The Amazon Ploy

Let's see. How can we get other people to do the heavy lifting, and then swoop in and take the sale? Let's give people money for doing their research in someone's store, and then buying from us online! What could be the problem?

Amazon strikes again! While the bricks and mortar stores in your town support the local economy and invest in the local community, Amazon just wants your money--thank you very much. Let us hope that you never need to buy something, right now, right here, in your hands immediately, after all the stores on your Main Street have been driven out of business.

Richard Russo discusses Amazon's latest move in the New York Times, read his column here

Nashville Tennessee gets a bookstore

NYT today has a story about Ann Patchett partnering to open an independent bookstore in Nashville. The store is named Parnassus, purportedly in honor of the Greek site. It appears that Ms Pratchett and her partner Ms Hayes are either woefully oblivious to the Parnassus bookstore of Christopher Morley's novels, or coyly not making that reference obvious.

Story here

Hooray for Maurice Sendak

Maurice Sendak has written a new book, but he doesn't care what you think and he may never write another. Who knows? What he does want to do at this stage of his life is read. Interview with him in the Globe and Mail

"Oh, screw the world. Why should the dumb world know what I think?"

Beecher-Stowe Descendant finally reads THE BOOK

NYT has a commentary by a descendant of Harriet Beecher Stowe in their Disunion section that is following the developments of the Civil War. link here

Very Cool Mark Twain Project

A new CD to benefit the Mark Twain boyhood home in Hannibal is being released next week.

http://www.prescriptionbluegrassblog.com/2011/09/new-cd-gives-life-to-mark-twains-words.html As picked up from the prescription bluegrass blog.

Stories by Twain with musical additions. I think Sam would have been proud.

Terry Pratchett and Death

Death is a character in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, and he's also a reality that Terry finds the need to contemplate. Pratchett has early onset Alzheimer's. He has continued to work, "writing" his books by means of a computer voice to text program. But he realizes that his time of coherency is limited. Assisted death has become a cause that he advocates, traveling to Switzerland to be a part of a recent documentary on the process. This morning on NPR there was an interview with him aired, which will be available as an audio file on the site. HERE

As a reader who thoroughly enjoys the Discworld books, I anticipate the upcoming release of Snuff, but I regret the winding down of a creative spirit.

Faulkner Treasure Trove

William Faulkner was the writer in residence at the University of Virginia's Charlottesville campus for two terms beginning in 1957. UVa has 28 hours of tape of his readings, addresses and Q&A sessions available on line, plus transcriptions of the sessions to help where the audio is difficult. Story here

Austen Manuscript bought by Bodleian

A considerable portion of The Watsons in manuscript has been acquired at auction by the Bodleian Library. Jane Austen's last work, unfinished and unpublished in her lifetime shows many characteristics of her style. Beyond the subject matter of a family of women left in straitened circumstances by the death of the clergyman head of the family, such statements as:

"Female economy will do a great deal, my lord, but it cannot turn a small income into a large one." are noted as typical of Jane's wit. Story in The Guardian.

Classic Pooh

Disney has decided to revert to "classic" Pooh. Well, Duuuuh!

Some things are just not meant to be slick and shiny, and Pooh and his friends fall squarely into that category. My family has had a long, long relationship with the gang from the 100 Aker Wood. My mother used Pooh as part of the curriculum in her elementary classroom long before he became a Disney standard. Each of the siblings in the family has a character. One brother is Tigger, one is Piglet, my sister is Kanga, and I'm Eeyore.

Mark Twain Gets a Stamp

It's about time. The 27th stamp in the Literary Series from the United States Postal Service honors the great American author Mark Twain on a "forever" stamp. Why it took 26 issues to get around to him I'll never understand.

Uncle Tom

There are many books in the canon of American Literature that most people are pretty sure that they know, even though they may never have read the book. Between children's versions, movies and other (read Cliff Notes) means; they have been exposed and have a fully formed opinion. A recent article in NYT points out that the common perception of Uncle Tom as a bungling, old stooped servent is not the character that Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote about.

Because of the connections that various member of the Beecher-Stowe clan had in this area of Ohio/Kentucky/Indiana, associations with "Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly" are regularly cited for many locations. At least two different communities in two states claim the original of the crossing the river on the ice story, and in that era before dams and locks the Ohio River did freeze some winters. There was even a Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin published by the author because she had so many queries about her story.

Illustrator does visual interview

Shaun Tan received the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award from Swedish Crown Princess Victoria during a ceremony in Stockholm on May 31.

In an interview with Speigel he answers questions with drawings. How cool! page through the interview here

Cincinnati well read

According to A Boy and His Books there is an Amazon report out that lists Cincy in the top 20 of well-read cities in America.

Gone with the Wind

Today's NYT has a story about "missing" chapters of Gone With The Wind showing up in the collection of the Pequot Library in Connecticut--quite a ways from Atlanta. It seems that the president of Mitchell's publisher left it to the library along with other materials from his career at Macmillan. Mitchell had wanted the early drafts and all pre-publishing material destroyed because she had a conviction that books should only be judged as the final product, and it is not known how these chapters survived. It may have been oversight, it may have been deliberate, those involved are all beyond asking.

Also from that story, this June is the 75th anniversary of the publication. We'll have to make note of that at Words & Images.

Almost Three Months

I've been delinquent. I have been reading, just not sharing.

Right now I've started on the first of Trollope's Palliser novels, Can You Forgive Her? But there's been much running around going on, so progress is none to steady.

At the shop I've read a couple of Mary Roberts Rinehart's mysteries and novels. I had a stash on a back shelf that I had forgotten.

I visited Iris Book Cafe down in Cincinnati last week and picked up some nice Hardy Boys in dust jackets for shop inventory. It's getting tougher to find the older copies of the juvenile series books of that type. I'm really low in Nancy Drews right now.

