Small Sample of Gift Ideas that await you during the LAST WEEK of Our 2020 Season!

 

The Days Are Dwindling Down to a Precious Few!

Dear, dear bookstore friends!

It’s looking as if Halloween, Saturday, October 31, may be the last day of my 2020 bookstore season. We hope to be back in May and open before Memorial Day, with a longer season than we had in this strange year (not opening to the public until July first!), but since "the future’s not ours to see,” the year 2021 remains shrouded in mystery for now.

One bookseller has stated that “October is the new December,” meaning that now is not too early to shop for holiday gifts. I will not shock or upset you with holiday decorations, never fear! On the other hand, if you do want to give books as gifts I’m happy to help you out. 

I always have a wide selection of new and used titles at Dog Ears Books, and will be processing one last new book order — going out next Monday -- so let me know by Saturday, Oct. 17, if there is anything you want me to add to that list! Be aware, however, that many backlist titles (classics, etc.) are not currently available, as paper shortages and disruptions in supply and distribution chains have affected the book business, too. Sigh!

Although it’s been a short season this year — and we had, with regret, to cancel our Thursday Evening Author events — I’m very grateful for the support my local customers and visitors to the area have shown Dog Ears Books. And with everyone's cooperation with mask-wearing and hand-sanitizing and being mindful of social distances, too! I was nervous about opening for the summer but happy with the way it turned out. Thank you all so much!

So now, if you possibly can, come in and visit us in the next couple of weeks. October is beautiful in and around Northport, and Sarah is always happy to welcome company (unless she is napping). She also urges you to follow her Arizona adventures again this winter (during our "seasonal retirement") on “Books in Northport” — because I call it that wherever I write from, connecting with book friends I’ve made back home as well as online. 

Objects Persist

 

Lodged into the west wall of St. Carthage’s Cathedral in Linsmore are carved stone fragments, relics of the original monastery and school built on the site in the 9^th century. The carvings were unearthed at a much later date….

 

Inspired in part by these fragments, and essentially concerned with objects, this exhibition nonetheless has its origins in images – specifically two photographic projects, one by Gerard Byrne and the other by Wolfgang Tillmans. …Byrne’s photographs are documents of the traces of the past in the present and evidence of just how much the present (and the future) will look much like the past due to the persistence of the objects within it.

 

-      Katrina Brown and Kitty Anderson

 

The Persistence of Objects was published by Lismore Castle Arts on the occasion of the exhibition ‘The Persistence of Objects,’ 20 June – 31 August 2015. My copy is #349 of a limited edition of 500, clothbound, tight and bright, with minor cover soil on rear board (see below).

Among the New Books

 

Little Bird is a small crow with a big heart. This timeless story of friendship and belonging is by Newbery Medalist Cynthia Voigt, with illustrations by Newbery Medalist Lynne Rae Perkins. Hardcover, $16.99

For somewhat younger readers (and, as always, the perennially young at heart), we have Imogene Comes Back! (hardcover, $17.99), by Caldecott Medal winner David Small of Kalamazoo, Michigan. The graphic novel version of George Orwell's Animal Farm (softcover, $14.99) should also suit audiences of many ages.

We were remiss in not restocking Trails of M-22 (softcover, $19.95) earlier in the season but are making up for lost time now, as are many hikers as the fall season comes on. 

And the final two new titles in stock come from the land of the Anishnabe. On the left below is  Contemporary Great Lakes Pow Wow Regalia, photographs (softcover in overwrapper, signed, $35), by Minnie Wabanimke, and to the right is The Crooked Tree Prints: Etchings of Native American Marker Trees (softcover, signed, $25) by Ladislav R. Hanka. 

These titles are but a tiny sampling of new treasures that await you at Dog Ears Books, our Northport, Michigan, shop open Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. And don't forget, we have an ever-changing selection of used books of all kinds, also.

Food Today; Medicine and Science Over a Century Ago

COVID-19 has changed the bookstore landscape this summer, all over the world. Since my Thursday Evening Author series here in Northport was cancelled, I have been neglected this particularly bookstore-focused blog. Bookstore news? The bookstore is open, and we have books – that’s pretty much my news, one week after the next. 

But there are always surprises from one day to the next, and if you haven’t been here since last year there are probably a lot of surprises. 

New This Season

First I want to highlight what I have christened my “Book of Summer 2020,” Emita Hill’s Northern Harvest: Twenty Women in Food and Farming, that book at the top of today's post. And you don’t even have to be a foodie or a farmer to love it, either. It's enough to want stories of real women, of their dreams, how they made them come true, and how they have made the food landscape healthier and more interesting for all of us Up North.

