Maharrat a fanatical group looking to stir up unrest. Beaulieu weaves these different cultures together to give the reader a unique, complex world to experience. It is a world that is unraveling, with blight and disease, and political uncertainty.

Nikandr is the Prince of Khalakovo, diseased and doomed to a painful, wasting death, yet betrothed to Atiana. The Nine Dukes of the land come together to celebrate the political alliances that the marriage will cement together, when an elemental kills the Grand Duke. Nikandr has to protect a small Aramahn boy, who is thought to have summoned the elemental. Somehow this boy might just be the key to that Nikandr has been searching for, to keep Khalakovo and the Grand Duchy out of civil war.

That is all I will tell you about the plot; just know that Beaulieu has amazing twists and turns to spin you around his world. So, if you have finished the new Rothfuss, and you are eagerly anticipating George R.R. Martin's July 12th release of A Dance with Dragons, you owe it yourself to come check out The Winds of Khalakovo and Bradley Beaulieu at Boswell Book Company on Saturday, April 23rd at 2pm.

the pale footnote king

2011-04-03T13:29:00.001-07:00

"the dead can't edit"¹

Interested in reading David Foster Wallace's² newest novel, The Pale King?³ Consider first catching up on his earlier works⁴.

¹I started reading this with mixed feelings. On the one hand, Wallace never finished it, so it's likely not the book he envisioned. BUT IT'S DAVID FOSTER WALLACE!! The result, as with my reading experience, is mixed. When it's good, it's very good. When it's not, it's just unpolished. Read it for the good parts (they're great) and recognize that the dead can't edit.
-Conrad^1a, bookseller at Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee, WI^1b.

²Wallace (February 21, 1962 - September 12, 2008) was an American author of novels, essays, and short stories, and a professor at Pomona College in Claremont, California^2a.

³An unfinished novel being published by Little, Brown and Company on April 15, 2011.^3a

⁴The Broom of the System, Infinite Jest, Girl with Curious Hair, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, Oblivion: Stories, A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, Everything and More, Consider the Lobster, and This is Water.

^1aConrad Silverberg is a leftist, orthodox atheist who is married with children and who likes The Beatles, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits and Neil Young, among other musicians.^1a-I He has read everything written by David Foster Wallace.^1a-II
^1bMilwaukee, Wisconsin (nicknames include 'Brew City' or 'Cream City') is located on the Western shores of Lake Michigan, some miles north of Chicago^1b-I, Illinois.
^2aSource: http://www.wikipedia.org
^3aTax Day

^1a-ISource: Facebook profile
^1a-IIWell, okay, not everything - not his philosophy or science books.
^1b-IPopularly known as the 'Windy City'

Fantasy food for thought.

2011-03-25T16:13:00.000-07:00

Well, this is a little embarassing. It has been almost two months since anyone updated this! Let's change that, shall we?

This morning, I was ambling downstairs for my morning coffee when I overheard someone talking about fantasy literature on the radio. Yaay Wisconsin Public Radio! Veronica Rueckert was interviewing Wisconsin native Patrick Rothfuss, of The Name of the Wind fame. You can listen to the program yourself here (10 AM on 3/25).

Mr. Rothfuss said something I found particularly interesting - someone he knew had read his books, and classified him as a literary fiction writer, rather than a fantasy writer. Admittedly, I have not read any of his books myself, except for The Adventure of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle. And while wonderfully written and deliciously subversive, I assume it is not the ideal Rothfuss example. But it's no secret that The Name of the Wind and its sequel, The Wise Man's Fear, are firmly entrenched in the fantasy category.

The reasoning behind Mr. Rothfuss's classification as a literary fiction writer was simple - it was because the book was deemed "good." I've often wondered about this myself. Why do fantasy and science fiction books have such a stigma? Are they really more poorly written than literary fiction books? Is that why they don't sell better?

I don't know the answer. It does seem odd to me that this stigma exists in spite of the Lo rd of the Rings series essentially shooting it in the foot. The same rule applies to science fiction as well, with powerhouses like Kurt Vonnegut disproving the theory that science fiction is poorly written.

I'd love to hear what this blog's readers think. Leave a comment and give your $0.02! In the end, all I can do is shake my head and continue to recommend some forthcoming science fiction titles that are well-written.

The Passage comes out in paperback in May. I've raved about this before, so I won't subject you to it again. It's available as a bargain book for $10!

R obopocalypse lands in June. Think World War Z with robots instead of zombies. Very entertaining, and set to become a Steven Spielberg flick in 2013.

Warm Bodies comes out at the end of April. I'm currently a few chapters in. It's about a zombie who falls in love. Yes, I realize how awful that sounds. It's actually rather good thus far.

Best Books of the Year Lists are Everywhere!

2010-12-30T10:22:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love it when the New York Times publishes their Ten Best Books of 2010--it is one of the first signs of a deluge of best of lists are coming. It also validates some of my reading choices, or just the opposite (Entertainment Weekly compiled a list called the 5 worst books of the year--I read and actually liked one their worst). The odd thing, for me at least, is my lack of having read only one or two of the books on the list, or, the horror of the thought, none of them. This year I was saved by The Warmth of Other Suns, the sole book I did read on the list. I meant to read A Visit from the Goon Squad and Room, but I ran out of time. Some of my fellow booksellers have read other books on this list as well as some other lists, that I have not--that is the beauty of working in a bookshop. If one of us has not read it, there is a good chance another bookseller has. Most booksellers I know mentally carry around a working, ever-changing list of their favorite books of the year. They are just itching to talk about them.

What did I read this year? I went through my list of books that I read, and I was surprised at the count. So, I thought I could easily compile my very own list. I know my list will not be the perfect list--I may not have read the book that I really would have loved, and may not till 2015, but this is the list of new books that I did read in 2010:

10. Our Tragic Universe by Scarlett Thomas--Filled with questions that everybody faces in their life--this book is filled with philosophical conundrums about relationships, the meaning of life, and the end of the universe. A metaphysical novel that is light on action but was one of the most satisfying reads of the year. The packaging of this book is brilliant as well.

9. 36 Arguments for the Existence of God by Rebecca Goldstein-- This book hurt my brain at first--and then I fell in love with it. Rebecca Goldstein does not pull any punches, and I can see many reasons why people would not like this book. Her writing is compelling and challenging, and she will make you think about the people you meet in your life, in a new way.
8. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson--Wilkerson chronicles the long migration of black citizens from the south to northern and western cities. Compelling and excellently written--I could not put this down.
7. Antony & Cleopatra by Andrian Goldsworthy--No, I did not read Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff, mostly because I had already read this one. How many Cleopatra books can one person read in a year? Besides I love Goldsworthy, this is good, very, very good.
6. Dream of Perpetual Motion by Dexter Palmer--A retelling of the tempest using Steampunk as the background. Imprisoned in an airship above a city, Harold Winslow pens his memoirs as a disembodied voice haunts him. A great first novel.

5.Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde--You may know Fforde from his Thursday next series, and if you love those don't skip this one. He has created a vast complex dystopian world, where everybody is organized into a colortocracy. This could easily be his most ambitious and accomplished series, I know I am eagerly waiting for book two.
4. How To Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu--Charles Yu is a time machine repair mechanic. He lives in a tiny time machine with his non-existent but real dog, Ed and TAMMY an operating system with low self-esteem, who he has hidden feelings for. After an incident that could have a paradoxical effect on the universe, Yu attempts to travel in time to locate his father. A mind bending read, highly recommended.

3. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand--A haunting account of Louis Zamperini's ordeal in World War Two. Hillenbrand does an excellent job of describing Zamperini's life, from his days as an Olympic athlete to his bomber duties to his days as a prisoner of war. This book will run you through a whole gamut of emotions--but it is well worth it as this is one amazing and exhausting read.

2. Skippy Dies by Paul Murray--Okay, Skippy Dies on page four. Paul Murray then hits the rewind button and starts over at the beginning of the Seabrook College school year and slowly explains how the year went awry. From crazy teacher love, spiked school punch, ten dimensional string theory, swim meets, to selling prescription drugs to other students, Murray is excellent at getting in the head of the adolescent teenagers. The dialogue is sharp and funny with a bit of dark humor. A yet another brilliant read.

1. The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer--This book is as close to perfect as it goes for me. It takes place in the years leading up to World War Two, when Andras Levi, a Hungarian Jewish Architecture student comes to Paris. Andras succeeds in school, even though he has many obstacles, and he falls in love before being separated and returning to Hungary before war erupts. The characters are brilliant, complex and memorable--there is not a throw away character in the entire book. I only wish I could read it for the first time again.

Greg brings you more zombie fun! Now with 5% more zombies.

2010-11-26T15:35:00.000-08:00

Like it or not, zombies are popular right now. Look around any store today and you can probably find some sort of zombie-oriented product. Zombie food and zombie toys! Zombie movies, of course. And a slew of zombie books. Including zombie classic literature. It's all the rage. Which is, amusingly, the name of the zombifying virus that is prevalent in 28 Days Later. Personally, I'm all for zombies in popular culture. The more people are aware of the imminent disaster, the better off we'll be when the dead rise and overtake our society. But I digress.

It was only a matter of time before someone did a zombie-oriented television series. The zombie movies, while not Academy Award-winning, have done well at the box office. The Walking Dead, however, was unexpected. Originally a comic series by Robert Kirkman, on the surface, it is just another take on the zombie apocalypse scenario: world as we know it overtaken by zombies, and the surviving living have to escape the widespread undead.

The television series is only a few episodes in, so I can't say too much about it besides the fact that it's fairly true to the comic series thus far, and the additions they have made are in tune with the general feel of the comic. The comic itself, however, is fantastic. The artwork is realistic, the dialogue and plot are strong as well. You learn the personalities of the characters and you grow to either love them or hate them. And then the zombies inevitably eat them.

That's the thing about the zombie movies: once the big survivor group dwindles to a mere few, and those mere few escape, the film ends. But in truth, their story doesn't end there. The zombie population doesn't suddenly vanish after the events of a film. The comic does a great job of showing the ongoing struggles and horrors of survival. In a zombie film, the characters who survive until the end often make it there thanks to luck alone. In the Walking Dead comic, even the luckiest characters eventually get unlucky. Kirkman makes it abundantly clear that no one is safe. Including children. It's pretty intense.

The interesting part about the series is that the zombies are not really the antagonists, but rather the medium in which the true, living antagonists find themselves performing their evil. I would have to go back and review to say this with certainty, but I can safely say the ratio of zombie kills to living kills is skewed in the way of the living. Stressful situations make people do irrational and terrible things, and Kirkman does not shy away from showing that.

All that said, it's an amazing comic series. We have some of the issues in the store right now, the first being prominantly displayed on my rec shelf. How will it translate to the television screen? Well, so far, it's pretty good. Violent, dark, and thoroughly entertaining. Will the television series stay completely true to the darkest parts of the comic? Only time will tell.

The Walking Dead, both the comic and the television series, are not for everyone, and certainly not for kids. But some teens and adults will appreciate the concept of a smarter zombie series. And when the dead rise, they will be the most prepared.

Taking the Y out of YA lit.

2010-10-08T17:51:00.000-07:00

As a kid, I was always a fairly advanced reader. Not just in terms of reading ability, mind you, but in terms of content as well. I was reading Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park before I was out of elementary school, and was into John Grisham and Stephen King by middle school. My parents had strange policies when it came to monitoring what I read. They didn't care much about profanity or violence, but they drew a hard line on sexual content. So Congo, The Client, and The Shining were all okay, but Disclosure was not. Yeah, I don't know. It didn't make any sense to me, either.

So, like all good teenagers, I rebelled. I borrowed a copy of American Psycho from my friend and read it. Cover to cover. In a day. It changed everything. My perceptions about what was acceptable for violence, sexuality, and coarse language charged off into the distance, and I haven't really seen them since.

Adult literature isn't always intended for such a young reading audience. That's what young adult (YA) and teen literature is for, right? That's what I thought, until I started reading some YA/teen literature for myself. I have to be honest: even as an adult (in physical age only, certainly not in maturity), I was somewhat taken aback by the sheer brutality of some of the content.

For example, the Hunger Games trilogy recently concluded with the much-anticipated Mockingjay. While the first book in the series, The Hunger Games, was controlled in terms of violence... Mockingjay was not. Violence, torture, and brainwashing abound. Civilians being bombed to smithereens. And bear in mind the protagonists in this series are teenagers or younger. Suzanne Collins, to her credit, does show the psychological and emotional impact of the atrocities of war on children. Not that it softens the blow any, but it certainly makes it more realistic.

These books are in the teen section. That's a pretty wide age range in terms of potential readers. Would a high school student be forever scarred by reading these books? Probably not. Would a middle school student? Unlikely. But how many kids in elementary are reading teen books? Would you want your elementary school child to read about limbs being blown off? I wouldn't. If I had kids, that is.

This isn't a solitary occurrence, either. Michael Grant's Gone series and James Dashner's The Maze Runner series are also rather violent. And those are only the ones I've read, I suspect there are plenty more with similar content. It concerns me to know that my 12-year-old cousin could very well be reading the same books I found to be rather adult in nature.

So what does this mean? Should we pitch a fit and ban the books? Should we offer a caveat to potential buyers? Should the publishers put out less violent books aimed at kids? The answer to all these questions, of course, is no. For starters, we've been in a war for as long as many of these readers can remember. Turning on the news is just as bad as reading one of these books. Offering warnings to customers is great, but every child and teenager is different... and every parenting style, for that matter. And I'm not even going to discuss banning books.

The responsibility, ultimately, falls to the parents. Know what your child is reading, and realize the level at which they can read - both in terms of reading ability as well as content. Familiarize yourself with the hot books aimed at kids and teens. If you don't want to read them, or don't have time, ask one of your friendly Boswell booksellers. Heck, ask me. Come on up to the receiving door and knock and grill me about Mockingjay. We're booksellers. We don't mind. We'd love to help.
One last thing. If a kid really wants to read something, the kid will find a way to read it. Whether or not you allow it. Do you really think I didn't find a way to read Disclosure anyway?

Horse Girl

2010-09-12T08:45:00.000-07:00

When Allah created the horse, he said to the wind, 'I will that a creature proceed from thee. Condense thyself!' And the wind condensed itself, and the result was the horse.

King Of the Wind, Marguerite Henry

As a child, I climbed trees, rode my bike as fast as I could, and learned to shoot hoops. I refused to wear dresses and did not play with dolls. But there was one affinity that was definitely "girly" - my obsession with horses. I would put a leash on our huge dog, a Tibetan Mastiff, and coax her into letting me ride on her back (fail!). I was riveted by movies about horses, wanting a rebellious jumper like the Pie from National Velvet and when the film version of The Black Stallion came out, I watched it over and over again, absolutely mesmerized by the grace and power of such a beast.

But, oh, the books! There was the gift edition of Black Beauty by Anna Sewell from a family friend, beautiful guides to horse breeds of the world, Enid Bagnold's National Velvet, and collections of classic horse stories. The entire Black Stallion series had me wishing I, too, could be stranded on a desert island with a massive black horse that I (and only I) could tame and ride in a serious race - and win.

Of course, there were the entire works of the inimitable Marguerite Henry. The first Henry book I read was Misty of Chincoteague, followed quickly by King of the Wind, a solid favorite as it made me fall irrevocably in love with Arabians. Black Gold told the true story of a long-shot thoroughbred who won the 1924 Kentucky Derby and suddenly I wanted to be a Triple Crown-winning jockey. After White Stallion of Lipizza and the beautiful stables of the legendary dancing stallions, I was going to move to Vienna and train at the Spanish Riding School.

Little did I know my Marguerite Henry connection would persist into adulthood. I moved to Milwaukee without knowing it was where Henry was born (1902) and raised. Her books are not only children’s classics, but are instantly recognizable because of her 20-year/15-book collaboration with illustrator Wesley Dennis. Dennis was also the illustrator for Sewell's Black Beauty, The Red Pony by John Steinbeck (just thinking about that one chokes me up) and many others: 150 over the course of his career. After completing Justin Morgan Had a Horse, Henry said she wanted the best horse artist in the world and after doing her research at the library, she sent her manuscript to Dennis, and he accepted.

Not having a real horse to ride, living in my imagination was the next best thing. It was easy to do with my growing collection of model horses, most made by Breyer. My best friend at the time, Lindsay, and I merged our herds and would play on the hilly steps behind her house, creating dramatic, epic narratives replete with horses falling in love, marrying and giving birth; there were herd wars, and the horses even attended funerals. There would be whole weekends of this sort of wondrous creativity and play; the narratives continuing each time we got together. We could have drawn up extended family trees that went back generations.

