Village Books Blog

When the Words Won't Come Out Right

This week, Village Books welcomes guest blogger and author Amy Foster. Amy's debut novel is When Autumn Leaves, which is now available. Her first foray into writing was as a lyricist for songs by Josh Grobin, Michael Buble, and Andrea Bocelli. She will be at Village Books on Friday, November 13, 7:00pm.

I really used to think that I had it down when it came to words. Before I started writing seriously, I did some serious reading. And then after I became a lyricist, I was able to manipulate the language to such a degree that it often felt like I was playing Sudoku with words. You have 14 syllables to say "I really miss you" (in an interesting way) and it has to rhyme with "eh." Plug it in. When I started writing fiction, I learned that writing without context, as one must with lyrics, served me well. I could say more in a single sentence, then some writers say in a page. Basically I thought I was pretty darn clever.

Then, I began to do publicity for When Autumn Leaves, my first novel. My trial by fire began with Canada AM (Canada's version of the Today Show). I did a lot of hair flipping and nervous laughter, but the words did not come as easily as they used to. In fact, many of them literally flew out of my mouth without even passing my brain first. My book is not complicated. It's easy to read, and meant to be fun and escapist. But I still have yet to master the perfect pitch for it. After I end up explaining the premise, it sounds a lot more complex than it really is. And more than a couple times, I accidentally implied my father was illiterate. Oops.

And then there are the radio tours. You begin at 4 a.m. and do literally 20 in a row. Half the time I have no clue what I'm saying. Am I even speaking English? I went back and listened to the last one I did, the last after 15 before. I go from being this smart, interesting, fairly articulate person to a someone whose air time is filled with "Ummmms," "I means," "I feel likes" and "I guess." 

Being able to write, even under pressure is one thing, being articulate at a dinner party or a fancy function is another. But being articulate after a 12 hour press day, or on your 25th interview--that is a whole different bag. I don't know if I'll ever master that one. People in the press and elsewhere have said my ditziness is charming. Ditzy? I'm not ditzy! I'm nervous and tired. So just when I believed I had the whole word thing down, I have to start all over again. I want people to find me interesting and accessible, but I don't want to come off as stupid. Now I find I need an entirely new language to deal with this entirely new set of parameters. More words, but a different arrangement. I'm hoping it's just practice and a question of getting used to it. Fingers crossed.

What's Love Got to Do With It?

This Saturday, November 7th is the first annual National Bookstore Day--a day devoted to bookselling around the country. What does that have to do with you? Well, first off, we're celebrating it by having a 10% storewide sale and giveaways (woo-hoo)! Second, I ask that you take a moment to seriously consider what Bellingham would be like if we lost Village Books or Henderson or Michael's or Eclipse or any of our other local bookstores. Sure, if Village Books closed, I'd be out a job, but I would find another one. I have more invested in this store than that, though. When I moved back to Bellingham from North Carolina this past May, I returned to Village Books (I was the Events Coordinator prior to heading to the East Coast). Many people questioned my decision of returning to VB, asking if I felt like I was backpedaling. My answer was (and still is) a resounding "no." Although my job in NC was in book publishing, I so badly missed the atmosphere of the bookstore. I missed knowing what other books were out there, I missed having access to all those books, I missed being part of something so closely tied to the community and so willing to let staff run with their creativity. I was elated when Chuck and Dee so warmly welcomed me back.

Bookstores are quirky and the staff tends to be even quirkier (you should see what a bookselling conference is like. Let's just say some of my favorite memories are with booksellers...and let's be thankful those memories weren't captured on film). Even amid the great migration toward Kindles and Sony Readers and the declarations that "books are dead," I love this business. I hope all of you know how fortunate we are to have Chuck & Dee heading up this crazy ride known as Village Books. Instead of digging their feet in and refusing to change their ways, they reinvent the store over and over and over again (see: Espresso Book Machine and the soon-to-be-introduced Symtio e-books). In a time when indie bookstores are crashing all around us, Bellingham still has Village Books (and Henderson, Michael's, Eclipse, et als.) So, even though Saturday is a day to celebrate bookstores, I see it as a way to celebrate perseverance in an industry that is so volatile. GoooOOOOO BOOKSTORES!

