Happy 2010!

As Carolyn attempts to close inventory for the year/decade and he who shall not be named cleans up for the New Year, we at Books on First wish everyone the very best for 2010!

Je Pense Bien a Toi

(If somebody can show me how to put French letters on a blog...)

Yes, we're back in the U. S. of A. We spent a lot of time in the airport due to weather on our side and heightened security measures on the Canadian side.

Toronto is a good place to visit, probably even a better place to live, but we are glad to be back. We have a lot of catching up to do, besides Carolyn's manic attempt to close Books on First's fiscal year properly.

A certain person who shall remain nameless but not faceless has read all about privacy issues online (along with privacy issues of a full body scan -- what is that compared to being patted down and your purse manually searched before reaching your gate?) and has declared that he does not want to be mentioned at all in this blog. "But, but, but, you are the FACE of Books on First!" Apparently, he will leave that all to the boss of us, Brenda Spratt.

Just a quick run through of Toronto points of interest:

• The Rex Hotel on Queen Street W-- live music from 3pm to closing, no cover until 9:30pm
  
• Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at Royal Ontario Museum (which has reciprocity with Art Institute of Chicago) -- too bad we did not have opportunity to see Part I and now Part II ends on 3 January 2010
• Exhibit on Vanity Fair magazine at Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) -- I was very interested to discover that it did not exist for about a half century, merging with Vogue in 1935 due to decline in ad revenue (after all, it was the height of Great Depression) and re-emerging in 1981. Annie Leibovitz, more closely associated with The Rolling Stone magazine, has been with the periodical since 1983 and was a significant influence on its look in the new incarnation, but is not the only famous or talented photographer associated with Vanity Fair. Of course, in the old incarnation, readers may remember that Edward Steichen is closely associated with Vanity Fair, also, after he was already renowned for his paintings and fine art photographs.
  
• Distillery District -- the only designated Historic District in Toronto, which represents the old Gooderham & Worts (G&W Whiskey) mill, distillery and acetone factory (yes, let's think about that for a moment)
• Marjolyn van der Hart who has a studio in the Case Goods Warehouse at the Distillery which houses many artists' studios, both visual and performing, whose work we discovered and loved on sight
• "The Bay" -- Hudson Bay Trading Company founded in 1670, on Queen Street, focus of protests against fur trade, not far from the
  
• Old City Hall
  
• Rodney's Oyster House on King Street W -- the most incredible oysters on a half shell, some knowledgeable staff (one named Rodney), and not far from the Spadina cable car stop
• mass transit system including subway, buses and electric cable cars
  
• The Biggest Bookstore in the World just off Yonge St in shopping area near Eaton Centre -- reminds us why we (Books on First) exist
• "Chinatown" that is massive, looks to be larger than Hong Kong with green grocers selling an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables which tempted us with good looks and not-bad prices
• Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) which currently has the travelling King Tut exhibit, but also has a special exhibit on Alexander Calder (including the circus film) and on Edward Steichen (with the same film clip of his working as a Vanity Fair editor that the ROM has for the Vanity Fair exhibit).
  

At my weekday gig (Fantasy Diamond Corp), while we have shop shutdown between Christmas & New Year's (known in Toronto retail terms as "Boxing Week"), many of the office personnel (customer service, accounting, sales & marketing, operations, IT) would still be around, so I had warned colleagues that my mobile would be turned off as I would be out of the country. People expected I'd be in Cabo, Mexico, or London, not what one of my bosses called "the 51st State." While the tendency is to see Canada as an extension of the USA, especially in most parts in which a form of English is the main spoken & written language, there are some signs which point directly to "Not in Kansas Anymore."

The ADA -- Americans with Disabilities Act -- has not reached Canada. The public washrooms are located usually one flight down a dim & narrow stairway in the basement, and very, very clean. Some are "spotless," as Larry would say, and all have adequate amounts of toilet paper (not something I can say of a few fairly "upscale" bars & restaurants in Chicago). We began judging just how handicapped inaccessible a restroom is. We had gone to a very large brewpub, which had three levels and a number of dining areas which the establishment can close off or open up as patronage demanded. On the first floor, there were just a number of signs that read, "Washrooms Upstairs." Larry returned from the men's with the comment, "They really outdid themselves here. You have to go up not one but two flights before going down another set of stairs to get to the restrooms." In order not to embarrass the other restaurants, we will not name that one here on this blog, although you can probably guess, if you know anything about the brewpubs located in Toronto (I believe there are three, and we visited two).

In order to combat wastefulness, inadvertent pollution and who knows, widespread choking of polar bears, the City of Toronto, if not some larger governmental agency, requires that an establishment charge 5 cents for a plastic bag, even accompanying a purchase. That's not generally a problem for us (Carolyn of the 'reduce, reuse, recycle' notoriety), but the one time that we said, we're going to have to ask for a plastic bag, the shop does not even have any plastic bags to offer us.

