June 2009

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Paulina Springs Books in Redmond, OR

June 22, 2009 in bookstore, Uncategorized by Kim | 3 comments

Every year, a group of us gather in Bend, OR for a weekend of hiking, fictionmeandering about town, talking (lots of talking) and relaxing.  Usually, we land in Redmond and drive straight out to Bend, but this time Keri, Nancy and I stopped by Paulina Springs Books before dashing to our view of the Three Sisters.

Paulina Springs Books sits in the middle of 6th Street amidst cute cafes (we loved the Toucan Cafe for lunch, try the special Santiago mate drink) and shops.  The store is a joy to walk around with used, hardbacks and paperbacks all stocked together.  There’s plenty of space, a luxury, and Keri said “what I like about this store is that most of the books are facing out.”  Just about everyone agrees, the books facing out catch our eye.  Also, my favorite bookstore attribute are the shelf-talkers, I tend to read them before looking at the books on the shelves, and there were plenty in this store.  It was with a shelf talker that Nancy found The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay and pulled me over because a book about bookstores I had to read.  I’ve seen twitter chatter about the book, so I was happy to find it.

Paulina Springs Books is the sister store to the original Paulina Springs in Sisters, OR.  They are owned and operated by a brother-sister team.  Cynthia, the sister, leads the Redmond store that opened about 18 months ago.  Cynthia was a school teacher and took on bookselling when she retired.  She found that it took awhile for the locals to learn about the store and just when they started to gain some traction, the recession hit.  But they are happy to be in Redmond and have a local following.

The store has large bestseller and staff pick sections which offer a discount, but Cynthia said the locals love regional books.   They adore the area they live in and want to learn about it and explore it.  I understand, you only need to be here for an hour before you’re trying to figure out how to relocate.  Specifically, William L. Sullivan’s books fly off the shelves.  I bought the next-to-last copy of his latest, Atlas of Oregon Wilderness, and we spent the weekend looking up hikes and trying out a few.  It’s a terrific resource, the author describes the natural history of the area and a variety of hikes both long and short. In this part of the country, he gives important guidance, such as when the snow will melt so you know whether or not to bring your snow shoes.  The photography offers a sample of the views and sights along the trail.

I asked Cynthia who Paulina was, and learned there never was one. Paulina is pronounced poe-line-a’ and is an Indian term used as a name throughout Central Oregon for a peak, a lake, mountains and a variety of businesses.

Cynthia and I chatted about the closing of the Book Barn in Bend last year.  But, three new bookstores opened up in the last year.  There is a big box store in the area, but it hasn’t squeezed out competition.  The number of stores has helped bring in authors for events and enriched the entire community.  Hmmm, I wonder how many bookstores the girls want to visit?

Paulina Springs Books

422 SW 6th St.

Redmond, OR 97756

T:  541.526.1491

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Blue Owl Books in Nederland, CO

June 20, 2009 in bookstore, Uncategorized by Kim | 1 comment

Nederland, Colorado, is a small, quintessential hippie town tucked in the Rockies.  Half the fun of visiting this bookstore is the drive through the mountains to get there.  I moment I walked in Blue Owl, I felt its personality encircle me.  It has a series of nooks and crannies with bookshelves stacked floor to ceiling with used books.  Most of the books are paperbacks and mass market editions, with a strength in fiction, but also a room for childrens’ books and a smattering of new books (i.e., Stephanie Meyer).  The floors are creaky and uneven, but it just adds to the charm.

Blue Owl supports local authors with their own section, this is a creative the-mirrorlittle area because there were several selections.  While I was there a local author came into sign some books and drop off her own used books to donate to the store.  The owner of the store, a lovely woman, raved about The Mirror, by Marlys Millhiser,  a time travel novel that occurs in Boulder and Nederland.  I’m looking forward to reading it before I return to Nederland to get a fuller feel for the area.

Blue Owl has a couple of side offerings.  A retail counter displays handmade jewelry and accessories (there are lovely silk purses and shawls), specialty massage oils and lotions, and candles.  A small cafe offers Magill’s Ice Cream from Lakewood, CO year round, snacks and drinks.  Summer hadn’t set in, so I enjoyed a lovely hot chocolate.  The tables are scattered in the front room and locals were dropping by to chat with the booksellers and each other-perfect for friendly eaves dropping.

I’ve found that local bookstores often have terrific recommendations for local restaurants (I leave the chain restaurant eating for flying down the highway and just stopping for a quick meal).  Blue Owl sent me to The Savory Cafe across the street and I had a terrific lunch.

Next time you’re wandering through the Rockies stop by Blue Owl Books to experience a bit of mountain community.

Blue Owl Books

176 Highway 119

Nederland, CO 80460

303.258.3695

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A Magical Voice from Australia

June 18, 2009 in bookstore, international by Claire | 1 comment

Alexis Wright kindly takes the time to tell us a little bit about her love for books.

Alexis Wright is a writer of both fiction (Plains of Promise and the recently published gorgeous work of magical realism Carpentaria,which, as an Angeleno, I keep wanting to call “Carpenteria”) and non-fiction (Grog War).  She is a member of the Waanyi nation and an activist for all Aboriginals.   I was sent Carpentaria which uses language like a paintbrush and Australia like a canvas, and thought I’d save any mention of it for “Translated Tuesday” until it occurred to me that an Australian book doesn’t actually need to be translated for us Americans.

I may not be a genius, but Wright fortunately is.  And she was kind enough to respond to our author interview questions, which allows us to expose our readers to new authors without losing sight of our goal of promoting bookstores.   The questions are ours, the answers all hers.   I dare you not to find her fascinating. 

1.  Did you have a special bookstore in your life when you were growing up, that helped foster your love of reading and writing?

 I do not remember stepping into a bookstore in the first 20 years of my life.  There was no bookstore in my home town of Cloncurry, which is located in the savannah country of North West Queensland, of Northern Australia.  I do not think any of the small towns in Northern Australia had a bookstore, and many would still not have a bookstore now. 

 There may have been a bookstore in the large coastal town of Townsville, 784 kilometres east from Cloncurry, or else, 1,800 kilometres south to Brisbane, the capital city, of Queensland.  I discovered bookstores when I first left home while I was living and studying in Dunedin, New Zealand.

 I had a wonderful grandmother, and as a child, I spent a great deal of time with her.  She lived on the edge of town in a corrugated iron house with a big garden of vegetables she grew from the seeds she harvested from the year before, and she would often take me on long walks through isolated bush land, and along the dry riverbeds outside of town, and through all of these places, she would tell stories about the bush, and of our traditional homeland in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Our Waanyi Nation is situated a few hundred kilometres further north from Cloncurry, and before she became very old, she always talked about how she wanted to return to her traditional country. It was never really possible for her to return to live, because the land was already stolen from Aboriginal people and was under the ownership of white pastoralists by Australian law, and it was very difficult for Aboriginal people to get permission to be on their traditional land.  She did return twice to visit, when her traditional country was converted into a national park.

  Read the rest of this entry »

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Translated Tuesday – Moscardino by Enrico Pea

June 16, 2009 in book review, translation, Uncategorized by Kim | 1 comment

moscardinoBook Review

Moscardino by Enrico Pea is a lyrical book about a grandfather seen from the distant eyes of a grandson.  It is the first book of the author’s three volume fictional autobiography.  Moscardino tells the story of three brothers, one the narrator calls Grumpy because, well, the name fits.  The other is an abbee with hand placement issues.  The last brother, the grandfather, falls in love and wins the beautiful maid, Cleofe, from the hill country.  It is Cleofe’s presence that triggers the madness and pent up passion just under the surface in the household.

The slim book is poetic and should be read slowly.  Its imagery swirls throughout the story leaving not so much a linear tale but an atmosphere of quiet insanity.  The story jumps in time which frustrated me at first until I realized I was trying to make a sequential tale out of a story that was atmospheric.  The changes from third person to first person startled me, as when all of the sudden Cleofe is the narrator for a few pages.  But I realized I understood the characters better by holding them loosely, not over-thinking the book.  In the end, I was left with a vision and sense of the characters and their lives, not from action as much as envisioning the imagery and emotions. Read the rest of this entry »

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Manga Anyone?

June 14, 2009 in book review, childrens, Uncategorized, young adult by Kim | 1 comment

rayearth

Mangas are Fun

Recently, I needed to read some mangas for a project I was working on.  To say I was ignorant was an understatement, I didn’t even know they were paperback books, I thought they were bound like graphic novels.  I assumed I would hate them, in fact several people told me I would, but I was pleasantly surprised (one of the benefits of low expectations).  I like them far better than graphic novels (which is fine, Claire loves graphic novels so she can advocate them and I don’t have to pretend to be non-biased). 

Manga is primarily focused on Japanese stories that have a deep root in Japanese culture and history.  There is a strong sense of the honorable reluctant warrior found in Samurai lore.  In fact many of the Japanese stories are modern day adaptations of these ancient myths.  Generally, the main characters “morph” into a superhuman warrior with battle gear that clearly references samurai armor.  Just as in non-manga reading, violence is not for me, but I found there are still lots of manga stories I enjoyed.

Magic Knight of Rayearth

My favorite is Magic Knight of Rayearth, in which Princess Emeraude prays for the three “Magic Knights” to save her planet Cephiro.  Three middle school girls disappear from their school field trip and appear on the planet Cephiro.  The girls start a quest to rescue Princess Emeraude, imprisoned by her high priest Zagato, and in the process learn to work together.  They must activate the three Rune-Gods to help the Princess,. On their journey the girls discover their powers and earn their rightful weapons.  Interspersed with action and battles are funny comments about clothes, ice cream and video games, so kids feel like the characters had worries and sassy comments just like them.  The girls have a Pikachu-like guide who provides direction and lots of giggles. When the girls find Emeraude, they encounter a surprise that opens the door to a new series.

The Rayearth characters are “magical girls,” a type of story about young girls with superhuman abilities.  It is generally upbeat, cheerful and a safe bet for kids to read.  Magical girls tend to have their powers concentrated in an object.  This series of mangas also belong to the sub-category of “mecha” because the characters use piloted robotic armor in battle. 

Every Story as a Manga

Manga also re-tells non-Japanese stories.  The Saint Seiya Knights of the Zodiac incorporates Greek myths.  Look for manga re-telling of classics also.  There are even mangas based on Shakespeare stories.  Part of me wonders if these are similar to The Great Illustrated Classics, once I read one of them, I wasn’t  interested in reading the original. 

Overall, I don’t think I’ll be buying mangas, but if there is one sitting around, I’ll notice it and probably pick it up and read.  Plus, my kids hadn’t read any and now have and found them fairly enjoyable also. 

Hint:  manga is read from the back to the front.  If someone hadn’t told me, I would have been lost.

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