-Lindsey

On Eating Animals

The latest book I'm taking on is Jonathan Safran Foer's latest, Eating Animals. Those of you who know me know that I may be a weensy obsessed with Foer's fiction. Although I'm a strict fiction reader, I had to delve into his nonfiction book about, well, eating animals. When Foer and his wife (Nicole Krauss--The History of Love--are they a power couple or what?!) learned they were having a baby, they really began evaluating their lives--in particular, their eating habits. What sort of habits would they want to pass on to their child? They both came to the conclusion that perhaps this was the perfect time to stop their occasional vegetarian ways and instead go all the way. Eating Animals is the result of Foer's desire to understand why they were making that decision. Thus far the book is an interesting take on vegetarianism (something I don't practice). For example, when I read a book about vegetarianism, written by a vegetarian, I don't expect the author to give an extremely convincing argument on why we should eat dogs (don't worry, I'm not going to eat my dog. Or yours, for that matter). Yet, early on in the book I was facing just that argument. It caught me off guard, and let my guard down that I was going to spend the next 300 pages reading a fire and brimstone sermon on why I'm wrong for being a meateater. Some of the matter is, of course, shocking in its imagery, as we all are aware of the horrific practices of slaughterhouses and factory farming. Much of it is informative. And Foer's style still prevails even in his nonfiction (woo-hoo!) I will always eat meat and I'm ok with that. We'll just have to see if any of my unwise practices as a meateater change after I finish this book. I'm certainly aware of what I do wrong, but will I be moved enough to take action, or will I simply feel like I've just been dealt a major guilt-trip? That's yet to be determined, but it has at least got me thinking and that's better than nothing, right?

-Lindsey

Crank it Down to 350!

Last year one of the world's foremost climatologists, James Hansen of NASA, stated that 350 parts per million is the safe upper limit of co2 in the atmosphere. Hansen then put it bluntly, "above 350ppm co2 we can't have a planet similar to the one on which civilization developed or to which life on earth has adapted."  Here's the deal: we surpassed this number in the 80s and are now pushing 390. Scientists are realizing that climate change is happening at a much faster rate than anticipated. What this means is more severe weather (fires, floods, droughts) spread of mosquito-borne diseases, warming of the oceans, and list goes on. This December, world leaders will meet in Copenhagen, Denmark to craft a new global treaty on cutting emissions. The problem is, the treaty currently on the table doesn't meet the severity of the climate crisis -- it doesn't pass the 350 test. 

Bill McKibben -- author, environmentalist, activist -- and his cohorts started 350.org whose aim is to tattoo this number 350 into the hearts and minds of everyone on the planet. It's more than a number -- it's a symbol of where we need to head as a planet.  According to McKibben we're beyond just changing our lightbulbs and recycling; we need deeper more fundamental changes soon and a big part of that is an international agreement. 350.org decided that rather than everyone converging on the D.C. (and other world capitols) spewing carbon all the way, why not have creative local actions in our own communities to get the word out. So next Saturday, October 24 is the International Day of Action. There are already over 2400 actions registered on the website from over 150 countries! The idea is to lift our voices and show our faces for the biggest grassroots environmental action that the world has seen.

Here in Bellingham we are going to bringing back the best of the 80s (when we were at 350) with an 80s dance spectacle like you've never seen. Converge downtown between the market and Boundary Bay at 1pm in your best 80s gear (or just come as you are if you're still diggin' that decade). We'll get the group photo to send to 350.org and Copenhagen and then BBay will be hosting a 350 party in the Beer Garden with $3.50 pints. More info can be found at www.re-sources.org. There are a couple other Bham events that you can check out here: Bham 350 events.   

I also want to recommend to you any and all of Bill McKibben's writing. He's an eloquent everyday essayist. He wrote The End of Nature -- the first major book on global warming in 1989. In his book Hope, Human and Wild he questions our American assumption of growth at all costs by taking us on a journey to learn from the wisdom of Kerala, India and Curtiba, Brazil. He examines how in Kerala, India they have the same high literacy rate, same low birth rate, same life expectancy, on less than a dollar a day.

His more recent book Deep Economy highlights the importance of having a vital local community and economy. This is the future. I believe that as we find ourselves seemingly constrained by the worsening money economy, we actually have an opportunity to tap our creativity to discover the abundance of our land, our ideas, and our people.

 ~David Westerlund 

 

David Westerlund was raised on Ida Reds and MacIntoshes in Upstate New York. Since moving to Bellingham four years ago he finds himself gravitating towards places where people, ideas, and laughter come together. He enjoys concocting ginger-mushroom peanut sauce and ideas for more local children's books featuring his daughter Simone. (www.faceandfood.com)

To listen to a September interview with Bill Mckibben go here: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/09/bill-mckibben-treehugger-radio-podcast.php

To learn more about Blog Action Day, visit their website: blogactionday.org/

Oh the Horror! An Interview with Chad Helder

Chad Helder is the Stoker Award-winning editor of Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet (Dark Scribe Press 2008), an anthology of queer horror fiction, which he co-edited with Vince Liaguno. Helder's first book of poetry, Pop-Up Book of Death, will be published by Queer Mojo Press, an imprint of Rebel Satori. He is currently working on a new collection of horror poetry for Dark Scribe Press.  He is also the creator and writer of Bartholomew of the Scissors (Bluewater 2008), a comic book miniseries with art by Daniel Crosier. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Jory Mickelson: You recently won a Bram Stoker award for your anthology Unspeakable Horror, tell me more about that.

