Everything is changing in the book industry and there is much talk about the preservation of the independent bookstore. Last week Google pulled out if its e-book contract with the American Booksellers Association. Independent booksellers must again reevaluate the reality of providing e-books for their customers.
Everything is changing for our competitors as well: Borders is long gone; Barnes & Noble is giving more space to non-book merchandise; Amazon is not interested in preserving the physical book at all–Bezos has said that he has created the better reading device. (see previous blog)
April 2012 is the time for me to state my feelings about the future of Lemuria: The Real Book Store for Real Books. Our bookstore will live or die with the physical book. Lemuria is all about customer service. Our team of Real Book Sellers work hard to create the very best Book Store for Real Books that we can. Not only do we want the best Books on our bookcases, we also want to be the best for you as we go out into the community.
A lot of our readers have e-reading devices and like them. Even some of Lemuria’s Book Sellers lean this way at times. That’s fine. We want your reading to be pleasurable for you, the reader, in any way you choose. Your reading time is valuable and the degree of pleasure you reap from that experience is irreplaceable.
However, when you think about Real Books we want you to think of Lemuria. We are your Real Book Store.
We are constantly editing our Real Book inventory: first editions, signed or not, mixed in to our stacks; used out-of-print hardbacks mixed in with the best new trade paperbacks. We also emphasize the finest of new hardbacks to keep current. We emphasize depth while striving to not be too stale or predictable. Frankly, we feel a Book Store is about the Real Book. A Real Book Store’s inventory is its Soul.
My point is simple: Lemuria is not and will not be selling e-books. Our customer service skills are focused on what we do best: Real Books in a Real Store.
He looked back into the pail, the water still cloudy but clearing enough to see something else harbored in the bucket’s bottom. He thought it might be his own reflection. Then the water cleared more and what lay in the bucket assumed a round and pale solidity, except for the holes where the eyes had been.
When I first read the above line from the prologue of Ron Rash’s new novel The Cove I immediately had to read it again. Wait a minute, there is a skull in a bucket at the bottom of a well? Did I read that right? Then I had to re-read the whole prologue. It was almost like that line in Deliverance where the arrow seems to appear in the man’s chest. (It turns out Lewis has shot the man from a great distance, and from the back, so the arrow suddenly thrusts out of the man’s chest.) The parallels between Rash and Dickey don’t stop there. One of my personal favorite elements of Rash’s fiction is the language, and as a native of East Tennessee I can tell you that he gets it right, for example:
After Hank left, Laurel washed the cups and dishes and flatware, filled the gray berlin kettle with pole beans and set it on the stove to simmer. She went to the sink, sifted soda powder on her toothbrush and brushed her teeth before she tied her hair back with a crimped hairpin.
As my mother-in-law says, “good country people”.
Ron is a great friend of Lemuria and does a great reading. Hopefully he’ll read from his most recent poetry collection as well.
Join us on Wednesday, April 18th for a signing and reading with Ron Rash at 5:00 and 5:30.
Whether young or old, we forget things. Can’t go to the grocery because you lost your keys? Once you get there, have you forgotten what you actually needed? It can be so frustrating therefore it is important to work to keep our minds sharp. Similar to the need of physical exercise, our brain needs exercises to keep it in shape. The Memory Bible by Gary Small is a book that introduces strategies for keeping your brain young. Dr. Small is the director of the UCLA Center on Aging. He believes we can help diminish our forgetfulness with his brain fitness program.
Simple everyday basic memory skills that you should familiarize yourself with are: look, snap and connect. Studies show that our memory system works best when the new information we learn or observe has meaning to us. Look. You must observe what you want to learn. One of the most common barriers is that we, as learners, do not pay attention when information is presented to us. Daily we rely on all of our senses but vision is the first skill we use when something new is placed in front of us. Be observant to your surroundings. Snap. Develop mental snapshots of what you want to remember. Creating these vivid pictures can help with your long term memory. Details help with recalling a memory. Focus on the details of each snapshot you have. Connect. Link the images together in a related chain. Start with the first image, which is associated with the second, and in that way your images will become connected. Remember the first image must associate with something that will help you remember the chain.
