Loosely Bound: Tales of My Literary Life (3)

Books and Baseball

So, what do books and baseball have to do with one another? Nothing really except I LOVE them both! And today is the season opener and I can't wait! In celebration, my husband took this cheesy picture of me with my Minnesota Twins hat on!

Hoot! Hoot! Can't wait! And due to the fact that this is the second year for our lovely new stadium, tickets are hard to come by. I managed to get a few. My dad even managed to get a game against the Yankees, the team I love to hate!

Suck it, Jeter! (oh, wait, sorry that was inappropriate!) HA! I get a little gruff when it comes to baseball. I cuss like a sailor and swig beer like there's no tomorrow. Surprised? Most people are. It's like the red headed evil child comes out!

Anyhoo...

This month's post from my Literary Life will not be all about baseball because really, do you come here to read about that?! Doubt it.

Nope, this month's posts is about Author Events and how I love them. Call them whatever you like; Autograph signings, Book Signings, Author Tours, whatever. I tend to go back to my bookstore days of WORKING them, so I call them Author Events.

I have been to a fair amount thoughout the years and some have been inspring and some have fallen flat. You know the feeling? You gear up for meeting the person behind the wonderful words you like to read and they have the personality of a cardbox box. It's happened a few times but nothing horrible really to divulge. Just a tad bit disappointing.

For instance, I LOVE The Time Traveler's Wife and when I saw Audrey Niffennegger at a Library event some years back I was so excited. Unfortunately, she seemed a bit shy and awkward speaking in front of a crowd and it was hard to hear her most of the time. I dare say, it was a bit boring. Still love her and her books though, just not a very jazzy event.

The gems I have been able to see stick in my mind; Kate DiCamillo, Chuck Palahniuk, Jodi Picoult and most recently, last night actually, Joyce Carol Oates.

Joyce Carol Oates spoke at our Central Library in downtown Minneapolis as part of the Talk of the Stacks program. It's a library hosted program that features various acclaimed authors, reading and answering questions about their work.

Well, I rushed from my own library job to downtown thinking I had plenty of time but my friend was furiously texting me to hurry because she couldn't save seats for too long. It sold out in a matter of five minutes and the open auditorium was closed when I got there. So I had to sit in the small over flow room and watch her on a screen. Oh well! I made friends and even handed out a business card to my site.

This event apparently was the largest ever with over 600 people in attendance. AMAZING!

Go books! Go authors! I love that when it happens.

For those of you who don't know Joyce Carol Oates, she is an amazing author of over 50 novels. She was reading from her newest book, her memoir A Widow's Story.

It is the story of losing her husband of 46 years back in 2008 and the grieving process that she went through. Though I haven't read it, she was powerful in her reading of some of the chapters.

I felt her emotion, her anguish, her craziness.

As I said before, when you are a fan of an author and get to see them in person, you really hope that they speak and act in the way in which they write.

She certainly did. She had an awkward elegance that comes from living a life in your head. She was careful with her speech and the words she chose to explain an event. I could tell she was extraordinarily smart and aware. She was amazing to listen to.

These are the novels I have read by her and I am certainly going to continue to read her.

The Falls, The Gravedigger's Daughter, Man Crazy, and Foxfire.

Author Events are such an important piece of my literary life. I really try to get to them when I can. I am fortunate to live in a city that is host to wonderful literary events all year round. Luckily most of them are free and that helps. It's important to support that piece of the book business. Showing your support to an author is a strong sign to the publisher that they are loved and in demand. And it shows to the author that their craft is appreciated.

Next up, my friend Dawn and I will be seeing Lisa See,

author of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.

How about all of you? Have you had the chance to see your favorite author? Or just seen any great Authors in person?

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

Loosely Bound: Tales of My Literary Life (2)

Loosely Bound: Tales of My Literary Life (2)

My Life in Bookstores

My friend Rachel came up with this idea to share with all of you some of my experiences in my literary life. My first post was about my involvement in book clubs and at that time, I introduced to all of you my current book club, The Ladies Book Club.

Today I wanted to write a little about my career in and love for bookstores. With the current trend in e-readers, the always steady rise of Amazon and the closing of over 200 brick and mortar Borders stores, I felt it was fitting to talk about the wonderful years I spent selling books.

