Former Lemurians – Page 27

Author: Former Lemurians (Page 27 of 137)

Summer is Coming.

On May 18, 2015

Summer is coming. It is time to pick out books to read. “I don’t have time to read”, you say? HA! Those who know me realize that I will not accept that answer. I find it ridiculous. If I find the time then you can also.

Here are a few suggestions….

Don’t watch so much TV. Don’t get me wrong. I love watching television and movies but like I said…summer is coming. All the shows will be in reruns. My suggestion is to read a novel that has been made into a movie. When you have finished it, then watch the movie. It’s fun to compare the two. Here are a few examples….

“I have to travel so much”, you say. Oh, I say, and your mode of transportation? Automobile? How about an audio book? I listen to audio books all the time even when I’m just riding around town, emptying the dishwasher, or knitting. Literary multi-tasking. Here are a few suggestions…

“Oh, I’m going to wait until that book comes out in paperback, then I will read it.” Guess what?!?!? It’s out in paperback! Lucky you!

I will see y’all soon and we can get your “to be read (or listened to) pile” together. After all, summer is coming.

Books We Love That No One Will Buy

By Former Lemurians

On May 15, 2015

In Fiction, Graphic Novels, Nature, Staff Blog

The title says it all.

Here by Richard McGuire

Jacket (20) This lovely graphic novel chronicles the entire history of one small space of earth. In 8,000 BCE a bog trickles out to the edges of the page; while in 1989, a house has been built on that very spot and two couples share cocktails and jokes in front of a dated coffee table. The geographical location never wavers, but to watch time weave in and out, changing the curtains, Jacket (19) the rivers, and the wildlife- it feels so strange to have so much history sandwiched between so few pages. A mother stands in front of a window in the corner of the room and shows her baby the moon, and a bison sleeps exactly where the hearth will be in over 10,000 years.

I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley

More books of essays, always, is my motto. Slone Crosley has set up camp with authors like David Sedaris, Kelly Oxford, and Jenny Lawson. In her perfectly hilarious collection of recollections and murmurings on her own life and the lives of those who surround her, Crosley salutes the normal, the every day, the stupid. There is a piece about toy ponies in a kitchen drawer.

Get In Trouble: Stories by Kelly Link

I already wrote a blog about how great this book is. Read it here.

My Favorite Things by Maira Kalman

Jacket (17) Okay people. Why does no one buy Maira Kalman’s books?? This is beyond me. Kalman, writer, painter, children’s book author and illustrator, collaborator, art lover, and student of life, has put out yet another thoughtful and heart-tugging book. My Favorite Things is a collection of thoughts, memories, and objects that have gathered significance over the years. Similar to And The Pursuit of Happiness and The Principles of Uncertainty, My Favorite Things attributes poignant meaning to even the smallest of things. Instead of feeling forced or overly emotional, Kalman keeps her thoughts short and simple.

“There is no reason to save tickets and stubs. They are tiny and inconsequential. But I do save them and remember that number twenty-three was from the coat check at the restaurant where I ate the lemon tart. The number is so elegant and honest. And the lemon tart was SO GOOD.”

The Who, the What, and the When by Jenny Volvovski, Julia Rothman, and Matt Lamothe

Jacket (16) This book sheds light on the lives of people who lived in the shadows of their famous spouses, bosses, friends, and neighbors. Each mini biography is a page long, paired with unique portraits from more than 40 artists. Included in this collection is Charles Bukowski’s editor, Coco Chanel’s lover, Al Capone’s mentor, and Emily Dickinson’s dog. Did you know that Rosalind Franklin discovered that DNA had two forms and her research allowed Francis Crick and James D. Watson to prove the helix shape of DNA? Yeah well, now you do.

The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld

Jacket (14) Rene Denfeld stuns with this crystal clear novel about a death row inmate during his last days and the movements of his death penalty investigator as she tries desperately to uncover the truth surrounding his case. This novel is an incredibly hard sell because of the subject matter, but never have I experienced a book so concisely and exquisitely written. In the words of a customer, “not a word is wasted”. The Enchanted is set in a timeless, fuzzy landscape that is intent on keeping to the background so that the characters can take the main stage. It is a quiet, still book, with gleaming bits of gold shining through the cracks.

