Lemuria Books – Page 166

Page 166 of 257

I am much looking forward to bringing my 17-year-old son on the US book tour for An Evil Eye in April – he’s never been to America, but he plays guitar and the name Robert Johnson means something very good to him.

We’ll be visiting a range of fantastic independent bookstores across the south and west, with Lemuria as my very first gig, talking about the Ottoman Empire, Turkey, crime thrillers and food, I hope.

Now, the Telegraph newspaper in the UK has asked me to keep a travel blog on its pages, kicking off with a print piece on detectives and travel, and I’d really appreciate the help of you blog readers here.

Back in the mists of time, I wrote travel books – one, in fact, about walking across Europe to Istanbul – but I believe that it’s in crime novels that some of the best ‘travel’ writing is being done these days. I mean, a trip to Venice is much enhanced by following Donna Leon’s Brunetti through the watery streets, just as London will remain, for generations to come, the city of fogs and rattling horse-drawn cabs depicted in Sherlock Holmes. And when James Lee Burke gets going on Louisiana, I smell the swamp – don’t you?

So I want some tips from you guys – who, in your opinion, really captures the scents and sights, not to mention the seamy underbelly, of some of the places I’m set to visit on this compendious book tour? Let’s see: Jackson? Alabama. New Orleans. Austin, Texas – does Austin have a fictional crime fighter I should know about? Houston?

And who’s the go-to crime writer for Arizona? I can do Raymond Chandler for LA, obviously; less obvious to me is San Diego. Give me a few top tips for San Francisco, too: who really puts the Bay Area on the page? We wind up in Portland, Oregon. Is there a murder mystery I don’t know of, set in the city, or the state?

It’s a parlor game, really: try it, and drop me a line if you can. You can find me at jsn.goodwin@gmail.com and all suggestions are welcome. I also blog at thebellinicard.wordpress.com

If the writer you propose is published in the UK, so much the better – but let’s leave no stone unturned here!

Maybe we can blast somebody really good across the Atlantic…

Lemuria is where the US Magic Carpet Tour for April 2011 is kicking off.
I’ll be there on Wednesday, April 6th at 5:00 pm for reading and talking and signing. Come along – and send your friends, too!

-Jason Goodwin

Open Reader

By Former Lemurians

On April 4, 2011

In Fiction

by Kelly Pickerill

Yesterday, I finished reading the young adult novel and one of our upcoming Oz First Editions Club picks:
The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens. It was an action-packed adventure starring three young orphans who are far from ordinary and are beginning to discover their destiny. But I don’t want to talk about it too much, cause I’m sure there will be blogs coming up from Emily, who is pumped about this first book in a trilogy by a new author who already shows so much promise.

After finishing a book, especially on a gorgeous Sunday, a little panicky voice whispers, “What are you going to read next? That book was so perfect for a Sunday on the porch with the sun and the soft breeze and the mild weather . . . and now what? You know you’re just going to pick something absolutely dismal, you always do — something depressing or overwritten — not at all a good segue from that delightfully charming book whose last page you just turned. It’s taunting you, that last page, isn’t it? Well, you should have slowed down, but no, you had to finish and it’s only five and the sun won’t set for two hours and what are you doing to do?!”

My anguished inner monologue was given further fuel because I had just days ago begun a book that seemed to have promise and found it wooden. I couldn’t slog through that. No, I needed to gamble, to start fresh.

Well I didn’t. I made supper and watched some tube and considered my reading over for Sunday.

Till bedtime. I took with me into bed Open City by Teju Cole, a book that initially got some buzz but, at least at Lemuria, that we haven’t heard much more about. This is the plot of the book as far as I can tell: Julius, a young Nigerian psychiatrist in his residency, meanders through New York City, musing on his life, his childhood in Nigeria, his patients, music, culture, anything really. But that’s not the importance of the book, as far as I can tell: it’s a meditation on solitude, on the paradoxes of silence, juxtaposing its oppression and its freedom, its narcissism and its sensitivity. Julius is a thoughtful narrator, and Cole has created a novel that speaks to its reader’s condition in situ — the condition of reading, of being alone and quiet, of being closed and withdrawn while simultaneously being opened to new ideas.

