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You may have seen some of the photos of Barry Moser’s artwork on Facebook and on our blog. On Saturday, December 10 at 11:00 we will be having a signing for Barry Moser on the occasion of his two new books The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale and Franklin and Winston: A Christmas that Changed the World.
What you may not know is that Barry Moser has a long history at Lemuria. John Evans will tell his story soon, but first we need to hear it from former Lemuria bookseller Emily Crowe.
I also used this as an opportunity to embellish Emily’s post with the beautiful art work of Barry Moser. -Lisa
Here’s her story:
I had been working at Lemuria about two and a half years when I met Barry Moser on December 7, 1999, a date which will live in infamy. John and Barry had been friends for years and John had been preparing the staff with lots of great anecdotes before Barry’s arrival.
I had somehow lucked into the position of writing up most of the author interviews for the store newsletter, so John arranged for Barry and me to spend a little extra time together to facilitate the interview.
We mostly chatted while Barry signed stock for the store, particularly the copies of The Holy Bible, that month’s first editions club selection. The staff had already flapped the books to the title page, but Barry told us that for the bible, he only signs in pencil and only on the last page of acknowledgments. After reflapping all of the books, we settled in for some serious conversation, and flirtation, too, if truth be told. Barry said at one point that he was impressed that I could keep up with passing books to him to sign, since he is such a fast signer. I remember that I told him that yes, he was fast, but that he was no John Grisham, and that seemed to take the wind out of sails a little.
That night John hosted a publication party for Barry at his home, with both of the deluxe limited editions of The Pennyroyal-Caxton Holy Bible on display. All of us staff members in attendance took turns monitoring these books, standing guard with an array of white gloves so that guests could thumb through the heavy pages and guess at the famous people who might have modeled for Job, Mary, Noah, or John the Baptist, or try to find Barry’s own self-portrait that he sneaks into every book he illustrates. Between the bourbon on the one hand and the wee small hours when the last guests left on the other hand, you might say that both merriment and more flirtation ensued.
As it turned out, the store was so busy during Barry’s visit that I didn’t have time to write up the interview before he had to travel to the next stop on his tour. When he suggested that I might email him my interview for him to fact-check before we published it, I readily agreed. Little did we suspect that our first email exchange would lead to hundreds more, accumulating more than 2,000 pages of electronic correspondence between us before the spring was out.
Circumstances brought us together again four months after our first meeting, but by that time we had fallen in love in this very new, old-fashioned way: it had been a purely epistolary romance, albeit an electronic one. I left Lemuria in January of 2001 to move north (to the kingdom of the yankee) to be with Barry, and two years after that we married. It pleases us both more than we can say that we will be back in Jackson, and more particularly back at Lemuria, twelve years to the date after we first met there. It’s improbable that a curmudgeonly old fart like him and an insufferable know-it-all like me could find lasting happiness together, but I blame the books: the ones I made a living by selling at Lemuria, the ones he illustrated that brought him into John’s life and thus mine, the ones we discussed passionately early on in our relationship, and the ones we hope to do together one day.
Emily Crowe was a sweet, innocent, young bookseller at Lemuria for several years before she ran off with a dirty old man twice her age. When she’s not traveling the Caribbean in search of the perfect rum punch, she continues to be a bookseller at the independently-owned Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, MA, where she is also the assistant manager, a buyer, and a blogger.
I am a lover of short stories. I know that short stories turn some readers off, but I am always impressed with an author that can weave a captivating tale in only a few pages.
Elissa Schappell is one such author. I’ve recently been reading Schappell’s Blueprints for Building Better Girls and am thoroughly enjoying her stories of women who exhibit both vulnerability and strength – sometimes all in the same story – as they weather the experience known as womanhood.
Even though the book is comprised of short stories, they are mostly linked in subtle ways and possess a fluidity that makes me want to read the book from beginning to end like I would a novel. Normally, I enjoy skipping around a book of short stories, picking and choosing which ones to nibble on a little bit at a time. In fact, that is one of the main reasons why I enjoy a good book of short stories. In this day of constant distraction, sometimes I just need to read a story from a book of short stories and know that I can come back several months later without having to reacquaint myself with the plot or characters.
