Periodically we have shared our thoughts and others thoughts about the state of books and the publishing industry. There is no doubt that e-readers and Amazon have affected our business. Despite all the upheaval, there is one thing we know for sure: we love books, the paper kind.

You may remember a book that came out in November called My Bookstore: Writer’s Celebrate Their Favorite Places to Browse, Read, and Shop. As we start off the new year, I thought Emily St. John Mandel’s Afterword put things in perspective. In this excerpt, Emily reflects on comments made by Nicole Krauss, author of The History of Love and Great House, at Community Bookstore in Brooklyn:

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She [Nicole Krauss] had recently returned from a national tour for Great House, and she began telling us about conversations she’d had with a few people along the way who told her that they buy only e-books. When she asked why, they told her it was because it was more convenient. She found this interesting, she said. When, she asked, did convenience become the most important thing?

I personally have no quarrel with e-books and believe they’ll continue to co-exist with print, but there’s something in Krauss’s sentiment that resonates. I think it applies to the decision of how and where we buy our books.

There was a time when we–all of us, the general public–were referred to as citizens. At some point this shifted, and now we’re mostly called consumers. I have some real problems with this change because while citizenship implies rights and responsibilities, to my mind consumerism mostly just implies shopping.

And yet shadows of the original word remain. The word consumer, I’ve come to realize, comes with its own imitations of responsibility, in that it reflects a very basic fact of life in a capitalistic society, which is that we get to change the world we live in by means of where we spend our money. This concept is hardly new, but if it happens that you’re somebody who enjoys having a bookstore in your town, I would argue that it’s never been more important.

-Emily St. John Mandel

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I like that Emily’s message can be applied to any local business: your bakery, your favorite local restaurant, the grocery store around the corner, the mom-and-pop garden nursery and so on. These places give us community. Places like Best Buy and Wal-Mart and Amazon don’t do that. In 2013, we hope that we can continue to be your local bookstore as we, and many other local businesses, do our best to serve our community.

Bookstore Keys Series on Lemuria Blog

From 2011/2012: Reading One Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of amazon.com (March 19) Where will e-book sales level out? (June 2) Indie Bookstores Buying from Amazon? (June 1) BEA Roundup (May 19) Lemuria’s Headed for NYC (May17) Barnes & Noble Bankrupt? (April 28) Decluttering the Book Market: Ads on the latest Kindle (April 14) Independents on the Exposed End of the Titanic? (April 6th) Border’s Bonuses (March 30) The Experience of Holding a Book (March15) Finding “Deep Time” in a Bookstore (March 8th) Reading The New Rules of Retail by Lewis & Dart (March 3) The Future Price of the Physical Book (Feb 18) Borders Declares Bankruptcy (Feb 16) How Great Things Happen at Lemuria (Feb 8th) The Jackson Area Book Market (Jan 25) What’s in Store for Local Bookselling Markets? (Jan 18) Selling Books Is a People Business (Jan 14) A Shift in Southern Bookselling? (Jan 13) The Changing Book Industry (Jan 11)

Last year Lemuria participated in the first-ever U.S. World Book Night. We had a great turnout of individual givers and group givers and gave out a total of about 1,200 books to light or nonreaders in the Jackson metro area.

We’re ready to get to work again as a pick-up location for World Book Night 2013. But first here is one of my favorite World Book Night stories from Chris Cander, a writer and teacher who lives in Houston, Texas. This story was originally posted April 23, 2012 on Chris’s blog.

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Today is World Book Night 2012, and I am one of 25,000 “givers” who will personally distribute half a million free books today. As part of the campaign to change lives through literacy, volunteers will be sharing copies of their favorite books at VA hospitals, nursing homes, ball parks, mass transit, diners and other places where would-be readers are underserved. To give away twenty copies of PEACE LIKE A RIVER by Leif Enger, I chose the Covenant House, a shelter for homeless, throwaway and runaway teens.

It was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.

