How Did Our Book Club Discussion of The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet Go? And What's Coming Up Next?

I don't consider myself a fan of historical fiction, but I guess I'm committed to reading the best things being written in the genre.  First the in-store book club delved into Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, and just several months later we're plowing through David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. Unlike the former, Mitchell's novel of a Dutch trading post on the edge of Japan circa 1800 does not have to hew to specific facts about specific people. Mitchell notes in this essay in The Telegraph that the novel was inspired by an inadvertent visit to Dejima, the ruins of the Dutch East India Cmpany's warehouse.  That said, he still chose to hew to the traditions of historical fiction, such as having the characters speak in "bygonese."  Read more here.

I got many warnings that I would need to start Mitchell's novel early, or I would come to the discussion without having finished.  I decided to use my standard trick for getting books read without interruption--a good long walk.  In this case, I walked from Bay View to Cudahy. I got a little bummed, as I passed one huge Milwaukee-area industrial corporation after another that was recently acquired, moving control outside of our market.  First Ladish (to Allegheny) and then Vilter (to Emerson).  Would I make it all the way to Bucyrus (sold to Caterpillar) in South Milwaukee or would I turn around after buying some buttons at Packard Plaza? And once I got on the bus, would our driver pretty much shut down the route for a half hour because he didn't like two of the passengers, and yet at the same time refuse to kick them off? 

I can't really complain. It just gave me more time to read.  And the huge industrial complexes did put me in mind of Dejima, especially on a Sunday, when they were all pretty much abandoned. 

You know what the novel's about, right? A Dutch clerk (De Zoet) is sent to Dejima, the Dutch trading outpost in Japan that is run through Batavia (Jakarta), the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company, to make his fortune and return to his beloved.  Ostensibly told to  rout corruption that is said to be rampant, it turns out that corruption, in the eye of the beholder, turns out to be "rightful take." But an equally big problem is that his eye turns to a midwife, Aibagawa Orito (or Orito Aibagawa, depending on who is referencing the character), which is a no no for a woman of her rank.  Can't he just settle for a prostitute like the rest of the foreigners? Despite a disfiguring mark on her face, Orito seems to be quite popular.  He has a rival for her affections in his translator Uzaemon, and a warlord, Lord Abbott Enomoto, has designs on her for his shrine. As this is all happening, the British make moves to take over the Dutch trading gig at Dejma and war brews.

The group almost unilaterally loved The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, with only two people of even mixed minds.  It showed that even with a top-notch novel filled with subtext and historical connections and human rights violations (we love those), the conversation lags a bit when there is little disagreement.  Several folks mentioned that they liked the two strong female characters (Orito and Otane) and would have like a tiny bit more focus on several of the other women involved, such as a wife or concubine. As Ann said, we're talking about a man's world here, so what can I expect?

All agreed that the first part of the book was a little slower.  I never mind a novel that needs time to set up the plot, and its not unusual for this to be 100-200 pages. Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times remarked on the structure of the novel being a three-part composition. I thought it more akin to a roller coaster, with a long climb, a quick but exciting ride filled with drops, and then a pleasant series of dips and turns before pulling into the station.  That means I liked part two the best.  On the other hand, several other attendees really enjoyed the ship maneuvers, with a good deal of fascination for Penhaligon, the British captain.

But what of this second section?  There's an almost Fu Manchu quality to the over-the-top melodrama of the shrine, as noted by Ron Charles in The Washington Post. That's not a complaint, really, but a compliment.  Your response may depend on whether or not you really believe Lord Abbot Enomoto is as old as he says he is.  And we were all fascinated when Suzanne noted the shrines parallels to the Christian church and the stories that are part of it. 

There was some talk of the culture of the Netherlands, why they became traders, and how did they succeed, and then fail, in their colonial aspirations?  I thought it was interesting that the last Dutch-themed book club book we read, Joseph O'Neill's Netherland, which also dealt with its colonial past, but from a post-colonial perspective.  Plus there was cricket.