Also, it seems like almost every eatery in Toronto must offer wings on the menu, by the pound. I do not kid. And, that "lb" is not uniform. One waiter said that a pound of wings means eight wings and another one said, a pound is equal to ten wings. Of course, I don't expect all wings to be the same size; it just makes ordering a little difficult. What if you had 5 people sitting down for some appetizers? Do you go to where the kitchen believes a pound of wings means ten and order pounds of wings, so that everyone may get an equal number? We do want to mention a ten wings/pound place on College called Duff's which is actually an American import from Buffalo, NY, which on its menu has it the other way around: "10 Wings (one pound)."

Also, while people were hardpressed to tell us about true Canadian/Toronto fare, I did note that almost all menus with wings also had poutine. This example of local delicacy is described as fries with cheese on top smothered with brown gravy. In the spirit of taking one for the team, despite my rather strict (per Larry) low cholesterol diet, I ate as much as I could stomach at the Toronto Pearson Airport when Larry decided to agree with me that we had to have some before we left and bought me a paper plate piled high with poutine a mere ten minutes before our boarding the plane for the flight home. I suppose though it's similar to having a Philly cheesesteak sandwich at the Phillies stadium (to save time, I won't research the true name -- isn't/wasn't it called Memorial Stadium?), you can't judge a poutine by one you get at the airport. I still don't know how to pronounce the name and Larry said he just mumbled something like "pontoon" and the woman behind the counter seemed to know what he wanted.

Happy Christmas to All and to All, a Good Night

It's not yet midnight as I begin this post (goodness knows when I'll publish it!).

It is in fact not yet 6:30pm Central Time. Books on First has been officially closed over 2 hours ago and Larry has been on the road for about a half hour. He looks forward to homemade BBQ Pork Lo Mein (the dish, not the pork) as well as jello with fruit in it (bring your own whipped cream) and burnt, hard-as-a-rock oatmeal raisin cookies -- his favs.

Our Christmas gift to each other is a trip to Toronto, beginning 9am on Boxing Day, with a flight on Jazz, whichI believe is a regional feeder for Air Canada. We booked on Air Canada, but look forward to this interesting aspect of airlines today. I am wondering why a flight from Chicago to Toronto does not warrant a regular Air Canada flight, but maybe not many Chicagoans want to go to Toronto and vice versa, making it a prime candidate for Jazz Airlines. I have never really walked this city which I am told is very cosmopolitan and look forward to all the culture to be absorbed. Of course, we will seek out bookstores, coffeeshops and live music venue as we can. Larry is handling the research on this, so he's got the Toronto Book of Everything ("The book the locals buy!). I took a look at the book, which is a real browser-trivial pursuit type of reference. Just tell me where the bookstores and coffeeshops are. An index, an index, my kingdom for an index!

I donated to USO today in memory of Frances Dunphy, who served in the Coast Guard during WWII. Did you know that the USO is not part of the Federal government and needs donations just like any other private not-for-profit? Books for Babes did very well this year, thanks to the generosity of Books on First customers and we were able to buy nearly $200 of mittens, scarves and hats for the children with a portion of the proceeds from purchases for this program. Everyone in this time of economic bottoming has been very caring of those in the community, whatever that community may be defined. Let us all continue to remember our community, now and throughout the year.

Happy Christmas, everyone! And to all, a good night.

Some Mysteries III

James Church is the nom de plume for a "former Western intelligence officer with experience in Asia."
My only experience with anything North Korean was a classmate in my "homeroom"/core class while at Beijing Language Institute. He was a quiet man whose dress reminded me of Mormon missionaries. When not in class, he was always with at least one but usually two other countrymen who were also studying Chinese language. They would walk along in black trench coats, looking very serious. Once our teacher invited everyone for a class party at his apartment in the staff housing building. That was the first time we were able to have some meaningful social conversation and actually saw our North Korean laugh. We never did talk deeply about politics or what he could or could not do. He must have been very politically correct to be able to go study in China.

So, one can't tell the authenticity of this former Western intelligence agent's descriptions of how things work in Pyongyang. Yet, this is a work of fiction and I don't have that little bit of knowledge that would spoil a good yarn (don't get me started again on writers' lack of research and confirmation of facts!) and I really enjoyed Inspector O's style and attitude in life.

The Last Weekend Before Christmas

25 Dec falls on Friday this year, less than a week from today.

Wow, has that caught me among many behind the eight-ball! This is supposed to be the busiest (read, most sales) day of the holiday season. Poor East Coast is suffering from a major snowstorm and UPS will not be delivering to businesses on Christmas Eve. Needless to say (but said anyway), Books on First is as prepared as we'd ever be.

