by Kelly Pickerill
I don’t really ever work in Oz but Kaycie’s blogs about children’s books have me reminiscing about the books I loved as a child.
When I was little my dad took me to the library every weekend, and he remembers “graduating” me from picture to chapter books with The Mystery of the Green Cat by Phyllis Whitney, a book he read as a child.
I think I must have liked it; I don’t really remember the story or anything, but I was at least convinced that I was ready for more meaty reading fare because I went back to that section to find another chapter book. I picked Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth, and loved that so much that I think I must have checked it out several more times that year. I remember that story well; as an adult I now own a copy and recently reread it.
One Christmas I unwrapped boxed sets of Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries and plowed through them, thrilled that they belonged to me and could be read again and again. My dad continues to be an avid mystery reader, and because of his influence I
enjoy them as well. From mysteries like The Green Cat and Hardy Boys I graduated to Agatha Christie and Shirley Jackson. Now, along with the rest of the world, I’ve been on the Swedish mystery kick, enjoying Larsson’s Girl books and, most recently, The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler.
But I really love to read all genres of fiction, a preference which I believe is directly related to the variety of books I devoured as a child. From the word play of The Phantom Tollbooth and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, I grew up to love books like Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn and Adverbs by Daniel Handler.
Being immersed in the fantasy worlds of The Neverending Story, The Hobbit, and The Chronicles of Narnia drew me to Neil Gaiman, and I think even my adoration for surrealist novelists like Haruki Murakami and David Mitchell comes from this influence.
When I was young I read Little Women and The Secret Garden, more “straight” novels, and as an adult I love the novels of authors like John Irving and Jeffrey Eugenides.
As a youngster the library’s amount of books was overwhelming. I know ours was a rather small library in a rather small town but to me it looked like this:
The first time I set foot in Lemuria I thought the same thing; we do have an incredible amount of titles, considering our space. I’ve overheard kids tell their moms as they walk through Oz, which is really the smallest space in the store, that there are more books there than they’ve seen anywhere. “Books and books and books and books,” one little girl happily sang. It’s really a store unto itself, where readers of any age can find something to nurture their love of books.
Roger’s concise to the point 
For those readers who have not yet had the pleasure of reading any of Flannery O’Connor’s short stories, you must read a couple before starting this novel. We have several good collections here at Lemuria. I would recommend your reading A Good Man is Hard to Find and Good Country People to start. Once you have read these, you are now ready to begin this newly released novel, 
As A Good Hard Look begins, the reader is propelled into a Southern setting filled with glorious tailfeathers of numerous peacocks screaming their heads off on the eve of the wedding of two of the main characters, the to-be bride having grown up with, but not been on good terms with Flannery. The irony does not escape the reader for long as he or she learns that these squawking preening peacocks belong to Flannery and her mother who live down a country road from town.
Jump forward a few chapters and the reader learns that Cookie’s new husband from New York, essentially a “trust-fund” boy who really doesn’t have to work, becomes fascinated with the town’s favorite eccentric author and not only begins to read her short stories, but also develops a close relationship with Flannery even going so far as to drive out to her house fairly often, but “in secret,” not daring to let on to his new wife who certainly would not like the idea at all.
Various sub-plots, such as a early middle-aged woman having an affair with a teenaged boy, plus various other controversial relationships, wind themselves throughout the plot. Tragedy strikes the novel, not once, but twice, both in a big horrific way. One does involve Flannery, her peacocks, her country house, and Cookie’s husband and his and Cookie’s new little baby girl.
The evening of August 4, 2011 at Lemuria’s events building was like no other evening. The evening was devoted to Ed Grissom, a lifelong customer of Lemuria with a lifelong passion for Ernest Hemingway. Lemuria owner John Evans recalls the events that led to meeting Ed 33 years ago:
Besides the evening being a reunion of sorts for many old time customers of Lemuria, we marveled at Ed’s accomplishment in the most descriptive and complete Hemingway bibliography. John reflects:
Ed brought some of his Hemingway editions that he has been collecting for 50 years. Starting the collection with a purchase of a friend’s personal collection, Ed gradually began to expand the collection on his own.
Determined, Ed eventually made contact with the highly respected Fitzgerald scholar, Matthew Bruccoli. He was tough but gave his stamp of approval on the project. And finally on August 4th Ed could proudly stand with his bibliography in hand, having made it through many obstacles for which his life as a medical doctor could not have prepared him. John described his accomplishment well:
