Too-Good-for-Only-One-Round Books

Thanks to David R. Godine for this reprint.

David R. Godine, a small house in Boston founded 55 years ago, is one of my favorite publishers. Besides discovering new authors and works, they bring back into print titles that deserve another go-round. Such a one is certainly Clémentine in the Kitchen, which I read years ago and have regretted ever letting out of my hands. Now there is another chance for me and a first chance for you, if you have yet to discover this wonderful story. 

It was mere coincidence that, just after my order from David R. Godine brought me two copies of a reprint of Clémentine in the Kitchen, by Samuel Chamberlain, from another quarter came a first edition from the World War II era, Respectfully Yours, Annie, by Sylvia Brockway. The coincidence is dual: Clémentine was published in 1943 and tells the story of an American family leaving France in 1939 and bringing back with them their French cook. Annie was published in 1942 and is a series of letters, with introduction by the author of record, from an American family’s London charwoman-cook, who stayed with their house when the mother and children went back to America in 1939. So, Clémentine, French; Annie; English. Clémentine comes to the U.S., Annie remains in England. Both women cook for their employers, and both win the hearts of the families who employ them. Among the differences, the Clémentine book includes recipes, and Annie's does not.

Other books newly arrived in my order from David R. Godine:

Sorry to have to tell you that both copies of a reprinted Donald Hall memoir, String Too Short to be Saved, sold right off the stack on my desk before I could figure out a "better" display. (Apparently, the displayed stack was all it took.) If people knew Clémentine as I know Clémentine--and ditto with Rosie--those books would be gone already, too. As for The Last of the Hill Farms, if I have more time to spend with that before it flies to a new home, you'll hear no complaints from me. Eventually, however, it should go to a photographer or at least someone who loves photography. 

Friday visit from gentleman dog Brady

"What are your hours?"

I've been cagy about hours this year and haven't posted any since Memorial Day, but now I'm ready to commit.

Monday, 11-5

Tuesday, 11-3

Wednesday-Saturday, 11-5

Sunday - CLOSED

The reason for shorter hours on Tuesdays is that in July, beginning on the 8th, I'll be selling books in the evening at the Friends of Leelanau Township Library Summer Author Series events, and I need to go home and give my dog a break before heading back to Northport. 

Summer FOLTL guest authors are as follows:

July 8 - Karen Mulvahill, The Lost Woman

July 15 - Hayward Draper, The Colony

July 22 - Jenny Robertson, Hoist House

July 29 - Aaron Stander, Smoke and Mirrors

All these events will be held at the Willowbrook, 201 Mill Street, and will begin at 7 p.m.

See more discursive book ramblings here. 

For Your Summer Leelanau Dreaming

Summer is a time for dreaming, and for many of us those dreams are of what we like to think (though perhaps mistakenly) were simpler times. What would it have been like to spend your summer vacation on an island in Lake Michigan? You can look into that past reality and dream about it on your own porch swing with Stepping Off the Boat: Stories from North Manitou Island, by Susan Hollister Wasserman. Family photographs treasured for generations were the inspiration and provide the illustrations for this beautiful volume from Leelanau Press, a treasure for future generations as well as today's. 

A somewhat similar book from the same publisher, set here on the Leelanau peninsula (rather than offshore), is "Perfect Omena Day!": Selections from the Summer Diaries of Rebecca L. Richmond, 1907-1920, edited by M. Christine Byron. Diary excerpts from Rebecca's daily summer life over 100 years ago are accompanied by vintage postcards and photographs from the same era. 

Coming back to the present but remaining in beautiful Leelanau County, we have Art of Sleeping Bear Dunes, the perfect summer souvenir and/or keepsake. Edited by Linda Young, with essays by Jerry Dennis and Kathleen Stocking, Art of Sleeping Bear Dunes features work by 108 contemporary artists from a juried show that opened at the Dennos Museum Center in Traverse City on October 12, 2013, and ran until January 5 of the following year. Yes, David Grath is in the book.

Tuesday is the day, 4 o'clock is the time

 

Poet Jennifer Clark

Jennifer Clark is coming to Northport again from Kalamazoo! This will be her third appearance at Dog Ears Books, and I guarantee a good experience for all who attend. 

Jennifer's saints are not your grandmother's stained glass or plaster or painted wooden icons. They are surprisingly relatable figures—imperfect, flawed, and very much like us. Some are cranky, dour, and humorless, while others are kind, brilliant, and even funny. I think there is a lot of the poet herself in her saints (kind, brilliant and funny, that is, not cranky, dour, and humorless!). You'll know what I mean when you meet her on Tuesday, June 24, at Dog Ears Books.

There are always surprises here.

You never know what you will find on a treasure island of previously owned books. This is only one day's tiny sample.

