I’m counting the days to this event!

Watch for a seismic shift in the literary landscape of Southern California next month.  No, it won’t be an earthquake, it’s the inaugural Beverly Hills Literary Escape, a unique weekend for literati.  This isn’t another festival where the attendee sits in the audience listening to a panel of authors and a moderator and then line up for a few Q & A, here the goal is for everyone to mingle and have conversations.  The organizers, Julie Robinson and Tyson Cornell, are striving to create an European cafe culture and Algonquin Round Table atmosphere of give-and-take between authors and readers.  Here’s the schedule:

I’m in a terrible choice bind about which events to choose for the lunches and afternoon lectures.  I can tell you this, I’ve never met a woman who hasn’t fallen in love with Lynn Batten after hearing him talk about Jane Austen.  I recommended both Ethan Canin and Susan Straight before and would love to hear them speak, but that could mean downgrading my groupie status with Lynn.   What could be better than having lemon cake with Aimee Bender, yet one of my favorite books this summer was Gin Phillips’ The Well and the Mine (if you liked The Help, run to the store to get The Well and the Mine).  I’ll be wallowing in the torture of deciding for awhile.

Two events are free:  An evening with Colum McCann author of Let the Great World Spin where he will receive the first Medici Book Club Prize (more on that in a future post) and a discussion with Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone. The prices for the remaining events vary and there are passes for multiple events. (Click here to purchase tickets.)  Readers of Bookstore People are entitled to purchase the lowest price passes and tickets for conversations by using the discount code LITERARY. There will be one private VIP event, a coffee with Joseph O’Neill, author of Netherland, on October 15th.  We have one ticket to the O’Neill coffee to giveaway, just leave a comment that you want it by 11:59 October 7th and we will pick the winner.

It looks like a spectacular event, don’t miss it!

Disclosure:  Kim is a Medici Founding Patron

Last month, a New York Times article noted that for an independent bookstore to survive, it had to offer more than books and have community buy-in.  Most successful independent bookstores, “whether explicitly or implicitly, have managed to get across the message that we need you, but you need us: A community that wants a vibrant downtown with a local bookstore that’s about books, and about something more as well, needs to support it.”  Keying off this article, I wrote about unique activities I’ve noticed in bookstores.  (Last week, Stories Bookstore and Cafe in LA announced that they have a bibliophile knitting group meeting there on Fridays.)  But, I also found several communities and bookstores working together to support the stores that enhance the community:

• Capitola Book Cafein Capitola, CA started “Friends of Book Cafe,” a membership program with levels from $25 to over $200, each level receiving various benefits such as discounts on books, free coffee and tickets to events.  In a recent Central Coast article, co-owner Mayer-Lochtefeld said “if we can’t really rally our customers around us, then the store is absolutely at risk.”
• Devoted fans of Village Books in Pacific Palisades, CA founded “Palisades Village Book Friends,” a non-profit to help the bookstore provide weekly author readings, act as host for other literary events and as a liaison with the local schools. 
• Forest City, NC bent over backwards to make Fireside Books and Gifts welcome.  Shelf Awareness reported that the city closed an alleyway and redirected traffic from a drive thru pharmacy so the store can have an outdoor patio and event space, then provided an underground power line, utility hook ups, tax incentives and free advertising in the local tourism brochures.
• Communication!  Linda Ramsdell of Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwich, VT informed her customers in an e-mail newsletter of her stocking strategy before she sent back a large number of returns.  She wanted her customers to know that she was going to survive and how.  As odd as it seems, not all customers fully understand the implications of buying on Amazon or at a big box. 
• In an effort to get the message out, Indiebound encourages independent business of all types, but especially bookstores, to band together and help each other out.  Several independent bookstores have joined with other businesses to offer joint coupons and discounts to encourage shopping from neighbors.
• Local citizens rallied to keep Clear Creek Books of Golden, CO open.  After hearing it was having trouble paying the rent, several local residents gave the owner, Craig Johnson, money to survive.  One resident wrote a check for $20,000.

On our Unique page, we’ve noted instances and practices of bookstores we’ve reviewed that benefit the community.  I almost always ask any independent bookstore I’m visiting how business is going.  Many times, it’s going just fine and when I ask how, the universal answer is “our community supports us.”