I introduced myself to a staff member, and told her why I was there. “Do you think there are any residents here that would like to have a copy of this book?” I asked.

“I think so,” she said as she read the back cover. Then she looked up at me. “And you’re just giving them away?”

“For free, to anyone who wants one.”

In the adjacent lunchroom, two dozen or so teenagers—many of them scarred, tattooed, broken-looking—talked and ate in small groups. Rose announced me and my intentions, and the kids looked at me somewhat suspiciously. As I told them why I loved this incredible story of a young boy’s journey across the frozen Badlands of the Dakotas in search of his fugitive older brother, it occurred to me that I might not be able to give away any books at all.

Then one tall, thin boy raised his track-marked arm and said, “I’d like a copy.”

“You would?” I said, relieved. “What’s your name?”

“Donny. I never had my own book before.”

Oh.

“Me too. Can I have one?”

“And me.” They came one by one, and I pressed a brand-new copy into each of their hands. To a one, they thanked me with such sincerity I didn’t think I could bear it.

“Yes, please. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did,” I said, and this went on until I had only one copy left.

Then a heavy-set boy came up and said, “Can I have that last one?”

“Yes, of course.”

“My name is Voltaire,” he said. “Like the philosopher. Did you write this book?”

“I wish I had.”

“Can I show you my poem? I don’t know anybody I can show it to.” He unfolded a typewritten page from his back pocket. “My mom taught me a lot of vocabulary,” he said, “before she kicked me out.”

He bent down to my ear so that he could whisper it aloud, even though I could read along with him. It was filled with spelling mistakes and grammar errors and despair and pain and beauty and also hope, because he’s still alive. “This was going to be my suicide note. But I decided to make it into a poem instead.” I wish I could post it for you to read, but I promised him I would keep it private.

“Thank you for sharing it with me,” I said. “I hope when you feel that pain again in your life, you’ll keep trying to find the poem inside it. You’re a good writer. You should keep writing. And keep reading.”

“I will,” he said, folding the poem back along its worn creases. “Starting with this.” He pressed the cut edge of the book to his nose and took a deep breath and he said, “This smells so good.”

I looked around the room at these drug users and abuse victims—these beautiful souls with their own stories whose lives were changed by their circumstances. I told them that I would come back in a month, and we could have a discussion of the book. They were all so unexpectedly enthusiastic about the idea of a Covenant House book club, even though some of them will have moved on by then. By discovering the freedom and self-reliance and majesty and bravery within this book, perhaps these kids will be better able to find it within themselves.

World Book Night is about hoping that through an introduction to the love of reading, people can change their lives for the better. And I think that because of today and Voltaire and the other eager, grateful receivers of the books that I was able to share, that my life may be forever changed, too.

Written by Chris Cander, reposted with permission.

Learn more about Chris here.

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World Book Night is an annual celebration dedicated to spreading the love of reading, person to person.

Each year on April 23, tens of thousands of people go out into their communities and give half a million free World Book Night paperbacks to light and non-readers.  In 2012, World Book Night was celebrated in the U.S., the UK, Ireland, and Germany.

World Book Night is about giving books and encouraging reading in those who don’t regularly do so. But it is also about more than that: It’s about people, communities and connections, about reaching out to others and touching lives in the simplest of ways—through the sharing of stories.

World Book Night is a nonprofit organization. We exist because of the support of thousands of book givers, booksellers, librarians, and financial supporters who believe in our mission.  Successfully launched in the U.K. in 2011, World Book Night was first celebrated in the U.S. in 2012. Thank you to our U.K. friends for such a wonderful idea!

Learn more about World Book Night, keep updated on new developments, and apply to be a World Book Night U.S. book giver!

The DEADLINE to apply to be a giver is January 25!

Apply to be a book giver here.

See the 30 book titles selected for 2013.

