Village Books Blog

Making Time for Reading in 2012

2012 is almost here, and once again I feel woefully unprepared. As I tear down the Christmas tree and start buying my textbooks for next quarter I can't help but think about New Year's resolutions. This tradition is one I always try to take part in, but generally end up abandoning once the ball drops. In the past I have made lavish claims about giving up soda (but root beer always prevails) or cleaning my room once a week (which my mom can corroborate as a failed mission), but this year I have given a bit more thought as to how I can actually accomplish my goal.

First, I chose JUST ONE resolution to focus my energy on: Reading more.

This may seem kind of vague, but I know exactly how much my “outside” reading has fallen to the wayside since I started at Western Washington University four years ago. With textbooks and articles and novels to read for class, it often takes me upwards of a month to finish even a short book. In 2012, this pattern will end. I have no delusions about reading 100 books in a year or one book a week, I just want to read more nonrequired material. The reason I have not been able to do this in the last few years is because of TIME MANAGEMENT.

I have brainstormed a few ways to make time for reading in 2012, and I hope that these tips can help you to join me in this resolution!

1.    Join “The 12/12/12/ Plan” through Village Books
This might be kind of a shameless plug for my employer, but if you haven't heard of our 12/12/12 plan yet, you can read about it here. To sum it up, the goal is to read 12 books in 12 months in 2012. The real kicker is that you can read ANY BOOK. That means that if May is a crazy month for you, your book could be Goodnight Moon or something else that is relatively unintimidating. You get to be part of a book club, without the risk of reading something you have no interest in.

2.    Combine reading with your other responsibilities
I know what it's like to have a lot to do; I am a full time college student, I work at Village Books, and I have three nephews that frequently need babysitting. My plate is pretty full, but who's to say that reading cannot be integrated into these responsibilities? Instead of letting my nephews throw Legos all over the living room, I can read The Phantom Tollbooth to them. If I read an advanced release book from work, I can contribute my review to the book buyers. Since I consider my social life a responsibility, a book club is a way to combine my resolution with socializing.

3.    Turn off the TV
I'll be honest: I love television. I am one of those people who ALWAYS finishes a book, even if I am not enjoying it. The same goes for TV shows. No matter how much a show has spiraled into stupidity as the seasons go on, I will stick it out to the series finale. Because of this, I have more TV loyalties than I am proud of. So, in 2012 I plan to drop at least one show per night from my schedule (sorry Desperate Housewives, but you're not going to make the cut.) By carving out a few programs, I can add seven hours per week for reading!

4.    Don't force it
The reason resolutions often fail is because they can make us miserable. Some days, after classes and work and homework, all I want to do is lay down and watch Family Guy. As long as I keep my laziness in moderation, there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to give in to it sometimes and ignore my book for a night.

I hope that I helped you consider adding “read more” to your list of resolutions this year. If not, I wish you all luck in your respective goals. Happy New Year!

--Kacie

A Little Something about Missed Connections

It’s no secret that I’m a sap for a good love story (a good one. Not a Nicholas Sparks one.) So when I happened upon the art of Sophie Blackall, my heart swooned. Sophie takes Missed Connections listings and turns them into whimsical illustrations that I want to hug. When I first discovered her art, I went crazy printing out my favorite illustrations and hanging them up in my apartment (they’re still there). I mean, isn't there something beautiful about us unknowingly leaving an impression on a complete stranger?

I had kind of forgotten about Sophie’s work (even though I look at it nearly every day when I walk through my apartment) until I received an adorably wrapped package—brown packaging paper, red & white yard tied carefully around it and only these words on top: Do You Believe in Love at First Sight? Was I, the romantic, intrigued? You better believe it! I opened the package with a care of a 5-year-old on Christmas day (who am I kidding, I'm still that 5-year-old) and voila-lo-and-behold-before-my-very-own-eyes was a copy of Missed Connections: Love, Lost & Found by Sophie Blackall. How did I not know this was being made into a book?! I should have been the first to be alerted! I can’t remember exactly, but I’m pretty sure I “squee-ed” and jumped up and down. Sounds like something I would do.

Point being, Sophie Blackall’s art is now a book. A book that proudly sits on my shelves and that I adore with all my heart and soul. And if you’re not familiar with her artwork, you should check it out. And if you love her art as much as I do and/or are as big of a sap as I am, then you absolutely must check out her book, because it’s such a brilliant little book.

--Lindsey

For more of Lindsey's book picks, click here.

Guest Post by Gary Vaynerchuk: Innovation Is At The Heart of The Thank You Economy

Gary Vaynerchuk is the bestselling author of Crush It!: Why NOW is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion. He will be at the Mount Baker Theatre for a free event on Thursday, March 17, 7:00pm.

 

The reason I’m so excited about and focused on The Thank You Economy is because any entrepreneur or business person that pays attention knows that one thing is consistent -- the game is always changing and moving. I’ve become very passionate about innovation over the course of the last decade and I’ve always prided myself on being early to the game.