On display you will find some selections from my beloved collection of those favorite reads from childhood along with remnants of the legendary Johnson-Edwards model horse clans. While Lindsay and I have long lost touch, the horses still live on.

Reader's Block

2010-09-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

Bear with me, because this story has a happy ending.

I walked into the office last week and broke down: "Daniel, I don't know what to read. I can't seem to finish anything I start these days."

It's not that what I'm starting isn't good, it's that my interest slips away after about 25-50 pages. Maybe my expectations are too high, or maybe reading is about finding the right book at the right time. As a bookseller, I certainly have access to a lot of good literature--an overwhelming amount, at times. It shouldn't be hard to find something to read.

Part of my Reader's Block stems, I think, from the fact that I recently finished my Master's thesis, a summer-long process that involved reading lots of academic texts, then writing, rewriting, and editing. And then going back to the scholarly literature. Then, more writing. Oh, and there was that time when I deleted about 14 pages and completely rewrote them. That was fun.

During the time I worked on my thesis, all I wanted to do was read what I wanted to read, not what I had to read for the project. In fact, I spent a good deal of time procrastinating by reading books; I read Lily King's Father of the Rain (excellent!), Sara Gruen's Ape House (entertaining! and available soon), Nicole Krauss' Great House (available in October), and--because I'm a nerd--Volume I of Lucy Maud Montgomery's Selected Journals. And then I hit a rut. Right around the time I defended my thesis. I started about four books but couldn’t make it past the first fifty pages in any one of them.

The one book I managed to finish during this post-thesis time was The Outward Room by Millen Brand, a New York Review Book originally published in 1937 and soon available in a NYRB edition. This book, about a woman who escapes from a mental hospital in the 1930s (I'm just now realizing the connection), had exactly what I was looking for: a simple, linear plot, thoughtfully developed characters, and a timeless type of emotional reflection that connects readers and characters across time and space.

So, back to my meltdown in Daniel's office. Daniel immediately put on his bookseller cap (well, I suppose he never really takes it off) and analyzed the situation. He knows what I like to read--and is pretty good at determining any reader's mood--so he gave me a galley of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. With whom we just happened to have an event last night.

And, boy, am I glad he recommended that particular book at this particular time. Not only was it exactly what I needed to pull me out of my slump, but it prepared me for one of the best author readings I've ever attended. Rebecca Skloot was absolutely brilliant. She was truly engaging, and read and spoke with clarity and consideration for the audience. And the icing on the cake was the opening by her father, Floyd Skloot, who read three poems before giving his daughter a beautiful introduction. I think we were all a little choked up when he expressed his love and pride for his daughter.

Here they are together:

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is shaping up to be an industry sensation. I tried to recall everything that's going on with it, so forgive me if I leave something out, but here are a few of the highlights:

UW Madison has adopted the book as a requirement for its incoming freshmen, and Skloot will be giving a presentation to a large audience of students and faculty
Oprah is interested in adapting the book for an HBO movie
Skloot is working on a YA version of the book for middle grade readers
The Henrietta Lacks Foundation, which was founded by Skloot, has helped several of Henrietta's grandchildren and great-grandchildren meet education and health care costs

Ultimately, this post is about two things:

First, Rebecca Skloot has written an incredible book, and I'm sure you'll be hearing more about it from us at Boswell. Her success affirms the idea that if you work hard toward something you're passionate about, you'll achieve your goals. Even if Oprah doesn't call, you will have produced something you're proud of and which captures the public's fascination, as one audience member said last night.

Second, I am grateful for booksellers who are good at their jobs. There’s nothing like recommending a book to a customer and seeing him or her a week later, glowing about the book and thankful for your help. It’s why we read, read, read. It’s why we know each other’s strengths and interests, and can guide a customer to the best bookseller for the question. Over time, and with practice, we learn how to read our customers, as well, and understand their interests, temperaments, and preferences. Daniel knew that I read mostly fiction, but he also knew that the narrative style of Skloot’s book, along with my interests in biography and science, would be just right for me.

All this to say that it is possible to overcome Reader’s Block. Just turn to your nearest bookseller for help.

My Favorite Book of the Fall is Out this Week!

2010-09-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

And, no it is not Freedom by Jonathan Franzen but good guess. Nothing against his new book, a fellow Boswellian, Conrad really liked it and had this to say:

No one writes about dysfunctional families and individuals better than Jonathan Franzen. The struggle to achieve personal independence and identity-battling the constraints of family, friends, lovers, society, and the unrealistic expectations (both our own and other people's for us) that map our lives- is explored with hilarious results in this splendid new novel. If you liked The Corrections, you'll love this!--Conrad

While Franzen blew me away with all the frenzy and media surrounding it for yesterday's release, I was eagerly anticipating Paul Murray's Skippy Dies, which happened to come out on the same day as Franzen.

Skippy Dies starts out a bit depressing, because, well, Skippy Dies by page four. Then, Paul Murray hits the rewind button on his novel and starts the story at the beginning of a school year at Seabrook College and follows the many characters that have a hand in leading to Skippy's demise. The story revolves around Skippy and his friends, as they move through the school year, attempting to use String Theory to open up portals or to evade the local bully Carl. The conversations these kids have are often quite hilarious, and partly because I remember having pointless conversations myself back in high school. Paul Murray nails these conversations with ease, as if he is overhearing them as he writes, fluidly following the disjointed logic of youth. They have nicknames for their teachers, for instance their history teacher is Howard the Coward. Which Howard assumes is just because it rhymes, but secretly he knows that he is hiding out from real life and other secrets that tie him to Seabrook College.

Skippy Dies has many, many plot threads running throughout, and I leave you to discover them. Let's just say that the book is funny, sad, exhilarating, and exhausting all at the same time. It is a journey you will never regret, full of shocks and surprises. And, did I mention that it was long listed for the Man Booker Prize?

Books About Dogs and Books, and Books About Books

2010-08-03T10:24:00.000-07:00

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." -Mark Twain

So what happens inside a dog picture book that's about dogs and books (and one that isn't)? Let's find out, shall we?

Our fabulous children's buyer, Amie, noticed an uncanny connection between several new children's picture books that were coming out around the same time and after checking them out, fell in love with all three. They are spritely illustrated, sweet, and clever. Plus with morals more related to today's "demise of print" soothsaying than to fables of yore, they also make perfect gifts for adult readers. Oh, and all three are currently 20% off, too.

Dog Loves Books
written and illustrated by Louise Yates
was $16.99, currently $13.59

An enterprising biblio-dog loves everything about books and decides it's high time he open his own bookstore.

The problem is that even with all his preparation and excitement, the customers are not flooding in - in fact, there aren't any at all.

Wait, what's this? A lady comes in, but. . . oh, wait. . . she's just wanting a cup of tea.

A long, quiet interlude and, oh! Look! A man comes in and asks for. . . directions.

Whatever will Dog do? Lucky for him, he's surrounded by books and can while away the time embarking on adventures and making new friends. And Dog is happily ensconced in his reading when. . . a customer comes in to ask for. . .*

(This book is so true to what life in a bookstore is like, it had all us booksellers in stitches. For more, check out Daniel's related post)

How Rocket Learned to Read

written and illustrated by Tad Hills

was $17.99, currently $14.39

From the delightful mind of Duck & Goose comes the tale of an adorable little fuzzy canine (who I want to take home right this second) who stumbles upon a little yellow bird. When this bird starts reading aloud from a book, the story becomes more and more suspenseful until right before the big reveal and - the bird disappears.

Rocket is frantic to find out how the story ends but the bird is nowhere to be found! The next day, the bird reappears and begins to teach Rocket to read so he can discover for himself the ending. As Rocket learns how to read, he begins to see his world in a whole new way.

And finally, last but most definitely not least, is the new, hilarious bookseller favorite:

It's a Book
written and illustrated by Lane Smith**
was $12.99, currently $10.39

A donkey, aka a jackass, takes a seat by a monkey with a strange device.

The jackass, curious as he is, inquires after it: "What do you have there?" The monkey replies matter-of-fact, "It's a book."

The jackass inquires further, "How do you scroll down?"
"I don't. I turn the page. It's a book."

But the jackass is still confused:
"Can it text? Blog? Scroll? Wi-Fi? Tweet?"

The answer, of course, everyone together now, is:

"No...it's a book."

*(to hear the rest of this story, you'll have to come buy the book!)
**Check out Lane Smith's delightful book trailer as well as a blog post on how the book came to be.

Crossing genre lines!

2010-07-30T17:36:00.000-07:00

If you ask me to suggest a good nonfiction book to you, something very odd will happen. My eyes will glaze over and I'll stare at you, my mouth agape. A brief awkward silence may ensue, followed by a drawn-out and monotone "uhhhhhh..." And just when you think you may have to grab the largest book nearby and aim for the head (The Passage if we're up front, New Literary History of America if we're near the back) , I will break my zombie fugue and suggest you speak to one of my more nonfiction-adept coworkers. Don't get me wrong, I can suggest what's been popular, and I can tell you in general what the titles are about, but I haven't read them.

To me, books should tell stories. Fantastic, unbelievable stories. Things that wouldn't happen in real life, because real life is boring and predictable. To me, reading about things that have actually happened or are actually happening ruins the magic of the story. There is, however, one exception - true crime. For some reason, true crime has the opposite effect on me. Reading a thriller is one thing. Knowing that the events actually happened makes the story that much more potent.

Enter Priceless. A book about art theft. Something I didn't know much about, but always had a vague interest in. Not the actual thieving part, mind you. The author, Robert Wittman, was the head of the art crime division of the FBI for many years. The dust jacket reveals that he went undercover to recover priceless (well, not really priceless, but really honking expensive) artwork that had been stolen.

The book itself is an interesting blend of memoir, true crime, and art history. Right off the bat, Wittman begins setting the record straight on art theft and recovery. Not every thief is Thomas Crown, apparently. Wittman goes on undercover excursions around the globe, recovering pilfered American Civil War artifacts, stolen Picassos, and even retrieving a legitimate copy of the Bill of Rights. Wittman becomes more renowned and respected as his career progresses, leading up to his involvement in the grand-daddy of all art thefts: the Gardner heist. I'm not sure if it's considered a spoiler if I tell what happened in real life, but to be safe, I won't go into details. The Wikipedia page gives a brief overview, although the book has much more information.

Will this book change my mind on the whole about nonfiction? Probably not. But it has convinced me that I am capable of reading nonfiction. What's next? The Monster of Florence is looking mighty interesting...

Is your book suffering from PPB (Post-Publication Blues)?

2010-07-26T12:43:00.000-07:00

Book publishing is a many-layered business. A book begins with the author, passes to an agent (or several), then advances to an editor, who in turn hands it off to a host of other folks to get it ready for printing: copy editors, assistants, fact checkers, graphic designers, copywriters, marketing folks, etc. And that’s before the book even hits the shelves!

So it’s no surprise that mistakes get made occasionally. Last month, we sent back several copies of Justin Cronin’s fabulous new novel, The Passage, due to a misprinting – four lines on page 276 were missing. How many people would notice or care? Probably not that many. But Ballantine didn’t want to take that chance, so back the copies went.

Not all those little mistakes get caught by the publisher, though. I was paging through a recent arrival, The Bumper Book of Nature. This tome is a treehugger’s dream: a plethora of seasonally-based activities for kids and adults to do outdoors no matter the weather. But it’s a good thing the author didn’t call it the Bumper Book of Geography. When advising readers to go on a city safari, Moss notes:

“Chicago, Illinois: Its location on the southern shore of Lake Erie makes Chicago...”

Hold up! Lake Erie? It’s typos like this that get us Midwesterners all salty about Coasties’ grip on basic geography. I’m happy to report, however, that the book is lovely otherwise, and well worth a look for those outdoorwardly-inclined.

Sometimes, bad grammar just happens. I got no further than the inside flap of newly-minted Daily Show correspondent Olivia Munn’s Suck It, Wonder Woman! before I found my most hated typo, the errant apostrophe (Thought’s on my First Agent’s Girlfriend’s….”) Oh, Olivia.^* Actually, it was probably not Munn who wrote it, but a hapless marketing department copywriter, whose has since been sacked and is now begging for scraps outside a Le Pain Quotidien on the mean streets of Manhattan. But it just goes to show how complicated the publishing process is.

When you think about it, it’s amazing that we don’t see more little mistakes in the books we read and love. Publishing is such a big, sprawling business that frequently seems like a juggernaut about to come off at the wheels, especially if we listen too closely to the critics pronouncing the imminent death of the book. Publishing is alive and well, as the steady output of new titles demonstrates. The many, many good people behind the scenes deserve a shout-out for the work they do getting these books to print and then into the hands of readers. Typo-catching is an activity I’m happy to do – it means there are more books to read!

^*_{Yeah, I know. I’m not really taking issue with Olivia Munn for a typo on the inside cover of her book. I will, however, take issue with her answer to question 14 on page 256. The correct answer is Firefly, dear. That’s just science.}

What's scarier than a zombie or a vampire? A ZOMBIE VAMPIRE.

2010-07-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

Before I begin, a quick update about how my life in receiving has been since you last heard from me.

My friends from around the country often ask me how cold it is in Wisconsin. In particular when there is a heat wave wherever they live. It's as if they are trying to cool off vicariously through me. I have to try and patiently explain that Wisconsin does not snow throughout the year, and we are, in fact, rather hot here too. And then we inevitably get into an argument about how our 86 degrees with 70% humidity isn't as bad as their 90 degrees and 0% humidity. Sheesh.

Long story short, it's really flipping hot in receiving, and it's only amplified when I have to keep moving boxes of The Passage around.

Flash back a few months. Jason, as usual, hands me a pile of advance reader copies, tells me that I will love all of them, and sends me on my merry way, trying my hardest not to drop them all over the floor. Amongst these was a copy of The Passage by Justin Cronin. Apparently the buzz was off the chart for a horror-esque novel. Stephen King wrote very positively about it, and a massive movie deal was signed before publication (with Ridley Scott likely directing!) to the tune of $1.75 million. It certainly seemed to be in my vein for genre. There was just one problem. It was really long.

I know, I know. That really shouldn't be the deciding factor for whether or not you're going to read something. But nearly 800 pages is a serious time commitment, and even looking at the advance reader copy made me wonder how many trees died so that it might live. It's a daunting prospect, starting a book of that size. So I didn't.

Fast forward back to about a week ago. Our event at Sugar Maple with Justin Cronin and Dan Chaon is over and done with, and all that remains are copies of The Passage. And I mean boxes. There was a slight misprint in the book (it cut out about four not-very-important-to-the-story lines), which led to Random House sending us five new boxes. Under the pressure of the glowing reviews, the forthcoming film, Jason pestering me, and about sixty copies of this massive book taunting me to read it, I finally caved.

I sat down after dinner one night and opened the book for the first time. I closed it again much later, wondering why it was so dark. I had blown through 300 pages without a second thought.

The story begins with death row convicts being rounded up and taken to a military installation. Brad Wolgast, the FBI agent in charge of contacting these convicts, doesn't give too much thought to it. Then orders come down from the top to bring in a civilian... a young girl named Amy. He decides to try and help her escape, but both end up prisoners in the military installation. Things go wrong, of course. Lots of people die, and the truth about what was happening comes out when twelve crazy zombie vampire military experiments escape. And we're talking 28 Days Later and Nosferatu zombie vampires, not Dawn of the Dead and Twilight zombie vampires.

^YES.

No. >

The world (or at least the United States, the fate of other countries is unknown) falls apart. Some 80 years after the disaster, the last known remnants of humanity reside in a colony bathed in artificial light and defended by the Watch, essentially the town guards. They are self-sufficient, and can hold out as long as the engineers can keep the lights on. However, everything changes the day a young girl who seems to be uninfected appears at the gates...

I'm sort of glad I wasn't at the Sugar Maple for this event after I read the book, because I probably would have ended up trying to hug Justin Cronin and that may have been awkward. I have never read a book like this. The characters are charismatic, flawed, and believable. The descriptions of the colony and the world beyond her walls, 80 years after the world as we know it died, give us a glimpse of Cronin's genius.

You might think it difficult to take the concept of zombie vampires seriously, but let me assure you - Cronin pulls it off. I have not been this scared of a fictional creature since I read Salem's Lot in sixth grade. Truly terrifying stuff. My favorite book of 2010? With still about half a year remaining, signs point to yes.

