Countdown: 27 Days to Christmas,

Let's start making Christmas presents!

This is truly a Christmas-focused package, with paper, instructions and one finished origami creation: a 4" high Christmas tree, to kickstart a tradition of handmade ornaments and gifts.

If you are feeling ambitious, you can work with felt or yarn, to make a little something for everyone.


If you feeling ambitious but a little purse-pinched, you can look to Amy Sedaris (who had a great interview on "Q," a CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company)) show for inspiration.

"Homemade" is back in style. Get into the groove with making everything from your own greeting cards to your own decorations to your own cookies to your own gifts.  Of course, if you feel your inkjet printer doesn't quite convey your quirky, but festive intentions, come to Books on First and pick up some great quirky yet festive greeting cards from Avanti.  We especially like the one depicting the dog with his tongue stuck on a cold lamppost (shades of Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story).

And of course, everyone loves something from the kitchen.  Beyond luscious cookies (or biscuits if you speak Brit) like Vanilla Stars with Chocolate Filling and Ginger Crisps (my personal fav), you can try Kugelhopf, a fruit- & nut-studded yeast cake for which Austria, France and a host of countries claim origin, marinated goat cheese, tangerine curd, cheese straws or simple but irresistible Sugar & Spice Pecans.

Again, if your candy thermometer breaks (or even if not), be sure to come to Books on First and get some Zee Best English Toffee, made in Amboy, IL. Hurry, because 10-oz-boxes which we are selling for $11, are making like Santa's reindeer and flying out the door.

Advent

I am not Christian (capital "C" -- although my best friend from high school who was the most pious Catholic I knew and who had gone on to become a nun told me I was the best christian (small case "c") she knew).  However, with my childhood in a mostly Catholic town (and my best friend) and now my husband of so many years (a very Catholic-practicing agnostic) with his now-late parents who were the most religious Catholics I have known, I find myself fairly well versed in Jesus.  Christians may lament the commercialization or (re-)paganization of Christmas, but they have not seen the benefits of Christmas's far-reaching influence.

For one thing, there is probably not one corner of the world in which someone has not heard of Christmas.  And, yes, for many, Christmas means elves, reindeer, decorations and gift-giving/receiving and the beginning of winter* in earnest (snow and all that). 

A favorite part of Christmas, for me, is anticipation.  While Thanksgiving remains my favorite (all-American holiday), the anticipation of snow in the outside air, carols on the radio air and the smells of cooking and baking in the kitchen air is sublime.  So, whether it's secular or not, it's all Christmas.  Hail the Advent.

And, hail to Advent calendars.  We have so many really great ones, some very religious and some perhaps less so, but like the Nativity scene with the empty crib awaiting Baby Jesus, all anticipating the celebration of the birth of Christ.

*Or, summer --  if we are really being global.  When I was still in Beijing, China in July, I and an Australian friend were dragging ourselves around hot and dusty Beijing Language Institute, with my singing Christmas carols to cool down and he protesting, because Christmas meant HOT, HOT, HOT weather back home.

Much to Be Thankful For

Friends,

We hope your Thanksgiving Day was stupendous and you're are now not caught in any major snowstorms.  Here in Dixon, it is brrr cold and cloudy, but no precipitation.

As you go about your “Black Friday” and your “Cyber Monday,” remember that not only is “Small Business Saturday” sandwiched in between, but that Downtown Dixon remains a great place to be this and every weekend.

Tomorrow night, don’t miss Tracy Fleck & Second Breakfast with Jack Kelly, playing Americana music and bluegrass, beginning 7pm until closing (9pm).  Join us for Sauk Valley’s best pass-the-hat live entertainment in a coffeehouse setting.

Don’t forget that NEXT WEEKEND is Downtown Dixon’s Christmas Walk, with great goings-on on both Friday night and all-day Saturday (including  concert at Dixon Theatre).  For more information, go to Dixon Main Street's website (http://www.dixonil.com/mainstreet/) .

AND there’s December’s Second Saturday on 11 December.  There are sure to be lots of venues hosting great art.

We are still waiting on the tree from Distinctive Gardens, but Brenda has names & ages of deserving but less privileged boys & girls. Come in and help us through our Books for Babes program to give a gift that keeps giving.  We will take a portion of proceeds from all items bought through Books for Babes to buy mittens/gloves, hats and scarves for the children.