I was interviewed about Bookstore People by Eco-Libris, check it out, then equalize your reading!

As discussed in my review of The Shadow Catcher by Marianne Wiggins, her fictional portrayal of Edward Curtis caused controversy because she paints Edward Curtis far darker than his fans perceive him.  Santa Monica chose The Shadow Catcher as its Citywide Reads selection this year.  Bruce Kapson, Curtis expert and scholar, will give a historical overview of Edward Curtis this Saturday at 3PM at the Santa Monica Public Library.

Both Claire and I joined twitter.  Follow us!  I’m BookstoreK and Claire is writemenow.

The Tournament of Books is continuing and I’m loving it!  Today City of Refuge knocked out 2666, but  popular vote returned 2666  to the zoombie round.  The review of the match up between 2666 and Steer Toward Rockwas brilliant in its use of an extended March Madness metaphor.  John Hodgman beautifully wrote his judgment of the Mercy v. My Revolutions competition.  The quarter-finals are over and we’re heading into the semi-finals. 

And in case you missed it, Claire’s book, Growing Up on the Spectrum: A (actually she co-wrote it) was published last week.  We’ll be having giveaways of the book, National Autism Month, in April.  Stay tuned!

Guide to Life, Love, and Learning for Teens and Young Adults with Autism and Asperger’s

In an article about the closing of Second Street Book Shop, Peter Applebome of the New York Times noted that successful bookstores “are increasingly in the business of book events and real-world social networking as much as walk-in sales.”  I’ve noticed the same trend, in fact I’ve kept track of the different activities occurring in bookstores around the country over the last several weeks. 

A New Take on Activities

Bookstores forming partnerships in new ways in order to broaden their appeal.  Here are some examples:

• Readers can order a signed copy of John Grogan’s Marley and Me books through Moravian Book Shop at any time, and with a little patience, even receive a personalized copy
• Frank Talk Art Bistro & Books combines art, conversation and books including “Mix & Mingle Fridays,” an opportunity for wine, cheese, food and good conversation
• My personal favorite:  Jayne Ramage moved a bed into The Watermill Bookshop and had a “bed in” for 24 hours, eating tea and biscuits and reading.  Annapolis Bookstore followed suit with its own bed-a-thon by placing a bed in the front window and inviting customers to curl up and read
• Bookbeat converted a wall to cubicles that local artisans rent to display their wares, it also added a stage and provides music in the evening and many mornings
• Sherlock’s Books and Cafe offers a stack of board games for customers and a music night where locals play for tips

Social Networking

As for social networking, it makes a difference, in just our little blog world, the number of hits increases when we review a store that is on Facebook or Twitters or sends out e-mails with links.  These stores use Internet methods to connect with customers and from our vantage point, people respond.  In fact, there is such a marked difference when our post is “twittered” that I started (follow me, I’m BookstoreK). 

At the regional ABA conferences around the country, booksellers are meeting to trade insight over social networking and learning the nuts and bolts of blogs, Facebook, My Space and Twitter.  Bookseller Blog has several articles on the why and how of bookstore technology.  Amazon doesn’t have to be the only bookseller to dominate internet ordering and buzz, handselling can be done over the Internet.

One good example is Booksmith.  Not only is it tech-savvy (I look forward to finding their updates on Facebook) but it helps that their customers are also “those who attend events sometimes record parts of the discussion and post it on blogs. Or . . . they Twitter that “I am at Booksmith and just found the greatest book.”

The New York Times article also stated that successful bookstores are those that integrate in their community.  I’ll be posting on that topic later.  Stay tuned.

I recently attended a literary lunch sponsored by Literary Affairs during which my favorite UCLA literature professor, Lynn Batten, deciphered The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham.  The book discussion became heated about whether or not the main character, Kitty Fane, actually changed over the course of the novel.  At the beginning of each year many of us take stock and try to tweak our lives, but how much do we need to modify before we feel like we’ve successfully changed?

5th Avenue Books

I love discussing classics because I know the book, by definition, is a worthwhile read.  I carry a list of classics I’m going to read in the near future, so if I’m visiting a used bookstore I can look for it.  I found The Painted Veil at 5th Avenue Books in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego.  The store is huge, over 40,000 books, and designed to make it easy to meander around.  The staff had the right touch of leaving me alone to discover and helping me find books. 