A Bookseller Abroad

2010-06-08T12:07:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure it's possible for a book lover to return from the literary city of Edinburgh, Scotland, without a heavy suitcase. Every corner of that city offers some reference to a story or song of historical or literary importance, and, during my recent overseas excursion, I felt compelled to pick up a book at nearly every friendly shop and museum. Soon, my husband and I were struggling to find ways to repack our suitcases, which, while we had left some room for souvenirs and gifts, suddenly seemed too small.

Last winter, as I was planning this trip, I read a very short article in Scotland Magazine about The Edinburgh Bookshop, the city's new independent bookshop in the Bruntsfield neighborhood--home, it's rumored, to some of the city's most famous contemporary writers, most notably J K Rowling, Ian Rankin, and, I believe, Alexander McCall Smith. I hoped to tie in an excursion to the shop, but as we neared the end of our trip and still hadn't visited the store, I was afraid we wouldn't have time to get to it, especially since it's a bit off the beaten tourist path and we had already stopped in Blackwell (which, the clerk assured me, was at least more independent than Waterstone's, and deals more extensively in academic book sales). But when we took a bus to Rosslyn Chapel, I spotted The Edinburgh Bookshop on Bruntsfield Place, and told my travel companions that I had to stop there on our return trip into the city.

Rosslyn Chapel, by the way, was definitely worth the stop-and-start ride on city bus #15 to the outskirts of Edinburgh, and will be even more worthwhile in a few months when they remove all of the scaffolding that obscured almost our entire view of the exterior. The chapel is one of the most intricately crafted buildings in the world, and its illustrious carvings and architecture have been linked to conspiracy theories and historical mysteries, such as the Knights Templar, the Holy Grail, Freemasonry, and pagan gods and icons like the Green Man. And of course, most famously of late, it was featured in Dan Brown's book and the film The Da Vinci Code.

Sadly, it fell into a state of severe disrepair over the years, and earlier efforts to restore it only exacerbated problems created by time and weather. Our guide explained that when the parish began raising money for the building's major restoration, which started in 2006, they had no idea what the book would do for the small town and their fundraising efforts. Where they had once expected about 30,000 ("tarty-tousand") visitors a year, they received that many during the month of August in 2006. She was an excellent guide, and, to our amusement, seemed both fascinated by and indignant about the attention the movie brought to their beloved chapel.

I was eager to get to the bookshop before it closed; shops close early in Scotland, usually between 4:00 and 6:00 pm during the week. Finally standing before it, I felt that I was understanding a common language when I saw the "Eat Sleep Read" IndieBound poster adorning the front door. Ah, home. We entered the small, two-room shop, and were pleasantly greeted by the clerk. I immediately spotted a few telling titles -- The Elegance of the Hedgehog, City of Thieves, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest -- and knew I was among good book people. Compared to what I'm used to at Boswell, and before that Schwartz, there wasn't a lot of inventory--perhaps a few thousand books, a very small number of journals and greeting cards, and no other gift items. I introduced myself to the manager, Andrew -- who was not the owner but, like all good booksellers, took ownership of the store -- and we talked about our bookselling backgrounds and some of the differences in titles and covers between UK and North American editions. For instance, the Hans Fallada novel Every Man Dies Alone is there titled Alone in Berlin, and has a different cover image. One of our favorites at Boswell, Little Bee by Chris Cleave, is titled The Other Hand in the UK.

I asked whether he thought publishers might do better in the UK by putting out paperback original editions (or by following the hardcovers quickly with paperback editions), but he said that lots of his customers preferred hardcover editions, especially for collecting. It might have had something to do with the neighborhood, which to me seemed more affluent and local-minded than other parts of the city.

While I browsed, I listened in on Andrew's conversations with a few regular customers. One woman came in for a book she had pre-ordered. Someone had accidentally shelved it, but he knew right where it was and retrieved it for her. There was a sweet moment when he showed off one of the new IndieBound paper bags to a customer, and I overheard him explain to another person that the store had received requests for t-shirts and other memorabilia. The store opened in September, so there was some of the familiar conversation about how the shop is doing, what to expect in the coming months, why certain titles weren't in yet, etc. I purchased a copy of Nicole Krauss' The History of Love (solely for the cover image--perhaps I'll rip the cover off and frame it...I think I just heard a collective gasp from booksellers everywhere), The Natural Navigator by Tristan Gooley (Virgin Books), and, despite its weight, a White's Fine Edition of Jane Eyre.

My favorite part of the experience came later that evening when I visited the bookshop's website and saw that Andrew had tweeted about our visit:

Even though we were there for a brief half hour, seeing the bookshop was a highlight of our trip. Thanks, Andrew and The Edinburgh Bookshop!

Live at the Sugar Maple, June 10th, Cronin & Chaon

2010-06-07T12:10:00.000-07:00

Attention!! Boswell Book Company has a spectacular event this Thursday at the Sugar Maple, with two authors who have published some of the best that fiction has to offer. It starts at 7pm!

And the first author brought to you by Jocelyn:

If you missed Await Your Reply in hardcover, now is your chance to get it in paperback. And missing it would be a crime, because this novel is one of the best pieces of writing to come out in the previous year. Chaon first showed his craft as a short story writer, in the riveting collection Among the Missing. Even in the novel format, Chaon keeps that crucial attention to detail, giving us stories within stories.

Await Your Reply is rhythmic in its pacing, interweaving the strands of three main characters whose lives intersect and ricochet off the others. Even within each chapter, the story is cut down into brief passages, each one faceted and honed to its own small resolution, like little gems that make up a necklace. The result is like the cycle of breathing; every inhalation demands an exhalation. And like breathing, you absolutely can't stop, because Chaon propels the story forward relentlessly, revealing details with a maddening deliberation. The story itself is an exploration of identity, and of the importance we attach to it. What makes us who we are? Can we change? Can we become someone else? Can someone else become us? Those are the questions the characters pursue. Miles ponders them as he follows the shifting trail of his schizophrenic brother. Ryan clings to those questions as he chases down the truth of his parentage. Lucy wonders about them even as she runs away with her older lover.

As each character pursues the answers to those questions, they draw closer to each other, and to the realization of just how easily identity can be tossed off, shifted, and created…and that within that truth lays a great danger.It's tempting to call Dan Chaon a "writer's writer." After all, the attention to the craft of writing is evident throughout the novel. But that description is misleading. Chaon is a reader's writer. This is a breathtaking story that is pure enjoyment, even while it's breaking your heart. Do not miss it.

And the second author brought to you by Jason:

Coming out tomorrow is easily the most hyped about book of the year so far, The Passage by Justin Cronin. You may remember him from either Mary & O'Neil or the Pen/Hemingway award winning novel The Summer Guest. If so, then you are still not prepared for this gem of speculative fiction, as this is all new ground that Cronin is putting down for himself. I am not going to tell you too much about the book, it is mammoth at over 600 pages. Cronin outdoes himself, he keeps to his storytelling, literary roots from his earlier works and melds it together with page-turning compulsiveness of an epic story a la old-school Stephen King.

The book has two parts to it. In the first part, we meet Amy, the girl 'who lived a thousand years' and a whole cast of characters working on Project Noah. All you have to know about Project Noah, is that it ends the world. It unleashes the virals, a kind of vampire that replicates like the plague. Amy is at the center of it, the heart of it, and the key to it all. But, she is not ready for it, she is whisked away as the world comes to a violent, bloody end. In the second part, Cronin entrenches us into a self sufficient commune-like town. Where the lights never go off and the cast of characters dream of what the stars look like. They also dream of what the virals would do to them should the lights ever go out. When Amy re-enters, a mystery to all (who could survive outside without any lights at night!), the story splinters again into a long journey, where a group goes off in search of the origins of Project Noah.

This is the epic novel you should read, this is the one that everybody is talking about. Do not miss it, and do not miss Dan Chaon and Justin Cronin live at The Sugar Maple!

Yarr... there be treasure buried!

2010-05-14T17:15:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, I dreamed of adventures. I hoped every day that something exciting would happen. Dinosaurs coming back to life, or aliens landing on earth. Or perhaps a Boxcar Children-esque mystery for me to solve. Nothing too dangerous, just something to break the dreary monotony of my dull childhood life.

In hindsight, I realize this was an incredibly naive thing to wish. I didn't know how good I had it. I still yearn for adventure and treasure-seeking, gallavanting across the globe with an Indiana Jones style fervor. But I realize that the majority of such things are the imaginings of a bored and creative child's mind. Real treasure hunts aren't something booksellers generally get to go on.

Until now.

The Clock Without A Face is a McSweeney's production (which one could probably guess just by looking at it), and it defies any sort of genre-classification you try to pin upon it. It's a picture book, it's a mystery, it's an interactive adventure. The basic idea is that you are attempting to solve a mystery by looking at the apartments of a building's eccentric tenants. It's sort of like Where's Waldo meets interior design, but forces you to think rather abstractly to solve the mysteries. And then at the end, it is revealed that the twelve numbers off the face of the clock at the top of the building are real. Yes - tangible, real life, if-you-find-them-you-get-them real. And they are buried around the United States, with their locations encrypted within the drawings in the book.

Oh my gosh. It's a treasure hunt. A real one. I was skeptical at first, so I took a look at the website on the back of the book. It seems legit. Apparently there are a lot of people trying to figure this stuff out. Folks have been putting their heads together over the internet, trying to figure out where the numbers are buried. Here's the kicker: as of my writing of this - 7:38 PM on 5/14/10 - none of them have been found.

Come on in and take a gander at this book, since I'm really not doing it justice by my descriptions. It's in the kid's section, most likely face out and with a funky shape. Try your hand at finding the real-life treasure.

Oh, and if you do find a number, I get the assist!

Refreshing Translations

2010-05-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

A few months ago we created a display to accompany the Best Translated Book Award prize for 2010. It has sold well and we receive many compliments on it. So, a makeover was clearly in order.

Just last week in New York City, PEN American Center held their week-long, sixth annual, World Voices Festival of International Literature featuring 150 writers from 40 countries. This celebration of connecting literature from around the world to readers of other languages is a reminder that with globalization comes the opportunity to embark upon new literary journeys.

So, with an aesthetic facelift and some new titles, the books-in-translation display is alert and refreshed, ready for another round of introducing Milwaukee readers to works from other countries.

The refreshed display includes a diverse range of languages from all over: Western Europe (Italian, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Greek); the East (Russian, Chinese, Japanese); Scandinavia (Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian); the Middle East/Africa (Hebrew, Arabic); South America (Portugese); and some less familiar tongues (Catalan, Basque, Croatian, middle-Scots).

There's The Tsar's Dwarf by Peter Fogtdal (translated from the Danish by Tiina Nunnally), a darkly humorous exploration of religion and what it means to be human, told through the heart and mind of a Danish dwarf kept by Peter the Great in the early 18th century. I also recommend Fogtdal's riotous blog about books, U.S. life, and culture clashes.

We have Seamus Heaney's translation of Robert Henryson's epic poem The Testament of Cresseid and Seven Fables from the Middle-Scots, a version of English spoken in the 1400-1500s. You may scoff at my inclusion of an "English" book with works in translation, but Middle Scots is not exactly English as we understand it today. For example: "Ane sillie scheill under an erdfast stane / Off quhilk the entres wes not hie nor braid;"

The Accordionist's Son by Bernardo Atxaga (translated from the Basque by Margaret Jull Costa) deftly weaves the traditions and culture of the Basque people with the memories of a self-exiled man to explore the history of a little-known region as it grapples with war and keeping it's identity alive. Themes of class, family and politics blend together seamlessly in this superb, dark, yet celebratory tale.

Tatyana Tolstaya, of the literary family Tolstoy, echoes her familial legacy of brilliantly inventive writing with The Slynx - a post-apocalyptic, dystopian novel (set 200 years after the end of civilization as we know it) that begets a radioactively mutated new race, old humans clinging to the last scraps of the world's literature even though books and freethought are banned, and a mysterious creature that stalks this new landscape.

Or how about The Pets by Bragi Olafsson (translated from the Icelandic by Janice Balfour), which takes place entirely in one apartment as a man hides under a bed when an old friend comes to visit, but that friend comes inside anyway, makes himself at home and throws a huge party. All the while, the poor Emil is hiding away under his bed.

These magnificent works are here for our enjoyment thanks to the laborious, inglorious work of translators. Won't you pick one up today?

Spring Green Market Days

2010-05-09T14:53:00.000-07:00

Last week we had our first of a month of Spring Green Market Days (Sundays in May, 2-6pm, rain or shine). Our May 4th newsletter featured photos and information about the vendors who set up shop on the sidewalk outside our store.

Spring Green Market #2 was held on Mother's Day with some familiar faces and some new. These brave souls weathered the chill that accompanied the lack of sunlight, smiling and chatting up all the passersby.

Glass Goddess Designer Jewelry was in attendance for a second week with her beautiful pendants, as was Auntie G.G.'s Farm Market Perennials (though she sells maple syrup and handcrafted soaps, too). Auntie G.G. brought a new item this week: candy apples from the award winning Amy's Gourmet Apples in Cedarburg, including a strawberry cheesecake apple! Daniel was very excited about buying an apple, but disappointed when he realized the store didn't have a knife big enough or sharp enough to cut it into immediately consumable pieces.

Newcomers this week offered handmade items edible (cheeses, mushrooms, pickled asparagus, relishes, pasta sauces) and not (purses and cloth birds), though I guess you could eat the purses if you really wanted to, I just don't think it would digest too well.

Sally Shearer of Sally's Purses had a full rack with varying sizes, from a small purse to large over-the-shoulder tote or market bag (perfect for mushrooms and a candy apple!). Handmade entirely from recycled fabrics (old windbreakers, vinyl tablecloths), re-purposed materials (belts, seed bags) and found objects (buttons, trinkets). What started out as a personal project because she was tired of paying out the nose for a new purse, Sally realized she had found a home for her love of unusual fabrics and found material. A Bay View resident and member of the Bay View Arts Guild, you can find her at the South Shore Water Frolics in July, as well as other area craft shows.

A familiar face from our holiday Farmer's & Artisan's Markets was Decatur Dairy, a co-op located in Brodhead, WI. Headed up by Master Cheesemaker Steve Stettler and with 100% of their milk products coming from a family farm, Decatur Dairy features 24 varieties of cheese, all handmade. Their Havarti is a U.S. championship cheese, having swept the top awards for several years running; and their Muenster is a First Place world championship cheese! I found that out after sharing my love of their Muenster Pepper and secondary love of the Herb Havarti, so I swear I'm not making this up. Decatur has a physical storefront as well as an online store - they will ship!

The celebrity of today's market, however, was Eric Rose of River Valley Ranch & Kitchens, who just happened to have been featured in today's Sunday Journal Sentinel - "The Fungus Among Us." 33 years ago Eric began helping out his father, a former restaurant owner sick of not being able to find a good mushroom provider who started growing his own, in exchange for a place to grow some bean sprouts. This "labor of love" blossomed into a whole new life, with River Valley growing from just one employee to 30, being featured on the Food Network's show Food Finds for their Portabella Salsa, and on its way to becoming a certified organic food producer. With five varieties of mushrooms, as well as asparagus, onions and other vegetables, Eric Rose and River Valley Kitchens create their own assortment of fresh salsas, dips, pasta sauces, bruschettas and even a Portabella-Wasabi Steak Sauce and Marinade. I recommend the Artichoke Dip which mixes with cream cheese for a delightful, fresh, and happy-mouth experience. You can find River Valley's products at area markets throughout the season, as well as their online store. For those of you thinking about following in his footsteps, Eric says "It's not as easy as it looks." And 33 years later, he still isn't growing bean sprouts.

Adventures in Receiving

2010-04-28T12:37:00.000-07:00

For those not aware, Carl and I have switched positions. Carl, the people-friendly and well-read former receiver, is now on the floor. And I, the ornery and underslept floor bookseller, am now doing the receiving. Behold the great switcheroo!

Truth be told, this update is actually rather old news. I've been back here for awhile now, and I've learned quite a bit. And not just about receiving, mind you. Here's a sampling of important lessons I have learned since I started.

1. Books are heavy. Typically not by themselves, but if you put them all into one very large box, they're weighty. And then multiply that by fifteen, and you have a normal Boswell day's receiving. Just the other day, I was absolutely certain that Workman had shipped us two boxes of cinder blocks. Turns out they were just dictionaries.