Suzanne had read all of David Mitchell's published novels (and seemed like she would be quite excited about reading his unpublishable ones too) so we had a discussion about how De Zoet fit into his oeuvre. I had read that this novel was a big change from his other work, but Suzanne noted that all of his novels are very different from each other. And while the focus in the reviews has sometimes been the turning away from pyrotechnics of his earlier novels, Black Swan Green is a straightforward autobiographical novel, though as Alexander Linklater notes in the Guardian, it does have textual references to the earlier novels. 

We tried to get Gloria to speak from California but the speaker on a cell phone is pretty bad, plus she was at a market, plus we had Alan Heathcock reading in the back of the store. Carolyn made a motion to ban rereading books, because everyone seems to notice more flaws the second time around.

I was bad and should have taken more notes. I will end with one of the questions in the reader's guide (the multiple choice answers are mine, and bely my confusion with the question and how it would relate to the book discussion). 

"If you were to land in Dejima in 1799, what would be the first thing you would do?"

a. Steal some copper.

b. Visit a courtesan.

c. Join what I'm told is a very nice shrine.

d. Start a naval battle.

Your choice!

Want to have a spirited chat with a bunch of readers who, as noted by one of the attendees, have a dearth of graduate degrees that offer us any credibility?  Join us for a the in-store lit group on the first Monday of each month at 7 pm.  Except for two of the next three meetings, when holidays interfere. Due to July 4th and Labor Day being first Mondays, we have two different clever solutions.

Monday, July 4, 11 am (the store is open 10 am to 5 pm),

We're reading Emma Donoghue's Room.

Monday, August 1, 7 pm,

The conversation will focus on Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad.

Monday, August 29, 7 pm (the fifth Monday),

Into the Beautiful North, by Luis Alberto Urrea is our pick.

Don't forget that if you mention that you are purchasing the book for book club, you get 10% off the list price, plus another 5% accrues to Boswell Benefits.

What's Selling This Week at Boswell...Along with Not Particularly Snappy Asides.

Here are our hardcover nonfiction bestsellers for the week:

1. In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson

2. Bossypants, by Tina Fey

3. Life, on the Line, by Grant Achatz and Nick Kakonas

4. On China, by Henry Kissinger
5. Area 51, by Annie Jacobsen

I don't know what's happening nationally, but at Boswell, the hardcover books with the most pop right now are nonfiction. Tina Fey seems to have continued past Mother's Day, momentum-wise, and nothing seems to be able to stop Erik Larson, which has already sold better with us in a few weeks than Thunderstruck did at our location (when it was Schwartz) for the complete life of the hardcover.

Hardcover fiction:
1. Caleb's Crossing, by Geraldine Brooks
2. The Long-Shinging Waters, by Danielle Sosin
3. Dead Reckoning, by Charlaine Harris
4. Dreams of Joy, by Lisa See
5. The Snowman, by Jo Nesbo

Yesterday we put up our Milwaukee Art Museum Summer of China display.  At least two books from our bestsellers, Kissinger's and See's, were included. And don't forget about Danielle Sosin this Wednesday.  Don't worry, I'll remind you again tomorrow.

Paperback Nonfiction:
1. This American Family, by Chris Christie (get a)
2. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot
3. Cardboard Gods, by Josh Wilker (signed copy)
4. Heaven is for Real, by Todd Burpo
5. Life, by Keith Richards
 
All three events this week went very well, as you'll see on our bestseller lists.  The audience at Chris Christie's This American Family encouraged her to do more speaking.
 

Paperback fiction:
1. I Thought You were Dead, by Pete Nelson (signed copies available)
2. Room, by Emma Donoghue
3. A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan
4. The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
5. Volt, by Alan Heatchcock (get a book signed)
 
Here's my event experience with each book on this list:
1. Just hosted an event at a bar.
2. Came by to sign stock in conjunction with hardcover event.
3. Ran into at another store.
4. I think the tour for the paperback is over.
5. Coming to Boswell Monday, which is tomorrow!
 

Kids books:
1. Rrralph, by Lois Ehlert (signed copies available)
2. Hooray for Amanda and Her Alligator, by Mo Willems
3. On the Night You were Born, by Nancy Tillman
4. Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, by Mem Fox
5. The Adventures of Tintin, Volume 1, by Herge
 
Tintin is just one reminder that Cafe Benelux is opening in the Third Ward on June 9.  And as I still search for a store hosting Mo Willems who will let me get a book personalized (we had a mixup at the store and the wrong name got attached to a book), I am hoping that we hit gold at the Garden District Bookshop on June 25. Mr. Willems signs there from 3 to 5 pm.
 
