Your quote for the new year

History, of course, shows repeatedly that the most culturally threatened people are those who are complicit in the tranformation of culture from what they honor to what they desire.

- Ed Kilgore, NewDonkey.com

For what it's worth

A patron just informed me that the chain bookstore in Clarksville is closing, effective Jan. 31. I did not know that.

The nature of things

The next time you lament the passing of a tradition or the loss of a historic landmark, the next time you remember a favorite haunt and realize that memory is all you have because the place just ain't there anymore, ponder this: Did you do anything to prevent the passing? to prevent the loss? to preserve the place and not just the memory?

We're living in a society that honors ends rather than means. If a historic building gets torn down or defaced to make way for "progress," it seems we accept that as being for the best. If a faceless corporate entity uses predatory tactics to destroy competition, that seems to be OK. We, as a society, have replaced worship of a deity with a worship of market forces.

Are we willing to trade in what's unique about our town for a one-size-fits-all cultural uniformity? Should New Albany, Indiana be little different from New Albany, Ohio or Albany, New York? Some people would actively say "yes" and promote that end. But far too many of us would instinctively say "no" and then proceed to enable the promoters of monoculture.

In Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle For Workers' Rights at Wal-Mart, by Liza Featherstone, a comment is made that Sam Walton built his mercantile empire by targeting poor people and that his corporate heirs rely on keeping people poor in order to thrive. That came from an activist trying to boost wages, and others have made the case that society as a whole benefits from Wal-Mart's lower prices, even if that means your local clothier, your local hardware store, your local auto parts store, and your local textile factory go out of business while your county's median income plummets.

If you worship markets, that's OK. Those local businesses must have been "inefficient." We must be better off with one store to shop at. It must be a good thing to have the same restaurants available wherever we go.

But the facts show that it's not OK. Civic Economics just released its latest survey of local businesses in comparison to chains. Ironically, their Web site domain name seems to have been bought up (by whom?) in just the last few weeks. Could it be that the study is being repressed?

Their analysis of retailers in Andersonville, Ill., a Chicago suburb, showed that for every $100 spent at a local retailer, an additional $73 is returned to the local economy. Chain retailers returned only an additional $43. The study further showed that when it came to efficiency, local retailers were about 2 percentage points more efficient than the chains.

As you watch your local economy transform, do you like what you see? Do you want more of your money to leave town, thus accelerating a downward economic spiral? Did you know you get to vote on this?

That's right. Every time you make a purchase, you are casting a vote. Vote for monoculture and absentee ownership of your local merchants. Or not.

It all comes down to how you frame the debate. If the "given" is that dominant players are by definition "good," then the means by which the winners win is irrelevant. John Yarmuth, columnist for the Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO at http://www.leoweekly.com), makes telling comment this week about framing. Josh Marshall does likewise in his blog, Talking Points Memo (www.talkingpointsmemo.com).

You'd think all this bloviating stemmed from pure self-interest. After all, I'm a new local retailer in competition with corporate behemoths like Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, and Kroger, not to mention the Killer B's of the bookstore business. But that's not where I'm coming from.

I'm afraid we're about to lose an important part of our local culture, just like we lost Hawley-Cooke a few years ago. Last night, I checked out the drop boxes for LEO and its primary competition, Velocity. By 9 p.m., the LEO box was almost empty. Velocity, its much more ubiquitous competitor, had an overflow of copies. You might think that showed LEO to be more successful, more in demand.

Not so, from what I can gather. Could it be that the dominant print medium, owned by the newspaper giant Gannett, is using profits from other publications to subsidize Velocity in order to really put the hurt on the true alternative weekly? There was a time when such predations were considered illegal. Lawmakers and citizens still maintain a de jure ban on same, even including treble damages for such anti-competitive, anti-consumer activities.

Pick up a copy of LEO, if you can find one. It's a FREE publication, after all. We have a few copies here at the store. Patronize its advertisers and be sure to tell them you saw their ads in LEO. I, for one, consider it to be one of the good things about our town. We'll miss it if it goes away. Just like we miss all those good things that are only memories today.

And while you're at it, think again about that decision to take only one newspaper. Does a regional daily have any incentive to truly cover New Albany? Georgetown? Jeffersonville? Would its readers in Bullitt County even care to know what cultural events are going on in Southeast Indiana? The Tribune, The Evening News, and The Democrat, among others, provide us with that sense of community we need desperately. I've chosen to make Southeast Indiana my home and the home for my business. What happens here matters.