And for you and yours, we have so many great titles for giving and for getting you into the holiday mood, from Cookie Swap to Christmas in Illinois.

Hanukkah is but 5 days away and Christmas and Kwanzaa are right behind!

See you soon!

-Santa’s Helpers at

Books on First

Sauk Valley's Premier Bookstore/Coffeehouse

In the Heart of Downtown Dixon

202 W First Street

Dixon, IL  61021

815.285.BOOK (-2665)

815.285.2666 fax

chin@booksonfirst.com

Thanks to You, We Can Do More

Books on First is proud to be able to continue the tradition of Books for Babes, our annual holiday gift program for less privileged children in our area (Dixon and environs).

Brenda has worked hard to launch our 7^th annual Books for Babes.  This year, we did not get caseworkers’ take on each less privileged child’s likes and she had to calculate age based on year of birth.  I see we may have not only a challenging time picking out books on princesses versus ponies, but also with whether a name like "Drew" or "Shawn" represents a boy or a girl.  Sometimes, it does not matter (does loving Harry Potter books require gender?), but sometimes, it would be good to know.  Challenge on!

Come in and choose an ornament with a boy's or girl's name and age. Find a gift to put under the tree for the child. You do not have to purchase the toy here, but we ask that the name ornament not be taken from the store. (The best solution is to let us keep the child's name back behind the counter until you come in again with the gift.)

Additionally, we take a portion of all purchases at Books on First for Books for Babes and buy mittens/gloves, scarves and hats for the children. Last year, Books on First customers bought over $1200 of items for children from aged 6 months to 17 years.

We have a large selection of age-appropriate books, toys, puzzles and art supplies, including Bananagrams, chapter books and Melissa & Doug wooden trains. We also have stocking stuffers like wooden tops, Boku Books and more. We admit there are a few items that we do not carry. Last year, a customer brought in a real basketball (we have two sporting goods stores in town) to accompany the books with basketball stories she had already bought here for the young teen.

Let's make this year's Books for Babes program as successful as ever!

All I Want For Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa... Is (Are?)

Peace, Love, Good Health and Good Cheer!

However, I hope that everyone else wants a printed bound book, or perhaps an audio for the drive to Grandma's.  The poem -- "Over the River and Through the Woods," which I had learned as a schoolchild in song form, is actually about Thanksgiving (more on that wonderful holiday in a different post).

Hanukkah this year begins early, right at the same time as Advent, and right before Downtown Dixon's 22nd Annual Christmas Walk, always on the first Friday of December.  In recent years there has been a split of opinion on whether Friday night or Saturday morning is the better time for celebrating Christmas, with Santa and chestnuts roasting on the open Weber grill.  It was traditionally a time for shopkeepers in Downtown Dixon to showcase wares for sale: gift-giving, decorating and partying ideas for the holidays.  Besides being a wonderful evening out (especially when the weather was lovely), it became a time for tweenies to let loose.  Their behaviour became a little difficult to deal with, especially with the proliferation of the aerosol string that seems so fun and so funny to that age group -- too old for sitting on Santa's lap or even following the parents around while they oooh and ahhh at decorations and previously mentioned wares, yet too young to wander too far away on their own.  So, the event in the last couple or so years has been a great compromise -- an 18- or 30-hour affair.  Books on First really gears up for the Friday night event, in which we sell a tremendous amount of hot chocolate.

Of what we don't sell a tremendous number are holiday titles, traditional like Over the River and Through the Woods or newer ones, like Lemony Snicket's The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming which bridges the Jewish/Christian/secular divide.  We do have an incredible selection, including Doctor Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas (which actually started life as a television special before becoming a book), Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol as a pop-up "paper engineered" by Bruce Fischer and In the Dark Streets Shineth, A 1941 Christmas Eve Story as told by David McCullough.