For those new to my blog, I will start by telling you all that I worked for 11 years in a bookstore. I have never disclosed who or what or where because, to me, a bookstore is a bookstore. No, they are not all the same but they should all have the same purpose; to place a good book in the hands of readers. It didn't matter to me to say which one I worked at but that I loved what I did.

First off, when I started in bookselling, I knew nothing about books. I thought I did and I even thought I knew what a passionate reader was. I was wrong. I not only learned a ton about the product of books but I met so many wonderful people who could talk my ear off for hours about their love of reading.

I was in heaven!

Very early on in my career in books, I became a book buyer. I was outgoing, friendly, bubbly and full of spunk, I was told. The powers that be thought I would be great out in the community and working with publishers. Um, okay?! Let's go. I used my lack of knowledge at that time and my ability to schmooze to begin my partnership with the publishing world. I lived in Boston then and I was taken in by so many wonderful local, small publishers. Oh the excitement they had when I asked them about their books! They were more than happy to put their books on my shelves. and I was more than happy to help them.

From this early start I learned that without one, there can not be the other. Without publishers and writers, there would be no books; without books, there would be no readers; without readers to buy those books, there would be no bookstores.

There is nothing like working at a bookstore, especially when your passion is books. I would wake excited to go to work, excited to see the new books that would come in, excited to talk to my co-workers about what they were reading, and excited to talk to customers about books they SHOULD read!

It was hard work that required muscle, time management, attention to detail and good service skills. It was fun to figure out what books were it, what books to recommend, what the latest wave would be. It was fun working with publishers on the early buzz of a book or getting a great book in for a display.

A bookstore is like a second home to some and to be able to work happily in them for as long as I did makes me feel incredibly grateful. Books are not just retail and unfortunately, some people treat it as such. Unfortunately, the wave of business in general forces the customer to be less than friendly because they want that "best deal" and they want it now.

I'm not naive to think that the atmosphere of some brick and mortar bookstores has changed through the years. It has had to, just like any business. But they are not ready to go away. We as readers have to fight to keep that alive. Big box or independent, the individuals that work selling books should be supported. To be able to pull a great book off the shelf and place it in the hands of a customer and look them in the eye and tell them why that book is your favorite is a simply marvelous experience. I could tell when I made that connection. I could tell when I got through.

It felt right. It felt like the right place to be for me. I miss it.

I spent my 11 years in bookstores moving from buyer to manager. Though being a manager was hard at times, it made me understand the business of bookselling a lot better. That's why I stand by the much needed support for the lasting booksellers at the brick and mortar stores.

Though I have moved on to this blog and to the world of libraries, I still carry that passion inside of me, that desire to recommend and talk to people about books. I just feel more comfortable around people who love books as much as I do. For 11 years, I never felt out of place, like I didn't belong. Through changing business and rough economy, the people and motivation around me remained the same. Great people. Great books.

Maybe this post does not go into the detail I originally had in mind to discuss about life at a bookstore. Maybe because it always boils down to the passion for me and that all came out as a typed.

I loved my time working at a bookstore. It has made me who I am today; the person, the reader, the recommender.

Do me a tiny little favor. Support all bookstores, independent and big box. Support the booksellers that open those boxes, stock those shelves, make those fun displays, write out passionate Staff Recommendation cards, and read furiously on their lunch breaks.

Imagine me with my crazy big hair (pictured above), jazz hands and excitement as the bookseller near you while you browse. I just might say, "Looks like you may need a wonderful book to read. Perhaps I can recommend a few?!!"

I thank you for reading my ramblings on my life in bookstores. It became a passionate pile of mushiness but alas, that's how I feel when I enter those doors; doors to any bookstore, that is.

Happy Reading dear readers, and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

Loosely Bound: Tales from my Literary Life, Book Clubs

Loosely Bound: Tales from my Literary Life

Book Clubs

Every year I seem to do a few little tweaks to my blog and some changes stay, others fall by the way side. All in all, I have always tried to stay true in reviewing the books I read and chit chatting a little about my life. For those of you who read it, I mentioned in my Year End Wrap Up that I wanted to share more stories and adventures with you all about my life in the literary world.

