Trade Show Week

Trade show week snuck  up on me again, and as usual, I am spinning in an attempt to organize lists and plans.  Of course, I should be pulling together book titles to order for the holidays, but instead, the lists I am making consist of which writers I want to check in with.  

Although this is a good size trade show, with all major publishers represented, it is surprisingly casual. It covers both the upper Midwest and Great Lakes states.   Authors hang out at the their publishers' booths, chat, wander the sales floor, meet and greet.  And, because writers generally travel to these events without family, it is not unusual to find yourself having lunch, or sharing a drink in  in the lounge area with one or more writers.  After attending the show for so many years. I have come to know several editors, sales reps and publishers and as a result, they sometimes pass me tickets to some of the high end events that I seldom take advantage of .   There's always a big cocktail party at the end of the event.  By this time, most everyone is tired of walking and talking, and most people find themselves talking with one or two writers for entire evening.  Less work for them than working the crowd.  A fellow bookseller caught someone you might know talking with Neil Gaiman last year.

This year's show is in Chicago, so the travel time will basically be cut in half.  That means I will be less tired and will get to spend even more time catching up and/or getting to visit with some of my favorite writers.  Over 200 authors will be at the show  Here is my short list:

Mike Perry...that's a given

Loren Long...writes the "Otis" series"

William Krueger...Ordinary Grace

Laura Lippman...one of my favorite mystery writers

Jerry Apps...popular, folksy regional memoir writer

David LaRochelle...funny children's author; I'm hoping to get an autographed copy of his new book Arlo's ARTregeous Adventure for a friend whose mom's name is Arlo

Wally Lamb and Larry Watson...award winning literary fiction writers

Lois Ehlert...popular children's writer and illustrator

As always, my anticipation of the event is equaled by my trepidation of being away form home.  Travel is not high on my fun list, although it wish it were.  But, the Chicago venue lessens the teeth gritting and nail biting by at least two hours, and for that I am grateful.

I'll be getting home late Sunday or early Monday so there is a strong possibility that next Monday's post will be on Tuesday.

Two Book Weekend

  The gift of an allergy flare-up prompted me to stay inside most of the weekend.  Yes, cleaning was an option, but not as inviting as the promise of a two book weekend. I haven't had one of those in a long. long time.

Book #1 - The Serpent of Venice by that rapscallion, Christopher Moore.  If you don't know Moore, think of Carl Hiassen twistiness sprinkled with cultural literacy.  In fact, I would argue that although he is clever, and an adept plot and character builder, much of what Moore writes is lost if you happened to miss the day your high school lit teacher told you about William Shakespeare or Edgar Allen Poe.

I became a Moore devotee when I discovered Lamb, an account of the Jesus' teen years written by his best friend, Biff.  Moore can be humorously irreverent, but his jokes are so witty I'd like to think even the most steadfast purists will forgive him.  This new book, scheduled for publication in April of 21014, adeptly blends my second favorite Bard play with Poe's The Cask of Amontillado, with a little Othello and King Lear thrown in to sweeten the deal.  A trio of cunning plotters lure Pocket, Lear's fool, into a dark dungeon promising him an evening of spirits and debauchery with Portia.  Of course, it all bogus.  There is no wine, and no Portia.  The three simply want to rid themselves of the guy who - along with a puppet on a stick - has foiled their attempts for power and wealth.  

Book #2 - I was sucked too far into this one before I took a good look at the front cover.  It's the first of a

trilogy.  Dang!  Because I am a slow reader, I try to avoid series books.  Too much of a commitment.  But I was in and so I continued.  Game is a techno thriller.  In the opening scene, a commuter, and small time criminal steals a cell phone hoping to sell it and make a few dollars to get him back into the good graces of his occasional girlfriend.  Instead, the phone rings and this message appears on the screen - "Do you want to play a game?"  I was hooked.  Once Henrik agrees to "play" he is instructed to complete a series of tasks that range from childish pranks to criminal acts.  The games moves increase in intensity and danger and eventually threaten the safety of someone close to Henrik.  The theme?  Follow the rules and everyone gets hurt.  This is a fast read, probably because there is an upset, and a rug pulled out on every page.  Good fun.

Next on the agenda?  It's time to catch up on some picture books, and to start planning  writers to visit with at  my trade show in October. It's always nice to catch up with Tom Maltman and Mike Perry.  This year, it's in Chicago instead on Minneapolis, so we'll be getting more writers from the south, I expect.  I'll let you know.