Friends of Library Guest Author

 

So it really isn't bookstore news that Mary Kay Zuraleff will be in Northport on Saturday, because she will be part of the FOL annual meeting, NOT appearing at the bookstore, but I do have half a dozen copies of her book here, so there's that.

Saturday, June 14

1pm 

@ Leelanau Twp. Library

Business Meeting followed by Author/Mary Kay Zuravleff discussing her book "American Ending"

Free event

All are invited

Next Big Thing: BOOK LAUNCH!

(To make the information from the flier image easier to read, I'll repeat it in a larger font!)

Marilyn J. Zimmerman's novel, In Defense of Good Women, a legal thriller for mature audiences, will officially be released next Tuesday, June 10, and we will mark the occasion with a launch here in Northport. Marilyn will give a short reading, take questions from the audience, and sign books for customers. Light refreshments will be served. The hours is scheduled to run from 5 to 7 p.m. 

So mark your calendar! Put a reminder on your phone! Don't forget! 

We in Northport are very proud of Marilyn's accomplishments (the book being one among many) and are eager to celebrate with her. Please join us!

The book itself!

Holiday Excitement

 If you stopped by, you had fun, too! We sold all the books from my first order, but I've restocked, and she signed all I have.

Sumer is icumen in

First, a reminder: Fleda Brown will be at Dog Ears Books on Friday, May 23, reading from her new chapbook, Doctor of the World, beginning around noon. We are gathering informally, and since it will be lunch time I’m inviting people to bring a sack lunch. (I’ll have some nonalcoholic punch to quench your thirst.) How often do you have a chance to meet a poet laureate? Fleda held that position in Delaware. Poetry and conversation will take place in the newly rearranged gallery next to the bookstore. 

Then, an announcement: On Memorial Day, the following Monday, children’s author and retired elementary school teacher Kathy Groth will be here for an hour or two, beginning around midday, to inscribe her new book for purchasers. Sunken --  Shipwrecks of Lake Michigan takes two young children with a magic map on an underwater adventure into history and mystery. If you’ve only got five minutes, that’s time enough to stop by to have the author write a personal note in a copy of her book for the inquiring and adventurous young people in your life (with lots of information for adults, as well).

 

Finally, a preview: We will be having a book launch on Tuesday, June 10, from 5 to 7 p.m. for Marilyn Zimmerman’s In Defense of Good Women. That will be exciting! There’s another poetry reading in the works, also, with guest poets Teresa Scollon and Jennifer Clark. As soon as I have a date for that, I'll let you know. 

Newly Arrived: THE SOUL OF SLEEPING BEAR

 

This beautiful new book of photographs of the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore has text to match the images' beauty. The covered bridge on the book cover invites you in! 

Both text and photography are by Mark Lindsay, and books in the shop now are signed by Mark. Perfect for Fathers Day, coming up next month. 

Are you an explorer?

 

In addition to the usual new postcards and a box of old $1 postcards, I also have a small collection of other vintage cards in the $2-6 range. The two Orson Peck cards above, $5 each, show unpaved road leading from Traverse City up along West Bay into Leelanau County (top) and then east and north along East Bay, and I don't imagine these cards will be here long.

Jigsaw puzzles of 500 and 1000 pieces have been in stock all winter, but now is the time for the trillium puzzle, and you'll want to stretch out this beautiful time of year when we get some rainy days.

Always, of course, lots and lots of books -- new, used, classics, unusual -- they are the reason for our being. Additions to store stock arrive constantly, and next week will bring a wonderful new surprise, so stay tuned and/or drop in. 

You don't have to have a specific title in mind to visit a bookstore. In fact, it's much better if you come with an open mind and a willingness to explore, because often you don't know what you want until you and it find each other. 

Reminder: Poet Fleda Brown will be here to read from her new chapbook, Doctor of the World, and to answer questions and generally visit with audience at noon on Friday, May 23. This will be a casual (free) event, so feel free to bring a sack lunch. Hope to see you here!

Something New All the Time

 

Besides a bunch of new Michigen-themed board books, we also have two new picture books for children. One of them, as you can see, is set on Mackinac Island. Both are engagingly illustrated. 

While National Poetry Month (April) may be over, every month is poetry month at Dog Ears Books. When Anne-Marie Oomen stopped by recently, she signed her two mermaid books for me, and just today Teresa Scollon's new book of poems arrived. 

And that's only the tip of the new book iceberg. As for used books, you know there's always something "new" in those big departments. This week it's World War II that received so many new additions that I had to rearrange the whole section.

This Saturday!

 

Dog Ears Books will be open 

from 11 a.m. (or earlier) 

until (at least) 5 p.m.

Come see what's new 

since your last visit.

EVERY Month is Poetry Month at Dog Ears Books

  

But April is National Poetry Month,

and we kicked it off this week

at Dog Ears Books.

