Two Degrees of Separation from Philip Roth

I was standing in HearthFire Books in Evergreen, CO looking at the books on the Indie Top 10 bookshelf (these fly off the shelves at HearthFire) when a woman picked up Indignation by Philip Roth.  I told her about a review written by a friend and she said she went to Weequahic High School in Newark, NJ with Philip Roth.  Dirt potential!  Alas, they attended different middle schools so they ‘ran in different crowds.’  She remembered him as an aloof boy.  None of her friends could recall anything memorable.  I specifically asked if he was arrogant (because it is a trait associated with him), she answered not that she was aware.  What she did enjoy was reading about her childhood in so many of Mr. Roth’s books.  They lived in the same neighborhood and shared the same issues at the same time in history.  She described her upbringing as nothing spectacular, just middle class Jewish families trying to get by during the World War II and post-World War II era, but that the Roth books brought so much of it back to her.  Talking with her reminded me of the quote that a writer only needs to experience the first 15 years of his life and he has enough material for a lifetime of writing.  This classmate of Philip Roth enjoyed reliving aspects of those years in her life through his eyes, especially in Portnay’s Complaint, American Pastoral and The Plot Against America (love that book).  From all that I’ve heard, she may find Indignation familiar also.

After this near brush with literary greatness, I meandered around HeartFire

Isn't it lovely?

Books.  It was raining to almost snowing outside, making the roaring fireplace with rocking chairs all that more inviting.  The store is physically divided in half, with adult books on the entrance side and children and young adult books up a few stairs in the other half.  It is in this second section that the store really shines.

I visited with my girlfriend and fellow bookstore traveler, Leslie.  Between the two of us, we have three daughters who read faster than we can keep up with.  Keeping them stocked with books is a never ending task.  We ask bookstore employees at every store for recommendations.  It can be so embarrassing when our girls have read every book suggested.  Once we bought a book the girls already whipped through because the clerk worked so hard to find us a book and we just couldn’t say one more time “they already read that.”  The experience was different at HearthFire.  We talked with the manager, Janet Rhodes, and left with five books for the girls, all new to us, weighing down my carry-on so much Leslie had to help me lift it up into the overhead luggage compartment.

Janet said that she was focusing on strengthening the children and young adult section of the bookstore to encourage kids to read.  She succeeded.  HearthFire Books offers a ‘Kid’s Club’ which sends out a new book to a child monthly.  A membership can be purchased for a year or half year.  Janet’s knowledge of young adult and intermediate reader books was so extensive, I’m tempted to give a membership to my daughter for Christmas.  It’s gift that would keep on giving after the decorations were back in the garage.

The adult half of the bookstore is lovely also.  The fiction section has the recent bestsellers along with the books on the current Indie list.  I spent awhile talking with an employee about books for Veteran’s Day.  We started with Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley and Ron Powers, then moved to discussing the Iraqi War, to our opinion on Bob Woodward‘s latest tomb on President Bush, The War Within:  A Secret White House History 2006-2008, to how the country should proceed in Iraq, here we disagreed.  But that is the beauty of independent bookstore life, just these types of interactions.  The website for HearthFire Books includes the following quote from John King of the San Francisco Chronicle which describes exactly what I experienced there:

“[A] good bookstore is like a good city block:  varied and rich, with layers that bear evidence of imagination and pride.  There’s a tactile connection to the ephemeral world of ideas.  This is merchandise, but it’s not something to be worn for a season or hung up on a wall; it’s something to be discussed and shared, maybe even something that will shape your thoughts and actions.  There’s more going on than the creation of a scene.  It’s the slow formation of identities, of thoughts and passions and who knows what else.”

HearthFire Books successfully created just such an atmosphere.

HearthFire Books

Bergen Village Shopping Center

1254 Bergen Pkwy, STe D-118

Evergreen, CO 80439