And to mention a favored audio: NPR's Holiday Favorites, a CD featuring David Sedaris's "Santaland Diaries" and other humorous and heartwarming pieces for the holidays (including Hanukkah and Kwanzaa).  This audio, however, does not have the formerly perennial holiday airing recorded by John Henry Faulks.  I would have liked to see a revival of the now politically incorrect rendering of “the wonderfulest Christmas in the United States of America.”  This is the opposite of "Over the River and Through the Woods," in that I have talked with someone who thought the story was told at Thanksgiving time, because she remembered the black and white families sharing dinner together.  I recalled (correctly this time) that this was a Christmas story, because I remembered the boy getting an orange from Santa and "stripey" candy.  I have not heard this aired in years, while she recalled hearing it just last year.  While not "PC," the story not only represents a tradition, but reflects America at a different time in our history, when we honestly talked about racial discrimination (government Christmas gifting maybe not available for colored folks) and poverty (maybe this was a family who doesn't have Christmas) and the glories of FDR's New Deal for which we Americans could be proud.  In this age of Tea Party ranting about "runaway government," but no one willing to share the hurt, all of this frankness certainly is no longer Politically Correct.

Gratitude, Books on First Style

Read about one of Brenda's favs

I write this today, as you all know we have limited access to internet.  "Limited" includes time, space, inclination, money, and other resources, although there is the philosophical argument that none that I have named are resources.

Thank you, Kelly Dunphy, for continuing to keep us in the loop on family, friends, and even what's happening in Dixon & environs.  I thank her for all those years ago nonchalantly giving us a used KitchenAid mixer (ostensibly because she got a new one) with three attachments (of which I use one extensively), so that I have been able to bake.  Baking has given me a sense of organization, peace and purpose that is rare in the world (are those resources?).  The exercise has also given Larry and me a lot of carbs, albeit delicious ones.  I am not good enough a baker to go commercial, so the only cookies or teabread (un)lucky Books on First customers would be able to have are free (and sometimes burnt) offerings.

Thank you, Larry's siblings and cousins, especially Bridget Barry, Pat Dunphy, SC ("Young Charlie") Dunphy,  Mike Blackburn and James Romeo Blackburn, for helping us out at the farmette and for keeping us in the loop on the other end of the Dunphy family, and thus, keeping Carolyn Chin feeling like she's in the Dunphy family.  Larry is not the most reliable conduit of relaying what's happening, but I have the good feeling most of the time and that's what counts.  We still have a freshly killed and dressed heritage (Spanish Black) turkey for sale if anyone's interested.

Thank you, All the Customers of Books on First, but especially some -- too numerous and in some cases, too shy, to be named, in Dixon, Amboy, Sterling, Polo, Grand Detour, Centralia, Franklin Grove, DeKalb, Rockford, Chicago, Oregon (the town and the state), Iowa, California, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Germany,  Ireland, Kenya, and beyond -- who have supported us even as factories closed and taxpayers voted down school budgets.  I have always maintained that wonderfully brewed coffee and professionally made lattes with delicious baked treats -- some imported from Chicago (e.g., Swedish Bakery in Andersonville, D'Amato's on Grand & May, Middle Eastern Bakery on Foster) are affordable luxuries, and it is gratifying that so many of you agree.  BUT most of all, BOOKS are Everything that anyone can want (or give) in Entertainment, Enlightenment, Enjoyment, Education, Engagement, but to name a few.  We happen to sell the printed, bound kind and will continue to promote reading in all its forms (especially if you buy it from Books on First).

Thank you, Authors, Researchers, Poets, Illustrators and Other Writers and Artists, for continuing to do what you do, for whatever motivations.  We must include established book publishers in our appreciation, however misguided they have been on how to sell a book, because history will show that writing is extremely important for preserving history, documenting ideas, sharing experiences, fueling imagination, but writing is nowhere without being published.  And, a hardcopy printed bound book still beats out when there's no clear line of sight for the satellite dish, when the power runs out, when you're hunting down an old favorite read to give to your favorite reader, when you want to stretch out in the bathtub or the beach, or when Books on First with free wi-fi for its customers is closed.  
 