That being said, I am plowing straight through Blueprints for Building Better Girls without even a thought of jumping from one story to the next, and I am finding myself not wanting to read anything else at the moment.
Check out this interview with Elissa Schappell on therumpus.net!
by Anna
So far this year we have seen two major new publications on Ernest Hemingway. Most recently we have seen Volume One of Hemingway’s complete letters, and earlier in the year Lemuria had the honor of hosting an event for Dr. Edgar Grissom to honor the publication of his descriptive bibliography for Ernest Hemingway. As if to give us a well-rounded year, this fall we have the publication of Hemingway’s Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost, 1934-1961 by Paul Hendrickson. As we get ready for a signing and reading with Paul Tuesday evening at 5:00, enjoy this review by our friend Dr. Ed Grissom. -Lisa
A Guest Post by Dr. Edgar Grissom
I have been waiting for a work like Hemingway’s Boat while not really expecting to ever see it. I have long hoped that the right individual might emerge who would posses the skill to conduct the dogged research necessary to get beyond the blinding Hemingway mythology and posses the skill to authentically portray the person, the real human being. No psychobabble involved just a portrayal of the man with all his weakness and strengths. No second guessing about how events may have occurred but rather the explicit unfolding of the events.
Hemingway the chameleon has made it difficult for any author to see beyond the many blinding colors. And no author had yet removed their ego from their rendition of Hemingway. I believe that Paul Hendrickson has accomplished this better than anyone who has ever attempted it. And there have been many, many such attempts. And that he at the same time produced such a delightful and impeccably crafted work is doubly impressive.
This is a work brimming with new information that tugs the reader’s heart that begs to be savored in small bites that engages the senses at every turn.
Paul Hendrickson has my admiration.
-Edgar Grissom
Notes:
Hemingway’s Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost, 1934-1961 (Knopf, September 2011) is also Lemuria’s First Edition Club pick for the month of December.
On Tuesday, Decemeber 6th Lemuria is proud to host a signing and reading at 5:00 and 5:30 for Paul Hendrickson. Some of Paul’s previous publications include Sons of Mississippi: A Story of Race and Its Legacy and The Living and the Dead: Robert McNamara and Five Lives of a Lost War (1996 finalist for the National Book Award)
Notable Hemingway Publications in 2011
See the trade edition of The Letters of Ernest Hemingway, 1907-1922 (Cambridge, September 2011), edited by Sandra Spanier and Robert W. Trogdon.
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Also see Cambridge’s collector’s edition of The Letters of Ernest Hemingway, 1907-1922
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Ernest Hemingway: A Descriptive Bibliographyby C. Edgar Grissom (Oak Knoll Press, June 2011)
See two previous posts on Dr. Grissom and the event at Lemuria: One from John and another from Lisa.
I fell in love with Alan Bradley and his precocious 11 year old sleuth main character, Flavia de Luce, when I first read The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie in 2009. I know that you are thinking, “Maggie, you like slice and dice mysteries…why are you reading these Nancy Drew’s for adults?” My answer is they are so much fun! Sometimes I just need to trip over the body in the cucumber patch!
In I Am Half-Sick of Shadows, we find Flavia up to her old tricks in the chemistry lab (built by her Uncle) but this time she is trying to make a concoction of very sticky birdlime to coat the chimney of Buckshaw mansion. The reason behind this is to prove once and for all to her older sisters, Ophelia and Daphne, that Father Christmas is not a hoax. She intends to then free him from the chimney and invite Father Christmas to stay for the glorious fireworks display that she has also been working on in the the laboratory.
Flavia’s father, due to his increasing debt, has agreed to let a movie production company use the family estate as a movie set which means that Buckshaw will not be decorated for Christmas, which is disappointing,but Flavia soon learns she will have all sorts of mischief to get into with the stars and film crew roaming around.