The Early Days

Lately I seem to be concentrating on the early 19th century, particularly in the New York area. I started off with a history of the Erie Canal (Wedding of the Waters), which included the political career of DeWitt Clinton. Then I read a recent biography of Aaron Burr ( a contemporary of Clinton's), The Fallen Founder, which tries to debunk much of the "romantic" Burr myth, and suggests that he was a very normal politician of his times who was pigeonholed by his opponents. History is written by the winners, after all.
Now I'm on to a biography of Washington Irving--with a quick detour the past couple of days into reading Salmagundi after I had read up to that point in his career. (Salmagundi was a short lived periodical of political and social commentary produced by Irving, a brother and a friend.)
Just today I ran into mention of a history of the ratification of the Constitution which I then ordered from Powells (one of the best sources I know of for books that might be out of print) along with some other work by the same author.
One reason for my interest is that the early to mid 19th century was the time when the United States was joining the Industrial Revolution and engaging in many Internal Improvements and the resultant politics needed to implement infrastructure projects. Our own Whitewater Canal in Metamora is a product of those efforts.

Peter Pan

How many Peter Pan stories are there, I wonder? Barrie seemed to keep using the basic story in different places. I have seen Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens that has many of the elements that are in Peter Pan and Wendy. I have to admit I enjoy the Dave Barry versions of recent vintage as well.

Mark Twain's Autobiography the Holiday Book this year!

I've been watching the progress of the Mark Twain project over the years, and was excited to know the the Autobiography was being published this year. I ordered my copy from Powell's early this month and got it within a week. From reviews I've read there really isn't much of the much vaunted info that was not to be published until 100 years after Samuel Clemens died, since many researchers and writers have worked through it in the intervening years. However, it should be the authoritative version.

Today the New York Times reports that it has gone back to press numerous times already (the official release date was just last week) and is the holiday sell out book of the year.

American History

I'm reading The Great Upheaval by Jay Winik right now, covering American and European history for the last quarter of the 18th century. Evidently he wrote an Civil War history that has some good reviews as well. I found this one in a remainder stack at a bookstore---something that would never happen online.

At the shop I'm still working on Charles Keene off and on, while the Lantern Guy has another Louis L'amour on the desk.

time does fly

Just checked and I haven't posted here all summer! Facebook has become so easy that making a blog entry just hasn't crossed my mind.
So, what have I read lately?

I finished biographies of Ralph Stanley and Bill Monroe as we worked all summer on the plans for the Metamora Old Time Music Festival on Labor Day Weekend.
I've been reading a biography of Charles Keene of Punch magazine, from time to time in the shop.
Two of the "Cat Who....." mysteries, just because I can get through them quickly in an afternoon or two.
The Economics of Food, a survey of the effects of energy and agriculture policies on food pricing globally.
I'm sure there were others, but they've slipped my mind.

We brought several titles from the Indiana Historical Society into stock this year, including a new title "Indiana One pint at a time" which give info on beer breweries around the state. Also, both of Earl Conn's titles from his newspaper columns, 101 and 101 more... things to do in Indiana.

Victorian Illustrators

I noticed a story today about Lewis Carroll and Sir John Tenniel--there is a letter between them that is going to be offered at auction. Interesting as I am currently reading a Life and Letters of Charles Keene of Punch, a contemporary. From what I have read so far, and from the story about the Carroll/Tenniel note, it appears that the epistolary style of those gentlemen was more breezy than we might have expected.

Times Online

Book Signing May 29th

Glory-June Greiff will be at Words and Images in Metamora, IN from 2 to 4 PM to sign her new book about the Indiana state parks. She will have copies of some of her other work as well. That evening she will portray Gene Stratton-Porter at the Historic Metamora meeting.

Salmuel L Clemens as a book critic

It comes as no surprise to me that Mr. Clemens would have decided opinions on the writings of others. Anyone who has read beyond Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer would be aware that he was a man of far ranging interests and concerns. NYT has an article about the discovery of marginal notes in books from his personal library donated to the Redding Connecticut Library.
"In honor of the centennial of his death on April 21, the library granted The New York Times permission to examine this trove of books and record notes and markings Twain left behind in their margins."
Since the books were in circulation for much of their existence, and the library collection was culled of slower moving items at times (as all library collections are), there are not a large number of the Clemens/Twain volumes left.

Kipling family Jungle Book found

In the process of cataloging the holdings at Wimpole Hall, the home of Kipling's daughter Elsie from 1938 to 1976, a copy of the Jungle Book given to Josephine Kipling was found. BBC news story here

The Death and Life of Great American Cities

I would have thought that I would have read this book long ago, but I'm getting around to it now. Although Jane Jacobs makes it very clear from the start that she is talking about large, great cities; that her ideas won't be the right prescription for small towns and even small cities, from what I've read so far I think there is something to be gained.

Activity is the key to safe, viable areas. There needs to be a variety of uses and a steady stream of occupants for much of the daytime. There needs to be a reason to be there. All of this is applicable to creating any public space in my opinion. A space established with only one purpose and no supporting destinations to feed it is destined to be a underused space, or a mis-used space.

William Faulkner influenced by authentic plantation diary

New York Times has a story today on the Leak family Mississippi Plantation diaries that were read by a friend of the family, William Faulkner. Evidently the diaries have been readily available and used for much research into antebellum life of the south, but the link to Faulkner had not been realized. Story here

John Bower Books at Words and Images

Words and images is now carrying the 6 books of Indiana photography published by John Bower. John and his wife travel the roads of the state, looking for the unique images that define places. Each book has a theme, beginning with his original work documenting the second story of many old buildings--the one that didn't get re-muddled over the years.
John is a member of the Indiana Artisan Project.

Reading a book a day!?!?!

I just cannot imagine setting this type of goal. I manage to get to many books during a year, but I can't even say I finish one a week. Right now I'm working on HG:The History of Mr. Wells. I never realized just how many books he wrote. I've been a fan of his History of the World for years.

