I had a great Thanksgiving: great family time, quiet and tasty meal, family, and my colds are gone!
I have a lot to be thankful for, especially in the book world.
When I buy books, I can select from many great bookstores that are independently owned. I travel to different parts of the city and find out what's new in the New Orleans book world.
Here are my favorites; however there are more stores in the city.
McKeown's Books and Difficult Music - a great selection of used books. The owner has recently expanded the space, so there's more room to browse and sit down to preview books.
Blue Cypress Books - sells mostly used books, but also holds some book signings for local authors. Also, the new home for the International Fiction Book Club of New Orleans
Beth's Books - a combination used and new books, with a great selection of graphic novels and magazines. It has has cool gifts, such as soap, cards, notebooks, etc.
Garden District Book Shop - a great store for new books. The staff can help you find that books whose name you don't remember.
Octavia Books - another great store for new books. I've attended several book signings of national authors and enjoyed being there.
I am interested in what you have to be happy about, book-wise, in your life!
Through Black Spruce is the second book of a trilogy. I've read Three Day Road (my review), but if you can't find Three Day Road, go ahead and read Through Black Spruce. There are references to the first book, but enough information is given in the second novel, that you won't get lost.
Joseph Boyden won the 2008 Giller Prize Winner for Through Black Spruce. He spends part of the year teaching at the University of New Orleans and spends the other half of the year in Canada.
The novel alternates between Will Bird, a bush pilot and hunter who is also a Cree, and his niece, Annie, who visits Bird in the hospital and tells him about her life.
Will Bird is the son of Xavier Bird, one of the protagonists in Three Day Road. Xavier had been able to avoid going to the government-mandated school, but Will hadn't. He spoke both English and Cree. Will really didn't know much of what his dad had done during WWI.
Annie like her great-aunt, Niska, who has the gift of seeing into the future. However, she knows nothing of Niska and the powers of the gift. Annie believes that they are just horrible:
"When I was younger, my attacks mortified me. They created such pain when they hit and left me weak and useless for hours after. They made me feel ashamed. Often , I can tell when one's coming; it's like a cloud passing over the sun. The light dims a tiny bit and my scalp begins to tingle. That's when I know to find a quiet place to lie down and clench a towel or a T-shirt, whatever I can find, between my teeth and brace myself for the first shooting paints through my skull."
Annie is a remarkable young lady. Suzanne, her sister had become a model but lost contact with the family. Annie leaves her small town to look for Suzanne and adapts very well to large cities like Montreal, Toronto, and NYC. However, she still maintains her small town ties; she becomes friends with a homeless young Indian, and he protects her as she navigates the cities. (I just can't imagine being homeless in Canada in the winter; Boyden does a great job in describing the community that the homeless people formed.)
Will Bird loves the outdoors, a simple life, and nature. He spends part of the fall and winter in the wilderness. He sees something from his past.
"The skeleton of the whaled loomed up. I stepped into its cavity abd sat for a moment. My fingers rolled a cigarette as I looked around me. That first day when I found the this place felt like forever ago, summer sun so warm it was like I was in the tropics. But today the whale's bones sang a different message. I felt the chill of the Artic waters in them, the desperate hunt for food, the storm that finally caught it and beached it so far from home. I wanted to imagine the wind through the bones whistling. What it must be to die like this? The horribly slow reverse of drowning. Nothing quick in this death. Massive lungs crushed for air and the simple weight of this animal's body slowly suffocating itself itself. the trickle of a freshwater creek a taunt to the rest of the body."
I just can't imagine being so close to nature and having such thoughts for the death of an animal. Beautiful.
However, not all is calm in this world. Boyden describes how the younger Crees are losing touch with their culture by not learning to hunt and being tempted by drugs. Crime is a large problem in this small community; it's hard to get money for the drugs. Also, the problem of alcholism is touched upon. The Crees are not the only ones with the problem. One of Will's friends is a Russian who now teaches at the school; he can really finish off a bottle quickly.
This novel really deserved winning the Giller Prize, and I can't wait for next part of the trilogy.
For my November challenge, I read two plays by Henrik Ibsen.The plays are not his most famous ones.