2. Some publishers and wholesalers have clean, organized packing lists. And some don't. I'm looking at you, Perseus!

3. Packing peanuts may be convenient and effective, but they get EVERYWHERE.

4. Even the messiest individuals become rather organized when doing this job. I learned this lesson quickly - it only took one episode of frantically rooting through damaged books and old invoices to get to the ringing phone before I cleaned up.

5. When I worked on the floor, I typically worked the closing shift. Receiving is almost exclusively first shift work. Coffee is worth its weight in gold. Perhaps even worth its weight in Workman cinder-block-dictionaries.

6. Being a receiver in a bookstore on a Tuesday is stressful. For those unaware, new books usually come out on Tuesdays. There's a lot of flailing involved.

7. You learn a lot about each of the publishers/wholesalers and their individual ideosyncrasies. HarperCollins uses fantastic boxes, great for reusing. Baker & Taylor and Ingram wrap their shipments in plastic within their shipping boxes. MPS uses boxes that you can't break down without essentially ripping them in half. Penguin does new releases on both Tuesday and Thursday. And Norton uses those packing peanuts that I love so much.

8. Compared to the floor, there is next to no downtime. If not receiving, there are returns. If not returns, there are invoices to match with packing lists. Handling damaged books. Breaking down boxes. Taking out recycling and garbage. Never a dull moment!

9. Open the door if using Goo-Gone. It gets goop off of books better than anything, but it smells something fierce and is probably not too good for you.

10. Take pride in your work. The receiver is the first link in the chain, after all. I have a deeper appreciation for the book shop because of what I now do - there's a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that I wasn't aware of. It's kind of nifty to see - and be part of - the bigger picture.

What's new in Boswell's Best

2010-04-19T10:10:00.001-07:00

Up at the front of the shop, next to the registers, is a small two case section of books deemed Boswell's Best. It seems like a pretty bold statement to make. What does it mean to be Boswell's Best? Why those 40 titles (50 with kids books)? I have a whole list of criteria, sometimes it makes sense (for instance, if bookseller tackles me and starts yelling about how much they loved the new Philip Pullman, it goes on the Best) and sometimes it doesn't. Quite simply, they are new and exciting titles that we are hoping pique your interest.

Here is a sampling of what you kind find up there right now:

1) Parrot & Olivier in America by Peter Carey. From two-time Booker Award winner Peter Carey comes the story about American Democracy experienced through Parrot, a spy, and Olivier, part of the French aristocracy who runs away to the United states to escape the guillotine. Olivier has a very de Tocqueville start to life. Thomas Mallon has a good review in the New York Times, you can find it here.

2) Good Man Jesus & the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman. There are books that even get booksellers jumping up and knocking people over to lay claim to, and Philip Pullman's new book does not disappoint. The day we received his new book Jocelyn went rogue with delight. This is what she had to say: "A mythic re-imagining of the life of Jesus, this is as nuanced and enthralling a story as you'd expect from Pullman."

3) Third Rail by Michael Harvey. From Carl: "Taking place in 2010 Chicago, this one is a thrill ride on Chicago's El, where a deranged killer (or two?) is indiscriminately shooting riders and then moving on to other sites in Chicago for more carnage. All the while he's taunting Kelly, who gets pulled into the case in more ways than one. Yes, this time, it's personal! Images from his childhood come rushing back as the killer lets Kelly know that he's been watching him for years. It's then revealed to him that the madman has kidnapped Kelly's girlfriend. What will he do next? The details of contemporary Chicago and Kelly's Irish-American background add a lot of flavor to this fine entry to the series. I encourage you to read the first two as well."

4) Russia against Napoleon by Dominic Lieven. We know the story, we've read War & Peace, but Dominic Lieven presents new detail from previous inaccessible material from the Russian archives. He blends both the military strategy and the political intrigue to present a complete picture of Russia's brilliant, yet costly defense of their homeland. I am a huge Napoleon fanatic, so this is a must read for me!

5) Long Song by Andrea Levy (due 4/27). From the author of Small Island, which is a PBS mini-series, comes a tale of 19Th century Jamaica. The story unfolds during the slave rebellion of 1832, and is told through the eyes of July, a house slave.

Coming Next Week (5/4/2010):

Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer--Just started reading this, wish I had read it months ago.

Coming Next Month (6/8/2010):

The Passage by Justin Cronin--I will be talking about this book all summer--simply fantastic!

The Wonderful World of Used

2010-03-23T18:05:00.000-07:00

One of the best parts of working as a used book buyer at Boswell is that I get to see all weird and wonderful books that people bring in. Most of the titles reflect trends from a few years ago: hardcover thrillers based on a Bush administration-based reality, or microfictions on whatever topics were spiking at the time (salt, wood, Pluto's planetary status, etc.). That's great, and I love them.

A few times, we get lucky and see something like the British(!) paperback(!) edition of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest(!)--never mind, Larsson fans, it sold within ten minutes. You'll just have to wait for the Stateside hardcover coming in a few months.

Sometimes, we also run into the folks who are cleaning out attics--attics that have gone untouched for decades. They bring books that were printed long before the ISBN existed, and when a simple colophon like "Lippincott & Co, Phila, 1917" sufficed to establish a book's origins. What books do they bring? A beautiful, collectible copy of the Little Prince, maybe, or a slew of editions of Edward Fitzgerald's translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Each one is a little shelfworn, but still evocative of a time when books were a bit rarer, their publication more of an event, and leather binding was de rigeur.

My favorite kind of book is neither of those, however. Perhaps it's no surprise that I love to find late-70s Disney picture books, or a Fellowship of the Ring with the proper cover (not the movie still.... ugh!). Valuable? Not exactly (I encourage our local readers to check out the bargain cart on the sidewalk). But fun, and nostalgic for me.

Thinking about bringing in some books of your own to see how excited we get? You can! There's just a few things you need to know:

Do call ahead. We have no place to keep vast piles of used books, so we need to know what's coming. There's a used book buyer here almost every day, so go retro and telephone us at 414-332-1181 to set up an appointment. What happens when you don't set up an appointment? Dragons of fire leap out of the air ducts and burn your books to ash, rendering them worthless. Do not provoke the dragons. Call ahead.
Do bring books we're interested in. We are a reader's bookstore. That means the books we sell, new or used, must be in good condition, so that new people will want to read them. No tears, rips, dirt, coffee rings, dog bites, crayon scribbles, or unexplained stickiness.
Skip the following: mass market paperbacks (the 4x7 inch ones), bookclub editions, or anything with lots of underlining or highlighter marks. We usually won't take them. We feed them to the dragons.
Be aware that we only buy for store credit (not cash), and that you can expect to get one quarter of what we'll ultimately price the book for. So if we think a book will sell for $10, we'll give you $2.50 for it. You'll get the money on a handy-dandy card that you can exchange for yet more books. Thus the cycle is complete.

Have any questions on the world of used books? Ask Jason, Sharon or me (Jocelyn). Just like we do with new titles, our aim is to get great books to you. Simple!

Found in Translation, BTBA part 2

2010-03-03T11:23:00.000-08:00

In a previous post here on The Boswellians, I shared some thoughts on works in translation as a segue into showing off our table that displays many of the titles featured on the longlist of the Best Translated Book Award. The finalists have been announced and are listed below. You can also visit BTBA 2010 Fiction Finalists: A Recap to read excerpts from each of the shortlisted titles.

The Best Translated Book Award Poetry Finalists have also been announced.

Ghosts by Cesar Aira, trans. from Spanish by Chris Andrews (Argentina)

The Twin* by Gerbrand Bakker, trans. from Dutch by David Colmer (Netherlands)

Anonymous Celebrity by Loyola Brandao, trans. from Portugese by Nelson Vieira (Brazil)

Wonder by Hugo Claus, trans. from Dutch by Michael Henry Heim (Belgium)

The Weather Fifteen Years Ago** by Wolf Haas, trans. from German by Gilardi and Hansen (Austria)

The Confessions of Noa Weber by Gail Hareven, trans. from Hebrew by Dalya Bilu (Israel)

The Discoverer by Jan Kjaerstad, trans. from Norwegian by Barbara Haveland (Norway)

Memories of the Future*** by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky, trans. from Russian by Joanne Turnbull (Russia)

Rex by Jose Manuel Prieto, trans. from Spanish by Esther Allen (Cuba)

The Tanners by Robert Walser, trans. from German by Susan Bernofsky (Switzerland)

If you are really keen on international works, be sure to check out Three Percent's Preview of the 2010 International Prize for Arabic Fiction to get a glimpse of some of the most important creative writing coming from the Arab world.

And, finally, if you are a bookstore and would like to help promote the Best Translated Book Awards and their finalists, there is a lovely sign/flyer that you can download for displays.

*originally $25.00, we have a limited quantity available at $9.99, along with a few other translated works including Le Clezio's The Prospector ($9.99) and Toussaint's Camera (5.99)

**the only title unavailable for purchase from us at this time

***our top seller off this list

Keeping It Surreal

2010-02-19T16:19:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, the artist of one of my favorite webcomics informed his readers that his good friend Jedidiah Berry's new book had just come out in paperback. Jeph suggested that we all go out and purchase the book. I thought little of it at the time, but as I wandered into work the next day, there it was. A thin Penguin volume, with a strange cover. The Manual of Detection.

Fast forward a few weeks. Between Jeph's suggestion and my own curiosity, I decided to stop slogging my way through House of Leaves (don't get me wrong, it's amazingly written, but I'd be shocked if I was reading it correctly) and give the book a shot. After the first chapter, I was glad I did. It's one of those titles that hooks you in after the first few pages, urging you to read on.

The main character is an eccentric fellow named Charles Unwin, who works as a clerk in a detective agency. His job is simple - take the notes that his designated detective Travis Sivart supplies, and turn them into readable reports. Although not particularly exciting work, he takes great pride in it. Everything changes, however, when his detective disappears, and he is promoted to replace him. So he pursues leads and trails unsavory characters, armed with nothing but an umbrella and the Manual of Detection (basically Detectives For Dummies). All the while completely unsure of what he is doing.

The book is about as surreal as they come. Sivart, rather famous after solving the infamous mystery of The Man Who Stole November 12th, warns Unwin of impending trouble in a dream. The evil Rook brothers, once conjoined twins but now separate (and inseparable), have not slept in 17 years. And an evil force is stealing all the alarm clocks in the city.

It's a remarkably well-written book, so I am actually rather surprised there isn't more buzz about it. I'm just glad they decided to switch the cover dramatically from the hardcover - the original artwork probably wasn't doing them any favors. Nevertheless, Berry's quirky characters and clever turns of phrase are likely to capture any reader's fancy, if given ample opportunity.

Next time you're in, pick up a copy and read the first chapter. It's hard not to like it.

Ode to Dan Simmons

2010-02-16T16:10:00.000-08:00

Back in high school, in my Junior year English class, we read Canterbury Tales. The stories were amazing; and just to point out how much of a dork I was, I acquired a copy of the book and read more than the assigned five stories. Every Friday in my English class, five students would give a report on a book that they were reading for leisure. Most of the time it was stuff I was not interested in--again, in high school I was reading a lot of science fiction/fantasy, dork all the way. My friend stood up one Friday and started to talk about a book he described as a 'dark Canterbury Tales.' Yep, you guessed it - Hyperion by Dan Simmons. From that day forward I have been a devoted follower to all things Dan Simmons, which really boils down to just his books.

His new book, Black Hills is out this week, and just like his last two novels, he has ventured more into the land of historical fiction, with a tweak of science fiction. In his new novel, a ten year old Sioux named Paha Sapa (translated as Black Hills) finds himself in the middle of the Battle of Little Big Horn. He is weaponless, but he spies Custer just before he dies and touches him to prove his courage. Custer's soul jumps up and enters Paha Sapa, and resides there for the next 60 years. Simmons style is amazing, as he bounces the narrative from Paha Sapa as a young boy, to Paha Sapa as an old man setting dynamite at Mount Rushmore. You also hear a bit of Custer's story as he tries to ascertain where he is; as you quickly find out, he believes he can not see because of some injury, but he is certain he is alive. It is a glorious story of the transformation that took place in our country at the time. Actually, Dan Simmons introduction to his novel is fantastic, you will find it here.

Also out this last week by Dan Simmons in paperback is Drood. It is the story of the last years of Charles Dickens life, told by his friend Wilkie Collins. There are creepy sections in this book that will give you chills. The London underground is dipicted through opium dens and a maze of tunnels that boats seem to disappear in. Now, this won't happen to everyone, but I did feel the need to read Dickens and Collins after I finished. Daniel had the brilliant idea to form a lunch time bookclub to discuss these epic novels (I don't think either one of them could write a short book). The last time I was ever so enticed to read books related to the subject material of another book was the Crook Factory. Not surprisingly, also by Dan Simmons. That time he hooked me on Hemingway.

It seems that every time a Dan Simmons book comes out, I end up reading other books that I never really would have thought about, or at least thinking about something I never would have. Even with the new book I realized I had never really read any history on that era. While there was nothing extremely obvious for me to read, my Penguin rep Joe Cain comes through to sell his summer list, and there it is. The new Nathanial Philbrick novel about Custer, entitled The Last Stand, which doesn't come out until May. I have not finished this one yet, but I don't think I would have started it so quickly if it was not for the amazing reading experience I had with the Black Hills.

Daniel Maguire Event Rescheduled

2010-02-10T11:18:00.001-08:00

A quick note to our readers: the Daniel Maguire event scheduled for this evening (2/10) at 7:00 PM has been rescheduled to next week Wednesday (2/17) at 7:00 PM.

While the weather has calmed down, the parking situation is less than favorable. We're sorry for any inconvenience this may cause, and we hope you'll retain your interest for next week!

Nerds Start A Bookclub: The Story Behind the Story

2010-02-05T17:01:00.000-08:00

Okay. So some people took umbrage at my earlier portrayal of the genesis of our newest bookclub. I admit it, I took a few liberties with the facts. So let me now present the absolutely unadorned facts of the situation.

The time: The grim darkness of the future. The scene: A dim passageway filled with smoke and fire. Scorchmarks from lasers have blackened the walls. Two soldiers, wearing space armour and bearing slightly smoldering copies of McSweeney's #8733 in their pockets, huddle outside the range of fire. The roar of a space cruiser can be heard overhead.

Jason: (firing his raygun at the enemy) Let's start a science fiction bookclub! We should totally have a science fiction bookclub!

Jocelyn: No argument here. Go for it. (fires laser) Watch out for that droid!

Jason: (dodges gamma ray beams) What book should we pick?

Jocelyn: Who's this "we"?

Jason: You're my partner in crime. You love science fiction and fantasy. (punches remote drone out of the air) Take that, robot scum!

Jocelyn: Good hit there. When will this so-called "In Store SF Bookclub" happen?

Jason: Second Monday of every month at seven pm. So the first meeting will be February 8th. If we live that long....

Jocelyn: You'd better get a book selected then.

Jason: I know! I need ideas. And definitely not a space opera.

Jocelyn: Yeah, I'm pretty sick of grand intergalatic battles too. (fires laser gun into a cloud of smoke) How about Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates? It's a classic time-travel story. I loved it.

Jason: (dons oxygen mask and goggles) Hey, great. Let's do it.

Jocelyn: (also puts on mask and goggles) I hope people enjoy awesomely complex stories about werewolves, lost poets, evil secret societies, and Old London.

Jason: Sounds like fun! Alright, let's move out! Remember, the only good cyborg...

Jocelyn: ...is a dead cyborg!
(exit stage left, pursued by robots)

That's how it happened.

Please join us for the inaugural meeting of the Boswell In-Store SF/F Bookclub, after we return from the grim darkness of the future. We'll be reading The Anubis Gates at the first meeting (which is indeed February 8th, at 7 pm). Come even if you didn't read it. Come even if you hated it. We like lively discussion. Please leave all blasters at home, though.

Nerds Start A Bookclub: A Play in One Act

2010-02-04T16:27:00.000-08:00

(The Scene: An independent bookstore on the east side of Milwaukee)

Jason: Let's start a science fiction bookclub! We should totally have a science fiction bookclub!

Jocelyn: No argument here. Go for it.

Jason: What book should we pick?

Jocelyn: Who's this "we"?

Jason: You're my partner in crime. You love science fiction and fantasy.

Jocelyn: Well, okay. When will this so-called "In Store SF Bookclub" going to happen?

Jason: Second Monday of every month at seven pm. So the first meeting will be February 8th.