Chad Helder: The Stoker award was for category “Superior Achievement in an Anthology.” I co-edited it with Vince, the founder of Dark Scribe Press. It was the press’ first book. That was pretty exciting. 

In June, I attended the Horror Writer’s Association convention in Burbank, CA and they had the awards ceremony there. There was a big dinner in a ballroom. It was very Emmy-esque. Our presenter was Ellen Datlow, probably the world’s greatest anthologist. It was a huge honor.

JM: Are you editing anything now? You have worked on several different projects in the past.

CH: I am not editing anymore; I am just writing poetry. The submission period for Unspeakable Horror started in the fall of 2007 and ended in May of 2008. I was reading 35 stories a month for it. We managed to but the book together by December 2008. That was it for me editing. I am not writing comic books right now either. I am working on a collection of horror poetry for Dark Scribe Press and have about 60 pages of poems. I need to get going on it if I am going to meet my deadline.

JM: Can you define horror poetry?

CH: Horror poetry is poetry that uses subtexts and borrowed images from the horror genre. My stuff tends to be very surreal and postmodern, in the sense that it consciously borrows from horror movies.  My poems want to be horror movies. I also use my dreams as a source for my poems. I dream about monsters from the horror genre.

I think that you have to be careful. If you Google “horror poetry” you will find a lot of stuff on the Internet. A lot of it can be really bad. The same thing happens if you search for love poetry online.  When poetry is awesome, it is awesome, no matter what the genre or theme is. Sylvia Plath wrote a poem with vampire overtones. I really love Plath.

Read the entire interview here.

If you would like to hear Chad read from his work, he will be appearing on the Chuckanut Radio Hour on October 13^th at 6:30pm at the Leopold Crystal Ballroom. Tickets are available at Village Books or www.brownpapertickets.com  You can also visit Chad’s website Unspeakable Horror at  http://unspeakablehorror.com/

Jory Mickelson is a VB Bookseller and is the blogger behind Literary Magpie.

 

Half the Sky

Many women around the world have no dreams. None. Can you imagine that? Thirteen-year-old women are raped and then expected to marry their rapists. Young girls with fistula are left alone in huts at the edge of villages to die. Young women are sold into sex slavery and encouraged to become addicts. The list goes on ...

But when women in the world are empowered there is less violence in the world. When impoverished young girls are educated their lives become better and they in turn help others in their communities.  These are some of the amazing things I learned after reading Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, a book that describes many horrors perpetuated against women, but also offers solutions and ways for anyone to get involved.

--Sheri

The sensual pleasure of food

The texture. The bite. The aroma. Not to mention that my dog, Sam, likes to park himself on a rug in the kitchen and watch me cook, that is when I make it up from the couch where I'm reading about exquisite pastries that make me want to get up and bake them or wander into one of Bellingham's great bakeries.

Here are some of my favorite books to read and peruse when I want to cook, bake, or just luxuriate in the possibilities of what I could pop into my mouth.

Confections of a Closet Master Baker by Gesine Bullock-Prado

Babycakes by Erin McKenna

Frank Stitt's Bottega Favorita by Frank Stitts

America's Best Lost Recipes by Cook's Country Magazine

Food and Booze: A Tin House Literary Feast


--Sheri

Start 'em young!

As a bookseller and book lover, I can be a bit of a book pusher. I thrive on getting people their reading fix. Mostly, the folks I deal with at the store are adults--people who are set in their reading ways. They've already developed their love or like of reading, which is why they're buying books (or so I hope. Maybe they're not actually readers, but are fueling the bibliophile fires of a friend or family member. Either way is fine by me). As book lovers, we should focus on the little tykes. They're impressionable!

A story for you: When my niece was born nearly eight years ago, I wondered if she was going to be a reader. It was the first time in my life that I put any thought into how you form someone into a reader. I put that weight on my shoulders. I wanted her to love reading as much as I do, so I was going to have to serve as an example to my niece. I began buying her books--squishy ones, fuzzy ones, touch and feel-ey sort of stuff (that I secretly loved playing with as well). As she learned to walk, she'd lug over gigantic board books, dragging them across the floor with the ultimate goal of sitting in my lap and pointing to the pictures while I read to her. Older still, she would sit with Highlights magazine (do you believe they still print Highlights?!) and, in slow, stumbling, incredibly focused speech, read me stories about hedgehogs and butterflies. With each of these moments, my mind raced with what was happening: she was becoming a reader! I was witnessing the process of someone learning to love the written word! That was INSANELY COOL!

