Were you one of the lucky ones who came to hear Jeannette Walls speak last night? If you’re like me, maybe you’re still in the wow-phase.

What a classy, genuine woman.

Here are a couple of things that stood out in my mind:

In response to those who say memoirists are exhibitionists Jeannette said that her readers can read about her life and maybe learn something without actually having to go through it. And isn’t that why we all read? A good book is a good book–whether it is fiction or nonfiction.

She reminded us of the age-old tradition of story telling and urged us to tell our own stories, the stories of our grandparents and great grandparents as these earlier generations were true pioneers where hardship was the norm.

Writer Susan Cushman wrote in her blog this morning:

“Don’t you love it when you get more than you expected? That’s what happened on Wednesday, when I drove down to Jackson . . . First of all, I loved Walls’ first book, The Glass Castle, but I hadn’t gotten around to reading her second one, Half Broke Horses yet, although I purchased it when it came out in 2009. But the fact that she was still touring and reading (to packed houses, like she did at Lemuria last night) fifteen months after the book’s debut is a tribute to its staying power—and hers.”

“What I also didn’t expect was the powerful, inspirational talk she gave after her book signing. She didn’t read from either of her books, but talked about both of them and answered questions. Her enthusiasm reminded me of my friend, River Jordan, especially when she talked about “the power of storytelling.”I didn’t expect her to look up from the books she was signing for me and listen—as though there was no one else in line—to my brief personal story of trying to write a memoir and now a novel. She encouraged me on several personal and professional levels, like a life coach and mentor might do.”

I imagine many of you who were there are still running over fragments of the evening in your mind, feeling inspired, too.

A while back, in preparation for Mary Karr’s visit to Lemuria, I began to think hard about why so many people are drawn to the memoir. I think we all know why, but I wanted to put it into words. I reflected on a long-past course in women’s memoir, flipped through some of the course reading and was assured by this quote from Kennedy Fraser:

“I felt very lonely then, self-absorbed, shut off. I needed all this murmured chorus, this continuum of true-life stories, to pull me through. They were like mothers and sisters to me, these literary women, many of them already dead; more than my own family, they seemed to stretch out a hand.” (Read more of this blog, The Power of the Narrative, here)

You might have heard that memoirist Jeannette Walls will be at Lemuria on Wednesday. I cannot wait to meet her. I am also selfishly pleased that I have another opportunity to think about Jeannette’s memoirs and all the other ones I love as well. To further indulge in the memoir, Lemuria is also fortunate to be visited by Rodney Crowell (read about his visit and memoir Chinaberry Sidewalks here), Jeannette on Wednesday, Mark Richard’s House of Prayer No. 2 in February (it comes with these instructions: read even if you do not know who Mark Richard is) and Andre Dubus III in March for his new memoir, Townie (already receiving great reviews prior to its February 1st release date).

I finally remembered my coworkers and their favorites:

Nell and Kaycie love the bright and young Sloane Crosley.

Nell says: “It had me doubled over laughing when I read I Was Told There’d Be Cake. Her writing reminded me of Dave Sedaris if Dave Sedaris was a straight female with a penchant for creating awkward situations and then living in them to the fullest. Crosley writes for Playboy sometimes and that witty and sexy humor permeates the entire book.” (Read Kaycie’s blog here.) I suppose you might not consider Sloane a traditional memoirist, but perhaps she writes the mini-memoir in an essay.

Norma, on a deeper note, could not stop talking about Let’s Take the Long Way Home by Pulitzer Prize winning author Gail Caldwell. She writes: “This book begins with Knapp’s death but Caldwell chronologically unfolds the back story of their relationship; telling how Knapp was the perfect friend but even funnier and more interesting than one could have imagined.” (Find the rest of Norma’s write-up here.)

How about it for Dave Eggers and David Sedaris? And we all loved meeting Mary Karr last July. I could mention more, but what is your favorite memoir?

The signing with Jeannette Walls starts at 5:00 on Wednesday with a reading to follow at 5:30. Bring a friend!

A little visiting with your friends, some relaxing beverage, an intimate reading accompanied with song, a room packed to the gills all for a visit with one of the most famous songwriters out there, a personally signed book in your hand: This was Lemuria last night as singer/songwriter Rodney Crowell kicked off his book tour for Chinaberry Sidewalks.