On an afternoon of heavy rain when ginkgo leaves were piled ankle-deep across the sidewalk looking like thousands of little yellow creatures freshly fallen from the sky, I went out walking.

chapter 3 opening, Open City

Today is overcast, and as the wind sometimes whips through the trees outside, I sit silently at my desk reading.

mcsweeney’s

By Former Lemurians

On April 2, 2011

In Staff Blog

if you don’t know about mcsweeney’s you are in for a treat. mcsweeney’s is something i didn’t know about until i started working at lemuria and am more than jazzed about every time a new issue comes out. here’s a little about mcsweeney’s taken from their website:

“McSweeney’s began in 1998 as a literary journal, edited by Dave Eggers, that published only works rejected by other magazines. But after the first issue, the journal began to publish pieces primarily written with McSweeney’s in mind. Since then, McSweeney’s has attracted works from some of the finest writers in the country, including Denis Johnson, William T. Vollmann, Rick Moody, Joyce Carol Oates, Heidi Julavits, Jonathan Lethem, Michael Chabon, Ben Marcus, Susan Straight, Roddy Doyle, T.C. Boyle, Steven Millhauser, Gabe Hudson, Robert Coover, Ann Beattie, and many others.”

“Today, McSweeney’s has grown to be one of the country’s best-read and widely-circulated literary journals, with an expanding, loyal subscriber base and strong independent bookstore following. As a small publishing house, McSweeney’s is committed to finding new voices—Gabe Hudson, Paul Collins, Neal Pollack, J.T. Leroy, John Hodgman, Amy Fusselman, Salvador Plascencia and Sean Wilsey are among those whose early work appeared in McSweeney’s—and promoting the work of gifted but underappreciated writers, such as Lydia Davis and Stephen Dixon.”

“Recent books and journals have appeared on bestseller lists around the country and have won multiple literary and design awards, including stories selected for the Best American Poetry, Best American Travel Writing, the O. Henry Awards, and the Best American Short Stories. Two of our books were finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Awards. Design awards include AIGA 50 Books Award, AIGA 365 Illustration Award, and the Print Design Regional Award. McSweeney’s books have appeared in design exhibits at the Smithsonian Museum and the Pasadena Museum.”

i’ve only been collecting mcsweeney’s issues for a couple of years and have only read a couple of them. mcsweeney’s isn’t just collected for the words inside the issues but also for the amazing packaging that they come in.

“McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern publishes on a roughly quarterly schedule, and we try to make each issue very different from the last. One issue came in a box, one was Icelandic, and one looks like a pile of mail. In all, we give you groundbreaking fiction and much more.”

i collect the quarterly concern but that’s not all that they publish in the least. they also have two other publications, a paper magazine and a dvd magazine.

“The Believer is a monthly magazine where length is no object. There are book reviews that are not necessarily timely, and that are very often very long. There are interviews that are also very long. The Believer is printed in four colors on heavy stock paper.”

“Wholphin is a quarterly DVD magazine featuring short films, documentaries, animation, and instructional videos that have not, for whatever reason, found wide release. Recent issues of Wholphin have included films by Spike Jonze, David O. Russell, Miranda July, Miguel Arteta, Errol Morris, and Steven Soderbergh, and performances from John C. Reilly, Selma Blair, Patton Oswalt, Andy Richter, a monkey-faced eel, and many others.”

and just to top it off, they also publish books. one of our first editions club picks from last year, Citrus County by John Brandon was published by mcsweeney’s.

by Zita

St. Andrew’s Trip Spawns an Illustrated Poetry Book

By Former Lemurians

On April 1, 2011

In Newsworthy, Poetry

As kid’s manager, I get to meet amazing young people who are as smart as tacks. Two of those amazing people are Lauren Allen and Tracy Rappai. Not only are they good readers (they are both in my 6th/7th grade book club!) but also have published their own book of poems (penned by Lauren) and illustrations (drawn by Tracy) entitled Me, My Thoughts, and You. Last time I saw them, I got to ask them a few questions about their book and their publishing experience:

Emily Grossenbacher (EG): What drove you to want to publish this book and where did y’all get your inspiration?