The Book of Beetles: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred of Nature’s Gems edited by Patrice Bouchard

Jacket (15) I have spent hours looking at this book. Hours. When it was given to me as a birthday gift, I feared that it would simply sit on my shelf, collecting dust after one thorough looking-through, but in the few months since it was given to me, I have taken it back out and poured over it again and again. The encyclopedic collection documents hundreds of different types of beetles, their countries of origin, eating habits, mating rituals, significant physical markers, and include a life-size photo of each specimen. You guys, I don’t even like beetles. Except now I do. Strange how knowledge creates passionate curiosity. Please don’t shy away from this book just because you think bugs are icky. Pick it up, because nature is freaking awesome.

Missing

By Former Lemurians

On May 14, 2015

In Staff Blog

Great acts of destruction haunt us: photographs of Nazi book burnings, piles of shoes, the loose paper that floated in the air after the Twin Towers were attacked. These losses find order in lists. We engrave the names of our dead in war monuments. We catalog our libraries and museums in order to notice loss.

I have been reading through French poet, Henri Lefebvre’s recently translated list poem, “The Missing Pieces.” Compiled from various sources, it is an 83 page list of objects, memories, and people that have been lost, destroyed, or never made.

In some instances the losses are heartbreaking—“Totally deaf, the father of the writer Regis Jauffret never heard the voice of his son”—but other times, the loss is also a creation—“In 1961, the sculptor Arman pulverizes a contrabass in front of Japanese television cameras.”

We are captivated by lost treasure, unsolved mysteries, the compelling questions of what happened and what could have been. It seems that every year another headline touts the discovery of a garage sale painting that is a missing masterpiece. Vivian Maier lived her entire life in obscurity; her photographs were very nearly lost. Vincent Van Gogh’s brother bought all of his paintings in order to bankroll his brother’s lifestyle. In so doing, he kept them safe from destruction.

To be lost is Biblical. We are found in Christ. But what about the things that have faded away? The never-was? The never-again-will-be? What did we lose the three days Christ was dead? But also, what did we gain?

Ezra Pound wrote a sonnet a day for a year. At the end of the year, he destroyed them all.

The sonnets are lost. But the process of making them—of rhyming and metering and twisting the phrase—was gained. The ghosts of art linger.

Austrian artist Otto Muehl said, “I cannot imagine anything significant if nothing is sacrificed, burned, destroyed.”

Vivian Maier and the Art of Taking Pictures of Strangers

By Former Lemurians

On May 11, 2015

In Art/Photography, Gift Books, Staff Blog

As you may remember, I’m currently enrolled at Millsaps College, which means homework––endless stacks of homework. Oh, the piles. Luckily it’s not all math or science, I’m also taking a photography class.

In said class, I was assigned to choose a photographer to riff for a presentation. I went with Vivian Maier since I love black and white photography. Here’s the thing though, she takes pictures of complete strangers. Now, photography is hard; and creeping on strangers for street photography is weird, but I did what I had to. Luckily, Adie tagged along on one of my ventures in Fondren, which made the experience more fun.

Photograph by Adie Smith

Vivian’s stuff’s great. You should come take a look at her books: Vivian Maier Street Photographer, Vivian Maier A Photographer Found, and Vivian Maier: Self Portraits. Someone has also made a documentary about her because she is the bee’s knees right now; but that’s what happens when never-before seen photography is found in a random storage facility. Mystery. Intrigue. All that jazz.

Personally, I’m interested in how a few of the children she nannied helped take care of her financially once they were old enough; but that’s just me. If you’d like to know more about her, then you should give her some time and take a look at her work- learn her story. Or not, whatever, deprive yourself of the finer things in life; it’s completely your choice.

Photograph by Elizabeth Parkes

Southern troubadour, Frank Stanford, finally speaks from the grave in ‘What About This’

By Former Lemurians

On May 7, 2015

In Poetry, Staff Blog

1978, the poet Frank Stanford shot himself three times in the heart. His second wife and his lover were in the next room.