This book , on such an important subject, has an incredible bout of knowledge. Dr. Small provides a list of foods that have been proven to be memory protective. With the help of this list, you could go on a “brain diet”. Also included in this book are numerous mental aerobic exercises. There is a workbook section with a weekly and daily calender so that you can start the routine of exercising your brain. It is the most important part of your body. Treat it with care.
In the world of books, the e-book has in many readers’ minds reduced the substance of a book to its information. The book, like music in the early 2000s, is becoming more intangible, its worth placed in its content alone. And its consumer little cares in what form that content is enjoyed, only that it be enjoyed and possessed in the most convenient way.
But many books defy that definition of “a book” as “particular content alone.” One such is the new book published by Tara Books, an independent publisher of picture books for adults and children based in Chennai, South India. One of Tara’s new books is Waterlife by Rambharos Jha, an artist whose paintings are done in the Mithila folk art tradition of Bihar in eastern India.
Each book is silk-screen printed by hand on handmade paper, and the print run was limited to a mere 3,000 copies, each of which are numbered (I scored number 375). Each page features a water creature and its description, and many reference the culture of this particular region in India. At the end of the book is a little information about the people of Mithila and how their folk art has developed, and about the journey Jha’s art has taken. In Waterlife, his studies of the marine animals feature symbolic representations, but he uses the traditional fine lines to greater complexity to add an element of movement not usually present in the more static Mithila art.
The art itself is gorgeous, but the time and effort put into the books, along with their rarity, make this book a must-have. Each book has texture and character; no two copies are exactly alike. And it smells. You can smell the paper and the ink – strong, distinct, and earthy. This is what books are.
If you would like to purchase this book, please give us a call (601.366.7619) or drop by the store!
In February of 2011 Emily and I joined forces and created a First Editions Club for children’s books. This is a homepage of sorts for what we’ve chosen so far and will be updated with our future picks.
These books are chosen much in the same way the First Editions Club books are picked: the author will sign first editions of his or her book in our store, and we only choose books that we feel will have value not only to families, but also t0 the serious collector. This is a great way to start a library for a child in your life or to add to your own library. You can even give OZ First Editions Club as a gift.
To join the OZ First Editions Club please give Emily or me a call: 601.366.7619
February 2011: Madeline at the White House by John Marciano who carries on the Madeline legacy started by his Grandfather Ludwig Bemelmans.
April 2011: Monkey See, Monkey Draw by Alex Beard. This beautiful picture book was inspired by the time Beard spent on his Uncle’s land in Africa, the same land that inspired Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen.
May 2011: Emerald Atlas by John Stephens. An impressive debut novel that will become an amazing fantasy series.
June 2011: Theodore Boone: The Abduction by John Grisham. This is the second book in Grisham’s first young adult series.
September 2011: Otis and the Tornado by Loren Long who has illustrated books for Madonna and Barack Obama among others. The Otis series is bound to become a classic.
November 2011: Blowin’ in the Wind illustrated by Jon J. Muth and lyrics by Bob Dylan. Dylan’s poetic lyrics defined an era, and Muth (a Caldecott Honor medalist) is the perfect artist to interpret this iconic song for a new generation of readers.
December 2011: Franklin and Winston illustrated by Barry Moser and The Cheshire Cheese Cat illustrated by Barry Moser who is a long time friend of Lemuria. Both of these books had small print runs and are destined to become collectible.
January 2012: The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Curtis, a Newbery Medal winner and two time Newbery Honor winner is the first person in history to win both the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award for the same book (Bud, Not Buddy).
February 2012: Crocodile’s Tears by Alex Beard a New Orleans based illustrator who brings us a moving tale of the endangered animals of Africa.
Mach 2012: Glory Be by Augusta Scattergood who is a southerner herself and takes from real-life experiences to portray the south in an accurate, honest and kind way. This is a debut novel.
April 2012: Neversink by Barry Wolverton who wrote most of this debut novel in the Banner Hall, the building Lemuria is located in.