As his been my habit of late, I have linked a few, but not all, of the titles to our website. All the titles listed here are available with a few clicks of your mouse.

So what's going to be on fututre lists?  There's a good chance that many of the titles are in today's Journal Sentinel roundup of "52 to Pickup", Jim Higgins's book preview.  Read more here.

Saturday Gift Post--New Cards, New Knit Animals, a Lois Ehlert Recap Photo

I'm late!  Here are some updates on what's going on in the shop.

1. Our cards from The Found came in.  The effect is supposed to be old matchbook art. Also got a second Pinkerton order.  Next up, we've placed a reorder from Night Owl.  And just to round things out, an order from Design Design, as among other things, there are not many places to get a bat mitzvah card--we carry two designs each of bat and bar mitzvah, and communion. That said, we were carrying a couple of retirement cards, and the sell through on both was too slow to reorder.

2. A few weeks ago we placed our first order with Rich Frog.  We picked up a few different things, but definitely my favorite are these knit animals.  Is this or is this not plush?  I can't decide. I really, really think they are very cute. I think the company is owned by a person named Richard Frog.  Well, maybe..

Aside from that, most of the gift work was restocking from our back room.  We found another box of ceramic birds (I was sure there were two) and so we now have the more popular red and yellow species.  We did get another shipment of Galison in, being that our new Paris items had sold through so well, and the Paris table was moved to the front of the bookstore. 

We had two customers this morning that each bought a chunk of gift items. My problem is that I need a new vendor for cute file folders. One vendor stopped making them, while the other has no new styles, and the display is getting a little stale (but not quite stale enough that we aren't selling them). 

3. Speaking of Dicks, Lois Ehlert's brother Dick joined in our event with Rrralph today, being that it was his joke that inspired the new book.  We had a nice crowd of families, who contributed the dog noises. 

Sugar Maple Recap, Looking Forward to Doggy Day, Indie Next Picks at Boswell, Email Newsletter Link

Is it Friday already? That must mean that Chris Christie is tonight, speaking about her memoir This American Family, and Lois Ehlert is tomorrow (Saturday) at 4, reading from her new book Rrralph with her brother Dick and a chorus of dogs.  Then we have a day of no events and something every day until Father's Day weekend.  Yikes!

Last night's event at Sugar Maple turned out to be a lot of fun, and we had a decent crowd, thanks to some nice press in the Journal, some enthusiastic Boswellians, three authors, one of whom had cousins in the area, and some great music from Married to the Sea.  Oh, and free beer.  There turned out to be more beer swag than I expected, including cool glasses, posters, and bottle cap magnets.

The cousins turned out to be releatives of Josh Wilker, author of Cardboard Gods, and Stacie told me that last year, when we had a baseball window (including Stacie's own field of dreams), we included the book in hardcover in the display, and Josh's cousins sent him a photo.

It was great to see Pete Nelson again, and as we've now had three great reads on I Thought You were Dead, we're hoping to have a nice sale with the book in paperback.  There's a part of me that wishes he got the dog event instead of Lois Ehlert, as Stella is a big part of his novel.  And my friend Elly says that Pete's dog (the inspiration for Stella) was quite well known in Northampton.

And as for David Anthony, Something for Nothing, I have three things to say. 1) His book about a pilot who takes a gig transporting drugs circa 1974 is set in a fictionalized version of Danville, home of Rakestraw Books. I ran into Rakestraw Michael about 43 times at the Book Expo.  2) And he shares an agent with our pal Phil Hanrahan, who would like everyone to know that the paperback version of Life After Favre is coming out this fall, and yes, it's updated. And thanks for buying a "Book was Better" tee shirt.  I feel bad that I only read two of the three event books, but think of all the times I've read none of the one event books. 

Some nice reaction to the Susan Stamberg piece on NPR. I can't figure out what Dean Bakopoulos's reaction was, though this photo from Winter Institute seems to indicate some mixed feelings.