Lauren Allen (LA): Our school was taking the seventh and eighth grade to New York City for a trip but it was an expensive trip. I had a collection of poems just sitting in a corner of my room, so I thought I could sell them and help pay for the cost.

Tracy Rappai (TR): And most of the inspiration for this project came from Lauren’s Great Grandmother, and from Harriet Whitehouse, our sixth grade English teacher.

EG: How long did it take y’all to get everything ready for publication?

TR: We started work on the book at the end of May, and continued to work on it throughout the summer. The summer went by so fast that it was hard to keep track of the days. Everyday was an exciting blur.

LA: We spent most of the summer preparing for publication. We only received the shipment about two or three weeks before school started, I think, sorry that summer was a blur.

EG: Tell us a little bit about how y’all went about publishing your book?

LA: My mother is a graphic designer, she designs logos and book covers, so she knew quite a lot about the publishing system. In the end, she pulled through for us and helped us publish the book.

TR: We usually received email updates from Heidi [Lauren’s mom] about how the publication process was going, and it was fun to choose the paper and color scheme for the book. We received the books about two weeks before school started, so about late July or early August.

EG: Are y’all working on anything else?

TR: Lauren is, as usual, writing poems, and I am doodling every second of the day. The only setback [for publishing another book] is the financial cost of the printing.

LA: Like Tracy said, I am currently working on a couple of poems, I have around a dozen finished, but there is no way that anyone can do anything about them until someone is financially ready to take on the burden of publishing a book.

TR: Yeah, since the minimum number of books that can be printed is 1000 books, we would need to find a way to pay for the publishing and printing.

EG: And lastly, is there anything about yourself that might have affected your writing or illustrations?

LA: This book is a collection of poems that I had been working on since my parents’ divorce when I was six. That was also the time that I became a complete bookworm and I found Lemuria. The poems range from a six year old’s broken heart to a very confused sixth grader. My inspiration comes from my experiences and emotions from the world around me. I take ballet at Ballet Mississippi, love to run, like camping and hiking, and someday hope to change the world.

TR: I guess you could say so. I absolutely love to draw, and fell in love with Lemuria at first sight. My parents have been reading to me ever since I was a baby, and so I ended up being a total book-lover. The drawings in the book are me trying to interpret Lauren’s poems. I take ballet at Ballet Magnificat, play the piano, and love to sit outside with my dog and draw.

Lauren and Tracy’s book is beautiful, inside and out. Come meet Lauren and Tracy today at Lemuria at 4:30! Cupcakes and great company will be in abundance!

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions

By John

On March 31, 2011

In Psychology

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely (Harper, 2008)

Dan Ariely defines predictably irrational: Our irrationality happens the same way again and again; our irrational behaviors are neither random or senseless, they are systematic and since we repeat them again and again, predictable.

Predictably Irrational (PI) addresses imprinting, why we stick with decisions once they are made. In running a small business in a highly competitive marketplace, it is important to learn about consumer behavior and loyalty. PI is thought-provoking as it addresses why and how consumer ch0ices are made. Lemuria wants our readers to understand their reading choices. We encourage those decisions to be made consciously, with book purchases adding the highest reader value for the time spent.

Ariely explores why we stick with decisions once they are made. Reading his case studies allows us to reflect on our own habits and understanding their results. Irrational behaviors are neither random or senseless, they are systematic and predictable. We often make the same mistakes over and over again responding to the basic wiring of our brain. Two sections that spoke to me were the explorations of predictably irrational as an explanation of our consumer and workplace habits.

