Don't worry -- I've got you covered.

 

Is time pressuring you? Don't stress out. I'll be here Monday (today), Tuesday, Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with wrapping paper, scissors and tape on hand. 👍

It's Not Too Late

 

Let me explain. It's too late to ask me to order a book you want to have by Christmas or by the end of Hanukkah, but it is not too late to come shopping for books. There are great ones in the store all the time--classics, local authors and subjects, and wonderful titles you didn't even know existed. One of my customers this week told me she has a formula for buying gifts for her children. Each child receives for the holiday:

Something they want;

Something they need;

Something to wear;

and

Something to READ!

That mother certainly had her shopping figured out.

Whether it's young ones or a partner you are looking to surprise, there's no going wrong with classics.

New books aren't the only treasures available on Waukazoo Street.

Lovingly worn...

or very gently used

or take your pick -- new or old.

There are exciting newer releases, too, nonfiction and fiction:

Finally, if the idea of sending out holiday cards has you overwhelmed and feeling too late to catch up, think postcards. "Greetings from Northport" are appropriate for New Year's and beyond.

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. 

What should you read next?

Big book that reads fast!

 

Every American should read Robert Reich’s new book, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America. Every American, from yellow dog Democrats to MAGA Republicans—and also all Independents and disaffected voting dropouts. Every American. Much more than a memoir, the book is American political history from postwar 1950s to the present day. Not from someone running for office or married to a political party or in bed with large corporate interests, either! Robert Reich may be smarter than you and me (he’s certain smarter than I am), but his head is not in the clouds. I have the hardcover book in my shop, and the audiobook is available through libro.fm. If your library doesn’t have it, they need to get it. Read the book! Then share your thoughts with me, please, whatever those thoughts may be.

Naturally, I have many other recommendations, fiction and nonfiction. Or just stop in and look around:

Hours through August

Monday, 11-5

Tuesday, 11-3

Wednesday-Saturday, 11-5

Sunday, CLOSED

The Topic Will Be CHANGES!

 

It’s next Wednesday, August 13, that Tim Mulherin will be at Dog Ears Books with his presentation on This Magnetic North: Candid Conversations on a Changing Northern Michigan. See my Books in Northport post for July 11 to learn more about the book between now and next week.

We will convene at 7 p.m., and I hope you will be able to join us then for a diversity of views and what it bound to be stimulating conversation.

As always, this is a free bookstore event, but you may want to get here a little early to be sure of a good seat.

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.