Night

Now that I'm back from the land of make believe, it's time to catch up on a blogging.  Theatre is a great place to be, but for me, it has to be in limited helpings.  More on that later.

On Friday, our book group will be discussing Night by Elie Wiesel.  In 1944, Wiesel, along with his family, was taken from his Transylvania home to Auschwitz and then to Buchenwald.  Wiesel freely admits to not understanding why his life was spared.  He was small, weak, frightened.  The miracle of survival is only one of the many reasons he chose to tell his story.

 Wiesel speaks of the struggle to find the right words to convey the magnitude of the horrors dealt in this dark time in history.  He fears that the truth - the reality - of these hate filled actions will be forgotten or not believed.  However, he rationalizes that some people may dismiss the Holocaust because they simply cannot accept that existence of such inhumanity.  

"Could men and women who consider it normal to assist the weak , to heal the sick, to protect small children, and to respect the wisdom of their elders understand what happened there?  Would they be able to comprehend how, within that cursed universe, the masters tortured the weak and massacred the children, the sick, and the old?"

In 120 pages, Wiesel informs, inspires, teaches, and questions.  He speaks with honesty and sadness about the breaking and eventual loss of his faith,  Somehow, without graphic details, he communicates the blackness and pure evil that existed in the concentration camps.  For me, he has chosen all the right words.  The Holocaust did happen.  Anyone who denies that, well.....they deserve words I prefer not to use here.  

Woven between the accounts of winter marches, days without food or water, and the emotionless murder of children, is Wiesel's meta cognitive journey through sadness.  He is astutely aware of how each day, each incident, each enemy word tore at his joy and left him hopeless, unable even to fear what was coming next - welcoming the possibility of death.  

Weisel has written many books, but I am anxious to read the follow-ups to Night entitled Dawn and Day.  Those titles hint that may have found peace.  

*****

So, the theatre stuff...our UW-Manitowoc/Heart-A-Rama show ended on Saturday, so now I'm in my "I'm never doing that again" phase.  That will change.  It always does.  Truth is, theatre is one of the few things that I can do a half way decent job with.  UW-Manitowoc is home for me.  Directors there gave me opportunities that I would not have gotten elsewhere.  Eventually, the theatre became my sandbox when I stepped in to do some adjunct teaching.  From that time forward, I have been lucky to be asked to take on a number of different projects over the years.  Everywhere I turn, someone on staff is asking "How can I help?" So nice working in a 100% positive environment.   How can I walk away from that?  

Thanks to everyone who came to the show and supported the Office of Continuing Education and Heart-A-Rama.  Your support has helped both education and heart health.  YIPPEE!!

It's Dog Blog Time Again

Finally.  You-Know-Who is working on a play and I get the computer all to myself.  I have practiced reading faster.  Since my last post in spring, I have almost finished two whole books so it looks like I can consider that speed reading course a success.

A long time ago YKW wrote a bout a book called I Could Pee on tThat.  It was all about poems by those nasty, four legged creatures from the enemy nation.  Now my nation gets it's turn in the very great "page turner" (KNW uses that phrase way too much so I hope she catches my sarcasm).  My buds have written about chasing balls, rolling in good stuff on the lawn, napping, and hating those silly costumes the two legged kind put us in.  Here is one of my favorite philosophical essays from I Could Chew on This:

If You Got Lost

If you got lost I would find you

If you got hurt I would help you

If you got trapped I would save you

If you got abducted by aliens

I would cripple their ship's computer system

by uploading a virus somehow

For you I would swim across the deepest ocean

 For you I would jump the widest chasm

                                          For you I would  race across the biggest country

                                          So now that you know

                                         All that I would gladly do for you

                                         Maybe you could do something for me

                                         And give me a braver name than "Wiggles"

Right?  Chew on that, will you.  And while you're at it, it might be time for you to sit down and write a letter to you best friend like the people did in this nice book.  This book -well - I don't have enough happy barks to tell you how much I love this book all about how much we are loved.  Hmmmm.  Now that I think of it, YKW hasn't written to me lately.  Actually, YKW hasn't written to me ever.  Time to sharpen the old incisors and make my point when she gets home.

See you next time YKW has a busy spell.

Yours in four-legged doggy goodness
G.B. the blogging dog
aka Mrs; George Burns