On Reading "Driftless", which Nobody Guessed How Much I'd Like

In my experience, book clubs can choose their books in one of three ways:

a. The group votes on each selection

b. The group let's each member choose a title in some sort of order

c. The moderator chooses the book.

We have three in-store book clubs. Two groups choose using option a. When I tell folks that the group I run (first Monday of the month) chooses option c, I sometimes need to explain myself, even though there are certainly other clubs that use this method (like Oprah's!)

My explanation has two parts. One has to do with me whining and talking about how busy I am and how much I need to read, and how the only way I'm going to moderate this group is if I can choose the books.

And when I was at Schwartz, I occasionally tried to direct our in-store groups into coordinating selections with events, and I was almost always rebuffed. I want to sometimes coordinate our book club selection with an event (like this month's Driftless, or Elmer Gantry, which we're reading in February).

But there's another thing. It's my contention that I want my group to sometimes read outside our comfort zone. If books are chosen by groups, they sometimes fall into the trap of making things too comfortable. I'm not going to give examples, for fear of insulting someone. Heck, I do that enough elsewhere.

So I was pleasantly surprised to find that David Rhodes' Driftless was an almost classic Daniel book, filled with quirky characters, multiple intersecting plotlines, a straightforward but not drab storytelling style, and themes that touched to my core--place, identity, community, and the grayness of absolute judgment. I don't know what I was thinking. Perhaps there was too much focus on the rural setting, the militia, country music, making pies, Rhodes' backstory. When you take away the window dressing, Rhodes writes not too far from the territory of Michelle Huneven, that Blame and Jamesland author I have gone on about.

The structure of the story was clearly laid out somewhat in advance, and it's a concept that I didn't actually catch until towards the end. Some folks knew it going in and I'm sure that still made it a good read, but explaining the structure gives away what might be a twist to some readers, so at least here, I'm going to say little more. (I'm sure any number of traditional reviews gave it away in the first sentence). Let's just say it follows the life of July Montgomery, first written about in The Rock Island Line, many years later, as he's made peace with his life and settled down in the very small Words, Wisconsin. As it jumps between the dozen or so characters whose lives are profiled, you notice there is a bit of a continuing theme--there's a domino effect of grace, and how your good behavior really can affect someone else's life. There's also the continuing strand of how to make the best of a crappy childhood.

Sharon (who also liked Driftless) and I agreed that it usually took one of the plotlines to really pull you into the book. For Sharon, it was the sisters Violet (the older caretaker) and Olivia (younger and wheelchair bound), particularly when Olivia started rebelling. For me, it was the subplot about the farmers Graham and Cora, who discover that the farmer's coop (one of the folks involved is named Forehouse, hint) is not only abusing the farmers, but also stealing from the government. Really? A coop can sometimes be bad? I thought all coops were intrinsically better than other businesses. It was quite an education.

Kurt, who had also read the book for another book group, told us that we should all read Rock Island Line, Rhodes' earlier novel about July Montgomery. It really adds to the Driftless experience. Fortunately Milkweed has reissued this book, as well as The Easter House.

Not everyone in the group liked the book. Some members got bogged down in the story, and weren't thrilled with the writing style. Sadly, however, the folks who told me they didn't like the book also didn't show up for the meeting. It's fun to argue it out--as long as folks don't get too personal.

Three related items:

1. David Rhodes is appearing at Boswell Book Company on Friday, October 9th, at 7 PM. This is the first event of the Milwaukee Book Festival. Here's more info on the festival.

2. Our next meeting of the In-Store Lit group at Boswell is Monday, November 2nd, at 7 PM. We're reading Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun, a novel about Biafra's attempt to form an independent republic in Nigeria.

3. Just announced! Our December meeting on Monday, December 7th selection is The Hakawati, by Rabih Alameddine, a Lebanese novelist whose book has won amazing raves from both critics and booksellers. We should be selling this better, and I need an excuse to read it. What better reason can one have to pick a book?

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Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel was awarded the Man Booker. We had one enthusiastic hold on the book before it released next week. Won't that customer be excited, getting a first printing?

Herta Mueller wins the Nobel Prize for Literature. Our I-Page database lists no books distributed in the United States. I'm glad they addressed that Eurocentricity problem this year.

The Competing Philosophies of Book Clubs--Please 'em or Make 'em Sweat

When I was still planning to open Boswell Book Company, there were some programs I expected to work, and some I was concerned about. I have to admit I expected a bigger response to our storytimes than we've gotten. Though our customers seemed enthusiastic in theory, attendance has been spotty. No wonder at least one of our Schwartz stores stopped doing them. I haven't given up and the booksellers and I are going to revisit them and try to figure out how to make them better.

My initial attempt at an in-store book club also was a bit stop-start. Two of the clubs, Readers of the Lost Art, and In-Store Mystery, both came over from Shorewood pretty much without a hitch. Readers of the Lost Art, by the way, was the original in-store book club for Websters in the 80's, so in a sense, it just found its way home.