As we spend our money, most transactions have a downside, but when something is free we forget the downside. Free gives us an emotional charge that causes us to perceive that the free item is immensely more valuable than it really is. Ariely asserts this is because humans are intrinsically afraid of loss. From a consumer perspective, one association I have with “free” is with Amazon shipping which causes us to fall into the trap of buying something we don’t need but emotionally think we want. As consumers actualize, I feel manipulative strategies of the “sucker punch” marketing will become less influential in the future. Marketing “Free” and “Sale” should digress as consumers become more aware of these deceptive tendencies. To buy in excess just because something is free or on sale is another predictably irrational behavior.

On the other hand, how often do we experience marketing that tells the consumer that a high price is simply the high price of ownership, the high price of a social relationship, or the high price of being unique–causing us to pay more than we feel we should. This causes more emotional loss than we gain from the product or the experience.

I especially enjoyed Ariely’s section on predictably irrational in the workplace. He addresses procrastination and self control at work and why we lose this fight so often. Giving up our long term goals for immediate gratification is procrastination. We forget the problems these poor choices cause fellow workers whose tasks are dependent on others time lines. All good small business owners know that everyone has problems with procrastination. Management’s job of getting workers to recognize and admit their weaknesses is difficult. However, those workers that deal with these issues responsibly are in better position to utilize the tools to overcome their work flaws, thus doing a better job and increasing their take home rewards.

The author also addresses dishonesty and what we can do about it. He explains the method to our madness of being prone to steal when cash is not involved. Cash ties in a directness to a person which is more prohibitive than not paying on charge accounts. Or, the idea that you would steal music off the Internet easily but wouldn’t consider shoplifting a CD from a store. I wonder are publishers going to have this problem with e-books in the future.

Dan Ariely’s Predictably Irrational is an easy-to-read cultural study. If you like reading Malcolm Gladwell, this might be a book for you.

Bookstore Keys: Borders’ Bonuses

By John

On March 30, 2011

In Newsworthy

It has been six weeks ago since Borders declared bankruptcy and announced the closing of more than 200 stores in an attempt to restructure their retail business model. I went to New Orleans to the beautiful Borders on St. Charles (a former funeral home) for the opening weekend of closing sales.

Borders is in the process of dumping heavily discounted books on the market. In local markets where this is taking place, retail book value is crashing for this limited time period until actual closing takes place. I presume that most of this devalued inventory was not paid for since inventory debt to the publishers is now frozen. Borders is able to raise their capital reserves since they did not pay for much of the product they are selling. (see previous blog with publisher debt figures)

Flooding these local markets in this way keeps readers from shopping the local independents. It seems to me that publishers are losing in two ways:

1. Unpaid-for inventories are being sold.

2. The lost sales by independents means less purchases from publishers, which means less paid-for inventory will be sold.

I completely understand the independents will be better off in the long run, but all are temporarily affected by Borders’ way of doing business.

Friday, March 25th Borders released a proposal to handout $8.3 million in executive bonuses. One would have to assume these monies would have to at least partially come from Borders dumping of devalued/unpaid-for books on the market.

I’m curious as to what deal Borders and the publishers will make next. Will the publishers play hardball with the the Borders transition? Whose demands will swing the most weight? How many unpaid dollars will Border’s use to try and restructure their tool box?

River Monsters

By Former Lemurians

On March 29, 2011

In Adventure

There’s a particular danger when one works at a bookstore: the standard for which books are and are not worth reading becomes impossibly high, or at least, complicated. It goes something like this. For one to commit the time and energy to read a particular book, the book must:

Have won a major award, or
Be written by an author who has won major awards, or
Be featured in the New York Times Book Review (positively is better, but even a bad review is acceptable), or
Be mentioned by the publisher sales rep in a sales meeting, or
Be reviewed on NPR, or
Feature someone or something local, or
Be positively blurbed by at least one author we have hosted, or
Be compared to at least two books that we’ve enjoyed, or
etc.