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Rodney said that you write a book because you have to write a book. This certainly was a book he had to write–it took ten years to write his memoir, but the work has garnered the attention of respected, colorful characters like Rick Bragg, Mary Karr and Kris Kristofferson. It is unquestionable after listening to Rodney sing last night that he has the heart of a poet, he is a wordsmith of the old school with songs like “Back down there . . . the sweet delta dawn” and the beautiful Roy Orbison melody “What kind of love?”

I asked Rodney about his connection to Mary Karr–who was just here this past July. I figured there was a meaningful one since they were both writers with a gritty Texas childhood. Not only are they buds, but collaborating song writers. Rodney said they will have an album coming out soon. Hopefully, they will do a tour and share a wonderful evening with us again.

by Kelly Pickerill

Many textual purists are balking at NewSouth’s decision to publish Alan Gribben’s edition of Mark Twain’s “companion boy books,” The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. In his edition, Gribben, a Twain scholar and professor at Auburn, has replaced the offensive terms, both “nigger” (so prevalent in Huck Finn) and “injun” (Tom Sawyer), with the word “slave.”

Gribben told Publisher’s Weekly that his reason for “emending” the novels, especially Huck Finn, was simply to get the books back in schools; he’d encountered too many teachers who wished to teach Huck but didn’t feel they could. “For a single word to form a barrier, it seems such an unnecessary state of affairs,” he told the magazine. [read the article]

According to the American Library Association, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was the fourteenth most frequently challenged book from 2000-2009. But of course it’s not a new thing to hear about Huck causing a ruckus; from the time of its publication the book has been under scrutiny. This is one of the earliest reactions:

“The Concord (Mass.) Public Library committee has decided to exclude Mark Twain’s latest book from the library. One member of the committee says that, while he does not wish to call it immoral, he thinks it contains but little humor, and that of a very coarse type.”
Article in the Boston Transcript, March 1885

While my first reaction to the new edition was, I admit, horror … well, I still am, really, horrified, if for no other reason than simply because the book that T. S. Eliot called a masterpiece, the book that all modern literature springs from, is going to be altered. I can’t get past the altering, though I do understand Gribben’s (and many other academician’s) frustration that a single word would keep readers from a book.

Yet there’s no single reason why the book is so often considered unteachable to students high school age and younger, and I have a hard time believing the changing of a word will magic any and all of them away. When Huck has seen through his dilemma of whether or not to turn Jim in, the moral climax of the book, he’s still so indoctrinated with the culture of slavery that he believes himself to be extremely wicked though he’s making the “morally right” choice. Calling Jim by another name will not change Huck’s prevailing belief system: that Jim is an inferior being because of the color of his skin.

In the eighties, John H. Wallace argued for an edition of Huck Finn sans the offensive word, saying, “Classic or not, it should not be allowed to continue to cause our children embarrassment about their heritage.” Well, our heritage is sometimes embarrassing, and the omission of a word won’t change that. There’s already too little discussion about challenging topics in our schools between teachers, parents, and children, and taking away a reason to have one doesn’t seem like the solution.

I’ll stop sharing my opinion now, though, to give you a few other interesting ones. The Huck issue is a thorny one, and my beleaguered attempt to think through it has caused me to respect those, like the author Michael Chabon, who have so thoughtfully expressed their reactions.

In an article in The Atlantic, Chabon writes about the dilemma he faced when reading Huck Finn aloud to his children, ages seven and nine. He had read them Tom Sawyer and, using Gribbon’s solution, substituted the offensive “N” word with “slave” in the handful of instances that it occurs, yet in Huck Finn, he knew that it was not only much more prolifically used, but also that “the word was going to mean so vastly much more, and less, than that.”

On the other side of the spectrum, check out Jon Stewart’s commentary; it isn’t PC but it is pretty funny.

Whether as a curiosity or teaching tool, Mark Twain’s Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn: The NewSouth Edition will be published in February with a 7,500 first printing.

