Sauk Valley's premier bookstore/coffeehouse features fiction, non-fiction, children's & local interest books.
Open 7 days/week, we also have fine coffees & pastries, wooden puzzles, children's art supplies & other toys, handmade fair trade goods plus priceless conversation. Special orders welcomed.
Our man in New Zealand Graham Beattie shared a list from today's Telegraph (London, that is, not Dixon): "Ten Best Latin American Books of All Time". I have not read all of these, but of those I have read, I enthusiastically support the choices! Witness what are on our shelves (or, can be brought in in a just a few days), including one of Larry's favorite authors and titles by that author, Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory (Although this takes place in Mexico, can this really be called a Latin American novel?) and one of Carolyn's staff picks, Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate .
It is much too bad that titles of Nelson Bentley's published books are generally unavailable to Books on First. T.Clear paints him as a swell kind of guy who gives stand-up poet Billy Collins a run for your sense of poetic humor.
From Beattie's Book Blog of New Zealand comes the whole "Long List" plus commentary. In most if not all situations, the choice of translator is almost as crucial as the book written in its original language. So often we must rely on these translations to see what the author wants us to read, experience and understand. If you have ever tried to translate something from one language into another, you would understand the difficulty of achieving just the right tone and meaning, and the pride of accomplishment when you think you've "got" it. A childhood friend of mine from West Babylon, NY, now living in Austin, TX, who studied many languages and works as a translator, has translated for opera, which I think is amazing. We are talking not simply capturing the cadence of an author/lyricist but also, the rhythm and flow of the composer's music. Translators of poetry also have a special responsibility. Hats off to all the authors and the translators thus far honored.
Books on First has several of these available (I believe the hardcover $30.50 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami and principally translated by Jay Rubin, Harvard Professor of Japanese Literature, contains the entire story published in three parts in Japan) will soon have others, like Dream of Ding Village and the trade paperback version of Please Look After of Mom (of course, in the slacker USA, it's "Mom" instead of "Mother.").
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.
This is the problem with reading Graham Beattie. He discusses books which have yet to be available in the United States of America and has us salivating and waiting and waiting, including for this one from Christopher Reid.
More on Apple's Tablet and its bid to be an electronic reader+ -- what a marketing machine Apple has become! My take -- we still don't have something that anyone (read: independent booksellers like Books on First) can sell!
Wall Street Journal says they have the exclusive story. But, of course, Graham Beattie is on the job. See his most recent posting from PublishersLunch (I love the slogan (although it's old hat) and might adopt it, too: Published Daily. Unless When Not.)
Not a day goes by now that those in certain quarters anticipate and report about anticipating Apple's iTablet, which Steve Jobs has been working on (off and on) for years now.
Steve Jobs is someone I definitely admire from afar. I know virtually nothing about him, except the Company and its products which he has created and that he has had cancer and a liver transplant (and I recall something about his buying a poorly built house he cannot demolish because of local protests regarding its historic value). All of these small facts are what excites my admiration. In any case, I hope he can pull this off, although it's going to take a lot more than creating the Mac, the ipod or the iphone. Sure, he has redefined "smartphone," but the iTablet is very different in that it is neither fish nor fowl. It may be good for someone like myself who maybe can read books, research and write blog posts at the same time.
To create buzz, Apple has started hinting at when it will unveil the product, as if it were a concept car. Announce and then, promise to ship in three months. The show-&-tell date (maybe) will be 27 Jan. Rumor has it that the Company has reserved the Buena Yerba . An Apple spokesman said the company doesn't comment on rumors and speculation," reports the Wall Street Journal. This is guerrilla marketing in plain sight at its finest.
Meanwhile, it is reported that China may be the next great market for e-books. Given that copyright protection for print, films and other creative or intellectual property is not extremely strong there, it's difficult to say whether the promise of anything beyond Chinese language content (I really want someday to write an entire post on that word, "content.") exists right now.
I continue to be delighted by Graham Beattie's Book Blog and love that he was in my favorite city (New York, NY) for the holidays. Meanwhile, he passing along news reports like the one on on a new e-book store in Brazil, Cato Sabido (translates to "Wise Cat" -- oops, just checked and I see that the journalist who wrote it translates to "Smart Cat" -- we agree!) and whether e-books will become popular in the emerging nations of Brazil, China, India and Russia.
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!
