The new men's lit.

The trend of chick-lit with its bubble-gum covers seems to have passed. And while I am usually hesitant to label most novels as his/her books, I am noticing a new trend. There is a new wave of young men writing novels that are, for lack of a better term, very masculine. It would be too easy to link these books to Hemingway or Raymond Carver. Yet that is what happens.

Benjamin Percy created some waves a few years back with the release of his short story collection "Refresh, Refresh" which was a raw and well-honed grouping of work. He read at Micawber's and his made for radio bass voice only contributed to the manliness. His new novel "The Wilding" is a look at fathers and sons and hunting and living in wilderness. “Benjamin Percy’s The Wilding is a tour de force meditation and treatise on the nature of violence, the violence of nature, man in the wild, and the wild in man—cleverly disguised as a page-turning adventure. Not just a ‘must’ read, but a need read, this book is timely, terrifying, terrific.”
—ANTONYA NELSON

I half-joked with Erin Kottke of Graywolf a week back that they were creating quite the stable of these new writers. Yet, it's true. In March of 2011 they will release a collection of stories by Alan Heathcock entitled "Volt" that seem to be wayward cousins of Percy's writing. All set in an unnamed locale, these are also stories that grab you and shake you and, ultimately, remind you that violence and tenderness are not mutually exclusive.

It's possible that the success of Cormac McCarthy, in film and books(again), has led to this. Or it could be something else entirely. Creston Lea, Keith Hollihan and Donald Ray Pollock are three other writers with new books I would add to this group. While not written for men alone, there is a high charge of testosterone running through the work that cannot be denied.

Ben Percy will be reading at the store on Monday December 6th at 7 p.m. and Keith Hollihan will read from his debut novel on Wednesday the 15th at 7 p.m. "The Four Stages of Cruelty" is a stunner of a book filled with moral questions and answers.

Please do join us for both--you will not be disappointed.

Minnesnowta

The Snow Man
by Wallace Stevens

One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;

And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

We are not Politics and Prose

This is a great, but long, article on what every indie bookstore should aspire to be.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/39974/politics-and-proses-social-network/

Lisbeth mania

We just received a box of goodies from the good people at Knopf and inside, along with a Ha Jin book and a nice copy of Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian", were some Lisbeth Salander trinkets. We got some temporary tattoos, a few "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" themed drink ideas and WWLD? bracelets which are featured here on my wrists. We also got some Swedish fish. We'll be handing the stuff out to Lisbeth fans until the supplies are gone.


Photo credit goes to Casey Peterson. Taken on Tom's iphone.

How to start something new--or old, again.

I can't quite decide if certain book trends are like fashion in that everything old is new again or if it's more like the current fascination with knitting/crochet and things skip a generation. Whatever it is, it is being shown in publishing trends. Books on beekeeping, canning, local and/or organic food, slow-cookery and all manner of 'green' living have been popular for a few years now. So much so that we finally decided that these books didn't really fit best in our Cookbooks, Current Affairs or Nature sections. So we have a new Sustainability section. It is a lot like Cultural Studies in that it is a mixed bag.

The interesting question, to me, is what caused this surge in interest? Was the recession(over? almost over? in the middle?)the tipping point that forced a large percentage of people to re-think their monthly costs and how they shopped and consumed both goods and food? Is the Do-It-Yourself movement simply a part of that or a larger desire for people to be more connected to their homes and the items within? Is it part of a fad trending all things Americana: music, fashion, design, etc. I'm no cultural anthropologist, but it seems to be some combo of all of the above.

So our new section combines elements of all these categories and it happily combines some new, young, voices with older, respected, ones like Wendell Berry and Wes Jackson.

Yes, we have sold several copies of the cheese book. Skyhorse Publishing has a nice series of self-sufficiency books for $12.95 in hardcover. You don't have to make too many pounds of cheese to get that kind of money back.

Good Books for a Good Cause

On October 12th we hosted an event that was a benefit for the Jeremiah Program which is a local program that provides services for single mothers looking to better their lives. I encourage people to take a look at their website for more information.

We had desserts donated by Lesley Powers who caters events and sells her wonderful granola at several local retailers under the brand name Bliss.

And I briefly discussed 15 books we're excited about this Fall. Here's the list--

Homer and Langley by E.L. Doctorow
Room by Emma Donoghue
The Sky Below by Stacey D'Erasmo
The Balcony of Europe by Aidan Higgins
The Quickening by Michelle Hoover
The Report by Jessica Frances Kane
All the Living by C.E. Morgan
One Day by David Nicholls
The Mountain Lion by Jean Stafford
Going Blind by Mara Faulkner, OSB.
River House by Sarahlee Lawrence
A Paradise Built in Hell by Rebecca Solnit
The Tiger by John Vaillant
The Geometry of Pasta by Caz Hildrebrand and Jacob Kennedy
Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky

One that got away...

Lots of fiction readers are dealing with a problem that booksellers face on a regular basis: how to read a book that is talked about constantly? I've heard from several customers that they can't read the Franzen book right now. There's simply been too much chatter from lovers/haters.

It is difficult to read something without hearing all the voices--which is the biggest reason I've never read "The Kite Runner" or "The Lovely Bones" or "The Elegance of the Hedgehog". It isn't snobbery. I've simply heard too much about all of them to read them fairly.

All of that is really just prologue to my actual point. Which is that I was thrilled when I got into the store today and saw Joseph O'Neill's "Blood-Dark Track" sitting on the paperback table. O'Neill is the author of the much ballyhooed novel "Netherland". President Obama loved it, every major book review loved it, your book club probably loved it. Me? I thought it was fine. Maybe it was the cricket. Maybe not. I kept waiting and waiting for that aha moment and it never came. Had I heard it was brilliant too many times? However, his earlier memoir about his two grandfathers is the real deal. It is brilliant. I love it. Love it so much, in fact, that I paid way more than I normally do for any book to get a hardcover copy when it was out of print.

Both of his grandfathers, one Irish and one Turkish, were imprisoned during WWII for suspected subversion. On the one hand it is a great family history. And on the other it's a great look at two different cultures during world war. I am so pleased to be able to sell this book. And if you want "Netherland" that's great too.

Want another skip the famous book but read the previous one? Elizabeth Gilbert, pre-insane fame, wrote a fantastic book entitled "The Last American Man". That book is a joy.

Final thanks must go to local book wizard Jay Peterson, of Magers and Quinn, for obtaining the out-of-print book for me.

The cover with the young boy is the newer one, fyi.