I am fearfully afraid this noise is doing much harm. It has started a number of hitherto spotless people to reading “Huck Finn,” out of natural human curiosity to learn what this is all about — people who had not heard of him before, people whose morals will go to rack and ruin now. The publishers are glad, but it makes me want to borrow a handkerchief and cry. I should be sorry to think it was the publishers themselves that got up this entire little flutter to enable them to unload a book that was taking too much room in their cellars, but you never can tell what a publisher will do.
Letter to the Omaha World-Herald, August 1902

reading…there’s not much out there that compares to it.  getting totally lost in a book is an amazing thing.  one aspect of being a book lover that some people don’t partake in is the collecting of books.  i don’t understand these folks.  why wouldn’t you want to walk by your bookcase and be reminded of an absolutely amazing book that you read a while back?  i would and do quite enjoy being reminded of the great reads of my life.

take for example the particular sadness of lemon cake by aimee bender.  simply put, i love that book and anything that aimee bender writes.  while looking for signed firsts of her books for a customer, joe came across a slip cased signed limited edition of lemon cake and asked if i was interested.  was i ever.  it’s gorgeous and every time i walk down my hall way i see it and remember just how much i loved that reading experience.

i may take book collecting to the extreme in that i don’t share my books with anyone.  my boyfriend and i moved in together about a year ago and i won’t let him put his books on my book shelves.  sorry love.

books are not just about what you read in them.  they are also about that certain feel and smell and sensation you get from holding a book in your hands and touching each page.

by Zita

Today, many people are using an e-reader, or debating about getting one. This is what was happening in the early 1840s: “Americans were buying books as decorative objects for their homes as well as works of literature. This was not the same as buying sets of books by the yard to decorate the shelves of a home library. The beautiful covers of individual books were meant to be seen, not hidden on shelves with only their spines exposed” (Richard Minsky).

Maybe you read Mark’s blog a couple of days ago about Richard Minsky’s The Art of American Book Covers 1875-1930 (George Braziller, 2010).  Even though I am a sucker for beautiful, clever art work on books, it took a while to sink in. I kept admiring the many beautiful examples of book covers from the Golden Age that Richard Minsky has cared for and brought to our attention. Then it donned on me: the two charming books I bought many years ago from an antique bookstore are from this era.

This sent me back to Minsky’s book scouring for any information that might give me more clues about my books. The first book is entitled My Heart and Stephanie by R. W. Kauffman. Published in 1910 by L. C. Page & Company, the cover featuring artwork by A. G. Learned. Tooling around on the Internet gleaned little information about Learned. Obviously, the content of the book was simply the fiction of the day. (Sadly, someone appears to have used Stephanie as a coaster at some point.)

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No doubt, the books I innocently picked up were not in the gorgeous condition featured in Minsky’s studies. But studying Minsky’s collection, I began to imagine the what vibrancy The Man on the Box must have had. Published in 1904 by the Bobbs-Merrill Company, the cover art does not yield any information or initials for the artist. Nonetheless, it is still charming in its rather worn state.

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Sharing the books with my coworkers eventually led me to Lemuria’s copy of The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad published in 1907 by Harper & Brothers. As Minsky points out in American Book Covers, many publishing houses felt that the book cover artist was just as important as the contents of the book. Harper & Brothers seems to have been a prolific supporter of the arts as Minsky has numerous examples from this publishing house.

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Still snooping around Lemuria for beautiful books, I found that the Franklin Library books of the 1960s and 70s reminded me of these Golden Age books. Even Raymond Carver’s collection of short stories entitled Where I’m Calling From signed by Carver and bound in 1988 by Franklin is a beautiful tribute.

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Back to our present book industry jolt with the e-book: Where are our beautiful books? No doubt there are many, but I chuckled when I realized the much-loved and popular-selling stamped linen classics series published by Penguin seem to be the closest and most affordable treasures similar to the books of the Golden Age. I have to wonder as the e-book becomes more prolific if book lovers will not hunger even more passionately for the tactile, sensual experience of books.

It’s that time again.  Time for New Year’s resolutions.  I always look forward to this time. I think it’s the whole idea of having a clean slate that I love so much–I feel free to push any unfinished business from the past year out of my mind and get excited about setting new goals for myself.  So, what does that have to do with Lemuria and books and this blog, you ask?

Well, let me tell you.

They say that publicly announcing your resolutions (on say, perhaps, a blog?) helps you stick to them. So, here’s my public announcement: One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2011 is to read fifty books this year–that roughly equals one book every six days. I made this resolution because, quite frankly, it’s  torture to be surrounded by so many wonderful books every day at work and then find myself with hardly any time to read everything I’d like to.  Now I’m forcing myself to make time for reading.  Happy New Year to me.

First up is Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I’m already about 200 pages in, and so far I’m having a hard time putting it down.  It’s a 600 page novel about a young man named Toru Okada who suddenly finds himself with a missing cat and then with a missing wife.  Okada’s search for his wife (and cat) finds him encountering some rather strange characters including a cheerfully cynical 16 year old girl, an old war veteran who is still haunted by the horrid things that he saw in Manchuria, two mysterious psychic sisters, and a monstrous politician.  In my opinion The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is reminiscent of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland (if it was set in contemporary Japan and written for only an adult audience), and I am quite happy that it’s the first book on my quest to read, read, read this year.