Jocelyn: You'd better get a book selected then.

Jason: (screams, runs around in circles, briefly gets distracted by the new McSweeney's Panorama, then resumes running)

Jocelyn: How about Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates? It's a classic time-travel SFstory. I loved it.

Jason: Hey, great. Let's do it.

Jocelyn: I hope people enjoy awesomely complex stories about werewolves, lost poets, evil secret societies, and Edwardian London.

Jason: Sounds like fun!

Jocelyn: Did I mention that there's a clown in it? An eeeevil clown?

Jason: (screams and runs away)

Please join us for the inaugural meeting of the Boswell In-Store SF/F Bookclub. We'll be reading The Anubis Gates at the first meeting (which is indeed February 8th, at 7 pm). Come even if you didn't read it. Come even if you hated it. We like lively discussion!

livre, boek, libro, книга, buch

2010-02-01T13:21:00.000-08:00

Imagine if we had never read the words of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Albert Camus, Jorge Luis Borges, Anton Chekhov, Naguib Mahfouz, Vladimir Nabokov, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Isabel Allende, or Leo Tolstoy. These names are almost instantly recognizable by anyone who has graduated high school. Many of their books are considered "classics" of American literature, even though none of them were originally written in English or by Americans.

It is a sad fact that only 3% of all books published in the United States are translated from another language. The percentage for literary fiction and poetry is a fraction of that figure, though a few works in translation of been hitting the bestseller lists and their authors have been gaining national attention (Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson).

To increase the readership and profile of works in translation, the University of Rochester hosts a very smart and inspiring blog, appropriately titled Three Percent. Their mission is simple: introduce Americans to the exquisite and remarkable literature being created across the globe.

Three Percent's annual Best Translated Book Award is in it's baby years yet, but is quickly garnering recognition. Their longlist was announced January 5th, the shortlist will be announced February 16th and final awards given in March. Every day until the final awards are handed out, Three Percent will post reviews of and excerpts from each of the 25 finalists.

The books and authors range from the lost and forgotten to the fresh and contemporary. They come from 24 countries, and are translated from 17 different languages. They are published by 15 publishers, most of whom are independent or small press names.

We currently have a beautiful display of many titles from the BTBA 2010 longlist and encourage you to peruse them the next time you stop in to the store. You may just discover a new favorite!

I'd probably be a Blue.

2010-01-23T14:07:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody!

It's been awhile since I blogged. I know I promised to do a piece on strange uses of form, but as my fellow booksellers can attest to - I got distracted. It's coming someday, I promise. But that day is not today.

Today I would like to talk about Jasper Fforde's Shades of Grey. I realize I'm a little late to the party on this one, in more ways than one. Not only has the book been out for awhile, but I hadn't read Fforde before. "But Greg," the reading masses will likely cry, "how can you call yourself a reader of science fiction if you haven't read any of Fforde's Thursday Next?"

I'll be first to admit that I'm hideously under-read. I read a lot, but I don't always read the things I ought. This includes a lot of the classics that booksellers really should have read. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn springs to mind. But I digress.

Shades of Grey is the first book since The Magicians that I have really loved. In Fforde's dystopian world, you are only able to see one color, if any at all. The color you see, and the degree to which you can see it, shapes your placement in society for the entirety of your life. Fforde's zany caste system based on color hierarchy is about as unique as can be, and the level of detail he has put into it is really quite astounding. Many of the things Fforde describes can also be seen as not-so-subtle allusions to contemporary issues or events, which one cannot help but snicker at. The story focuses on the adventures of the compassionate, moral, and unwitting red-seeing Eddie, and the snarky, ornery, and physically abusive Jane, who can only see grey. Eddie is unquestioningly loyal to the strict rules of the society, while Jane is unabashedly rebellious. Though initially merely infatuated with Jane, Eddie's organized and simple world becomes completely upended when he begins asking questions.

Great book. I could go on for pages about it, but I'll save that for if you ask about it in the store. Well worth picking up and having a look.

The Boswell Salt-o-meter

2010-01-13T10:27:00.000-08:00

Greetings, Readers:

When there's a heavy snowfall in Milwaukee, it means one thing: massive piles of salt on the sidewalks of our fair city. We here at Boswell welcome it, of course. Not only does it keep the sides of Downer Avenue clear for pedestrians (come on by and see us!), it allows us booksellers to use that most hallowed of marketing tools: the saltometer. What is the saltometer, you ask? It's a highly sophisticated system by which we can look at the white-lined footprints all over the store and see what sections are really the most popular.

Sure, we know what books you're all buying, but what about the books you read while you linger in the store on a frosty evening? Yes, the saltometer is the bookseller's friend.

So what did it tell us last week? First, you all want to get out of town. The floor in front of the travel guides was thick with salt, particularly in front of Latin America and the Caribbean. Puerto Rico's nice this time of year, and we do have the guides to show you how to enjoy it best.

The children's section is also a favorite destination, but it was the board books that were the runaway hit, judging by the salty trails of stroller wheels. And why not, with some great titles like the anniversary edition of the beloved We're Going on a Bear Hunt, and the charming "In my..." series by Sara Gillingham and Lorena Siminovich. These adorable books feature an attached finger puppet to help narrate the story, and they've been wildly popular over the holiday season. In my Flower (with a butterfly) and In My Meadow (with a bunny) will be coming in spring!

We already knew that people love the comfy chairs and couches in the fiction room, but the saltometer proved the lovely leather furniture is the best place to curl up with the paperback titles you're purusing, like Michael Pollen's no-nonsense Food Rules, or Ron Rash's Serena, and Gil Adamson's Outlander, all of which we find stacked neatly next to the chairs.

The saltometer had a few surprises in store as well, like the heavily seasoned Science Fiction and Fantasy section. Clearly, the fans of speculative fiction aren't afraid to examine the shelves for great titles. And soon the section will be even better, as our buyer Jason plans to expand it and add several new mini-sections to cover the spectrum of spec-fic. And for fans of steampunk, get excited about The Dream of Perpetual Motion, the new novel by Dexter Palmer that's been netting great early reviews. It'll be on the steampunk shelf in March.

As always, the bargain tables at the front of the store were quite salted, as thrifty customers hunted for deals on marvelous hardcovers with absurdly marked down prices. We just got a new shipment in, so there are even more books to find. My favorite for winter: Complete Comfort Food, a cookbook that doubles as a coffee table book (or as a coffee table, actually).

Yes, the saltometer lets us see what people are up to in the store. But nothing works better than you telling us what you'd like to read. So talk to us the next time you stop by. We'd love to hear what you're reading!

The Evolution of Feminism - A Mark Production

2009-12-11T13:48:00.000-08:00

Last week we had the pleasure of welcoming one of the authors of the book Girldrive; Nona Willis Aronowitz. She and photographer Emma Bee Bernstein (who, sadly died recently) undertook a journey across America to connect with young women in all walks of life throughout the country to try to discover what, if anything, does ‘feminism’ mean to the women of generation Y. The answers were varied and illuminating, but there did seem to be a common thread that connected all these 20-something women, and that is a certain disconnect from what is generally regarded as the stereotypical image of a feminist; the man-hating/lesbian militant. An image distilled from the days of Gloria Steinem, ERA and the women’s liberation marches in the 1960s and ‘70s. These young women certainly experienced gender-based discrimination in their personal lives and they dealt with these issues as best they could. Yet, some of them seemed to have blinders on when it came to seeing the larger picture of the unique challenges that women face both here and around the world.

Along with Girldrive, there are some other important books that have been published recently that bring to the fore the important history of the women’s movement here in the US and the heartbreaking oppression that women face in many parts of the developing world. When Everything Changed: the Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present by Gail Collins shows us our world as it was in the early 1960s when a women’s place was in the home, and she’d better have dinner ready when the man of the house got home from a tough day at the office (if you’ve ever watched the show ‘Mad Men’, you get the picture). That paradigm was about to change however, when a number of key women in what would come to be called the ‘second wave’ of feminism began to question and eventually begin to dismantle much of the time-honored patriarchal conventions of society. Obviously there have been many victories, but there are clearly more battles to be fought. The challenge appears to be that some folks are not aware that the war isn’t over yet.

Clearly feminism continues to evolve in terms of what it means to the modern woman and what it can achieve in the world today. Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicolas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn focuses on the ways in which the female gender is under attack in many parts of the world, from sex trafficking in Cambodia, to honor killings in the middle east, to selective abortions based on gender in China, India and Indonesia. The hard facts and statistics presented in this book map out the gut wrenching degree of female suffering and death in many parts of the developing world, but the stories presented are ultimately about hard-won victories and hope. The common theme in these books is social justice, human rights and freedom. These books present women’s issues certainly, but at their core they are human issues.

~Mark

We Don't Let People Go Easily Into The Night

2009-11-29T10:06:00.000-08:00

Our store lost a customer last weekend. I don't mean that we angered someone and they stormed off, vowing to tell all their friends not to shop here. No, we really lost a customer in the most final sense of the word.

Of course, I'm being coy. We didn't just lose a customer, we lost a good friend.

Dr. Sean P. Keane was a man of sublime intellect and unending curiosity about the world and its workings. He satisfied these interests with a cornucopia of books, nearly all of which came from Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops, as well as our present incarnation as Boswell Book Company. He shopped at the store from back when it was in the Iron Block Building. He took his kids to the Coffee Trader while browsing the original Downer Avenue location, tucked away from the front of the street and down the block from where it ended. Sean had a storied history with Milwaukee's beloved indie bookstore.

Sure, we were his friendly, knowledgable booksellers helping him find a book that satisfied his current topic of interest, suggesting "American" books for his daughter in Ireland to check out (I felt like I even knew her!) and picking out gifts for the grandkids. But we also listened to his stories, witticisms, and politics. Those of us who had the pleasure of acquainting ourselves with him on his weekly visits to our store considered him a friend. He encouraged me to return to school, suggesting programs or educational institutions, gently harassing me each time we spoke about it. Fellow bookseller Carl Hoffman and Dr. Keane developed a special bond over a number of years regarding all things Irish: music, history, culture, and (of course) literature. Longtime manager and bookseller Doug James recalled Sean to be a "lovely man" and longtime bookseller Jay Johnson observed that "the community lost a good man." It wasn't only the longer term booksellers who were impacted by this fascinating man, even former bookseller Denise Dee remembered fondly how he brightened her days at the store with his "devilish jokes and gentle snoring" during her time on Downer Avenue. It's true-he would, on occasion, fall asleep in a comfortable chair and we never bothered to rouse him unless it was closing time.

While we will dearly miss Sean's presence at the store, there's a greater lesson here. It's that while you may love our customer service or that we found you that obscure book with the blue cover whose title you couldn't recall or recommended you your new favorite novel, we want you to know - to really, really comprehend - the impact that you, as a regular customer, have on us as well. In a local store of any sort, not just the bookstore, if the employees recognize your face or even know your name, it means you are just as important to us as we may be to you. We notice when you're absent, we miss you when you're gone and some of us may even attend your funeral if you pass from this life altogether.

And some of us will miss you greatly and remember you for the rest of our days.

As Michael Fleet, professor and longtime friend of Sean Keane's said: "We don't let people go easily into the night."

So you think you're a novelist?

2009-11-20T11:23:00.000-08:00

For those of you who are unaware, November is National Novel Writing Month. Several hundred thousand insane people from all over the world take up the challenge of writing a 50,000 word novel in the 30 days of November. It is a frustrating, exhausting, task that is also exhilarating and fun. This is the third year that I have taken on this assignment, and I am happy to report that I am 30,000 words into a story whose worth is questionable. In 2007, I wrote a murder mystery featuring my ex-fiancé as the victim, and last year was a coming of age piece. This year, the jury is still out as to just what kind of a story I am writing. I may not know just what it is yet, but I am about two-thirds of the way to the finish line.

This past Sunday, the 15th, was the halfway point in the month, and we had a little support group gathering at Boswell Book Company for local Nano authors. Rochelle Melander, a writing coach who is partnering with us this year, was present to offer helpful tips for avoiding writers’ block. We were also fortunate enough to have a guest author from Chicago, Libby Fischer Hellmann. Ms. Hellmann writes crime fiction and her latest book, Doubleback, was chosen by the Great Lakes Bookseller Association as one of their Fall 2009 “Great Lakes, Great Reads!” She offered useful guidelines for structuring chapters and keeping readers enthralled. Many thanks to Rochelle and Libby for donating your time and expertise.

~Sharon

This blog posting was authored by Sharon, but technical difficulties prevented her posting of it. Pay no mind to my name below.

In which Greg appears to be a mugger, cheers the youth of America, and reads some books.

2009-11-05T07:34:00.001-08:00

First of all, a big thanks to anyone and everyone who came out for Barbara Ehrenreich! It was a great event. That being said, I have to remember to wear a Boswell Book Company shirt to these things. Daniel was clever enough to bring one along, a tactic I suspect I will imitate. Those who know me personally or have spoken with me in the store know that I'm fairly innocuous, but to see me approaching in a dark parking lot wearing a hoodie, with my hands stuffed in my pockets (it was cold, people) and no identification as a staff member... well, let's just say I had a few event-goers shy away from me. I suspect I looked like a mugger. Oh well, live and learn I suppose.

A few days ago, a teen girl came into the store and brought a copy of Wuthering Heights to the checkout counter. Wuthering Heights is my favorite book of all time - a fact most people wouldn't guess from my staff rec shelf. Upon commenting on how great of a book it is, she responded with: "Yeah, I kept hearing things about it, and wanted to check it out."

This is an offhand comment you expect to hear associated with Twilight or The Hunger Games or something more teen-friendly and popular. It was exceptionally refreshing to hear a younger individual express interest in classics. Don't fret if you enjoy Twilight, though. I won't hold it against you. And I rather enjoyed The Hunger Games myself.

It's been awhile, so here's the reading update. I've read a fair amount of books lately, although nothing that has floored me quite like The Magicians. I recently finished Genesis by Bernard Beckett, which is an interesting concoction of dystopian science fiction and philosophy. While it was well-written and engaging, I must admit I am not 100% sure I understood it fully. Someone else read it and explain it to me!

I also decided to read a throwback and picked up The Long Walk by Stephen King, written under his Richard Bachman pseudonym. While it may not be the most sophisticated thing I've ever read, it was quite good. It's what I like to call a cheeseburger read - you don't really need it, and it's not particularly good for you, but it's quite tasty.

I'm also about to tackle Danielewski's House of Leaves, as per recommendation from a friend of mine. I'm always intrigued when a writer does something different with form, and House of Leaves is a prime example. The text of the book changes position on the page depending on the events unfolding in the book - it's really quite remarkable to page through. Expect another blog post in the future about books with crazy form. I do love it so.

Much love and happy reading!

What's that in the sky? A bird? A plane? A Shooting Star!

2009-10-30T10:24:00.000-07:00

The Fallen Sky: An Intimate History of Shooting Stars

By Christopher Cokinos

Why do we remain obsessed with falling stars? Historians, scientists and religious seekers have all wondered about them and fought over their meaning. In The Fallen Sky, author Christopher Cokinos indulges readers with a wild tale of science, history and human passion. He crisscrosses the planet, from the South Pole to Greenland, hitting every continent while meeting some characters so quirky they’d be laughed out of a novel. This gorgeous story is about the history of meteorites in the human imagination and an old-fashioned adventure tale.

In this broad examination of shooting stars, Cokinos addresses the spiritual beliefs of aboriginal tribes as well as the “entrepreneurial” spirit of the men who stole a fifteen ton (fifteen TON!) meteorite simply to possess it. Meteorites have been seen as portents of doom, used to predict the fall of kings and blamed for the extinction of the dinosaurs. But that doesn’t mean they are not sought after. Remember Excalibur? Cokinos traces myths across the world where a great hero’s sword is made from nothing less than a fallen star.

Even in the rational sphere of science, we find eccentric (or mad) folks convinced that meteorites hold the answers to their questions. Cokinos meets biologists, cosmologists, physicists, and adventurers as they chase down these priceless bits of stardust in remote corners of the earth. A naturalist at heart, Cokinos renders the grandeur of these places with an eye for detail that every reader will appreciate.

Well-researched and lovingly written, this book is a beautiful presentation of an offbeat topic. It was my favorite book of 2009, and I highly recommend it for anyone with an interest in either the science or the romance of shooting stars, people who love to read about the last wild places on earth, or those who just want a rousing adventure for a cold winter night.