The vicar arranges for the entire town of Bishop’s Lacey to come to Buckshaw for a special performance of the balcony scene of Romeo and Juliet to raise money to repair the church roof. In true English mystery fashion, a blizzard ensues snowing everyone in and setting the scene for MURDER! Flavia, of course, has found the body and even after several warnings not to meddle with the investigation just cannot help herself. A grand “who dunnit” begins and soon concludes on Christmas Eve.
I recommend this as a fun and uproarious holiday read whether you have read the others in the series or not and guarantee you will be asking Father Christmas for the entire collection!
The Cheshire Cheese Cat 
is a delightful story written by Carmen Deedy and Randall Wright with beautiful illustrations by our favorite Barry Moser. Set in a London inn during the time of Charles Dickens and Queen Victoria, this story begins with the introduction of Skilley, the main character and resident mouser at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Inn. Skilley must make a pact with Pip the mouse to keep his guarded secret–Skilley does not eat mice. He eats cheese. There are multiple scenes of drama taking place in The Cheese, not the least of which Charles Dickens and his writer’s block. 
This tale contains so much fun and excitement, and the awesome illustrations of Barry Moser perfectly gel with this historical tale of mischief and friendship.
Barry Moser is a well known illustrator and even better known by those of us who work at Lemuria. A few of my favorite books that he has illustrated are The Blessing of the Beasts by Ethel Pochocki, Ring of Tricksters by Virginia Hamilton, Hogwood Steps Out by Howard Mansfield, and Hummingbird Nest by Kristina O’Connell George.
All this to say, we think Barry is the best. And to top it all off, Barry will be here in the store on Saturday, December 10th at 11:00. Barry’s books, The Cheshire Cheese Cat and Franklin and Winston: A Christmas that Changed the World, are also our Oz First Edition’s Club Picks for December!
Dear Listener,
I have never understood the quite spoken rivalry between The Beatles and the Rolling Stones. I remember being a ten year old who loved the White Album. I was frequently chastised by stupid petty adults for being anti-Rolling Stones. Why would liking The Beatles make me anti-Rolling Stones? Why would anyone have to choose a side? I’ve always considered them rigidly different bands. My favorite Rolling Stones album is Some Girls. I consider Some Girls to be the most folky jangly country Americana album any non American has ever released. Trying to compare that to Revolver, my favorite Beatles album, would be like comparing light bulbs to blankets. No one would like light bulbs more than blankets or vice versa. No one would ever consider the two synonymous enough to pick a favorite.
With that said, George is my favorite Beatle. He always has been. His persona (at least how I imagine it) was always quiet, talented, emotional, and empathetic. While in The Beatles, he was often overpowered by John and Paul, and had only a handful of his songs make it to the album. It wasn’t because he didn’t write songs. Far less than a year after The Beatles called it quits, George released his triple album All Things Must Pass. A TRIPLE album. Considering, I empathize with George. He will always be my favorite.
I am writing this on November 29, 2011. Ten years ago today George Harrison died of cancer at the age of 58. 
Martin Scorsese recently directed a documentary for HBO on George Harrison called George Harrison: Living in the Material World. There is a book by the same name that was written by George’s widow Olivia Harrison. In the forward, Martin Scorsese writes
Something beautiful happened whenever George played the guitar – I’m thinking of that lyrical break on “You’re Gonna Lose That Girl’, among so many other magical moments with The Beatles – and here he was reveling in a newfound freedom, making music that was all his own. There was real joy in the sheer act of creativity. I remember feeling that it had the grandeur of liturgical music, of the bells used in Tibetan Buddhist ceremonies. The wonder I felt the first time I heard that music has never left me.
To see original pictures, drawings, and lyrical sheets from George Harrison that encompass this book, come check our music section. You know we have a copy.
by Simon
Here is a book that I really liked, but haven’t written anything about. The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides.
I got my hands on an early copy and read it this past July on vacation.
This book came out last month with much fan fare. If you missed it here is a shot of the billboard from Times Square:
Crazy for a literary book. eh?