Here at Lemuria, each employee takes on the responsibility of lovingly (for the most part) tending to his/her own section in the store. I lucked out and inherited cooking, which is a perfect fit since I a) like to cook and b) thoroughly enjoy reading a cookbook just like I would any other book. There are so many beautiful books in my cooking nook, but here are just a few that have recently come in, which highlight the fresh, tender ingredients of spring:
Sophie Dahl, author, former fashion model and granddaughter of beloved author Roald Dahl, has published her second cookbook Very Fond of Food: A Year in Recipes. Dahl progresses through each season meal by meal with plenty of appealing photos to accompany her recipes. Of course I flipped straight to the spring section and found several enticing recipes including:
Spicy Eggplant and Tomato with Poached Eggs
Pea, Pesto, and Arugula Soup
Radishes (one of my absolute favorite spring/summer veggies) with Truffle Salt, Mint, and Olive Oil
Since I am growing fresh spring greens in my back yard, I was immediately drawn to this next cook book, Salad for Dinner by Jeanne Kelley. Focusing on greens as the entire meal, Kelley has put together a wonderful and tasty array of salads satisfying enough to be your main course. Here are a few that caught my eye:
Pea and Orecchiette Salad with Perlini Mozzarella and Mint
Chicken, Avocado and Mango Salad
Mixed Greens with Farro, Bacon, Dates, Walnuts, Pears and Parmesan
James Peterson, winner of 7 James Beard Awards has come out with a revised version of Vegetables: The Most Authoritative Guide to Buying, Preparing, and Cooking, with More Than 300 Recipes. Authoritative is an understatement. Peterson goes through an entire alphabet of vegetables and lays out each vegetable’s properties and several ways to prepare each one with an abundance of rich photos to help illustrate his techniques. I found the pages on peeling and seeding tomatoes and the proper way to finely chop an onion especially helpful:
Any of these would be a great addition to your cookbook collection and it probably couldn’t hurt to incorporate a few more veggies into your spring diet!
Two weeks ago the journalism department of Ole Miss invited me to be a part of a panel discussing the future of independent bookselling in Mississippi. Three other Mississippi booksellers participated: Richard Howorth of Square Books in Oxford, Jamie Kornegay of Turnrow Books in Greenwood, and Emily Gatlin of Reed’s Gum Tree Bookstore in Tupelo.
I’ve found that when booksellers talk shop, fresh ideas on how to make our bookstores better is the usual result. All of our markets are different and we have unique challenges. However, sharing how we deal with questions gives us the common bond of survival. Independent booksellers are a small family who care about the quality of our profession and how we effect the bookselling industry.
Also, independent booksellers care about our communities. We believe our stores make a difference enhancing the quality of local lifestyles. These are questionable times for bookstore survival.
If having a local bookstore in the community is important to you, you might enjoy listening to this panel.
Despite my intention to stuff as much content into the Mega-Health post as I could, I realized a few days later that there were still several things I left out. Here’s what I forgot the first time around.
This past December I got a juicer. My wife and I had just watched a documentary called Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead about a guy that goes on a 60 day juice fast in an attempt to lose weight and reverse his myriad health problems. It’s a great film — this is not a documentary that you sit through just so you can say you love documentaries — it’s entertaining, and funny, and occasionally sad.
I was so intrigued by the juicing concept that I decided I wanted that juicer for Christmas. I wasn’t on board with a full 60-day juice fast, but I liked the idea of getting a fresh, nutrient-packed fruit and veggie juice mix from home with no added sugar, artificial flavors, or artificial colors. There is a ton of information online about health benefits from juicing, but I wanted something with all the information compiled and organized for easy reference, so I picked up a copy of The Juice Lady’s Guide to Juicing for Health. This book lists all the benefits of the fruits and vegetables you can juice, with specific application to particular health needs. I’m still on the lookout for a really good juicing recipe book, however.