NYT article

A Quest to Read a Book a Day for 365 Days

Lists of books

Yesterday I happened across one of those lists of books you should have read on a friend's FaceBook page. It was from the BBC and the remark was that most people had only read about 6 of the 100 listed. Another person in my office did some further research and it seems that the list was distilled from a list of 200 books nominated as favorites to BBC in the spring of 2003 as part of the Big Read project. As part of the rabbit trailing that has occurred in following this train of thought I came across a list of 110 books that the Telegraph in UK suggests as the perfect library.
That list is here.

Another Article on the Return to 100 Aker Woods

There's a new character in the gang, Lottie the Otter.
Felicia Lee in NYT discusses sequels and anticipation of the release

A New Pooh Story!

Return to the Hundred Aker Woods

Hot, Flat and Crowded

Finished Friedman's Hot, Flat and Crowded this weekend. Although he subscribes to the viewpoint that we have just enough time, starting now, to fix things; I can't help but be depressed at the prospects ahead.

A New Day at The National Endowment?

Rocco Landesman has been confirmed as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. While he is poised to make the case that the arts are drivers in community and economic development....
From the NYT story of August 8th...
The new chairman said he already has a new slogan for his agency: “Art Works.” It’s “something muscular that says, ‘We matter.’ ” The words are meant to highlight both art’s role as an economic driver and the fact that people who work in the arts are themselves a critical part of the economy.
“Someone who works in the arts is every bit as gainfully employed as someone who works in an auto plant or a steel mill,” Mr. Landesman said. “We’re going to make the point till people are tired of hearing it.”
However he is also indicating that the dispersion of funding throughout the nation will not be a guiding principle, but rather the support of perceived excellence. Which raises the question, how does the level of expertise improve without support?

Weird Indiana now in stock

We now have Weird Indiana in stock at Words and Images/The Train Place. As well as Weird Ohio, Weird Kentucky, and Weird Illinois.

Nicholas Kristof's Kids Summer Reading List

From his concerns with the state of American education, Nicholas Kristof offers a summer reading list to help your children staunch the loss of IQ points. I was excited to see Freddy the Pig on the list, an old favorite of mine.

I, of course, would offer up The Hobbit and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

His editorial is here, with links to his blog--where readers have been offering up other suggestions.

Indiana Authors Awards

Released this week is information about the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award.

From: Ray E. Boomhower [rboomhower@indianahistory.org

]
Sent: Thursday, July 02, 2009
Subject: Indiana Author Award finalists announced

The inaugural Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award recipient has been named. Indiana native James Alexander Thom was chosen as the national recipient, and finalists in all categories were named this week by the Award Panel. The winning author in the regional and emerging author categories will each be named on September 26 among the finalists.

This new award seeks to recognize the contributions of Indiana authors to the literary landscape in Indiana and across the nation by the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Foundation, and is funded by the generosity of The Glick Fund, a fund of Central Indiana Community Foundation.

Nominations were submitted from across the state in early spring. Any published writer who was born in Indiana or has lived in Indiana for at least five years was eligible. A seven-member, statewide Award Panel selected the national winner and finalists in three categories from the pool of publicly nominated authors:

* National Author - $10,000 prize: a writer with Indiana ties, but whose work is known and read throughout the country. National authors were evaluated on their entire body of work. Winner: James Alexander Thom; Finalists: Scott Russell Sanders and Margaret McMullan

* Regional Author - $7,500 prize: A writer who is well-known and respected throughout the state of Indiana. Regional authors were evaluated on their entire body of work. Finalists: Jared Carter, James H. Madison and Susan Neville

* Emerging Author - $5,000 prize: A writer with only one published book. Emerging authors were evaluated on their single published work. Finalists: Kathleen Hughes, Christine Montross and Greg Schwipps

"This is a rare and heart-lifting pleasure," said James Alexander Thom. "I can only compare it with that first call I ever got from an editor, so long ago, saying, 'We love your story and we want to publish it.' I am grateful that Eugene and Marilyn Glick honored the storytelling art highly enough to applaud it in such a grand and generous way, and I look forward to applauding those whose work will be so acknowledged in the years to come."

Award finalists in all three categories will be honored on September 26, 2009 at the Central Library in downtown Indianapolis. The day's events will include free public programming such as author lectures, "how to get published" workshops for aspiring writers, and more. An award dinner/fund raiser benefiting the Library Foundation will follow that evening where the winner of the Regional Author and Emerging Author categories will each be named. Thom will serve as the dinner's keynote speaker. Ticket information for the award dinner is available by contacting the Library Foundation at (317) 275-4700 or by visiting www.indianaauthorsaward.org.

Ray Bradbury believes in libraries

Story in Saturday's New York Times about Ray Bradbury's help with a threatened library in California. It seems Mr. Bradbury is a fan of George Bernard Shaw.

Redwall Abbey

I had no idea how far behind I'd gotten on the Redwall Books. I happened to go looking for a Jasper Fforde that I realized I'd missed, and to make the $25 minimum for a free delivery checked on Brian Jacques. There have been three published in the last couple of years that I'm sure I didn't have!

Federal Funding Good News

At the federal level we're seeing progress in realizing the importance of the arts and humanities to the economy and the life of communities, through the improvement in levels of support for both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

New York Time story here

Letterpress in Forbes

Forbes Magazine has an article in the June 8 issue about the revival of artisan letterpress operations.

Forbes online

Where the Wild Things Are

I have to mark my calendar! Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are is being brought to the screen by Spike Jonze. Scheduled for an October release, evidently there are issues brewing within the studio.

Advertising Age article here

Another Independent Bookstore Closes

Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher writes of the imminent closing of Vertigo Books. An interesting part of the commentary the owners provided in a letter to their customers points out the ramifications of local business a little more clearly than most.

"As Warren and Stewart put it: "Your shopping dollars help create the community you want to live in. . . . The money you spend with locally-owned businesses continues to circulate as we pay employees, buy supplies and pay taxes that are used to provide basic services to residents."

Amazon and other online booksellers have an unfair advantage because they still don't charge sales tax.."