Thank you, All you other creative types, finding solutions to fit this world so that there will be a world for our grandchildren and their grandchildren.  My question has always been why don't we take care of situations before they reach crisis proportions?  (Yes, yes, I know the answer: when weighing cost-benefit, we're not at the tipping point yet!)   Take the nutria, for example.  Using this rodent's fur for fashion (again) as we attempt to eradicate the swamp rat only makes sense, from popularity in our grandparents' time to being "Righteous Fur."  I'm hoping it can totally replace sable from the geographic area of Russia/Mongolia which remains one of the few animals whose fur is prized yet is unable to be raised in captivity. Or, the "Asian Carp" (actually 8 kinds of fish, but mainly, the silver carp, rebranded silverfin) which has been taking over rivers and canals in the United States, and our response when DNA had been found near (and thus, threatening) Lake Michigan, has been poison, dynamite, electrocution, wringing our hands, and appointing a czar to wring our hands for us.   It seems like catching, cooking and serving the fish as food (actually raised in aquafarms in Vietnam and elsewhere) is a natural solution.  In a different, but related vein, is a new kind of aquafarm cum hydroponic vegetable farm, growing lake perch and arugula energy efficiently and water sustainably. So much creative solutions to our world which is growing both in population and demands on the environment.  Especially here in the United States of America, with Manifest Destiny, we should and will be the ones to pioneer forth and shape our own future for the better.

Thank you for reading (and thanks to Sinead O'Connor for this great song which I have heard numerous times while participating in NIA.  Happy Thanksgiving.

Have We Got a Website for You!

To riff a little bit on my "weekday gig," that which supports those who support Books on First, may we draw your attention to www.personalized-jewelry.com.  I may be a little biased, but I know little about others selling personalized jewelry and all about this one, which we affectionately call "pj."  I know the Hampden designer of the discs, hearts, puzzle pieces, Santa's sleigh as well as some fonts that are loaded into the laser machine to personalize monograms, couples' names and gifts for mothers and grandmothers.  He also designed most of the pendants of letters and numbers.  He is totally dedicated to his craft, and a great co-worker besides.  I know the fantastic Fantasy Diamond designer of the engagement ring being offered free of charge in an incredible vying for your e-mail address and other personal information which people give away for less incentive.  Speaking of incentive, now is the time to shop (for books, toys, World of Good products and more at Books on First, but for gold and silver jewelry and watches, on pj).  We have 20% off all titles in the Holiday Gift Catalog and pj has some great offers, too, like 15% off holiday-related jewelry.  Hope to see you soon.

Jab at the Connectivity of e-Books

I am actually attempting to link this blogpost not to Graham Beattie's excellent blog (how does he read and then, write so much daily, besides having an interesting life like travelling to New York, judging for book prizes and attending dinner parties?), but to a great quote he has on the blog:

Quotation of the Week

I noticed during take offs and landings I didn't have to turn off my book.
Author Margaret Coel.

There has been news of e-books catering to the younger reader, attempting to make them fun and educational, but not like a videogame.  With pop-up books and other interactive features in printed bound books, I can see that this goal is admirable and achievable.  However, you are never going to see through a Nook or an iPad the wonder or workmanship of a piece by Robert Sabuda or David A Carter.  Let's talk for a moment about interactive:  How will Matthew Van Fleet's  Tails translate on screen?  Just wondering.

Gift Giving Season Is Upon Us

Our suggestions for holiday gift-giving are out (and about).

While we have brought in at least one copy of almost every book in the catalog, Murphy's Law prevails and it usually happens that whatever the first customer wants to buy is the title we do not have on the shelf when she wants to buy it.

And, right now, we are offering 20% off every title in the catalog.  Be sure to come early and make sure we can get your choices in before Hanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa or simply my birthday.  No, I won't tell you when it is.

More on Holmes & Watson

I have discovered that PBS (Public Broadcasting System) has made available the first three episodes of the BBC's new Sherlock Holmes series, for no charge until 7 Dec 2010.

For someone with no working television, this is a boon.  I have finished watching the first two on the computer and although it's not the ideal setting, it is still a great experience.

The first one is called "Study in Pink," which is a play on "Study in Scarlet," Conan Doyle's story which introduces Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson.  This update to the 21st century is cleverly done.  It's been so long that I have read "Study in Scarlet," that I cannot compare them.


Check it out.  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/sherlock/watch.html

(By the by, just like NPR*, I highly advocate PBS, even not having been able to view it except now through the internet. I have donated money to the organization even when I did not have a television (and before it had a website).  With so much to choose from these days, I hope viewers will still appreciate what is needed to provide the type of programming that PBS offers.)