Serge Storms

Yes, Tim Dorsey's lay historical preservationist/avenging angel is coming back for more Weird Florida antics, and he's even got his own blog.

If you want just a taste of Serge Storms, check out http://www.sergestorms.com/.

Warning! If you are the slightest bit offended by off-color language, Serge's blog is not for you.

Guest posting

With one click, you can see what my baby brother is recommending. Larry is the executive director of the Practice Management Section of the American Bar Association in Chicago and a prolific reader.

Unlike me, he has always lived in a large metropolis (Atlanta, Denver, Chicago), and was often my source for hard-to-find autographed copies. For many years, his hometown independent bookstore was The Tattered Cover, which is, perhaps, the finest bookstore in the world. If you are ever in Denver, you should make it a point to stop in to one of their three locations and see the model after which we have modeled ourselves.

So, without further ado, here is Larry's end of the year reading list:
http://www.larbotoday.blogspot.com/

Heads up on Destinations' big books of Winter

Ann and I want to wish all of you the best as we wend our way back toward Spring and we hope you'll have many opportunities to wend your way back to Spring Street.

I would be remiss if I didn't point out to you a few books that you'll be hearing a lot about here at the store. Just before we opened the store, we had the opportunity to spend some time with two of the authors over a weekend in Atlanta and I can't tell you how excited we are to be able to sell these two books.

The first is Baker Towers by Jennifer Haigh. Jennifer's first book was the dazzling Mrs. Kimble, which Ann and I both had the chance to read during 2004. As you may know, during our courtship I drove to New Albany every other weekend from Daytona Beach (863 miles one way) to fan the flames of our relationship and to scout out locations for the store. That made books on tape my preferred reading media, so Mrs. Kimble came to me during those long night drives through Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky.

Ann is reading Baker Towers right now and she can't put it down. It just became available for January release. I have it inbound right now and I'm certain many of you will want to read it. The setting is a Pennsylvania coal town in the 50s, but I immediately saw parallels between her fictional town and our own little burg. This is a novel about societal change and the stresses that come from an entire community trying to adjust to a new economic reality. The title refers to two massive coal waste piles (towers) that mark the entrance to the town.

In a large crowd, Jennifer comes across as very literary and a bit aloof. I made it a point to seek her out after her major address and later, when I introduced her to Ann, we found her to be a sparkling woman and a bit of a word freak. In fact, a bit of a geek. We booksellers hold a spelling bee each year and Jennifer was stricken when her schedule wouldn't allow her to join our team. (We won, by the way, although the story of how we did so is best left to another time.)

For you non-fiction buffs, I can't recommend strongly enough that you explore Malcolm Gladwell's new title, Blink. Malcolm is an independent bookseller favorite after the breakout success of his last book, The Tipping Point. This new one, on order now, is going to be phenomenal. This 41-year-old New Yorker writer has made it his business to examine why people act the way they do. This time, he turns his eye to the quick decision-making process.

I had the chance to engage Malcolm in a public colloquy during his appearance at the Southeast Booksellers Association. It turns out that I had been using the "thin-slicing" method he describes in my decision-making for the last year. For 47 years, my modus operandi was to research and gather every nugget of data and information before making decisions. Coincident with meeting Ann and with a nearly fatal illness my father suffered, my processes changed. But I wasn't comfortable with it. Suddenly, every decision I made was turning out right, but I did not trust the process.

Malcolm's research gave me reason to be confident in this new (for me) way to make choices. His is not a mystical process and he's not really an advocate, but rather, a journalist. Fast Company magazine has crowned him as the hot new business guru and I'm pleased to be able to bring his findings to New Albany. Would that our public officials take some of these lessons to heart.

I do think many of you will want to check this book out...even keep it handy as a reference and a tool for building confidence in your own decision-making. His thesis is that instinct is nearly always correct, but we let our "big brains" (with apologies to Mr. Vonnegut) get in the way of doing what we "know" is right.

- Let me also recommend 1776 by David McCullough, coming in May. The Truman chronicler takes on the momentous events of our nation's founding.

- One of my perennial favorites is Please Understand Me II, the David Kiersey implementation of the incredibly useful Myers-Briggs test that applies Jungian thought to our daily interactions. I have NEVER found anyone who didn't learn something about themselves, their co-workers, their children, or their mates from this book. Over the years I have given away dozens of these copies, used it in my own businesses, and improved my understanding of myself and others.

- Ponzi's Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend reminds us that Ponzi was, in fact, a real person whose mischief created a new word and whose figurative descendants still prey on the eager and gullible. Mitchell Zuckoff tells the story in a March release.

