Vegetable Erasers are my Downfall

About 25 or so years ago, I went to a now-gone store in Cambridge called Bowl and Board. One of my favorite things to browse in the store were these little wooden ephemera. I became obsessed with the tomatoes and kept about a dozen wooden tomatoes on display in my kitchen for many years.

As we've tried to ride the Japanese eraser craze (we'll rid it until we stop thinking their cute and they start driving us crazy), we picked up some new assortments. We'll add a new assortment to the mix every few weeks, but the one that really blew me away were the vegetables. I initially thought, "Oh, those are good for our green market" (yes, this Sunday, 2-6 PM) but then I started thinking "I guess I am going to buy a bunch of them. And so I did. And here they are.

And I did. Sad, huh?

On the Corner of Poetry and Novel--A Meditation on our Friday (5/14) Event with Travis Nichols and Aaron Michael Morales

As I read Off We Go Into the Wild Blue Yonder (preparing for our joint event with Travis Nichols and Aaron Michael Morales this Friday), I thought of the structure, the wordplay, the way the images repeat. I looked at the jacket and it said "novel", but my brain reads poetry.

Indeed, Nicholas is an editor at the Poetry Foundation. And it's clear that this has had an influence on his storytelling style.

The story is told as a series of letters to Luddie, a Polish woman who saved the narrator's grandfather during the war. The narrator, unnamed, does refer to himself as "Madame Psychosis." His girlfriend is Bernadette. MP and Bernadette hope to accompany Grandfather back to Europe.

The story is punctuated by memories and asides. Ed Park said Nicholas put the "pistol" in "epistolary." Don't you wish you thought of that?

Here's a sample from the plane trip:

Then, the yellow pills wore off.

Then, the baby boy was still wailing
Then, the baby boy was blue in the face.

Then, the other passengers were not wailing with blue faces.

Then, they were staring at her with red faces.

Then, the man she was married to stared at her with the reddest face of all, and he kept scooping cocaine from his shoe and snorting it.

The radical daughter looked out the window and became terrified

Off we go into the wild blue yonder

Climbing high into the sun.

Here's another fragment:

Something is wrong this morning.

I feel it.

Something is wrong, but as I walk down the hallway to Bombadier's room I don't know what it is. A witness observes without imagination, I think. A witness is purse sense.

I hear a warble and a screech.
Something is wrong.

This is not the conflagration of story and novel. For that, we have another guest (Aaron Michael Morales), whose Drowning Tucson is a very dark interconnected series of vignettes on the mean streets of Tucscon. Very Mean. I did a lot of shuddering as I read it.

But Nichols novel does not really incorporate the short story form. This is a driving narrative, with a couple of asides, of three people traveling to Poland to find out the truth about Grandfather's war, and perhaps of war itself. I kept thinking, "Poetry, poetry," but by the end of the story, I thought, "OK, novel too."

For more, read this interview with Nichols in Rob McLennan's blog.

And here's one with Morales in La Bloga.

Or ask Nichols yourself when he appears with Morales this Friday, May 14th, at Boswell. Oh, and if it looks like I'm spending more time on one author than another, I should mention that Stacie and I put together a separate press release to Latino cultural organizations for Morales so this blog was partly an attempt to right the imbalance!

Salt Lake City Calling. It's Brady Udall! A Short Interview

Golden Richards, patriarch to four wives and 28 kids. Desperate for work, he takes a construction job for a whorehouse. His fourth wife, with only one child to her name (and not his) is making eyes at another man. One of his sons is in self-destruct mode. Brady Udall's book is all that and much more. It's the history of the American West, for goodness sake. Conrad finished reading it and wrote his staff rec almost immediately: "We've waited ten years for Udall to write another novel. At last it's here and it's great." He joins a good-sized list of Boswellians who are over-the-top in their praise of The Lonely Polygamist.

So many thoughts swirl through my head. Big fat books. Not looking so fat due to thick paper that is actually much higher quality than what we're normally seeing in hardcovers of late. A lot of enthusiasm among booksellers, but not as much as for Emily St. John Mandel's Last Night in Montreal. It's the #1 Indie Next Book for May. Here's her post for Micawber's on her visit to Minnesota in winter.

I'm trying to sort everything out. But mostly, I'm trying to translate this gibberish that I wrote down from my short interview with Brady Udall into something coherent.