Another author who we have coming to Boswell, first introduced to us at Winter Insitute, just got some good news.  Alice LaPlante's mind-blitzing* novel, Turn of Mind, was just named the #1 Indie Next pick for July 2011. Hoping to do an entire post on this one as it should knock your socks off, as long as you are wearing socks.  Our event is Wednesday, July 13, 7 pm.

*Once again, much thanks to Arthur Plotnik for his help in selecting just the right word.  He'll help you too. Just show up at our event with Plotnik for Better than Great: A Plenitudinous Compendium of Wallopingly Fresh Superlatives, on Tuesday, July 7, 7 pm.

Oh, and here's the link to our latest email newsletter.  The big mistake is that I wrote 9200 instead of 2900 for our event with Rescuing Regina on July 6 at Mount Mary. It will be fixed in the next newsletter.

Ruminating on Madison Bookstores, Present and Past, and Dean Bakopoulos, the Ex-Bookseller Who Has Written Not Just One, but Two Great Novels (and is Coming Thurs. June 9 for the Second One).

Here's a little post about Dean Bakopoulos.  But first, a meandering note about Madison, Wisconsin and its bookstores.

As you know from the blog, I still field a lot of comments from customers about Schwartz closing, a bit from folks around the Shorewood store, and even moreso from people in Brookfield and Elm Grove.  Heck, people like to tell me they miss the old Book Nook in Whitefish Bay, and Audubon Court in Bayside (or maybe that is Fox Point, I'm never sure where the line is.)

But that is nothing compared to the bookstore sadness I get from folks coming over from Madison, particularly since the Borders on University closed.  It was well known that that store performed well, in part because the Michael, the manager, geared the store to the market, often by tweaking inventory and display guidelines.  You might say, "It couldn't have been a great store if they closed it," but if you say that, you haven't, alas, been following the Borders bankruptcy saga closely.

There are still great stores in Madison. The University Bookstore is still around, albeit with a smaller trade presence than in its heyday.  There's Rainbow Coop (somewhat akin to Milwaukee's Peoples), Booked for Murder (not too different from Milwaukee's Mystery One) and A Room of One's Own, which I'd compare more to Chicago's Women and Children First.  It's a feminist bookstore that has branched out to the more general market in the last few years. They are part of the American Booksellers Association and have an ABA ecommerce website that sells Google ebooks, just like us.*

But folks still mourn the bookstores that are gone. Remember Pooh Corner, the kids' bookstore?  I went to my first Madison reading at Five Star Fiction and Video. And I have one friend that used to love to go to Pic-a-Book, mostly for the magazine selection. But if I had to do a countdown, I'd have to say, adjusting for inflation, that more folks come into Boswell mourning Canterbury, the independent bookstore that spent a decade on State Street, than anything else.  Doing this research, I also learned that the bed and breakfast attached was converted to apartments. 

Why do I say all this?  Firstly, because it seems like there are markets like Madison that seem ripe for either a new indie or the expansion of a specialty store into a more general indie retailer. It's not that I think you are going to make a lot of money or anything.  But since that gourmet brat stand (24 kinds of brats, hot dogs, not dogs, et cetera), 12 kinds of mustard, six buns, 36 toppings) was going to fail anyway, you might as well invest in something for the community and feel good about yourself. Just consider partnering with someone who knows how a bit about bookselling.

Secondly, because we're hosting Dean Bakopoulos, one of the legendary Canterburians, for his second novel, My American Unhappiness, next Thursday, June 9, at Boswell. And though he has yet to write a novel that uses his bookstore experience as a jumping-off point (his first novel, Please Don't Come Back from the Moon, is sort of high school/college-y), this book does play on his time as the head of the Wisconsin Humanities Council. 

Here's my recent writeup from the NPR webiste.  I might have told you 300 or so times that Susan Stamberg spoke to me about Ex Libris: the Art of Bookplates and My Korean Deli on Memorial Day, and there were some runners up, including My American Unhappiness. 