And it is worth noting that not only do ecommerce sites not pay local sales taxes; they don't pay local real estate taxes, they don't employ local people, they don't buy groceries locally, they don't shop locally, in short, they don't support the local economy in any way.

One Day Trips from Indianapolis

We had a lovely couple in over the weekend, on their first trip to Metamora. When I asked how they happened upon us I was told that Metamora was included in a book of one day trips from Indy. Through the miracles of the web, I tracked down this publication.

Revisiting Edith

I spent the past week reading an Edith Wharton biography, and reading some of her major works as they were discussed. I finished the bio, and have started Age of Innocence to be followed by The Buccaneers.

Great Article from NYT on the current world of bookselling

Through my participation in the ArtsJournal newsletter I found this article from the New York Times about the person to person nature of book selling. It's very telling in a way, that those who most continue to buy books, are those who are slowly re-inventing the commerce in books.

The article is here.

Indiana State Library

The Indiana State Library, The Center for the Book, has two efforts underway for school age children to participate in. River of Words and Letter about Literature. Both have been underway for some time and are nearing the end of the entry period.

http://www.in.gov/library/2315.htm

Frances Mayes, Author of Under the Tuscan Sun at IUPUI in October

Frances Mayes, best-selling author of Under the Tuscan Sun and A Year in the World, will deliver the inaugural Efroymson Lecture on International Art, Culture and Heritage at IUPUI on October 8, 2008. The speech is free and open to the public.
Mayes, whose remarks are titled, “Writing in Place: Travels with My Notebook,: will talk about traveling and living abroad during her lecture, which begins at 7 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room on the fourth floor of the IUPUI Campus Center, 420 University Boulevard, Indianapolis.
After the lecture, Mayes will participate in a book signing at the Barnes & Noble Bookstore in the Campus Center at 8:15 p.m.

From the Bio included in the press release from IUPUI:

Frances Mayes has always adored houses, and when she saw Bramasole, a neglected, 200-year old Tuscan farmhouse nestled in five overgrown acres, it was love at first sight. Out of that instant infatuation has come four marvelous, and hugely popular, books: the bestsellers Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany; In Tuscany, a collaborative photo-textbook with her husband, the poet Edward Mayes and photographer Bob Krist; and Bringing Tuscany Home: Sensuous Style from the Heart of Italy, another collaborative book with Edward Mayes and photographer Steven Rothfeld. All four highly personal books are about taking chances, living in Italy, loving and renovating an old Italian villa, the pleasures of food, wine, gardens, and the “voluptuousness of Italian life.”

Her first novel, Swan, a family saga and mystery, returns Mayes to her childhood home of Georgia and was published in 2002. A film version of Under the Tuscan Sun, starring Diane Lane, was released in fall of 2003. Frances Mayes was the editor for the 2002 Best American Travel Writing. She is also the author of the travel memoir entitled A Year in the World: Journeys of A Passionate Traveller, which immediately debuted as a New York Times bestseller in 2006. Working again with Steven Rothfeld, she published SHRINES: Images of Italian Worship, also in 2006.

A widely published poet and essayist, Frances Mayes has written numerous books of poetry, including Sunday in Another Country, After Such Pleasures, The Arts of Fire, Hours, The Book of Summer, and Ex Voto. Her work The Discovery of Poetry: A Field Guide to Reading and Writing Poems is widely used in college poetry classes.

Formerly a professor of creative writing at San Francisco State University, where she directed The Poetry Center and chaired the Department of Creative Writing, Mayes now devotes herself full time to writing and to her “At Home in Tuscany” furniture and accessory lines. She and her husband divide their time between North Carolina and Cortona, Italy.

Maurice Sendak Birthday Event Monday

Maurice Sendak's 80th birthday, already past but being celebrated with a fete this coming Monday. I've always loved his work, I travelled through snow to see a show in Indy several years ago, but my favorite is the Nutcracker by Hoffman illustrated with Sendak's set designs and drawings for the opera production.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/arts/design/10sendak.html?pagewanted=1&th&emc=th

Rudyard Kipling and skiing in Vermont

According to a story, about the WPA Vermont state guide in the New York Times today, evidently Mr. Kipling is credited with introducing skiing to Vermont, through the agency of skis originating with Arthur Conan Doyle. One of those literary bits of trivia that are rather unexpected.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/us/08vermont.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&th&adxnnl=1&emc=th&adxnnlx=1218197883-/nwFlSGY7b5mBZfPvT/wiA

Orwell Diaries to be posted

Orwell diaries are going to be posted, day by day, 70 years after the entries were penned. The Orwell Prize, in association with the Orwell Trust, Political Quarterly and the Media Standards Trust, will be publishing on the blog at http://orwelldiaries.wordpress.com/

Now, The Mark Twain House at Risk

Hard on the heels of the financial difficulties of the Edith Wharton Foundation, comes news that the Mark Twain house in Connecticut is about to drown in debt. Considering the fortunes of Mr. Clemens himself, who was forced to economize by living in Europe for years, it might be poetic justice.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/nyregion/03twain.html?th&emc=th

Wharton's Mount Saved, This Week anyway

In the ongoing saga of the attempt to keep Edith Wharton's The Mount intact and open to the public... From Bloomburg, dateline April 24:

"The 97-year-old estate where the Pulitzer Prize-winning author penned ``House of Mirth'' and found inspiration for ``Ethan Frome'' has temporarily avoided foreclosure after raising $800,000 by today's deadline, Susan Wissler, the executive who runs the property, said in an interview. "


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=atVOyeqqiENY&refer=muse

50 Top Cult Books Telegraph UK

The Telegraph has published a list of the Top 50 Cult Books, which they tried to define but neded up with..."What is a cult book? We tried and failed to arrive at a definition..." But probably everyone one has read at least one book on this list. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was one of my favorites, Number One Son is a fan of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Hunter S Thompson, and I think I probably still own my paperback copy of The Master and Margarita. Words & images always has a least one copy of Gibran's The Prophet on hand. But I can't see anything on this list that the LanternGuy probably read. Hmmmm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/04/26/nosplit/boanotherlist126.xml&DCMP=ILC-traffdrv07053100