I spoke to him when he had a free moment at the Hotel Monaco in Salt Lake City. (We stayed there when Winter Institute was in Salt Lake City. It's a long story about me booking late and getting a better deal down the block, not really understanding that in Salt Lake City, blocks are something like half a mile long. I do love the goldfish option. For a good time, browse the Kimpton website and pretend you are staying at these places.)

These interviews are hard. Does the author want to answer the same questions over and over again? What can you ask that other folks aren't asking? So I started with my "big fat book" obsession. It's my thesis that a book at 600 pages didn't start at 350, with the editor asking the author to add more. I guessed it was bigger.

Udall: It was originally 1400 pages. I had a lot more historical background. Royal had hundreds of pages cut. Beverly's story was told over 90 pages.

Goldin: You could publish a novel using material you left out.

Udall: No, I could publish six novels.

Goldin: What's the best thing you left out?

Udall: There's a scene where Royal, Golden's father, has a fight with John Wayne on the set of "The Conquerer." Wayne is playing Genghis Khan. Almost all of the people in the movie died of cancer from the radiation tests that were going on, possibly including John Wayne.

(Read more about this "travesty of filmmaking" here. The movie was directed by the Busby Berkleyan Dick Powell, and also featured Agnes "Endora" Moorehead!)

Goldin: How important was the nuclear testing to the core of your story?

Udall: It wasn't important at first. The more I got to know polygamous families, the more I saw how much it was a part of their lives. I saw my book as a history of the American West, and this was a part of it, a part that's not well known. It was only fifty years ago that our government was conducting radiation tests on its citizens.

Goldin to myself: history of the American West! Oh yeah, that was going on in there. Out loud: Did you have an outline for the book?

Udall: I didn't plan or write anything down. I didn't even write down the kids' names and ages. At one point a kid would be 15 and by 600 he would be 13. There are over 100 characters in the book. I slowly had to bring it home and refine the story.

Goldin: Was there a defining moment that led you to write the story?

Udall: There was! It was the gum in the pubic hair. I knew the book had a heavy subject and I wanted a goofy plot point driving it forward.

Goldin: I see The Lonely Polygamist taking an alien topic like polygamy and making it everyday. I compare your book a lot to Middlesex. Do you mind that?

Udall: No, I love that book. The strangeness becomes intimate. It's also a very human story against the backdrop of history. That's a very American way of writing.

I forgot to ask him about my Anne Tyler comparison!

Need more interviewin'?

Jill Owens of Powells talks to Udall on their website.

And here's one from Jenny Shankman on the New West site.

One last pitch! Brady Udall is not coming anywhere near Milwaukee, but if you live within 50 miles of St. Paul, I very highly recommend that you head to Micawber's to see Brady Udall on Wednesday, May 19th at 7 PM. This guy is the real deal and I'd hate for you to be kicking yourself later that you missed the event.

On Supporting Next Chapter's Decision to Host Karl Rove

As many folks know, Karl Rove is visiting our friends at Next Chapter in Mequon on Sunday, May 23rd to sign copies of his book Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight. You also may know that the store has received a lot of negative comments on social media, with folks (some anonymous, some not) proclaiming they will no longer patronize that store.

Now I have no idea whether these are real patrons of Next Chapter who are no longer going to patronize that store, or rather, social media posters that feel obligated to comment on everything they can. In a way, one of the dangers of web 2.0 is that the political ideas get more polarized as people have less and less interaction with folks who don't share their opinions.

It strikes me that Next Chapter's loyal customers know full well that Schwartz supported a diverse roster of speakers, from Pat Buchanan to Bill Ayers, both of whom led to threats of boycotts. There are general bookstores that do subscribe to the "I don't like it so I ain't carrying it" vision, but it's hard for us to change from A. David Schwartz's conception of the bookstore being a center for a broad marketplace of ideas.

Here the truth comes out. I was offered Karl Rove first, and I passed it to Lanora. And though I knew I would be the target of similar wrath (or perhaps even worse, due to my location in a more liberal part of the metro area), that was not my reason for declining the event. I actually offered two options, one of Next Chapter and the other of us selling books at the Centennial Hall for the Milwaukee Public Library, but that would still be passing the buck, so to speak, to another entity.

The reason I passed was that I would not be able to attend the event. Like Lanora, I was headed for the Book Expo trade show in New York later that week. But unlike Lanora (who also changed her plans to make this event work), I had a family gathering to celebrate my Uncle Leon's 80th birthday in New York, and after much thought, I decided that if I could find another place for the event, I wouldn't miss it. I've already had to turn down a lot of family functions in the past year, as you can imagine.