"In Dean Bakopoulos' hilarious and heartfelt new novel, Zeke Pappas is head of a small nonprofit that grants funds for cultural projects in the Midwest. He also happens to be a widower who is taking care of his two orphaned nieces, an arrangement made precarious by the fact that Zeke's mom, who officially has custody, is dying of cancer, and has decreed that if Zeke isn't married by the time she passes, the kids should go to his sister-in-law. But don't worry, as Zeke's got prospects — sort of. In addition to his assistant and a local barrista, he's also interested in Sofia Coppola. At the same time, Zeke's work at Great Midwestern Humanities Initiative is under investigation by a wing of the Department of Homeland Security. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to let their biggest donor use his GMHI credit cards for sexual trysts. All this could threaten Zeke's pet project, the "Inventory of American Unhappiness," which is a sort of "This I Believe" for this distraught. This funny-sad novel seems to take elements of the author's own life (happily married, with kids) and twists them in a funhouse mirror — with delightful results."

And of course this was probably too personal for NPR, but the inclusion of Mack Fences, a play on our beloved sales rep and friend Mark Gates, was a particular thrill.  I knew it was fiction, however, when it seemed as if Mack was constantly scurrying.  I don't really think of the late Mr. Gates as a scurrier.

So it's a sad book, but in some sense, it's a blues muzzler.*  And if you have any knowledge of Madison, you'll like it either more. And yes, if you've ever jumped through the hoops of a Wisconsin Humanities Council grant, add twenty pounds of lovin' to that. Remember--funhouse mirror. Did I mention that Milwaukee doesn't seem to have a book festival, but Madison does?  Did I mention that even Waukesha and Sheboyagan have book festivals? I digress.

So what celebrates bookstores more than a bookstore reading?  OK, maybe buying the book at a bookstore reading.  So join us on Thursday, June 9, 7 pm, and toast bookstores past, present, and future, as well as life beyond them, when all you have to do is walk in at 6:45, read a bit, answer a few questions, sign a few books and leave. Let someone else put away the chairs!

*I left out the second-hand and antiquarian bookstores, but they are all listed in my heart.

**Thanks to Arthur Plotnik for that superlative, straight from Better than Great: A Plenitudinous Compendium of Wallopingly Fresh Superlatives.  Plotnik is speaking on Tuesday, June 7, 7 pm, at Boswell. More on our events page.

Shooting for "Waterwalk" at Boswell. And You are Next--More Scenes at Marquette This Afternoon

Apparently we really are up for anything.  Last week we got a call from James, who was shooting a film called Waterwalk.  The movie is based on a 2007 novel from Steven Faulkner.  You may remember that Schwartz hosted an event with the author when the book first came out. The book is set in Michigan and Wisconsin, though not necessarily in Milwaukee.  I haven't read the book, but here's a desciption that I came across:

"Tired, hungry, lost, lonely, fogbound, shipwrecked, unable to make their way in the darkness, Steven Faulkner and his teenage son Justin are having a great time. They are on an epic journey, retracing the historic 1673 route of French explorers Marquette and Joliet along the Lake Michigan shore to Green Bay, up the Fox River, then down the Wisconsin River to the mighty Mississippi. A poet with a sense of humor, Faulkner brings the majestic American heartland to life in one of the finest books ever written about a river journey. A modern travel classic in the tradition of Blue Highways, this book will appeal to anyone who has a sense of adventure."

As several of the cast members live in Milwaukee, it made sense to shoot some of the scenes here.  And since there is one scene in a bookstore, the math turned out to be 2 + 2 = Boswell.  Things seemed to go pretty well.

Now off to the next scene.  James is looking for extras to shoot today (Wednesday, June 1) at the Raynor Library at 14th and Wisconsin today at 3 pm.  They are looking for folk 25+ wearing banquet/cocktail attire, dressed for late autumn, not summer.  If you're interested, just show up in front of the library.  This is how things go when you're making an indie film, right?

Dreaming of Lake Superior and Danielle Sosin's New Novel, "The Long-Shining Waters" (Event on June 8).

Walking the floor of Book Expo, I found myself drawn again and again to many of the independent presses.  Admittedly, we wind up doing more business from the folks with distribution deals from PGW, Consortium (both arms of Perseus), Random House, Penguin, Ingram Publisher Services and Independent Publishers Group, but lately we've been working more with presses like Emergency, McPherson, and other presses without such deals.

