Real Books/Real Life

Forum on Gun Violence in our Schools TONIGHT

01/24/2013 17:08:00

WATCH LIVE: Forum on keeping children safe from gun violence in schools at 7 pm

http://saratogian.com/articles/2013/01/24/news/doc5101965802d18840622497.txt

The Future of Books

01/21/2013 17:37:00

Great article about the future of books: http://tampareviewonline.org/blog/the-future-of-the-publishing-industry/ I completely agree! When I ask an author to sign a book, I want it to be a new hardcover--which I consider an absolute treasure Perhaps hardcovers will survive as well as paperbacks. I'm counting on it!

"Writing to Heal" This Friday

12/19/2012 23:31:00

EAST LINE BOOKS WILL HOLD A FREE "WRITING TO HEAL" CLASS OPEN TO ALL ADULTS WHO WISH TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES VERBALLY OR IN WRITING ABOUT RECENT TRAGIC EVENTS. DATE: THIS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21ST FROM 9 AM TO 11 AM. TEACHER: ROBYN RINGLER. PLEASE BRING A NOTEBOOK AND SOMETHING TO WRITE WITH AND COOKIES! I WILL SUPPLY PLENTY OF COFFEE AND TEA. LET'S SUPPORT EACH OTHER THROUGH TALKING AND GUIDED WRITING. CALL ROBYN RINGLER AT 371-4151 WITH ANY QUESTIONS.

A Saturday in Amherst

11/19/2012 06:29:00

Saturday was bliss. A 2-hour car ride on a beautiful blue and bright morning with my two favorite people--my husband and daughter--to Amherst, Massachusetts. First stop--theEmily Dickinson Museum where our first sight was Emily's big yellow house where she wrote almost 2000 poems. What an honor and joy to walk through her home and imagine her living there--and to think of her playfully and humbly writing:

I'm Nobody! Who are you?

Are you--Nobody--too?

Then there's a pair of us!

Don't tell! they'd advertise--you know!

How dreary--to be--Somebody!

How public--like a Frog--

To tell one's name--the livelong June--

To an admiring Bog!

My favorite part was her bedroom where her window overlooked who was coming and going from the front door; with her little--tiny, really--desk; and her simple bed and dresser and nightstand with the porcelain basin.

I also loved going next door to her brother Austin's house where her best friend, her sister-in-law Susan, would throw parties for the Amherst high society. Of course, Emily would never attend them, but she would send Susan loving notes on a silver tray to wish her a fine time.

Next stop--lunch at the Lone Wolf Restaurant for a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, and blueberry pancakes--and loads of delicious coffee. What a great place with wonderful people!

Last stop--the Eric Carle Museumwhere we strolled around for a couple of hours entranced by the artwork of children's book illustrator, Eric Carle, and others including: Allen Say, Chris Van Allsburg, Simms Taback, William Steig, Jules Feiffer, Quentin Blake, Petra Mathers, Arnold Lobel, Leo Leonni, Antonio Frasconi, Tony DiTerlizzi, and others.

What a delight for a bunch of Ringler booklovers!!! I just wanted to pack up all the books in the gift shop and bring them all home. Then I remembered that I already have many of them in my own bookstore, East Line Books. And the ones I don't have, I went home and ordered! :)

There is nothing like a beautifully illustrated children's book--no better treasure.

A wonderful weekend was had by all!

Saratoga Police Should Have Made a Statement

11/14/2012 08:14:00

I have to agree with many women who live and work in the Saratoga Springs area and who have expressed outrage at the police department's unwillingness to release information at the time of a September 1st rape on a city street. The police felt they didn't have enough information and that the lack of an exact location of the rape, the lack of a really detailed description of the assailant, etc. meant that actually telling people about the rape would create chaos and confusion.

I believe the police had enough information.

A woman had been raped on a Saratoga city street in the early morning hours on September 1st.

This is all I would need to know to take additional precautions to prevent this from happening to me or someone I love.