*Regarding the firing of Juan Williams, I do not pretend to understand or even know all the reasoning and considerations that NPR reviewed before acting, but it was really terrible PR, totally underestimating the power of the sound clip.

Yes, We Have No Bananas Today

A recent WSJonline video about vending machines going "fresh" prompts two thoughts:
a)  One size might fit all, but one taste does not.  There is compromise, consolidation, substitution, but for bananas...there's not much accounting for taste.  I like my bananas not-quite-ripe, still green around the edges on the outside and firm with a not-too-sweet, nutty-tasting flesh on the inside.  The bananas for vending in the video looked perfect.  How would they look 8 days later?  They then would be perfect for a friend of mine who declared, "The browner the better."  Maybe they should have two rows or even three rows of bananas, so that consumers would have a choice in relative ripeness, while the vendor could come and move the product over to the next row as it ripens. 

They can label and sell the ripest ones as "baking bananas," as everyone who bakes knows that really, really brown bananas make the really, really good banana bread.
(Witness: Jennifer Crusie's latest (and really, really good romance read)  Maybe This Time.)  I will not give away anything about this book, except a lesson learned at age 9 is that again, really, really brown bananas make the really, really good banana bread.  I am puzzled why there were actually people who went to their graves (or stuck around as a ghost) without knowing this common fact.  People frequently tell me that I only believe some things are easy, because I know more than most people.  I am usually skeptical and this is one of those incidences.  That a nine-year-old doesn't know, I can understand, but it seemed like an awful lot of adults hadn't known until Andromeda ("Andie") Miller came into their lives to make the best banana bread they had ever had.

b) I am also reminded of Kroch's & Brentano's, Booksellers.  There was one at the mall when I was growing up on Long Island, NY.  (Please note, while I usually detest people using "Long Island, NY," as if Long Island were a town and not either physically a 100-mile long island or politically, two counties cheek-and-jowl full of towns, it's a lot easier in this case than explaining where I lived (West Babylon) and where (Smithhaven, South Shore, Walt Whitman, etc, etc) malls were.)  Kroch's was always considered a higher class (read: more expensive) bookstore.  We also had paperback booksmith in the same mall, and if I recall correctly, a Waldenbooks.  Can you imagine having three bookstores within a few hundred yards of each other?  Ahh, that was the concept of a mall at its best.

I had not known that Kroch's was from Chicago until I relocated here and talked with persons from this area who proudly proclaimed the fact, although that did not keep it in business.  The company closed in 1995, but in the decade before then, its employees tried desperately to keep the business going.  I remember walking down Wabash in Chicago and seeing the big windows of its flagship store covered with signs, "Yes, we have bananas today,"  a catchy promo to contradict the song, but perhaps there was some other backstory that an outsider such as myself would not know.  Of course, it meant that a customer received a free banana with book purchase.  Hey, anything (within reason) for a sale.

Speaking of Waldenbooks, we are missing ours in Sterling, basically the neighboring town from Dixon.  We were all very civilized, referring people to each other if we thought the other bookseller might have the needed title.  We even called one another for the potential customer, so that the books would be there waiting upon the potential customer's trekking the ten miles between stores.  We managed to start the ball rolling on a signing by Maury Possley and Rick Kogan when their collaborative effort, Everybody Pays, came out in paperback.  They managed to hit Dixon, Sterling and Princeton.  Hearsay, the Sterling branch was one of the company's better ones -- financially and operationally, but all of them closed nearly a year ago come end of January.

New Use for Connected Electronic Books?

I came across a story as I was searching BBC World for an altogether different quirky story I had heard about what is happening in China (about resident foreigners being hired to pose as learned visitors for plant visits, presentations and banquets which I had heard in the depths of one Saturday night).

This one, though, is a real doozie, although it could all be nothing by the time I publish this post.  Kindle, which is not even officially sold in China, becomes the means to go to Chinese-banned sites, like Twitter and facebook!  I like the reasons why the Great Firewall of China has not clamped down on this:  can't be a big problem as the device is not officially sold in China and there aren't many (if any) Chinese-language books sold in Kindle format and thus, Chinese interest in buying one is quite limited.

I wonder whether an iPad can do the same, especially since it can toggle between 3G and wi-fi, although the key may be (as mentioned in the article) the 3-G network provider which the Kindle uses in China or in that part of China where the breach was discovered.