We call ourselves the Cereus Readers in honor of Jackson writer Eudora Welty and her friends who gathered for the annual blooming of the night-blooming cereus flower and called themselves “The Night-Blooming Cereus Club.” In this same spirit of friendship and fellowship, this new book club is launched.

The goal of the Cereus Readers is to introduce readers to the writing of Eudora Welty–her short stories, essays, and novels–and then to read books and authors she enjoyed herself or were influenced by her.

As an introduction to the writer we will start with my biography of Eudora Welty, A Daring Life, and pair it with Eudora’s essay “A Sweet Devouring,” found in her collection of essays The Eye of the Story. We will then read her Pulitzer prize-winning novella The Optimist’s Daughter followed by her collection of short stories The Golden Apples.

After reading these works by Welty, we will read authors and works she herself enjoyed: Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster, Chekhov, and mysteries. Finally, we thought we would read authors who have acknowledged Welty as an influence and inspiration such as Ann Patchett, Anne Tyler, and Clyde Edgerton. It’s a bold undertaking, but we plan to be meeting for a while!

Here is the schedule for Cereus Readers:

Thursday, January 24: A Daring Life: A Biography of Eudora Welty & “A Sweet Devouring” from The Eye of the Story (led by Carolyn Brown)

Thursday, February 28: The Optimist’s Daughter (led by Jan Taylor)

Thursday, March 28: The Golden Apples, Part 1 (led by Lee Anne Bryan)

Thursday, April 25: The Golden Apples, Part 2 (led by Lee Anne Bryan)

Thursday, May 23:

Two short stories: “Where Is the Voice Coming from?” & “The Demonstrators”

An essay by Miss Welty: “Must the Novelist Crusade?”

Thursday, June 27:

We will be listening to a 1975 audio recording of Miss Welty reading selected short stories.

Thursday, July 25: The Ponder Heart

Thursday, August 22: The Robber Bridegroom

Thursday, September 26: Short Stories, “Asphodel” & “A Still Moment”

We meet at noon in the dot.com building adjacent to Banner Hall. Feel free to bring your lunch. All books are available at Lemuria, and be sure to ask for the “Cereus Reader” 10% discount when making your purchase for the book club. Please e-mail lisa if you plan on attending or if you have any questions: lisa at lemuriabooks dot com.

This is a reading group open to all level of readers–anyone interested in learning about Jackson’s most important writer. Eudora Welty considered Lemuria her bookstore, and we want to honor her by discussing her books and authors she loved–meeting in the store where she shopped and signed her books.

Carolyn

In all honesty, Lauren Leto’s Judging a Book by Its Lover  isn’t actually a book about books. It’s really a book about the people who love and write books. But like a gossip column, it is so much fun to read. If you want to sound really smart at your next cocktail party, or are studying for your appearance on Jeopardy, its full of book trivia that never gets old. My favorite chapter gives a step by step guide on how to fake having read a book. I never have been able to get through a Charles Bukowski book, but I can talk about it!

The Book on the Bookshelf is a wonderful, concise history of the evolution of the book.

Henry Petroski walks you through the process of book making and binding and how it has changed over the years. There is even a chapter on the evolution of bookshelves.

Sometimes it is just nice to read about reading. Jacques Bonnet’s Phantoms on the Bookshelves is a wonderful series of essays on the joys of reading and owning books.

“Every time you open a book for the first time, there is something akin to safe-breaking about it. Yes, that’s exactly it: the frantic reader is like a burglar who has spent hours and hours digging a tunnel to enter the strongroom of a bank. He emerges face to face with hundreds of strongboxes, all identical, and opens them one by one. And each time the box is opened, it loses its anonymity and becomes unique”

Bonnet also discusses the development of reading as a cultural phenomona growing up in post-WW II France. It really is fascinating.

When I first pick up a book, one of my favorite things to do is to look at the author’s portrait on the back flap.

It can reveal so much about the author. Closer to Home  is a series of author portraits, shot in black and white. It is, after all, the author portrait  that “gives body to the silent form of the text”.