Saratoga Police Chief Chris Cole says now that a public statement at the time of the rape might have been appropriate.

Ya think?

One of the police officials was quoted in the Saratogian yesterday as saying that women should not walk alone at night.

Yes, please, blame the victim.

We know there is an added risk in walking alone at night. But there are times in all of our female lives when we do walk alone. Circumstances arise. We have no one at the time. We need to get from Point A to Point B. So, we walk.

But it does help if I know a rape has just occured in my town. I will become more aware, more cautious and, where I might not have called a cab to drive me home before, under this circumstance, I would make the call and pay the money to get a ride.

When will the police learn not to be afraid of information? Not to be afraid of the STEREOTYPICAL woman--not the REAL woman--who they fear will become panicked? It's insulting. Women are no different than men in regard to taking in information, analyzing it, and coming up with their own plan to protect themselves.

I say, in the future, the police should make a statement. So what if they don't have all the facts. The simple fact of the occurence of rape in a local town might save someone else from suffering the same fate.

The Rights of the Reader

11/13/2012 09:11:00

The following is an excerpt of The Rights of the Reader by Daniel Pennac, with illustrations by the beloved Quentin Blake. The book is charming and was reprinted in 2006, after first being published in 1992. The book is a "passionate defense of reading for pleasure" and is one of my favorite books.

"To be fair, we parents didn't set out to turn reading into a chore. All we thought about, in the beginning, was our children's enjoyment. We were in a state of grace during those early years. Our total sense of wonder in the face of a new life transformed us into geniuses. For them, we became storytellers. As soon as they emerged, blinking, into the world of language, we told them stories. It was a talent we didn't know we had. Their enjoyment inspired us. Their happiness gave us voice. We created character after character, adventure after adventure, ratcheting up the plots. We invented a whole world for them, much as the aging Tolkien did for his grandchildren. On the border of day and night, we became their novelist.

Not that it would have mattered if we'd had no talent for storytelling. If we'd told them other people's stories--badly, groping for words, mispronouncing names, mixing up adventures, muddling the beginning of one with the ending of another...Even if we hadn't made up stories at all, if we'd just read aloud, we'd still have been their personal novelists, their special storytellers helping them slip into their dreamy pajamas every evening before dissolving under the sheets of night. More than that, we were the book.

Remember that intimacy. There's nothing like it.

How we loved scaring just for the thrill of consoling! And how desperately they wanted to be scared! They weren't fooled, even then, but they trembled all the same. They were real readers, in other words. What a playful partnership we formed: they the cunning readers, we the book!"

Philip Roth To Retire From Writing

11/10/2012 16:02:00

The Chicago Tribune reported yesterday that 79-year-old Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Philip Roth is retiring from writing. "To tell you the truth, I'm done," he said to a reporter, according to an online post on November 9th at 2:50 p.m. Roth said his decision meant that his most recent book, Nemesis, published in 2010, would be his last book.

Lori Glazer, Houghton Mifflin's vice president and executive director of publicity confirmed Roth's decision.

Philip Roth is the author of the 1959 National Book Award-winning novella Goodbye Columbus; Portnoy's Complaint, the hilarious and sexually explicit running monologue of a Jewish bachelor, which broke language and cultural barriers; the popular Nathan Zuckerman novels, particularly American Pastoral, which won the Pulitizer in 1997.

He has been a prolific writer of works known for their melding of his Jewish and American heritages.

In 1991, Roth published Patrimony, a moving portrait of himself and his father as they shared his father's aging process and the deterioration of his health. At the time, it was one of few memoirs written about the topic by a son about a father.

During his career, Roth became close friends with Italian author Primo Levi and Levi visited him in the United States. Roth interviewed Levi about Levi's writing of renowned books about the Holocaust and together they explored themes of guilt, shame, and the attempted demise of the Jews and others. The discussion seemed to indicate that this was a meaningful project in Roth's life.

