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 --