I told Michael that I found it odd when friends get manicures or pedicures as a special treat, in order to feel pampered. The idea of someone mucking with my hands or feet in a smelly environment sounds more like torture to me. Michael asked, "What makes you feel pampered?"
"Going out to dinner, breakfast in bed, reading a great novel."
I read two notable novels this month. THE DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA YA SISTERHOOD by Rebecca Wells was so good that I posted on facebook how disgusted I was that this novel had languished in my store for nearly a year. For three bucks you could have bought it and passed the treat on to someone else. (I already have, so you've missed your chance.) The story is about the breakdown of a mother/daughter relationship and traverses through growing up in Louisianna under the influence of the mother's fearsome foursome group of friends.
The woman who came into the store and raved about Ya Ya Sisterhood, said that the film didn't begin to do the book justice (of course). I can see that the kinky characters and hysterically funny scenes could make a good movie, but the grandure of the book is the inner landscape of these women, something movies can rarely touch.
Michael just finished the other novel, THE WHISTLING SEASON by Ivan Doig. This is a well written, growing up in the midwest days of one-room school houses story, told by a young boy whose father has just hired on an odd housekeeper from Chicago. The book relishes in a love of words. Both of these novels use the vehicle of an older person looking back on their growing up years, which gives you the charm of a youngster together with the wisdom of an elder. Whistling Season was, as claimed on the back cover, evocative, life-affirming, magical and luminous. Both Michael and I enjoyed it tremendously.
"It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are." — E. E. Cummings
Back on Barclay: A whole row of Barclay arrived at the store. I'd just finished Acts in my morning read-through, so I brought home Romans to add to the mix. William Barclay wrote a DAILY BIBLE STUDY that tromps through a book of the Bible at the rate of a few pages a day. Although Barclay comes up short in the charismatic and miracles side, he's full of geography, old world scholarship, nuances of Greek words and mores of the biblical times. In the past I have used his study on Mark (great), Revelation (two volumes--I was never so happy to get out of a book of the Bible in my life), and 1 Corinthians (which proved that one can carry on eruditely about things one knows nothing about). Romans is shaping up quite nicely. We probably have a dozen volumes at the store, priced at $3 and $4.
In fact, most of our books are priced $3 or $4, with a dollar or two added here and there for hot books in great condition. Romances, mysteries, thrillers and many other mass market paperbacks are $1, as are any number of children's books and scrungy paperbacks we'd toss except they are good. People keep bringing us books, a great favor. The greatest favor would be buying a few before we drown in the Tsunami, glub-glub. Do you suppose I could start charging for TAKING books?
"When you give someone a book, you don't give him just paper, ink, and glue. You give him the possibility of a whole new life."--Christopher Morley
THIS IS TERRIBLE; The Writers Lament, is getting very close to going to the printer. Please share with me any experience you've had with printers, including e-books, POD, or real book printing.
"If you give me six lines written by the most honest man, I will find something in them to hang him."--Cardinal Richelieu
I'm off to Colorado for Walking in the Light, a Fall Faith Start-up Weekend at St. Aiden's in Boulder, on September 17 & 18. When I get back, we have plans for a writing group for home-schooled teenagers: Write That Story. On October 22, I'm leading an Illuminated Journaling Workshop for the Diocesan ECW Day in Salinas: Drawing Near; the Art of Spiritual Journaling. I'll be taking books for a book table as well.
What shall we do in November?
Blessings,
Alliee +
PS I found this lion by Shirley Hobart at healingrooms.com. I'm going to order some cards. They have posters, and canvas prints as well. Pretty cool, eh what?