I thought I would start that now. My friend Rachel came up with the clever title, Loosely Bound for my posts. I'm loving it. It's appropriate.

For those of you new this blog, I will share with you a bit about myself. My 11 year run in book retail at one of the large chains ended a year and a half ago due to a lay off. That experience not only furthered my passion for reading, it taught me a lot about the book business. I learned how to run author events giving me the opportunity to meet many wonderful authors and some not so lovely. I learned how books are marketed and sold. I was given the opportunity to work with many people in the book business; from publishers to literary agents to buyers. The greatest thing I think I got out of it, however, was that I became incredibly comfortable and grew to be very passionate about recommending to other readers.

This passion of mine, when my career ended there, sort of sizzled. I felt like an actor without a stage. It sounds silly but true. My husband and family and friends had all heard my rants, my declarations of great literature findings and frankly, they had enough! Yeah, sure they were readers but not like I was. I can safely say that my good friends, Cheryl and Trever, are the only two friends of mine that match my enthusiasm for reading. Cheryl is probably the only person I could really talk to about books for HOURS. Sorry Trev!

I needed another outlet.

So this is why this blog was created and its been my voice and my continued "stage" to act out my book love.

I have been blessed also to now work at my local library, a completely different beast than book retail. This has been a wonderful surprise addition to my life and now I get to recommend once again, face to face with readers. Coupled with my blog, I am in literary heaven.

So now that you know a bit about me or have received a little reminder, I will move on to the real purpose of my post. One of the things that has been a staple in my literary life for about 6 years now is my participation in book clubs.

Many years ago, when I lived with my friend Cheryl, we would attempt to read the same books at the same time and discuss ( a mini book club, perhaps?!). This was pulled off ....hmmm...maybe three times in the few years we lived together. We would always pick something huge and adventurous and then we would both fall flat on our faces. Or...well, I would fall on my face. Example: The Autobiography of Henry the Eighth by Margaret George. Yeah...that didn't happen for me. Ask Cheryl, it was a lovely book, in her opinion. She is still waiting for someone to talk to her about it. :)

I digress.

Book Clubs. About six years ago, a good friend of mine started up a book club. We had roughly six to ten gals at any monthly meet up. Those that attended took turns picking the books and we would meet at different restaurants or cafes and chat for maybe an hour or two. This group was nice because I read a grand variety of books; from Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert to How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill. However, it proved to be really difficult to get schedules lined up and most of the time the majority did not read the book. This began to tick off the hostess, rightly so, so it disbanded.

One of the gals, and another good friend of mine, decided to take over. This is the one I am currently involved in. We have been doing it for about 3 years now. We have on a good month 8 ladies join together. Sometimes it's just four. What I like about this group is that it is really laid back. We are pretty easygoing and honest about our busy lives. So if you read the book, GREAT! If not, that's okay too. There is always a few who have read it and there are always a few that haven't. We just roll with it. We then lapse into talk about our lives, our kids, our partners, our careers, and we drink wine and eat treats. We meet each month at someone's home (much more relaxing and cheaper) and we each bring a few choices to pick for the next month.

Though I read books last year for my book club and posted what I was reading on my blog, I never reviewed them. I just realized that this month. Hmm? I said. Why is that? Is my brain so compartmentalized that I didn't even factor in my BOOK CLUB into my BOOK BLOG? Hmmm? I must have a toddler on my brain. Yes, that's it.

So I am putting an end to that silliness. I am going to post every month a book club post; what we read, if I read it and my review (i'm gonna be honest now, I'm NOT going to read them all), and the ladies reactions. We have never had a "name" for our book club. A few of us have simply said, "We are getting together with the Ladies". So, I am officially naming us The Ladies Book Club. Michelle at The True Book Addict has been kind, once again, to be my button queen and create one for my posts. Thank you, Michelle. And, might I saw, what a lovely name you have.

Stay tuned. I will have a 2010 Book Club Wrap Up post coming soon and this Wednesday we meet to discuss The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo. I am looking forward to hearing what they thought about THAT one.

How many of you are in a book club?

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child