During his lifetime, Stanford’s poetry never found a broad audience. The rare and worn copies of his published works were passed poet to poet. His short, autobiographical film, It Wasn’t a Dream, It Was A Flood has never been digitized.

What About This is the first collection of Stanford’s published and unpublished work in one volume. It is important not just for readers already familiar with Stanford’s poetry, but for the rest of us who have never seen our South with such a sharp eye nor heard it recorded by a pitch-perfect ear. His poems are pinched from the world around him, changed just enough that the lines are both familiar and strange.

Born in Richton, Mississippi, Stanford lived in an orphanage until Dorothy Gilbert Alter, a single mother, adopted him. In 1952 she married Albert Franklin Stanford, a levee engineer from Memphis and shortly afterward, the family moved to Arkansas. Showing poetic promise, Stanford was asked to enroll in graduate level courses in creative writing as an undergraduate student. But he never finished college.

It is easy for the exploits of a poet’s life and death to overshadow their work. The life and death of Frank Stanford is no exception. His self-destruction hums on every page. Death stalks his lines:

I am not asleep, but I see

a limb, the fingers of death, the ghost

of an anonymous painter

leaving the prints of death

on the wall… –from the “Transcendence of Janus”

Frank Stanford is a disguised intellectual. He is among us when we are knee-deep in mud and grass, he sits beside us on the front porch and cracks one open, he’s in the hot summer nights and the still air, and he watches as nothing much happens except the slow close of day. He sifts the banality of the every-day for poems that are more then they are.

His poems wade through dreams and reality. They are a surrealist vision of the muck and grime of life. Of the workingman. Of juke joints and women and rivers that govern the pace of living.

Throughout the collection, Stanford appropriates from Southern heritage. Jimmie Rodger’s Blue Yodel’s are reimagined into ballads of the hard life. In “Blue Yodel a Prairie,” Stanford captures the spirit of Jimmie Roger’s down-and-out songs, but with a poet’s sensibility toward images heavy with meaning:

Whenever I think of the shadows

Two oranges cast on the piano

When the sun drives a horse mad in a dry spell

I think of Virginia Day

Hanging up sheets in her backyard

She has a pair of blue jeans and a brassiere on

Holding the prairie

With a clothespin in her lips

A 20^th century Walt Whitman, Frank Stanford sings of the South. In a place overflowing with literary voices, Stanford holds his own alongside James Dickey and Faulkner. He is a troubadour of the Mississippi Delta.

Nearly forty-years after his death, Stanford’s poetry is still a poignant and accurate depiction of the South. Our traditions hold us close to the ground. Our rivers roar and crawl, they overrun their banks and seep into the earth, but we keep a record; we remember our past.

So have respect for the dead my dear

And watch your heart like a jukebox. –from “The Visitors of Night”

Dessen’s newest novel is darkly glittering

By Former Lemurians

On May 6, 2015

In OZ: Young Adult Fiction

With 9.8 million copies of her books in print, Sarah Dessen is the queen of YA fiction, and has been for a long time. Summer vacation has become ubiquitous with reading a Sarah Dessen novel. Her first book, That Summer, was published in 1996. Nearly 20 years later, her latest YA novel, Saint Anything, is both classic Sarah Dessen and yet, something new and different—another direction that she is turning towards. Yes, like any good YA, there is a little bit of romance, but at its heart, Saint Anything is about a family trying to piece together their lives after the eldest son, Peyton, is incarcerated.

There are multiple layers to this story, and reading it feels like watching a chess game with many players moving forwards and backwards, and where the wrong move might prove fatal.

Saint Anything is told from Sydney’s point of view. She is trying to come to terms with the fact that her mother cannot seem to accept that her golden son did anything wrong. In the meantime, she attends a new school and makes new friends, but she’s not sure who she can trust with the story about her brother.

Darker than her previous novels, Saint Anything will keep you up at night (literally—you won’t want to put it down), but it also might be one of the most honest portrayals of people who don’t see the truth that is right in front of them, and how the people we love are flawed.