Shallow Kitty

I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read of W. Somerset Maugham’s writing, now including The Painted Veil.  Kitty Fane, the main character, is a beautiful and shallow woman who expected to marry well.  In reaction to her younger sister’s engagement, Kitty hurriedly marries Walter Fane, a medical researcher working for the civil service in Hong Kong.  She doesn’t love him; she doesn’t even respect him.  When he discovers that she is having an affair with the biggest cad in the colony, his love for her changes to hatred.  Walter tells Kitty that he knows of her affair and aptly describes her, “I knew you were silly and frivolous and empty-headed.  But I loved you.  I knew that your aims and ideals were vulgar and commonplace.  But I loved you.  I knew that you were second-rate. But I loved you.”  In reaction to the affair, Waler takes an assignment deep in China in the midst of a cholera outbreak.

Kitty Starts to Change – Spoiler Alert but only the most obvious facts

Without any options, Kitty is forced to accompany Walter to an area offering only a good chance of death and no society or gaiety.  Yet it is in this desperate situation that Kitty starts to change her values.  After weeks of grueling travel, Kitty and Walter arrive at their run down bungalow.  Kitty sleeps fitfully and wakes to see the dawn break from her porch, “in a moment, out of the mist, looming vastly and touched here and there by a yellow ray of sun, there was seen a cluster of green and yellow roofs . . .of an unimaginable richness.  This was no fortress, nor a temple, but the magic palace of some emperor of the gods where no man might enter . . .it was the fabric of a dream.  The tears ran down Kitty’s face and she gazed . . . Here was Beauty.”  Just a few weeks out of British colonial society and Kitty sees beauty in something other than dresses and hairstyles.

Kitty meets the Mother Superior of the convent that cares for orphaned children and the sick.  Kitty describes the Mother Superior as having a beauty that grew with her age due to her character of Christian charity.   Kitty volunteers to work at the convent.  Initially she feels nothing but distaste for the dirty, needy children, but she reminds herself of the “soft look which had transfigured so beautifully the countenance of the Mother Superior when  . . . she had stood surrounded by those ugly little things, and she would not allow herself to surrender to her instinct.’  Kitty begins to find value in purposeful work, a sea change from her days of lunching, shopping and committing adultery in Hong Kong.

The Mother Superior praises Kitty for the generosity of her husband in all that he has done to help the convent. Kitty begins to see Walter through mature eyes and has “only contempt for herself because once she had felt contempt for Walter.”  Kitty realizes that her affair was with a man as shallow as she, a man who does not have the qualities of her husband.  She wants Walter to forgive her, not for her sake, she still feels no affection for him, “but for his own; for she felt that this alone could give him peace of mind.”  Walter, rather than Kitty, catches cholera and dies. 

Does Kitty Really Change?  A Clue to the Reader’s Life View

While Kitty did not wish for Walter’s death and if a word from her would bring him back to life she would say it, as a widow she can’t help feeling a sense of freedom.  However, she was in the back country of China, pregnant, and a widow.  She travels to Hong Kong with the intent to return to her parents in London.  It is here that she backslides and makes familiar mistakes.  And here is the controversy, does this reversion to old habits mean she didn’t change or at least didn’t change enough?  At the time that is what she thinks:

“Swine,” she flung at her reflection.  “Swine.”  Then, letting her face fall on her arms, she wept bitterly.  Shame, shame!  She did not know what had come over her.  It was horrible . . . She had thought herself changed, she had thought herself strong, she thought she had returned to Hong Kong a woman who possessed herself; new ideas flitted about her heart like little yellow butterflies in the sunshine and she had hoped to be so much better in the future . . . She had thought herself free from lust and vile passions, free to live the clean and healthy life of the spirit . . . Weak, weak!  It was hopeless, it was no good to try.