- I'm eager to read Mitch Cullin's A Slight Trick of the Mind, in which a retired Sherlock Holmes is compelled to don his deerstalker hat again.

- Alexander McCall Smith takes on academia in three novellas with January's Portuguese Irregular Verbs. It includes The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs and At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances, as well as the title piece. McCall Smith is the increasingly popular author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels and The Sunday Philosphy Club.

- Frank Delaney's Ireland brings the history of the Emerald Isle to epic life in February.

Look for a major announcement about the upcoming Torpedo Juice by Tim Dorsey. This is Tim's seventh Serge Storms comic masterpiece and I am determined to turn all of you on to this incredible talent. Dorsey's entire backlist is in stock here and we're going to make it impossible for his publisher to bypass us when Tim brings out his eighth book in 2006. I've sent a case of his latest to his home in Florida and he has agreed to affix his autograph to each and every one.

During the new year, our first in-house reading group will be the Serge Storms Historic Research and Debating Society. These autographed copies will be reserved for its members, who will convene only at those venues in the area that qualify for the appellation of "Quasi-Weird."

Dorsey's (and Serge's) obsession with the preservation of authentic history and nature should fit right in with the zeitgeist among our patrons. The SSHR&DS is going to be much more than a book club. I envision it as the release valve and forum for growing body of like-minded people we've met here in the first two months. There are so many of you who should meet each other and this is one of the ways we will be helping to create the Third Space for building community. It's not quite the salon Ann so earnestly desires, but the Shredders are going to be a force in this community...mark my words.

Communication in a time of crisis

On a day when even the newspapers aren't being delivered, it's nice to be able to hit the Internet and communicate with friends and loved ones. We here in New Albany have been clobbered by the storm of this century and even the most stringent employers have declared this an emergency day. The wife has a snow day off for the first time in her career.

Still, since it was possible for me to get to the store, we're open. Today is probably the only chance that the public will have to meet author Patrick Naville, who is doing a book-signing from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. here at the store.

The telephone company has scraped their lot, I've cleared the sidewalk on Spring and we have the doors open at either end. If you are out, come on by. If you're really smart, you'll enjoy this extra day of leisure and take care of family and friends. But if you need a book, magazine, or gift item to round out your Christmas complement, go ahead and e-mail me at ops@destinationsbooksellers.com or just call the store at 812 944 5116 and we'll set it aside for pickup at your first Pre- or Post-Christmas convenience.

Winter wonderland

This is my first snow north of the Ohio River since 1990...well, that's not really true.

I've traveled all over the country since then, but this is the first time in 14 years that I've been responsible for shoveling snow. Got down here before the sun came up, shoveled, and salted, so there's a clear and safe space in front of the store.

If you don't want to brave the elements and the vagaries of "first-real-snow-of-the-winter" drivers, I can hardly blame you. But, if you're growing bored and don't really want to build a snow creature (and I must admit this is the perfect snow for that), we've got hot coffee (Antiguan) and tasty desserts for those of you who might make it down.

Our prayers are with those of you traveling or who have family inbound for the holidays. We'll be here Christmas Eve for those last-minute gifts you forgot and under the right circumstances we might just deliver it to you. The Internet and the phones are still working.

If you need a stocking stuffer, remember we have the BookSense Gift Card that's good at over 300 independent booksellers across the country.

Finally, I'm amazed we still have some left, but the best gift book of the season is "The Playmakers: Amazing Origins of Timeless Toys." This is a dazzling book filled with nostalgic pictures and the stories behind all those toys you love, like Play-Doh, the Magic 8-Ball, Silly Putty, and more. Tim Walsh, the author, sent us some autographed copies and I have only 2 left. This would be a great book for Christmas morning and a wonderful one to add to your collection of "coffee-table" books. Call the store at 944-5116 or e-mail me; the next two patrons who buy this book will get the autographed copies. And for those of you who have still not joined the Patron Passport rewards program, this offer includes you, too.

We're open Christmas Eve until late and we'll open again Sunday from noon to 5.

Have a safe and joyful holiday.

Finding a tocip

Sorry to be so derelict in posting. I'm well aware of how annoying it can be when you rely on a blog for a daily nugget, only to find nothing new there.

A piece of prose about exhaustion might be appropriate, but that does seem a little whiny. I asked my beloved what would be a good "tocip" to catch up with. With the way the Christmas rush is going, I fear I might read the "Pee Thiddle Ligs" for Children's Story Hour.