Beautifully written, Saint Anything may be Dessen’s most powerful YA novel yet. And truly, it’s not summer without a Sarah Dessen novel, so pick up a signed copy at Lemuria to start your summer reading.

Dress up for the DRESS ME! Event on May 18

By Former Lemurians

On April 29, 2015

In Oz: Children's Books

We are so excited for Mississippi’s own children’s book author/illustrator, Sarah Frances Hardy, and her newest picture book, Dress Me! If you loved Paint Me!, this newest book will also captivate young audiences. To celebrate the release of Dress Me!, we will be having a DRESS UP PARTY at Lemuria on Monday, May 18, at 4 P.M. Stop by after school for snacks and a chance to dress up in your favorite costume! Some dress up ideas include: doctor, superhero, veterinarian, fireman, artist with a beret, fairy princesses, and more. All costumes welcome!

You can call Lemuria at 601.366.7619 to pre-order your copy today.

Celebrate Poetry Month with Silverstein

By Former Lemurians

On April 27, 2015

In Oz: Children's Books

It has been said that in the 1990s, Shel Silverstein wandered in and out of bookstores in Brooklyn, looking so disheveled that customers mistook him for a hobo. Whether this tale is true, it makes for a good story. One of the greatest contemporary figures of children’s literature, Silverstein had a colorful career, first starting out as a cartoonist for Stars & Stripes, the official U.S. Army newspaper, while he was stationed in Japan from 1953-1955 during the Korean War.

In a 1968 interview with that same magazine, he says: “I’ve been drawing all my life and I’ve been writing all my life but not as much I’ve been drawing, because the writing doesn’t seem to wear as thin. I seem to favor now the short things. The things that I can do very quickly in a couple of minutes or an hour. That’s why I like writing children’s books and writing poetry. I can write a poem in 10 minutes. I like writing songs, I can write songs in five or 10 minutes. My concentration seems very short.”

Indeed, Silverstein’s work is characterized by short poems, but he was a prolific writer and a perfectionist. Meeting book editor Ursula Nordstrom in 1963 changed the course of his career. She encouraged him to write for children — a chance he jumped at, and he wrote “Uncle Shelby’s Story of Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back,” which was published that same year, shortly followed by “A Giraffe and Half” and “The Giving Tree.” Today, “The Giving Tree” is still one of the most beloved children’s books of all time.

April is National Poetry Month, so celebrate by reading a poem to your child. Silverstein’s poems are often wacky, sometimes nonsensical, but always, always do they speak directly to the child inside everyone. Here is a poem called “Listen to the Mustn’ts,” from “Where the Sidewalk Ends,” published in 1974 by HarperCollins.

Listen to the Mustn’ts, child,

Listen to the DON’TS

Listen to the SHOULDN’TS

The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON’TS

Listen to the NEVER HAVES

Then listen close to me—

Anything can happen, child,

ANYTHING can be.

Independent Bookstore Day = It’s party time.

By Former Lemurians

On April 25, 2015

In Staff Blog

Last year, the state of California gathered its reading heads together and decided that there needed to be a day, one day more special than all of the rest, to celebrate its independent bookstores. The turnout was phenomenal. All over the state, people jumped into action to support their local stores and to shout from the rooftops why shopping indie mattered.

Here I was, tucked away in the tiniest corner of the country thinking to myself, “Huh. That’s not a bad idea. I’m a little . . . . . jealous.” Thankfully, I’m not the only one who was inspired by California’s bright idea, and when it was announced that Independent Bookstore Day deserved to go national, we were, like, so totally in.

So what does this mean for YOU? Well it means that first of all, you should come to Lemuria on Saturday, May 2, and just exist. Visit your favorite section, pick out the prettiest book, plop down on the floor, and read it. It also means that we will be giving out free tote bags to the first 50 customers (our hours are 8:00-7:00), and serving $1 beer all day. And also, here’s an insider’s tip for Mother’s Day: you can get 10% off any copy of Jackson: Photographs by Ken Murphy.