Philip Roth is from Newark, NJ--roots that have often inspired his writing.

His writing will be unimaginably missed, particularly by the writer of this blog.

Presidential Election

11/07/2012 03:31:00

" Each of us has deeply held beliefs. And when we go through tough times, when we make big decisions as a country, it necessarily stirs passions, stirs up controversy. That won’t change after tonight. And it shouldn’t. These arguments we have are a mark of our liberty, and we can never forget that as we speak, people in distant nations are risking their lives right now just for a chance to argue about the issues that matter -- the chance to cast their ballots like we did today."--President Barack Obama in speech just after re-election.

For the past year, I have expressed my political views on Facebook, a forum that makes it easy to say: I believe everyone should have affordable health care, access to an equal and excellent education, freedom of speech and religion, the right to marry a same-sex spouse.

Facebook and blogging allow me to express my deepest beliefs in a creative solitary environment doing the thing I like most--writing. Sometimes I feel like I am writing out into the void. Other times, people let me know they are listening/reading. It feels great when they agree. But it also feels great when they disagree.

Once a Facebook Friend wrote: You must not think before you speak because what you're saying is a lot of crap. Or something to that effect.

I wasn't fazed.

I wrote back and said, I do think long and hard before I express myself and I'm so glad you wrote back to tell me how you feel. Isn't it just wonderful that we are having this open conversation? Let's talk about the details...

President Obama's speech tonight hit the perfect mark. He has inspired me to know that it's okay to continue to speak out about what I believe in. But it's okay, too, when others disagree. "These arguments," he said, "are a mark of our liberty."

I'm so glad he reminded us to continue to talk out our views, examine the different sides of an issue, express our opinions, and argue if we have to. It's the way to not only examine our differences, but to discover our commonalities, which will be many. What we want as human beings is often just the same thing, though we may come at it in different ways.

I hope in the next four years, all participants involved in the political process will keep talking and arguing, but then, take the next step and find solutions through compromise. Bipartisanship is the only way to stay afloat, to move forward, to keep peace. And we can start by "self-governing" as President Obama said. Bipartisan participation and cooperation should start at home and we should teach it to our kids. Maybe then it will become a mainstream part of the political system and we, as individuals, can finally come together as a nation.

What Would We Do Without Neighbors?

11/05/2012 08:39:00

I am here in Saratoga County, New York. My elderly parents are there, in Central New Jersey. Two weeks ago, Mom spent a week in ICU for a gastrointestinal bleed. Dad is 87. Mom is 77, but has lung disease in addition to the acute health issues she suffered recently.

Central NJ has no power, no gasoline, almost no phone service.

I am here. They are there.

So many times since Superstorm Sandy, I have had one foot in the car and one foot on the ground, willing myself to go there to help. But then, the foot on the ground pulls my body back and I head into my own dry, warm home in upstate NY and give up, defeated. How can I drive into what seems like a war zone? How can I drive four hours to a place where I might not be able to buy gas to get back home again?

On the other hand, how can I leave my parents in Central NJ?

The answer--Pete. Pete, the Good Neighbor, my parents' neighbor, the one in the house on the right as you look at their homes face on. Pete, whose 50-foot tree in the backyard fell on his house during the storm. Pete, who managed somehow to ignore his own problems and help Larry and Honey, my parents, the elderly couple next door.

Pete hooked my parents into his generator so even since the day of the Superstorm, they have had a working refrigerator and, therefore, food. Pete, who, once the temperatures dropped at night, somehow secured a propane heater for his neighbors, Larry and Honey. Pete, who, last I heard, was driving on fumes to find more fuel for himself and his neighbors.

I have heard from my parents twice since the storm--by cell phone and only for short minutes until we were cut off. I have called them probably hundreds of times, have listened to that computer voice--ALL CIRCUITS ARE BUSY--a phrase that inspires nausea and despair. But the one time my mom was able to call and get through, she told me all about Pete.