I bought this book at Wigtown at Byre Books. The book I have doesn't have a cover photo, so I used Ibsen's picture.
The Pretenders is deals with Haakon's and Earl Skule's fight to be King of Norway in the 1300s. The Catholic Church still plays a great role the succession.
The play is packed with action, intrigue, history, and politics. I enjoyed reading about this distant time in Norway.
The second play that I read is Rosmersholm. John Rosmer, a former minister of the Lutheran Church, lives a quiet life with the nurse of his dead wife and a housekeeper. His friends think it's strange that Rebecca West has taken over the home of Mrs. Rosmer, without being married to John.
John Rosmer is becoming a politician of the Radicals. Kroll, John's brother-in-law, is the headmaster at the local school and complains to John, "Anyway, my eyes are completely opened now; for the spirit of revolt has spread even into my school."
The play continues with John continuing to decide how to proceed with his new life.
It took me awhile to get into the mode of reading plays. You jump into the action immediately, as compared to a novel, which can take longer. You don't don't know the thoughts of your characters; you have to pick it up from the words and the set directions.
I enjoyed reading both plays. It was a challenge but fun.
Do you have a creative person in your life, who likes to journal and doddle?
Then you must buy these journals!!The left one is made by BookGirl's Studio. She is very fair in pricing, practices advanced bookbinding techniques, and has a perfect rating.
The one with the combined bear claw and human hand is made by newer vendor, Journal Joy. She works with wonders by recycling many materials to make them look like something else more lux.
Both bookbinders sell their journals from the US, so if you live in another country, please check out their shipping conditions for overseas mailings.
In late October, I went to Port Townsend, WA (about two hours via shuttle from Seattle) to attend the first ever JournalFest 2009!
These journals are not just for writing. I would say it's a new twist on writing, collage, bookmaking, scrap booking, stamping, papermaking, creativity - all combined into a impulsive and impressive art form.
BookGirl told me that she was going, and I was in the middle of a miserable, hot summer. I told myself that I needed to reward myself for surving the heat, so I signed up a week after she did.
Each class lasted from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with an 1.5 hours for lunch. I also opted for the breakfast and dinner meals, because I wouldn't be renting a car, and I didn't know how far Fort Worden (the site of the festival) would be from Port Townsend.
The meals were great! The coffee was also tasty, but I had to drink more than my usual one cup, because it wasn't strong enough!
These are some examples of what I made. I had fun, fun.
One of the classrooms had this interesting sign of what to do in case of an earthquake! Yikes.
During lunch and after class, I took walks to stretch my legs and to explore the Fort. The nice brick building is the Castle. It was built by a minister for his future wife. However, when he went back to Scotland to get married, she couldn't come to WA, because she had married another guy. My first reaction was, "What a hussy!" But, then I started to think that in the late 1800s, this was a wilderness. Who in their right mind would want to come here? So, I gave her a little slack.
I like watching the changing of leaves. It happens in one day here in New Orleans, so to see leaves change colors and stay on the trees for awhile was fabulous. If you look carefully, you can see a rainbow. This picture was taken right after a rain shower.
The most amazing thing that I saw (I am such a city girl) was Bambi and her kids taking a stroll. I was having breakfast and saw a deer and the baby deers just walking across the grounds, like they owned the place! That's a sight I never see in my neck of the woods.
One evening, there was a vendor's night. It was very crazy and fun. I put my head through this poster, but someone else took the picture, and I haven't received it yet.
On the last night, there was time to journal and to experiment with the spray paints and to see what everyone else did.
I took the time to walk around and talk to people and listen to a fab band: Surrealized. I hope to get some of their music soon.
Surrealized - Clip 1 and 2
I am hoping to attend next year. It was so much fun and relaxing. I might even stay in Seattle one or two days.
The only bad thing about this trip was my cold. On the Seattle - Houston leg of my trip, there were people coming in from Hawaii; they were wearing only shorts and t-shirts. They asked for blankets, but Continental Airlines doesn't give out blankets to Coach passengers anymore. So, their sneezes and coughs passed on to me! boo hiss.
The Moore's (Teesha and Tracy) did a great job organizing this event. Check out their other projects and activities.