They’re Here! Zombies in Popular Fiction

2009-10-25T10:41:00.001-07:00

If you’ve been to a book store lately (and shame on you if you haven’t) you have probably noticed that vampires are all the rage in popular fiction, including romance novels and books targeted at teens. Second to vampires are werewolves. A number of authors have featured creatures of the night as their protagonists (and antagonists) such as Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series, Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series, and Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series to name a few.

These are not the only night stalkers that are featured heavily in current fiction. If you look carefully you will notice a growing variety of books featuring zombies. “Zombies?” you say? Yes, Zombies! The dead that cannot die, but rather roam the earth as decaying, shambling ghouls propelled by a relentless hunger for living human flesh!

Admittedly, the sensual, romantic vampires and the tortured souls that bay at the moon are the girls’ favorites. The zombies are for the boys, as evidenced by the popularity of Max Brook’s books, The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z. There has also been Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith, in an attempt to get guys to read Jane Austen.

I can understand the popularity of vampires and werewolves. Vampires are cool and stylish; werewolves are wild, party animals. Zombies? What is so interesting about them? They’re crude, uncouth, messy, smelly, no sense of style. They roam around with their mouths open and their eyes rolled back in their heads, leaving a trail of fetid viscera wherever they go. Where’s the mystique? What’s the point of eating the flesh of the living? They can’t digest anything; their innards are putrefying by the hour.

In an attempt to learn more, I picked up a handy guide called The Zombie Handbook by Rob Sacchetto. This book will tell you all you need to know, along with illustrations so gruesome that it’s like homage to the EC Comics’ Vault of Horror.

As I perused this ghastly, nauseating tome, I came upon a section devoted to a special variety of zombie; namely, the ‘alien-possessed’. Now we’re talking! A human as host to an alien parasite, an alien-produced human replica, or even an artificial human. Certainly, a marauding, flesh-eating zombie is no trip to Disneyland (or maybe it is), but even more frightening is to be face to face with someone, something that you completely accept as a human being (and why would you think anything else?), but is really not human, or is no longer human. You would never know, or perhaps you have a sense or feeling that something is not quite right about the person in front of you, but you can’t quite put your finger on what is wrong with him or her. A rotting corpse meandering around is fairly easy to spot, but what if the ‘zombie’ appears to be just like everyone else?

Maybe you have just met someone, a new business acquaintance perhaps, and they seem normal enough, but suppose, just suppose that what they really are is a poor hapless drone that has been hijacked by a slug-like alien intelligence as in The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein, or The Host by Stephanie Meyer? You and your new ‘friend’ sit down to enjoy a latte and some scones, and you begin to become aware that there is something odd about this person, perhaps this person is not really a person, but rather a facsimile produced by an extraterrestrial seed pod like in Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney, or an alien that has the ability to completely absorb another life form and produce an exact duplicate like in Who Goes There by John W. Campbell Jr.?

What if this person smiling pleasantly at you is just a synthetic construct made to duplicate human expression, like the characters in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick, or as in Solaris by Stanislaw Lem?

Of course this is all in fun, just fodder for popular pulp fiction. And yet, if we were being infiltrated by an alien life form such as suggested in these various works of fiction, how would we ever know, until it’s too late? Eventually we would be them. Look around you; perhaps you are the only one in the room that is still human. Maybe you should read the books that I mentioned. While you still have time.

Posted by Mark Paprocki

Look at the Birdie by Vonnegut is out Today!!

2009-10-19T11:35:00.000-07:00

I remember the first book I read of Kurt Vonnegut, it was Sirens of Titan. I was 16 and mainly reading fantasy books at the time. Reading that book was the beginning of the end for me. I blew through most of Vonnegut's library of books in a summer.

I believe that was around the time when Bagombo Snuff Box came out, and a fellow bookseller at the time, John, bought the book on the same day I did. The next time I worked with him I was done with it, John was not. He was savoring the stories and the books, in fact he had not read the previous book at all. Now, years later, I understand exactly why he did what he did, though I still have not learned from it. Armageddon in Retrospect was fantastic, but I read that one too quickly. I should have savored them as well, but there is something in Vonnegut's style that propels the reader onward.

I have done it once again with Look at the Birdie, which is out today. Now, I am not one these blind fans that will tell you that every story in this book is a gem. No, most of them are not on the same level as the stories in Welcome to the Monkey House, but they are pure Vonnegut genius nonetheless. A lot of these stories were written a long time ago, almost all of them before he became the famous Kurt Vonnegut. They are marvelous in the way they hint at how Vonnegut's style was emerging to the stories of Slaughterhouse-Five and Cat's Cradle. My favorite story, if such a thing were possible, would be Ed Luby's Key Clubs. Where a misunderstanding leads a couple, who are out for a romantic evening, on the run from the law. In Nice Little People, the main character gets advice from aliens to help him deal with his personal problems, and not for the better.

If you read and liked Armageddon in Retrospect, you will like Look at the Birdie. It is not the same type of short fiction, but it is all Vonnegut and it is simply fantastic. It is also full of Vonnegut's own drawings that litter the book and complement the stories. It is on Boswell's Best for the month at $20.80."

Logicomix: A (really) new way of looking at logic

2009-10-15T13:55:00.000-07:00

Fred and Ginger, peanut butter and jelly...mathematics and graphic novels? Okay, so it doesn't sound like a natural pairing, but Logicomix, an illustrated guide to the life and work of Bertrand Russell by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos Papadimitriou, works well. It is part biography and part philosophy road-trip. The authors take some extremely dense ideas and use the format of the graphic novel to present them in a way that grabs your attention without oversimplifying the topic. They use the character of the mathematician and logician Bertrand Russell as a frame for exploring the evolution of mathematical theory in the first half of the 20th century, a period when the philosopy of mathematics was undergoing some radical transformations. The complication of the growing power of Hitler's Reich adds yet another componant to the story, as our academic characters learn to confront the political reality of Europe as they work.

Bertrand Russell, who wrote the Principia Mathematica and who influenced Wittgenstein's later work in the field, is a perfect character for readers to get introduced to the complexites of the ideas in the book. The authors (who are also characters in the book) start out simply enough -- they show us a young "Bertie" Russell, the orphaned boy. Ruled by a domineering grandmother who uses faith as a bludgeon to keep the boy in line, Russell spends much of his early life looking for some kind of certainty in his lonely life. The precision of mathematics and logic seem to provide this certainty, although Russell is soon plagued by gaps in what is known about the field. The reader follows the maturing Russell as he collaborates (and occasionally confronts) the best minds in Europe on issues like set theory, infinity, and the limits of logic. At the same time, we see parts of Russell's life, and watch as he slowly realizes that logic cannot solve his own problems or those of a world that is hurtling toward another war.

The story covers decades on Russell's life, and introduces a host of characters. This is where the graphic novel format really shines -- despite the density of the subject, the format of the book keeps you engaged (and the handy appendix in the back keeps you from forgetting who's who). This book is great for anyone who's interested in the history of math, the life of Russell, or who just wants something different. Logicomix is a nonfiction tale that is like nothing else out there.

Fall Fiction for Kids

2009-10-03T14:40:00.000-07:00

There is a barrage of new children's fiction this fall, but a few really stood out from the rest. Let's go from youngest to oldest, shall we?

Lois Lowry (who normally writes for older readers) has new picture book, Crow Call, which is quietly dazzling.

The watercolor art, by illustrator Bagram Ibatoulline, shows the soft autumn landscape of rural Pennsylvania and the small-town life of the 1940s. It is the perfect backround for a complex story of a young girl who must become reacquainted with her father, just returned from the war in Europe. Simple events -- a walk through the woods, eating cherry pie -- highlight the family's efforts to return to "normal" even after the difficulties of the past years. This is definitely a book to read together, because the themes and language will be challenging for young readers. But it is worth the effort!

If all that sounds too serious, go with Wag!, by Patrick McDonnell. You'll recognize the style from the creator of the comic strip MUTTS, with Mooch, Earl, and Jules making an appearance. They're all trying to figure out just what makes Earl's tail wag so much. The answer, it turns out, is simple -- LOVE. The fun illustrations and sweet antics of the dog and his friends make for a charming story.

For older readers, we have great new books just in time for Halloween. I loved The Witch's Guide to Cooking with Children (Keith McGowan), a retelling of the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale. McGowan's update is both dark and unapologetically clever. Sol and Connie, children with less-than-parental parental figures, find themselves in danger of becoming the next meal of the neighborhood witch. Only their wits will save them! Intermediate readers will love the fast-paced, slightly scary plot.

Don't have time for a whole book? How about 30 seconds? Half-Minute Horrors, a collection of nearly one hundred supershort tales by well-known authors, will get even reluctant readers going. The contributors know their horror: Neil Gaiman, Holly Black, R.L. Stine, and Lemony Snicket are among the writers.

Vampires are taking over the teen section, but not all of them glitter. Catherine Jinks gives a fun twist on the teen vampire trope with The Reformed Vampire Support Group. Join Nina, reluctant vampire and eternal highschooler, as she tries to figure out who might be behind the mysterious "ashings" of her fellow reformed vampires. Witty dialogue, along with a decidedly unromantic view of vampirism, makes this a fun read for young adults who need a reprieve from certain other series full of moping, sighing vamps.

Of Darker Persuasions

2009-09-19T12:17:00.000-07:00

Darker Persuasions: Of Dystopia, Vampires, Circus Freaks and Vigilantism

For someone who isn't a frantic reader of fiction, my current recommendations are not only all fiction, but fairly dark. Of course, I generally don't read much happy-go-lucky, feel-good fiction anyway so this is par for the course, but it struck me as I looked at my shelf that the current array is very dark and rather interesting. Let's have a look, shall we?

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (paperback, $14.95)

In the build-up to Atwood's next book, The Year of the Flood (9/22), I'm encouraging people to either read for the first time or re-read Oryx and Crake. It's a dystopian look at the future that eerily mirrors our present: Genetic splicing and god-like creature creation is used for everything from food to pets to organ donation for humans; where any awful tragedy can quickly be viewed on a computer via video-sharing sites; child pornography is rampant; and something apocalyptic has wiped out most of humanity. Told from the perspective of a survivor who may or may not have had a part of it all, bouncing back from post-disaster to pre-disaster, Atwood uses her trademark imagination of the worst society can do balanced alongside great humanity, compassion and even spirituality.

The Resurrectionist by Jack O'Connell

(paperback, $13.95)

A more than strange, bizarre story of a father's deep, abiding love for his son who has been in a coma for most of his life. Throw in a strange neurosurgeon with almost other-worldly experimental procedures, a comic book full of circus freaks that may be a reality in and of itself, a motorcycle gang, hallucinogens and very little daylight - and you have the perfect recipe for a novel that you can't put down, without necessarily realizing why! The dark imaginings of O'Connell's Limbo linger long after the story has come to it's riveting, perplexing conclusion.

L et The Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist (paperback, $15.95)

I don't care for vampires. I don't read about them. I don't watch movies about them. I don't 'do' horror. However, the "book club" I sporadically take part in chose this Swedish vampire novel as it's selection for June with the intention of watching the film version for "discussion." Something about the writing and the premise perked my interest and I thought I would give it a chance. So glad I did as it was, using the new, obnoxious non-word of choice for blurbs these days - "unputdownable". Our 12 yr old protagonist is more than a little preoccupied with a grisly murder that occurred in the forested park nearby as well as the appearance of a strange young girl who moved in next door - a new friend he only sees, seemingly, at night. A non-stop thrill ride that you do NOT want to read before bedtime!

Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy

(paperback, $14.00)

I love Cormac McCarthy. I love his nihilism and violence, his plain prose stories of humanity falling apart at it's gritty western seams. This, his second novel, is as brief and whirlwind a read as The Road. A woman gives birth to her brother's child and he takes to the woods to leave it for dead. Upon hearing that the child was alive, she flees in search of the babe. Her brother follows. Meanwhile there is a minsterial like figure with two partners traveling the countryside, also in search of something, or someone, exacting their quick and bloody revenge under cover of darkness wherever they go. An excerpt, if you will:

Pale lamplight falling down the door, the smiling face, black beard, the tautly drawn and dusty suit of black. Light went in a long bright wink upon the knifeblade as it sank with a faint breath of gas into his belly. He felt suddenly very cold. The dogs had gone and there was no sound in the night anywhere. Minister? he said. Minister? His assassin smiled upon him with bright teeth, the faces of the other two peering from either shoulder in consubstantial monstrosity, a grim triune that watched wordless, affable. He looked down at the man's fist cupped against his stomach. The fist rose in an eruption of severed viscera until the blade seized in the junction of his breastbone and he stood disemboweled. He reached to put one hand on the doorjamb. He took a step backwards as if to let them pass.

Holy New Releases Batman!

2009-09-15T17:17:00.000-07:00

We Boswellians have been rather busy as of late, although it may not appear so if you stop by the store. There's a lot of crazy stuff going on behind the scenes. Namely, our beloved receiver Carl has been frantically unpacking boxes of big new releases. The new book on Ted Kennedy, True Compass, is a hefty one. We are concerned about Carl throwing out his back. (Just kidding. Mostly.)

What else is new? Lorrie Moore's not exactly new, but her latest book is. We have a small stack of signed A Gate At The Stairs remaining, but don't fret if you don't make it in to get one. She'll be visiting the Boswell Book Company on November 12th.

New stuff that I've read personally? Suzanne Collins's follow-up to The Hunger Games, Catching Fire. Christopher Ransom's The Birthing House. Catching Fire was more of the same, but fortunately, that's not necessarily a bad thing. The Birthing House was dark and creepy, and takes place in Wisconsin. Plenty of recognizable locations! While I liked both a fair amount, neither one will receive a prestigious spot on my much-coveted Staff Recommendations shelf. But I still recommend them, unofficially.

And then, of course, there's the new Dan Brown book. The Lost Symbol. It's selling quite well, and is 30% off for a week. And we have tons of them, come on in and pick one up. Tell me how it is, while you're at it, since I won't have time to read it for quite awhile. I'm pretty tied up in reading this.

Never before has child thievery been so enjoyable!

2009-09-04T17:04:00.001-07:00

When I first signed on to Boswell Book Company, Jason handed me a sizable stack of advanced reader copy books and told me to tell him what I thought. The pile has grown larger and larger as the days have passed, to the point where a few have been dismissed before their stories actually got rolling. Don't get me wrong, I try not to judge too hastily! But if a book can't hook me in the first few pages, I am not inclined to continue reading it.

I had a feeling that The Child Thief by Brom was going to be one of those swiftly-dismissed titles. Everything about it screamed mediocre fantasy/sci-fi mass market. Nevertheless, I put aside my reservations and picked it up. I skeptically flipped through the first few illustrated pages, noting that while they would look great in a graphic novel (Brom was an illustrator, after all), they seemed out of place in a novel.

Fast forward a couple hours. I'm hooked. Brom enticed me with the first page, and I never looked back. Except a couple times, at the artwork. Normally I wouldn't suggest you judge a book by the cover, but the cover of The Child Thief is fairly fantastic. The entire thing reads like some sort of twisted concoction of Peter Pan spliced with Lord of the Flies, with a hint of some darker horror film content.

One of our new bookseller additions, Jocelyn (or as I like to call her, J-Dog), also enjoyed the book...

"I've always been a sucker for fairy tales, both the classics (like Grimm's) and the retellings like those in the "White as Snow, Red as Blood" series edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. So when I saw The Child Thief, an adaptation of Peter Pan, I was interested. Brom,* in his debut adult novel, exploits some of the darkness in J. M. Barrie's original classic to create a wholly new world. Familiar characters -- such as Captain Hook and Princess Tiger Lily -- appear in different, more nuanced guises. Peter himself is portrayed as a much more ambiguous figure than the cheerful boy-hero of the original. Forget everything you saw in the Disney movie; The Child Thief has torture, murder, betrayal, and psychological torment. And that's just the good guys!

Brom uses elements of urban fantasy, blended with British myth to create a gritty fairy tale for grown-ups. I finished my copy about two days after I started it -- call in sick and you may finish yours even faster.

*(Yes, he only has one name. I was suspicious too. But he's primarily an artist, so we'll let it go this time.)"

And yes, she did add the footnote.

If this wasn't enough to convince you, there's always the fact that it's on the Boswell's Best list for September, and is thus 20% off.

A Mystery Vacation with Anne

2009-08-31T17:29:00.000-07:00

I recently traveled to a small Canadian town for the weekend--thanks to Louise Penny's new book Brutal Telling, which is due out September 22nd. Since an actual vacation was not in the cards this year, it was a wonderful time away. Her books always tell a good story, the sense of place is strong, and the characters who recur from book to book are becoming friends.