Katie Hathcock with Music for Aardvarks will host a special story time at 11:00, and Paul from Beanfruit Coffee will be here brewing delicious drinks for those who don’t want beer. Want some fresh recommendations? There will be special guest booksellers working throughout the day! Want to get 10% off any purchase here? Tag @lemuriabooks and use the hashtag #IndependentBookstoreDay. Then show us your post when you’re at the register and voila! 10% off! Finally, 5% of all sales throughout the day will go to future Mississippi Book Festivals.

Look, I’m going to be honest. I’m trying to make even more awesome stuff happen this Saturday, but I’m getting tired because between each sentence that I wrote, I got up and yelled, “INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE DAY IS MAY 2.” So maybe just come to the store on May 2 to experience the party yourself. We can’t wait to see you all there.

Oh, P.S., Want to write for us? We’d love to hear from you. Tell us why Lemuria is important to you, and you may be featured on next week’s blog series for Independent Bookstore Day! Email submissions to hannah@lemuriabooks.com by April 28.

2015 Children’s Book Week at Lemuria

By Former Lemurians

On April 23, 2015

In Oz: Children's Books

Children’s Book Week, administered by Every Child a Reader, is a celebration of books for young people and the joy of reading. Established in 1919, it is the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country. Each year, book-inspired events are held nationwide at schools, libraries, bookstores, homes–wherever young readers and books connect!

For more details, visit www.bookweekonline.com/official.

Here is the schedule for Children’s Book Week taking place in Jackson at Lemuria Bookstore from MAY 4 – MAY 10!

Monday May 4

Uni the Unicorn by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Story time at 3:30 P.M.

Join us in OZ for after school cupcakes with sprinkles, story time reading Uni the Unicorn, making unicorn horns, and face painting!

Tuesday May 5

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

Story times at 11 A.M. and 3:30 P.M.

Stop by for story time with Pink Crayon and coloring fun! Turn in this coloring sheet from May 4 – May 10 to help decorate our store front window.

Throughout the week there will be a BIG coloring page from The Day the Crayons Quit that you are welcome to stop and help color in.

Wednesday May 6

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka

Story times at 11 A.M. and 3:30 P.M.

Come dressed as your FAVORITE fairytale character as we read The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. Is your favorite character Jack and the Beanstalk? Little Red Riding Hood? Rapunzel? The Frog Prince? Any and all fairytale and book characters are welcome.

Thursday May 7

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Happening all day long at Lemuria. Find one of Willy Wonka’s golden tickets hidden around the store for a chance to win prizes.*

*Prizes include candy.

Fondren’s First Thursday (5 P.M. onward)

Then head over to Fondren First Thursday to the Lemuria tent. Katie Hathcock of Music for Aardvarks, Jackson will be playing some cool PETE THE CAT tunes. Join us for a game of “pin the white shoe on Pete the Cat” and face painting!

Friday May 8

Peter Rabbit Costume Story time at 9 A.M. at the Mississippi Children’s Museum and 11 A.M. at Lemuria!!

Hop on over to Mr. McGregor’s garden for a PETER RABBIT story time. Make sure to bring your camera to snap a picture of him (with your child) before he hops away!

HARRY POTTER EXTRAVAGANZA at 4 P.M.

Witches, wizards, werewolves and animagus alike, join us for an afternoon of Harry Potter Trivia, butterbeer, and other magical treats. Don’t forget to wear your house scarf or witch’s hat.

Saturday May 9

Join us for story time with Alice in Wonderland at 11 A.M.

The Children’s Book Council is the anchor sponsor of Children’s Book Week.

Author: Former Lemurians (Page 27 of 137)

Summer is Coming.

Books We Love That No One Will Buy

Missing

Vivian Maier and the Art of Taking Pictures of Strangers

Southern troubadour, Frank Stanford, finally speaks from the grave in ‘What About This’

Dessen’s newest novel is darkly glittering

Dress up for the DRESS ME! Event on May 18

Celebrate Poetry Month with Silverstein

Independent Bookstore Day = It’s party time.

2015 Children’s Book Week at Lemuria

Monday May 4

Tuesday May 5

Wednesday May 6

Thursday May 7

Friday May 8

Saturday May 9

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