Edith Wharton's Home, Again

An associate professor at University of Cincinnati (right up the road, so to speak) weighs in on the issue of "The Mount" and the financial difficulties that the foundation supporting it faces.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/12/opinion/12clarke.html?th&emc=th

Thomas Jefferson Library at Library of Congress

Washingon Post today has an article on the re-creation of the contents of Jefferson's library.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/10/AR2008041004241.html?wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter

The Book Store is The Big Box Store

A story in Washington Post on Saturday discusses the latest shift in the book selling world--to the Big Box discounters. The history of the move from independent stores to the 'category killer" to the neighborhood Wal-Mart or Costco is detailed. In some eyes the recent news that B&N may be looking at buying Borders smacks of deja vu all over again at the next level up.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/04/AR2008040403540_2.html?wpisrc=newsletter

Edith Wharton Home faces foreclosure

The New York Times reports that "The Mount" is struggling with operational support.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/23/books/23moun.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Although not her residence for the greater part of her career, it was where she authored House of Mirth

Barsetshire in the New York Times

Verlyn Klinkenborg has a nice little commentary about the Barsetshire novels of Angela Thirkell. He mentions that they share the geography of Trollope, if I remember correctly Thirkell is actually a cousin or some such relation to Trollope. I've always enjoyed the books, and have several in inventory.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/opinion/04fri3.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

NY Times Article on Book Accumulating

The Times has this http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/21/business/21libraries.html?th&emc=th on the book acquiring tendancies of business leaders. Steve Jobs and William Blake? Hmmm

Better World Books

Through a route possible only in our connected culture, I found a book selling group in northern Indiana that is focussed on increasing literacy around the globe.

http://www.betterworldbooks.com/AboutUs/Mission.aspx

The Strand 80

The Strand Bookstore is compiling a list of the top 80 favorite books. You can vote online from now through Sept 15, 2007.
http://www.strandbooks.com/strand80

Gone With the Wind, again

NYT reports that a new sequel to Gone with the Wind is being published. This one is a retelling of the story from the point of view of Rhett and titled Rhett Butler's People, written by Donald McCaig. Apparently Mr. McCaig has written previous work dealing with the Civil War era that has been highly regarded, so we can hope for a better quality product than Scarlett.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/books/16book.html?pagewanted=1&th&emc=th

Business Week - Books in the Ukraine

http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/07_20/b4034065.htm?chan=gl

Business Week reports that Bertelsmann is finding a strong market for the printed word in countries of the former Soviet Union. Where bookstores are scarce, and internet access not universal, they are finding success with inexpensive editions of printed books. It seems that in areas such as the Ukraine they are signing the hottest young writers and acting as their distributor. From comments posted to the story it appears that other regions of the world, one was from Peru, would respond favorably to such offers as well.

James Whitcomb Riley

Riley Rhymes

a program based on the works of

Indiana's beloved Hoosier Poet

Jeff Keel appearing in character at

Words & Images,

home of The Train Place

19040 Main Street, Metamora, IN

Saturday, May 5, 2 PM

Cat in the Hat Birthday to Benefit First Book

The 50th Birthday of The Cat in the Hat is an opportunity to support First Book. Visit the Cat in the Hat website and click on send the cat a card to participate.
www.CATINTHEHAT.com

Used Books on the web

Chief Marketer-a business enewsletter I subscribe to in my workaday career-has an issue devoted to the book trade. Of course the first article I clicked through on was the one concerning the impact of the web on the used book trade. Go to
http://chiefmarketer.com/cm_plus/web_book_business

Sinclair Lewis cited by Joe Canason

You never know when an old tome that is rarely referred to in current time will pop up. All the more reason to keep those old books available.

Sinclair Lewis' It Can't Happen Here is cited in the new work by Joe Canason, It Can Happen Here. An excerpt published in Salon is here.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/02/19/conason/?source=newsletter

Here is the Lewis material as taken from Salon:

To Sinclair Lewis, who sardonically titled his 1935 dystopian novel "It Can't Happen Here," "it" plainly meant an American version of the totalitarian dictatorships that had seized power in Germany and Italy. Married at the time to the pioneering reporter Dorothy Thompson, who had been expelled from Berlin by the Nazis a year earlier and quickly became one of America's most outspoken critics of fascism, Lewis was acutely aware of the domestic and foreign threats to American freedom. So often did he and Thompson discuss the crisis in Europe and the implications of Europe's fate for the Depression-wracked United States that, according to his biographer, Mark Schorer, Lewis referred to the entire topic somewhat contemptuously as "it."
If "it" denotes the police state American-style as imagined and satirized by Lewis, complete with concentration camps, martial law, and mass executions of strikers and other dissidents, then "it" hasn't happened here and isn't likely to happen anytime soon.
For contemporary Americans, however, "it" could signify our own more gradual and insidious turn toward authoritarian rule. That is why Lewis's darkly funny but grim fable of an authoritarian coup achieved through a democratic election still resonates today -- along with all the eerie parallels between what he imagined then and what we live with now.
...
The question that we face in the era of terror alerts, religious fundamentalism, and endless warfare is whether we are still the brave nation preserved and rebuilt by the generation of Sinclair Lewis -- or whether our courage, and our luck, have finally run out. America is not yet on the verge of fascism, but democracy is again in danger. The striking resemblance between Buzz Windrip [the demagogic villain of Lewis's novel] and George W. Bush and the similarity of the political forces behind them is more than a literary curiosity. It is a warning on yellowed pages from those to whom we owe everything.
From "It Can Happen Here" by Joe Conason. Copyright (c) 2007 by the author and reprinted by permission of Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St. Martin's Press.

Book Store Sales Down!

Bookies of the world, take to the streets and visit your favorite bookstore!