But, great things are happening down on Spring Street. Just today, we opened a dialogue with the Southern Indiana Writers Group, whose representative seemed enthusiastic about their participation in our Rhyme & Reason Nights (Saturdays at 6). More and more local writers are discovering that DB is ready and willing to be their biggest promoter.

I'm excited about a piece of historical memorabilia we acquired today and I think many of you will be, as well. Several years ago, this piece of New Albaniana was headed for the landfill before being rescued by a history-minded public official. As this public servant departs for the private sector, he and his family were seeking a venue for displaying this artifact, for a place that would treat the item with respect. Warehousing it or burying it in a private collection wouldn't do.

Now, Destinations Booksellers will be the home of this historic document, given to us on semi-permanent loan for the next 25 years so long as we continue to make it available for public view.

As soon as we can find a way to safely mount it, you'll quickly recognize it next time you come by the store. In the meantime, just ask and we'll be glad to show it to you.

-------------------------------------

Meanwhile, the store was blessed with a visit from Patrick Naville this morning. Pat is making a whirlwind tour of his hometown, including a book-signing here at the store on Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Pat's debut novel (he's now completing his third) is "Echo Whispers," an alternate history that imagines what would happen if A) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid survived their Bolivian adventures, and B) wound up crossing the Capone mob in Prohibition-era Chicago.

If you really want us to have events, come on down Thursday and meet Pat, hear the back story on how he came to write his first novel, buy a book and get it signed by the author.

Gremlins in the stacks

On a day when our national leader reaffirms his commitment to a permanent deficit and when his followers move inexorably toward phasing out the once-universally accepted protective safety net for retirees, it seems a little trivial to trot out my own tiny problems.

But this one is inexplicable.

I've been somewhat surprised to find a strong interest among our patrons in the activities of those on "the other side." I have not experienced apparitions, voices, or sundry other visitations from other dimensions. At least until now.

Either we have a poltergeist (which I will quickly exploit as a marketing vehicle) or some individual has a compulsion to "straighten" things. I wouldn't want to make light of what can be a debilitating malady, but we have a visitor who is clearly obsessive-compulsive and cannot tolerate anything found out of its place.

Like the poor soul who must flick every light switch five times before departing a room, this visitor finds my housekeeping habits unacceptable.

We have a lockbox in the parking lot where the local metropolitan daily drops off its papers. To save myself a few seconds each day, I leave the padlock attached, but hanging unlocked during the day. That way, I can deposit the leftover papers at day's end without pulling out my keys each time.

But, about every other day, just before closing the store, I head out to the box to find that someone, gremlin or not, has secured the lock.

Like I said, it's a tiny thing. But if anyone has a clue as to how to appease this ghostie, drop me a line.

A Proud Daddy

Find out why I'm so proud of my daughter...I've no doubt we'll be selling her books soon.

Visit http://trojansasha.blogspot.com

What's new?

Dozens of new friends have found their way to 604 East Spring Street since last we posted. Our store Christmas party was blessed with good weather and despite my insistence that the store was closed, we wound up delivering a few Christmas gifts on Sunday, too.

The profile in the Trib has created quite a stir as we still have many of the most book-friendly people in town declaring they had no idea we were here. And many of those admit they didn't believe it would be a full-service store with such a broad stock of books.

Saturday's Rhyme & Reason session was our best yet and I've got every reason to believe that as more and more writers find out about us, the festivities will only get better. R&R is our workshop night for writers published and non-, where they can try out their works in progress in an atmosphere of critique rather than criticism. Of course, we'll also use the night to expose new works of poetry and prose. In fact, this Saturday at 6 we'll discuss the implications of Michael Crichton's new blockbuster, "State of Fear." That should be lively as Crichton's take on terrorism and misinformation has rocketed to the forefront of national debate in this post-election, pre-inaugural period, especially among the world of bloggers.

Next week, I'll tell you more about the scheduled author appearance by Patrick Naville on Thursday, Dec. 23, timed to coincide with lunch for most folks, from 11 to 1.

We added a large number of new titles to the periodicals this weekend, including some long-awaited ones requested by our patrons, like The Futurist and Stone Soup, plus a raft of new history magazines, including Civil War Times.

Tuesday's Dessert Night may be enlivened by the presence of the Floyd County Young Democrats organization. Friday's Third Space Night (at 8 p.m.) may well turn out to be the liveliest event in town as one new patron has issued a challenge that he can beat all comers in a trivia contest. Keep an eye on this space for developments. If the challenger chickens out, we'll divert to our own version of balderdash. Topping Saturday's Rhyme & Reason Night will be tough to do, but we'll try to do so this week at 6. It's still not a certainty that we'll have writers willing to perform Saturday, so we'll have Neil Brewer's The 8 O'Clock Bell in reserve.