Last minute gift ideas:

The Silver Spoon Pasta published by Phaidon Press, one which does a fantastic job of offering beautifully designed and printed books at reasonable prices. And this one is in our Holiday Catalog, ennobling and enabling it with an automatic 20% discount. Here's some of the publisher's marketing:

"The Silver Spoon: Pasta" offers detailed descriptions and cooking tips for both dried and fresh pasta and instruction on the traditional art of combining various pasta shapes with the right sauces. Featuring specially commissioned photographs and illustrations, its simple format makes it both accessible and a pleasure to read and use. Recipes include favorites such as "Spaghetti Carbonara, Bucatini with Fried Bread Crumbs, Three-Color Ricotta Lasagna, Bow Ties with Smoked Pancetta, Tagliatelle with Sage and Tarragon Chicken Sauce, Shells with Gorgonzola and Pistachios" and "Chanterelle and Thyme Ravioli." Whether you are feeding the family, cooking for one, or preparing an elaborate dinner party, "The Silver Spoon: Pasta" has the perfect dish for every day of the year.

Yum!

Changing My Mind by Zadie Smith
The author of White Teeth offers a collection of essays covering a range of experiences and insights.


We look forward to hearing Jeffrey Hamilton play his self-described punk folk tonight in his debut at Books on First, beginning at 7pm. There is nothing like listening to music live. And, at Books on First, one can do holiday shopping at the same time -- multi-tasking at its best.

Time to go to NIA class with Nichole Miller now at Traditional Wellness Center above Touch of Thai. Did you hear that the wonderful sushi bar at Touch of Thai is closing on 4 Jan 2010 for the foreseeable future? Yes, let's go get sushi now.

Some Mysteries Part II

Jasper Fforde's new book Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron managed to be out before the holidays, so pay attention, fans of this creator of Thursday Next and their loved ones looking for a great gift idea.
Talk about genre-bending. Is it a mystery? Is it science fiction? Is it deliciously inventive wordplay? Or, is it a social commentary?
Set in a post-apocalyptic, chromatically-hierarchical, strict Rules-based world in which one's place in society is based on how much of a hue you can perceive (and really, you can only perceive one at the most without expensively artificial help sanctioned by National Color), we meet Eddie Russett whose uncomplicated existence of meticulously following the Munsell Rules and scheming to marry up is upset with a (hopefully) short lesson in humility: exile to The Outer Fringes. East Carmine is a town that lacks enough resources to be anything but small, drab and full of corrupt and petty officials, resources like a) merits or color scraps to be traded for color, b) residents who can perceive color in order to sort those color scraps, and c) greys -- those who have devolved to the point of not being able to see any color -- to do all the other important work.

Just like George Orwell's 1984, Fforde's world is full of chilling details of a iron-fisted, overreaching government impoverishing its people, culturally, intellectually and spiritually, forcing them to learn new things and enjoy simple pleasures illicitly, even hearing stories told through the hammering of Morse code on the heating pipe system, stories which have long ago disappeared from the library shelves. Ostensibly, the trigger for Eddie Russett's assignment to East Carmine to count chairs is his physical attack on a fellow student, but unbeknownst to him, the true reason is his initiative in and boast about thinking of an efficient system for issuing numbers to waiting room patients. Nevertheless, the reason for his banishment is very real -- he is to learn some humility, and like a scarlet letter, the reason is pinned on his chest for all to see and assist in achieving.

Conspiracy theories abound, Eddie begins to realize just how clueless he is while everyone else is thinking he can't be as clueless as he appears. Giving him a hint, a new friend says, "It makes the rest of us look bad when someone does something pointlessly worthy."

Even I, a novice at social media, can laughingly recognize a jab when the acceptable way to declare yourselves friends is to ask. Friend? Friend. Eddie has 436 friends, most of them Reds, although his connections begin to expand when he accepts friendship from a Green.

The description of an assigned address tortuously following the person as he moves, as an address is no longer applicable to a physical location, but also, that there are still addresses which are more prestigious than others ominously foreshadow the tense culmination of this story.

There's a mystery to discover, ponder and solve amongst all the wonders and pitfalls of a world introduced to us by Fforde.

I now want to learn all about the (Great) Munsell's Color Chart. And did I mention that Fforde is fantastic at wordplay as well as social commentary? The society keeps a tight rein on the populace, suddenly declaring "Great Leap Backwards," rendering things from yo-yo's to

Speaking of words, what is not a mystery to me is why "adnascentia" as a word is dying. Just how many times can one use such a word, meaning the spreading rootlets that a tree throws out? Nevertheless, I shall continue to Save the Word! I urge you to save one, too.