When I look back at the start of my career (when I was 12), I began selling baseball cards. I moved on to selling comic books right before that business boomed and, soon after, collectible toys before that market boomed. I wound up leaving baseball cards just as they were on the downside. I like being early.

As I got into my father’s family liquor store business, known now as Wine Library, I became very focused on the regions of Australia and Spain. Most of the world was still focused on the US, Bordeaux, France, and Italy as being the only major wine markets, but I knew what the future held. Wine Library’s “street cred” was built up in a massive way once the main stream critics began jumping on the Aussie & Spanish bandwagons.

Speaking of early, I launched winelibrary.com in 1997. A local liquor store with its own website in 1997 was like me saying to you that I am going all in on augmented reality and selling it 24/7 at this point in time. AR technology is not ready yet and it’s too early to be “early”. The Wine Library website didn’t make a lot of sense to many people, however, it made a lot of sense to me.

The world has frequently seen innovation and mocked or laughed at it many times. It doesn’t matter if it was the television, the telephone, or the radio. All of these platforms have been considered “non-plays” by many people. Another example is the personal computer. The PC was laughed at by a high percentage of people just a few decades ago. The internet, as well, was considered a fad by many, many smart people only 15 years ago.

Now that we’re into the social revolution, which is really just the maturity of the internet itself, I have jumped on and become a voice in this space. It isn’t because I feel everyone needs to be friends or that it will change everybody into better people in 24 minutes. This is clearly the beginning of something huge. It is a crack in the way marketing has been done for the last 100 years. For the last 100 years, businesses and companies have been in the “push” business. They’ve pushed their message and the people that were the most creative had their message consumed and the companies’ products purchased. I believe what social media represents is the first true pull platform that offers the ability for a brand to interact.

What I like to always say is the skill set that it takes to work the room of a cocktail party is a lot different than the skill set needed for a PowerPoint presentation. Social media requires the skills you would use at the party. I believe there is ROI in this. I believe it will be very clear 10 years from now why one-on-one marketing is so important. It’ll be apparent why creating contextual relationships with a consumer leads to lifetime value and real money. This is how I’ve built my brand and this is how I advise my clients at VaynerMedia to go about their business. I think there is a distinct, very real dollar amount to be put on the Twitter conversation that a person has with a toothpaste brand the day before they happen to be at the store and purchase that brand’s product.

Yes, I think the obsession with “follower count” and “like button count” is wrong because I think real fans matter more than the number of fans. I very much believe that we’re living through the humanization of business. We are becoming willing to have human relationships with logos and brands. The businesses and brands that understand how to navigate through those waters the best over the course of the next 10 years will feel the financial benefits. I promise you, that looking back,  the CEO and executive board at Borders really wish that they would have looked at the internet retail business a little bit different back in 2000. I guarantee you that the Blockbuster brain trust wishes they would have understood the way media could be transformed, changed, and delivered differently like Netflix has.

I’m completely convinced that there will be case studies and obvious victories showing the value of social media and social media marketing. These facts will take longer to appear since this new revolution is definitely a marathon run, not a sprint. People are going to start putting dollar values on these engagements very quickly. They will understand we're in the dawn of one-on-one marketing. One-on-one marketing is hard and it isn’t very attractive, but it is very much scalable if you reallocate your funds from the traditional platforms of advertising. It’s time to focus on what really matters and what matters is the end user.

Guest Blog Post: Nikki McClure

Olympia, WA artist, Nikki McClure is known for her intricate and beautiful paper cuts. Her latest book is Mama, Is It Summer Yet? We are pretty much giddy that she will be at Village Books on Thursday, May 13, 7:00pm.

“Mama, Is It Summer Yet?”, my son asked one sunny day in March.

A book was my reply.

This book of papercut images illustrates the quiet signals that spring is giving way to summer. There is a hint of summer in a frosty morning, a promise in the swelling of a bud. For a child, summer is now part of the pattern of living. Each summer further establishes the pattern. This is life. Life holds winter. Life holds summer.

This book is also my reply to “Can we get strawberries?” one sunny day in March. Strawberries warmed by the sun, picked with bare toes hidden in the cool shade of the leaves happens when summer is here. That is when strawberries are eaten.

The rhythm of the seasons and the foods we feast on each season connect us to patterns millions of years old. The strawberries may be bigger now as we have coaxed the plants to bear heavy fruit, but the taste of sweet berry ripened by midsummer’s sun has always been the answer.

I worked on this book last spring, trying to time my images to what was unfolding around me. I would get ahead of the orbiting Earth and then have to wait for the apple tree to leaf out before I could begin again. The last few pictures were sketched with my son on my lap as we waited for the strawberries to ripen. He was the patient one.

