Summer Reading

The ironic thing about running a bookstore in the Hamptons in the summer while working part-time as a librarian, is that there is almost no time to read. I review catalogs and read reviews and order books, but the time to sit down and read is almost non-existent.

You might be amazed at the sneaky ways I find to read. There is a book in my car for the line at the automatic teller machine (and the occasional long red light). There is a book in the kitchen and my cooking truly reflects my love of fiction. There are books in each room, just in case I can grab and extra minute or two.

My summer reading this year reflects the quirky nature of my reading life. The following books are both wonderful and just a bit odd:

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry was released a few years ago and being re-released this July. It is a tale of twins and madness and religious zealots and love. It takes place in Salem and tells the of a generation of women who can tell fortunes by reading pieces of lace. It twists and turns and surprises you up to the end.

Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos is another kind of story. It is the story of a small neighborhood and friendship and a marriage. It is a story of first impressions and how they can change. This book continues the story that de los Santos started in Love Walked In and she takes her characters on an interesting and very human journey.

How to describe The Monsters of Templeton? Well there is a monster and it is partially a historical novel and it is also a contemporary story of a historian hiding out in her hometown after trying to run down her married lover's wife with a bush plane in Alaska. Oh yes, the town is a thinly disguised Cooperstown, so the Baseball Hall of Fame also plays a bit part. Actually, I really cannot describe this book. I really liked it and I hope you do too.

I absolutely love Georgia Nicolson. I know these books are for teenagers but I just don't care. I love her slang and her outlandish ideas and her many friends. I even like her enemies (no one can be more nasty than Wet Lindsey). Stop in the Name of Pants is the latest in the saga, so if you haven't read Louise Rennison before you must start with Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging. I dare you to try to stop at just one book.

This is Buddha. He holds open the front door of The Open Book. Buddha has been licked by dogs, kicked by small children, sat upon, hugged and his stomach has been rubbed more times than can be counted. He had been called "Buddy", "Baby" and "That Chubby Guy". And still he sits patient and serene.

When we moved into the new store, we found that the big glass front door was extremely heavy. We tried rubber door wedges and wooden door stops and the door smashed them. I bought a cute cast iron dog and the door knocked it across the sidewalk. Finally we settled on a cinder block, which was practical but ugly and soulless. And then one day I came to work to find Buddha sitting in front of the door, effortlessly holding it open for all passersby. Jessica, the magnificent store manager and her husband, Seamus, the adorable, had brought Buddha from home to live and work at The Open Book. Seamus even built Buddha a little cart with wheels so that the Open Bookies could save their backs for lifting heavy boxes.

Buddha reminds people to ignore the siren song of the sand and sea and to come into the store to browse the books. He convinces people that the steak on the grill and the wine in the glass can wait a few minutes while they decide on a good read. Buddha reminds me to be kind and patient when I am tired and every face starts to blur into one.

I hope that having Buddha as a doorman is not sacrilegious. I believe his position is one of honor and sporadic respect. Moms with yoga mats have been known to teach their children to say "Namaste" to Buddha. I know that I have rarely left the quiet, empty bookstore at the end of a long day without giving his belly a little pat for luck and saying a thank you for his service.

So next time you are in town, come by and say hello to Buddha. Just don't call him "Baby".

Independence Day

Ten years ago, when I opened The Open Book, the American Booksellers Association was in the process of launching its Booksense program. This program was developed to give independent booksellers buying power, lobbying power and a presence in a world where chain bookstores seemed to be taking over. This year, the ABA announced the creation of "Indie Bound", a new program designed to promote independent businesses of all kinds, with a focus on your local independent bookstore, of course.

In educating myself about this new program, I began to think about what it means to own an independent bookstore. Several years ago I wrote an essay on this subject for a regional booksellers association conference. I thought I might include a bit of the essay in this blog.

An independent bookseller at her best is a little beam of humanity in a crazy boxstore world. I will remember that your grandchild reads well above his level, that you cannot read the tiny print on mass market books anymore, that you love a cozy mystery, that you only read “good” books, that you are sad, tired, over-worked, in love or in need of a hearty belly laugh.

An independent bookseller knows that she will probably never make the Fortune 500, but she also knows that wealth takes many forms. As an independent bookseller, I am rich in friends, “adopted” children, and, of course, books. I am rich in life altering encounters with people who have brought me laughter and offered me wisdom and trusted me with their stories.

An independent bookseller is important in a world where forms must be filled out and customers are assigned a number. An independent bookseller is likely to write an order on the back of a lunch bag or drop a book off at the customer’s house on the way home from work. Acknowledging the individuality and humanity of our customers, we fight against the grey automation of the retail world. When you come into an independent bookstore, you come into a world that reflects the personality, beliefs, and aesthetics of one or two people, not a faceless corporation.

At the end of a long day, I am so proud to be an independent bookseller. I feel that my work makes the world a better place, if only in an small way. I feel that I give value for the money spent in my store. I feel that people are better for spending their time in my store. I feel that the work I do is important. Finally, every day I am reminded that I am one of the luckiest people I know because I am able to do work I truly love.

So, even though it is a little early, happy Independence Day. And I hope you remember to patronize your local independent businesses this summer. Now go read a good book!

Here's To All The Dads!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. I know that my dad is reading this from the other side of the country, and while I am grateful that this computer makes communication easier, I certainly wish I was not so far away.

Have you ever noticed how "bad dads" abound in literature? Read anything by Pat Conroy or Augusten Burroughs and you will be grateful that you were not part of their families. But where are the "good dads"? Well I have found a few in fiction and non-fiction and in honor of Father's Day, here is a list of recommended books with kind, caring, loving and sometimes, funny, fathers.

Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank Gilbreth. I admit that the father in this is a little bombastic but he has a good heart, is hilariously clueless and loves his many children.

Plainsong by Kent Haruf. The McPheron brothers fall into the role of father to an unwed teen mother and Tom struggles to care for his two young boys after their mother leaves them.

Dirty Job by Christopher Moore. This one is pretty quirky. But despite his over involvement with death, Charlie is a loving and protective father to his daughter, Sophie.

Daddy Needs A Drink by Robert Wilder. This is a funny group of essays by a high school teacher learning the perils of being "Mr. Mom".

The Way Home by Henry Dunow. I am not very interested in baseball but this story of a man coaching his son's little league team was a touching look at the evolving relationship between a father and a son.

One father that I have great admiration for is Randy Pausch. Though dying of pancreatic cancer, he has made an effort to leave a legacy of wisdom for his children. If you have not seen the film about his last lecture at Carnegie Mellon University, I have included a link to it. There is also a book called The Last Lecture which expands on the video. Dr. Pausch has an fresh way of looking at the world and appears to savor the life he has yet to live without seeking self-pity or being maudlin.

So, on Father's Day, if you are lucky enough to have your father around, give him a hug, or a call, or a cookie or a really expensive sports car, if you have the pocket change. And then, go read.....

We're Having A Heat Wave

It is HOT here in Long Island. The summer came flying in over the weekend with high heat, higher humidity and thunderstorms that brought trees down and left us without power. Last night I sat on my couch which was all wet from the rain (forgot to close the windows) and read the latest Lee Child with a flashlight and candles for light.

Jack Reacher is such a great character. I have run into very few people who do not like the Lee Child books. There are lots of reviews out there that try to explain why an ex-army drifter who travels around carrying only a toothbrush, an expired driver's license and an ATM card is so popular with both men and women readers. All I know is that I would be happy to read the whole book with a flashlight tucked under my chin.

So, now that the power is back on. I am going to go sit in front of the air conditioner and savor the last twenty pages.

A Little Bit of Magic

For someone who is supposed to be a grown-up, I love Harry Potter way too much. I revel in a world where people can fly on brooms and turn chocolate into toads and hatch baby dragons. In a pathetic attempt to justify my love of all magical fiction, I am giving you a list of "adult" (read, serious and legitimate) fiction that has either a little bit or a lot of magic between the pages.

I just finished Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen. I fell for the characters in this book in a second. But I really want an apple tree in my backyard that throws apples at people to get attention. I cannot wait to read her new book, The Sugar Queen.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez also has a tree, but this tree sees much sorrow in the many years it gives it shade to the Buendia family. This family story is full of premonitions and mysteries, and is told in a way that leaves you wondering what is imagined and what is real.

One of my favorite books is The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. The love story of Henry and Clare is challenged by Henry's disturbing condition that occasionally sends him forward or backward in time. Once you have made the leap of imagination, the journey that this special couple takes will stay with you for a very long time.

Elizabeth Kostova spent many years researching and writing her novel, The Historian. Vampires, history and international setting combine in a haunting tale of the quest to find Vlad the Impaler.

A few summers ago, Alice Hoffman came to The Open Book when she was visiting friends in the area. I am afraid that the bookstore employees (and the owner) behaved like the rabid fans that we are and terrified the poor woman. Ms. Hoffman graciously signed books and left, looking relieved to get away. All of Alice Hoffman's books have a bit of magic, and one of my favorites is The Ice Queen. Ice, fire and water as metaphors, fairy tale references and love and passion are combined in a dark, beautiful story.

So, it is summer and what better time to indulge in the desire to experience worlds where things are a little out of the ordinary? If you want the ultimate fantasy experience, I highly recommend that you read all seven volumes of Harry Potter while eating Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans and drinking butterbeer!

Finding the Missing Pieces

I have always loved puzzles. I like jigsaws, crosswords, acrostics, and wordfinds. I think this love of puzzles explains my love of mystery books. I like all kinds of mysteries, from Agatha Christie to James Lee Burke. I like the cozy mysteries and police procedurals and legal thrillers and historical mysteries and even those crazy cat mysteries. (You would be amazed how many cat mysteries are out in the world!). I am working on a project for my job at the library that involves a compilation of mystery titles for summer reading and I thought I would tell you about some of my favorite mysteries.

Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers - Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Wimsey have to be the most elegant detectives on earth.

Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz - Izzy Spellman and her dysfunctional family will keep you laughing while trying to solve the mystery.

A Tan and Sandy Silence by John D. MacDonald - Before Magnum P.I. , there was Travis McGee. McGee is cooler than can be imagined as he solves mysteries from his Florida houseboat, "The Busted Flush".

Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters - I love the Amelia Peabody series. You can learn a little about archaeology's early days and enjoy the exotic locales. Amelia is stubborn and funny and destined to find trouble.

Bookman's Wake by John Dunning - Cliff Janeway, the detective turned rare book dealer, goes in search of a rare volume of Poe's The Raven.

In addition, anything written by Lee Child, John Lescroart, Jason Pinter, Janet Evanovich, Robert Crais, Elizabeth George, P.D. James, Dennis Lehane, Harlan Coben and Donna Leon will lead you into hours of intrigue and mystery.

I just started reading Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. Both Elizabeth and Beth from the library said that I would not be able to put it down. Lehane writes really well and captures the gritty, dangerous world that his characters inhabit.

And if you are intrigued by puzzles, I think that this movie, created by Christian Nilsson, an Open Book employee and aspiring filmaker, is something you will really like.