100 Years Ago

But I always have plenty of old books, too, and today I want to highlight a couple from 100 years ago. Both have to do at least in part with physiology, so that either would make an unusual and fascinating gift for someone in or graduating from medical school.

Beautiful Womanhood: Guide to Mental and Physical Development, with a copyright date of 1904, was written by three physicians: S. Pancoast; C. B. Vanderbeck; and Wm. Wesley Cook. The title page notes that the book is “Superbly Illustrated.” Many of the illustrations, even the photographs, are very romanticized, while others get beneath the skin to a graphic depiction of bodily organs. The chapter on testicles is somewhat surprising, in that women do not possess testicles, but of course the whole purpose of women a century ago (as the authors saw it) was to bear children, which is where those wiggly little spermatozoa came into the picture. 

Going now back to a copyright date of 1895 (my copy, an edition and printing from 1919, still 101 years old), we have Search Lights on Health: Light on Dark Corners. A Complete Sexual Science and a Guide to Purity and Physical Manhood. Advice to Maiden, Wife, and Mother, Love, Courtship, and Marriage. (And you thought subtitles were something our generation invented?) Here I think we have greater truth in advertising: Ladies, you need to know about sex! Here it is! And courtship, too – not just female “development” – so table manners are included, as well as advice on feelings such as jealousy. “Improve your speech by reading,” advises another page. Like Beautiful Womanhood, the book illustrates physiology and family, sexual organs and life lessons -- some of the which are still timely today. You'll have for yourself to decide which ones.

It Doesn’t Get Much More Local Than This

From author Norbert Bufka, we have, from left to right:

North Unity and Bohemian Settlement, $12.95

News from the Neighborhood: Good Harbor Michigan 1875-1931, $9.95

Good Harbor Michigan: The Story and the People, 1850-1931, $14.95

From Bohemia to Good Harbor, $13.95

We Remember Lost Places in Leelanau, $14.95

Re-Opening July 1

Author Robert Giles came in Saturday morning to sign copies of his book, When Truth Mattered: The Kent State Shootings 50 Years Later (see my review here). A couple copies are being held for customers as special orders, but I have more available, so contact me if you're interested.

Emita Hill came in earlier in the week to sign her Northern Harvest: Twenty Michigan Women in Food and Farming, and copies of that book (my review here) have been so much in demand that I'll be ordering another carton for July, but I have a few still available now.


So now, the plan as July looms is THIS: 

The bookstore will re-open officially on Wednesday, July 1 (at present I am only taking deliveries and allowing customers to come in to pick up special orders), with these COVID-19 precautions: 

(1) You must wear a mask. I will not be providing masks, as you should all have your own already to be out in public at all. 

(2) Number of people in the store at once will be limited to six. If you are part of a large group, plan accordingly.

(3) Hand sanitizer will be available, and its use will be encouraged as you enter and again as you leave.

For now, this Saturday, June 27, book-hungry people without special orders to pick up may browse the sidewalk cart, where a wide variety of books are available (as are bags). The price there is $9.43 for three books, which works out to $10 with the sales tax. I will continue the cart throughout the summer for sidewalk perusal and for the special comfort of those not yet ready to go into stores.

I thank you for your loyalty and for your patience and hope we can all manage to have a safe, healthy, fun- and book-filled summer!

Bookstore Plan for the Remainder of June

Please note: The space for leaving comments looks different on this blog suddenly, and I am unable to leave or reply to a comment. The answer to Dawn's question (in the one comment visible below) is that I am happy to take and fill mail orders. Thank you!

(1) Each Monday I’ll process new book orders. (Many ordered yesterday are on back-order, due to current demand.) Get your title or list of titles to me by Saturday, please. The phone at the shop is working, and I'll be in most days for a few hours to check messages. E-mail or Facebook messages also work.

(2) As requested books arrive, I’ll notify customers who can then come by the shop for pickup. 

(3) Customers picking up special orders may also shop books in stock. 

(4) I will not, however, be open for general walk-in traffic this month. We'll see how July looks when we're closer to it.

Recap: If you let me know what you want me to order by Saturday, I’ll place my order on Monday and generally will have books by the end of the same week – unless you ask for something that is in high demand and currently out-of-stock at the distributor warehouse.

One more note: Please do not bring boxes of donations, as you can see from the photo above that we are overstocked with used books at present and will soon have to find room for new books, as well. And there is a lot of cleaning to do before the OPEN flag can go out.

Thank you for your loyalty and your patience. Stay safe, everyone!