From PlanetRetail this morning is a story on the recent release of information from the US Census Bureau indicating that bookstore sales in 2006 were down almost 3 percent. While total book sales were up 6. I know that I've done my part for both sides of that report.


http://www.planetretail.net/default.asp?PageID=EAlert&Article=52945&Date=2007-02-15
US Census Bureau says bookstore sales fell in 2006
The US Census Bureau has released preliminary results for bookstore sales in 2006, saying that they fell by 2.9% to USD16.1 billion. The Bureau said that the drop was affected by poor holiday sales, with December showing a fall of 8.8% to USD2.0 billion. However, the news for book selling was not uniformly bad in the US, with total sales for book retailing rising by 6% over the course of the year.

American Revolution

The last two books I've read have both dealt with early American events, The Whiskey Rebellion and Benedict Arnold. The Lantern Guy is still working sporadically on The Longest Raid of the Civil War.

Little Engine That Could

We now have The Little Engine That Could, with illustrations by Cincinnati artist Loren Long, in stock at Words & Images

Forbes Special Issue on BOOKS

Forbes magazine has a special BOOK issue on line.


http://www.forbes.com/2006/11/30/books-publishing-internet-tech-media_cx_mm_mn_books06_1201book_land.html

I enjoyed Cory Doctorow's article on giving away his work.


http://www.forbes.com/home/2006/11/30/cory-doctorow-copyright-tech-media_cz_cd_books06_1201doctorow.html

Festive Shop Decoration

Here are some better pictures showing our lovely bows.

Christmas Walk Photo

One of our visitors last weekend took a photo that happens to include Words & Images' storefront. If you look really close you can see our huge tartan plaid bows over each window.

http://www3.photosig.com/go/photos/view;jsessionid=az5rSb9Pxc94IjgiO8?id=1882021&forward=

Cathal Liam Book Signing Dec 9

Cathal Liam will be at Words & Images on Saturday, Dec. 9th from 2 to 8 PM to chat with visitors and to sign books. All three of his titles will be available for purchase: Consumed by Freedom's Flame, Blood on the Shamrock, and Forever Green.

This event will be during the third weekend of Metamora's annual Christmas Walk, a celebration of the old-fashioned joys of Christmas. Lights and festive decorations, holiday music, Santa in his cabin, are all featured during this traditional festival of the season, now in its third decade.

Cheerio for First Books!

I couldn't help myself.

Cheerios(R) Cereal is offering books as a premium in their packages and giving people the opportunity to participate directly in First Books through on package information.

Cheerios® Spoonfuls of Stories® Celebrates 5th Birthday By Giving the Gift of Reading: Five Million Award-Winning Children’s Books Free in Cereal Boxes this Fall!

for information on First Books go to:

http://www.firstbook.org/site/c.lwKYJ8NVJvF/b.674325/k.9BF9/About_First_Book.htm

Cathal Liam's Blood on the Shamrock

Words & Images now has signed copies of Cathal Liam's Blood on the Shamrock available for sale, as well as his two other works--Consumed by Freedom's Flame and Forever Green.

Visit Cathal's site at www.cathalliam.com


Cathal Liam
Born of stout Irish, Scottish and English stock, Cathal Liam writes short stories, poems and Irish editorial commentary for publications in the United States and Ireland. Those familiar with his work know he writes from an Irish point of view that is imbued with nationalist underpinnings and republican overtones. Through Cathal enjoys speaking and reading to interested groups, he carefully guards his privacy, preferring 'the quiet life.' When not involved in some research or writing project, he reads, travels, gardens and spends time with his wife in their present-day Cincinnati, Ohio home.
His successful first novel, CONSUMED IN FREEDOM’S FLAME: A Novel of Ireland’s Struggle for Freedom 1916-1921, initially published in hardcover in January, 2001, was reprinted three months later. In 2002, the title was printed twice in softcover and a third time in October, 2004. The story weaves fact and fiction around the exploits of a fictional young Irishman, Aran Roe O'Neill, and his friends, both imagined and historical, during twentieth-century Ireland's most dramatic and historically significant five-year period. As part of ForeWord Magazine's 2001 Book-of-the Year honours, the book received a bronze medal for historical fiction.
In June, 2003, his second book, FOREVER GREEN: IRELAND NOW & AGAIN was released. This collection of writings ofters a rich stew of imaginative stories, political commentary and original poems. It has since been reprinted.The book's stunning cover, a painting by renowned Irish-American artist Edmund Sullivan, captures the timeless beauty of Ireland. It won ForeWord Magazine's honorable mention award for Travel Essays in 2003.
His newest effort, BLOOD ON THE SHAMROCK: A Novel of Ireland's Civil War, is the sequel to CONSUMED... It resumes the chronicle of Ireland and of Aran Roe O'Neill during that most divisive yet politically momentous period, 1921-1924. Though the Irish Civil War was only a tragic ten-month episode, its build up and aftermath still sullies Ireland's dearm of national unity. Besides describing the dramatic historical particulars underpinning this internecine conflict, Cathal Liam's book takes issue with Eamon de Valera's contradictory role during the run-up to the Civil War and regards Michael Collins's contributions in helping create the modern Irish state as fundamentally important.

Horwitz's Longest Raid of the Civil War

Lester Horwitz, author of The Longest Raid of the Civil War, will be at Words and Images for a book signing event on Saturday, Oct 7th.

October 6-8 is the annual Canal Days festival in Metamora, Indiana. The town will be filled with vendors of all sorts, antique dealers will line the Whitewater Canal while handcrafts are situated in the Gazebo Park.

Music Festival, Metamora, Indiana

The 8th annual music festival went off smoothly. The weather was not the greatest on Saturday but the musicians played on, workshops were held, and everyone seemed to have a fine time. Rick Henly and Rich McConnell gave their Music Americana presentation four times in two days at the Metamora Grist Mill, and then wrapped up Sunday with a session on the canal boat.