And I was not going to let my store deal with this event without me at the front and center. It was just not fair to them.

Aside from the name-calling and the boycott threats, there's one other thing that disappoints me. Rove's event is a straight signing, and I would have much preferred for him to talk. I know why he's not doing so, as he probably needs to have a thoroughly vetted crowd so they don't overpower his words. But think about this--that anger isn't going to change anything at this point. Wouldn't it be more useful to listen to what he had to say? What was actually going on in his brain? That's probably something to which I'm not going to be a witness, alas.

Jim Higgins says it best, in yesterday's piece in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel section. Read it here.

Every Good Fairy Deserves Favor--Daisy Meadows Inspires Gift Display

There was a lot of eye rolling in the store when I told everyone I wanted to do a fairy display. There's only so long that I can watch all these Daisy Meadows books come out before I, as the children's stuff buyer, must react.

At random, I just grabbed two titles from the seires. Here's Fiona the Flower Fairy. (editor's note--I mean "flute!") Hey, I was a flautist from sixth through eleventh grades. Oh, look, it's Zoe the Skating Fairy. And in fact, I grew up ice skating with my Dad at Flushing Meadow Park almost every Sunday. It's like the series was made for me.

Here are the top 10 fairy titles (over the last several months) from Daisy Meadows, according to Ingram's demand list:

1. Juliet the Valentine Fairy

2. Trixie the Halloween Fairy

3. Gabriella the Snow Kingdom Fairy

4. Samantha the Swimming Fairy

5. Ellie the Guitar Fairy

6. Stacey the Soccer Fairy

7. Bethany the Ballet Fairy

8. Gemma the Gymnastics Fairy

9. Mia the Bridesmaid Fairy

10. Helena the Horse-Riding Fairy

So Manhattan Toy came out with these Beneath the Leaf dolls at the same time that Accoutrements was pushing fairy mints and finger puppets and another line had fairy magnets. I know that some of this stuff is serious while other items are tongue in cheek. No matter. It calls to me. Fiona, this one's for you.

Stephenie Meyer and Peter Paik See Eye to Eye

One is the story of a woman whose body has been invaded by an alien species. The other is an analysis of speculative writing, and how these otherworldly stories often reflect our own societal ills.

Stacie swears that they were placed next to each other accidentally. Stephenie Meyer's The Host has just come out in paperback. So has Peter Y. Paik's From Utopia to Apocalypse. I actually brought in his new book as he is a professor at UWM (and a customer too, hurray.) His book was originally meant for the Read Local case. But it really needs to have at least a little time with Meyer, doesn't it?

The Story of a Dinner Inspired by Mario Batali's Spain: A Culinary Road Trip

It was Conrad's idea. Pick a cookbook and have everybody cook from it, a book-driven potluck just a bit outside our comfort zone.

The choice for the first evening was Spain: A Culinary Road Trip, by Mario Batali and Gwyneth Paltrow. You can see more about this PBS show by visiting the "Spain on the Road Again" web site.

Conrad set the mood with his paella. And yes, the pan is supposed to make a crackling noise just as it's done.

Jason brought the chorizo empanada. Surprise, surprise--the base called for frozen pizza dough. Jason said it was quite easy to make, and just changing the seasoning convinced the palate that there was no pizza involved.

Rebecca brought pineapple with lime and molasses. Simple, different, and immediately eaten. The leftover molasses made a thoughtful gift to the hosts!

Anne brought pan con tamate, "the most emblematic of all Catalan food." Once again, changing the seasoning eliminated all thoughts of bruschetta. There's another recipe that involves pairing tomato and eggplant on toast, a Spanish ratatouille

Sharon stewed over stewed beans. Only 2 cloves of garlic? I would have added 8 at least. It was nice to have a few vegetarian options. There's a lot of meat and fish in this cookbook.

Pam made sopa de ajo (garlic soup). The poached eggs threw us for a loop, but I, like most of the attendees, was brave and tried it. There was talk of putting the beans in the soup. The idea was scratched, as it would make unclear who was to take home what.

The photo at left is of the soup in process. The poached eggs are ready to be added.

Amie made Batali family blackberry pie. She added a little extra sugar as the berries were particularly tart. Well, in retrospect that's why she did it.