There is a fluidity to the staffs at these houses, especially at what seems to be the center of small publishing in the midwest, Minneapolis/St. Paul.  At the Coffee House Press booth, there was Jessica who used to be at Milkweed.  We hoped together that someday, Madison's Sam Savage (author of the cult hit Firmin and the upcoming release Glass) would discover the joys of meeting with his fans the way that David Rhodes did. But like fellow Mad City native Patrick Rothfuss, it's been hard to convince either to make the 100 mile trek (hey, if you know how to get them to come east, feel free to help).

At Milkweed, their lead fall title is from Milwaukee's own Larry Watson, whose novel American Boy comes out in September. But we're still getting ready for our event on June 8 with Danielle Sosin, author of The Long-Shining Waters, winner of this year's Milkweed Prize.  I hadn't read the book yet, as our review copy went to Boswellian Carl, who liked it so much that I felt bad about asking him to give it up.  Plus I am such a slow reader. Who can trust me to get books finished?

Here's Carl's quote about The Long-Shining Waters, by the way:

"With Lake Superior as the lodestone, this novel tells the tales of three women from different times (1622, 1902, and 2000) who are all at crossroads in their lives. A mysterious fourth character looms in the background and ties the narrative together flawlessly. The storytelling is beautiful, as is the imagery of The Big Lake."

But then Mike Fisher told me he was reviewing the book for the Journal Sentinel, and he too wound up really enjoying The Long-Shining Waters. He writes about the three women, Grey Rabbit, Berit, and Nora and their stories:
 "All three stories are amazingly textured, reflecting lightly worn research on topics including Ojibwe life, Superior geology and--especially--the tools and rituals of daily work, from sewing and fishing to bartending and glassblowing.

"Parceled out in increments that rarely last longer than a few pages, these three stories are themselves interwoven with brief, lyric interludes that recount Superior's own history and give voice to both the Great Lake itself and to the drowned--from inanimate timber to lost sailors--entombed there." You can read the complete review on the Journal Sentinel's Tap website.

On doing a little more research, I found this wonderful write-up in the Minnesota Star Tribune:

"The construct is brilliant, the prose fine, the characters beautifully developed, the regional sense powerful. One minor complaint -- Sosin sprinkles among her three tales stream-of-consciousness passages in italics that sometimes seem narrated by the lake itself, sometimes by a geologist or historian, or are they the words of the women in the book? A little confusing, and too much. But on the whole, this ode to the greatest of all lakes is nothing less than grand."  Click here for the complete review.

OK, I was convinced!  I started reading the book in New York, and The Long-Shining Waters turned out to be the only good thing about our plane being delayed four hours. Yes, our plane was delayed in Orlando when the plane in front of it broke down.  There were some weather issues too.

Sosin captures the majesty of a Great Lake I've never seen (though I simply approximated by tripling everything I know about Lake Michigan) in all it's dark storminess.  The four interwoven narratives (I admit I also had a little trouble with the fourth unnamed voice but it really didn't mar my reading experience) become a poetic chorus, stretching back through history, reinforcing the notion that the lake was here before us and will be around after us too.

How about a little more Sosin love?  Susan Salter Reynolds wrote about Sosin's novel for the Los Angeles Times, and boy did this get some pickup.  I found the piece reprinted in the Kansas City Star, the Lexington Herald-Leader, and the Idaho Statesman, among other papers/websites.  Here's a bit of what she had to say.

"You don't see writing like this often, so infused with an intimate relationship to nature, certainly not in debut novels. It may be that with nature shrinking away from us, young writers don't marinate in the sounds, smells, colors and emotions that were once readily available."  Read more.

No wonder Ethan at Milkweed told me that The Long-Shining Waters was selling pretty well. Cheer Sosin on at her Boswell event on Wednesday, June 8, 7 pm.  The event is free!  But one more pitch for the book--it's printed on 100% post-consumer recycled, acid-free paper.  Nice looking jacket too, with moody pumice-colored endpapers.

Oh, and much thanks to Sosin for linking to Indie Bound for purchases.  Here's her website.