Then, just yesterday, after I called and called and called, my husband who was in another part of NY helping his own parents, got through to mine.

What do you need? he asked my mother, knowing it had to be a business call, knowing the miraculous cell service that kicked in momentarily could be lost in a second.

Understanding, my mother listed what they had, all because of Pete: food, water, and heat.

Do you want us to come get you?

No, she said, we will not leave our home.

I had heard this before.

When my husband called and said he got through to my mother, I cried. Contact is the ultimate gift in a crisis. Without it, the worst you can imagine floats through your mind over and over.

Pete. Pete. Pete. I give thanks to you and to all the other Good Neighbors out there who think of more than just themselves in a crisis. I promise, when the need arises, to pay it forward.

Random Books I am Selling Online

11/04/2012 11:13:00

I love books. I collect them. I give them away. I share them with others. I sell them.

It's the selling that makes my book life interesting--especially the selling online. When you sell online, your customer base is made up of readers from every state in America and sometimes from booklovers in other countries. That's why an online seller must maintain a selection of books that some of us would find harder to sell in a brick-and-mortar bookstore. Some might be called obscure. Others are just expensive because they are so rare. And still others are multicultural books that I've tried in the bookstore but they haven't moved.

Here's a look at three books randomly chosen from my online bookstore, which I keep at my house.

The Tiger Hunters by Anatoly Builov, translated from Russian, is one of my favorites. The cover shows three beautifully illustrated lions just lolling around in the snow-covered woods. There is something so charming about the scene. I see that someone has recently brought this title back as a print-on-demand. I feel proud to have a hard copy. The new printer's summary is: COMPELLING HISTORY OF SPECIAL OPERATIONS IN SUPPORT OF US EIGHT ARMY'S CRITICAL STRUGGLE OF SURVIVAL DURING THE KOREAN WAR. HISTORY IN ITS FINEST HOUR.

Here is an excerpt randomly chosen from page 93:

"Throw off your pack!" almost shouted Pavel with authority.

The bear pushed his forehead and ears out of the hole. Nikolai obediently threw off his pack.

"Shove a round in the breech," ordered Pavel softly. He slowly raised his carbine to his shoulder and waited for the bear to put his whole head out...

Nikolai stood with the carbine at his shoulder , taking aim at the bear. Pavel distinctly remembered that there were only four rounds in the magazine of Nikolai's carbine.

"Shove a round in the breech, damn you!" he insisted furiously.

"You go to hell!" snarled Nikolai.

*****

Doesn't it make you want to read more? And find out what happens? I actually do know. In the next instant, the bear charges. That's all I'm going to say.

*****

Here is an excerpt from Together with the AINU, A Vanishing People by M. Inez Hilder, randomly chosen from page 49:

A deceased Ainu is dressed in his ordinary clothes, including his underwear and socks. Socks are reversed on the feet with heels resting on the top of the feet. Women relatives prepare a woman's body; the wife or mother or a close woman relative, a man's body. A man's loincloth, however, is changed by a close male relative.

Another excerpt, this one from John Deere, Blacksmith Boy, page 152:

But in spite of John's fine workmanship and his growing business, hard times were just ahead for the Deere family. One cold winter night when the wind was blowing hard, John and Demarius heard a pounding on the door.

It was Lemual Derby. "Hurry, John!" he shouted. "Your shop's ablaze!"

John pulled on his trousers over his night shirt and ran toward the smithy. He got there just in time to see the flaming roof cave in. No one could even get close to the roaring fire.

*****

How much do books like these go for on the Internet?

The Tiger Hunters is $29.95; Together with the AINU goes for $12.95; and John Deere, Blacksmith Boy (a 1964 hardcover in excellent condition) costs $24.95. And you need to add $3.99 shipping for each.

So, online selling is a way to find treasures--not only as the buyer, but also, as the seller. Because I am catering to a wide and diverse online population, I acquire and read books I never would have picked up. And I am grateful for that.