Well, I don’t know if the billboard sold books, but this one deserves to be widely read. This is Eugenides attempt (successful in my book) at a postmodern love story. Madeleine and Leonard are young and in love – it’s the 1980s and they are steeped in college life. But while Leonard is quite brilliant he also tends to be very erratic. Meanwhile the Religious Studies student Mitchell has been in love with Madeleine since freshman year. I won’t tell you who ends up with who.
The story is captivating and the writing is never to wordy or verbose – I actually tended to think that Middlesex had some boring sections.
The secret to The Marriage Plot is that it makes the reader feel smarter. While you are reading about Madeleine’s post modern fiction class you feel like you are engaging with the Derrida or Barthes. Everyone in the store that has read this book has rushed over to the foreign fiction shelf and picked up Barthes’ A Lover’s Discourse thinking they would read it as soon as they finished The Marriage Plot only to be thwarted by lines like “Everything follow from this principle: that the lover is not to be reduced to a simple symptomal subject, but rather that we hear in his voice what is “unreal” – sheesh.
At any rate, you should pick The Marriage Plot up, you won’t regret it.
Instead of presenting a new piece of literature, I am presenting an old favorite with a beautiful new cover. In my first post, I told you about the book shower my sister hosted for me. As a gift, one of my greatest friends gave me a copy of Anne of Green Gables, recently republished by Penguin with this cover. Beautiful, isn’t it?
As I finished one book and was ready to move on to another, I looked at my bookshelf and this bright pink cover caught my eye. When I was little I remember watching the movie with my grandmother. A wonderful memory but the book is better. Isn’t that always the case?
Many other classics have been republished with an eye catching cover. Take a look at some others.
Think how good this would look in your hands as you read. It’ll look just as good on your bookshelf. Instant decoration!
See the whole collection here. -Quinn
When Robert Olen Butler’s last novel Hell was published a couple of years ago, I realized that I had the opportunity to read one of the preeminent writers of our time. After all, he had won the Pulitzer in 1992, for a collection of short stories entitled Good Scent from Strange Mountain.
After I finished the last chapter of Hell, I realized that I had read one of the best satires of the times. In fact, when a customer comes in Lemuria these days asking for a humorous book, I take him or her to look at Hell. Ranking in my mind just after the funny factor of Confederacy of Dunces, Hell is a laugh out loud novel, which takes the reader to “Hell” to meet the Clintons, the Bushes, and even the Pope, since, after all, no one on earth has been perfect, so all end up in Hell, but rarely know why.
So, suffice it to say that when I got a copy of Butler’s new novel A Small Hotel, I was rather expecting some satire and humor, but after a couple of chapters, I realized that my expectations were way wrong. Instead, I realized that I had happened upon a very depressing book. In case you, reader, are wondering why I would want to read such a depressingly dark novel, please keep reading because that is precisely what I did, and I am very happy that I did.
As far as subject matter, Butler handles the break up of a long term relationship with clarity and poignancy and empathy, but, and that is a big “but”, his time treatment is what makes the novel remarkable, as well as its ending. We all know that few writers can handle simultaneous time with skill. In other words reporting on what is happening at the exact same time with two characters who are not in the same proximity, requires talent to avoid redundancy and triteness. Robert Olen Butler achieves this without confusing the reader, nor boring him.
Because the novel is primarily set in New Orleans, particularly in the French Quarter, in “a small hotel”, the Southern reader feels right at home. Also, since some of the main action of the novel, occurs during the craziness of Mardi Gras, the reader feels a certain connectedness. As the novel progresses, it becomes clear that a lack of communication thwarts the lives of the protagonist and her husband, or vice versa, depending on perspective. In particular, the power of the word “love”, said out loud, or the lack thereof, becomes more and more powerful.
Toward the end of the novel, the action takes a fast turn forward, which is interesting, since heretofore, a large majority of the action takes place in the past. Once again, Butler’s treatment of time emerges as one of his most valued assets. Without giving away the ending, I will say that this initially depressing book ends with hope for the future. How Butler gets to this hope remains, once again, as a valued talent, for it is in the telling of the story that the reader finds gratitude.
See Kelly’s post on A Small Hotel.
We still have signed first editions of A Small Hotel. Click here.
-Nan