These rules vary somewhat from person to person, but I think on some level we* all subconsciously reject books that we might otherwise enjoy, simply because they don’t fulfill all the requisite qualifications we’ve created for our own reading habits. This is to our detriment, I believe. Yes, books should be provocative, and challenging, and even difficult sometimes. But books are for our enjoyment as well, and I’ll admit that too often I’ve skipped what looked like a “fun read” because it didn’t seem weighty or important enough. Worse yet, I’ve realized that I’m much more prone to a slump in my reading when I exclude books I know I would enjoy.

This is all a convoluted introduction to the real topic here, which is: River Monsters. It’s a book by Jeremy Wade. The subtitle reads, “True Stories of the Ones That Didn’t Get Away.” The cover photo, as you can see, features Jeremy Wade holding a giant, toothy fish that he’s presumably caught. And honestly, I was pretty much sold by this point. But what sealed the deal was when I flipped to the color photo insert in the middle and found 16 pages of Jeremy Wade holding even more giant, toothy fishes. That’s really the essence of the book – story after story from Wade’s perspective, circling the globe looking for the biggest and weirdest freshwater fish. The author bio on the back flap reveals that Jeremy Wade was a copywriter and a newspaper reporter, which tells me that, at the very least, the prose won’t be distracting (and might just be pretty good).

I don’t need a book entitled “River Monsters” to be any more complicated than that. What else can I ask of this book? Not a thing.

*I switched to the plural “we” here because it was at this point that it struck me that maybe I’m wrong, maybe I’m the only one who falls prey to this bad habit, and everybody else is really quite satisfied in their book-selecting ability. Perhaps I’m just projecting my own idiosyncracies on everyone else, but so be it – I’d rather think that this post finds an audience that understands what I’m talking about than believe that I’m the only one with this issue.

Lesley M.M. Blume, my new role model

By Former Lemurians

On March 28, 2011

In OZ: Young Adult Fiction, Staff Blog

I’m new to the Lesley M. M. Blume fan club, and I have Emily and Ellen to thank for it. In December, knowing of my love for all things relating to magic and fairy kingdoms, Emily placed a copy of Modern Fairies, Dwarves, Goblins & Other Nasties in my hands and shortly after Ellen introduced me to Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters. I was delighted and intrigued by both of these whimsical, well-written books and wanted to find out more about what Blume was all about, and here’s what I found:

In addition to being an author of four children’s books (Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters, The Rising Star of Rusty Nail, Tennyson, and Modern Fairies, Goblins & Other Nasties), Lesley M.M. Blume is a journalist whose work has been published in Vogue, Vanity Fair, Slate, The Daily Beast, The Big Money and on CNN.com. She is also the contributing style editor for The Huffington Post. Her column “Let’s Bring Back” was adapted into a full-fledged cultural encyclopedia on nostalgia in 2010. And if you love nostalgia (I’m talking about vintage clothing, old-fashioned courtships, etc.), Let’s Bring Back is certainly the book for you. Personally,I, like Blume, wish that I could bring the days of discretion, aesthetically-pleasing train stations, and wearing gloves evening and night, so this book has a prominent place on my nightstand.

But back to Modern Fairies and Cornelia and the world of children’s literature, Blume makes this comment:

Our memories of our favorite children’s books are evocative and layered with associations. As the author of three (and soon four) middle-grade books, I am staggered by the idea that my work might help shape the subconscious of my young readers. This is an awesome responsibility, and therefore nothing can be taken for granted when writing for this audience. It is extremely important to me, for example, to offer up strong female protagonists, who prioritize intellectual curiosity over appearances. I try to emphasize the importance of friendship and de-emphasize the allure of trends. Language, travel, and music all play central roles in my books.