A Patron suggested we ask

Do any of you have a group interested in using our space for gatherings?

Citizenship Papers

I think a lot of you will find a kinship with Kentucky author Wendell Berry. His fiction is passionate, as evidenced by his current Hannah Coulter, but I've recently had a chance to read some of his essays in Citizenship Papers.

Here's a sample:

It is understandable that we should have reacted to the attacks of September 11, 2001 by curtailment of civl rights, by defiance of laws, and by resort to overwhelming force, for those actions are the ready products of fear and hasty thought. But they cannot protect us against the destruction of our own land by ourselves. They cannot protect us against the selfishness, wastefulness, and greed that we have legitimized here as economic virtues, have taught to the world.

This collection of essays will take pride of place on my personal bookshelf and I encourage you to get a copy and read it yourself.

Hopping

Like bunnies, we are, down on Spring Street. Remember this when we hold our retirement party 25 years from now, how December of 2004 marked a renaissance for shopping downtown. If you've been paying attention, you'll have seen that our store is but the latest to plant roots in New Albany's downtown.

We're meeting lots of new folks who, like many of you, have wanted a bookstore to settle in on this side of the river. Many share our dedication to historic preservation and interest in the cultural and architectural heritage of this area. But our greatest desire is for many of you to meet, presumably using the store as a means to do so.

That's the purpose behind Third Space Night and our other regular events. Friday at 8 we'll start the weekend with Third Space Night (games for grownups) and we'd love to see you. Saturday is a busy day in the area and we'll be hosting children for santaKid Day stories, crafts, and games from 10 to 1. The library starts its Christmas festivities at 1 with Kris Kringle in attendance, and then at 5 we'll have a drawing to give away an autographed copy of James Patterson's santaKid, which we're sure is going to be a new classic.

At 6 we're hoping to see some of you for our Rhyme and Reason Night. We're inviting amateurs and pros to expose their works in progress and we'll have poetry and other readings and discussions. Think of this as an informal author appearance...this week we'll feature A Companion for Owls by IU professor Maurice Manning along with works by whoever shows up.

Tuesday we'll share Dessert Night with the Floyd County Young Democrats. Remember, if you have a group who needs a congenial space to meet, we've dedicated floor space for just that purpose.

Keep your heads about you this weekend, stay safe, and drop by if you get a chance.

Crichton disses Greenpeace?

Here's an excerpt from Publishers Weekly's review of Michael Crichton's "State of Fear."

Certainly one of the more unusual novels of the year for its high-level mix of education and entertainment, with a decidedly daring contrarian take, this take-no-prisoners consideration of environmentalism wrapped in extravagantly enjoyable pages is one of the most memorable novels of the year and is bound to be a #1 bestseller.

We'll be discussing Crichton's take on environmental activism and his proposition that an obsession with being "safe" makes it easier for those with a totalitarian bent to prosper at our Rhyme and Reason event on Saturday, Dec. 18, at 6 p.m.

Bone up and be ready for a spirited debate. And if you haven't bought the book, I know a place where you can get it without breaking the bank.

We have a winner

Dessert Night was a relaxed affair this week with the best array of sweets yet. We had drop-ins from friends old and new, including the charming Emily Marsh, our special guest for the evening.

I'm sure, though, you're all waiting with bated breath to find out who won our contest to "predict" what Michael Crichton would come up with for his new blockbuster, "State of Fear."
Brandon Smith, despite being handicapped by his legal training, managed to eclipse all other entries with his imaginings.

Brandon won a signed first edition of this book, a globe-girdling thriller in which the manipulation of information and the dissemination of misinformation serve the purposes of a nefarious fictional (?) cabal. We still have copies of the book, and for Patron Passport holders, this widely-promoted title is available at the ridiculously low price of $13.47. That's right, we're offering it to our reading community at a price that's more than 50% off.

If you are looking for a gift to thrill, you'd be nuts to pass up this chance to give the latest from one of our time's most successful writers.

We're bulking up our travel section as we head into the winter months, and I'll preview some of the best in a future posting. Plus, during the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, we'll be unveiling our unique travel guide kiosk.

If you missed Dessert Night, drop by after work today and tomorrow for our After-Work Open House. We've invited workers from all over the downtown area to drop in, and we're expecting to meet lots of new folks. Your word-of-mouth support has been tremendous and we're seeing traffic pick up considerably. If you're on the e-mail newsletter list, you received a great coupon offer that rewards your friends first, then gives you double rewards on normal trade titles and gift items. If you think about it, go ahead and print out a few to help us build awareness and save yourself a few bucks, too.