Read for the Record August 24 2006

Read for the Record is featuring The Little Engine that Could with new illustrations by Loren Long. A special edition is available for purchase at Starbucks.

Read for the Record website
http://www.readfortherecord.org/events/

Loren Long's Little Engine
http://www.lorenlong.com/little-engine/little_engine_that_could.html

Metamora Music Festival Labor Day Weekend

Eight years ago Jim Wendel, pictured here, decided to have an old time music festival in a meadow area he owned near the Henry Pond house. This area happens to be the subject of a painting by T.C. Steele of the Hoosier school, who boarded at one time with the Pond's according to local lore. This would probably have been about the same time that he was working with J. Ottis Adams at the Hermitage in Brookville. Later he settled in the Brown County area.

On Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend free workshops on dulcimer, harp, and mandolin will be offered. Free performances will be held the afternoon and evening of Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Pete and Sara Walthery, Tom and Missy Strothers, and John Gates are all returning for another year of fun, song and fellowship.

New this year! Thanks to a grant from the Indiana Arts Council, we will be hosting Music Americana, a review of American history done in story and song by Rich McConnell and Rick Henly. They will be appearing twice each day at the Gristmill, thanks to the Whitewater Canal State Historic Site and the Indiana State Museum for agreeing to partner in this.

Food concession at the site will be provided by the Metamora Lions Club.

All the regular canal boat rides, train rides and carriage rides will be going on in town as usual.

kerosene lamps

This is a nice summary of kerosene lamp information from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

http://www.abc.net.au/treasurehunt/s967236.htm

Reading Roundup

Did one quick read over the weekend of a collection of Roald Dahl short pieces. "Lucky Break" was the story of his start as an author, on the advice of C. S. Forrester, and his working pattern when he is writing. Also included was his first story "Piece of Cake", an autobiographical account of being shot down during his RAF service.

Started a Faulkner biographical criticism but haven't gotten too far in it yet.

At home I'm reading a locally published oral history of Whitewater township in Franklin County Indiana, The Stories We Have to Tell. Full of photos as well as the pre-1950 stories collected from residents.

Over the weekend we had the first version of the new "Canoefest" in Brookville, IN. I learned that the Franklin County Historical Society is republishing Reifel's History of Franklin County, Indiana. It will be $75, which is reasonable when you consider that you can't find a copy of the last reprint under $100 and finding an original edition on the market is almost impossible.

Metamora Grist Mill

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20060614/LIFE01/606140308/



The Metamora Grist Mill, part of the Whitewater Canal State Historic Site, was featured in a story in the Cincinnati Enquirer on Wednesday, June 14th. The paper is doing a year long series leading up to a HomeGrown Thanksgiving. Each month a local foodstuff is featured, in November they will all be pulled together for a complete Thanksgiving meal.

Neil Simon wins Twain award

Neil Simon wins the Twain Award for American humor

from Jacqueline Trescott's article today in the Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/14/AR2006061401428.html?referrer=email&referrer=email

Neil Simon, one of America's most successful playwrights, has been chosen as this year's recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the Kennedy Center announced yesterday.
For the past half-century, Simon has been prolific and often produced. Everyone of a certain age probably can name numerous Simon works, as his plays -- including "The Odd Couple," "Barefoot in the Park" and "The Sunshine Boys" -- have translated into film and television and into the national consciousness.

Poet Laureate

There was an announcement today that Donald Hall will be named the Poet Laureate of the United States.

Now I would assume, apart from the fact that I really never heard of Mr. Hall, poetry is just not an arena of attention for most of us. I was surprized to read that the position is appointed annually. I guess that I always thought that once you were the poet laureate you stayed there indefinately until either death or age took its toll. Mention was also made of the fact that there are really few demands associated with the position, it is primarily an honorary recognition, with a yearly stipend and travel allowance attached.

Recent Reading

I finished Children of the Flames this past weekend at the shop. The story of Dr. Mengeles eugenics project based on twins at the Auschwitz camp. Memories from narratives supplied by various of the twins survivors involved were alternated with the biography of the doctor. It really brings back to mind the thought--all that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.

I'm reading Florida's Flight of the Creative Class at home right now. He was the keynote speaker at the Indiana tourism meeting in Indianapolis last month but I wasn't able to fit in that trip.

Train Guy is carrying around another Louis L'amour and my brother is working on Shelby Foote's civil war books.

The Independent Bookstore

http://www.slate.com/id/2141725/

Slate reviewed a newly published book that turned into a discussion of the role of independent book sellers. Personally I have a bias toward the quirky used book emporium. One of my favorites is Ohio Book Store on Main Street in Cincinnati, and there is the Dust Jacket in Mt Lookout Square. Up in Wabash, Indiana I happened upon Reading Room Books last summer. All of these stores are probably using the internet for sales, but they still are an interesting experience.

Some of the comments on the Slate article suggested that outside of major areas such as New York there was really little to lament in "fly-over" country, and that the coming of the big box and on line booksellers was actually a blessing. I would have to say that I was appalled to discover that there were no bookstores in existence in Franklin County when I moved here. But Indianapolis and Cincinnati are not that far away.

The Creative Class

I'm about to embark on several of Florida's Creative Class tomes. We're having a public input meeting concerning the state's draft report on Rural Indiana and I think that his work has probably informed many of the committee. Doubt very much that I really get too far before tomorrow evening, especially in view of the fact that my income tax return is still underway.
RISE 2020 is the program, this site should have a link to the draft report.
www.purdue.edu/pcrd/RISE2020

I've been reading an interesting book about the Oxford English Dictionary, still on the historical overview part and haven't really gotten into the OED itself.

Can we come out yet?

There were a couple of days that were warm. There was even one Sunday that we spent the afternoon on the benches in front of the shop. Met some great people from the Eaton area who were scouting a location for their antique auto club excursion this summer.

This winter I finished Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton, much more interesting than the one from last year. More of a sense of the person was conveyed, rather than just the financial strategies. I read this week that Chernow is planning a bio of George Washington next.