The club I started, alternately known as "In-store Fiction" or "In-Store Lit" (yes, I may rename it), had a shakey start. For the first few meetings, I had one attendee, and not the same attendee each month at that. I just told myself it needs time to find its bearings, and that I would give it a year.

I asked the knowledgeable Carla Coen at Washington's Politics and Prose (yes, I'm name dropping) what I should do. She was concerned that my selections were a bit outside the sweet spot, a little difficult to attract the most possible attendeees. My thought was that Readers of the Lost Art was hitting that sweet spot, and because they vote on their selections, I could do something different and impose them.

I know it's a little "enlightened despot", but honestly, if I have to spend time reading books that are not upcoming events or advanced reading copies that I'm supposed to get behind, the selection had better be something on my pile. Better than that, it should be a book that I'd find a little difficult, a little outside my comfort zone, so that I can get all my questions answered.

Then one month ago, for Netherland, we jumped from 3 to 12 attendees (I don't count myself). Almost too much! This month, for Man Gone Down, we had 7, which seemed just perfect.

Some folks liked the book, others did not. Everybody spoke, and had something to add to the conversation. Nancy was conversant in W.E.B. DuBois and Ralph Ellison, and pointed out the structural and thematic similarities to the book. Suzanne noticed a possible plot twist regarding the all-important golf game that the rest of us missed--I'm not sure if that was the author's intent, but it was interesting. Gloria had some interesting personal experiences that dovetailed with the story. Carolyn spotted some themes that had shown in the last three books we've read. And all of us took a crack at figuring out the allusions to The Odyssey.

All in all, this was just what a book club is supposed to be, because I think that even the folks who didn't like the book found the discussion enlightening. And it didn't even take a year to get there.

Our Upcoming Meetings:

Monday, October 5th

Driftless, by David Rhodes (he's appearing at the store on the 11th of October).

Monday, November 2nd

Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (she's not coming).

Since all the other book clubs we host are on Monday, it's my hope to have one of my booksellers start up a 2nd Monday book club, so that we are pretty much "Book Club Monday." I'm thinking speculative.... We'll let you know how things go.

Sarah's Last Day, In-Store Book Club Disarray (Substitute Needed)

Today is Sarah's last day. If you haven't tried the Boswellians of late, you might have missed her post on finding a bookstore near her new home base. Hope the move goes well!

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An update on our In-Store Fiction Book Club, which will someday have a snappier name.

We were going to read Man Gone Down on August 3rd, 7 PM. However, since it won the Impac Award and got the big New York Times piece, it was out of stock for the next few weeks. So I'm substituting Netherland, at attendee Carolyn's suggestion, and we'll reschedule Man Gone Down for August 31st (as September 7th is Labor Day and we'll be closed at night).

Looking ahead, we're scheduled for David Rhodes and Driftless on October 5th. Rhodes will be appearing at Boswell on Sunday, October 11th, at 2 PM.

So that is:

Monday August 3rd, 7 PM

Netherland, by Joseph O'Neill

Monday, August 31st, 7 PM

Man Gone Down, by Michael Thomas

Monday, October 5th, 7 PM

Driftless, by David Rhodes

Another Day, Another Offsite

Dateline: Tuesday, July 14th.

Greetings from the “City of Milwaukee Emerging Business Sustainability Conference.” I got here at 7 PM to set up. I’m the only vendor that has widgets to sell; everyone else is selling services. That left most other folks to leave their spaces and participate in the workshops, leaving me behind to read Richard Powers’ Generosity. Did you know Powers doesn’t sign books? For a second, I thought that meant he might still do readings, as long as he didn’t sign, but he doesn’t do that either, at least for me. He lives in Illinois so I thought we had a shot. We didn’t.

Maybe one day Powers’ cousin will stop by and say, “Did FSG say Rick doesn’t do events? He’s coming to my wedding next May and he’d do anything once I told him this was my favorite bookstore.” There’s a lot of fantasy involved in that statement. I feel like I’m writing fan fiction.

Hey, that's sort of what happened with David Rhodes, author of the wonderful and popular (at least in Milwaukee) Driftless. We were told he wouldn't be touring for the hardcover (it seemed like a shot because he lives in Wisconsin), but he's appearing at Boswell Book Company for the paperback, on Sunday, October 11th, at 2 PM. Go figure. I'm thrilled.

I brought some startup books of the entrepreneurial sort, some basic management stuff, some sales, some sustainability titles, and some business narratives. I played, “How many books have I read on the table” with Marc, the Associated Bank guy who led me to this gig. I read 12; he read more. I’ve got about 60 titles altogether, in ones, twos and threes. There’s no speaker. My rule of thumb is “No speaker, no offsite,” but I broke the rule almost immediately.

So far, the two titles most talked about are Good To Great and The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. These are titles that appeal to companies and nonprofits alike. Everybody’s got a crappy coworker, I guess. Oh, and several folks have commented on Jeffrey Gitomer’s The Little Red Book of Selling. I wasn’t quite sure how far an emerging business would be, which is why I brought three copies of How to Write a Business Plan. I looked at a number of books on the subject when I was starting my business and I thought this was the best. (I sold one to a fledgling construction company owner, with just this endorsement).