I was lazy and brought sangria. The recipe isn't in the cookbook, but we improvised. I bought my fruit at Sendiks (Downer Avenue) and picked out a good bottle with Mike at Downer Wines and Spirits.

In the end, we thought the recipes were very interesting, and some were delicious. I tried everything, even the soup with the poached eggs. Very outside my comfort zone. The book is more of a travelogue with recipes, an advertisement for the cable show. Nobody was sure why Gwyneth Paltrow was given author credit. Why didn't Mark Bittman get any credit?

We're talking about doing it again, using the coming-in-July Rick Bayless cookbook, Fiesta at Rick's.

Finally! A List of the Books Discussed on my Ben Merens Visit in April

Here's your chance to hear my discussion with Ben Merens (and many readers) on Wisconsin Public Radio in April. When the discussion of favorite books comes up, there are always a lot of calls and Facebook posts, so it winds up being a discussion.

Here's Ben's audio archive. It's Friday, April 16th, 5 PM hour.

And I think this link will lead you right to the show. If I can't get this to work, you can scroll through the other shows until you get to mid-April (how embarrassing to be so late doing this!)

Daniel's opening recommendations:
Day for Night, by Frederick Reiken

His enthusiasm for this book rivals that of:
Little Bee, by Chris Cleave

Ben's response:
Night, by Elie Wiesel

And another book to be crazy about:
The Lonely Polygamist, by Brady Udall

customer recommendation:
The Help, by Katherine Stockett

Daniel's response:
The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott, by Kelly O’Connor McNees

And another Amy Einhorn book:
This is Not the Story You Think it is, by Laura Munson

customer recommendation:
The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One, by William L. Black (this book is short discount and not widely distributed)

Daniel’s response:
Lords of Finance: The Bankers who Broke the World, by Liaquat Ahamed

customer recommendation:
Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer

Daniel’s response
Animal Factory. by David Kirby

With Animals, but Still Green:
In the Green Kitchen, by Alice Waters

And More about food:
Spain: A Culinary Road Trip, by Mario Batali

customer suggestion:
If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska, by Heather Lende

Don't forget about her brand new book:
Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs: Family, Friendships, and Faith in Small-Town Alaska

customer inqury:
The Gathering Storm, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
(It came out last fall, not this fall)

Daniel’s response:
Dragon Haven and Dragon Keeper, by Robin Hobb

Daniel Gets to Give a Nonfiction rec:
Yarn, by Kyoko Mori

And an Old Book to Recommend:
The Tortoise and the Hare, by Elizabeth Jenkins

Being Touted by the Author of this High-Profile Book:
Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel

customer recommendation:
1984, by George Orwell
The Sparrow and Children of God, by Mary Doria Russell

customer recommendation:
The Immigrants saga. I think the caller was referring to:
The Immigrants, by Howard Fast, which is the first in a six-book series about the Lavette family

customer recommendation:
The Conscience of a Liberal, by Paul Krugman

Daniel’s response:
Ill Fares the Land, by Tony Judt

customer recommendation:
What's Shakin': An Insider's Look at the Humorous Side of Parkinson's Disease, by John Brissette
(Alas, this is a print-on-demand, nonreturnable, short-discount book that is not likely to be on the shelves of your local bookstore. It is designed for website sales only, with spot consignments from the author's family or friends).

customer recommendation:
Democracy in America, by Alexis de Tocqueville

customer recommendation:
The Little Friend and The Secret History, by Donna Tartt

Daniel’s response:
The History of Love and Great House, by Nicole Krauss

customer recommendation:
The Kids are All Right, by Diana, Liz, Amanda and Dan Welch

customer recommendation as a book to reread:
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkein. There are many editions of this series. I linked to the one-volume trade paperback.

Daniel’s response, a book that I reread:
The Golden Gate, by Vikram Seth

customer recommendation:
all Raymond Chandler, such as The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye

Daniel’s response:
Elegy for April, by Benjamin Black, also the man behind The Infinities, by John Banville

customer recommendation, regarding foreign books that take too long to be released stateside:
The Sister Fidelma mysteries, by Peter Tremayne, most recently The Council of the Cursed

Daniel’s response of a book that took a long time to be published stateside:
The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, by Stieg Larsson

customer recommendation:
Arthur Conan Doyles’ Sherlock Holmes mysteries, an inexpensive option being The Complete Novels and Stories, in two volumes.

customer recommendation:
The Limits to Power, by Andrew Bacevich

Here's another link to the show.