Our poet of the year will be Fleda Brown,

former poet laureate of Delaware,

who will be here to read from her new chapbook,

Doctor of the World,

on Friday, May 23rd, at noon.

Feel free to bring a sack lunch

and join us in David Grath's gallery

next door to the bookshop.

Fleda Brown

Friday, May 23, 2025

Noon

Plan for Spring Break: Winging It

 

Spring break for Northport school is March 24 through the 28. It's usually a very quiet week in the village. Since, however, I decided not to travel away from home myself, I'll be in and out of the bookstore. I'll be in on Monday, normally a day the shop is closed, since I expect a UPS delivery. Tuesday, closed. Wednesday through Saturday I'll probably come in around noon or 1 p.m. and stay until 3 or 4. Maybe. We'll see!!!

 

In other words, I'll be winging it for the week of 3.24-3/29. Maybe people from other places on spring break will wander up to Northport. Hope to see some of you!

P.S. 3/26: It's here! Fleda Brown's new chapbook arrived today! That was worth being here for!

The Plan for Friday, February 28, 2025

In solidarity with the 24-hour national economic blackout this Friday, Dog Ears Books will be open for business from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. but only accepting cash as payment for purchases on that day. Thursday and Saturday will be regular days, with all forms of payment accepted. 

 

On my first reading of the plan for a “buy-nothing” day, which also urged buying nothing online and not using forms of digital payment, I wondered why I would have my business open at all on Friday. If not buying was the aim, why wouldn’t I just keep the doors closed that day. Wouldn’t that show solidarity? 

 

Further down the line of do’s and don’t’s, however, people were told to buy at small local businesses, if they were going to shop at all, 
and my bookshop is not only local, it is definitely small, so after mulling the question over for a few days, I decided I will have the doors open that day. 

 

As is true any day of the year, there is no obligation to buy. Anyone who wants to stop in to visit without buying is welcome. Please, however, as Peg Bracken so memorably said in a book title back in 1969, I didn’t come here to argue! So no arguments, please, on Friday! Come or don’t come, buy or don’t buy. Those choices are yours. I’ve told you the choices I’ve made for the day.

 

If you do plan to support the boycott, plan ahead. Put gas in the bank on Thursday. Stop by the bank for cash if you’re going to be doing some local shopping or local dining or coffee sipping. Tip your servers with cash, too, at those local cafes and restaurants! 

 

One friend suggested I tell customers on Friday that my credit card machine isn’t working, but no – it would work fine, but I won’t be using it that day. Whatever anyone else thinks of the efficacy or strength of this protest, for me it is a matter of principle and a question of solidarity.

 

Thank you for your support. 

BOOKSTORE PLAN for the week of Feb. 24 – March 1, 2025

Dog Ears Books will be OPEN on Monday (usually, in winter, a day we’re closed), from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

 

CLOSED on Tuesday (probably!)

 

OPEN Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

 

OPEN Thursday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

 

OPEN Friday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., BUT NOT TAKING CREDIT OR DEBIT CARDS OR APPLE PAY OR ANY OF THAT. IT WILL BE A CASH-ONLY DAY. We welcome your support of local business on a day we hope you will be joining the boycott of big box stores, online shopping, and credit card use. CASH IN LOCAL BUSINESSES! THANK YOU!!!

 

OPEN Saturday, March 1, from 11 a.m. until perhaps as late as 5 p.m., depending on weather and whether or not people are shopping in Northport.

Into the New Year's Second Month

Reminder: Dog Ears Books in Northport, Michigan, is open four days a week this winter, Wednesday through Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

 

Reminder: you can order audio
books through Libro.fm and choose Dog Ears Books as your bookstore on the Libro.fm site, and we will earn a little something from each audiobook you buy that way. It will help us get through the winter. Thank you!

 

Blog note 1: My main blog, Books in Northport, the one I post to most frequently, has been around since September of 2007. It has always been free and will be free as long as it survives. I make my living as a bookseller, not as a blogger. Neither will I be moving to a Substack account, although many professional writers and independent journalists are there now, and I encourage you to follow a few, upgrading to a paid subscription if you can afford it, especially those whose work is crucial to giving us real news, e.g., Dan Rather, Heather Cox Richardson, and others. The importance of these sources will increase sooner than you might imagine.

 

Blog note 2: Call Books in Northport a “labor of love” or call me a graphomaniac – however you want to characterize it and/or me, I’ve stuck to this project for over 17 years. Some of you have been with me from the beginning, while others are brand-new readers, but I appreciate every single one of you, however long you have been reading. My morale this year, however, could use a little extra support (I’ll be trying to provide support for the morale of my readers, too), so I encourage you to (1) sign on as a follower, (2) comment on posts, and (3) send links to your family and friends for posts you find particularly meaningful. There is no financial advantage to me in this, only personal satisfaction.

If you haven't seen the latest post yet, because I just put it up a few minutes ago, check it out now! Thank you!