I share with you a Wall Street Journal item from today (Warning: as [blogger] is not among the choices for sharing, this link is not a permalink and thus, may disappear on us at WSJ.com's convenience). The article is about walmart.com figuratively rolling up its sleeves and taking on amazon.com. There must have been taunts exchanged and tongues stuck out at some point, as walmart.com CEO Raul Vazquez is quoted: "If there is going to be a 'Wal-Mart of the Web,' it is going to be Walmart.com.... Our goal is to be the biggest and most visited retail Web site." Walmart.com wants to be the biggest and most visited retail Web site?? Classic business school strategy studies says, first pick off the competitor's fringe markets and then, when it doesn't have additional legs to stand on, attack at its (seemingly) strongest point. Gee, had walmart.com been attacking amazon.com's toaster oven and disposable diaper sales online as well as its brick-and-mortar big box bookstores cum acre parking lots which also ban non-family-oriented music CDs and sell five kinds of lettuce all this time and we weren't paying attention?
So, while these two duke it out, the publishing industry is supplying its fingers for ammunition and big-name authors are weighing in.
WSJ probably could not get Stephen King to comment, so Dean Koontz and James Patterson (sometime co-author with Maxine Paetro, Michael Ledwidge, Gabrielle Charbonnet, Martin Dugard,... sorry if I missed anyone else) did the honors:
James Patterson, whose coming novel, "I, Alex Cross," is being discounted from $27.99 to $10, said he was happy to be in Wal-Mart's top 10. However, he warned any industry that sets low price points may later have a difficult time re-establishing those prices. "Obviously e-books have gotten this thing going," said Mr. Patterson. "E-books are terrific and here to stay. But I think that people need to think through the repercussions....But I'm not taking sides....I'm not the endangered species here."
"I'm not the endangered species here." What does that mean? No matter what happens to books -- any kind published by anyone bought from anywhere, he'll still get his advances and royalties? Who then is the endangered species, Mr Patterson? Is his quote just like a character's non-sequitor thoughts or is this poor reporting/editing?
(By the way, steet date for his new book is November 1, 2009. Books on First offers 20% all adult hardcover fiction. Reserve your copy now!)
Dean Koontz expresses conflicting emotions of the writer's need for recognition and readership (see blog post on "aspiring" writers) and his acknowledgement that it's actually a good thing to have small, independent bricks-and-mortar bookstores where a writer and his work can be discovered by a new reader a rainy day browse or through trusted bookseller's personal recommendation.
"Any time people are fighting over your work it's a good thing, especially when you've worked all those years hoping it would be fought over," he said.
Mr. Koontz said he's more worried about the independent bookstores. Although most limit their stock of best-sellers, a price war on the most popular books may hurt.
Thank you, Mr Koontz. Keep on feeling conflicted; that means you're thinking ahead of tomorrow to day after tomorrow. (By the way, just in time for holiday giving -- street date is November 24, 2009, is Dean Koontz's latest book, Breathless.)
Stephen King too looks kindly on us indies although his sales are nothing to sneeze at. He has a book, Under the Dome, also out November 1, 2009, and also, discounted by Books on First at 20% off list (no cover art yet available for posting).
All in all, we independent booksellers cannot sit on our hands (or wring them) while bigger, better-funded retailers trample all over the published book landscape.
I am especially interested in the comments that WSJ.com articles sometimes generate. This one has inspired over 30 of them at last look, and it 's a (generally) good discussion about capitalism, civil society, culture, elitism (whoa, Sherman Alexie!), technology, socialism, ...
Capitalism and writers: So, these price reductions supposedly would result in reductions in an author's royalties. One comment was about how no one is forcing someone to be an author. If it doesn't pay, then, don't be a professional writer. There's still distribution, recognition and readership to consider. I am trying to imagine Mr Patterson with a website offering a couple of free chapters and a BUY NOW TO CONTINUE READING as well as DONATE button, because yes, that's what might result, when there are no publishers to nurture, edit, be passionate about, promote and publicize, print, ... [repeat] writers new to a genre, less known authors (critically acclaimed or otherwise good or bad), and eventually, well-known and bestselling authors like Koontz and Patterson. And, that's just the publishers. I haven't begun to talk about independent booksellers and the costs they incur to offer the value they add. Why stop at watching walmart.com succeed at selling hardcover copies of titles listing at $25-$30 for only $9 but fail to become "the biggest and most visited retail Web site," or amazon.com survive but struggle to maintain its community of reader-contributed reviews and its mighty search engine and network of small used & rare book vendors in the effort to serve two groups: the "I know what I want and I want it now buyer" and the "let's see what might be interesting to read today reader"? Just cut out the middleman entirely.
Another wisdom I learned at graduate management school -- price competition is bad for everyone. It's a downward spiral and lots of stakeholders lose, including readers.
Think about the day after tomorrow, when we must all find a reason for existence that goes beyond the numbers.
I just found Graham Beattie's Book Blog in which you may be interested, also. (This does not happen everyday, as "browsing" on the internet is a lot less fun than browsing in a bookstore -- my opinion.) He has a great quote from the author of The Art of Racing in the Rain Garth Stein (speaking at a gathering that Larry and I did not attend) about selling books. Check it out!