Use 'em or lose 'em

As promised, we've added even more titles to what will be a 200-title-plus periodicals inventory. If you show you want them, we'll be able to keep them. Otherwise, away they'll go.

But first, some news. Publishers Weekly, the bible of the bookselling and publishing world, announced its Book of the Year today. It's Jon Stewart & Co.'s "America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction."

We've been a believer in this one from the first. In fact, it was the first book we ever sold from this location. You owe it to yourself to see this one.

Tonight is Dessert Night, as is every Tuesday at Destinations. If you haven't yet brought the family down, this would be the night. You won't believe the spread Ann has put together. We're still planning to bring in local restaurateurs, shopkeepers, caterers, and home-based sweets-makers with samples from their establishments and it would go a long way if we could "promise" them a large turnout of folks eager to discover new treats.

Here's a list of those magazine and journal titles we've added just today:

American History
American Road
Civil War Times
Clotilde's Sewing Savvy
Education Next
Family Chronicle
Guitar World
History Magazine
Independent Film Quarterly
Military History
National Geographic
Potluck Children's Literature
Southern Living
Canadian House & Home

and of course, we brought in Food & Dining, Louisville last month.

See ya at the dessert table, starting at 6 tonight.

Bite-size previews

Welcome to all the new readers of this blog. Feel free to comment on anything you see here or just e-mail us at ops@destinationsbooksellers.com if you'd rather keep your comments private.

In choosing which books to stock, we get a lot of advance information and we necessarily apply both commercial and personal standards. I thought I'd share with you some of the titles we are considering this season. These aren't necessarily recommendations, but are rather a little litmus test of what you might like to see in the store.

Let us know if you have a special interest in what you see. We'll try to do this on a periodic basis, but there's no promise that we will, in fact, carry these titles in stock unless we think our patrons want to see them.

____________________________________________

Today, we'll feature some recent and upcoming books on food, beverages, and dining - plus a peek at top politics and history titles.

In all things culinary...

Waiter, There's a Horse in My Wine: A Treasury of Entertainment, Exploration, and Education by America's Wittiest Wine Critic
by Jennifer Chotzi Rosen, (ISBN: 0-9763170-0-1, trade paperback, $14.95, March, 2005).

Collection of informative, irreverent and hilarious columns from one of America's foremost wine writers. Connoisseurs, neophytes and beer-swillers alike will find themselves laughing, pondering and armed with everything they need to impress friends, terrify enemies and stop wine snobs in their tracks.

____________________________________________

Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook
by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann, (ISBN: 1558322442, $32.95, January, 2005).

James Beard Award winner Beth Hensperger and San Jose Mercury News deputy editor Julie Kaufmann offer a completely fresh look at cooking with this popular appliance. This collection of 350 recipes combines the ease of slow cooking with fresh, wholesome ingredients and exciting flavors.

____________________________________________

Get Saucy: Make Dinner a New Way Every Day with Simple Sauces, Marinades, Dressings, Glazes, Pestos, Pasta Sauces, Salsas, and More
by Grace Parisi, (ISBN: 1558322361, $32.95, March, 2005).

It's so easy to make mealtime magic by whisking together a handful of ingredients, or by adding water or wine and a few spices to pan drippings. Parisi has created 500 of the best recipes for sauces from all over the world, designed to delight cooks of all skill levels.

And in public affairs titles...

Bury the Chains
by Adam Hochschild (author of King Leopold's Ghost), (ISBN: 0-618-10469-0, $26.95, January, 2005).

In early 1787, anyone who advocated ending slavery in the British Empire would be regarded as either a crackpot or an idealist. Attempts to start an antislavery movement in the world's largest slave-trading country had gone nowhere. But that year 12 men came together in a London bookstore and printing shop and began one of the most brilliantly organized citizen's movements of all time, and which created the template still used today for Human Rights efforts.


Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Laws That Changed America
by Nick Kotz, (ISBN: 0-618-08825-3, $25.00, January, 2005).

Fabulous endorsements continue to pour in for this important book on a pivotal time in American history.

A sad farewell

The cover of November's edition of The Women's Review of Books carried sad news for book lovers across America as Editor-in-Chief Amy Hoffman announced the suspension of publication.

Amy cites the "demise of independent bookstores" as one of the contributing factors that require the monthly magazine to halt its regular production schedule.