Happy Decoration Day! We're Open Today, NPR Reads Now Available, More Events Later in the Week for the Bookish Sort.

We're open regular hours today, but we close at 5 pm.  Yes, I should have given you a bit more notice, but these sort of things sneak up on you.  Just so you have it right in your calendar, we're also open 10 am to 5 pm on the 4th of July and Labor Day.

Just wanted to give you a head's up on the semi-annual Stamberg + Booksellers segment on NPR.  It aired today.  Here is what Rona Brinlee at the Florida's BookMark and Lucia Silver of Studio City's Portrait of a Bookstore (Los Angeles) talked about.  Oh, and me too.

Brinlee recommends such gems as 22 Britania Road and You Know When the Men are Gone, while Silver's taste runs to The Sisters Brothers and the new John Sayles' novel (a cat crusher!  That's my favorite line), A Moment in the Sun.  I want to read them all.  And you will too after you read their descriptions.  The audio should come up later this morning. I'll post it on Facebook. Once again, I give you the link.

I’m hoping you’ve heard about our event at Sugar Maple this coming Thursday, at 7 pm. It features three authors talking/reading about their book (I’m never quite sure of the talking-reading percentage until the event starts), Pete Nelson, Josh Wilker, and David Anthony. The event is free and attendees will get a coupon for select varieties of Lagunitas-brewed beer, while supplies last. And no, you can’t run in, get your coupon, and leave, so don’t try it.

So a little more about this Lagunitas, the sponsor that came with the event. They are a craft brewer based in Petaluma, about 40 miles outside of San Francisco. Here's their web page.

Local writer speaks/reads about her life in a family targeted by the McCarthy witch hunts on Friday, April 3, 7 pm. When Chris Christie told me at our in-store book club that she was working on a book, I told her to bring it on, and we're pleased to announce our talk/reading with Christie for This American Family, her memoir of life as a red diaper baby. Ellen Bravo offers praise: "With searing honesty and moving detail, she describes the collateral damage when those in power decide that standing up for equality is ‘un-American."

And if anyone asks, we are not hosting the governor of New Jersey at the moment. 

Dog days come early!  We're having a very special kids-and-family-friendly event with Lois Ehlert on Saturday, June 4, at 4 pm.  This is our first event with Ms. Ehlert, a Milwaukee treasure, and her new book about Rrralph a very, very intelligent dog, could milk a laugh out of a turnip.*

For this special event, we are opening the doors to well-behaved dogs.  Alas, this also means that we cannot allow food or drink in the store between 1 and 4 pm on Saturday, June 4.  It's a small price to pay!

Here are some book events going on elsewhere...

Wednesday, June 1, offers Wayne Breitbach, author of The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success, at Mequon's Next Chapter, starting at 7 pm. I'm just as confused about what to do with all those requests from folks I barely know.  What am I supposed to use this for?  Finally there is someone to ask, and he's local too. Should be a very interesting event. 

Also at Next Chapter is acclaimed novelist Ursula Hegi, author of the new novel, Children and Fire, coming this Thursday, June 2, 7 pm.  Hegi returns to Burgdorf, Germany, at the start of the Thrid Reich, which was the setting for her legendary novel, Stones from the River. This time the focus is on an idealistic teacher who finds herself compromising her integrity as the Nazis come to power.  More events on the Next Chapter website.

As it is Memorial Day, I thought it would be a good idea to re-mention the Reclaiming Our Heritage Civil War reenactment that is going on at the Zablocki VA Medical Center (or since we’re thinking 1865 when it was founded, the Milwaukee Soldiers’ Home) , starting 9 am on Saturday, June 4 and continuing into Sunday, June 5. Remember? They co-sponsored our Nathaniel Philbrick event last month.

This is the tenth (and alas, final, for now) festival at the VA.  There are not just re-enactments, but drumline and bugle corps, a tea room, tee shirts for sale, and capped off by a rummage sale. Click here for more information.

*This superlative brought to you by Arthur Plotnik, author of Better Than Great: A Plenitudinous Compendium of Wallopingly Fresh Superlatives.  Hear Mr. P. on Tuesday, June 7, 7 pm. You love words, don't you?  So helpful in that speaking and writing.