Isn’t that wonderful? I, for one, am delighted to count such a wonderfully talented woman as a role model and I hope many other girls (whether they be 5 or 25) will enjoy Blume’s whimsical, intelligent take on life and literature.

If you’d like to hear another Lemurian’s take on Blume, read Ellen’s blogs here and here.

And if you’d like to know more about Lesley M.M. Blume and her work, check out her delightful website here. -Kaycie

World of Geekcraft

By Former Lemurians

On March 27, 2011

In Sewing & Crafts

Similar to my Indie Craft reaction, World of Geekcraft sold me on every page! Susan Beal has brought together, with some of her own work, several stellar examples of quirky crafting. Just can’t find the right spot for your Wii-mote? How about a handy belt and holster to help you out? Books on the shelf looking a little bare? Wrap them up in a robot themed book jacket!

I was very intrigued by Diane Gilleland’s idea giving new life to old watch parts. Her “Marvelous Machine Steam Punk” pendant shows off these now nonfunctioning parts from a fresh perspective. This makes me want to go get some wire clippers and start this week! This design reminds me of Hermione Granger’s Time Turner necklace that she uses in the third Harry Potter book to use time travel to her advantage. This recycled piece of jewelry is like a miniature art installation around your neck.

There’s really too many favorites in this book to mention: felted solar system mobile, periodic table iPod cozies. And I can think of several people who would love a Star Wars Terrarium! All it takes is a mason jar, your favorite action figure, some sand, or more appropriate landscaping materials, and you’re ready to start Lucas‘ing. Another favorite, bringing back warm childhood memories, is the Oregon Trail cross-stitch. Check out all these great ideas!

-Peyton

Fighting for Swamplandia!

By Former Lemurians

On March 25, 2011

In Staff Blog

by Kelly Pickerill

It’s a good day to be at Lemuria.

Karen Russell will sign and read this evening starting at five. I’ve been anticipating this event since months before Swamplandia! came out, when, to use Kaycie’s phrase, there was a “knock-down drag-out bookseller battle” over advanced copies of the book (yes, I was involved, and yes, I was victorious). We hadn’t yet booked the signing at that point, but I’m sure our enthusiasm over the book helped persuade our Random House rep, Liz, to make it happen.

The wait is almost over! Just a few more hours are left until we get to meet Russell, and if you’re coming to the reading, I can already tell you you’re in for a treat. I know this because my dad saw her a few weeks ago in Florida, at my “bookstore alma mater,” the Vero Beach Book Center.

Dad told me that Florida author Carl Hiaasen introduced her, heralding Russell’s sophomore work as the establishment of a great talent.

Dad says, “Ms. Russell read from chapter one to a hushed crowd. Though she has a soft, unassuming voice, the story held her audience in rapt attention. After she read, she answered questions and kept us laughing with her charming, witty banter. Many who attended the event were curious about her life, the book, her writing process and future plans. Despite all the attention she’s been drawing, she seemed so modest and expressed appreciation for the good response her book’s receiving. It was a wonderful afternoon with her.”

We took a lot of reserve orders for Wednesday’s event with Téa Obreht. In fact, we were worried we wouldn’t have enough unreserved books left for the great turnout we had. Nothing beats hearing an author read. Especially while drinking a beer and hanging out in the dot com building. And you can’t help but feel more jazzed about a signed book, too, when you’ve watched the hand that actually wrote the book put a pen to it.

Simply everything about author events makes me happy. Have I mentioned it yet? Today’s a good day.

Above: Téa Obreht talking with Emily after the event.

Page 166 of 257

The sight and scent of Jackson, Mississippi: A Guest Blog from Jason Goodwin

Open Reader

mcsweeney’s

St. Andrew’s Trip Spawns an Illustrated Poetry Book

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions

Bookstore Keys: Borders’ Bonuses

River Monsters

Lesley M.M. Blume, my new role model

World of Geekcraft

Fighting for Swamplandia!

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