Destinations Booksellers put WRB at the top of its list when building our periodicals selection and we'll be sad to see it go. Alas, the current issue, just in, will be the last we'll be seeing unless and until the magazine finds an institutional benefactor.

The December issue features Nobel laureate Elfriede Jelinek. I hope you'll pick up a copy and send a note of encouragement to the staff. We'll keep searching for ways to bring incisive commentary with a point of view to our racks and to Southeast Indiana.

DULD Alert

The Hess Studio/Gallery is hosting an opening & reception today from 2 to 9 at 315 East 9th Street in New Albany. That's between Market and Spring on 9th. If we're serious about making NA a destination urban-lifestyle district, we ought to stop by and meet artist Patrick Hess and show our support for this valuable contributor to the creative class and the revival of the city.

Editorial hue and cry

Many of you know I was formerly an editor for a paper of some size and significance. Long before that, I was the sports editor for a newspaper smaller than our local media outlet.

Throughout my journalism career I committed to paper, or its electronic equivalent, my share of typographical errors, but in almost every instance we caught it in editing. Once my senior editors came to trust my writing ability, much of what I wrote went through without much blue-penciling. That is, I was accountable for my own copy.

At the larger paper, there was a group of us who had an unerring eye for catching those embarrassing goofs and we often shared horror stories of misses and near-misses. That paper even once had a giant scrapbook of its own errors until the next generation took over the operation. Now that archive is lost to history.

The reporter/writer is the first bulwark against error, but a good editor can and must step in to fix the work of even the best writers. That's even more true in the age of computer composition and spell-checkers.

All of this is apropos of something I read this morning in The Tribune. Weekly columnist and government reporter Amany Ali inked an impassioned and cogent explanation of what to many would seem to be the inexplicable. The piece made clear what has seemed to be a well-developed...hmmm, I can't remember the counterpart to misogyny, but you get my drift.

But to my admittedly persnickety tastes, the entire piece was clouded by one glaring typo. Ali confessed that she and the man she married at 17 were not aquatinted enough to enter into a lifetime commitment.

Perhaps there is a cultural tradition of which I'm not aware. Maybe it's a Hoosier thing, even. But in neither of my marriages did I or my intended modify our skin tones before the ceremony. I will admit to getting a glowing red tint in the days before my first wedding, but the thought of making myself aqua tinted never crossed my mind.

And, used as an adjective form, shouldn't the word have been hyphenated as aqua-tinted? That's what the official dictionary of the Associated Press would dictate.

Trivia tonight

We call it Trivia Night, but it's really a community night as we work to provide a "third space" beyond home and work where we can rebuild a sense of community. Let's make downtown NA a destination urban lifestyle district, OK?

At 8 Friday night we'll convene for a fun night of general team trivia. We're going to set up a "Book Lust" night on some future Friday in January, but this will be a low-tech night at your favorite Destination(s).

Saturday is going to be hopping. At 10 a.m. we'll kick off the activities with our Children's Story Hour, then shift at 11 to an adult perspective by bringing in mystery writer Laura Young for a seminar on "The Mystery of Publishing: How to Get Your Novel in Print Without Killing Someone."

Laura will sign autographs following her presentation and answer questions about her Kate Kelly mysteries "Otherwise Engaged" and "Killer Looks." Come out and welcome Laura (she's from Louisville) and show the publishing world that Southeast Indiana will support books and writers.

We're pleased to host a store tour, reading, and activity hour for a troop of local Daisy Girl Scouts at 2 and then we'll set up for a 6 o'clock poetry reading from "A Companion for Owls." IU professor Maurice Manning channels Dan'l Boone in this enjoyable collection that imagines the frontiersman as a more contemplative soul than history actually records. We were privileged to hear Manning read from the work in Atlanta earlier this fall and loved it. If the community responds well, we'll have Manning come down this winter to give us more.

Sunday will be less hectic, but look for our ad in The Tribune for details on "State of Fear Day," coming Tuesday. We're still soliciting entries in our contest for the most creative "guess" at what the book is all about. The winner will receive a free, and rare, autographed copy of the most-anticipated release of the season.

It's really not too late. Just send us a quick paragraph telling us what you imagine Michael Crichton might be planning with "State of Fear."

Patron Passport members, existing and new (you can still join and it's free), can pick up the book on the cheap and take home a $10 BookSense Gift Card.

Bite-size reviews

I've been derelict in making my recommendations for December reading. I want to offer you my best views of "books you owe it to yourself to check out."

In a subsequent post, I'll give you a preview of the best for the coming year.