If I want to visit Paris for awhile, the mysteries by Cara Black are the perfect way to do it. Each book is set in a different neighborhood of the city. The descriptions are so vivid you can feel the cobblestones beneath your feet! The most recent book is Murder in the Latin Quarter, and a new one is due out in March of 2010.

One of the more exciting developments in the mystery field over the past few years, is the number of authors from other countries whose works are becoming more available here. It's possible to travel around the world without leaving your favorite place to read. Settle back with any of these authors and enjoy a marvelous mini-vacation:

Kjell Ericksson (Sweden)

Karin Fossum (Norway)

Arnaldur Indridason (Iceland)

Henning Mankell (Sweden)

Donna Leon (Italy)

Alexander Mcall Smith (Botswanna)

Matt Beynon Rees (Israel/Gaza)

Diane Wei Liang (China)

Anne McMahon hosts a Mystery Book Club at Boswell Book Company every fourth Monday of the month.

Used Musings

2009-08-17T14:52:00.000-07:00

When I worked at the Shorewood Harry W. Schwartz, we did not buy or sell used books, and as a result I was not familiar with the practice. After a couple months here at Boswell, I have become accustomed to the process somewhat. Although I haven't gotten to try purchasing used books myself yet, I have been able to enter them into the computer and I have watched quite a few get purchased. It's odd what gets picked up and what doesn't.

Awhile ago, a gentleman came in with a bag of "used" books - I use quotation marks because they had been read once and were in almost pristine condition. Not only that, but many of the books were very new. There was a beautiful hardcover copy of Between the Assassinations by Adiga that had only been released a week or so prior. With the discount we placed on it for being "used," I expected it to be gone within days. I was proven wrong rather quickly... truth be told, it is still lurking on the shelf.

On the opposite end of things, a woman came in another day with a few boxes of books. I recall entering them into the computer and not recognizing a single one. One was an old, dusty book about the history of Greece from a seemingly random year to a later seemingly random year. I wondered (sometimes aloud, depending on how obscure the titles were) who would ever come wandering in the store and buy such things. The ancient Greece book was gone by the end of the day.

Why do strange things like this happen? Along with Assassinations came in a beautiful hardcover The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, which I correctly identified as being a quick sell. It wasn't placement, since the two titles were right next to each other. I don't know. Strange things happen, I suppose.

So what's on the used shelves now? A quick glance will reveal a lot of mass markets. Patterson, King, and Silva seem to be fairly common, as well as a single copy of Dan Brown's Angels & Demons, which for some reason has not been picked up either. There is also a ton of crazy things on the 99 cent markdown cart, which is often frequented by customers.

If you're interested in selling your used books, feel free to shoot us an email or give us a call. We buy for store credit, and would love to peruse whatever you have to offer.

A Great Summer Staff Rec on The Magicians

2009-08-13T11:31:00.000-07:00

The Magicians by Lev Grossman was released early this August due to some great reviews. In a month deluged in big name authors, from Pynchon, Conroy, and Russo, this was easily my favorite book coming out. Quite possibly for the year, though there is a new Vonnegut coming that I really, really like. I shamelessly pitched the book onto other employees looking for more readers, and I convinced two, Amie and Greg. Amie started reading the book, only to have it stolen by her daughter. I think this is proof that The Magicians has a good chance to sell well this year; while the book does have a darker edge to the story than Harry Potter and Twilight, it still has that cross over appeal to the teen market. If you have read either, I think this book might just be for you. This is what Greg Bruce had to say about it:

“I am reluctant to call The Magicians the "more adult version of Harry Potter," yet I do. This is because it is the closest parallel that can be drawn, despite the fact that Grossman's work is ahead of Rowling's by leaps and bounds. Nevertheless, fans of Rowling or C.S. Lewis will find themselves engrossed in The Magicians, staying awake until the wee hours of the morning just to discern the fates of the primary characters.

The Magicians is much like Harry Potter in the sense that the main character is a young man with remarkable magical abilities, but with a key difference. Harry Potter is the embodiment of absolute good - his morality never wavers and he always finds his way back to standing against Voldemort, the avatar of absolute evil. Quentin Coldwater, the main character of The Magicians, is different. He makes mistakes - real, human mistakes - and pays for them dearly. In this respect, The Magicians is grittier and more real than Harry Potter, and thus is set apart. In the real world, some mistakes aren't rectified, some problems aren't resolved, and death is absolute.”

There is also a great book review, one of many that had Penguin releasing the book before the actual on sale date, at the Washington Post. It is by Keith Donohue, the author of the The Stolen Child, another fantastic read.

If you are in need for a fantasy fix, if the new Harry Potter movie left you remorseful that there is nothing new to be published, then The Magicians will be a perfect way to end the summer.

Right now, the The Magicians is 20% off in our Boswell’s Best for the month of August.

New to Read Local--American Wildlife Art

2009-08-06T11:03:00.000-07:00

Shortly after we first opened on April 3rd, a local author came in to ask if we would carry his book. We had been talking about it for sometime, however, I had been asking to carry it on consignment, since the publisher was small, and really only published his book. It is my standard form with all local authors coming into the shop. Once he showed me the book, American Wildlife Art by David J. Wagner, I was fascinated by it and decided to order it direct. He provided contact information and I was going to work on it. Fast forward to today, and we have just received the book in, it still looks gorgeous.

Why did it take so long to procure the book? Well, simply put, I am not the fastest with the e-mail. I let it pile up, and then I try to burn through it at a furious rate. Not a very good system. Anyway, I sent an e-mail, forgot that I sent it until a reply came back three weeks later, and then I replied again. During that time David Wagner came back in and asked about the progress. I had to sheepishly reply that I had only e-mailed to his publisher a couple of times but had yet to actually place an order. I placed the order about a month ago, and now this book is in our shops. It has been heralded as a both a beautiful and wonderful art book and as a great piece of art history. He has blended the two into a perfect symbiosis. There has always been a place in America where nature art has captured the minds of so many, and David Wagner takes us on a tour of the past four centuries of it. Come in and take a look at the book, it is in our Read Local section, I think you will agree that it is something special.

"Y'know, they're making a movie out of that book..."

2009-08-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

Hearing someone utter those fateful words can mean one of two things. Either excitement builds and you wait with anxious anticipation for the release date, upon which you flock to the theater at midnight with your friends and observe your favorite literary work played out on the silver screen… or you shudder at the thought and go about your business until release day, upon which you open up the paper and laugh uncontrollably at the negative reviews. But in the end, it is good publicity for the book regardless of whether or not the film bombs.

Take The Time Traveler’s Wife, for example. Since the opening of the store up until June, we sold ten copies of the book. Cue July, and the film previews start hitting the web and showing on television. Eleven copies in one month. We can't keep it on the shelves! However, whether or not the film does well remains to be seen. No Country for Old Men did incredibly well, both as a work of literature and at the box office, although admittedly I was not a fan of the film. Perhaps The Road’s film adaptation will win me over. If it ever comes out, that is – it’s already been pushed back by a year.

The Harry Potter film series has been immensely popular with a wide audience, performing remarkably well at the box office. While I would prefer to see less of the books trimmed for the theater, I must admit that the films are entertaining. One of these days, I'm going to find someone who hasn't seen the sixth film yet and go see it. I've heard good things.

Not all books translate well to film, though. Watchmen, although widely heralded as being a fantastic graphic novel, received mixed reviews as a film. The Spiderwick Chronicles was mediocre at best as a film, and Eragon wasn’t exactly a stellar success either. If you really want to travel back in time, try to recall the movie adaptation of Michael Crichton’s

Congo

. If you haven’t seen it, consider yourself lucky. If you have, you will recall that it was laughably bad.

So what am I excited about? The new Alice in Wonderland looks to be pretty good, as per the usual from Tim Burton. Where The Wild Things Are, one of my favorite stories as a kid, is also undergoing a film makeover. We’ll see how that goes. And then there’s Sherlock Holmes, a film adaptation that appears to be straying far from the original text, but entertaining enough for me not to mind. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a film version of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies – the potential of a Shaun of the Dead-esque Jane Austen bonanza is astronomical.

I like my literature with pictures.

2009-07-06T12:53:00.000-07:00

Greetings and salutations, readers.

My name is Greg, and I'm the newest familiar face at the Boswell Book Company. I'm the one with the eclectic and arguably unenlightened staff rec shelf. I'd like to take some time to start off on the right foot and answer some potential questions shopgoers might have come up with when perusing the staff recommendations. Namely, why is my shelf full of graphic novels?

I think graphic novels sometimes get a bad rap. People see the artwork and immediately think of the Sunday funnies - Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield, and the like. They think it's childish. I suppose I can understand this mentality. After all, Batman was marketed to kids. I grew up watching Batman and Robin (which I now find to be offensively campy) and laughing at Mr. Freeze's frosty blue teeth. My parents were bombarded with pleading requests for money that I would spend on action figures and cheap plastic Batman utility belts.

But Batman has been around for awhile. The first generation of kids who read Batman comics grew up, and some of them grew up to be writers and artists themselves. And they remember Batman for how he was in the beginning - frightening, ruthless, and violent. Graphic novels like Arkham Asylum, The Killing Joke, and The Joker are a testament to how the material has changed in accordance with the general audience. The kids have grown up, and so have the storylines. Pick up The Joker off my staff rec shelf and page through it. It's not childish stuff.

Recently, writers have been drifting across the borders of regular literature and graphic novels. Neil Gaiman, author of the Newberry-winning The Graveyard Book, accumulated a massive fan base for his ten-part comic epic The Sandman, which helped put Vertigo Comics on the map. Judy Picoult, author of a long list of books I haven't read but have been very popular nonetheless, has started writing the Wonder Woman comic series, the first volume of which we used to stock regularly. And the forthcoming Logicomix marks a zany new entry into the genre of graphic novels - I guess you could call it a nonfiction, philosophical biography? I don't know. It's good, whatever it is.

The point I'm trying to convey is this - graphic novels are a viable medium for telling a story. Take a look at Watchmen. I don't really need to defend it; a Google search will do the work for me. If the story is good enough, it shouldn't really matter how many pictures there are between the covers.

Getting Lit in Texahoma

2009-06-29T16:23:00.000-07:00

The inaugural bookshopping experience in my future home state of Oklahoma was a very interesting one in which I interacted with two delightful bookshop kitties, drove long stretches of prairie dotted with oil pumps and cattle and although did not find the one John McPhee book I hoped to scoop up, zoomed away from OK with a handful of delightful titles.

The first thing we learned is that when a used bookstore has zero competition it is right easy for this bookstore to price their books to provoke gasps from those bookshoppers who have been spoiled by the likes of Renaissance and Downtown Books. The Used Bookstore in Lawton was one such place, a place where Miss Maple lazed around all over the toppled piled of magazines meowing for pets and the owner played Willie Nelson on the boombox behind the counter of the front room which itself emitted its own bookshopper tractor beam for all the regional titles ranging in topic from topography books to Dust Bowl narratives and Comanche literature & folklore. Although we didn't purchase anything there was a decision made to return to those stacks regularly upon our encampment on the banks of Medicine Creek.

Next we sought out this mysterious Hastings place that touted itself in the phonebook as an "entertainment" store. They are a chain retailer that sells books, music and DVDs. The selection was much less varied than Boswell and set up much like any other chain bookstore save that the books wrap around the center of the shop where the music and DVDs are. The kids bargain section was impressive and I picked up a copy of New Baby Train by Woody Guthrie(himself, a native Okie) and The Juniper Tree and Other Grimm Tales. Bayard got a used Delillo- yes, they also sold a small selection of used titles. The whole set-up was a bit odd but I suppose that without an indie nearby and if we are seriously jonesing for a title we may have to stop in from time to time.

The most notable outing was our hour-long drive into the northern wilds of Texas to Archer City and Larry McMurtry's Booked Up. What is Archer City like? Well, it's just like the small town of Thalia in McMurtry's Horseman, Pass By. Exactly like it, except in real life three of the four blocks that make up the main drag are occupied by the four buildings that house the endless used books under McMurtry's care. The other establishments include The Wildcat Cafe- which for what it lacked in decoration and smoke-free environs it made up for with the best cheeseburger Bayard had had in as long as he could remember; the guy behind the counter also asked, "Ya'll in town for the bookstore, are ya?".

He was awesome, along with the table of old-timers drinking coffee in the back whose conversation subsided when anyone entered the restaurant and picked up again once the entrant(s) sat down. I really wanted to get the 75 dollar signed copy of Richard Hugo's The Lady in Kicking Horse Reservoir but settled instead on a hardcover of Tim Winton's Minimum of Two. On a sidenote, on the drive between St. Louis and Tulsa, on the way down, we happened upon a PRI segment featuring Tim Winton. Lucky, huh? Again, the prices at Booked Up were not as low as I'm used to in used books but the selection was mind-boggling expansive and The Wildcat Cafe was a definite bonus. Our waiter also loudly clued us in on the make, model and color of Larry's car, in case we were looking for him and on the short, extremely hot, walk back to our vehicle, we did see this car and we did see the man in his black-rimmed glasses but refrained from saying anything, mostly because I'm afraid of famous people (esp. ones that have won the Pulitzer) and Bayard isn't very talkative by nature. However, in a perfect world, I would have commented on what a delight it was to be followed around the rare book room by his very chatty bookshop tomcat.

A Few Books About Food

2009-06-25T08:38:00.000-07:00

Michael Pollan changed the way I buy food, and has increased my need to read about food and the environment. And, summer is a good time to do this, considering all the great farmers markets and fresh, local food around. I am more aware of buying local (I joined a CSA for the 3rd year in a row) and the need to support local organizations that are rooted in my community. In his book, In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan has a great line that says: "If your parents or grandparents would not recognize what your eating as food, then don't eat it." That is a rough quote, not exactly verbatim. Pollan would like people to think about local, sustainable avenues for food consumption; and no, buying from the local gas station does not count. The quote hark ens back to a time when people had no choice but to buy and eat locally. Which leads right into a new book by Mark Kurlansky called The Food of a Younger Land.

Back in the 1930's the WPA sent out a group of writers, from Eudora Welty to Zora Neale Hurston, to chronicle what Americans ate. This was before chain restaurants and fast food joints took over the country, this was the land of the New York Automats and of the Mint Julep controversy. It was the New York Soda Fountain Slang guide for ordering your food that I found fascinating(for instance, Hug One was Orange Juice, and Blind 'em was two eggs fried on both sides). Kurlansky did a great job of putting together the files that the writers left behind, reading this book makes you hungry, very hungry. This book is a lot of fun, I felt myself wishing for these simplier times again with the good food (yes, I know the great depression was in full swing). And as for the section on Wisconsin, we can still order up the regions specialty in the Friday Fish Fry.

An Edible History of Humanity by Tom Standage delves into the deeper history behind food and civilizations. He starts off in the near east with barley, wheat, and sustainable agriculture and then, moves through history touching on the potato famine and the spice trade. He points out that the history of food intersects with that of the history of humanity and that they go hand-in-hand all throughout. He focuses on a few net causes in history and shows them repeating throughout (for instance, that food was used to pay taxes which then was used to pay government workers), maybe a few times too many, but this was a good, interesting read. He is the author of Salt and Cod, he always has something interesting to point out that others may have missed.

Food Inc Documentary is out, Read the book!!

2009-06-15T08:05:00.000-07:00

I am really late in plugging this, but the Food Inc documentary is out! Though, it is not playing anywhere near Milwaukee, but opened in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Vegas. Hopefully, it will do well enough that it will become widespread throughout the country. From the few reviews I read, the movie is shocking and powerful in the way that Fast Food Nation made people recoil. But fear not, your local bookshop should have copies on hand, I know we do.

The momentum that authors like Michael Pollan, Bill McKibben, Eric Scholosser and Barbara Kingsolver seemed to have re-kicked off, seems to only be picking up. They started the conversation, the book & movie package should continue it. Questioning where our food comes from and what is our food made from are only the tip of the iceberg. I will write more on this in a later posting along with a handful of new books out but for now here is the trailer.