I find that Kitty did change and I do believe in turning over a new leaf.  Kitty experienced a difficult trial and saw beauty and value in the people who battled hardship.  The Kitty who left for the Chinese countryside wouldn’t have noticed the life of the Chinese around her because she looked right through them, they didn’t even exist for her.  She would not have spent two minutes with a person like the Mother Superior.  She held her husband in contempt as a weak fool.  Real change isn’t a 180 turn or even a straight trajectory, change is full of backsliding.  The issue becomes how do you respond to the mistake?  Do you see it and try again?  Or do you rationalize it and continue in your old ways?  Kitty realizes what she had done.  She leaves Hong Kong immediately and on talking with her father in London describes how she wants to raise her daughter (Kitty is convinced she will give birth to a girl):  “I’ve been foolish and wicked and hateful.  I’ve been terribly punished.  I’m determined to save my daughter  from all that.  I want her to be fearless and frank.  I what her to be a person, independent of others because she is possessed of herself, and I want her to take life like a free man and make a better job of it than I have.” 

Prof. Batten believes that how the reader interprets Kitty turns on the reader’s view on life, is that view hopeful or full of despair?  I chose hope, always.

After Kim sent me TWO separate e-mails with links to websites that said City Lights is one of the best bookstores in the country, I figured she’d never forgive me if I came back from San Francisco without visiting it.   Not that it was a chore, by any means–I love going to bookstores–but it was a necessary pleasure.

Famous from its inception because the poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti was one of the co-founders, City Lights quickly became a meeting place for members of “the Beat” generation and a supporter of books that conservatives wanted to ban.   They’ve continued their “fight the power” attitude–there’s a left-of-liberal political message  in every  well-lit upstairs window.  To summarize: Bush is bad, so is war, and freedom of expression is good.

I don’t mean to be overly glib: this is a good place which has supported the right side of literary and political causes for decades.  So they’ve earned the right to enjoy their reputation–not to mention the hordes of people who stream into the place and, I assume, actually purchase books before leaving.

It was crowded when we went there in the late afternoon on the Monday between Christmas and New Year’s.   Every place in San Francisco was crowded that week, but while I expected to see lines at the Academy of Science, I was more pleasantly surprised to see a lot of people shopping for books.  City Lights, at least, seems immune from the scary times that are threatening a lot of other indies.

In atmosphere, City Lights reminded me a lot of Book Soup (for those angelenos who read this–Kim noticed the same thing).  Warm, inviting, with lots of nooks and crannies to get lost in.  They have a downstairs, an upstairs, a room off of another room, a back room, a front hallway, a back hallway . . .  well, you get the idea.  No simple box, this place.

I went downstairs, past the display of new hardcovers (but this is the kind of store that puts Gary Indiana’s latest by the cash registers, not Grisham or Clancy), let my kids find their way to the (fairly small) children’s section and amused myself by jotting down the names of the more unusual adult aisles, like  ”Muckraking,” “Green Politics,” “Stolen Continents,” “Best of University Presses,” and so on.  There was a whole display devoted to Che Guevara and an extensive “Queer Section” (their name, not mine). 

Just as at Book Soup, I felt slightly not cool enough for this place.   I assumed, for instance, that they would never sell any one of my novels–it’s not their kind of thing (a quick look in the upstairs fiction room proved my guess to be accurate).   And my presence there probably doubled their annual numbers of self-described housewives.  On the plus side, they let my kids use their bathroom even though it’s not open to the public and when Rob asked them for a restaurant recommendation, they were incredibly nice and helpful.  So I guess my feelings of insecurity are simply leftover from watching the cool (druggie?) kids in high school and wishing I could be one of them and knowing I never would be, and not from anything this lovely bookstore set out to do.

Their website is fantastic and saves me from having to go through all the history of the place and how they publish books now, too.  There’s a lot of cool information about the Beat generation.  (The upstairs room in the bookstore is devoted to poetry and Beat literature, by the way. )  Go to their site and read about how Ferlinghetti published Allen Ginsberg’s book of poetry back in the ’50′s and got arrested on obscenity charges, leading to a landmark case about First Amendment rights.   I can poke fun all I want: anyone who loves books should be grateful for all Ferlinghetti’s done.  And for this bookstore.

My only disappointment was that Audrey Hepburn didn’t appear in a pair of black clamdiggers and a black turtleneck to do an improvised dance to some jazz music.   If she were alive and likely to start dancing in a bookstore, this is the place she’d do it in.

City Lights
261 Columbus Avenue
San Francisco, CA  94133
T: (415) 362-8193 
F: (415) 362- 4921