Another book I’ve looked at several times is Wheat Belly. This book focuses on the detrimental effects of wheat and gluten. Since my wife and I have been following The Primal Blueprint, we’ve already cut out basically all grains anyway, but wheat in particular has some really terrible consequences for your health, and this book goes into much greater detail on the development of wheat and wheat-based foods. I’ve found going grain-free is not significantly more difficult than going wheat-free or gluten-free, but I’ll probably go back and read this book just for the information on wheat.
I’ve mentioned before that I’m a bit of a bike geek. Running has taken over some of my outside exercise attention, but I still love cycling. It’s been a long time since I’ve gone mountain biking, and my old mountain bike needed a serious overhaul before it would be trail-ready again. I usually attempt to do my own repair and maintenance but I’ll confess I ran out of time and took my bike to the shop this time (two big thumbs-up to The Bike Crossing). For the simpler at-home stuff, my go-to guide is The Bicycling Guide to Complete Bicycle Maintence and Repair.
I’ve also picked up a copy of DK’s Bicycle Repair Manual. It’s much smaller than the Bicycling Guide, and doesn’t have as much information, but the illustrations and photos are full-color and much clearer. Between the two books just about everything you need is covered.
Weight-lifting is an important part of fitness, but it takes some planning if you’re not the type of person to spend hours at the gym (and I’m not that type of person). Sure, I could spend a few hundred dollars on a home gym or free weights and bench, but I’d rather be creative and save some money at the same time.
The best place to start is with the basics: pushups and pullups. Pushups obviously require no special equipment, but if you’d like a good plan for building strength, I recommend 7 Weeks to 100 Push-Ups. Pullups require that you have access to some kind of a sturdy bar (I use one of those doorframe-bars you see in stores), but it’s well worth the minimal investment, and we have the companion guide 7 Weeks to 50 Pull-Ups.
When you’re ready to move beyond (or supplement) basic pushups and pullups, probably the biggest bang for your buck is a kettlebell. For a long time weight-lifting has focused on isolating muscles (think: biceps curls) — kettlebell workouts toss this out the window and encourage full-body coordinated movements that work all the little stabilizing muscles in addition to the large muscle groups and build real, functional strength.
You can imagine my shock the last time I was working through the fitness shelves and realized we didn’t have any kettlebell books. I immediately started researching to find the best kettlebell resources I could find, and settled on the two books that had the most recommendations from experts: Enter the Kettlebell and Kettlebell RX. Either book will cover all the basics and get you started, but personally I prefer Pavel’s book — both because he’s a pioneer in the popularization of kettlebell workouts, and also because he’s embraced the whole “Mad Russian” persona.
Joe and Lisa have extolled the virtues of BeanFruit Coffee here before, but I wanted to add one more reason to come by the store and pick up a bag — it’s good for you. The cleanest coffee tastes better, but it also minimizes the formation of toxic molds that you’ll find on 90% of the coffee beans out there. These mycotoxins don’t just affect the taste of the coffee, they affect your health. Additionally, because each bag is stamped with a roast date, you can avoid stale coffee beans covered in sticky, rancid oil. BeanFruit Coffee is super-coffee. Come get some super-coffee.
That’s all I’ve got for now! Health and fitness has turned into a bit of a hobby for me, so feel free to stop in the store and chat about any of this stuff — I’m often in the back room so just ask for me.
Kathy Hepinstall has long been a Lemuria staff favorite so I was thrilled to see a new novel, Blue Asylum, being published this past month. I, again, was not disappointed and immediately passed it around the bookstore.
Iris Dunleavy is on her way to an island off the coast of Florida, unfortunately it is not a vacation to escape the chaos of the Civil War. On her way to the island, Iris considers her predicament and we learn that while she was raised a Quaker and is a staunch abolitionist she fell in love, married, and thought she could change her new husband and the ways of the plantation life. She soon realized this was not going to be the case and decided to run away with a group of slaves that belonged to her husband, Robert Dunleavy. Iris was arrested and put on trail where she was found to be insane. She is sentenced to Sanibel Asylum where the doctor is known for his “modern” technique that will set wives back on ‘the straight path’ and obey their husbands.