So anyway, I think I’m supposed to be here all day. I got up at 4 this morning. I’m not sure I’ll make it.

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In the end, I sold five books, two of which I threw in the kit at the last minute. I talked to some nice folks, several of whom were trying to sell me their services. And I finally got to go in the new Manpower Headquarters. They have a very neat display case with historical artifacts from the company.

I made it to about 2 PM.

In Praise of Julia Keller and Other Things

I put my money where my mouth is and subscribe to our local paper, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. I have my favorite sections and rituals, such as plotting house sales (or lack thereof) in our neighborhood, and of course closely follow Geeta Sharma-Jensen's book coverage.

This week she has a column comparing the regional pleasures of the national bestseller The Story of Edgar Sawtelle to the local cult favorite Driftless, by David Rhodes. Both are stirred in a pot of literary mediation, spiced up with the classic Peace Like a River from nearby Minnesota.

Honestly, I'm not sure why Enger's book was included, but I liked the column anyway.

Oh, I didn't link The Story of Edgar Sawtelle because it's transitioning back to the pre-Oprah cover. Each has it's own ISBN, and I'm not sure which one we'll have. Why not do both? Here's the original and here's the Oprah version. I have pictured the one with the Oprah seal.

I hope all you book lovers in Wisconsin follow the Journal-Sentinel book coverage. It definitely helps local bookstores to have book pages, and we're grateful that for all the changes happening in the newspaper business, we still have a book-centric editor like Jensen putting it together. Heck, we're lucky to have anything at all. Don't take it for granted. Whether you subscribe or buy a newsstand copy (not that we have newsstands), let them know that the book section is part of your decision.

Though a lovely aside, what I really want to talk about is another ritual of mine, buying the Saturday Chicago Tribune. That's where they moved the book section, formerly on Sundays. Book sections have disappeared from newspapers all over the country, and burying it on Saturday, one of the lowest circulation days, was a step towards eliminating altogether. It was like a dare--you say you want a book section, let's see if you actually help Saturday circulation.

It's a year later, and it's not gone yet, though it's now folded into the arts section, occupying the first few pages. I actually like the new format, particularly because it highlights the high point of the section for me, the columns of Julia Keller.

Keller is the Trib cultural critic and had continued to write Lit Life, a colum in the Sunday Tribune. Since the Saturday switch to "Books and Arts", she regularly writes the lead review. I love them because they are timely, exuberant, and Chicago-y, a far cry from the six-month-old academic titles that used to lead off the section.

This fall Keller's highlighting of The Chicagoan reinforced everything we loved about this wonderful gift book, an appreciation and reproduction of a Chicago-based New Yorker-type magazine from the roaring twenties.

When Keller wrote about Joseph Epstein's Fred Astaire, I was ready to dance myself. She got the joy in that little book's meditation and I was thrilled. It's true. Many people read reviews to get ideas on what to read but booksellers also use them as a mirror to their own readings. While it's interesting to read a review from someone you generally disagree with (Michiko Kakutani comes to mind, if I even understand her argument at all), there is more joy in someone like Keller (Janet Maslin also comes to mind) saying what I wanted to say, only better.

This week Keller interviewed Nami Mun, author of Miles from Nowhere, a novel about a Korean runaway in the Bronx, circa late 1970's. The book has had buzz for months, as Riverhead was comparing it to their huge success with Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. I certainly had no idea the author lived in Chicago. Maybe she'll wind up visiting Milwaukee.

The other front page piece was actually from Jessica Reaves, but it was a review of Janice Y. K. Lee's The Piano Teacher, another book that's getting lots of buzz. I haven't read the book yet, but I had better soon--we have an event with Ms. Lee at our Shorewood shop just six days after publication. That's a tall order for a first novelist without a local connection, at least to my knowledge.

Here's some help in making your decision to attend. Read this great review, online in this case, and then show up to hear a new voice at the start of what could be a notable career.

Note also, that both titles are highlighted in our Indie Bound section as Indie Next picks. Ms. Lee's novel is recommended by my book-crazed friend Bill Cusumano, the buyer at Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor. He reads like crazy and every time I talk to him, he's passionate about some new writer. I'm no fool--I take his advice.

If you take a road trip to that lovely college town of A2, you'll have a double treat as you can browse Karl Pohrt's elegant and cerebral Shaman Drum, and then head to Nicola's for a great selection filled with staff recs, a cozy fireplace, and a nice selection of gift items. You can cap off your day, with a trip to the new-concept local grocery Plum Market and then dinner at Zingerman's Roadhouse, where entrepreneurial legent Ari Weinzweig himself showed us their fabulous collection of salt and pepper shakers.

Really, they are fabulous. You have to see them someday. Put it on your list that I am helping you make.

Oh, and when I'm there I read the Ann Arbor News.

Yours Truly,

Blogger who likes real newspapers and bookstores, perhaps because he is too old to know better.