The Ocean's Sweaty Face in your mailbox

2009-06-11T10:59:00.001-07:00

I have to admit that I haven't bought a McSweeney's Quarterly in a very long time. I really loved Yannick Murphy's Here They Come, McSweeney's Book of Poets Picking Poets, The People of Paper and a few other things, but it got to the point where I couldn't justify buying an entire hardcover priced issue. Thankfully they've come up with a way to own all the clever design without shelling out a bunch of cash- GREETINGS FROM THE OCEAN'S SWEATY FACE: 100 MCSWEENEY'S POSTCARDS. The postcards feature artwork by Daniel Clowes, Charles Burns, Marcel Dzama and David Byrne, among many others. The lucky among you will begin to receive them, postmarked from the frontier, around mid-August.

A Journey to Salt Lake City and a Couple of New Books Out This Week

2009-06-06T17:25:00.000-07:00

Back in January, when Daniel first announced that he was going to open a book shop at the Downer Ave location, we travelled to Salt Lake City to help prepare for the coming adventure. It was the host site of Winter Institute, an educational weekend, where booksellers talk to other booksellers, some publishers, and authors for upcoming books. I must say that Salt Lake City was nothing like what I thought it was going to be.

It has a couple of great independent book stores in The King's English Book Shop and Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore. Both shops are the complete opposite of the other. Sam Weller's is a huge three story bookshop that could swallow up our bookshop whole. It has their used books mixed in with their new books, which I thought was great, and they have a labriynth in the basement of really old books and magazines. The King's English is full of nooks and crannies and a great selection of titles. I loved the way they displayed and took their teen books out of the kids section. They are on a fantastic street full of restaurants and a few other retail shops. A great middle eastern restaurant that we ate at was Mazza, I highly recommend the falaful sandwich.

I was lucky enough to get invited to a dinner with Macmillan and their authors while I was out there. It was lucky, because I was excited to meet Mishna Wolff. Her new book, I'm Down, which came out last week, was hilarious. She grew up in a poor black neighborhood with her white father who thought he was black man. He walked the walk and talked to the talk, however Mishna never fit in. I liked the book mainly for her wild attempts to garner attention from her father, and quite possibly because of the crazy cover. She joins a basketball team that only has black girls on it. Her mother shows up into the picture, and moves her to a prep school, mostly all white. She still does not fit in, this time for the opposite reason. Her stunts at attempting to be accepted by either culture are funny and left me feeling awkward for her. Ultimately, she has to find her balance that makes her happy. I highly recommend this book.

However, after talking to Mishna Wolff about her experiences about writing the book and the food, Macmillan had the authors move to different tables. Shannon Hale sat down at our table. I knew who Shannon Hale was, but had never read her. I must say that she was highly entertaining and has us rolling in our seats. The main theme of her new adult novel, she writes mostly for young adult and has a new Bayern novel coming this fall (our children's booksellers knew who she was right away), centers around a wife meeting a celebrity that is on her top five list. Everybody knows the list, it contains celebrities that your significant other would run off with. My wife only has one that I know of: George Clooney. Never going to happen, so no worries. In The Actor and the Housewife, Becky meets her dream guy, and they hit it off. Not an affair so to speak, but they quickly become best friends. You can see where the monkey wrench gets thrown in. Anyway, Shannon Hale was a lot fun, and if you need a good beach read, I think this might be the one for you.

Both books are recent arrivals at our shop and our being featured in our Boswell's Best at 20% off this month.

Liking Ladylike w/ Olivia, Julie & Julia

2009-06-06T12:31:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I really like lady-like things. I'm listening to Olivia Gentile talk right now (I'm live-blogging. It's my debut) and she's talking about this woman, Phoebe Snetsinger, who is diagnosed with cancer and decides to make it her mission to see every species of bird she can before she dies and I'm standing here yelling, in my head, "you go girl!" I sure am. Ms. Gentile is very sweet and funny and I might want to get a manicure with her or something. This all reminds me of a conversation I recently had with Godsave where the trailer for Julie & Julia comes on the TV and I watch open-mouthed and laugh when Meryl Streep as Julia Child makes a farting noise at someone and I proclaim, "I don't want to see Star Track(yup), I want to see that!" Also, Julie & Julia is a book so I'm more allowed to talk about it here on a book blog.

from the wilds of Brasil, Tom Franklin

2009-06-04T09:21:00.000-07:00

Now this from Tom Franklin, author of SMONK.

HI TOM!
We had a righteously animated book flocking the last week to discuss SMONK and as a result I have some semi-legible questions scrawled on bar napkins for you.

1. The first question begs for a prequel and pleads, "we want more Smonk."
I've often thought of a sequel. Ned Smonk is born via caeserean (sp?) so that Evavangeline survives. She social climbs to a position of prominence and Ned becomes a ruthless Alabama policitian. Wm R. McKissick Jr, his father (though he doesn't know it) tries to assassinate him for reasons I've not been drunk or stoned enough to contrive. Yet.
But my wife -- agent either -- won't tolerate any more Smonk. In fact, BA, reading my new novel ms, calls any overwritten parts Smonkian, and cuts them.

2. Why Eugene, Oregon? Why not name him Ann Arbor, Michigan or Denver, Colorado?Because I liked the name E. O. Smonk and knew, upon thinking of E. and O. together, that they'd stand for Eugene and Oregon. It's also the reverse of O. E. Parker --Obidiah Elihue Parker-- in Flannery O'Connor's story "Parker's Back," a story I love.
Also, early in the writing of Smonk, I came up with a mythos of Smonks, and part of it was that they'd take the name of wherever they were born. That went, but the name stuck.

3. What inspired the rabies religion? Was it rooted in some historical situation or was it purely a product of your twisted, southern mind?
For the longest time I didn't know what Smonk was. Werewolf? Half-dog, half man? The missing link? I just knew he was something other than completely human. The spooky town of Old Texas, with its widows, was part of the book but with its past unexplained. Then my friend, writer Michael Knight, read an early version of the ms and asked abt the town. I didn't know. But, to answer his question, I wrote that whole flashback past scene in a fevered frenzy, almost 20 pp, being horrified and delighted as I went. Kind of a metaphor for any religion, you know, a "prophet" and those who follow him.

4. As the night progressed and we had exhausted all discussion of Smonk, Cormac McCarthy, Deadwood and 21 Jump Street, our attention moved to the cover. We know authors don't have much say in this decision but...where's the goiter? Is the gun a pump action shotgun or an over under (I don't know about guns but this member of the book club was very interested in knowing if you knew).
The cover. I love it. I worried that, because I'd made so much of Smonk not wearing hats, the cover had one. So the artist removed the hat and I have that version of the cover somewhere. But it wasn't as cool-looking, I thought. Then my editor said, "It doesn't have to be exact, as long as it gets the feeling." I agreed.

But I also had Smonk put on a hat, for a disguise, at the book's end, as he and Ike sneak into Old Texas. Note, too, that there's no rain in the book, but there is on the cover. So I wrote in some rain, too. I know, I know, I'm a whore. But E. O. would approve.

The gun, not an over and under, but I don't think he had the gun until he got into the room, when McKissick brought it back. So it's just a convenient firearm that he goes in with.

5. An artist in our group, Kristopher Pollard has finished his own drawing of Smonk. It will be revealed to me tonight and then smuggled to you via internet...because we're creeps and nerds.

I would LOVE to see the rendering of Smonk. Please do forward it when you can. Maybe I can put it on my homepage or something. Though I can never figure that stuff out.

Thank yall for keeping ole E. O. and co. alive. I wish I could've been there.

Tom is currently living in Brasil with his family. He just finished a new novel entitled CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER. He is very nice.

I'm sick of Brooklyn, too, Ed Nawotka.

2009-06-02T07:47:00.000-07:00

Thinking a lot about regionalism lately, I've been mulling over my own dislike for travel. I really just hate it. I hate the fuss and the non-familiarities and the having to be on time for things. My lit. preferences tend to mirror this as the geographic trends in my reading hover significantly around the one place (or subject) for extended periods of time. Most recently, Australia was my readerly home and this sprung from a year-long hang-up with surf culture/lit.

I share with Ed Nawotka of Houston a similar disdain for the tendency of major book reviews to spend the majority of their readerly/critic time in NYC but I'm sure it's their own regional love that leads to this phenomenon. Believe me, I'm the last person you'd see running around swooning over Wells Tower. Ander Monson, however, needs only flinch for me to completely lose it. I would wager my entire home library on the bet that if Ander Monson wrote a novel about the snow, static electricity and hollow sound of walking on a frozen lake and set it in or within 100 miles of New York City, he'd be front page NYtimes Sunday Book Review material- throw in a 9-11 subplot and he's a National Book Award shoe-in.

Furthermore, my Oklahoma reading is fullforceahead as I'm just about to finish Horseman, Pass By by Larry McMurtry and Hud is in the Netflix queue or whatever it's called. It seems I'm moving to a land where the majority of one's day is spent longing for a breeze or a cool-down. Joe Meno, a stellar Chicago author, was in town for a reading at the store and my husbandinthreeweeks, Bayard Godsave, read a couple stories as a local opener (which Daniel is trying to do more often and I think is absolutely wonderful). Prior to the ballyhoo, they (Bayard and Joe) were chatting about our move to OK and there was a great exchange where neither of them could decide if the state was in the South, the Midwest or what. I vote for the South, mostly because I'm manifesting in my mind endless sweet tea and biscuits and gravy and also that's what they eat in the McMurtry (they also sweat through their leather belts, but I'm choosing to ignore that).

The catalyst for this post is a video I found as I was obsessively following BEA via the internetz (the BEA which I've gathered signals the end of BEA as anyone has known it). It's from the NBCC panel where that guy I mentioned earlier, Ed Nawotka, whose name is remarkably Wisconsin but he lives in Houston and has a bone to pick with book critics all reviewing the same books (ahem- he clearly hasn't been to The Inside Flap- which is sadly lacking in updates, but was booming for years with Downer Schwartz employee reviews). The panel responds with the example of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Geeta Sharma-Jensen for successfully localizing her book section. I can personally attest to this.

ATTN: The Nation, et al.

2009-05-30T09:13:00.000-07:00

The doom and gloom journalistic capitalists need to cease their sad panda death rattlings. Seriously, it's driving me to rage. Start talking about Daniel Goldin and Lanora Hurley instead of writing obits for a living culture.

Bricks and mortar, baby.

The Sanctity of the Staff Rec Shelf

2009-05-26T07:57:00.000-07:00

by Sarah Marine

I'm stressing over my staff rec shelf. Fiction or non-fiction? Nothing seems to be selling either way, which I find majorly disappointing. For a bookseller, the rec shelf becomes an obsessive area, the high concentration of beloved titles pulsing with the sacred potential bond between seller and reader. Oy, nobody is buying my books. Perhaps I'm out of touch, I need to broaden the approach and throw on a sure sell. But the impetus for staff rec placement on that narrow wooden altar is an honor of highest elevation reserved for that book that you have chosen to champion above all others. What would the motive of SELL do to the delicate tension of waiting for readerly discovery? I love walking into a bookshop, sidling up to the staff picks and noticing the absent-minded shelving that suddenly crops up in the surrounding area, the booksellers stealing glances in your direction as you lift a book off the labeled shelves and you hear the minutely audible quick intake of breath.

MY CURRENT STATIC LINE-UP:
Children at Play: An American History by Howard P. Chudacoff
Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks (USED)
The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren by Iona and Peter Opie
Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children's Literature
by Julia L. Mickenberg, Philip Nel
American Hybrid: A Norton Anthology of New Poetry by Cole Swenson
The Making of Americans by Gertrude Stein (used)
Born in Flames: Termite Dreams, Dialectical Fairy Tales and Pop Apocalypses by Howard Hampton

Beach Reads from Wisconsinites

2009-05-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

This list was compiled by Sarah and Conrad. The only criteria we could come up with that "Beach Reads" must have in common, is that the people in these books do a lot of sweating (because it's, you know, hot ... not because of other things). In general, as Wisconsinites with little means for vacations, we remain unfamiliar with beachy things or sweat. We are a clean-smelling people, thank you very much- not musky at all.

Breath by Tim Winton
The Crystal World by J.G. Ballard
Killing Mister Watson by Peter Matthiesen
One DOA, One on the Way by Mary Robison
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes
House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
Lamb by Christopher Moore

Keep in mind that I will always recommend the Robison and Conrad will never pass up Lamb.

In closing, a piece written by Ander Monson, If I Had a Heart I'd Die In It: Writing the Writing the Midwest, a Michigander recently transplanted to Arizona. His work is the opposite of beachy.

SMONK songs and Romance Town

2009-05-21T08:47:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems there's been a SMONK resurgence in Milwaukee, the likes of which haven't been seen since 2007 when the Downer Schwartz team was shoving it in everyone's faces yellin' about veined balloons and seeping carbuncles. I even have a friend, Susan, who's currently reading it aloud with her boyfriend. Ah, romance.

Now a song written by our dear friend from CEO-Read, Mr. Aaron Schleicher or The Off Key. The Off Key is a project he started where he challenges himself to write one new song a week. Back in February he used a part, verbatim from SMONK, and set it to music. Check it, here. Milwaukeeans have been on Facebook assaulting Tom Franklin with flattery for awhile now and about this adaptation he writes, "Wow, I listened to this, three times, in Brazil, in the north, at Trancoso. Great music."

Mapping Future Bookshop Migration Patterns

2009-05-12T05:10:00.001-07:00

by Sarah Marine

Come August, I will be living in a town 71miles from the nearest indie bookshop. In preparation I have been mapping the routes to Three Dog Books & Booked Up in Archer City, Texas, The Bookseller in Ardmore, Oklahoma and Full Circle Bookstore in Oklahoma City. Full Circle Books seems to be the most similar to Schwartz/Boswell and if you click through to their website prepare for heart palpitations as the floor to ceiling bookshelves are clearly adorned with wheeled ladders.

Also, in preparation, I have begun to compile a summer reading list to help prepare for the culture and clime, which will prove to be a far cry from the East Side Milwaukee shores of Lake Michigan. I'm currently reading Dirt Music by Tim Winton and am beginning to fear that my mind, that which has difficulty wrapping itself around even an eighty-degree day, has begun to morph what little I know of OK environs with that of northern Australia.

The reading list so far includes:
Great Plains by Ian Frazier
O Pioneers! by Will Cather
Books on Trial: Red Scare in the Heartland by Shirley Wiegand
Ancient Child by N. Scott Momaday
Falling Dark by Tim Tharp
something/anything by Larry McMurtry

The closest bookshop according to Indiebound is Larry McMurtry's Booked Up in Archer City, TX. There is a superb 2007 article about the man and his shop here. The website for Booked Up also includes a FAQ section. I chose a couple examples to share with you:

Q. When will Mr. McMurtry be here?
A. At his whim.

Q. Where are Mr. McMurtry's books?
A. We no longer sell any of his work.

Q. Will he sign a book I bring in?
A. He is not signing at this time.

I like curmudgeons.

Daniel Handler & Me + Sharks

2009-05-11T10:21:00.000-07:00

Daniel Handler and I are clearly potential best friends already engaged in a secret two person book club. This book club, so far, has read and loved Mary Robison's ONE DOA ONE ON THE WAY and Joshua Beckman's TAKE IT. You can read about Handler's love for TAKE IT, here.

I just started reading this galley of a book called EYE OF THE WHALE by Douglas Carlton Abrams. The first scenes of the book are a remarkable account of a woman snorkeling in Carribean waters who while recording the songs of whales happens to witness the birth of one and while attempting to jumpstart the breathing of the calf, is caught in a shark feeding frenzy set off by the expulsion of massive whale afterbirth. She is not bothered because she knows reef sharks aren't really a threat to humans but then she sees a tiger shark and the guy she is with, who is in a boat, starts to freak out and she gets bumped (a sure sign of a shark attack) and then miraculously the male whale blows the shark out of the water with his blowhole, thereby saving the lady. Ummmm, it may be the best thing I've ever read. I'm terrified (never stepped foot in an ocean) and fascinated (I check the global shark attack file, weekly-why don't these fishermen in South Africa learn their lesson and stay out of the damn water?!) by sharks and can be lulled into submissive fascination at even the mention of the fish.

bye.

OKLAHOMA & BOOX

2009-05-07T10:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I found out that my husband-in-a-month is going to be the newest faculty member at Cameron University in Oklahoma. That means, come August, we're cruising down to OK and setting up shop on the prairie. Is there anything to do in Oklahoma? I feel like I should buy some aprons and bandanas maybe. I've already decided to stalk Wayne Coyne and there seems to be a righteous food co-op in Norman...but what about books? I can't seem to find anything about Oklahoma book culture. Anyone ever been there?