I truly was interested in every character in this book, the self-proclaimed insane Doctor’s son, Wendell, to Ambrose, the Civil War vet who is suffering from PTSD, and Dr. Cowell who just can’t seem to see what is right in front him and their relationships with Iris. While reading, Blue Asylum I continually asked myself: Who is really crazy and how fine is the line between sanity and insanity?
The first summer I worked at Lemuria, my mother called with a cookbook she thought I should purchase. The year was 2009, the cookbook was The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes From An Accidental Country Girl. My husband is a huge meat eater whereas I am not. My mother thought this cookbook would be perfect for me as I was starting to cook more meat that usual.
My copy has pages stuck together, splotches of various sauces on each page, and each recipe has been tried. I’ve cooked through it several times. It is a staple in my kitchen. An extra perk is that she lays out each recipe step by step. There is a photograph of what you are doing should look like. This is very helpful when you are unsure exactly what what the recipe is asking you to do.
Some of our favorites are: Katie’s Roasted Corn Salad, Sherried Tomato Soup, Chicken Spaghetti, Penne Alla Betsy (a shrimp dish), and Angel Sugar Cookies.
Since that came out, Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman herself, came out with The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. This is her memoir. It is filled with recipes, the story of her falling in love with Marlboro Man-her nickname for her husband and the story of how she came to be as she is today.
I have to admit; I’ve jumped on the bandwagon. I’m a fan. I now visit her website often as I make my grocery list. I follow her (along with 294, 659 others) on Twitter. (Should you need a lesson on Twitter, see Mark’s blog here. )
Continuing on to keep my Pioneer Woman collection complete, the newest purchase is The Pioneer Woman Cooks Food From My Frontier. I already have several flagged to make in the coming weeks. Following the layout of her first cookbook, Dee lays out each recipe with photographs.
I’ve got a long list for the grocery for next week. It includes ingredients to make the following: Spicy Grilled Vegetable Panini, Whiskey-Glazed Carrots, Grilled Corn Guacamole, and Spicy Lemon Garlic Shrimp.
This unseasonable warm weather screams for something cool. I recommend you making the Blackberry Chip Ice Cream. (Note: An ice cream maker is not required!)
April 2012 is the time for me to state my feelings about the future of Lemuria: The Real Book Store for Real Books. Our bookstore will live or die with the physical book. Lemuria is all about customer service. Our team of Real Book Sellers work hard to create the very best Book Store for Real Books that we can. Not only do we want the best Books on our bookcases, we also want to be the best for you as we go out into the community.
However, when you think about Real Books we want you to think of Lemuria. We are your Real Book Store.
But many books defy that definition of “a book” as “particular content alone.” One such is the new book published by Tara Books, an independent publisher of picture books for adults and children based in Chennai, South India. One of Tara’s new books is Waterlife by Rambharos Jha, an artist whose paintings are done in the Mithila folk art tradition of Bihar in eastern India.
Each book is silk-screen printed by hand on handmade paper, and the print run was limited to a mere 3,000 copies, each of which are numbered (I scored number 375). Each page features a water creature and its description, and many reference the culture of this particular region in India. At the end of the book is a little information about the people of Mithila and how their folk art has developed, and about the journey Jha’s art has taken. In Waterlife, his studies of the marine animals feature symbolic representations, but he uses the traditional fine lines to greater complexity to add an element of movement not usually present in the more static Mithila art.
If you would like to purchase this book, please give us a call (601.366.7619) or drop by the store!
My copy has pages stuck together, splotches of various sauces on each page, and each recipe has been tried. I’ve cooked through it several times. It is a staple in my kitchen. An extra perk is that she lays out each recipe step by step. There is a photograph of what you are doing should look like. This is very helpful when you are unsure exactly what what the recipe is asking you to do.
Since that came out, Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman herself, came out with
Continuing on to keep my Pioneer Woman collection complete, the newest purchase is 
This unseasonable warm weather screams for something cool. I recommend you making the Blackberry Chip Ice Cream. (Note: An ice cream maker is not required!)
