Village Books Blog

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

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

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

The Anti-Aging Process

Recently I've found myself involved in numerous conversations about favorite children's books. Perhaps these talks are the result of the surge in young adult fiction (most recently, of course, being the Twilight series). One thing I've noticed--bringing up kid's books with a group of adults causes an immensely different reaction than say, bringing up religion or politics. Rather than heated arguments, people let out exclamations of "Oh my god! I LOVE that book!" or get wide-eyed with excitement and wave their arms wildly, practically jumping up and down like a 5-year-old (maybe that's just showing the true maturity of my friends). Now that I think about it, these recent conversations are the result of the upcoming release of Where the Wild Things Are (Chills! Chills, I tell you, from the trailer alone! SO excited for the movie!) A beloved book of so many of our own youths is being made into what looks to be an amazing movie. Huzzah! My absolutely favorite kid's book is and always will be The Monster at the End of This Book, narrated by none other than Grover. Know this one? If not, you need to set aside 2 minutes to read it (plus you can say you read an entire book today). My mom used to read this book to me, doing the most fantastic Grover impression she could conjure. And no matter how many times we came to find out who the monster at the end of the book was (I won't spoil it for you), I still held my breath as the brick wall crashed down and the ropes shredded apart at the turn of each page. And my mom, such an amazing mom she is, would be just as shocked as I was when the monster was revealed. I get so excited when I sell someone that book. I tell them my own story and, quite often, they've had a similar experience as a child. Few things can so quickly transport adults back to their childhood like their favorite book as a child. Think about it--what is your favorite children's book? Do you remember how you felt when you read your favorite book as a child? Are you smiling right now just thinking about it? When is the last time you sat down and read ________? Maybe today's a good day.

--Lindsey

The Layman's Health Care Guide

The other day, a customer called up and wanted to know if there was just a general book for the lay reader that explained the US Health Care system. Seeing as how we are in the middle of a national debate on the subject, I took a look for something similar to Sowell's Basic Economics - a general text for the lay person on a very important subject.  But what did I find? Nothing! Zip! Zilch! A thousand memoirs of doctors, a dozen angry diatribes about some specific problem with the system or a conspiracy of right-wingers/socialists to turn us into Cuba...but no basic "HEALTH CARE FOR DUMMIES" or "COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO THE US HEALTH CARE SYSTEM." What I did find were several $300 text books for nursing and pre-med students.

 

Surely there must be some book out there that explains the role of insurance in pooling risk, the difference between a hospital and a clinic, who licenses whom and why, the current state of malpractice law, and so on...Isn't there?

--Andrew

Summer Reading

There seems to be no lack of summer reading lists around--NPR, nearly every newspaper, well, just about everybody has one.  There's a lot of great stuff on those summer lists but, I was particularly struck by the "How I'll Spend My Summer Vacation" blog post by VB's own Dave Wheeler.  His list has a special twist.

Remembering Greg Palmer

I admired and enjoyed Greg Palmer long before I met him.  He did funny features on KING TV and, back in the days when I watched TV, Greg was one of my favorites (check out The Best of Greg Palmer).  My respect and admiration for him grew immensely when I met him in our store after the publication of his book, Adventures in the Mainstream: Coming of Age With Down Syndrome, a book about the experiences of his son Ned and his challenges and adjustments when he completed high school.  Ned is a remarkable human being and Greg, as revealed both in the book and in person, interacting with his son, was a wonderful father.  The book is now, unfortunately, out of print.  More recently Greg published a memoir of growing up on Mercer Island and working as a short order cook, Cheese Deluxe.  It's a wonderfully warm and hilariously funny book of the mid-60's.  He graduated from high school in 1965, as did I, and, though we grew up nearly 2000 miles apart, we might well have lived in the same neighborhood during the last innocent era. Greg died this morning of lung cancer.  Though I didn't know him well, I will miss him and, the world will miss a great talent and wonderful human being. 

Learn more about Greg Palmer.