No Plot, No Problem - The manifesto that pursues the inner writer within us all from the founder of National Novel Writing Month.

The Golden Age of DC Comics - The definitive compendium of the greatest comics ever.

Dreams of Iron and Steel - The stories behind the man-made wonders of the industrial age.

The One-Armed Cook - A needed resource for new parents, the title comes from the necessity for caretakers to keep one hand free to nurture while still putting food on the table.

Perilous Times - A chilling look at the way free speech rights wax and wane when democracies are hijacked by fear.

Degrees Kelvin - My favorite type of biography. Lord Kelvin is laid bare in this chronicle of the scientific icon who gave us the ultimate thermographic measurement.

Edward Teller - The subtitle says it all...The Real Dr. Strangelove.

Man Bites Log - What happens when the heart seeks wilderness living but the brain won't cooperate.

Catullus - It's fiction, but there's little chance we'll find a better researched manuscript that brings the Roman poet to life.

The Hometown Advantage - The ultimate resource from the Institute for Local Self Reliance. A paean to locally owned businesses and a manual for saving your hometown from being raped by absentee conglomerates.

Florence of Arabia - Christopher Buckley skewers political correctness with gusto in another outrageous satire when his Italian-American heroine Florence Farfaletti brings feminism to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories - If you know the standards of Dave Eggers, you'll jump at the chance to peek inside this Michael Chabon edited collection of literary horror tales.

Virtues of War - A fictional take, but perhaps the best overview of Alexander the Great to come out this year.

Liberating Paris - Linda Bloodworth Thomason writes the hell out one year in the life of six small-town friends.

The Bastard on the Couch - A series of essays by men written as a response to the enlightening "The Bitch in the House."

The Abrams' Guide to American House Styles - An invaluable resource for preservation buffs or anyone who's like to sound halfway intelligent when discussing vernacular architecture.

The Librarian - Larry Beinart, who wrote the book (American Hero) that inspired "Wag the Dog," gives the same treatment to the CIA.

The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green - Jacob Braff shows that brother Zach is not the only writer in the family.

Enemies of Rome - Chronicles the "barbarians" who resisted Roman hegemony.

Arnold Palmer: Memories, Stories & Memorabilia -

The Speckled Monster - One of my must-reads for the winter. The historical ravages of smallpox are brought home with feeling.

What the Captain Really Means - Ken Weber's fluid writing documents Vietnam the way it really was.

A Simple and Vital Design: The Story of the Indiana Post Office Murals - A classic for any Indiana history buff.

Enslaved by Ducks - A memoir of the odyssey of an urbanite in suburbia.


Chasing Lewis & Clark Across America - A great gift book that chronicles Ron Lowery's flight in a kit plane during the summer of 2003 along the path of the Corps of Discovery.

What We've Lost - Graydon Carter delineates the looting of America and the coarsening of public values that has marked the first four years of the Bush administration.

The Bush Survival Bible - A chuckle or two might do us good as we settle in for Four More Years.

Chicken Dreaming Corn - This gem is the favorite of independent booksellers, but the jacket blurb from Harper Lee says it all.

A Salty Piece of Land - Jimmy Buffett's first novel in 10 years includes a CD inside.

Area Code 212 - Tama Janowitz defines New York, New York in this collection for the new millennium.

Days of Infamy - One of my favorites takes his alternate history pen to the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor invasion and imagines a world where Japan occupies the Hawaiian Islands.

Magazines That Make History - If you love the periodical form of journalism, this exhaustive softcover will show you the lasting impact of the form.

Hard News - The definitive post-mortem of the recent New York Times struggles to maintain its place at the forefront of American journalism.

The Mob - I'm ready to crown this as the sleeper of the year with crossover potential. When "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" debuted, they thought it was a kids' book, too. This is just part one of a planned trilogy called "The Crow Chronicles."

Lookin' for a little...

...feedback.

At this early stage it is unlikely that a significant percentage of newsletter recipients have migrated to this Web log; it's equally unlikely that those of you who read the blog are representative of the growing DB community, but here's the problem.

Each day we add about a dozen new newsletter subscribers. These folks are hungry for event listings and store news that earlier subscribers have already read. And there is news, but I don't want to irritate those who expect a newsletter to be monthly but receive a new one every time they open their e-mail.

So, how often should I send e-mails. One day it might just be a list of new arrivals. The next day it might be an invitation to a standing event (like Trivia Night on Friday at 8). And the next it might be a raw commercial or something as harmless as an event report.

Let me know your thoughts.