Just as my niece was reaching a prime reading ability, I moved across the country. In the two years I was gone, a gap formed and I lost touch with seeing her progress. When I moved back this last May, I wasn't sure what I'd return to. I knew that she had become a part of the Disney culture (Hannah Montana!) and knew that she was still reading, but I didn't know to what extent. Slowly, though, I've seen that she hasn't lost her touch. It wasn't until the other day when she asked me to take her to the library to pick up some books she had on hold that I truly melted as an aunt and a book lover. When we walked in, she ran down the steps to the children's department, right to the holds section, and knelt down, going through the alphabet until she found her name. "Here, can you hold this?" she asked as she grabbed a book and handed it to me. "This one too, please. And this one." Six books later, we walked away from the holds, directly over to the computers, "I want to see if they have the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid in," she said. They didn't, so she just put a hold request in for it. Soon enough, another book would be waiting for her.

Was this love of reading already built into her DNA? Or did I contribute to it? I certainly hope it's the latter. That would mean I helped raise a reader. That means we can raise readers! Wow, right?! We can teach the love of reading like we can teach someone to ride a bike or knit! Awesome!

Another story: The other night I went over to my sister's for a quick visit. "Where's the little one?" I asked. Without skipping a beat, my sister replied, "In her room reading." I love it.

-Lindsey

I Say Poetry and Then Your Eyes Glaze Over

Maybe poetry went wrong for you in high school. Perhaps an English teacher decided to start unraveling Shakespeare like the Da Vinci Code, until it resembled a complicated algebra problem...hexameter. No, I mean iambic!

Somewhere in being taught how to dissect a poem to reveal its "meaning" poetry became nebulous--a dangerous sea for amateurs to navigate alone. I admit it; I felt the same way for a long time. Even though I like poetry now, it can still be murky, confusing or just plain weird.

In 1957 the linguist Noam Chomsky introduced the sentence, "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously." He wanted to illustrate even though a sentence can be grammatically correct, it can fail to make sense. He called this a "category mistake," but I say the sentence was a poetic success.

If we can set aside our need for intellectual clarity (meaning) and our fear of not being able to hear how many metrical feet are in a line, maybe we can learn to enjoy poetry for its own sake, colorless greens and all.

My favorite poems open me to new possibilities and shock me with their exciting use of language. Poetry when it is good lifts me out of myself, if only for a moment. Let me leave you with a poem by Ted Kooser from his book Winter Morning Walks: 100 Postcards to Jim Harrison.


Jan 26

overcast, cold and still

A hundred yards ahead

a coyote crosses the road at a lope,

stops on a rise, looks back,

runs on. It is less like

the shape of an animal running

than the shape of something flying.

When I get to the place where I saw it,

no tracks in the snow.

--Jory

Jory is a new addition to VB. His blog is Literary Magpie and you can read it here: http://jorymickelson.blogspot.com/

But Does It Contain Wizards?

I recently told a friend that I had begun reading The Magicians by Lev Grossman and he replied "Do let me know what you think of the book, from your perspective not steeped in sf/fantasy." He's right. I typically . . . mostly . . . alright 98% of the time cannot stand sci-fi/fantasy. That's most evident when sheer panic arises when I'm approached by a customer and asked to recommend something from that section. I tried reading the first Harry Potter. I really did. It just wasn't for me. Actually, I'm so resistant to those genres (they are two separate ones, correct? Kidding! I'm kidding! I think.) that when my friend introduced even the possibility of The Magicians being fantasy, my opinion changed. Do I really want to read this? Even as I carry on through the book, I find myself asking, "Is this too much fantasy for me? Am I getting my usual sci-fi/fantasy heebie-jeebies?" To be fair, though (perhaps I need to whisper this): I am enjoying the book. There, I said it. I AM ENJOYING THE MAGICIANS!  Actually, I'm finding myself as intrigued with the story as I was while reading The Secret History (now THERE'S an amazing book!) This inner conflict ("I hate this genre, but I like this book") has me thinking--what have I missed out on by closing myself off from certain types of books? What amazing pieces of writing exist that, simply because of a dragon or perhaps a robot alien thingy on the cover, I have overlooked? I mean, perhaps I don't need to delve into The Wheel of Time series, but maybe it wouldn't hurt to check out American Gods. Don't hold me to that, though. I'm not ready to commit. I mean, I love zombie reads. That counts for something, right? But my endeavor with The Magicians does beg the question: What have I been missing? And really, I suppose, the same could be asked of you.

--Lindsey