I am working on my next book this spring. “To Market” is about the food we get from the farmer’s market every week. I visited the places and people who make my food possible. These are farmers with dirty hands and tattoos. It has been an exciting project to interview the resourceful people who make my food and I feel lucky to be able to roam around their fields, bakeries, and barns. Hopefully it will encourage families to explore the sources of their food and meet the people who grow their kale, smoke the salmon, cure the cheese. Once the processes are known, then it becomes possible to make cheese yourself and poke some kale seeds in the ground and see what happens! You will meet wonderful and interesting people as well: the makers and farmers of your sustenance. It has been a delicious exploration for me as I craft this next book.

What VB Staff is Looking Forward to in 2010

We’re mere inches away from a new year, so we thought it’d be fun to give you a glimpse into our lives and share with you some of the things we’re looking forward to in 2010. Enjoy!

Dave: I dunno about resolutions. I really would like to send out some cool arty postcards that stop people dead when they open their mailboxes.

Nan: In the new year, I'm looking forward to riding my bike more as the days get longer again, and to reading Greg Mortenson's new book, Stones into Schools.

Laura: I'm looking forward to reading a novel called The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli coming out at the end of March. It's the story of a young woman photojournalist working in Vietnam during the war-should be interesting!

Donna: In the New Year I am looking forward to buying and reading Jung's Red Book. Of course it will take longer than a year...

DeeDee: In 2010 I will read as many books about the brain as possible, starting with Why We Love: The Nature & Chemistry of Romantic Love by Helen Fisher.

Rem: In the New Year I'm looking forward to breaking out my keyboard from the closet!

Alex: A book that I'm excited to read this coming year is Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis... comes out in June--totally stoked!

Dee: My 2010 goal is to read 100 books.

Marie: I am looking forward to reading The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (Girl w/ the dragon tattoo third book).

Jonica: This year I am looking forward to reading Kim Stanley Robinson's newest book Galileo's Dream (it will be published in the spring, I think).

Lindsey: I’m looking forward to playing more piano, drinking even more white chocolate mochas and painting over the hideous slime green walls of my bathroom. Who would choose that color for a bathroom?? Oh, wait, I would. And oh yeah! The Pavement reunion!

Sheri: I'm looking forward to reading Where the Rivers Change Direction by Mark Spragg and telling people about an amazing memoir called Claiming Ground by Laura Bell. Also, sleeping with a dog.

Chuck: I've heard so much about Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann that it's on top of my New Year's reading pile.

Jory: The only book I am really excited to read that I know is coming out is...Notes on the Sexual Underground, 1935-1975: The Selected Writings of Sam Steward Edited by Justin Spring

Sarah: Ok, I don't even know if this counts or not, but I am looking forward to (read “absolutely deliriously beside myself”) to meet John Green this March. He's going to be a part of the Children's Conference at Western and I think he is one of the best things going on in YA. I'm going to try not to go all fangirl on him but looking at my previous record (Brian Selznick, Jay Asher), my hopes for my own composure are not particularly high.

Cindi: My new year's resolution is to spend 20 minutes every day working on my creative writing projects, no matter what! A book(s) I want to read in 2010 = Shakespeare plays. Why? My husband, Rob, & I will read them aloud to each other as a couple-project.

I Simply Don't Care...Unless I Win

The National Book Awards were announced last night and the winners are:

Fiction: Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (Woo-hoo!)

Nonfiction: The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T. J. Stiles

Young people's literature: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose

Poetry: Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy by Keith Waldrop

I don't know how much book awards dictate your book selections. I know for me that book awards don't dictate my book selections. If I want to read a book, I'm going to read a book. And if I don't want to read a book, I don't care who is telling me I should read it, I'm simply not going to read it (unless I suddenly end up back in college where my grade in Practical Criticism pends on my knowledge of and ability to interpret Mrs. Dalloway in at least three different literary analyses ranging from Marxist crit to feminist crit). Even though I don't read what the awards committees tell me to read, I'm still intrigued enough to follow their selections and find out who the winners are. The Man Booker Prize, the National Book Awards, the Newbery, the Caldecott, the list goes on and on. Rarely have I read any of the finalists for these awards, let alone the winners. So what does that mean? Is my taste in books not refined enough? Is my eye for good writing not discerning enough? I mean, I'm apparently pompous enough to think that House of Leaves is a mind-blowing interactive read (if you ever want to hear about my creepy experience reading this book, stop in and I'll tell you), but also lowbrow enough to think Bitter with Baggage Seeks Same is one of the funniest things since Peanut Butter Jelly Time. All that being said, when a book I have read appears on an awards list, I suddenly become the proud parent--"That's my baby! I always knew she'd go places!" Suddenly I feel like I'm in the know--"Oh that old book? Yeah, I read it, like, 6 months ago. Oh? You haven't read it yet? Well, you are absolutely missing out." So when I saw that Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin won for fiction, I was elated. It's such an underrated book. Great concept: It's 1974 and Philippe Petit is walking the tightrope between the Twin Towers. While the crowds gather below, we are told the stories of a handful of characters who are either hearing about or witnessing this feat. I've been plugging this book for months and maybe now will be its time to shine. My little baby has been given the recognition she deserves. Oh? You haven't read it yet? Well, you are absolutely missing out.

-Lindsey

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

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.

 

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