Happy New Year to everyone! I wish you all the best with your own resolutions.  -Kaycie

Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart (Random House)

“This austere novel could be seen as a satire on technology taken to its ultimate extreme, depleting and horrific. All human beings wear “apparrats” which hang from their necks, constantly recording multiple amounts of data of everyone walking by, even their cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Equally shocking is the fact that their sexual desirability, personality attributes, and all sorts of physical  sustainability quotients are also projected for the entire wireless connected world to view. So, actual human contact, or even normal conversation, rarely occurs since basically everything one wants to know about another human being is literally at his or her finger tips. Actual love between one person and another, a dying art, rarely occurs.” -Nan read more

Linchpin by Seth Godin (Portfolio)

“Linchpins leverage something internal and external to create a positive value. There are no longer any great jobs where someone tells you precisely what to do. Successful organizations are paying people who make a difference: A group of well-organized linchpins working in concert to create value.”

“A linchpin brings passion and energy to the organization, resulting in getting the job done that’s not being done. This is essential. “Not my job” is not in their vocabulary. Being pretty good is extremely easy; Just meeting expectations is not remarkable.” -John read more

Distant Hours by Kate Morton (Simon & Schuster)

“Attention all you readers out there who love a good story, I have one for you. I’m talking no fancy-shmancy writing techniques; nothing experimental. I mean a good yarn. A story that can transport you to a different place even if you have no frame of reference to this place . . . I am about 265 pages into The Distant Hours and I can’t put it down.” -Ellen read more

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (Random House)

“It’s an alarming story that raises confounding questions about race, class, science, and bioethics.  Author Rebecca Skloot writes with authority and sensitivity, and so far I can’t put the book down.  As I said, it’s on our women’s history month display, but it also goes beyond that – it’s a science book, a history book, and a civil rights book too.  I don’t think I’ve ever read anything so fascinating.” -Susie read more

Share your favorite book of 2010 in the comment section.

Lemuria’s Best of 2010: Part 1

Lemuria’s Best of 2010: Part 2

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Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart

August 13th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Fiction ·Edit

As I was driving home one night last week, Mississippi Public Broadcasting was replaying the morning edition of “Fresh Air”, so I got to hear the excellent review of Gary Shteyngart’s new novel Super Sad True Love Story. Readers will remember him from the 2002 publication of Russian Debutante’s Handbook and the 2007 release Absurdistan, both of which Lemuria readers liked, according to our computer files.  I’m predicting that Super Sad True Love Story will be a big hit as well.

Since the review on MPB had already piqued my interest, I wasted no time in opening this novel. At the start, the protagonist, a thirty-nine year old Russian immigrant to America, is playing out his last days of a year long sojourn back in his home land, where he has been unsuccessfully trying to recruit clients for his business, “Post Human Services, which specializes in immortality. Yes, I did say, “Immortality!” So, I have let the cat out of the bag. Yes, this is a dystopian novel, but not like Margaret Atwood’s. Perhaps think of the impression you, reader, had of the near future as you once read George Orwell’s 1984, or maybe Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.

Back to Super Sad True Love Story………The business which Lenny Abramov tries to market and recruit for only wants those best specimens of human beings who have not only the intellectual, but also the physical attributes,  to endure forever. A one night stand with a 22 year old  gorgeous Asian girl named Eunice Parks, a selfish, totally contemporary global prototype, throws Lenny into a helpless state of love. The word itself “love” rarely exists  in this almost apocalyptic America. Once back in New York, Lenny texts and emails Eunice, whose luck is running out in Russia, and who feels compelled to return to help her physically abused mother and sister, offering Eunice a place to stay.