I read Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins this week. A fantasy work for the young readers set. A fairly quick read, and appears to be a start of a possible series. Young man falls into another world, seems to fulfill prophecies, completes quest and returns to our world--The Overland. But a hint that he may be returning.

Merry Christmas

We're settling into the winter season in Metamora now. There will only be a few shops open on the weekends for several weeks now. And if we have a snow storm like the one we had last year, there may be no one open for weeks.

Since we live just up the road, Words & Images will be open from 12-5 most Saturdays and Sundays.

Christmas Walk is Here!

Another holiday season is underway in Metamora. We had a relatively nice weekend, Sunday was somewhat dreary and misting rain but temperate.

Currently I'm reading the the Konemann edition of Henry James The Aspern Papers and Other Stories. I'm a fan of the Konemann books, they are "pocket" sized and very well made. At home I'm reading a biography of Antoine de Saint Exupery (just had to go check the spelling on the shop's copy of Wind, Sand and Stars.)

Lately we've had quite a bit of interest in our Little Black Sambo books. We've sold several copies of the new reprint from Applewood books. It's a duplicate of the small format Platt & Munk, which used the same page layout and illustrations as the Lippincott edition. The cover is very glossy, and the illustrations are not quite as clear. Quite a few people seem to offer the Applewoods on Ebay at a premium price while they can be ordered directly from Applewood for around $7. We have some storybooks including the Sambo story with very nice illlustrations by Eualie, Johnny Gruelle and Fern Peat Bisel.

Helped my sister clean out her former husband's apartment after his death last month. She donated most of his books to the Friends of the Lexington public library, a large quantity of some very nice art books and a nice collection of work on music-especially blues and 70's Rock and Roll. There should be some very good values at their next book sale.

Another month rolls around

September is heading out, and the weather had turned to classic fall. Crisp sunny days, cool nights. My brother is coming up from Florida next week and was afraid the heat was staying too long and he wouldn't have any fall color to photograph. We can hope that the leaves start turning now.

Right now I'm reading the Library of America's collection of Edith Wharton stories. I really enjoy the heft and feel of their editions. I also picked up a couple of biographical works on Wharton last time I was at Half Price Books. Maybe I can get to them when the snow flies.

Art shows are still taking up a lot of time, and painting is cutting into reading time. Too bad I have to work for a living as well!

Next weekend is our annual madness here in Metamora--Canal Days. We can keep our fingers crossed that we have weather then like we're having today.

Humane Society Disaster Relief

We'd like to take this opportunity to remind people that family pets have been affected by hurricane Katrina as well. Go to https://secure.hsus.org/01/disaster_relief_fund_2005?source=drfhb4 to donate funds.

Tour de France

The end of the Armstrong Era of the Tour de France. I read in one story that Luke's comment right after this moment on the podium was "Daddy, can we go play now?" Here's hoping that Luke and the twins have many happy years of playing with daddy.

Shop Dog for the weekend

Gryff, the Lil Corgi pup, is shop dog for the weekend while sonandheir visits a friend in Milwaukee. Gryff reports that hanging out with the old folks is pretty boring. And having to deal with all those other dogs at the old homestead is stressful. But he's taking it all in stride. He hears that he should be checking into the Sneaky Pie Brown stories.

Walt Whitman

In the history communique online I found information about a Walt Whitman archive site that is exhaustive.

http://www.whitmanarchive.org

Since Leaves of Grass was first published in July 1855 this year is a significant anniversary and, according to the communique story, has witnessed a resurgence of interest in Whitman.

Great Book Site

I just found a great site for looking up titles and authors. http://www.online-literature.com/

Reading Time

For some reason there seems to be less time to sit and read this year. I don't know if it's the increased pace of the art activity or what to attribute it to. Whatever it is, I'm just not getting much reading done this summer.

In the shop right now I'm working on The Ironing Board by Christopher Morley, a compilation of some of his magazine work. He's an author that I've always enjoyed reading, but definately not a household name. His Parnassus on Wheels and The Haunted Bookshop are probably the only two titles that even get mentioned any more. And then just as novelty items about the book trade.

On the art front. I have work up at Eagle Creek Reservoir for a weekend show. Brother Jim just sent in another box of photos that we need to get prepared for his entries in the Indiana Wildlife Artist show, and I have Open Space (benefiting the RedHawk conservancy) coming up. In August we're setting up at the Art in the Park event in Irvington. In the end of September I'm looking forward to the Postcard show in Rising Sun since they are returning to the paint out format this year.

A Breathing Space

Both 1838 Days and the Hillforest Gala have come and gone, so things are a bit quieter right now. I celebrated by reading a Maeve Binchy this week: Quentins. Not one of her strongest efforts in my opinion. My shop reading right now is One Day at Kitty Hawk, a recounting of the Wright brothers' aeronautical experiments. Not everyone realizes there is an Indiana connection with the Wrights since their father served a church in east central Indiana at one time, they are primarily regarded as Ohio boys.

Lanternguy is reading a Louis L'amour...again.

Thanks to Brian at Monarch Books in North Carolina we were able to order a complete group of the Bazil Broketail books for Sonandheir. His were lost in his fire last year and he was disappointed to find that they were out of print.

Where does the time go?

I finally finished off Alexander Hamilton--Burr shot him and the book ended. Followed by pages of notes and index.

Meanwhile I'm up to about five issues of The New Yorker unread. I signed up for two free courses on BNU, Business Etiquette and the reading group for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I'm not making much progress there either.

Lanternguy is reading Betty Zane by Zane Grey. The founding family of Zanesville, OH presented by the family novelist. We actually have a fair number of people that continue to read Grey's works. Lanternguy owns over fifty of the editions published by Walter Black, and recently we've found there are a couple more out there that we're missing.

Time is also occupied by making clothing for the fast upcoming Celebrate 1838 event that is being inaugarated in Metamora this year, paintings for the Brush with History event that will be benefiting the Hillforest mansion in Aurora, IN.