Today is Jim Harrison's birthday.

 

Jim Harrison was born December 11, 1937, in Grayling, Michigan, and spent his boyhood in Reed City before the family moved south to Haslett. Online searches turn up a wealth of writing about Harrison's life and work, often by people who knew Jim only through his work--but then, that is the way Jim wanted to be known, and it makes sense. 

Here is an example I found this morning from a literary journal. Another thoughtful reflection turned up in a blog post. I especially appreciate the latter admirer advising people to forget the myth and read the work. 

I'll add, if you really want to know Jim Harrison, read the poetry. Todd Goddard, however, did an excellent job writing a biography of Harrison, Devouring Time: Jim Harrison, A Writer's Life.

Nothing is easier to wrap than a book!

 

Leelanau treasures

Here are just a few ideas

of the many possibilities available

at your local bookstore in Northport.

A couple books here on the table are just newly published titles from Leelanau Press. Edward Beebe’s Historic Leelanau Photographs: Leland, Suttons Bay, and North Manitou Island 1909-1915, by Jack Hobey, is much more than a coffee table picture book. The history of our county is here, along with the life of the photographer and details of his work. And the photographs themselves are magnificent! There is plenty here to lose yourself in on long winter evenings.

Frederick W. Dickinson: Sleeping Bear Dunes Pioneer Photographer, compiled by Grace Dickinson Johnson (and the copies I have are signed by her), takes us from Leland down to Glen Arbor and gives a history of our county newspaper, The Leelanau Enterprise, Leland’s Fishtown, and Glen Arbor’s Studio Art Galleries on Glen Lake—all that before the hauntingly beautiful photographs of the dunes themselves. 

Both these new books, as well as every other book on the round table, belong in every Up North home. Or, if Up North is vacationland for you, you’ll want the books wherever you live the rest of the year to learn more about your “home away from home.”

Focus on DOGS!

How it came to be --

To whet children's anticipation --

Here and Now

 

I'll lead off today with Todd Goddard's long-anticipated Devouring Time: Jim Harrison, a Writer's Life. Yes, it's here, and yes, it's fascinating, whether or not you ever met Jim Harrison in person. 

So there is my front table, with a new arrangement, featuring Harrison and a couple of his buddies. I also have other Harrison books in stock, both new paperback novels and older signed hardcovers. 

Next --

By popular demand, I have stocked Joyce Vance's timely new book, Giving Up Is Unforgivable: A Manual For Keeping Our Democracy. In her introduction she writes, 

Putting these words down on paper makes me feel hopeful. I have always gained strength from being in community....

For any kind of writer, even the solitary blogger sitting alone in a room, putting down words is a way to connect. I can begin a morning feeling quite blue, begin writing, and after a while find I have written myself out of the funk and into a mood of gratitude, hope, and anticipation, so Vance's sentence about “putting words down on paper” struck a chord with me.

Another recent request was for Jill Lepore's We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution, so here it is.

Now, for a complete change of focus, look out! Dav Pilkey's new book is here! And you know Dav Pilkey is a phenomenon. No other word for it.

Dogs? Did someone say dogs? Here is This Dog Will Change Your Life, by Elias Weiss Friedman, the “Dogist.” Doesn't every dog change the life of the person lucky enough to share life with that dog? That is the beauty and the wonder of dogs.

From biography to serious politics to goofy stories to dogs, you never know what you will find at Dog Ears Books on any given day. It's always potluck. But treasures always await, that much is certain, so stop in soon.  

For Those Who Plan Ahead

Postcards from the village you love!

Available now! Send a couple or a dozen or more with your personal holiday greetings. Stamp not included. Does not require batteries.

Also, don't forget next Wednesday at 4 p.m.

Author Chuck Collins will be here!

Also, please note that the new Harrison biography, Devouring Time: Jim Harrison, a Writer's Life, by Todd Goddard, is available now in my shop.

Hours until the end of the year: 

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 11-3

Friday & Saturday, 11-5

Our Special November Guest Author

 

Author Chuck Collins

Chuck Collins of the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive organization based in Washington, D.C., will present his new new book, Burned by Billionaires: How Concentrated Wealth and Power Are Ruining Our Lives and Planet, at Dog Ears Books in Northport (Michigan!) on Wednesday, November 12, at 4 p.m.

His new book

Collins is Director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the IPS and has authored and co-authored over ten books and dozens of reports about inequality, climate disruption, philanthropy, the racial wealth divide, affordable housing, and billionaire wealth dynasties. 

It was his 2016 book, Born on Third Base: A One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, and Committing to the Common Good, that caught my attention. (You can read my review of that Born on Third Base here.) I was also intrigued by the fact that Chuck's late father, Ed Collins, and his wife, Bobbie, were founders of the Leelanau Conservancy, so Chuck has a strong connection to Leelanau County.

I am trying out the 4 p.m. time slot to avoid conflicts with evening meetings and dinner plans, and I'll be posting more about this event on my "Books in Northport" blog soon, but mark your calendar now so you won't miss Chuck on Nov. 12. I predict a very lively discussion! And if you want to familiarize yourself somewhat with the speaker ahead of his appearance in Northport, check out some of what he's written on Substack.

Once again, that's 4 p.m., Wednesday, November 12 (the day after Veterans Day) in the David Grath Gallery at Dog Ears Books, 106 Waukazoo Street in Northport.

Second Summer Is Here

 

The first copies of Isabela's Way are here today, too. (See Kristen Rabe's review here.) And I am here but only until 3 p.m. this Thursday, September 18. Friday and Saturday hours will be 11 to 5.

Labor Day and Beyond

Books in honor of Labor Day

 My plan for the holiday is to open the shop by 10 or 11 a.m. and to stay through until 2 or 3 p.m. The following day, Tuesday, September 2, will be my holiday. Bookshop closed that day.

After my one-day break, I'll be back on deck Wednesday through Saturday but probably closing up by 4 p.m.

Then -- beginning the second week in September:

September Hours

Tuesday, 11-3

Wednesday-Friday, 11-4

Saturday, 11-5

Closed Sunday & Monday

October hours will probably be about the same, but it's too soon to say.