This austere novel could be seen as a satire on technology taken to its ultimate extreme, depleting and horrific. All human beings wear “apparrats” which hang from their necks, constantly recording multiple amounts of data of everyone walking by, even their cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Equally shocking is the fact that their sexual desirability, personality attributes, and all sorts of physical  sustainability quotients are also projected for the entire wirelessly connected world to view. So, actual human contact, or even normal conversation , rarely occurs since basically everything one wants to know about another human being is literally at his or her figure tips. Actual love between one person and another, a dying art, rarely occurs

Earth by The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Grand Central Publishing)

“Jon Stewart takes readers through a clever look at various aspects of earthly living.  With an Alien Preface, this guide is a handbook for post-human existence.  Stewart and the writers of the Daily Show take these planetary outsiders through the gamut of all things Earth: from our of understanding of planetary geography to weather to evolution to the human body to reproduction. Our views of politics, science, and social practices, such as religion and weddings, are explained.” -Peyton read more

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

“Jonathan Franzen has created the typical, dysfunctional, American family. However, they are not so dysfunctional as to not be believable or seem forced. This book is not horribly plot driven. It is all about character development on this one. So even though this book is not overflowing with huge calamities at every turn it still manages to be a page turner. I loved this book.” -Ellen read more

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (Doubleday)

“It’s the day before your ninth birthday and you mother is baking a practice birthday cake in preparation for tomorrow. You take your first bite and instead of tasting your all time favorite, lemon cake, you taste your mother’s sadness. Thus begins a lifetime of being able to taste peoples emotions in the food that they prepare.  Imagine being able to taste your mother’s affair in the dinners she cooks, your brothers disappearance in the toast he fixes for you. Aimee Bender has grabbed my attention and my heart.  This was the first book of hers that I have read and I am now on a huge Bender kick.” -Zita read more from John P.

Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival by John Vaillant (Random House)

“Survival and sustenance, high adventure in one of the most ecologically diverse regions in the world where both tropical and alpine conditions co-exist is the setting of this book. It is 1997 and the place is the very farthest Far East right above North Korea, to the east of China and bordered on the east by the Sea of Japan, a place called Primorye. The area is all Russian. This is where men and women escaped the ravages of boom towns that disintegrated almost as quickly as they were formed after perestroika, men and women who would rather live off the land than try and amass paper money devalued to almost nothing overnight. The area was and is ripe in game, pine nuts, forests and the amur tiger, a god-like beast revered and feared. Unfortunately poachers from within and beyond the country had been killing this tiger to near extinction for its bones, organs, flesh and blood and its very spirit . . .

The author has written for Outside, the New Yorker and National Geographic. He has an obvious talent for bringing individual adventure driven events in the Jon Krakauer mode into the warp and weave of a total cosmos (the Russian Far East) rendered in many different perspectives. If it weren’t for his amazing story and his ability to tell it, we might be overwhelmed with so much information. But the facts and the story flow and feed off each other (no puns intended here) as he welds animal and human lives together.” -Pat read more

Share your favorite book of 2010 in the comment section.

Lemuria’s Best 0f 2010: Part 1

Lemuria’s Best of 2010: Part 3

As 2010 has drawn to a close this week, Lemuria booksellers have been assembling their favorite books of 2010. Next time you’re in the store check our display of favorites along with comments we wrote throughout the year on our blog. We recently found out that we were included in Southern Living’s Best Bookstores of the South. Why do they think so? We’re were proud to learn that we earned the honor through the blog. Click here to read about other featured bookstores. Thanks for supporting us on the blog and Facebook this year! Share your favorite book of 2010 in the comment section.

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxis (Nelson)

“This is an amazing biography that reads like a novel.” -Pat

“There is bravery and self sacrifice on every page of this book. There is faith and forgiveness and redemption shown in the words and the lives of ordinary people. There is raw evil and indescribable beauty. There is greatness shown forth in all its glory and there is proof that one man can make a difference.” -Norma read more

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer (Knopf)

“I loved it, I loved it, I loved it.” -Nan read more

“This is a remarkable book, about as good as a book can get.” -Pat

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The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell (Random House)

“Honestly, I’m just not sure I have it in me to properly criticize a book by an author in possession of such a vast imagination/brain. I don’t think that with his latest book, Mitchell has created something perfect, but it sure is a beautiful (!!!), original, great story.” -Susie read more

“Great works, the likes of which this book is moving towards, in any artistic medium usually leave me with my mouth open only wishing to express my gratitude for their hard work and time they spent to give me this experience. READ DAVID MITCHELL.” -John P read more

Year of Our Lord by T. R. Pearson and Langdon Clay (Mockingbird)

“Year of Our Lord is about so many things: the amazing journey of Lucas McCarty and his decision to join an all black church and leave behind his Episcopalian upbringing, a little church out in the Delta with no signage but a heart bigger than you can imagine. It is about hope and community and loving others just the way they are.” -Lisa read more

Lemuria’s Best of 2010: Part 2

Lemuria’s Best of 2010: Part 3