So, how does the world of published writing survive without Kirkus Review?

First Sunday in December

It has been said that I am obsessing too much on the phrasing of this blog (which I dispute, because I actually sometimes often heed the following): a blog is a "weblog," meaning it's a diary and that timeliness is supreme to correct spelling, good grammar, proper references, accurate quotes and other structural prissiness. It is "of-the-moment." In fact, the "best" kind of blog is about other blogs! How much more of-the-moment can you get?

I am following Beattie's Book Blog and as we look to the Christmas season with visions of snowflakes and mittens, within this last 24 hours he had published a notice of the launch of a new barbecue cookbook, great for the summer to come. That brought home to me quite quickly that Graham Beattie is a New Zealander, although it is through his blog that I discover news of an independent bookstore in Massachusetts closing. Not to say that I wouldn't have found the news elsewhere, but this is simply affirmation that blogs do have meaning.

Further on logs of the diary kind, I recall vividly a tidbit of writing in a textbook we used when I took a high school notehand (simple form of shorthand) class (taught by the oh, so beautiful, poised and graceful Mrs Jackson, wife of then Mets coach ... (you see, in proper writing, at this point, one would need to recall and then, confirm through research what the coach's name is,* etc, etc, but then, the momentum of this blog dissipates, etc, etc, so thus, the ellipses ...)). For teaching such skills as typing, dictation-taking, court reporting and shorthand, the textbook has specific passages for the students' practice and testing. One such passage talked of the First Mate of a ship docked at port who had gone ashore and returned drunk. The captain, who had stayed aboard on watch, noted in the ship's log, "The First Mate was drunk tonight." The First Mate wanted the comment struck as his drunkenness was a very unusual occasion and did not warrant note in the ship's log while the Captain argued that truth is truth. The passage continues and ends with the following: "The following night, it was the First Mate's turn to keep watch and he noted in the ship's log, 'The Captain was sober tonight."

Meant to be merely wryly humorous to teens, I'm sure, man, at aged fifteen, to me, this was deep stuff. And, now at aged 50, it continues to teach me that while truth is truth, we should stay wary of interpretation, perception and definition as they are much more malleable, mischievous and misused, thus much more powerful and much more dangerous than mere truth. Today, this is called "framing the argument."

*I abhor the almost daily discovery of the lack of research and confirmation or the use of the internet as the sole source for research and confirmation in today's (published) writings. It is my suspicion that James Frey in writing A Million Little Pieces was merely being lazy rather than lying or stretching the truth. One also must remember that much goes on the truism that one can be sincere but not telling the truth. He probably wrote as he remembered the incidences to be. He might have so believed the exaggerated version of events in his mind that they became to him what really happened. So, he might have been writing sincerely if not truthfully. Where are good editors when you need them? Established publishers must search their collective soul, decide what their role in the future of the written word is and then, get a good public relations firm, so that people will believe there's a reason for their existence and justification for the mark-up on books.

This morning, I heard a little bit of NPR's "Speaking of Faith" before coming into the store. Today's program was on Abraham Joshua Heschel, who "prayed with his feet" by actively fighting against injustices and keeping religion relevant in the modern world. There were some resonant quotes (to the best of my recollection without further researched confirmation), which I would like to share: "The opposite of good is not evil, but indifference." and "In a democracy, a few are guilty but everyone is responsible." I would not qualify the society as a necessarily a democracy, but any kind of group or relationship, everyone is responsible, whether he takes the responsibility or not. If he does not, he should not be identify with the group, whether he says, "I am American," or "My name is __[personal]____ __[family]_____ ." There was also a quote/discussion too long and articulate for me to botch up here, about how religion should stop blaming science as an attack on religion and the reason why so many people question the existence of God and relevance of religion, but should look to itself and how it is presented in today's world ("today" being in the 1960s and 1970s, but still resonates today).

Today, my wonderful husband Larry and family by marriage -- Laurie, Kelly, Jim, Bridget, Eileen, Nellie, Laneita and many others, will be throwing me a 50th b-day party! Food includes pork belly recipe from Thomas Keller's book Ad Hoc at Home. More later!

More on Jack Dunphy's Ted Wooly

Mark your calendars, folks, for a special showing of Jack Dunphy's short film, Ted Wooly, on Friday, 12 February 2010. Location (probably in Chicago) to be announced.

I just viewed it off a DVD and I have never seen my grandson so animated as I did as his playing the title role. What an actor! The film is a little dark, but not too much so, I think. He probably can tell you about all the technically correct things he should have done or not done or done better, but objectively, this higher level of self-awareness does not bode well for the possibility of his considering attending Vassar (although I am still pushing for it). Well, maybe there's a VC alum out there who can tell him differently.